Amanda was more help than I ever imagined. She spoke three languages on top of English: Spanish, German, and Chinese. Using these skills to convey the instructions to everyone. She convinced all the adults, whether leaving or staying, to surrender their phones. Using them to get in contact with those at the other towers to find out how many were left. We had to gather as many people here as quickly as we were able to. At our tower alone, we had over 700 mill people. Which Amanda brought up to me.
"Can you really take care of over 3 billion people?" She asked when I woke up. It was the first thing out of her mouth.
Honestly, I hadn't thought about that. The sheer number of people that would need help. "That's a lot of people," I answered.
"Almost all of them are children," she stated. "Can you really take care of them all?" She asked, again.
"I'm going to try. I'll start by telling them where we-"
She cut me off. "I did that. I can handle getting them all here safely. What are you going to do to help them?" She asked, crossing her arms. I could see the annoyed look on her face. I wasn't familiar with this woman, but she assumed control of things. What could I do, really?
"In that case, I will clean the rest of the area to make room and have the plants grow more food. I'll expand out to make more room. If you can help me get them to garden. It would help them become self-sufficient sooner rather than later. Plus, something to do in times like this helps." I answered back and smiled. "I'll keep everyone as alive as long as I can," I said, smiling at her.
She looked at me for a moment. I thought she looked lost in thought, or maybe she just didn't believe me. "What about the children? What are we going to do about them?" She asked quieter, as thou she didn't want others to hear.
"We have them help with the gardening and give them basic fight training to advance so when the time comes they can enter the tower with their family." I said, still smiling.
"You think it will be that easy?" She demanded, that scowl pasted on her face.
"No, I… I've never raised kids before. I'm sure that I will mess up somewhere. But I can't-" Turning my gaze to the floor "I'm so scared that I won't be enough, but I'm here. That has to count for something."
"You're either an idiot or a saint." She sighed. "A lot of us teachers stayed behind. We'll help take care of the kids. When they all arrive and we'll figure out how to teach them. I'll tell the parents that they will have to grow food. Focus on keeping the planet alive long enough for all of us to enter the tower," she said, rubbing her face with her right hand. Her left still crossed as she did so. It wasn't a good plan. To be fair, none of this was good. Being left here was a terrible thing, but entering the tower knowing who you were leaving behind.
"Thank you," Standing up from the cot "Oh and I'm not a saint." I said, glancing back at her. She gave a halfhearted chuckle. We have plenty left to do. Amanda and I got to work.
First thing was to make room for 3 billion people to live. The hardest thing and the one I was in charge of. I cleaned up the areas still left while having the plants go wild. They grew fast and everywhere. Thankfully, I had already planted all the seeds that would produce food by my home. Some adults agreed to walk that way and start gathering food. Another group of adults traveled to nearby towns and searched for food. Some adults had kids, others were just people like me and Amanda. Those that couldn't leave like this. Not without losing our minds to guilt.
The first group returned with the food that I had planted at my home. They brought more seeds and anything that looked like it could help. They soon set out again to find more, as this would not be enough. One of their trips to find food, the group found animals to bring back. We now had a few dogs, sheep, cows, chickens, cats, and pigs. They were cheering as they walked back into camp. I was taking a break when I heard their cheering. Having been at this for four to five hours, we were barely making progress. I laughed with while Amanda complained about how we were supposed to take care of them.
"I'll work out," I said, patting the group on the back.
Amanda glared at me. "And how do we feed them?" She demanded.
Blinking at her with wide eyes, I said, "We have them raid the farms. Pigs eat almost anything so they will be our food waist disposers. The others can either graze or eat what meat we can."
"I hate you." Amanda said. I laughed as she pouted. She hurried to find the people making homes. They made a plan for where to put the animals in the meantime.
When Amanda announced she and her group would leave to get the people arriving on boats and planes. I feared how they would be.
