The Attack

Maesyn Mercia lay awake in bed, fiddling with the gold, heart shaped locket around her neck; her thoughts on the last words her mother spoke to her. “Don’t trust them”, she had said as she pressed the locket into Maesyn’s hand. She had never seen her mother or father again after that night. They had gone with the men in suits who had knocked on their door. Maesyn’s mother had told her and Jamie to hide until they were gone and not to try and follow them. Maesyn glanced up at the bed above her where her little brother slept.

Don’t trust them. But, who did she mean by them? That is what Maesyn had been trying to figure out for the past two years. She suspected her mom was talking about the government and that her parents were likely killed because they knew something about the “attack” that they were not supposed to know.

Maesyn began to hear soft snoring coming from the top bunk. Jamie had been only 10 when their parents disappeared and he had since stopped waiting up for them each night as if they would burst through the door at any moment. However, Maesyn knew that he still believed they were out there somewhere. She, being five years his senior, was not as naive. At Least that is what she told herself. If she was honest, it was much easier to believe them dead because if they were still alive, that meant they had abandoned her and her brother. Maesyn slowly and quietly got out of bed, arranged some pillows under her covers in case Jamie got up while she was gone, stuffed her long, blonde hair under a baseball cap, tucked the locket into the top of her romper and put on her favorite thrifty jacket. She took one last look at her sleeping brother (now almost tall enough for his feet to reach the end of the bed), pulled her gas mask over her face and slipped out the door.

Jamie Mercia opened his eyes as soon as the door to the treehouse closed. If he listened closely, he could hear his sister start to make her way down the tree trunk. He imagined she had gotten pretty good at climbing up and down trees in the dark given how much she had been sneaking out lately. He remembered the first time he heard her leave in the middle of the night over a year ago. His first instinct was to follow her, but fear got the better of him. What if someone saw him and that got her in trouble? What if she had to rescue him? He knew she would do anything to protect him. He couldn’t lose her too. Also, he wasn’t as athletic as jos sister and would likely injure himself trying to climb down the tree. There were less precarious ways for Maesyn to get to ground level (a ladder on the other side of the village and lifts stationed around the perimeter) but she would be more than likely to run into someone else using those avenues.

The Sky Village was erected six months after the Attack. When poisonous gas was released in their city, scientists eventually figured out that it was heavier than the air. This meant that, given enough altitude, they could breathe freely. The health department and other important/in charge people were still saying there was contamination at the ground level and to avoid going down there if at all possible. Schools and grocery/convenience stores had been built in the Sky Village, so that most life could be lived up above the poison. Jamie’s best friend Zeke told him that his dad just got assigned to the team working on the Skylink - a tramlike mode of transportation that would travel between Skyvillages on elevated tracks.

Wherever his sister was going, however, she had to travel by foot, on the abandoned terrain below. He had never asked her about it or even admitted that he knew she was sneaking out every so often. She had become a different person after their parents disappeared and whatever this quest of hers was, it seemed to give her purpose. Jamie had a feeling it had something to do with the heart shaped locket their mother had given her on that fateful night. She never let it out of her sight. He knew she wasn’t looking for their parents, though. She believed they had died and she had tried to convince Jamie of this, but he didn’t buy it. He couldn’t really explain why he was so sure they were still alive, it was just something he felt in the depths of his being. He sighed, sent up a silent prayer that his sister would return safely, like she always did and another one for his parents that had yet to be answered. He rolled over, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

Maesyn walked along the scorched earth as silently as she could, blackened branches and rubble crunching under her ankle high hiking boots. Her mask was already starting to bother her. Jamie said they made everyone look like characters from the old Star Wars movies. When they were first told that colorless, odorless poisonous gas had been released in their city and to not go outside without a government issued gas mask, people were skeptical. All doubt left them however, after seeing what happened to the few people who had risked going outside without a mask. Maesyn’s friend Caroline had been one of them. She had walked out to the mailbox in front of her house and by the time she got back inside, she could no longer remember who she was. Maesyn closed her eyes and shook her head as if she could rattle the memory out of her mind. Once the Skyvillage was built, the fire department had come in and used a controlled burn to scorch everything at ground level. The government had said this was necessary because there was no way of knowing what had been contaminated. Even now, two years later, they weren’t sure if the gas was still

