Free WIPE (A Post-Apocalyptic Story) by Joseph Turkot Page A

indeed.”
     
    Suddenly, it all starts to make sense to me. That the Fathers did see us out in the Deadlands. And that’s how they know. They must have seen us. Because nothing else fits anymore. But now, Maze has fallen on the sword for me. And if they saw us both, why is he letting it happen to her? That’s when the truth really hits me—if they saw anyone out there, it was me , in the alleyway. They shouldn’t even know she was there at all, let alone that she touched metal. None of it adds up, but I can’t keep working through it because Father Gold stands up. 
     
                “I’ll send a Father with your judgments tonight. Wills, you are dismissed. Father James, please see him home.”
                And when I turn around, there’s Father James, back in the room with us, as if he never left.
                “What are you going to do?” I say, unable to keep my anger in check any longer.
                “Do not worry, Wills. Maze will be kept under our watch until the judgment is leveled. Go with God.”
                Father James’s hand clasps my arm, and as much as I don’t want to move, he begins to tug me out of the room. I look at Maze, hoping for any kind of communication to come from her—even some sign of hope concealed in her eyes. But there’s nothing. Just a dead stare. As if the ever-adapting Maze has finally met a situation she can’t get out of.
                “Maze,” I say, as Father James tugs me out. But she doesn’t even make a whisper. Her face turns back to Father Gold and I only see her raven hair. And then, there’s nothing.

Chapter 5
     
    Father James shoos June away on the street when she hops up alongside of us, trying to get the scoop on what’s happened to Maze.
                “Where is she Wills?” she asks.
                I can’t even get the words out. Part of me wants to kneel down and whisper to her, just like Maze did, and tell her we’ve got to get Maze out of there. Free her somehow. But I can’t involve someone so little in such an awful thing as this. And finally, I just watch her go, her face torn by confusion and disappointment. Finally she looks away, downtrodden and scared, wondering what will become of her friend, and in the eyes of the Fatherhood, the worst influence on her young life.
     
    When I get inside, the exuberance my mother initially had for my safe return is gone. She begins by telling me that I am officially forbidden from hanging out with Maze. I tell her that it’s impossible—we see each other all the time. That we live right next door to each other. And we’re best friends. But she’s more resolved than I’ve ever seen her to put an end to our friendship this time. And when she begins to include God’s will in her rant, I tell her I’m going out. She tells me I can’t, and that she’s making lunch, but I don’t care anymore. I just storm out of the house.
     
    I can tell I’m being followed by Fathers when I walk down to the edge of town. Some of my friends watch too, and even little June follows me some of the way, until I see one of the Fathers tell her to get back home. And then, once I reach the wooden fence at the end of town, near the trailhead that leads to the beach, I sit down. Right there under the hanging branches of the fat trees, and I think about last night. The night we spent together, sleeping on the beach. I think about what’s going to happen to her, and what Father Gold must be saying now. My mind reels through everything—the mirror being real, the possibility that Maze is right about there being an Ark. Then, standing up, I try to spot the dark gray spire of the tower. But I can’t see anything through the trees and the high ridges of clouds. On the clearest days, you can see it from anywhere in the town. But today, as if the sky is reflecting my mood, it doesn’t give me one glimpse.
                When