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No one else found it funny.
“We need to get out of the country,” Marilyn urged. “We heard there were colonies?”
“In Europe,” the Director shook his head sadly. “They exist, but getting out of this country as a supernatural being without the Council’s approval is almost impossible. Most business personnel are registered under the Upper Council, so they don’t get flagged at airports. Families who want to go on vacation must apply and get approval before purchasing a ticket. They have us under their thumb, I’m afraid.”
“Can you at least point us in the right direction? Give us something to work with? We’ll worry about getting out of the country when the time comes,” Marilyn begged.
“I will,” he acquiesced. “Later, after you’ve done some actual work and I know you’re not here to be layabouts. Kai will tour the compound with you and show you to your living quarters.”
A tall woman appeared in the doorway, after which the Director stood. “Don’t be too much trouble. The Head of the Resistance is meaner than I am. He has no patience for tomfoolery.”
The Head—whoever he was—had piqued my curiosity. If only I didn’t have more important things to worry about, I might have wanted to meet him.
13
THE COMPOUND
Sariel
The compound was far more spacious and beautiful than I’d initially seen.
Kai was a stoic tour guide, but she was well-versed in everything that was going on. We passed a group of people milling around an outside table, and she greeted each by name.
First, she pointed out the entertainment hall. It was a long, rectangular building that hosted the movie theater, several consoles, and a pool hall that was like a man’s den.
The clinic was next; another unremarkable rectangular building painted white, a pair of stone dogs sitting sentry on either side of the entrance.
After that was a dining hall similar to the lounge area in the main building. This one boasted industrial-styled kitchens and cafeteria-like dining arrangements. There were high chairs and other things scattered around the room; yet another reminder that there were children here.
The fact that there was a laundrybuildingwas… insane. I’d never thought much about how much laundry a place this size would have to go through, but this was just ridiculous. The washers and dryers were labeled for specific clothing to make life easier for whoever was on laundry duty that weekend, while every laundry bag was labeled with a family or person’s name. It was interesting, to say the least.
We stopped by the power plant that ran the whole place, and from the top floor, we could make out a water wheel a few miles out that provided water for the buildings. The solar panels were only about half a mile out, but the backup generators and so on, were stored in this building. We met a night-duty technician who gave us a short tour of the building and explained how things were run.
The farms were a ways out, too. We could see the barns and the residences of the people who lived there on the horizon.
I was wildly impressed by how resourceful this all was. Kai explained that the compound sat on about eighty acres of private land, with a little under half that being forested and one acre being designated solely for the Head.
There were children running around the back of the main living space. The boys and girls were separated into gendered buildings. Each room boasted its own bathroom and small living quarters; there were even three-bedroom apartment-like rooms for single mothers with female children or single fathers with male children, with different living areas for families not all one gender. And, finally, there was a wing for orphaned children of all ages, with several caretakers responsible for them.
We found the school. It wasn’t the largest building, but it housed both middle and high school on one floor and the little ones on the floor above that one.
Neo asked about the orphans, and Kai was happy to tell us that many of them didn’t actually remember their time before coming here. Except for a few who were old enough to remember very vague things about their parents or where they were from, most of them only had memories that had been formed after being saved by the Resistance. I was mollified by this knowledge, because I was sure that if any of them remembered what had happened to their parents, they would be traumatized.
“So they just accept that they don’t have parents like everyone else?” Johnny inquired.
“They definitely do ask,” Kai said, “and we don’t mind explaining why they’re not like the others. We’re always transparent with them. It’s best to prepare them for when they’re older, and they have to face the reality that their family is us alone.”
“What if they don’t react well to that conversation?” Neo asked.
Kai sighed. “They’re children. There isn’t much we can do about how they react to things that they don’t technically understand.”
“Huh. I guess that’s fair.”
When we were finished, she led us to a separate building where all of our rooms would be. It was designated for couples without children, and since it had the most space, we were all getting rooms on the same floor.
While the others explored, Kai kept Aria and I to the side.
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but we’re happy to have you here…” she trailed off. “Even though the Director is incredible—and so is the Head for giving us all of this—they don’t really know how to rally people. We’re safe and grateful, but what about those who aren’t? Those who can’t get to a Resistance compound? Or those who are nervous about taking the chance?”
