The Dawn Read online

She watched the man’s hands shake as he brought the pouch to his mouth. He then gave some to the woman. Dawn slowly walked toward them with her arms up. She squatted down in front of them and sat on the ground.

  What is she doing, Seth thought, while preparing to reach for his pistol. Seth watched in awe as Dawn took off her boots and socks. Dawn reached forward and the woman jumped back.

  “It’s okay,” Dawn said as she reached for one of the woman’s feet. Dawn dusted off the woman’s bare feet which were covered in dirt and dried blood and then she put her socks and boots on the woman.

  The shock on their faces mirrored Seth’s face. Now that is genuine compassion, Seth thought. She showed them who we are by action.

  Dawn rose and backed away from the couple. “If you need help, go to the subway entrance downtown on Eighth Street any day at noon. Someone will be there to help you.” She looked at Seth. “Leave your granola for them.”

  Seth took it from his pocket. He held it up. “Food,” he said and tossed it to him. They backed out of the apartment and closed the door.

  Dawn faced the door with her palm flat on the door, her head down. The Freegans came out of the next door apartment with full bags. Seth motioned for them to wait and not make a sound. Dawn stood like that for two minutes and then backed away from the door.

  “What were you—“

  “Someone has to pray for them. If we don’t, who will?” she stated.

  Seth was disappointed in himself. If only we were all more like her, he thought. They headed out of the building. “You’re barefoot. Maybe I should carry you,” said Seth.

  “That won’t be necessary. I have a favor to ask of you.”

  “Of me? What could I possibly do for you?”

  “Watch after Jade. She doesn’t always think things through. She can be short-tempered.”

  “And loud-mouthed, and hard-headed, and stubborn,” Seth added.

  “I need you to promise me that should anything happen to me you will look after her.“

  Seth stopped walking. “Are you going somewhere? I know you can see things. Should I be concerned?”

  “No. I just need you to promise me.” She raised her eyebrows and tilted her head.

  “Okay, okay. I promise.” Seth turned away from her and pointed at his back. “Now hop on.”

  “That won’t be-“

  “Yeah, yeah. I know it won’t be necessary,” he said cutting her off. “After the example you just showed me, you’re going to have to hop on or take my shoes.”

  Dawn looked down at his shoes. “Aren’t those the ones Hannah vomited on?” She patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m good. Let’s check out that building down the street I will race you guys.”

  They turned away to count off for the race. When they looked back, she was gone.

  7

  Crystal took me from the group each day for a private session with a woman they called Doc. Doc’s family was from Mumbai, but she was born in the United States. She was a medical doctor that also had a degree in psychology from Columbia University. I liked going to see Doc because she allowed me to draw pictures depicting what I wanted to say or how I was feeling.

  Doc asked questions about where I had lived and about my mom. I think she wanted to know how we survived. I told her how we never went out at night and that sometimes people would show up with bags or boxes of items and water for us. No matter what location we moved to, they always knew where to find us.

  Crystal made a funny face when I told Doc about the crickets we roasted and ate, which were pretty good after removing the legs.

  “I can show you if you want,” I offered. “-since you don’t have meat.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Crystal responded with a chuckle.

  Although I remembered everything else Doc asked about, every time she brought up the night that Dawn found me, I drew a blank. I couldn’t remember anything before standing in the street and being swept up in Dawn’s arms.

  “Can you remember waking up that morning?” asked Doc.

  I sat in silence staring at the red stripes on my worn shoelaces and listened to the faint tick of the clock on the wall. Doc waited for my response. She never rushed me.

  I hopped off the chair and stood over the table, staring at the crayons. I grabbed the black crayon and began to cover the page in black wax. Crystal grabbed my arm.

  “Hannah, what is it?”

  I looked down at the broken crayon and black blob that I had created.

  “It…it was dark. I couldn’t see. My mommy wasn’t there. I felt around for her and I cried out for her but she didn’t come. It smelled really bad too.” I placed my hand on top of my head. “I stood on something and bumped my head. I pushed up above my head and tried to push the top up but I could only move it a little.” My eyes began to tear up. “It took a long time to get it open.”

  “How did you get it open?” Doc asked.

  “I think I fell asleep. When I waked up—”

  “Awoke, honey. Not waked up, awoke,” Crystal corrected.

  Doc patted Crystal’s arm and shook her head to stress that she not interrupt.

  “When I ah-woke, I felt around and found a piece of wood and used it to push up with all my might.”

  “That was very smart of you, Hannah. What did you see when you pushed it up?” asked Doc.

  Tears rolled down my cheeks. “Trash everywhere.”

  I turned to Crystal’s embrace. I didn’t know if it was okay to leave anything out, but I didn’t tell them about the body.

  “I’m very proud of you, Hannah. You were able to remember much more today. You are a very brave girl.”

  Doc looked at Crystal. “That’s enough for today.”

  Crystal walked me to the hallway. “Hannah, you can go and join the other children. Do you know the way?”

  I nodded. A weird feeling had swept over me while discussing that night and I was anxious for anything that would clear my mind of it.

  Crystal watched Hannah run down the hall and then looked back at Doc expecting an answer to an unspoken question.

