The System

They all looked at the drawing and waited for the commentary.

“Right,” Spencer continued. “And Ethan’s father is this guy. His role in the virus that killed our world is contested, but it’s clear…he did have a role in it.”

He paused, and then flipped the chart again. Spencer had drawn an outline of the United States of America. There was a circle over Oregon and a circle over Nebraska with two sets of dotted lines co

He shut the pen off. Waited. And then he flipped the chart. Drawn on the next page was just a single, solitary question mark. “Do what exactly?” Spencer asked.

Teddy, who had been sitting patiently in his mom’s lap, reached up and tugged on her shirt. “Mom, I’m hungry,” the boy complained at full volume. Spencer shot Teddy a look and Darla shushed her child.

“Wait, Teddy. Just wait,” she instructed and Teddy, pouting, collapsed into her side.

Spencer continued. “So, what happens when the guys from Nebraska come back for Ethan?”

Ainsley raised her hand. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“I hated school,” Joey added.

Doctor Krause said nothing.

“I’ll tell you what I think,” Spencer said, ignoring them all. He flipped the chart. This time it was a picture of a couple other people holding vials, a few others holding guns, all of them frowning—and a collection of dead stick people, drawn in a heap of circles and lines and X-ed out eyes. “We are waiting around for a bunch of people who tried to kill us to try and kill us again. This is not some farfetched concoction. No, no, I am guaranteeing that there is no way in hell that Ethan’s welcoming committee is go

Darla raised both her middle fingers in salute to Spencer, but he shrugged it off.

“Hey…what about me?” Joey called from the back.

Spencer pointed to the back of the room and clicked his laser pen on Joey’s chest. “And that guy. Who continues to flip on light switches when he enters the room even though we haven’t had electricity for weeks now.”

“Light!” Teddy cried triumphantly.

Darla patted Teddy on the head and then turned her attention back to Spencer, “First of all, you’re an asshole. Middle-aged professional? Maybe you won’t make the cut because you’re a power-hungry psychopath. Second of all, we have leverage.” She looked around the room and pointed at the doctor. “Doctor Krause saved Ethan’s life. Before that, I saved Ethan’s life. And you think they’re going to kill a child? Teddy’s just a little boy.”

“They already killed millions of little boys,” Spencer said and he crossed his arms in front of his body.

Darla turned to Ethan who had been quiet for the duration of the presentation. “Well? You want to weigh-in here, chief?”

After a pause, Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. We’re arguing as if they’re on their way…or as if we know they’re coming tomorrow. Maybe no one is coming for me. Maybe this is all just a waste of Spencer’s drawing abilities.”

“I have more,” Spencer added.

“He has more,” Ethan repeated and pointed to the chart. “By all means…”

“Mom!” Teddy called out. “I need a snack. A snack!”

Growling under her breath, Darla looked at Teddy and then pointed to the back of the house. “You know where all the snacks are,” Darla told him. Teddy grumbled, but then relented, scampering out of the room and toward the back patio where the crew had turned the covered porch into a pantry—easily accessible for everyone, with ample room to organize by occasion and type.

Once Teddy had disappeared, Darla spread out her limbs—stretching her legs outward and leaning back on her hands. She motioned for Spencer to continue. He flipped his chart and there was a picture of the outside of the house. Ethan was outside; there were two circles over two of the second floor windows looking down into the yard; and three stick figures stood in the doorway.

“This is the plan,” Spencer said. “I think we stockpile bombs and weapons. We prepare as if a war is coming to Whispering Waters. If it becomes clear that Ethan’s people have come back for him, we set up me and Darla as snipers. Joey, Doctor Krause, Ainsley hold back inside the house and wait for the all-clear.”

“Teddy?” Darla asked, confused.

Spencer cocked his head and frowned. He reached over and grabbed a pen off of Scott’s desk and drew a smaller stick figure next to the character that was supposed to be Darla upstairs. “Teddy hides with his mother.”

“A sniper and the five-year-old. Perfect plan,” Darla snorted.

He ignored her and continued. “We are prepared to attack at all times. We do not let our guard down. They can take Ethan, but they don’t get near us.”

Ethan shifted on the couch and leaned forward. “Wait, wait. This is ridiculous.”

“I agree,” said Doctor Krause from the back of the den. “If they are coming back for Ethan, there is a good chance that they are not here with the intent to kill us.”

Spencer slapped his forehead. “If you were students in my history class, I would be failing you for an inability to see the larger picture. What part of they already tried to kill you did you fail to understand?”

“We have no evidence that Ethan’s father was responsible. Only that he knew about it,” Joey said. “Right? Ethan?”

Ethan remained silent.

Spencer ran his laser pen over the whole sheet in wide circles. “I don’t give a shit if this is the plan…we need something though. Because I’m telling you…there’s no way I’m dying for this kid. You hear me, Ethan?”

“You’re paranoid,” Darla mumbled. “You’re crazy and paranoid.”

With a smirk, Spencer flipped to the last sheet of paper in his presentation. It read in large letters: I AM NOT PARANOID.

“Bravo,” Ainsley said and couldn’t help but smile. “But I think the principal doth protest too much.”

From the dining room, Teddy meandered back into the group. He held a candy-bar in his hand and munched happily on the melting chocolate; it covered his face with smears of mud-colored brown. Plopping himself down next to Darla, he took another bite, and Darla acknowledged his return without glancing in his direction.

“Look,” Darla said, putting her arm around Teddy, “and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but…I understand the worry. I do. But you’re taking this off the deep end. Setting up snipers? Preparing bombs? Because they’re really going to want to take us back with them when they find out how well we’ve welcomed them to Oregon.”

Darla scooped up Teddy and put him in her lap.

“It’s reactionary,” Ethan added.

Joey opened his mouth to speak and croaked out a few syllables of agreement before Darla interrupted him with a growl.

“Ewww,” she groaned. Darla held her hand out away from her body and looked at Teddy’s face and hands. “What is this?”

“Chocolate,” Teddy replied with his mouth full. He gri

“You got it all over me!” Darla exclaimed and she set Teddy upright and scrambled to the box of tissues on the bookshelf. “And chocolate?” She paused and then reached down. Grabbing the candy bar wrapper from Teddy’s hand she held it up to the group. “When did we find a collection of chocolate bars?” she asked the room.

The group looked at her.

“Chocolate? News to me,” Joey exclaimed. “I inventoried last night and we definitely didn’t have any candy.”

“Maybe he found it in the kitchen?” Ainsley offered. She yawned and turned her head toward Ethan. He gave a subtle wink and she nodded her head toward Spencer’s display. Ethan shrugged.