Atlantic Island aic-1 Read online

  One day, Theo and Bill got to talking about other countries (“I guess we’re another country too,” Bill had said) and why nobody from Europe or elsewhere had been able to help any more than the United States. Theo gestured toward the beach as he made a point about Europe. “You know,” said Bill, “we don’t have any reason to think Europe’s still the direction you’re pointing. It could be out here for all you… ah crap!” As his hand stretched out over the ledge that marked the premature end of Atlantic Avenue, his sandwich took leave of his palm and flopped into the ocean.

  Theo got down on his stomach and leaned over the edge. The sandwich was floating just out of his reach. As he pulled himself back up he saw something odd: the broken edge of the road seemed to shine. “Did you get it?” asked Bill.

  “No, sorry,” said Theo, “but hang on. There’s something weird about the edge of the road.” He bent down toward the water again. Maybe it was just the dampness of the surface reflecting the light? He realized with a shock that the land was not just wet but was actually shiny. The sand that supported the road was fused into glass.

  Theo sat back up, astonished. “What did you see?” asked Bill. His curiosity had, momentarily at least, overridden his hunger.

  “It’s glass… the whole side going into the water is glass.”

  “How can that be? What the hell does it mean?”

  “I don’t know.” Theo scratched his head. “I think it means that the sand was, like, superheated or something. Ry would understand this stuff better than me.”

  “You mean like if you cut something with a laser?” Bill stood up and wiped his hands on his shorts.

  Theo was impressed. “Just like that. I don’t think we broke off from everything else after all; I think we were cut away.”

  “How is that possible?”

  Theo shook his head. “I really don’t know. I just wonder how much of this the government already knows.”

  This thought only had a moment to sit with them before shouting from the distance interrupted their quiet reflection.

  “Not again,” said Bill.

  There seemed to be many voices chanting, and others shouting over them. Theo and Bill walked in the direction of the sound to get a sense of what was happening.

  A group of maybe twenty men and women was standing across Atlantic Avenue. Few buildings remained on either side of the road, and the gang was in a line that bisected the street and led into the dirt lots on either side. It didn’t take long for Theo to realize that these people were angry. In the middle of the group was the man Theo and Bill had witnessed being carried away two weeks earlier. The former Margate homeowner was animated in his protest, and was leading his friends in a call-and-answer routine that brimmed with fury and lacked proper rhythm in its overlapping enthusiasm.

  As Theo and Bill watched the dialogue between the man and the construction foremen (they couldn’t hear the foremen, but the man kept shouting “No!” and his colleagues would follow with “We won’t go!”) they saw a contingent of Atlantic Island Security Forces materializing in the distance and moving up behind the protestors.

  Theo was relieved that Kylee was not among the arrivals. He assumed that only trained police officers were being called out for this kind of an incident. The protestors gradually became aware of the police presence behind them. They turned so that the two lines of people were face to face. Theo felt goose bumps emerge on his arms as he watched the two groups stand off like a powder keg waiting for a spark to ignite a devastating explosion.

  Looking to his side, Theo was concerned to see Bill’s muscles tensed, as if ready to burst into action. He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to steady him, but Bill wasn’t paying any attention. His eyes were laser-focused on the protestors and the Security Forces facing them.

  The homeowner at the center of the confrontation was right up in the face of the lead officer. Undoubtedly, Theo thought, the man was being told to back down. He was not listening. With a crack that echoed in the silence fallen over the construction zone, the man slapped the officer across the face. In a flash, the officer had drawn a baton and hit the man across the temple. Blood burst from the wound as the man fell to the ground. The other protestors rushed in. The Security Forces, not expecting such retaliation, were caught off guard. Several were forced to the ground. Before long, they managed to get the upper hand with sheer brutality against the protestors.

  Theo was snapped out of his trance-like viewing of the fight by a motion in the corner of his vision. Bill was off and running toward the fray. Theo called after him but to no avail. Bill was absorbed into the fracas and became just one of the pulsing bodies falling and rising over and over. Theo watched in horror as the security officers began to handcuff the protestors who all appeared to have been injured in some way or another.

  Bill emerged from the mass of humanity with his hands cuffed behind his back, his face puffy and bloody, and two officers forcing him to one of the vans emblazoned with the Atlantic Island flag that had arrived behind the conflict. When the protestors had been packed away like sardines and the vans had departed, the foremen ordered their workers back to the job sites. Theo reluctantly returned to work but his heart raced and his mind could not stop worrying about Bill.

  Chapter 8

  Theo returned to the condo that night trying hard not to convey how much his concern over Bill was eating at him. Kylee approached him and threw her arms around him the moment he walked in the door. She was wearing the pants assigned by the Security Force but had shed her uniform top for a long undershirt she had found a while ago in the master closet of the penthouse.

  “I’m so sorry about Bill,” she said.

  “What? How…” Theo started.

  “I was filing papers at the main precinct in the city when they brought him in with the rest of the protestors. I’m told they are going to be kept overnight for processing and he should be back tomorrow. Theo, there’s going to be a trial. Menendez tells me that the leadership wants to make an example.”