  “She was in a dumpster, I gather,” said Doc as she walked around the table picking up the papers and crayons. “Someone had placed her there, in a hurry, to hide or protect her. Perhaps her mother.”

  Crystal was silent. That’s a large part of the puzzle. What happened to her mother?

  “I’ve already reported the results of her checkup to Dawn. Other than being a little dehydrated, she’s in perfectly good health. How is she adjusting to her new surroundings?” Doc asked.

  “As well as can be expected, Kamala.”

  Doc froze in place. She was caught off guard. Crystal was one of the few that ever used her real name. It was kind of strange to hear it now that she had become so accustomed to being called “Doc.”

  “Does she seem sad at all?” asked Doc.

  “If she is, she’s hiding it well. I would think that she is much happier here with us, in this environment.”

  “I would be very surprised if that were true.”

  Crystal met Doc’s gaze with a puzzled look.

  Doc pushed her overgrown bangs back behind her ear and motioned for Crystal to sit down. “All that she has ever known is the way of life she had with her mother. I am certain that she would give anything to get back to it, no matter what we have to offer.”

  Crystal nodded in agreement. She had seen it before with kids that were taken away from their parents for child neglect. There were cases where parents ran into unfortunate circumstances, leaving them homeless. Once the children were taken away and had proper food and shelter, they weren’t always happy. Some would attempt to run away to get back to their parents. There’s nothing stronger than that bond of love, Crystal thought.

  “It seems that she’s adjusting but it’s a facade. It will take time. How are her lessons?” asked Doc.

  “They’re going well. She picks things up much faster than I’ve seen before and she’
s obsessed with Dawn.”

  “I’m not surprised. She’s her hero,” Doc smiled.

  On my way to join the other kids I decided to check out areas of the building that I hadn’t seen before. Exploring was so much fun. My mom and I used to do it all the time. That’s how we found things that we needed and new places to live. She made a game of it. We were on an adventure exploring uncharted territories that just happened to be storefronts, abandoned buildings and blocks of empty residences.

  The door leading to the stairwell shut hard behind me. I stood startled, waiting for someone to find me. I was determined to find out what was at the top of the stairs. I stepped onto the cement steps and looked up over the metal banister but could only see the banister of the next level. The stairs were dimly lit but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t used to having much light anyway. There were times when we didn’t have flashlights or candles and when we did, we only used them if my mommy was certain the light couldn’t be seen from outdoors.

  The slam didn’t attract any attention so I began to climb the stairs. On the fourth level, a hallway led to the opening of a large room with a fireplace. The sun peaked through a wall of boarded windows. Dawn stood sipping from a cup while looking down at a large map that covered a table. Another woman was with her and made rhythmic sounds as she walked toward Dawn.

  “Boom da kack, boom kack, boom da kack, boom kack.”

  “Stop beatboxing—I don’t want to do the bump. Stop twerking on me,” Dawn exclaimed as she pushed the woman away.

  “Diva. You’re so bossy. Warrior Diva.” the woman laughed.

  “Stop calling me that. I don’t have time for your shenanigans,” Dawn said, while pushing her away again. “I’ve been thinking about something.”

  “You’re actually going to let me in on your thoughts?” Jade looked skeptical.

  “I’m curious. Have I made a positive impact on your life?” asked Dawn.

  “A positive—What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? Are you about to die?”

  Dawn stared at her.

  “Yes, you have made a positive impact on my life. Now stop talking about things like that. You’re scaring me, and you know that nothing scares me,” she said as she gave Dawn an irritated look and went back to beatboxing and twerking close enough for her hip to bump against Dawn’s leg and annoy her.

  Dawn pushed her again. The woman laughed and stumbled away. I giggled. She lowered her voice, “looks like we have a spy in our midst.”

  “She’s been my shadow off and on today,” Dawn replied.

  Dawn sat her cup down. “Hannah, come and meet Jade. Her job around here is to aggravate me.”

  “No, my job here is to remind her of what it’s like to be human.”

  Dawn shot her a look that said, you’re saying too much.

  Jade rolled her eyes and walked over to me holding up her hand for a high five, “Yo! Hannah banana! What’s up girl?”

  I giggled again. I had never met anyone like Jade. Her personality was so much fun. She had caramel skin and long braids that hung down to her camouflage baggy pants. I raised my hand, but before I could respond, an explosion shook the building. Dawn dashed for the stairs.

  “Han stay here!” Jade yelled.

  Instead, I followed her down the hall and up the back stairs to the roof.

  At the top of the stairs Dawn pulled open a heavy, steel door as if it weighed nothing. The door was closing as Jade made it to the top. Jade grabbed the handle but the weight the door almost slammed her back into the jamb. She pushed it open just in time to see Dawn run towards the edge of the roof. I could hear footsteps running up the stairs behind me as I climbed.

  What happened next seemed to be in slow motion. Just as Dawn got to the edge of the roofline, a second explosion sent smoke and debris flying in every direction. We fell back from the door. Seth pushed his way passed us and pulled the door open again. Through the haze, we saw that a third of the roof was gone, including where Dawn had been standing.

