Barren

CHAPTER FIVE

  "Listen up!" Vasseur shouted to the crowd. "The Lord gave you one mouth and two ears, I suggest you use them accordingly! That means mouths shut, ears open!"

  Mackenzie tried to hide among the other people as Vasseur shouted to be heard above the buzzing of the crowd. He stood on the balcony to the small two-story shack that served as the "town hall," for lack of a better title. Joseph worked out of this office most days, planning and organising means of survival and tending to town matters of more political natures. Now, however, it was the meeting point for today's event.

  The crowd of two or three dozen people quickly stopped gossiping and looked expectantly towards Vasseur, who had both hands placed on the railing in front of him as he surveyed his audience. The other Diviners stood with him, as did Joseph. None of them had seen Mackenzie yet. She gazed up at them all, waiting, wearing a hooded shirt with the hood pulled over her head. No one paid her any attention. All eyes were on Vasseur.

  "You should all know by now why the LEOs brought you here," Vasseur began, eyeing everyone sternly, like a principal searching an assembly for troublesome students. "But just in case you didn't get the message, this is the deal. We have found ourselves sadly short one Diviner. The water situation in Town is becoming increasingly troubling, and we need someone with particular skills to accompany us on our next mission. Our friend and Secretary General, Joseph Miller, has provided me with a list of names who possess the skills required of this position. I've reviewed that list and then studied your files, learning your work history, your education scores, psych evaluations, for those who've had them. Everyone here was on that list, but only four of you have been singled out. I will call out your name, and you will then immediately enter the town hall and await downstairs for further instructions. Understood?"

  Vasseur didn't wait for people to nod their understanding. He was already pulling out a tablet from the breast pocket of his vest and opening up a document with a swift swipe of his finger. The crowd collectively held their breath as they waited to hear the first name.

  "Norman Ackles!" Vasseur shouted.

  Mackenzie saw a wiry man with black hair tied into a ponytail grin smugly at the people around him as he pushed his way through the crowd towards the building. He paused at the door to turn around and wave at the crowd before disappearing inside.

  Why am I even here? Mackenzie wondered as she sighed.

  "Demelza Muys!"

  Mackenzie heard a small cry of shock from somewhere in the crowd behind her, then a few people laughed. A moment later, Mackenzie saw a woman she worked with at the wells make her way towards the building, a look of stunned amazement on her face. Then she, too, vanished through the door.

  "Ethan Renaud!"

  Mackenzie gasped and looked around. Ethan? How was he on the list? He was a tech head, not a hydrologist. Mackenzie spotted him almost drifting through the crowd, looking dazed. Mackenzie willed him to look her way, so that she could... something! But Ethan vanished inside without spotting her.

  "Finally," Vasseur shouted, the crowd falling quiet once more as it had begun to buzz. "The last recruit... Mackenzie Miller!"

  Mackenzie's jaw dropped as she stared up at Vasseur. She'd misheard. She must have misheard! But she knew she hadn't when she saw her father's face. Joseph's eyes had shot wide open and he snapped his gaze around to stare at Vasseur, shouting, "WHAT?"

  Joseph glanced from Vasseur, who looked confused about Joseph's reaction, to the crowd, his eyes scanning faces, searching for Mackenzie. He then grabbed Vasseur's elbow and leaned in close, saying something softly, though sternly, in Vasseur's ear. Vasseur scowled and looked down at the tablet in his hands.

  Before Mackenzie realized, she was walking towards the door to the building. The crowd was already beginning to disperse, recognizing that they no longer needed to be there. Some looked disappointed, many more looked relieved. Mackenzie walked through them like she didn't even know they were there. Her gaze was locked on the door to the town hall, seeming like it was much farther away than it was. She felt eyes on her suddenly and looked up towards the balcony, expecting to see her father glaring furiously down at her.

  Instead, while Joseph was in a heated, whispered, debate with Vasseur, Mackenzie met the gaze of Jesse Greaves. He was watching her closely, a strange smirk on his face as he scratched his jaw thoughtfully. Mackenzie felt her heart skip a beat when she looked at him. He was annoying, but to have a living legend look at you, acknowledge your existence? It made Mackenzie's knees feel weak and she worried for a moment she might actually fall over.

