Taking the Highway

THE THING THAT ALWAYS surprised Nikhil about the disincorporated zone was the lack of trees. Most of the little buildings had stumps in front of them, some quite large, but the trees themselves had long since become firewood or weapons. There might even have been grass once, instead of the hard-packed dirt and weeds that now poked through the trash. Didn’t the people here like trees? Didn’t they want some kind of canopy? Of course, trees would obstruct the view. Not that there was anything scenic in this wasteland. Still, people needed to see something. Here in the oh-zone, they needed to see out.

Nikhil tensed at noise across the street. How many people? How close? But it was just a kid, maybe ten or eleven, riding a bike that was too small for him. The bike squeaked and whined, the kid passing through the light spilling out of a house. He turned down an alley between a psychic reader and a barbershop. Nikhil wondered where a kid that young was going this late at night. Didn’t he have to get up for school tomorrow? Or was he one of the unschooled troublemakers causing so much grief down here?

Nikhil reached into his pants pocket, gripping the envelope of cash, then took his hand out and marched forward, swinging his arms. He refused to be afraid of the oh-zone, even after dark. He didn’t need to jump at every little thing. He would not let his own upbringing or financial circumstances make him insensitive to his fellow human beings.

Something scurried across his foot and he shied back. Stupid rats. He pounded his feet on the pavement, announcing his presence to everyone, two legged or four.

At the end of the block loomed the wall—a heavy, dark presence, like part of the night itself. He ran his hand along the brick, trying to find the seam where old met new. It had only been two months since the Council for Economic Justice had blown up this section of the wall, and yet the city had already rebuilt and painted it. From here, it looked like a permanent fixture, tagged with graffiti and probably pissed on.

He wished he could have gone on that mission. He imagined them setting the explosives, managing the timers, waiting. He could almost hear the boom, feel the fear of the citizens forced to watch their beloved barrier crumbling. Had the CEJ members stood on this side of the wall or on the other side, safely within the confines of the city? Did they run away, laughing, congratulating themselves on yet another success?

He felt further along the wall, seeking new bricks, new mortar, but couldn’t tell what had been redone and what had always been there. Another rat crossed his path and he stomped his feet again, marching away from the wall and across broken sidewalk. What did it matter? The line between the haves and the have-nots was more than a wall. Even if every partition in the city disappeared tomorrow, the zoners wouldn’t magically be reintegrated into Detroit. Besides, no anchored news had even touched the story, and the spinners claimed that the wall was damaged by criminals from within the oh-zone itself.

At least he’d been a part of their next operation, even if he was only a lookout. They’d set two fires at the exact same moment, one just inside and one just outside the city limits. Nikhil had watched and waited from the city side, in constant contact with Russell van Slater, the lookout in the zone. Two minutes, five minutes, ten. He heard the sirens and saw the fire trucks racing to the scene, stopping at the border, even though there was no wall there and the road went straight through.

He’d watched the city fires extinguished with all available manpower while Russell watched empty buildings in the zone crumple into ash.

The next day, Russell disappeared.

A car slowed beside him. Nikhil kept his face forward, catching the movement out of the corner of his eye. He walked faster, but did not run. The car kept pace with him.

“Nikhil!” a familiar voice shouted. “Nikhil, what are you doing down here?” Topher’s round, white face grinned in the lowered window of his Ford Facet.

Nikhil approached the car. “What are you doing here?”

“I got worried when you missed the meeting. Thought you might need some backup.” Topher popped the locks. “Hop in, I’ll take you wherever you’re going.”

“No thanks.” Nikhil waved a vague arm. “It’s just over there.”

Had Topher followed him? From where, the bus stop? Or before that. Home, maybe. Topher’s appearance was no coincidence. Ever since he’d joined the CEJ, Nikhil had that constantly-watched feeling.

He understood that. He really did. The Council had to keep tabs on their members. They were under constant threat of infiltration. But he and Topher had been friends since ninth grade. If Topher didn’t trust Nikhil, then Topher didn’t trust anyone. Sometimes Nikhil wondered if he should quit, go join another organization. Problem was, there wasn’t a better organization to join. Nobody dared to do what Topher did. And he was planning even bigger things. Finally, they would get everyone to listen.

Nikhil looked over the top of the car and across the street. Some lights on, some lights off, eyes everywhere. He felt safer standing next to the car—two men and a vehicle instead of one guy alone. Safer, yet more conspicuous.

Topher relocked the doors and raised the driver’s window halfway. “Why didn’t you bring your car, man?”

Nikhil scoffed. “And have it disappear thirty seconds after I park it?”

“Park it where? Where are you going?”

“People live here, Topher.” Nikhil started walking. Topher wasn’t his boss, or his wingman. He didn’t need Topher’s permission or approval.

Topher rolled the car along side him. “I know people live here. That’s the problem.”

“It’s not the only problem.” Nikhil walked faster, ignoring Topher’s clean new car and its rolling commentary on life in the oh-zone. He walked up the steps of the house, remembering to skip the bottom stair, which looked solid in the dim porch light but was held together by prayer and paint.

He knocked on the door, then turned to wave Topher off. See? They’re expecting me. Nothing wrong here. Topher gave him a thumbs-up but did not move from his parking place at the curb.

Several locks clicked and snapped, and the door was wrenched open by a shifty-eyed teenager half a meter shorter than Nikhil. “Oh. Hey.”

“Hello, Jaden. Is your mother home?”

“No, she ah. . .” Jaden looked over his shoulder into the house and then back at Nikhil. “She had to go to the clinic.”

“Pretty late for the clinic.”

“I mean the emergency. It’s Cassie. You know, the asthma? Ma took her about an hour ago. Told me to wait for you.” Jaden rubbed his fingers across his thumbs.

Nikhil put his hand in his pocket, then brought it out again, empty. “Tell your mother I came by. I hope your sister feels better.”

“If you have anything, you know, to give her, you can give it to me.” Jaden rocked from foot to foot. “I’ll, you know, give it to her.”

“That’s okay, Jaden. Good night.”

“I don’t mind.” Jaden worried his fingertips faster.

“I’ll try again later.” Nikhil retreated off the porch and into Topher’s car.

He settled into the passenger seat. The restraints nestled around him and he nodded to Topher to take off.

Topher kept his eyes forward and two hands on the wheel. He took one last look at the house, then shot toward Moross Road, driving toward light and traffic and prosperity and hope. “Did you know that guy?”

“Not really.” Nikhil punched the music and waited for the satellite to find them, dialing it to evening jazz. He pulled the envelope of cash out of his pants pocket and transferred it to the inner pocket of his coat. “His mother was our housekeeper when I was little. She took care of me.”

Topher softened the music. “After your mom left.”

“Yeah.”

Topher stopped at a red light and turned in his seat. “You can’t help one person at a time. You can’t. They have troubles like cockroaches and stepping on a single one won’t help.”

“I’m aware.” Nikhil pointed at the now-green light. “I just . . . didn’t you ever feel like you owe someone?”

“We can’t let this be personal.”

“I know that.”

Topher took a hard right turn and punched the accelerator to make the next light. “This can never be personal. Not if we’re going to do what we need to do.”