SHORT STORY · FAMILY AND SYSTEM THRILLER
Aaron Brenner: The First Night in Zone 3
Aaron is exhausted. Leni has a fever, and he does not know how much farther he can carry her through the Outlands. The engines of a cartel patrol come so close that he lies down with the children in a mud hollow and hopes Leni will not cough. Later, they wash in the river because they have nothing else. Zone 3 lies ahead. Aaron has been told Leni can get medicine there. His children could eat and sleep behind a door they can lock from the inside. Aaron wants to believe it. Tess asks what the zone expects in return. Aaron avoids the question. How long will she accept that answer?
THE FAMILY
Who Can Aaron Trust with His Children Here?
On the bus to Zone 3, Tess keeps the bag holding the family’s last belongings between her boots. Aaron carries feverish Leni, while Mac holds on to the damaged transport cart. At the gate, Aaron gives the names of his children and forgets Tess. She supplies her own. “Dad, I’m still here too. Or should I stay outside?”
For the first time, Leni holds both hands under warm water. Afterward, she wants to lie in her first bed of her own. Aaron touches the apartment door and runs his fingers over the smooth plastic until he reaches the bolt. His children can sleep behind it without him jolting awake at every sound. How long had it been since he felt this safe? When he looks at Tess, she is tugging at the window handle and peering through the glass. Aaron wants to lie down with his children and finally sleep. He realizes how closely Tess listened to him outside. She trusts no one who tells her when she may leave this apartment and when she may not. Aaron lets her continue and watches. How far can Tess follow her need for freedom when her face is her ticket inside? Why does she find those same three notches here?
Tess recognizes the three notches on a delivery locker. She saw the same marks on the bus, and later she finds them on her ration box. A second strip lies beneath the smooth seal; cardboard fibers cling to its blunt edge. Tess shows Aaron. Mac has eaten nothing but crumbs since the bus. Aaron looks at the full lockers. He takes out every package and reads its label before putting it back. Who opened his children’s food before they received it?
TWO CHAPTERS AVAILABLE IN GERMAN