The Dawn: The Bombs Fall (A Dystopian Science Fiction Series) (14 page)

Zack’s mother positioned the hat on his
head, just to the side as he had insisted. She helped him drape the blue and
red scarf around his shoulders so it hung properly over the black gown. His
father watched. He was smiling and saying how proud he was. He was saying what
a wonderful engineer he would make and that today was the first day of his
future. His mum kissed him and his dad made a joke about the lipstick before
rubbing his cheek with his thumb. Samantha was nearby with her parents. She was
looking over her shoulder smiling too.

..........and the doors opened and Leonard
was pulling on his arm saying that they didn’t have long. It was time to grab
the things he wanted. He was asking where the bag was. They were on level
thirty and somebody was shouting that they had the winner, like the celebration
of a successful hunt. Leonard was shouting at somebody that there wasn’t time
to do something like that, and that the idea was insane. There was no way they
were doing a lap of every floor. The man looked angry and shoved Leonard, but
then..........

Zack was standing outside his office block.
His reflection was staring back at him in the mirrored glass. He was saying
that he was sorry but it had to be this way. That he wasn’t ready. It wasn’t
her fault, but he wasn’t ready for it. What was she supposed to do, she was
asking. He was saying he would help her. He was saying that he would go with
her and be there for her, and that afterwards they would still be together. He
just wasn’t ready for the responsibility. She was crying, and he was making his
excuses. He told her he would speak to her later. She told him she loved him. He
repeated that he would speak to her later.

......... Leonard was shouting at somebody
to get out the way. He was still holding onto Zack’s arm and pulling him
forwards and.........

Zack went inside and put his telephone into
his pocket. He took the lift up to the thirtieth floor. Leonard was there,
younger with fuller cheeks. He asked him if he wanted to talk about it but Zack
said that he didn’t, that it was personal. Leonard told him that if he changed
his mind he would be there. He made a coffee. He sat at his desk and got out
his diary. The office filled with light, streaming in as if every dawn was
rising in unison. He ran to Leonard’s office. The floor beneath him rumbled, a
sensation that he had never felt before, like the floor was resting on a
surface of jelly.

........ then Leonard slammed the door
shut.

“Zachary, are you OK?” Leonard was peering
down at him, his eyes wide, and his smile fixed and tight. “You looked in a
daze there for a moment.” Zack was sitting on the edge of his bed, his room,
his home, his life for an unknown and poorly counted number of years.

“I can’t believe it, Leo.” Zack’s hands
were resting on his chest, across his heart. He was trying to breathe, his lips
pursed together like they were sucking on a straw.

“That’s it, Zachary. Just take a few deep
breaths,” Leonard said as he sat crouched in front of him. His face was still
red, his eyes swollen and sore. In that vision Zack realised that the only
thing that matched his luck was the incredible loss of every other resident,
not only in Delta, but the rest of New Omega.

“I’m sorry, Leo.” Tears welled in Zack’s
eyes and a single droplet escaped onto his cheek which Leonard brushed away.

“Sorry?” Leonard asked. “Don’t be sorry. Come
on now,” he said, resting a comforting arm across his shoulders as he sat at
Zack's side. He was the closest thing Zack had to a friend or a father left. “What
could I do with a life in Omega Tower? I’m old. I’m not even sure they let old
chaps like me in there. Now come on, they’re coming for you. It’s time to get
yourself together. I’ve snatched you a few quiet moments by getting you here
for your things, but we have to leave in a few minutes.”

Zack sat nodding, agreeable and thankful
for Leonard’s willingness not to show his disappointment. They both knew it
existed. He had lost too. A wife, a family, a home. There was nothing left for
him except this. This was his reality. But Zack could no longer sympathise with
his misfortunes. They were no longer the same. Zack stood up and grabbed his
blanket and pillow from the bed and bundled them up before thrusting them into
Leonard’s arms.

“You have to take my things, Leo.” This
room will be ransacked once word gets out. Nothing will be left. You have to
take anything you can.” Zack searched around looking for something of use. A
spare overall, too big but available. A jumper, holey but still an extra layer.
He opened the satchel and pulled out the iPod and pushed it along with the
clothes into a pile in Leonard’s arms. He reached under the mattress, pulled
out three ration cards.

“Be careful with these. Don’t go crazy with
them. There are enough water rations on here to see you through a month without
your own.” He reached into another drawer, pulled out an old wallet. There was
a photograph in there. It was Zack and Samantha in the summer, when days were
long and life felt even longer. Youth lived in the couple who Zack no longer
recognised as himself ever being part of. They were cuddling on top of some
steps. “Paris,” Zack said. “Years ago.” He took the picture and tore it in
half, separating their heads. He slipped the half with Samantha on it into his
pocket, handed the other half to Leonard.

“Why?” Leonard said. “I’m not going to
forget you.”

“There is always part of me that stayed
outside of this tower, but I thought that part of me had died. Now I can feel
it again. But the part of me in here,” he paused to wipe away another tear, “it
was only kept alive by you. Part of me will stay here with you, and maybe on some
of the darker days you can look at this and remember that. Maybe it will help.”

“It will,” Leonard said, his eyes glassing
over. “We have to go,” he said quickly, slipping the photograph in his overall
pocket.

“No, stay here.” Leonard looked surprised. “If
you come, somebody else will get this stuff. The crowd will probably follow me.
Can’t you hear them?” Outside the door there was a chant of Zack’s name, demanding
their hero winner. “Take the things next door as soon as we have gone. Leonard
nodded.

Zack stepped forwards and crouched down. He
opened his arms and wrapped them around Leonard's body. They held each other,
both knowing that something else had ended. Their heads rested on each other’s
shoulders, and Zack drank in the smell of him without any care for any disease
that he might catch. It wasn’t important anymore.

“You take care, Zachary.” They both stood
up. “I don’t know what I would have done without you in those early days. I’ll
miss you.”

“Likewise, old man. Don’t lose hope. Maybe
your clouds will clear after all.”

“Maybe,” Leonard said, not seeming
convinced.

“And if not, I’ll find a way to bring back
some sunshine into your life.” He held Leonard’s cheek in his hand, Leonard
fighting back the first tears of a goodbye, Zack’s fingers sliding around to
grip his neck. He pulled him closer. “There is a way out of here, and this is
not the only way.” They both nodded their heads, only one of them really
believing it. “I’m coming back for you one day.” He walked to the door, opened
it a fraction and the cheering became louder. Leonard sat back down. The
cheering faded as Zack closed the door.

He was gone.

jump straight into book two
of The Dawn series now

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