  “By leadership you mean Tiberius, don’t you?” Theo asked. “What about Mayor Lucas?”

  Kylee sighed. “You’re not the only one saying that. Supposedly Lucas put Tiberius in charge of the security on the island and he’s not getting involved.”

  “Still,” said Theo, “he seems like such a good guy. Maybe he can be convinced to intervene here. This is pretty high profile.”

  “I hope you’re right,” said Kylee. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything. Try not to let it mess with your sleep tonight. Bill will be back tomorrow and you can agonize over everything then.” She gave him one of her disarming sly smiles and walked into the kitchen to sit with Michelle.

  Since beginning work at the “Records Department,” which Theo still didn’t quite understand, Jamie had been making late night visits to the hospital with Bill and arriving late at the condo, where she shared the second bedroom with Michelle. Ryan had tried to be a good sport about exiling himself to the living room with Bill, but Theo knew he was counting the days to the lottery more than anybody.

  Theo had mixed feelings about the lottery, which would be taking place at the start of the following week. On the one hand, it served to further restore order to the island, and it was only fair to even the playing field. Theo knew that some of the twelve thousand or so survivors were dealing with living conditions far less pleasant than the penthouse. The teens had been lucky to get their temporary quarters when they did, before the Security Force stepped up to stop quarreling over living spaces.

  Still, Theo had come to think of the penthouse as home. As much as he missed his family, as much as he was tired of rotating through the same few articles of clothing over and over, and as much as he wanted above all to return to his little suburban life, there was something charming about coming home from work to his best friends and his girlfriend. In a world with no television to watch (Ryan assured him they were working on that) and no computers or phones to play with, Theo and his frie
nds had discovered the pleasantries of simply talking with one another.

  The day of the lottery, the teens packed up their few belongings and departed the penthouse for the last time. They walked in silence. Theo knew they all were thinking the same thing as him: the penthouse had been their refuge in the face of a frightening and terrible disaster. He wished they could take some of the furniture, but in addition to the difficulty of the task the official lottery procedures had stated that furniture must remain in place. Theo wondered how that would go over with those few who were about to leave the homes they had rightfully owned prior to the Event.

  The teens arrived at one of the several lottery stations that had been erected in anticipation of the day’s activity. A woman with long gray hair pulled into a ponytail stood on a platform and fiddled with a laptop that seemed to be misbehaving. Finally, she got the results she was looking for and approached the microphone.

  “Good day, citizens of Atlantic Island!” she cheerfully intoned. “Today is the day you have all been waiting for…the day you get to go home!” A mixed reaction from the crowd greeted this statement. Theo was taken aback by the woman’s boldness in reminding everyone that Atlantic Island was the new reality. Thoughts of returning to their pre-Event lives should apparently be banished until further notice. He assumed representatives at all the lottery stations were repeating similar sentiments, potentially those exact words.

  “Today’s lottery should be very efficient and we’ll get you all to your new accommodations as soon as possible. First the computer will generate a name at random. Then, it will pick from among all the possible choices remaining to us on this island. Do not worry, even with the damage from the Event I have been assured there is enough quality real estate left for everyone! Please remember that only citizens aged sixteen and older may be assigned homes. If you do not have parents with you on the island, you will be assigned legal guardians by the government.”

  “When your name has been selected and a home chosen, come to the desk at the side of this platform. You will be told how many citizens may be co-owners and residents of your new home. You may then select others to occupy that home with you. If you do not choose enough other residents to fill that particular space, citizens will be selected for remaining openings at the end of the lottery.”

  The woman’s face became very serious. “It is my duty to inform you that there are no trades, no changing of one’s mind, and no “do-overs.” As there is not yet a system of currency in place on the island, sales of homes are not allowed.” She smiled broadly. “But enough of all that dreary legalese. Let’s give out some homes!”

  The process proceeded without much interruption or controversy. Theo was selected toward the beginning of the process and assigned a one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the city district. He was allowed one co-owner and selected Kylee.

  Michelle was assigned to a large, 8 bedroom house in Ventnor; one of the few that had survived the Event without any damage. She selected Ryan and Jamie but found that Bill was not eligible for ownership because of his arrest and Mark could not be assigned because of his continued incapacitation at the hospital. Ryan promised Bill he could stay with them as long as he wanted. The remaining six rooms in the large house went back into the lottery pool.

  Theo and Kylee walked for twenty minutes from the lottery station to their new home. The small apartment had not been well maintained. What little furniture existed was dirty and broken. Theo assumed either the original owner or whomever had occupied the apartment up until the lottery had damaged it out of anger and spite. Kylee saw his expression and tried to be positive. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we will straighten this place up in no time. If this is going to be our future I want to make the most of it.” She maneuvered herself into his arms and kissed him. Theo kissed her back, his mood lifting.

  Over the next few days, in between work shifts, Theo and Kylee did manage to pull things together. Theo borrowed tools from the construction site and did some small repairs where he could. Once the place had been cleaned of dirt, sand and cobwebs, it actually held a little charm.

