The Burn by Annie Oldham

companion.
    “Red, Nell, this is Terra.”
    I bob my head to them. Nell’s mouth widens into an
irresistible smile full of white, crooked teeth. I smile wide back,
opening my teeth in spite of myself. But Nell doesn’t flinch. She
extends a soft, wrinkled hand. I shake it gently, almost an apology
for showing my mouth to her.
    “Not to worry, dear. You’ll find all of us have our
own scars here. Not everyone’s is as obvious, but we’re all just a
bit broken. Comes with the territory.”
    I spoon some oatmeal and strawberries and put them in
my mouth. I faintly taste a trace of the sweet. It isn’t much, but
it’s enough. Dave smiles as I down three more bites. After the
energy bars in the sub, this food, tasteless or not, is
heavenly.
    Red looks like he wants to ask more about my mouth,
but Nell lays a hand on his arm. Red puts an arm around her
shoulders and squeezes her. She smiles.
    I peer out the window behind them. A realization
strikes me in the chest. Through the window, I see the sky blue and
hazy in the morning sunlight. Trees sway. I can see out the window
and really see . No black ocean, no heavy weight. I walked
through the rain last night and slept in it. I woke up to rain on
my face this morning. And here I am looking through the window at a
world illuminated by sunlight.
    “What’s wrong?” Dave says.
    “Hmm?”
    “You’re crying.”
    I realize my face is wet. I sit here with two people
who have spent their lives together on the Burn and are so
completely in love, I can feel the emotion radiating off them. In
the colonies we are led to believe that such a thing is
impossible—the Burn is filled with killers and destroyers and such
things as love and hope are shadows.
    I shrug. I don’t have the ability to tell him how
happy I am at this moment.

Chapter Nine
    After breakfast, Dave takes me on a tour of the
settlement. Mary and Jack offer to accompany us, but Dave gives
Jack a meaningful look and he quickly ushers Mary away. I raise an
eyebrow.
    “What was that all about?” he asks. I nod.
    “Oh, just Mary being Mary. I love her, I do, but.” He
runs his hand through his hair, his lips stumbling as he feels for
the right words. He and Mary must have some kind of past together
and the current situation isn’t comfortable for either of them. I
wait.
    “I can’t do it right now. She’s wanted to get back
together ever since she came back from Seattle two months ago, but
I’m not ready. She’s changed since she came back.”
    He leads me up a flight of stairs. The stairs are
patched in places, but I’m amazed how intact everything is. I was
expecting total devastation. The floors need a good mopping and
waxing, but everything is decent.
    “Everybody sleeps up here. Some people share rooms,
others have smaller rooms for their own. The town was evacuated
when sirens announced a bombing. Most people thought Seattle would
be safe—smaller city, nothing to protect. I guess they were right,
it wasn’t leveled. But it’s dangerous. That’s where Mary went a
year and a half ago. Said she needed something different, thought
she’d like it better. Dreams of building it up, changing it. You
can guess how that went.”
    He pulls aside the thick fabric covering a window.
Above the trees the gray water of the sound ripples out. In the
distance across the water, I see the faint, irregular outline of
ragged buildings.
    “Seattle,” Dave says. “There’s an important rule we
have. I don’t know who you are really, but you can help me figure
that out by how well you follow the rules.”
    I nod. I can follow rules. I grew up surrounded by
them.
    “The windows are covered before dusk. No light ever
escapes them.” His voice drops and his face is deadly serious.
“Seattle can’t ever know we’re here.”
    He scares me. How bad can Seattle be? He meticulously
puts the fabric back.
    “The country’s the place to be these days. Nothing to
loot, nothing to claim. Gangs leave it alone, as long as