  I screamed as Jade grabbed me and pulled me back. “I thought I told you to stay downstairs,” she said. A thumping sound turned her attention back to the roof.

  As we looked on, a black military helicopter rose above the building. Dawn’s limp body was slumped over the arm of a soldier that held her around the waist. Before the helicopter pulled away, Dawn raised her arm; the signal for Protocol II. Seth nodded and ushered us back down the stairs.

  8

  Dawn struggled to open her eyes. The light was too bright. What did they do to me? Vaguely, she remembered an injection in her neck while on the helicopter. She wasn’t sure how long she had been drifting in and out of consciousness. She remembered scenes of the city below and then darkness. She saw the approach to a military base and then darkness. She wondered how long she had been out before she awakened in this room.

  Her cell was stark white and empty, except for the chair that she sat cuffed to and the vacant chair in front of her. Upon assessing herself for injuries she found that her feet were also restrained. The crook of her arm was sore where her captors had drawn blood.

  She looked up at the mirror on the wall, aware that she was being watched. To her back left, a buzzer sounded and a door opened. In walked a high ranking military officer. Dawn fixed her gaze straight ahead. And the game begins.

  “I am General Alexander Cain and you are?” His speech was slow and deliberate.

  Dawn glanced up at him as he stepped in front of her. He wore a crisp black uniform with the IMO insignia and various military medals over his left breast pocket.

  General Cain sat down and looked Dawn over but said nothing further. He looked to be about 40 years old. His grooming was impeccable. He was clean-shaven, and upon removing his hat, revealed a freshly lined, low-taper fade haircut.

  Okay, one of us is going to have to get this started, she thought. “Why am I here? We are no threat to you.” Her voice was hoarse and her mouth was very dry, no doubt a side effect of whatever they had drugged her with.

  “Correction, your people aren’t a threat, but you, my dear, are a different story.”

  He crossed his legs. “We have cameras all over the city for surveillance. It’s important that we keep an eye on what’s going on outside of the IMO cities and safe zones. A few months ago, on a random security check, one of our drones happened upon you doing some remarkable things, things that no human should be capable of doing. We’ve been looking for you ever since, monitoring different sectors of the city. We lucked out when you saved that little girl. Where did you come from? Did you jump off that building to get to her? How-”

  “You were watching and did nothing? You were just going to let them harm her?”

  “We don’t get involved with the natural order of things,” General Cain lied.

  “There is nothing natural about Them.”

  “So how did you-”

  “I can do nothing unless He allows it.”

  “He?” General Cain pondered her statement. “So, you work for-”

  She cut him off, “No, that’s your creation.”

  General Cain had nonchalantly begun picking at his fingernails but stopped and glanced at Dawn. Although his military training taught him to hide emotion, his eyes revealed that her words disturbed him. He looked back at the mirror behind him.

  Dawn interrupted his thoughts, “You can’t keep me here.”

  Cain turned back to face Dawn with a sneer, “Sure we can.”

  He rose from his seat and with an accomplished look about him, walked out of the interrogation room and into the room on the other side of the mirror where the Director was waiting. Two guards stood stationed outside the door.

  “This is a waste of time,” said Cain. “I have a set of skills that I haven’t used for some time that—”

  “No. No torture,” said the Director.

  “You.” General Cain pointed at a soldier standing behind them. “Is this the woman you saw in that building?”

  “
Yes, sir. I followed orders to search for her based on the drone footage. While making my way through the structure you pinpointed she…uh, attacked me, sir.”

  “So, you were able to fight her off?

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re dismissed,” said General Cain.

  The soldier saluted and left the room.

  “He’s lying.”

  “Which part?” asked the Director. She trusted the General Cain’s instincts.

  “I’m sure he saw her, but his account of what happened after that is a lie. His eyes should have been locked, staring ahead at a distant object. Instead, they drifted off to the right and back forward.”

  “Have an IMO Police Corps unit pick him up. I want to know what happened that would cause him to lie to his superiors. Get me all the information you can on her. Who is she? What is she? Where did she come from? Is she the product of a military experiment? Are there more like her? I want the blood test and DNA results on my desk ASAP! I want answers.”

  “Did you hear what she said?” asked Cain. “‘That’s your crea—’”

  The Director put her hand up cutting him off, “She just mumbled something. What did she just say? Play it back.”

  They looked at the computer screen as the lieutenant played back the audio from the room. It was too faint to make out. He studied the screen as the computer attempted to decipher the sound wave.

  “This may take some time,” said the lieutenant. “She’s talking to someone. The intonation pattern seems to reflect that she is making a statement.” He attempted to repeat what he was hearing through his headphones. “‘No’” He tapped a button on his keyboard and one of the levels of a red bar on his screen raised. “’Weapon. No weapon… Shall— Is she wired?” he asked.

  The interrogation room’s microphone picked up movement. They all turned to look back at the mirror. Dawn’s restraints were broken. She stood up from the chair, her fierce eyes locked on the mirror as though she could see General Cain and the Director.

  “Like I said, you can’t keep me here. Or should I say, there is nothing that you can do to keep me here.” She walked right through the two-way mirror and into the room with them.