"We'll be fine. I told them to make their way to a certain area. We'll start there. If no one shows, we'll head to one of the other locations. We can't wait much longer to get them." She said. I knew she was right. We were already cutting it close. If we waited too long, then they would start dying of starvation.
With a sighed. "I know you're right. I'm just worried that I won't be able to hold this place without you."
"You'll be fine." She said, hitting my back with her open hand. It stung and shoved me forward.
"OW!" I yelped. "I take it back. Get lost and don't come back."
She laughed at me. Was it weird we were joking, like we've known each other for years? Yes. But we were the people to come to about everything that was happening. She was the one that made plans. While I was the one keeping up alive. It was too much pressure on just two people. Joking about it, pretending that we've known each other for years. It helped.
It was only once she was gone that I realized I didn't know how to distract children. Some of them were so young, too. I didn't need to worry about it. The grandparents took the lead of the children and had them help with all the animals. The puppies would chase the little kids around while the older ones would help with chores. Like getting milk for the youngest ones.
The only problem in our little world was Roy. He followed me everywhere once I woke up. Never letting me out of his sight. When I walked too quickly, he would run to keep up. When any of us asked him to stay with the others, he would scream and cry. His crying would make younger kids cry and the animals to be spooked a bit. This made it hard for the grandparents watching the children. The animals were too weary of people for the kids to get too close after that. Attempting to soothe the little ones also consumed time. Time we didn't have. If I couldn't get the space ready, it wouldn't matter how many people Amanda brought back. We couldn't support them.
Talking to Roy about this went the same, no matter how I tried to explain. He would calm down and nod at everything I said. I would smile and let him run around with the kids. He wouldn't go too far from the adults, but none of the kids did. Everything would be fine until I made any move to walk away. Then it was a screaming kicking mess again.
One teacher that stayed behind found us struggling. He we explained the mess that we were in. He tried a few tricks to make it easier for Roy to let go. However, He didn't take very well to them. The only time we got him to not cry while I was gone had him hiding somewhere until I got back. The man eventually told me to just take him with me. Without another option, I did. I would walk slower so he could keep up. It felt like déjà vu walking around cleaning up. In moments of quiet, I would think about if Max was here. If the two would get along or fight like children. To be fair, they were children.
Roy being so young I didn't know what to talk about. I ended up being quiet for a long time until Roy pointed at something. "What's that?" He asked, eyes wide. I looked where he was pointing to see a rabbit. Skyler and John lived in the city, it made sense he didn't see many rabbits, but he should know what it was.
"It's a rabbit," I answered. He didn't even look at the rabbit and gave me an enormous smile. He then pointed in a different direction. "What's that?" he asked loudly. This time, it was now a tree he pointed to.
"A tree," I smiled. He must have done this for me. He knew I didn't know how to talk to him and took the hard part away. I take back what I said about Skyler... well, some of it. They were a good parent to little Roy. It worked too. I felt at easy, and less like I was going to mess up. Maybe I can take care of everyone after all. It'll be hard work and I'll have to run my skill into the ground a few times, but I won't give up. I'll make this world a safe one for when everyone leaves the tower.
When Amanda arrived back, I had cleaned the area and was now expanding the Force field and growing plants. There wasn't an actual reason to have a Force field up as the area was clean, but I thought it was better to be safer than sorry. The air in the force field was cleaner and easier to breathe than the air outside of it.
Now and then, when people entered, the air from outside would rush in. While the clean air would leave. The first time it happened, the Grandparents were worried. It took time to assure them that things were okay. It was helping both sides. My theory was that the air inside would eventually become too much oxygen and would become difficult to breathe, and the plants would die without the carbon. Letting in the new air would help circulate the clean air and keep us all healthy. I didn't tell them it was only a theory. With the idea the grandparents would mask up the children and lead them out and in twice a day. They explored the world just on the other side of the barrier. Uncovering rocks, twigs and other small items to bring back. I said nothing about this, but watched them.