Maesyn was nearly there now. She no longer needed to check the address scrawled on the tiny piece of paper she had found folded up inside the locket over a year ago. She now knew the destination by heart. Maesyn stopped before the treeline and gazed across the road at the abandoned building. She glanced around but no one was in sight. So she started towards the building. She wasn’t sure what this building had been used for before the Attack, but from the looks of what remained of it, it was, most likely, some sort of government agency building. She precariously stepped over piles of rubble as she climbed her way into the building. Maesyn had explored the building numerous times and had not found anything of significance. It was hard to search for something when you didn’t know what it was you were supposed to be searching for. She knew there had to be something here that was important. Otherwise, why would her mom have kept the address written down and hidden inside a locket?

As Maesyn walked the deserted halls, her mothers last words came to her mind. “Don’t trust them”. Maesyn knew that this building had something to do with her parents’ deaths. Her parents had thought the circumstances surrounding the Attack were strange. The gas was real, as evidenced by what happened to Caroline and several others, but the government said that it was foreign terrorists who smuggled the poisonous gas into our country and released it. She overheard her mom asking her dad one night why we had never been told which terrorist group was to blame. Wasn’t it most terrorists MO to claim responsibility for their attacks? Dad was a federal agent and mom worked for a medical research lab. A few days before the men in suits had taken her parents from their home, her dad had come home from work visibly upset about something. Maesyn hadn’t heard all that he said because she had been upstairs in her room and it didn’t seem as important then as it was now to try and hear their conversation, but it seemed like her father thought the government knew more about the Attack than they were sharing with the public.

Maesyn stopped walking. She heard something. It sounded like...voices? It couldn’t be. This building was abandoned...or so she thought. Of all the times she had come here, she had never seen another person. She heard them again and this time it was unmistakable. She was not the only one here. Her heartbeat quickened as she tried to figure out where the voices were coming from. It almost sounded as if they were coming from...below her! She looked further up the hall and saw a vent on the floor. Maesyn scurried over to it, laid flat on her stomach and put her ear right on top of the vent to hear them more clearly.

Jamie took another bite of his cereal as you sneaked a glance at his sister across the table. She had returned to the Skyvillage safely, just like she always did, but something was wrong. She usually seemed irritated and disappointed upon her midnight excursions. Jamie guessed that was because she kept coming up empty handed. Whatever she had been looking for the past year and a half, she was having trouble finding it. This time however, her temperament was different. She seemed jumpy and anxious. This worried Jaime. What had happened last night? She must have discovered something, but what? He wanted to ask her, but she had no idea he knew about her trips down to ground level each weekend.

They walked silently together across the swinging walkways of the Skyvillage. Jamie had to get over his fear of heights now that they all lived in treehouses. Once the school had been built, many kids, including Jamie, resumed their education. Maesyn however, had decided not to return to school. His sister used to love school. She was really smart and popular, but ever since what happened to their parents, she had distanced herself from her friends. All she cared about now was figuring out more about what had happened two years ago.

Once they were inside the school Jamie turned to her and said. “See you at the Stewart’s after school?” His sister noded absently. The Stewarts worked the night shift at the convenience store during the week and they had young children. Jamie and Maesyn ate dinner with them Monday through Friday and then stayed to watch the kids when Mr and Mrs Stewart left for work. Jamie was sure Maesyn would rather be off investigating, but the Stewarts had been close friends of their parents and he didn’t think she had the heart to turn them down when the asked for help. Jamie, on the other hand, Jamie enjoyed pretending to be a part of a normal family again.