  Suddenly the door was in front of her and Jesse vanished from her line of sight as she passed beneath the balcony. Mackenzie pushed through the door, moving slowly, as if in a dream, and walked inside.

  Mackenzie first saw Ethan and Demelza in discussion in the corner. Demelza looked worried and was hugging herself, rubbing her arms as she spoke. Ethan seemed a little more composed, even somewhat excited, as he tried to soothe Demelza.

  The other guy, Ackles, was leaning casually against one wall, watching Ethan and Demelza with a smug expression. Mackenzie got the sense that he was sizing up the others and was amused by what he saw.

  The door behind Mackenzie suddenly banged loudly shut, making her jump and all eyes turn towards her.

  "Mackenzie?" Ethan gasped. After a moment of stunned silence, he hurried over to her. "Your name was called?"

  "Er, yeah, I guess so," Mackenzie replied, trying to sound nonchalant, but she knew Ethan could see right through her. She'd never been a good liar.

  "Your dad put you on the list?" Demelza asked, walking across the room to join them.

  "No," a stern voice snapped nearby.

  Mackenzie, Ethan, Demelza, and Ackles all turned towards the angry voice and saw Joseph entering the room, stepping heavily as he stomped towards Mackenzie. Behind him, Vasseur and the other Diviners were in tow, though they all seemed far more relaxed. Mackenzie noticed that Jesse was still smirking at her with some kind of amusement that bordered on belittling. Then she turned her eyes back to her father.

  Joseph had been angry at Mackenzie before. There had been times in her youth where she had pushed him to the very edge of his temperament, but this was by far the most angry she had ever seen him. His jaw moved as he ground his teeth together and his face was turning a deep shade of red as he glared at Mackenzie. Every heavy footfall made Mackenzie want to flinch, as though she expected the next to crack the ground beneath her. Joseph stopped and stood over his daughter, glaring down at her, folding his arms over his chest, his eyebrows pressing hard together in an enraged V. Mackenzie stood her ground, but she sensed Ethan and Demelza step back, like they were worried they might catch some of Joseph Miller's wrath just be being close to Mackenzie.

  "You put your own name on the list, didn't you?" Joseph asked. He spoke quietly, but that even, almost calm, voice was emanating a rage that Mackenzie had never known her father capable of. It was almost enough to make her take a step back, too.

  Instead, Mackenzie swallowed hard on her nerves and met her father's angry stare.

  "Yes," she said simply.

  "Why?" Joseph demanded, unfolding his arms and grabbing Mackenzie's shoulders. "Why would you do such a stupid thing?"

  "Why's it stupid?" Mackenzie asked. "Do you think anyone who goes to the deserts is stupid?"

  Joseph didn't seem to expect this response. He glanced over Mackenzie's shoulder at Ethan and Demelza, who were watching silently as they pretended not to be watching. Then Joseph glanced behind himself to the Diviners who stood by, watching with apparent disinterest. Joseph then turned back to Mackenzie, taking his hands off her shoulders and standing straight.

  "That's not what I meant," he said sternly, taking some of the anger from his tone, though not all. "I chose these people to go on the list because of their skills and their knowledge. You elected yourself."

  "I only put my name on the list of possible candidate
s," Mackenzie pointed out. "It was Vasseur who elected me."

  Vasseur cleared his throat, almost uncomfortably. "She does have an impressive skill-set, Joe. It would have been foolish of me to disregard her just because she's your daughter. If I had done that, it would have raised certain... concerns among the people."

  "Well, she's not a candidate," Joseph snapped, silencing Vasseur. "I don't approve."

  "You don't have to," Mackenzie said, beginning to feel angry and embarrassed. "Last time I checked, I wasn't a minor. I don't need your approval. And Vasseur called out my name, so I'm eligible to stay if I want to."

  "Kenzie," Joseph pleaded, lowering his voice so the others couldn't overhear. "Please, I'm begging you. You don't know how dangerous it is out there. The life expectancy of a Diviner drops to just days once they step outside this town."

  "You made it," Mackenzie pointed out.

  "That was..." Joseph began, but paused, struggling for how to respond. "Different."