  Bill and Jamie began to hang out there regularly when not working or at the hospital. Despite the big shore house offering more luxuries than the humble apartment, Bill said the other residents made him feel “crowded.” Bill’s wounds from the protest and arrest were healing rapidly and he did not seem overly concerned about his upcoming trial, scheduled for the first week of September. Theo worried constantly. He didn’t trust anything attached to Deputy Mayor Tiberius in any way, and Kylee kept bringing home reports of rumors from the precinct that the leadership wanted to make an example of Bill and the other protestors.

  The remaining weeks of August went by in a blur. With the Margate protests quelled, at least for the time being, the destruction of the remaining homes and stores along Atlantic Avenue went quickly. By the end of the month, the final debris was being hauled away, and much of Theo and Bill’s work went to breaking up the asphalt of the side streets. Soon, the foreman had told them, they would move to demolishing the buildings around Ventnor Avenue. The two avenues, cut short as they were, would remain to enable faster transport of goods between the new farmland and the rest of the island.

  The morning of Bill’s trial, they all went to the hospital to visit Mark. Mark’s condition had not changed, but he looked significantly more wasted and shrunken than when they had first discovered his whereabouts. Bill held his friend’s hand and spoke so softly that to Theo it appeared his lips were moving soundlessly. Perhaps Bill was hoping Mark could lend him some of his confidence. The thought made Theo’s eyes well up and he quickly lowered his head.

  The walk to the courthouse from the hospital took a long time. Theo had never been so far into the city. He wondered where Atlantic Island ended on this side. The courthouse was next to a large park that was filled with people waiting to hear what would come from this, the first high profile trial in the short history of the new country.

  Bill said goodbye to his friends at the first security checkpoint behind the courthouse doors. Theo whispered, “Just do what the judge says. Be polite. Be respectful. This isn’t the place to make a big statement.”

  “Relax,” said Bill. “I’ve got this.”

  An armed officer escorted him down the hall. They turned left and disappeared from view. Theo and the rest of his friends followed signs down a series of hallways to an elevator. As the teens waited their turn outside the elevator’s bronze doors, Ryan said what Theo had been thinking: “Bill’s not gonna keep it together.”

  “Give him a chance,” said Kylee, “He knows how serious this is.”

  “Right,” said Jamie, “Plus, he was only trying to break up the fight. He’s not even one of the real protestors.”

  “Well it would help if he doesn’t try to argue the protestor’s case for them,” said Theo. “Bill doesn’t like to keep quiet.”

  The elevator took them to the third floor where the doors opened on another long hallway. The floor was covered in marble and the walls appeared to be adorned in some kind of wood. Mahogany, Theo assumed, not that he knew anything about that kind of thing. They passed several doors on either side, but it was clear that they were headed to the giant double doors directly at the end of the hall. Security guards posted on either side held assault rifles across their chests. “Do you see that?” Ryan asked Theo. “They mean business.”

  The guards gave cursory inspections of the people entering the courtroom. Theo figured the guards didn’t have to worry much as the visitors had already been subjected to two checkpoints.

  Kylee seemed to have a passing acquaintance with the guard on the right. This relaxed Theo a little but made him just the littlest bit jealous. They were allowed to pass into the courtroom, which was bigger than Theo had anticipated. The high ceiling gave a cavernous feel to the room, and Theo felt a chill as he looked at the stand where the fate of his best friend would be decided.

  The seats filled quickly. T
heo didn’t like the looks of eagerness he saw on many faces. He thought of history class in school where he had learned about the Roman gladiators fighting as people cheered for blood. The sound of a door being unlatched echoed in the chamber and Theo looked up to see the defendants being led to their seats. Bill was in the middle of the line and looked deadly serious. Good, Theo thought.

  The defendants were seated. A hush fell over the waiting crowd. Theo looked at Kylee. She was nibbling her lower lip and looked very uncomfortable. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Why aren’t there any lawyers?” she asked.

  “That’s a very good question.”

  A voice boomed. “All rise for the honorable Deputy Mayor Tiberius.”

  Theo stood with everyone else. Paul Tiberius entered from a door in the corner. He wore a judge’s robes. Tiberius took his seat in the center of the proceedings and banged a gavel. The loud, disembodied voice called out. “Be seated!”

  “Citizens of Atlantic Island,” Tiberius began, “we stand today on the brink of a promising new future for our young country. There are those, however, who would stand in the way of what must be done. There are those among us who would fight against the forces of right, the forces of reason, and the forces that must be allowed to succeed if all of us are not only to survive but also to thrive on our island. Some of those who would deny you the lives to which you are entitled are the defendants seated before you.”

  So much for a fair trial, thought Theo. He looked around the room. There were many who shifted uncomfortably in their seats as a result of Tiberius’s opening remarks. Still, others seemed to be caught up in the Deputy Mayor’s words.

  “Is there anyone among the defendants who wishes to speak in defense of your group’s actions?” Tiberius said. Theo held his breath, willing with all his might that Bill’s hand not be raised. Fortunately, the angry homeowner who had organized the protest volunteered to speak.