Truancy Origins (56 page)

For the second time that morning, the Mayor leaned forward and
pressed a button on the machine. A painfully familiar voice immediately began to issue forth from it.

“I know that you've been looking for me,” Umasi said. “I saw one of your people in District 19. Zen and I are both alive. He has assembled an army, the Truancy. He intends to overthrow you, and will destroy the entire City if he has to. I don't think that you can stop him. I'm not sure that anyone can . . . but I will try.”

The Mayor clicked the lighter shut, and to him it was the sound of a magazine being loaded into a gun. An image sprung to his mind, so vivid that his drab office vanished from sight. Instead he saw grim-faced children gathered around lanterns and flashlights in the darkest corners of the City. They polished guns by lamplight, assembled and disassembled them. They were ready to kill, ready to die. The worst nightmare of every Educator brought to life.

“He is strong, Father—stronger than you ever suspected. But so am I, and tomorrow the two of us will decide who is better. There is so much that you don't understand about us, so much that you adults have forgotten. You are entirely too confident in wisdom that you do not have.”

The Mayor recalled the report of the attack on the District 18 Enforcer Station, and for the first time pictured the scene in flames as his son fought Rothenberg. The Mayor cursed himself as he watched the struggle unfold; blinded by anxiety,
he
had unleashed this menace upon his City and sons. He was a fool. War had escalated before his very eyes, and yet he'd done nothing, pretended to notice nothing.

“Your search has failed. Tomorrow Zen will make his first move against you. You must protect the District 1 School. I will be the one to stop him. I am not on your side, nor am I on his. I fight for what both of you have abandoned. Someone must stand for the people of this City, and I will do it alone if I must.”

The voice was so clearly Umasi's, and yet it was not the one the Mayor had known. There was strength and conviction in every syllable, and yet no warmth. The Mayor imagined what Umasi must look like now, a mature and noble figure shrouded in bright mist. The Mayor felt a surge of pride, along with an undercurrent of shame. Umasi had grown up not because of him, but in spite of him.

“Whenever I was troubled, you used to ask me if there was something wrong. I always insisted that there wasn't. I lied. There
is
something wrong with this City, Mayor, and all three of us know it now. If I die, Zen will recreate your nightmare in his own image. But if he is the one to fall, then I will see to it that you answer for your sins.”

I'm your father
.
Call me Father,
the Mayor thought in vain. The Mayor
now saw the boys as they were the last time he had seen them, seated at the dinner table. It was a scene that had replayed in his mind many times before, but this time when the boys bade him farewell it carried an entirely new meaning, one that brought tears to his eyes. His lighter flicked open, and for one dark moment he was entirely lost in grief.

“Protect your school, Mayor. I will protect the City.”

Those words jerked the Mayor up in his chair and out of his reverie. Being addressed by his title reminded him of his duty and cut through his grief like a bolt of lightning. His head unnaturally clear, the Mayor sprang into action. Seizing the phone from his desk, he quickly pressed the emergency button that would put him in touch with Enforcer Headquarters.

“Yes, Mr. Mayor, what can we do for you?”

The Mayor took a deep, steadying breath. The lighter clicked shut.

“Get every available patrol out to the District 1 School within the hour. Evacuate the immediate area. Prepare for war.”

 

E
ven on the weekend, it was rare for any part of District 1 to be silent in the afternoon. But on this day, one part of it was as eerily quiet as an abandoned district. No one walked the streets of the nine blocks that had been sealed off, though countless Enforcers stood silent behind concrete barricades and parked patrol cars. They had been working all morning, first to evacuate the area, and then to seal it off with portable wooden fencing. All businesses and traffic had been shut down, the monolithic school at the very center of the area towering over the proceedings like a condemnatory giant.

Then came the defense preparations. The Enforcers didn't know anything about what they were supposed to be defending against, other than that the Mayor thought it was especially dangerous. Still they continued to dutifully erect the waist-high concrete barriers. Once the defenses were finished, the Enforcers stood quietly behind them, waiting for the war they had been promised.

