Among the Enemy

  The commander visited Matthias every night, right before bedtime, and it was all Matthias could do not to blurt out, I hear there’s some big ceremony coming up soon. When is it? What’s it for? But it was safer to act dumb, to pretend there was nothing on his mind except grief.

  “How are your studies coming along?” the commander asked one evening as he sat on the edge of Matthias’s bed.

  “Huh?” Matthias said.

  The commander pointed to the headphones and tape recorder on the bedside table.

  “Your classes? Remember?”

  “Oh.” Matthias thought fast. “I try to listen, but I start thinking about Tiddy and then I miss half the tape so I have to start it all over again.”

  The commander touched Matthias’s cheek.

  “I understand,” he said sorrowfully.

  Matthias lowered his eyes and mumbled, “I’ll try harder.”

  The next morning he did slip a cassette into the recorder, but it started out, “All our country’s problems can be traced to the evil of the third children, those who harbor this scourge, and those who provide fake identification to encourage their prodigal ways. . . .”

  Matthias couldn’t bear to listen to any more. He clicked off the recorder and went down to breakfast.

  And this time when Nina handed him a bowl of Cream of Wheat, he felt a thin edge of paper under the rim. It was so hard not to drop the bowl and read the note, right there in front of the entire cafeteria. He managed to walk to his table with studied carelessness, but once there he couldn’t help unfolding the paper in his lap, glancing down quickly: When you get back to your room, you’ll find your weapon on your bed.

  “Hey, little buddy, mind if I sit with you?”

  It was Tiddy’s friend Mike. Quickly, Matthias crammed Nina’s note into his pocket.

  “S-Sure,” Matthias stammered, but inside he was thinking, Did Mike see the note? He couldn’t have, he’s on the other side of the table. But what if he did? What if he knows all about me and the plan? Then, Weapon? WEAPON? Would Samuel approve of me using a weapon?

  “Haven’t seen you around much,” Mike was saying. “I’ve been out on patrol a lot. Man, it’s cold out there. It’ll be nice when spring gets here. . . .”

  “Uh-huh,” Matthias said, and “You’re right,” but he wasn’t really listening as Mike rambled on.

  Then Mike said, “I see you’ve got your eye on one of the serving girls. Cute one, huh?”

  “What?” Matthias asked, suddenly panicked. He realized he had been looking toward Nina, but he hadn’t meant to. “I’m not—I mean—”

  Mike laughed.

  “Hey, didn’t mean to embarrass you. You’re blushing. It’s okay, she’s not bad-looking. But I’ll warn you: I’ve seen her passing love notes to other guys. Slips it into their hands with their soup bowls. Very clever. She passing love notes to you yet?”

  Matthias froze. How much did Mike know? How could Matthias possibly answer that question?

  Oh, please, God, help me, Matthias prayed silently as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

  Suddenly Matthias knew what to say.

  “Is she passing love notes to you?” he challenged Mike. “Did you come over here to warn me away from your girlfriend?”

  “I wish,” Mike said, laughing again. And then he changed the subject.

  Matthias finished breakfast as quickly as he could. He wanted to warn Nina that Mike had seen her passing notes, but he didn’t know how he could do it without attracting more attention. And he was worried about having a weapon lying out on his bed. He raced up the stairs and burst into his room. A large orange sphere sat in the middle of his comforter.

  His “weapon” was a basketball.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  No!” Matthias wailed at Nina. This time they were hiding in a closet just inside the cafeteria in the middle of the night. With his elbow jammed into a stack of dishtowels and his feet planted in a scrub bucket, Matthias knew he was going to have a hard time getting Nina to take him seriously. He tried anyway.

  “This was my idea! I don’t want to be just a . . . a decoy!”

  “Shh,” Nina said. “Someone’s going to hear you.” She shook her head and pulled the door completely shut. Now they were in total darkness. Nina bent over and whispered directly into Matthias’s ear. “You can’t just think about what you want. Everybody notices you, because of Tiddy. If you disappeared, it’d make a big stir. Besides, if your plan works, we need you to keep eavesdropping on the commander’s office.”

