Jackson

“Jackson”

(
Behind the Stars
, Vol. 4)

by Leigh Talbert Moore

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Your opinion counts!

Further Reading: Into the Woods

About the Author

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T
he next day, Gallatin was not in the barn for morning chores. I went to the back stall, but other than Bully running around his mother, the space was empty. I couldn’t neglect the milking, but I felt conflicted. Something new was twisting in my chest.

I missed him. I wanted to suggest a creek run after lunch so I could get back on track and ask about the microchips, about their schedule for leaving. But to be completely honest, I just wanted to talk to him, to hear his voice.

As it was, I’d have to work like we were back at the beginning, and I had nothing to look forward to but another day of labor. It was a good thing, I decided. It kept my focus on escape. My
real
escape that is, not forbidden trips to a hidden creek.

I sat on my stool and gripped the teats, filling my bucket and emptying it into the churn, then going back and doing it again. The tone sounded and we all filed into lunch. Hamsters on a wheel, zombies in a pen. I’d grown used to seeing the men looking drugged and passive, the women keeping their eyes down. Only the occasional glance to me, the one who’d promised to do something. The one who’d once been a leader, and who’d since become distracted sneaking off with a guy. Maybe that was another part of their plan.

Maybe they knew everyone was looking to me to help them, and Gallatin was their secret weapon to keep me under control. I stole a look at the guards watching over how much we ate, still fussing over us cleaning our plates like somebody’s grandma, and I refused to believe it was true. Everything in me rejected the idea of Gallatin pretending to care for me, of his using our trips to the creek to disarm me or keep an eye on me. He couldn’t have predicted the accident with the calf. Then a tiny fear crept in, the smallest shadow of doubt. How did I know he couldn’t? And where was he now?

* * *

T
houghts of betrayal were heavy in my mind that afternoon. The idea of being used made my stomach hurt, it caused a pain in my heart I never expected and didn’t want to feel. Yet my logical mind insisted it was for the best. If Gallatin’s friendship was fake, it would be easier for me to use him right back. If I got him to admit everything was part of some kind of spy game or method of control, I could ask him about the chips and the mass graves without remorse.

Only I did feel remorse, painful remorse. I was sad and miserable. I longed for my new friend, my...

I wanted Gallatin to be truthful.

What had that guard told the men about what was happening here? The thing that had them all believing in little green men? I wanted to find Braxton and ask him about cutting ropes with only their eyes—the things D’Lo had said—and see if they matched. But Braxton wasn’t in the yard that afternoon. I didn’t see him anywhere. Flora was in the grove, but my brother was missing.

I ran around the yard, to the shed, down to the fence line. Finally, I went to the dorm. That’s where I found him in his bunk, lying on his side with his back to me.

“Braxton?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Are you sick?”

“Leave me alone, Prentiss.”

His voice sounded like he might be crying, so I leaned over and placed my cheek on his shoulder.

“I’m working on it Braxton. Just give me one more day, and I’ll have what we need to know.”

“It doesn’t matter what you know. It doesn’t matter if we leave. Nothing matters anymore.”

“Don’t say that, Brax. I’m still here, our family matters.”

He leaned back and looked at me. “If you get out, go find Mamma’s people. Our family over in Mendenhall.”

My eyebrows pulled together. “I don’t know any of those people. What would I do there? Just show up on their doorstep?” His shoulder dropped, and I hugged him. “Stop that talk. You’re gonna come and live on the farm with me and Jackson.”

“There’s no more farm. There’s no more Jackson.”

“Yes, there is!” I sat up and pushed his body forward. “You stop acting like this. Now! I’m going to find out what we need, and you’re going to hang on with me until I do.”

He took a deep sigh, and I heard the ache in it. I leaned down and hugged him again. “Just stay with me, brother.”

* * *

T
he next morning after breakfast, when I entered the barn, Gallatin stood at the back wall waiting for me. In spite of all my plans to be strong and not care, I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my face at the sight of him. He made a signal, and I stepped away from the group to meet him. When I got closer, he caught my arm and pulled me through the door.

“Will you come with me to the creek this afternoon? After lunch?” I didn’t understand the urgency, but he was leaning very close to me. His cheek brushed my temple as he spoke close to my ear, and my eyes closed.

Lemony soap mixed with hay filled my nose, and I wanted to reach out and hold his waist, make him tell me these new fears of mine were ridiculous. He’d never betray me. We were truly friends... But what was I doing?

I stepped back and turned to go back into the barn. “Yes.”

But he caught my hand. “It could be our last time.”

I glanced up, and the light in his golden-brown eyes was gone. He meant it. Something had happened.

* * *

O
ur chores were finished when I arrived after lunch. The cows were milked, the butter churned, and he was waiting for me at the back door. I ran over to join him, and quickly we dashed past the buildings at the base of the hill, stopping for the backpack, and then out the fence in record time.

We scrambled up the first hill, and the only sound was the swish of our feet scumbling through the leaves. Just over the peak, I stopped to catch my breath, and as he waited, Gallatin looked around the brown and green woods.

“I never,
ever
thought I’d like this place,” he said. “The climate, the setting—”

“Are you saying now you do?” I glanced up at him.

He looked back at me and smiled. “I do.”