When it began, not even an hour later, the Enforcers discovered that for all their efforts they were still unprepared. A patrol car at the western barricade was the first to explode, instantly throwing all the defenders into confusion. Though the attack was expected, the Enforcers found it difficult to grasp the idea of full-scale war in the City that they had dominated for so long. As the battle began in earnest, the Enforcers were shocked to find that their enemies were children. Their hesitation would prove fatal.

The initial attack came from the windows and roofs of the evacuated buildings, the Truancy somehow having managed to stealthily occupy them. Truants fired down at the Enforcer positions and tossed explosive cocktails between the rows of concrete. Trapped by their own defenses, the Enforcers tumbled over each other in their haste to abandon their position. As they fled, more Truants began emerging from other buildings, side alleys, even manholes.

The Enforcers had set up a strict perimeter around the area, but among the Truants were students from the District 1 School, unmatched in their knowledge of the neighborhood and its shortcuts. By the time the fleeing Enforcers had reached a second line of defense surrounding the school, a good ten percent of them had fallen, many having been outflanked by the Truancy. By now the Enforcers knew that they were fighting for their lives, and newly fortified with superior numbers, they were ready for a long fight.

As the Truants advanced and the battle wore on, it became clear that while the Enforcers had many advantages over the Truancy, what they lacked was the Truancy's leader. Black like the shadows, he swept through the battlefield like fear incarnate, firing with impeccable aim and brutally striking down stragglers with his crowbar. He knew that the Enforcers had been strictly ordered not to kill him, and he used it against them. As Zen leapt down from the roof of a truck and struck an Enforcer on the head, he noticed that some of the other squad leaders were finally arriving on the scene.

Gabriel was dual-wielding stolen pistols, and had taken cover behind a white van as he fired at the Enforcer barricades. The school took up the entire block, and the Enforcers had set up more concrete walling all around it. Like Gabriel, however, many Truants were now taking cover behind whatever they could and besieging the Enforcers from all sides. Zen wondered how well Gabriel could aim with his left hand, but even as he watched one, two, and then three Enforcers crumpled from Gabriel's shots.

Frank and his team of former vagrants had gotten a stroke of inspiration after seeing that one of the streets was on a downwards slant. They hotwired a car and set it to neutral, then drenched it with gas, set it on fire, and sent it rolling down the hill towards the Enforcer barricades. Enforcers dived out of the way as the car crashed and exploded spectacularly, and other Truants hastened to imitate Frank's idea. As the Enforcer lines were broken by the explosions, it became increasingly clear that the Truancy was winning the fight.

Satisfied, Zen turned away from the battle and made for one of the adjacent blocks, firing three quick shots across the street at an Enforcer that had turned his way. The Enforcer fell backwards, but Zen's gun clicked empty, prompting him to toss it away. Meanwhile, Noni had quietly sidled up beside him while he was surveying the scene, and she now fired fiercely at any Enforcer that so much as glanced at Zen. Her knives hadn't gotten much use, but Zen noticed that her marksmanship had markedly improved.

As Zen reached the block he was aiming for, he passed by the newspaper stand that Gabriel was now crouched behind. Gabriel saw him coming, and Zen waved back with uncharacteristic cheer.

“Never thought we'd be back here again, did you?” Zen greeted, gesturing back at their old school with his crowbar. “It's almost nostalgic!”

Gabriel, however, was all business.

“If Alex blows the building now, most of them will be buried anyway!” he shouted over the din of battle, pointing at the Enforcer positions around the school.

“I'm not taking any chances,” Zen replied, his face and tone abruptly serious. “I want them to trap themselves first. If we're patient, not one will escape.”

Gabriel nodded, then fired suddenly. Far behind Zen, an Enforcer was sent toppling backwards by the shot. Leaving Gabriel to continue the fight, Zen and Noni quickly rounded the block, out of the line of fire. There, as had been arranged, Zen saw Alex and Aaron examining some equipment as several other Truants stood guard. They all saluted Zen as he approached, and the Truancy leader couldn't quite place the emotion he felt as Alex presented him with a simple button trigger.