  Matthias imagined his future as Nina saw it: He’d lie on his bed for the rest of his life listening to the bug from the commander’s office. No—eventually the commander would expect Matthias to start attending the meetings. Eventually Matthias would have to start acting like a true member of the Population Police. Start hurting people, killing people—joining in their evil.

  He’d have to do that, or the rest of his life would not be very long.

  “Nina, I can’t go on eavesdropping,” Matthias whispered back, his words sinking into the darkness. He wished he and Nina were in full sunshine; he thought that maybe if she could see his face, she’d understand that he wasn’t just being selfish by wanting to get away from Population Police headquarters. “Give the tape recorder and headphones to someone else—anyone in the building should be able to pick up the signals.”

  “Without getting caught?” Nina challenged.

  Matthias shrugged helplessly, forgetting Nina couldn’t see him. He’d gotten distracted from what he really wanted to say.

  “Nina, you knew Percy and Alia,” he began. “You know what great friends they were. You know they never had the chance to eat all the food they ever wanted, to wear nice clothes, to be treated like . . . like some sort of precious toy. Like I’m being treated now. But they didn’t ever have to act like an evil man is their best friend, either, or pretend to be grieving for a killer. Remember how nice Alia always was to you when Percy and I still weren’t sure we could trust you? She wasn’t pretending. She really liked you, and she always wanted to believe that people are good, underneath it all.”

  Matthias stopped because the words were getting caught in his throat. There was a silence, and he was afraid that Nina hadn’t even heard him.

  Then, “What’s that got to do with your role in the plan?” Nina asked. She sounded like she was trying to stay harsh and businesslike, but she had a catch in her voice.

  “Nothing. Everything,” Matthias said. “It may not make sense to you, but I have to do this. For Percy and Alia.” And Samuel, he thought. And Mrs. Talbot. And the seventeen rebels I saw the Population Police kill. His memory stretched back even further. Maybe he needed to do this for two other people as well—a man and a woman who’d been so terrified of the Population Police’s power that they’d left their baby on a doorstep in a dark alley.

  “I think—,” Nina began, and Matthias could tell her answer was going to be no. She had to have everything making sense; she wouldn’t let his emotions overrule her carefully plotted reasons.

  And then suddenly the closet door whipped open, and two Population Police guards were shining flashlights right at them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Too bad. We didn’t catch them kissing,” one of the guards said.

  It was Mike. He stood there leering at the two of them, the lights of the cafeteria blazing behind him.

  “The kid keeps saying he needs a midnight snack. The girl always says she has extra work to do,” the other guard said, shaking his head. “And I’m supposed to believe them?”

  Too late, Matthias realized that this was the same guard who had been on duty the last time he’d sneaked down to meet Nina. The guard reached out and grabbed the back of Matthias’s shirt collar. Mike took hold of Nina’s collar too and pulled her out of the closet.

  “Think the commander will be interested in hearing about this?” the guard asked. “Think he’d give me a reward?”

  ??
?Or a swift kick,” Mike mused. He steered Nina by the collar until she was right beside Matthias. “Don’t you think they’re cute together? It’d be kind of a shame to thwart young love. And you’ve got to give the kid credit for winning over an older lady.”

  Nina and Matthias stood stiffly, side by side, frozen in fear.

  “But the commander—,” the guard said.

  “The commander just lost Tiddy,” Mike said. “You want to be the reason he stops trusting the kid?”

  Nina tore away from Mike’s grasp and fell to her knees.

  “Please,” she begged. “Punish me if you have to. But don’t—don’t tell on my boyfriend.” She lowered her head, and Matthias could see tears glistening in her eyelashes.

  “See?” Mike said. “How can you resist that?”

  “But what if they’re—,” the other guard began.

  “What?” Mike asked. “Spies? Saboteurs? Rebels? Con men? Give me a break. They’re just a couple of kids. In love. Don’t you remember the first girl you kissed?”

