Shadows of Glass (28 page)

“No I wouldn’t. Especially if someone I loved was in danger.” She darts out and then
back again with another shirt. “I take it your bow wasn’t much use?”

“It served a purpose,” I say. “Just not the one it was intended for.”

“How bad was it out there?” Zan picks up a comb and goes to work on my hair, which
is still miraculously pinned up. She pulls out pine needles and a small stick and
flings them into a small can of trash.

“I think it was a good thing we arrived when we did. I also think Levi is very good
at killing.”

“He’s had to be,” Zan says. “I’m not saying that it’s good or bad. I’m just saying
that circumstances and the world being what it is, he’s had to learn how.”

“If we are going to survive in this world, we are going to have to learn how also.”

“Oh Wren.” Zan pulls me into a comforting hug. “I am sorry to say you are right.”

I take comfort from her words and her companionship. I do not take comfort from knowing
that in this regard, my father was right about the world outside the dome.

“Are you hungry?” Zan asks.

“Starved,” I admit.

“Come on then,” she says. “My father will have a tale to tell, and I don’t want to
miss it.”

Since I am also curious about what happened before we found Lyon, Pace, and the others,
I go with Zan outside to the tent where everyone is gathered and fix myself a plate.
Dr. Stewart, Pace, Adam, and Alcide are just finishing up their meal. Levi joins us.
He has a red mark around his eye from where Pace punched him. Adam moves off to the
side to talk with James while Alcide just sits and watches everyone in turn. I am
still not certain about Pace’s sudden outburst of anger, so I sit down across from
him and next to Alcide. Zan sits beside me on the other side. Lyon is in conference
with the five remaining guards and the pilot of the Quest. The guards disperse around
the camp with their weapons ready, and the pilot, Captain Manning, goes back into
the ship.

Lyon goes to a small table beneath the tent that holds an assortment of glasses and
bottles and pours himself a shot of amber liquid. I recognize it as the same thing
my father gave me when I first met him. Whiskey.

“Will you please tell us what happened now?” Jane asks as Lyon settles himself at
the head of the table. The rest of our group gathers round: George, Rosalyn, and Sally,
who sends Freddy and Nancy off to bed with the rest of the children who are already
asleep. I have no doubt they will listen through the tent walls to the story. I know
I would, were I their age.

“We were set upon!” Dr. Stewart exclaims. “The grubbers took my samples and tossed
them on the ground. An entire day’s work is totally lost, along with all of my instruments.”

“Excuse me, Dr. Stewart, but I am more concerned about the loss of life than the loss
of your instruments,” Jane exclaims.

“Oh dear, as am I,” he says as he fixes himself a drink of whiskey. “It was a terribly
frustrating experience.”

“Do you think they will come after us here?” Zan asks

“They already know where we are,” Levi says. “And if they don’t by now they won’t
have any trouble finding us.”

“Levi is right,” Lyon says. Dr. Stewart places the bottle of whiskey before him, and
Lyon refills his glass. “We need to establish a perimeter and make sure all of the
livestock are inside it. The smaller the area in which we are contained, the easier
it will be to defend it. I am afraid it’s going to take all of us for this task.”

“That won’t be a problem for any of us,” Adam says steadily. “Just tell us what to
do.”

“The most important thing is to make sure the Quest is protected,” Lyon adds.

“We will do whatever is needed,” James adds.

“First please tell us what happened,” Jane implores.

“It took us a couple of hours to find the rovers’ settlement,” Lyon begins. “We followed
the road along the coast to the ruins of a castle. It was quite extraordinary. Jethro
believes its origins had to date back to the eleventh century if not before.”

Dr. Stewart nods in agreement.

“Is that where you found the rovers?” Zan asks.

“No,” Lyon continues. “Jethro wanted to explore the castle, and I deemed it practical.
As we were in the turret I saw a stream of smoke coming up from the middle of the
forest. The stream was large, so it had to come from a significant fire. I knew it
had to be the rovers’ camp. So we traveled a ways into the forest, parked the bikes,
and continued on foot. I left Bradley with the bikes, then Jethro, Pace, Stone, Phillips,
and I went to investigate.”

