The Girl in Red

And after that she and Adam would be loaded onto a truck just like a box of soup and taken to some quarantine place teeming with miserable people, people screaming to be let out or just wandering in a resigned zombie shuffle, people wondering why nobody was helping them and why they were being treated like criminals when all they’d done was follow instructions and gone to where the government told them to and now they were trapped and there were high fences and guards on catwalks and it was all supposed to be for their protection but it didn’t feel like it, it felt like maybe it was so the soldiers could be protected from them.

Red hadn’t followed the rules, hadn’t done what she was told, but she was still going to be stuffed into a bag and taken to that place anyway. Adam didn’t care, probably, because Adam had wanted to go there in the first place and she’d bet that he’d be thrilled to pieces not to have to walk anymore.

If it comes down to it and I try to run, I bet he’ll stay behind.

Her heart hurt at the thought of this, because she’d tried so hard to keep them together. Maybe it was selfish, and she was sure Mama would yell at her for even thinking this, but she felt she’d rather leave Adam behind than let the soldiers keep her.

And he would probably be happier that way, really. He’d never seen the wisdom of her plan.

The two tall men approached—Red tagged them Tall and Taller—and the soldiers surrounding Red and Adam moved apart deferentially to make room for the newcomers in the little circle.

“What have we got here, Corporal?” Tall asked.

“Caught them coming out of the back room.” This was the first man, the one who’d stopped Red and Adam laughing.

Red didn’t like the way he said it, said “caught” like they’d been found covered in blood with a massacre at their feet. But she bit her tongue because she wasn’t going to give them so much as a sigh.

“Where are you from?” Tall barked.

Adam looked at Red, and Red looked at Adam, and by silent consent they decided Red would do the talking.

“Why do you want to know?” Red said.

She could sense Adam’s silent groan, could practically feel the words emanating from his brain to hers.

Why can’t you just answer the man’s question, Red? Why do you always have to be smart?

And of course her response to that would be, You had to know I would be like this.

Tall frowned at her. “What’s your name, young lady?”

“And I say again, why do you want to know?”

“I don’t think much of your manners,” Tall said.

“And I don’t think very much of yours,” Red said. “You’re holding guns on us when we’ve done nothing wrong. You’re demanding information without giving any. If you want to have a polite conversation you need to rethink your methods.”

“Red,” Adam said, but very low, almost just a breath.

She didn’t know why she felt bolder now than she had a moment before, but it was probably because she felt the soldiers with rifles wouldn’t fire in the presence of their superior officer without an order.

And because Tall was trying to find out who they were and where they came from, it was unlikely that he would have them shot for no particular reason. So she’d relaxed a little—not her guard, but her terror of dying in a hail of bullets. And once she relaxed, her natural inclination to push back against authority came to the fore.

Tall looked at her for what felt like a million years but was really only a few seconds. She stared right back and let him see that she wasn’t playing around.

Now, in a movie the next thing to happen would be shouts and threats and then one of these big old soldiers would shoulder his rifle and drag me off in one direction and Adam in the other and we would be tossed in dirty cells with no water until we talked.

But it wasn’t a movie, and Tall was a human being even if he did look like a walking stereotype with his grizzled hair and severe expression. And that was why Red was surprised when he ordered all of the men away except Taller. The corporal who’d initially found them gave Red and Adam a doubtful look, but his CO shook his head and told him to go so he went, too.

Red didn’t know what was going on outside but there was a lot of activity. She heard vehicles driving up and down the street and lots of shouting.

“Stand up, young lady,” Tall said, and gestured to Adam. “And you, too. What are you, brother and sister?”

“Yeah,” Adam said.