  "Why?" Mackenzie asked, almost demanding.

  "It just is."

  Mackenzie narrowed her eyes at her father. "It's because of my hand, isn't it? You don't think I can take care of myself because I was born with just one hand."

  Joseph was shaking his head as Mackenzie spoke. "No, no, that's not what this is about. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you!"

  "What makes you so certain it will?"

  "I just... I don't want to risk it."

  "It's me taking risks, Dad!"

  "You're not doing this!"

  "You can't stop me!"

  "Watch me!"

  "Excuse me, sir?"

  The increasingly heated and loud argument between Mackenzie and Joseph suddenly stopped as everyone turned towards the one who had spoken.

  Jesse Greaves had taken a step forward from his squad and was speaking directly to Joseph. Joseph blinked twice at Jesse in surprise, as though he had forgotten anyone else was there. Jesse kept his hands clasped behind his back as he spoke, his voice impassive, like he didn't care one way or the other about the father-daughter spat that was taking place in front of him.

  "I just thought I should point something out, sir," Jesse began. "This stage of the process is simply recruitment. There's no guarantee right now that your daughter will be going anywhere. She needs to pass Commander Vasseur's tests before we take her on, same as everyone else who had their name called. If she can't pass the tests, she stays home. So I wouldn't worry too much, sir. With all due respect to your daughter, I doubt she has what it takes."

  Mackenzie glared furiously at Jesse Greaves, wanting to lunge across the room and slap him across his smug face. Joseph, however, despite the insult to his own daughter, seemed to relax somewhat.

  "The tests, of course," he muttered. "Right. Vasseur, I'll, er... I'll leave you to the recruits, then. And, er, we'll talk more later." Then he turned back to Mackenzie and added, "We'll be talking about this later, too, young lady."

  "Can't wait," Mackenzie snapped.

  Joseph gave Mackenzie one last look of anger mixed with disappointment. He turned away from Mackenzie and marched towards Vasseur. Some of the anger seemed to return to Joseph's expression as he stood close to Vasseur, almost threateningly.

  "Meet me in my office later," Joseph said firmly. "I need to discuss mission objectives with you."

  Vasseur stared back at Joseph with a blank expression, but Mackenzie saw his frown intensify slightly. Vasseur replied only with a curt nod. Without another word, Joseph then left, slamming the door behind him.

  Mackenzie stared sadly after him, though she was still mad as well. Joseph had always babied her, and no matter what he said, Mackenzie knew it was because of her hand. Some part of her even suspected that when he had found out she was born without her left hand, he had been relieved. Because the lack of a hand had meant she would not be able to follow in his footsteps and become a Diviner as he had been. Now, however, here she was, throwing herself in the deep end, head first.

  "Listen!" Vasseur suddenly shouted, making Mackenzie and the other recruits all jump. "Normally Diviner training is an eleven month process, but we don't have eleven months. In fact, we have it on good authority that in only seven weeks, everyone will be either dead or dying."

  Vasseur glanced at Mackenzie, but did not name her as his source, for which she was grateful. Enough attention had been on her already.

  "So instead," Vasseur went on, "we're going to be cramming all the mission-essential training we can into the next two days. Only one of you will be joining us out in the field, but whoever that may be might wish they hadn't been so lucky. While his or her friends get to stay home and wait for us to find a new location to move the town to, that lucky person will undergo the rest of their training in the field. With us. Do not let yourself be fooled into thinking it's a glamorous life, or even a good one. Every second out there is a fight for survival. Odds of dying are great. Odds of wishing to die are greater."

  Mackenzie heard Ethan swallow hard as Vasseur fixed them all with a cold stare.

  "The next few days will be hard," Vasseur said. "But the following weeks will be harder. And do not take lightly what we are about to do. Because either we succeed... or everyone dies. And there's no time to let that information sink in, ladies and gentlemen. Because your training starts now."

  The sound of gunfire rang out across the flat landscape of the desert. The booming echo resonated through Mackenzie's bones and teeth, and she was certain that everyone in town could hear the shots.