When we stopped, Lyon said they’d lost Bradley and Stone, so Phillips had to be the
name of the guard that was injured. Jane had not said how severe his injuries were.
Would someone else have to die to keep us safe?

“We split up,” Lyon continues. “Jethro went with Phillips and Stone and Pace with
me. We went in opposite directions yet managed to come upon the rover settlement at
the same time.”

“Settlement?” Levi asks. “Not an encampment?”

“No, it was definitely a settlement,” Dr. Stewart says. “There were permanent dwellings
built in an organized manner around a central common area.”

“Sounds like a settlement to me,” Alcide mutters.

“Our position was not good, so we carefully backed away to find a better location
for observation,” Lyon continues. “I took Pace and Stone with me to a rise we saw
on the eastern side of the settlement, while Jethro and Phillips went back to the
bikes to send word that we’d found the settlement. I wanted reinforcements.”

“For what?” Zan exclaims. “Surely you weren’t planning an attack.”

“No,” Lyon says. “It was just the size of the settlement was so large and I wanted
to keep an eye on it.”

“How large is large?” James asks.

“Five hundred people or more.”

“Heavens,” Rosalyn says. “Will they attack us?”

“Not if we can help it,” Lyon says.

“How can you stop them?” George asks.

“With our superior weaponry,” Lyon explains.

“But they attacked you and killed two of your men,” Rosalyn continues. “It seems like
their superior numbers overwhelmed your superior weaponry.”

“Rosalyn!” Sally places a calming hand on Rosalyn’s arm.

“You don’t know the entire story,” Pace finally speaks.

James opens his mouth to retort in defense of Rosalyn but stops suddenly when Zan
speaks up. “Pace is right. We don’t know what happened out there. And there is much
to be said for preparation. We need to know what to expect so we are ready to defend
ourselves.”

“We were taken by surprise,” Dr. Stewart says. “We had just arrived back at the hiding
place for the bikes when we were attacked by a group of ten or so. If Lyon and the
others had not arrived when they did, I would be dead now.”

“While we were trying to circle around to high ground we heard the shots,” Lyon said.
“And immediately knew Jethro was under attack. By the time we arrived, Bradley was
down and one of the rovers had Jethro down with a knife at his throat. I threw myself
at the man while Stone, Phillips, and Pace went after the rest. We managed to drive
them back and take a defensive position so I could send out the pigeon with a message.
The attackers were vicious and bloodthirsty, completely without mercy. Their brutality
is comparable to the Indian wars from our colonial history, or the more current tribal
wars of Africa. There is no reasoning with people like this. All they know is kill
or be killed.”

“Heavens, Lyon,” Jane says. “Thank God you were able to send word.”

“Thank Levi and Wren that they arrived when they did. If more rovers had arrived we
would not have been able to hold them off. The only thing that saved us was the fact
that our weapons have a greater range than theirs.”

Jane puts her arms around her husband and Zan clings to his arm. “To think we nearly
lost you,” Jane says. “We cannot under any circumstances abandon our friends while
that threat is out there.”

“I have no intention of abandoning them,” Lyon says. “You may all rest assured.”

The thought that the Hatfields might even consider leaving nearly throws me into a
panic. How will we survive if they did? We will all fall victim to the dreaded rovers
without them, caught as we are between them and the dome with no shelter or basic
necessities. If they had not arrived when they did we would already be gone. My father
was right. The outside world is a very dangerous place and one we were ill-prepared
for. I look around at our group gathered at the table and wonder how many more will
die before we are safe. How many more will die because of my impulsive decision?

“What should we do?” Adam asks. “What can we do?”

“We have to prepare,” Lyon says. “The presence of the children makes us vulnerable.
We have to keep them out of range of the Quest. We don’t want to risk a stray shot,
if they do attack, igniting it. I have instructed Captain Manning to take it out to
sea at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately there are too many of you to take
aboard or we could simply sail away to a safe location.”

Lyon’s words fill me with fear, but they also inspire me. What would it be like to
simply walk on board the Quest and sail away, to a different place that had none of
the difficulties of this one? A new place where I could just start over. But hadn’t
I thought the same about leaving the dome? Isn’t that what got us all in this predicament
in the first place? Was there any place in this world that was completely safe and
without problems of its own? I think not. Since Adam and Eve were driven from the
Garden of Eden, the world has been filled with troubled places.

