The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

“And the food and the stuff here is really free for those who need it?”

“All the necessities are,” Zoe answered as I spotted a short, scruffy white-haired dog burst out from under one of the stalls, rushing to greet a group of people who’d stopped a few feet from the table. The little puppy yipped happily as it went from person to person, collecting pats and scratches.

“It hasn’t always been easy,” she continued. “Crops took a pretty bad hit during a drought last year, and along with a very hot summer, it was … hard. Not enough cool places to hold those most at risk for heat-related illnesses.” She took a ragged breath. “There used to be more who needed assistance.”

“That’s sad,” I whispered.

“But they didn’t lose anyone this summer—not from the heat, at least.”

Scanning what seemed like an endless procession of brightly colored stalls, I soaked in the sights and smells, but I was a little dumbfounded by it all. Who could really blame me? Having always existed in a world where nothing was free and where people were shamed for needing assistance, no matter how badly they needed help, this was entirely unexpected.

The people here had found a system that worked for everyone. Obviously, it was a much smaller populace, but it wasn’t like the same mentality couldn’t be applied to larger communities.

And then it hit me. If Zone 3 was able to survive, become a place where those left behind could thrive among those who needed sanctuary, then what about the other zones? There were three other cities that had been walled off and left to decay: Alexandria, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Luc hadn’t exactly said they were empty. He’d just said that people were left behind.

“What about the other zones?” I asked. “Are they like this?”

Zoe watched the wind rolling through the canopies. “In some shape or fashion, yes. All but Alexandria. It’s too close to the capital.”

“What about the people in there? Were there still people left behind when they built the walls around Alexandria?”

Zoe started walking again. “We don’t know. It’s been too much of a risk to get close. The bridge into Arlington has always been blocked, as are all the other roads that feed into Alexandria.”

Pressing my lips together, I trailed alongside Zoe. It was hard to think of the people who could’ve been trapped. Four years without aid? Zone 1 had to be truly dead by now.

The invading Luxen weren’t responsible for that. It was we who’d dropped the EMP bombs, and it was our government that walled up those cities, knowing there were people either too sick or too poor to leave. It was our government that told extended family members that their loved ones had died in the war when they could’ve still been alive in those cities, waiting for help that was never going to arrive.

The number of people who had to be involved to hide what was done was astronomical, and I couldn’t understand how any of them slept at night.

As we neared the stalls, it became apparent who was approved to enter. Most of those moving about were elderly, their backs hunched and their speckled fingers with swollen knuckles clutching shopping carts used more for support than for goods. There were younger people, a few I spotted in wheelchairs or those who had other mobility challenges, and others who were younger but were being aided by older people who I knew weren’t all human. The silvery-haired woman with eyes as glacial blue as Grayson’s was definitely Luxen. Her pale arm was curled around the shoulders of a young human man who held a straw basket full of leafy greens close to his chest as they stood in front of a table loaded with potatoes in wooden crates.

She appeared to be the first to become aware of us.

Glancing over her shoulder at Zoe and me, the smile on her lightly lined face faded. She quickly turned to answer whatever the young man said. Her smile returned as she ushered him farther into the market, to where several firepits cooked meat.

“Are we allowed to be here right now?” I asked.

Zoe’s grin was teasing. “Yeah, we are. Don’t worry.”

Not worrying was easier said than done, but I was caught up in the market and how all of this was possible. “You said ‘they’ make sure no one goes hungry. Who are they?”

“It’s a group of people, kind of like a city council, that’s made up of humans, Luxen, Origins, hybrids, and Arum.”

My gaze jerked to her. “How does that work out with Arum and Luxen here?”

The two alien species were natural-born enemies, having destroyed their own planets in a way. That was how they’d ended up here in the first place. Arums could feed on Luxen or any creature who had the Source in them, taking the power within them and then using it, which made them a totally different kind of dangerous.