The Defectors (Defectors Trilogy) by Benner Tarah

Author:Benner, Tarah [Benner, Tarah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Young adult dystopian, young adult, dystopian, fiction, Dystopian future, New Adult
Publisher: Tarah Benner
Published: 2014-01-08T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I woke the next morning to the sound of wailing coming from the kitchen. I took the stairs two at a time and found Ida bawling at the table. Max stood over her, spatula in hand, looking utterly terrified.

“I guess this is how it is when you have children,” Ida shrieked. “Day by day everything’s normal, and then one day they have to leave.”

“I’m-I’m sorry,” said Max, stumbling over his words. “But we can’t exactly stay here . . .”

A fresh wave of sobs overtook her. “I know . . . I know. I feel terrible about that.”

Amory stood in the corner, arms crossed, looking as uneasy as I’d ever seen him.

“No, no, no. I’m just . . . being silly.” She hiccupped. “Please, don’t mind me. Of course you have to go!”

Max shot me a pleading look, utterly bewildered.

Seeing me standing in the doorway, Ida ushered me in with a sweeping gesture of the hand that wasn’t clutching the raggedy handkerchief she had blown her nose on. “Please, please, come in. Honestly, don’t pay any attention to me. I’ll just miss you all. So . . . so much.” And she was crying again.

Amory appeared at my elbow. “She’s been like this all morning,” he whispered. “We don’t know what to do.”

I smiled. “She’ll be all right, I think. She’s just sad.”

Max materialized on my other side, pulling me toward the stove. “Help us!” he hissed.

“How is she going to keep the farm running without everyone here?” I asked.

Max shrugged. “She did it before we lived here. I think she has some old farmer buddies who came down here and helped out.”

“We should get everything in order for her before we leave,” said Amory.

Logan managed to get Ida up to bed, and we all spent the rest of the day frantically harvesting anything and everything that could be put away into storage. Even Roman pitched in to help. Despite all the excitement with the rebels arriving and the rest of us preparing to leave, he seemed utterly unaffected by everything that was going on. He was just as surly as usual, but he didn’t seem to care that he would be on his own.

Luckily, with winter approaching, there would be much less work to do in the gardens. Ida would mainly have to contend with the livestock until the PMC took over the farm. The thought made my stomach churn. If they didn’t want the land for farming, there was no telling what they would do with the animals.

In the afternoon, Logan and I made more candles and cleaned up the house the best we could. Most of the mess came from the stacks of new issues of The Patriot that were waiting to be sent out, so it was short work.

Ida pulled herself together by midafternoon, and she emerged from her room to make a run to the Exchange.

Still shaken from the emotional ordeal with Ida, Max retreated to the kitchen to bake some bread for the trip.

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