That squirmy tightness was back in my stomach, and I felt my cheeks flush. I was thankful we’d just been running, so my face was already pink. He stepped to me and placed his hand on the sapling I was using for balance, right above mine, almost touching.

“Remember how you said being with Jackson was... how did you say it? Like a promise of a better life for you? A home?”

He watched my face, my expression, so I nodded. Then he slid his hand down to cover mine. “That’s how it’s been for me here, these last few weeks.”

“Gallatin...” I pulled my hand free. “How do I know you’re not trying to trick me? That you’re not doing all this to spy on me or to keep me under control?”

The change in his expression told me all the answer I needed. “What?” His voice cracked.

“It was a thought I had yesterday...”

In a flash, he pulled me to him. I tried to resist, but he wasn’t letting go this time. “Prentiss,” he said softly. “I don’t want to control you.”

“Stop!” My heart beat like hummingbird wings as I squirmed out of his arms. “Then how are you keeping us here? What are your people doing?”

He sighed and started walking again toward the little pool, away from my questions, but I was determined this time. Today I was getting the answers I needed.

“Why is everything changing?” I demanded. “Why is this our last time?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. And you don’t need to know, so stop asking.”

“Tell me!” I cried. “If you really care so much, you owe me the truth.”

I watched his back as he stopped walking and lowered the pack. Then he dropped to a squat with his hands resting on his knees. “You really want to know this?”

“Yes!” I ran forward and squatted in front of him, placing my hands on his. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

He stood and pulled the t-shirt over his head. “Let’s cool off while we talk.”

I chewed my lip in frustration as I watched him fumble with his pants. Two steps and he jumped feet-first into our pool. The heat was oppressive. I squinted up at the sun beating down through the holes in the trees, and a bead of sweat trickled down my forehead stopping at my eyebrow. It matched the one sliding down my waist under my heavy coveralls.

“Only if you promise to answer my questions.” I stood and slipped out of my clothes.

After our first day at the creek, I’d started wearing my brother’s brown shorts and tank tops for swimming. Less transparent when wet. I jumped in feet first as well and when my head popped up, I squealed from the shock.

Gallatin laughed and swam to me. Then he slid his arms around my waist in the water. My heart started beating fast again at the unexpected gesture. His body was warm against mine, and our faces were inches apart.

“What are you doing?” I clutched his strong arms under the water and tried to take them from around me.

“No more running all the time, no more hiding.” He held me tight. “Just easy days. Predictable days of work followed by lazy afternoons at the creek. This is how my life would be. With you.”

He leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose then he released me and ducked under the water. I watched his body shoot to the other side of the pool where the giant tree lay rotting, covered up in green fuzz. He resurfaced and placed his hands on the ground, lifting himself out of the pond, his back still to me.

“You’re supposed to be answering my questions.” My voice was a little shaky from his words, the sudden intimacy.

“I’m here because of Cato.” He walked around the side of the water to our spot in the sun. “She dragged me to this location against my will.”

He stopped and pulled out the blanket, spread it in the hot sun and the lay down on top.

“Keep going,” I said. “Why? And why are we being held this way?”

“I was with the desert group. They let me go to the university, because for a little while it looked like we might stay. Then we received word we’d been found.”

“What does that mean?
Found
?”

“Thirty-six hours, forty-eight tops. One group was deep in the woods, the other in the remote desert. We’d isolate any inhabitants who might see, as few as possible, bring out the ships, prepare them, and leave. Memory-wipe as needed. Gone.”

My throat tightened, and I shook my head. “You’re saying things that don’t make sense.”

He rolled onto his side to face me as I drifted closer, then his voice went calm. “We’re not from this world, Prentiss.”

A sudden splash made him jump back. I turned and ducked under the water, kicking my foot to shower him again as I powered to the other bank, ignoring the twinge of pain my angry gesture sent through my hip. My head popped up at the water’s edge, and I hoisted my body out of the pond. In an instant, Gallatin was on his feet, heading in my direction.

“Why does that make you angry and not afraid?”

I stood and gingerly stomped around the small pool to where my clothes sat by the pack. He was right beside me as I pulled everything on, not caring if my undergarments were soaked and my body freezing. He caught my arm, but I jerked it away.

“Please tell me why you’re so angry.”

I started back to camp, but then I stopped and turned so fast he slammed into me. He caught me and held me by the waist, his hair pushed back and his strange amber eyes lowered to mine, his scar on full display.

“I thought we were past the point where you’d lie to me.” I struggled to get my arms free of his grasp. “But you’re sticking to protocol, I guess. Mind games and tricks.”

“What do you mean? I’m not tricking you!”

“Did you just try to tell me you’re from another planet?”

A line formed between his brows and he looked down. “Yes.”

“God bless America!” I pushed out of his arms and gingerly stomped a few steps away.  “Of all the ridiculous stories to make up.”

“It’s not a story, Prentiss. It’s true.”

I turned back again. “So you’re an alien. An alien. You. With your warm,
not green
, skin and your perfect English, and your, well, somewhat perfect appearance.”

“Somewhat?” He smiled, but I was so angry, I didn’t care.

“You have weird eyes.”

“They’re hazel.”

“They’re weird. And those scars are... scary.”

He held his palms out like he was offering me a gift. “Will you come back and let me explain? I hoped we might remain friends in spite of... our differences.”