Among the Free

Chapter Fourteen

The man with the whiskers linked his arm with Luke's right elbow; a woman did the same thing on his other side. Together they lifted him upright. Around them others were joining arms, shifting positions. The circle was transforming itself into a straight line, strong and true. Strong and true and facing a Population Police officer in a fancy car.

"Go away," the man with the whiskers said. "You're not wanted here."

"But — I have a gun!" the officer sputtered.

"Yes," the man said calmly. "You have a gun. But there are just two of you, and there are many of us. You couldn't kill us all. Not when we are standing together. You have no control over us anymore."

Luke felt the power in the man's words like something physical — a presence as distinct as the man and woman standing on either side of him, holding him up. The Population Police officer seemed to feel it too. He shrank back a little in his seat. He didn't seem inclined to shout anymore about how the Population Police were still in charge.

"Hand over that boy, at least, and I'll leave you alone," he offered finally. "That boy is not one of yours. He's nothing to you, I'd wager."

Luke knew that the Population Police officer was talking about him. He was the only one with twigs in his hair, the only one panting, the only one wearing an inside-out Population Police shirt. How much did the officer know? That Luke had been in the abandoned village? That he'd been in Chiutza? Fear made Luke's legs weak; the whole world seemed to spin around him.

But the man and woman on either side of him kept a firm grip on his arms.

"He's one of ours now," the woman said.

The Population Police officer stared at Luke, at the woman, at the man. His gaze seemed to take in the whole line of people united against him. Then he leaned forward and tapped his driver's shoulder.

"We'll go now," he said.

The driver looked back, his face confused.

"You're letting them get away with this?" he asked. "You're not even going to shoot the boy?"

"I said go!" the officer roared.

The driver shrugged, then bent down and slipped the car into gear. It leaped forward, its engine noise loud and angry. As the car drove away, the noise faded into a faint buzz in the distance.

And then into nothingness. Silence. The Population Police were gone.

Luke stood shoulder to shoulder with a whole line of people — men and women, boys and girls — people he didn't even know who had just saved his life. Everyone stayed quiet, keeping their arms linked; it seemed like they, too, were having a hard time believing what had happened.

"Thank you," Luke mumbled. "Thank you." He swallowed hard. "But why — why did you help me?"

He looked up beseechingly at the man with the whiskers. The man was staring far off into the distance.

"It was the right thing to do," the man finally said. "We let them bully us into doing the wrong thing much too often in the past. It was time for a change."

The others in the line were nodding and murmuring in agreement. They dropped arms and broke off into little clumps, whispering and reliving the thrill of sending the Population Police away. Some of the younger children even began to giggle as they mimicked the official's panic.

These people were strangers, but they had become very precious to Luke. He worried that they were too innocent.

"What if the Population Police come back?" Luke asked. "They could bring hundreds of men, hundreds of guns. It isn't safe, what you did, showing that you disagree. You should leave now, while you have the chance, run away—"

"We won't run," the woman on Luke's other side said. "Look at us. Don't you see that we're going to die anyway? If the Population Police come back, we will die a little sooner. But our consciences will be clear."

For the first time Luke noticed how thin all the people were. Their faces were gaunt, the hollows in their cheeks incredibly deep. The wrists and ankles that stuck out from their tattered clothes were little more than bone.

"You're starving," he whispered.

"We don't have enough food to survive the winter," the man said with a hopeless shrug. "We petitioned the Population Police for help, but they said it was our own fault, our own problem. We made a pact after that, that we would not listen to them anymore. We would not be… weak."

"You're giving up," Luke said in disbelief.

"We're free," the man replied.