“Have a good day”, Maesyn said, not meeting his eyes, as she headed off in the direction of the Library. She had secured a job there, he thought, in hopes of digging up information on the Attack. Jamie doubted she had ever had much luck. Back when school had first started back up again, many kids were curious about the Attack and it was obvious the teacher’s answers were rehearsed. One teacher had decided to share her honest opinion with the children once and she had not returned to teaching since. The kids eventually stopped inquiring. Jamie, afraid of being separated from his sister, never asked any questions. “Jamie!” The sound of someone calling his name jerked him away from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Zeke waving at him. Jamie pushed away his worries about his sister and started down the hall towards his best friend.

This had been the longest week of Maesyn’s life. Ever since returning from the abandoned building last weekend, all she could think about was going back. It took patience that she did not have just to go through the motions of the week. All the while her mind was constantly traveling back to the conversation she had overheard. After the unknown voices had faded, Maesyn had searched everywhere for a way down to the floor below. She hadn’t found stairs or an elevator anywhere.

Saturday night had finally arrived and Maesyn was more than ready.She pulled on her boots over her skinny jeans, pulled a hoodie over her head, the locket already around her neck. She opened up the desk drawer and pulled out her taser. She had stopped taking it with her months ago since she never seemed to run into anyone else. Until now. She hooked it onto her built loop and started for the door. “What do you need that for?” Maesyn almost jumped out of her skin. Jamie had not been asleep like she thought. He wasn’t even in his pajamas. He was sitting up in bed, fully clothed, watching her. “You scared the crap out of me!” She hissed. “Why aren’t you asleep?” Jamie jumped down off the bed. “I’m coming with you.”

“What do you mean?” Maesyn acted confused. “I was just going to get -”

“Some air?” Jamie rolled his eyes.

“What?” She said indignantly. “I was going to take a walk around the village”.

“What’s the taser for then?”

“You can never be too careful,” she said.

“Give it a rest, Maesy. I know you have been sneaking out every week for over a year now and I hear you climb down the tree each time.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why didn’t you ever say anything then?”

Jamie shrugged. “As long as you weren’t getting into trouble or getting hurt, I figured if this was how you wanted to work through what happened, I shouldn’t pester you about it.”

“So why are you pestering me about it now?”

“Because you have been acting weird all week. So, you must have found something and if it has anything to do with mom and dad, I want to know what it is. Which is why I am coming with you.”

“It’s too dangerous”, she said.

“I don’t care. If you go, I’m following you whether you like it or not.”

Maesyn sighed. “Fine. I will fill you in on the way.”

They grabbed their gas masks as they walked out the door and started to slowly make their way down the tree trunk.

Once they were on the ground, his sister began recounting everything to him. How she had overheard dad tell mom something wasn’t right and that he suspected aspects of The Attach were being covered up. She told him how she had discovered the piece of paper inside the locket and had looked the address up at the library. Apparently, she had to resort to a physical map borrowed from the librarian because nothing was showing up on Google maps. Once she had found the abandoned building, she had been returning frequently, but had not uncovered anything to suggest why their mother had felt it important for her to know about the location. Until last week, that was, when she had heard voices. She hadn’t made out much of what they were saying, but heard them mention The Attack and she also caught the words ‘antidote’ and “running out of time”

By the time she had finished telling him all this, they were standing across the road from the building. “Evidently there is some kind of underground operation,” she said, “but, I couldn’t find any entrance to lower levels anywhere and I searched the whole building.” Jamie considered this as he peered across the street at the building. The front of the structure was badly burned and crumbling, but the back was pretty much intact. “What about an entrance from the outside, around the back of the building?” Jamie suggested. He could tell she hadn’t thought of this. “Let’s find out.” She said and started towards the building.

