The Recruiters Read Free Page B

barely managed to nod his head.
    I turned and put my chin back on my knees. “Sometimes I hate not having tears,” I whispered as I closed my eyes.
    “ I hate seeing you needing them,” he whispered as he wrapped himself around me as much as he could. For the first time since I saw him on that pier, I felt afraid. I was suddenly terrified that our future might actually have an end. I felt the fury growing in me then, spinning and gaining in size and speed, until it finally burst out of me. I flew out of bed and turned to face him.
    “ NO!” I yelled. “No, they do not get to do this; they don’t get to break us. This will not happen. I will not live in fear. I will love you and be with you and WE WILL BE HAPPY, DAMN IT… do you hear me Matthew Pearl? I don’t care what we have to do, but we will fight this, we will win and we will be happy.” I was gasping for air by this point, clenching and unclenching my fists. It took me a second to notice that he was smiling at me. I frowned at him, “What could you possibly have to smile about?” I asked.
    “ That’s the Mrs. Pearl I was waiting for,” he grinned as he walked over to me on the bed on his knees and wrapped his arms around me. “That’s the fighter I know is in there. We are going to love each other and we are going to be happy, because we are going to fight.” There was that wince again. “We’ll do whatever we need to do, go wherever we need to go, and we’ll do it together, no matter what happens, we will do it together,” he said, and was gasping now. We had ignited a hunger in both of us that had no bounds.
    His mouth found mine and he sent a spark from the top of my head, down to my toes and everywhere in between. I grabbed his hand in mine, and nearly exploded before I had a chance to push him back on the bed and climb on. We were meant to be together, I knew that without a doubt and no one was going to take that away from me. I pushed my fear to the back of my mind as I clung to Matt and to the fact that this is exactly where I am supposed to be.
     
    We stayed like that for two days. Neither of us wanted to stop, neither of us wanted it to end. We finally exhausted ourselves and just lay in each other’s arms. What Matt said next would change our lives.
    “ Sarah?” he whispered.
    “ Mmmmm?”
    We both had closed our minds to everyone but each other, but we still felt like we had to whisper. You never knew who might be nearby.
    “ Do you feel anything when you think about fighting the Elders? What I mean is, does it hurt?” he whispered.
    I lifted my head and just stared at him for a second. “Are you serious?” I asked. I had no idea where this had come from.
    “ Dead serious,” he replied.
    “ Well,” I started, “I’ve thought about it before when they hurt me, and I’m thinking about it now. I’m thinking about stopping them, fighting them, ripping them limb from limb, tearing their heads off. But to answer your question, no, I don’t feel any pain when I’m thinking about it. Why? I saw you wince, Matt. Is that what this is all about?”
    “ It’s something that I started to think might be a possibility when we were on our search. Something the Mexican priest said to me. He said the Elders control the change process not only to regulate our population, but also to stay in power. Something they do during the change creates a kind of… ummmm… trigger in us, is the best way I can think to describe it. A trigger that activates if we even consider rebelling against them. I felt it before when I first told you what I was, but it was only a dull ache and I could work through it and once I told you the pain went away. Now,” he gritted his teeth and visibly shuddered, “when I try to think about fighting them, my head feels like it’s going to explode.”
    “ Stop thinking about it right now,” I said and he nodded his head. I went on, “Okay, so you think that because I was changed differently, that I don’t have