“I think you ought to do it, Zyid,” Alex said. “Me . . . I don't think I—”

“I understand,” Zen cut him off. “Does it work? Are you sure?”

“Positive.” It was Aaron who answered this time. “I tested the signal myself.”

“You've done well.” Zen held out his hand. “I'll take it from here, Alex.”

The boy looked even paler than usual as he handed Zen the trigger, but his voice was steady as he replied.

“Is everything going okay?”

“Yes. We've suffered some losses, but we have all the progress to show for it. The Enforcers can't hold their position for long. They'll make a break for the school at any moment now.”

“And then it collapses on top of them.”

“Indeed.”

Alex turned, if possible, even paler, but again gave no other sign of his discomfort.

“Alex,” Zen said sharply.

“Yes?”

“The City is no longer safe for you. You're past the point of no return. I think you know this.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“If there were another option I'd offer it to you, but you're one of us now.” Zen offered his hand. “It's that, or wait for the Enforcers to figure out which student planted the explosives.”

After only a moment's hesitation, Alex shook the proffered hand.

“I choose life, a life of my own,” he said. “I chose it a long time ago.”

“If that is your decision, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave all your reservations here,” Zen warned. “After what you've done here today the Truancy may have a position of leadership for you, but you cannot have any doubts about who you are and what you need to do.”

“I don't,” Alex said, firmly this time. “I am a Truant.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Just then a messenger ran up to Zen, excitement etched on his face. “Zyid, the Enforcers are pulling back into the school. Should we cease fire?”

“No, they'd suspect a trap. Allow most of them to reach the school, but don't make it easy for them.”

“Gotcha.” The messenger turned and ran off to spread the orders.

“Looks like the battle's almost over then,” Aaron observed, watching the messenger's receding back. “Finally.”

“I hope we're all done before they get any reinforcements over here,” Alex muttered.

“It looks like they brought in all the Enforcers from a half-dozen districts. Any reinforcements would have to come from quite a ways away.”

“But it's still only a half-hour distance, tops. What do you think, Zyid?”

Suddenly the Truancy leader no longer seemed to be listening. Zen was looking around intently, as though searching for something that no one else could see. Realizing that he'd been addressed, Zen raised his hand for silence.

“You all know your orders and may proceed as planned,” Zen said. “Leave me now.”

“Huh?” Alex said. “But Zyid, what about—”

“
Now,
” Zen snapped.

The Truants hesitated for only a moment, but they knew from his tone that arguing wouldn't do any good at all. Reluctantly, the Truants turned and left, sneaking furtive glances back at Zen's motionless figure. Soon, all of them had disappeared around the block to rejoin the fray.

All except one. Zen glanced over at Noni, still standing faithfully by his side. She either didn't know or didn't care that Zen had meant to include her in his orders. But this time Zen would not allow her, or anyone else, to intervene on his behalf.

“Noni, I want you to go with the others.”

Noni's head snapped around at him, and Zen felt an uncomfortable twinge as she stared at him in confusion.

“Why? What's coming?” Noni asked, her voice soft, but clearer than ever despite the scarf.

“If I am killed, the Truancy will look to you for guidance,” Zen said, ignoring her question. “You belong with them. Not me.”

“Sir . . . you're scaring me.”

Zen looked down in surprise at the girl he had rescued from the alley, one who possessed strength and potential to match his own. And yet she couldn't see it, blinded as she was by her adoration of him. She had become dependent on Zen, and it was then that Zen realized that Noni could never be his successor, the future leader of the Truancy. Should he ever die, the
chains that restrained her might be broken . . . or perhaps she herself would break.

It would have to be someone else, someone who was not only independent but someone that others could depend on. Zen vowed that if he survived, he would search for a suitable successor. But for now, there was nothing more he could do for Noni or for the Truancy. This was his struggle.