  She, the other three recruits, and the Diviners, were all situated roughly 400 yards out of the Town, which was the farthest Mackenzie had ever been from civilization. They had gone straight from the town hall to this blank expanse of dirt and stone, only to then have a short rifle thrust into their arms.

  "First things first," Vasseur had immediately shouted at them. "These guns can kill you. If you are stupid while holding one, or stupid while near someone else holding one, then you will be shot and you will probably die. If you get someone else shot or killed because you were stupid, I'll then shoot you myself and you will definitely die. Keep those safeties on and fingers off the triggers! Jesse Greaves is our gun expert. He will be teaching you how not to be stupid around a gun. Listen carefully, do everything he says, or he will shoot you."

  Ethan had chuckled quietly at that, like he thought Vasseur was joking, but the cold look on Jesse's face as he regarded the recruits, as though daring them to do something stupid, told Mackenzie that it most definitely was not a joke.

  Vasseur stepped aside and Jesse took his place, standing front and center before the recruits, who were standing side by side with their rifles. Jesse raised his hand and pointed far into the distance, where the white truck was kicking up dust as it drove back towards them.

  "Bell took Rhiannon another hundred yards that way," Jesse snapped. "She's set up targets for you to shoot at. I say shoot at, because I doubt any of you will actually hit anything you're aiming at. Once she is clear, and only then, I will call on you one at a time to fire on the targets."

  Jesse clasped his hands behind his back and gave Mackenzie and the others one of his hardest stares, his eyes narrowing and his scowl increasing.

  "If you're going to be a Diviner," he said quietly, almost too quiet to hear. "You need to be able to defend yourself. The difference between life and death out here is often decided by how good your aim is and how fast you can pull the trigger."

  The truck, Rhiannon, drove past at that point and came to a stop alongside the other spectating Diviners. Bell jumped out and stood beside Vasseur, Lowe, and Abbas to watch.

  "Demelza!" Jesse suddenly snapped.

  As soon as Jesse shouted her name, Demelza flinched and there was a loud bang, causing Mackenzie to instinctively jump back, just as a cloud of dirt exploded at her feet, right where her foot had been a moment earlier.

  "Oh God, I'm sorry!" Demelza cried, holding the gun closer to her body like
a teddy, as though it might offer her some comfort as she regarded Mackenzie with a mixed look of horror and guilt. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry, are you okay?"

  Mackenzie, sighing in relief, was about to say she was fine, when Jesse suddenly appeared in front of Demelza, snatched the gun out of her hands and shoved his face right in hers, a look of twisted fury creasing his brow.

  "What did I just say!?" he roared in her face. "What did Commander Vasseur just say!? Don't be stupid around the gun! You could have killed someone!"

  "I'm fine," Mackenzie began to say, but Jesse wouldn't hear it.

  "Vasseur said safeties on! You nearly blew off Miller's foot! You're done, Muys, go home. Maybe the walk back to Town will give you a chance to think for once!"

  Demelza looked from Jesse to Mackenzie, then to Ethan and Ackles, her eyes wide and glistening with tears. She then turned and began hurrying back towards Town, sobbing loudly.

  "It was just an accident," Mackenzie said, frowning at Jesse. "You didn't have to kick her out like that."

  "Even one mistake can get people killed out here," Jesse snarled, turning on her. "There's no place for stupidity. But since you seem to enjoy being the center of attention, maybe you'd like to go first. Go on, take a shot."

  Jesse stood aside and drew a line in the sand with his boot, then took another step back, spreading his arms wide and bowing his head slightly in a mock gesture of welcoming Mackenzie.

  Scowling at him, Mackenzie stepped up to the line and placed the butt of her rifle against her shoulder, squinting into the distance towards the targets.

  They looked tiny. They were nothing but a square of steel screwed into wooden poles and planted in the ground like absurd trees. Each square of steel had a bullseye painted on it, which Mackenzie found difficult to see from this distance.

  No way can I hit that, Mackenzie thought.

  Behind her, she thought she heard chuckling. She wasn't sure who it was, either Jesse or maybe even the other recruit, Ackles. Either way, it pissed her off. Mackenzie raised the gun, took careful aim, thumbed the safety switch to off, and pulled the trigger.

