Julie’s eyes narrow. “First of all, I’m not a teenager . . .”
“Oh that’s right, you had a birthday. Everything’s different now.”
“. . . second of all, since when are you a rebel, Abram Kelvin?” Her eyes narrow. “Since when do you fight for anything but your own little homestead?”
Abram keeps his face neutral.
“We’ve been flying all over the country looking for a way forward, and you’ve done nothing but run backward every chance you get. Now you’re suddenly ‘viva revolution’? You’ve suddenly got a big insurgency lined up for us that you never bothered to mention?”
The faint, weary smirk never leaves Abram’s face, but it looks a little forced now. “Walking into an Axiom branch when we’re all on their wanted list wasn’t my first choice. If the coup hasn’t happened yet, it’s going to be tough to reach my contacts. And yeah, I’d rather be fishing in the mountains with my daughter than trying to save the world with a bunch of delusional children. But if it’s this or a one-way trip to a frozen rock in the ocean, I’ll take the revolution.”
Julie shakes her head. “You’re full of shit.”
“I’m really not.”
“There’s nothing in Pittsburgh. You’re just trying to get us on the ground so you can make your break.”
Abram nods. “Fair call, but it’s wrong. Lying’s not my thing.”
Julie chuckles. “Oh really!”
“One of my father’s lessons that stuck: lying to someone gives them power. Makes them the judge and you the defendant. Tell the truth and deal with the results. Lying’s for pussies.”
Julie laughs. “You’re so full of shit.”
“Actually,” Nora says, “he might not be.” She straightens the yellow pamphlet and hands it to Julie.
Julie scans the page of chicken-scratch handwriting and doodled marginalia, like a medieval manuscript illuminated by drunk monks. She looks up at Nora in amazement. “Where’d you find this?”
“In the airport, of course, a thousand miles from anyone. I think DBC might be a little OCD.”
“Why didn’t you show me earlier?”
Nora gives her a dry stare. “You’d just shot a guy in front of his daughter. It seemed like a bad time.”
Julie flinches. I suspect it’s been a while since Nora has failed to be on her side. Julie turns her attention to the yellow paper, almost hiding behind it, and I read over her shoulder.
Julie lowers the page. “This was two years ago. You’d think we’d have heard something.”
“Come on,” Nora says. “Two years ago we didn’t even know Axiom still existed. Pittsburgh could be a full-blown rogue state by now.”
A moan drifts from the rear of the plane and Julie’s head snaps toward the sound. Near the restrooms, chained to a chair, the remains of her mother are waiting. For what, exactly, I don’t know, and I doubt Julie does either, but I can see the emotion flooding her face, cold and wet and overwhelming.
“We can’t,” she murmurs, her eyes glazing. “We have to get her help.”
“We will, Jules,” Nora says. “But what do you really think she’d want you to do right now?”
Another long, pitiful moan, so different from her earlier snarls of mindless hunger.
“Julie,” Abram says, and she jolts at the sound of her name. “I know why you’re doing what you’re doing. I’d do the same thing. But if you ever meant a word of all that save-the-world talk, you’ll let me land this plane. Because we’re about to fly past your first real chance to do something.”
Julie squeezes her eyes tight, clearing the mist, and stands up. “Land it,” she says, but her voice is lacking any rebel fervor, more a surrender than a command. She’s already walking toward the rear of the plane. “Mom? Are you okay?”
I follow her quietly, keeping a respectful distance. Her mother sits in the aisle, slouching on the floor. A length of cable runs through her collar and around the posts of a headrest, giving her a few feet to move around, and Joan and Alex sit just outside her range, watching her warily.
“Scary,” Alex says, widening his eyes at me.
“Sad,” Joan says, regarding Audrey with precociously deep empathy. “She’s . . . very sad.”
Their bells jingle. My kids have collars too. I found them in some pet carriers and decided the bells’ warning would be sufficient security for these gentle young corpses. Abram was in no position to object this time.
“We’re going to land in Pittsburgh, Mom,” Julie says, sitting cross-legged in front of her. “They say there’s a resistance there. We’re going to see if we can help.”
Audrey’s hands lie palms-up on the floor in front of her and she stares down at them, slack-faced.
“Do you remember trying to help, Mom? Do you remember how much you wanted to make the world better?”
Audrey rocks back and forth, her filthy hair dangling into her eyes.