They scurried along the side of the building and rounded the corner. The building was on the edge of the city and they could see where the controlled burn had been stopped. The terrain behind the building wasn’t blackened by fire but was full of overgrown grass and weeds. As they started making their way through the jungle along the back of the building, Jamie tried not to think about what (or who) could be hiding in the brush. Eventually they came to a small set of stairs almost completely concealed by the thicket. At the bottom of the stairs was a door.

Maesyn could not believe she had never ventured back here before. She descended the small amount of steps cautiously and put her ear against the door. When she didn’t hear anything for about a minute, she tried the handle. It opened into a long, dark hallway. As they stepped inside and closed the door behind them, Jamie asked, “If this place is supposed to be so secret, why wouldn’t they have any security?” “Maybe they counted on no one ever trying to find it”, answered Maesyn. It was really dark, but neither dared to take out their phones. Maesyn took out her taser and prayed that nobody decided to leave while they were trying to get in. This seemed to be the only way in or out.

They reached another door at the end of the hall and this one had a small window, though which they could see a security guard, facing away from the window and playing on his phone. “What now?” Jamie’s voice was barely a whisper. “I only see one,: said Maesyn. “I’m going to tase him.” Jamie’s eyes widened. “If it goes sideways,” Maesyn continued, “you have to get out. You have to run.” “Wha-”. Before her brother could protest further, Maesyn burst through the door and pressed her taser into the guards side. He had started to turn when he heard the door, but Maesyn was faster. He dropped to the floor. Maesyn stood still, waiting to see if anyone heard, but no one came. She bent down and snapped what looked like a key card off of the man’s belt. “Come on,” she said and Jamie followed her to the only other door in the hallway. She used the key card to get through and out of sight of the security guard in case he started to come to.

They were both relieved to see that this hallway was empty. Their relief didn’t last long however. As soon as the door closed behind them an automated voice said loudly, “Air quality: 90%. Air quality: 80%.” This pattern continued and the lower the air quality became, the louder the voice got. Until Jamie noticed a red button by the door labeled ‘Air Decontamination”. He hit it with his fist and the automated voice stopped and then said, much more calmly, “Air quality: 100%. “Huh”, said Maesyn and she removed her mask. “It’s okay,” she said and Jamie took his mask off too. They took in their surroundings, their senses now more heightened without the masks. This hallway was lined with doors. “This looks like a prison,” Maesyn commented. “Yeah,” said Jamie, “or a psych ward. Both the hall and doors were painted bright white and the doors all had tiny name plates on them. Suddenly, Maesyn froze. Jamie, falling closely behind, bumped into her and almost fell backwards. Maesyn couldn’t speak, couldn’t answer her brother's inquiries as to what was wrong. Finally he fell silent too. They were both staring at a door with a name plate that read Mercia, L.

Without speaking, Maesyn walked slowly towards the door, her heart pounding and Jamie gripping her shoulder. She held up the key card, the light on the reader turned green and they pushed through the door. Lori Mercia sat on the floor of the room, gazing at the ceiling. She was thinner, her hair longer and unkempt, but it was her. “Mom?” Maesyn and Jamie whispered in unison. She turned her head towards them and Maesyn’s heart skipped a beat. She was alive! Their mother was alive… Jamie started towards her, but Maesyn grabbed his shirt sleeve. Something was wrong. There was no awareness on the woman’s face. It only took Jamie a few seconds longer to understand.

She didn’t recognize them. Maesyn’s heart sank and a knot formed in her throat as she saw the same blank expression on the face of her mother as she had her friend Caroline. Suddenly, her mother got up from the floor and started moving towards them. Then, she was standing right in front of Maesyn, but she wasn’t meeting her eyes. She was staring at something just below Maesyn’s neckline. Lori slowly reached out her hand and lifted the heart shaped locket slightly off of Maesyn’s chest. She studied it for a moment and Maesyn held her breath, Jamie staring beside her. Slowly, Lori lifted her head and met her daughter's eyes...