  The gun jumped in her hands with such force she thought she might just fall on her backside. It was far more powerful than she had imagined. Her shoulder was aching and she had pins and needles in her hands, all from just one shot.

  "Miss," Jesse said flatly.

  Mackenzie turned her head and saw Jesse standing a few feet away with a pair of binoculars raised to his eyes, watching the targets in the distance.

  "Again," Jesse barked.

  Grinding her teeth in annoyance, Mackenzie raised the gun again and took aim. Again, the kick of the rifle hurt her shoulder and made her hands tingle with pain. This time, though, she had expected the force of the shot and wasn't almost knocked on her ass.

  "Miss," Jesse said again. "You're too tense. Loosen up. Relax your shoulder. Squeeze the trigger, don't pull it. Exhale as you fire. Turn your shoulder slightly so that when the rifle kicks, it slides a little across the bone instead of almost dislocating it. Try again."

  Scowling at the demeaning way Jesse had of speaking to her, Mackenzie did as she was told, though silently cursing Jesse with creative use of the English language. Mackenzie lined up the target between the sights, exhaled gently, then squeezed the trigger.

  This time, after the shot, Mackenzie heard the sound of a distant ping as the bullet bounced off the steel square.

  "Nice shot!" Ethan crowed.

  "I hit it," Mackenzie grinned, surprised.

  "Don't throw a party just yet," Jesse snapped, lowering the binoculars and turning to face Mackenzie. "You hit the outer edge of the sheet, not the target. If that was a wild animal charging at you, you would have just grazed its skin and pissed it off. Before we're done here, all three of you need to be able to hit the bullseye in the center."

  Mackenzie squinted into the distance at the target. There in the center was a tiny red circle, barely visible this far away.

  "Pfft!" snorted Ackles, who hadn't said a thing until now. "Easy."

  "That's no bigger than an old quarter!" Ethan pointed out doubtfully.

  "There's no way we can hit that," Mackenzie said. "It's impossible!"

  Jesse glared at Mackenzie with narrowed eyes for a moment. Then he marched over to her, dropping his binoculars so that they hung from the strap around his neck, bouncing off his chest. Jesse snatched the gun out of Mackenzie's hands and she was momentarily afraid he was going to send her home, like he had with Demelza.

  Instead, Jesse turned to face downrange, raised the gun, aimed, and fired, all in one fluid movement. There was a loud ping from the target as Jesse's shot found its mark. Mackenzie was looking to see where it hit, but Jesse ripped the binoculars from around his neck and shoved them into her hands without saying a word.

  Mackenzie raised the binoculars and peered at the target. Through the magnified lens, she could see a hole in the target, directly over the red bullseye.

  "Second lesson," Jesse said flatly. "Self-doubt will get you just as far as stupidity."

  And so the remainder of the morning, and some of the afternoon, was spent firing guns, learning how to handle guns, and as a reward, learning how to dismantle, clean, and reassemble guns. By the time they were done, they could all hit the targets dead center almost every time. Mackenzie now knew more about the mechanics of a rifle than she ever thought there was to know, and the muscles in her arms throbbed painfully.

  A canteen of water was being passed around after Jesse made them pack the guns away safely inside the truck and the cool liquid washing down her throat was among the greatest sensations Mackenzie had ever known, so tired and thirsty was she.

  "Good work today, people," Vasseur said to them as they drank. "You now have a chance of defending yourselves. And Renaud, nice job reassembling your weapon so fast. I think you just broke the record time."

  Ethan grinned sheepishly, but was too fatigued to offer much more than, "Thanks, sir."

  "Ackles," Jesse barked from nearby. "Good shooting. You were the best shot today. But considering your competition, I wouldn't be too proud."

  Ackles grinned nastily in Mackenzie's direction, who scowled back at him. She had hit the bullseye just as much as he had. What the hell was Jesse's problem?

  "Everyone get an early night tonight," Vasseur continued, speaking to the group as a whole now. "You've earned it. The Secretary General has excused you all from your regular duties, so don't worry about getting in a shift at your usual placements. You'll need some sleep, because we're starting real early in the morning with more training. You have a lot to learn and no time to learn it. So if you think you're hurting now, you just wait until tomorrow."