  The guard got a dreamy look on his face, then he shrugged it away.

  “Okay, okay,” he muttered. “I won’t say anything this time. But if I ever catch the two of you sneaking down here in the middle of the night again, you’re in big trouble. Now go on back to your rooms.”

  He shoved Matthias forward and Matthias fell over, sprawled out on the floor. As Matthias was scrambling back to his feet, he heard Mike say, “Oh, at least let them hug each other good-bye.”

  Mike stood back looking thoroughly entertained as Matthias awkwardly put his arms around Nina’s shoulders. She was still on her knees, so Matthias had to bend over. He kept his head on the side away from Mike and the other guard, so he dared to bury his face in Nina’s hair and whisper into her ear, “You have to let me go with you now. Now that they suspect—”

  “Okay! That’s enough!” the guard called out.

  Nina pulled away and stood up. Matthias could see the tears welling in her eyes, the red marks on her neck where Mike had pulled her collar too hard, the individual hairs that had escaped from her braids and reached out toward Matthias like they had a mind of their own. And he could see her head moving slowly, up and down.

  She was saying yes.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  At dusk the next day, Matthias took his basketball and stepped out of his room, latching the door firmly behind him. Nina’s new instructions—which she’d passed to him at lunch—had reminded him to act carefree and playful; he just hoped he could keep his legs from shaking. Ever since he and Nina had been caught in the closet, he’d been imagining all the ways this plan could go wrong.

  God? he prayed. Are you with me?

  He strolled past all the guards in the hallway. One of them winked at him, and he didn’t understand why. Was the guard trying to warn Matthias somehow? Did the guard know something that Matthias didn’t? Or was the wink just because the guard had heard about Matthias being caught in a closet with a girl? People acted like that sometimes about boys and girls falling in love. Matthias didn’t understand it. He didn’t want to. Love made him think of the way Mr. Talbot had acted, saying good-bye to his wife when she’d gone to help Percy and Alia. Right at the end, Mr. Talbot had let his fingers linger on the side of the car, as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. And then she hadn’t come back. . . .

  Because I led her into danger. My fault, Matthias thought.

  He couldn’t think about that right now. Too distracting. He forced himself to walk down the stairs, out the front door, and several feet down the driveway. So far, so good. He positioned himself near the line of guards at the front gate and began bouncing the ball.

  “Anyone want to play with me?” he asked.

  Surely it didn’t matter that his voice came out sounding so plaintive. Surely the guards would interpret that as his longing for Tiddy, not his fear of being caught in a subversive plot.

  Several of the guards looked down at him and smiled indulgently. Matthias saw a few of them elbow one another.

  “We’re busy. Sorry,” one of them said, not unkindly.

  Matthias kept bouncing his ball. He’d actually never played with a basketball before; he’d never before touched one that wasn’t crushed and tossed out in the trash. Matthias was surprised at how quickly this ball bounced back up, how hard it smacked his hand.

  Just bouncing the ball’s not good enough, he reminded himself.

  “Watch this,” he said, and tried to balance the ball on the tip of his finger. He was supposed to make the ball spin, but he couldn’t even get it to wobble. It kept falling off and rolling down against the guards’ feet. They kept gently kicking the ball back to Matthias. Then one of the guards picked it up.

  “I’ll show you how it’s done,” he said. He placed the ball on his finger and sent it whirling.

  “Wow,” Matthias breathed out, and his awe wasn’t faked. How could anyone do that?

  “Oh, that’s nothing. You should see Chester from over in the control room,” the guard said. “Hey, Jim, go tell Chester to come out here for a minute.”

  Another guard walked over to a booth right at the gateway. An unbelievably tall guard poked his head out of the booth’s doorway.

  “Yeah?” he said.

  “The kid wants to see a basketball demonstration.”

  The tall guard—Chester—glanced down at some monitor in the control booth, then stepped out.

  “I guess I could do a quick show,” he said.