Lyon continues. “The most important thing is to set up a watch tonight. This is where
your extraordinary night vision will be of help. By placing a shiner with a guard,
we will have the element of surprise instead of them being able to sneak up on us.”

“It makes sense,” Adam agreed. “We can see them long before they come into the light.”

“Exactly,” Lyon said. “Also tomorrow, first thing, I think the women should have weapons
training also. We might as well include the oldest of the children…”

“Freddy and Nancy,” Sally says. “Rosalyn and Wren trained today.”

“Not that it did me much good,” I confess. “I missed when I tried to shoot my bow.”

“Practice makes perfect,” Lyon says. “I assume you spent the day making weapons?”
he asks Levi.

“Yes, sir,” Levi replies. “A bow for everyone and enough arrows for one campaign.
We also did target shooting so everyone is familiar with them.”

“Excellent,” Lyon says. He looks down at the plate of food Jane set before him. “Please
excuse me now. I am quite hungry.”

“Please eat,” Jane says. Lyon takes a bite and before he is done chewing a shout rings
out from one of the guards.

“It’s Jon!” a voice rings out.

“And Peter.”

“Where have they been?” Jane asks. “I didn’t even realize they were gone.”

“They went to the dome,” James says. “To find word about our friends.”

“Wren got a message from inside the dome,” Zan explains.

“What?” Lyon asks. “How?”

I explain to Lyon about Pip carrying the message and James shows it to him. Pace looks
as surprised as I felt when I first discovered it. He goes to Pip’s cage where the
bird is asleep with his head beneath his wing. Jon and Peter arrive at the tent out
of breath from their run.

“Did you find anything?” Rosalyn asks.

Both look grim and I fear what they have to say. “We found the place where I came
out,” Jon says. “The door is locked from the inside.”

“And?” I ask, knowing there is more.

“There were bodies,” Peter said.

“Bodies?” Adam asks.

“From the fires,” Peter says. “I don’t know if it is from the fire that raged after
the explosion or if they were executions. There were twenty-three burned carcasses.
Men, women, and children.”

I am suddenly sick to my stomach.

“That’s not all,” Jon says, and the look in his eyes scares me as much as his coming
words. “They were tied to stakes.” I cover my mouth with my hand as a cold fear grips
me.

“Heavens!” Jane exclaims.

“Barbarians,” Dr. Stewart adds.

Lyon raises a hand to silence the protests that ring around the table. Alcide looks
green, and I recognize the anger on James’s and Adam’s faces.

“Did you recognize any of them?” Rosalyn asks in a trembling voice. Her husband Colm
is inside somewhere. Alive or dead, we do not know.

Jon and Peter shake their heads. “There was no way to tell who they were,” Jon says.
“There wasn’t enough left.”

“It can’t be Lucy and David,” I say. “I refuse to believe that it is.”

“There’s not a lot we can do about it if it is,” James says.

“It is obviously some sort of warning,” Lyon surmises. “But for who? The rovers? Or
those of you that escaped?”

“It has to be for the rovers,” Levi says. “Perhaps to let them know that even though
there is trouble within, that the dome is not to be trifled with.”

“What makes you think that?” Zan asks.

“Wren’s story of escape. As far as those in power know, everyone died in the floods.
How would they know that they found their way out?”

“Whatever it is, please don’t anyone panic or think the worst,” Jane says. I appreciate
her words, but they are not her friends inside the dome. Rosalyn leaves and Sally
goes with her while the rest of us, the shiners, look at each other helplessly. I
feel Pace’s eyes upon me from where he stands next to Pip’s cage. He is thinking about
his mother. Surely my father wouldn’t stoop so low. But why else would he put bodies
on stakes unless they are a warning to those who made it outside?

The last he knew of me, I was on my way outside. He sent me there. It was only because
his men left Jon and I alone when the explosions rocked the dome that I went back
inside while Jon escaped. As far as he knows, I am outside.

Are the bodies meant for me? Am I responsible for more deaths?