  He leaned down and scooped up the ball. It seemed to jump from one hand to the other, now spinning, now running down Chester’s arms and across his shoulders, now bouncing from back to front between his legs. Matthias watched, amazed, and cheered along with the other Population Police guards.

  But Matthias kept only one eye on Chester’s stunning show. He was also watching the control booth.

  Nobody had stepped in to take Chester’s place.

  A few minutes later, Chester caught the ball behind his back on the toe of his shoe and took a huge bow. Then he tossed the ball toward Matthias.

  “Okay, back to work,” he said reluctantly.

  Matthias fumbled trying to catch the ball. It rolled back toward Chester.

  Just a few more seconds, Matthias thought. Show off just a little bit more.

  But Chester kept walking toward the control booth.

  Matthias leaned down to pick up the ball himself. He was glad he was facing the ground so he didn’t have to keep the glee out of his expression when Chester cried out, “What? Our monitors are down! So’s the electric fence!”

  Other guards rushed in behind Chester. They were punching buttons, shouting into walkie-talkies. Matthias thought it was safe to wander over behind them and stand on tiptoe to get a glimpse of the defective monitors.

  A walkie-talkie crackled.

  “Found the problem. Some animal chewed through two wires back here. We’ll have them fixed in a few minutes.”

  Matthias put his hands over his mouth and tried to look horrified, but he was hiding a grin. Alia had been the one who’d taught Nina that make-it-look-like-an-animal-chewed-the-wire trick.

  It wasn’t long before Chester’s monitor screens flickered back to life. From his vantage point, Matthias could tell that the screens showed long stretches of the stone wall and electric fence that completely surrounded Population Police headquarters. He caught no glimpse of shadowy figures climbing through.

  That means the others are out! he thought joyfully. Or . . . maybe they couldn’t make it in time and gave up.

  He had no way of knowing which was true. All he could do was stick with his part of the plan.

  The guards resumed their strict, straight-line formation. Matthias went back to bouncing his basketball. He made a few feeble attempts at some of Chester’s tricks. The basketball refused to roll in a smooth line down Matthias’s arms; it banged his shin rather than jumping smoothly under his leg.

  “That toe trick looked cool,” Matthias
said.

  He turned around, took a deep breath, and tossed the ball over his shoulder. He glanced back and saw the ball sail out into the open air, past the line of guards, past the control booth, past the gate. It hit the ground and started rolling, beyond the boundaries of Population Police headquarters.

  “Oops,” Matthias said. “I’ll get that.”

  This was the decisive moment. If one of the guards said, No, you’re not allowed, I’ll get it, or No, too bad, your ball’s gone for good, or I forbid you to go out there, then all would be lost and Matthias might be stuck at Population Police headquarters forever. The thought seemed more unbearable than ever. The very air around Matthias seemed to cage him—air that any minute might carry words to his ears that he desperately did not want to hear. . . .

  Nobody said anything.

  Matthias trotted after his ball, past the guards, past the control booth, past the gate.

  Nobody objected. He’d been set free by a child’s toy.

  When Matthias reached the place where the ball had come to rest against a tuft of frozen grass, he faked clumsiness, kicking the ball and sending it even farther beyond the gate. It rolled into thick woods that had sunk into near darkness now. Matthias could barely see, but that was good—the guards wouldn’t be able to see him now either.

  He peered around for a pinprick of light in the darkness—Oh, please, let the others be waiting—and there it was, a tiny red glow off to the right.

  Matthias crashed through the woods, not worrying about the noise, just concentrating on speed. How long did he have before one of the guards came out looking for him?

  He was closer to the red light now. It was coming from inside a long, dark car parked on a dirt road in the shadows. Matthias covered the last few yards in a mad rush. He yanked on the door handle of the car and dived through the opening.

  “Go!” he burst out before he’d shut the door, before he’d seen who was holding the light, whom he’d landed next to.

  “Sure thing,” a voice drawled, and the car shot forward into the dark night.