Amanda brought the first group of people with her. There were thousands following her into the force field. She walked over to me the moment she saw me. "There's still more people coming. The boats turned back to bring more. There were over 100 yachts that brought people." She whispered. I nodded, but kept a smile on my face. This was more people than I have ever seen. My heart raced in my chest, but there was nothing to be done.
Inhaling breath, "Hello, I'm Noa Sanders. I hope we can all work together and keep everyone safe." I addressed everyone. We showed them where everyone was staying. Then broke them into their groups. We had grouped one: Keep the children busy, Group two: go out and bring back can goods and seeds, Group three plants, and finally Group four helping others get here. Amanda spoke with group one, having the teachers join that group and start teaching. While I got group three to grow their own food. The other two groups would rest and head out in two days. For now, everyone rested and ate a good meal. The kids were so happy to see their parents, who had gone to help others get here, come back. Roy stuck to my side as we watched people hug and kiss their loved ones.
As the night continued, I was busy being pulled in different directions by different parents. They wanted to know the same thing that Amanda wanted. If I could really keep them safe, or if I was all talking. "We will keep you all safe," I told them. I meant every word. I might not always be able to do it, but together we had a chance. Amanda and the others said she would be by my side in this.
Roy helped me greet as many people as we could. I helped put up tents and fix parts of houses so they could be used. Roy helped as well. He would carry my tools and hand me the one I needed. When he got bored, he would start handing tools to others too. The people fell in love with him soon enough. Though it worried me how little he spoke. Amanda told me he was just a little slow, but otherwise just fine. I had to take her word for it.
"Man, I'm getting hungry. What kind of snack would you like?" I asked. Roy looked up at me, his eyes shining.
"I want a Яблоко" Roy said, startling me.
"I-" I muttered. What was that?
Roy, seeing my confused face, didn't understand why. "Яблоко!" He said. His little arms crossed over his chest. I still didn't know what that was. I tried searching my mind for an answer. Roy was never not by my side, I must have heard that before. Where though?
"Noa! I want Яблоко! Яблоко!" Roy yelled, a not so cute pout appearing on his face.
"Here you go," an accented voice called out. A red apple appeared in front of Roy. There stood an older woman with soft brown hair and eyes. She smiled as Roy took the apple. "You did a good job. It's called Apple in Noa's language." She told him. Roy wasn't listening as he bit into the apple.
"Thank you, I was really struggling," I said. At least I know now what he was asking for.
"It's all right. This place has so many people that I know we will all have this problem at one point or another. I'm just lucky I lived in the United States for a few years when I was younger." She laughed, the smile on her face growing.
"Younger? You don't look a day over 25," I said, making her laugh more. Just like that, the tension broke a little. Roy ate happily as I tried to remember the Russian word for apple. If Roy said it again, I would be ready.
Thanks to the children picking up different words from different languages, people were desperately trying to learn. The children didn't mind not speaking the same language as each other, happier to be playing with so many kids. They made a game all about trying to understand each other. Leaving us adults to catch up. In hindsight, it was rather funny how we didn't think of this problem. I had just assumed that Amanda would handle the other languages without me needing, or rather having, to learn. Adults were using everything they had to get a hold of their lives and choices again.
I kept growing while trying to speed up the process. Roy often had to wait while I took small breaks from straining myself too hard. I tried not to show him so much of that, but there wasn't much I could do to stop it. We had yet to bring everyone here, and space was already tight. I didn't want to run out of room for people to stay. I had Roy going to daycare with other kids his age. Amanda told me how important it was that he learned to get long with them. He kicked and screamed. The teachers told me to leave, anyway. That first day at daycare sometimes went like this. He would get used to it. I would be in a meeting anyway. He wouldn't want to be stuck next to me, anyway.
The fourth group returned for a third time, we made another group: group five: building. They constructed homes, bathrooms, school buildings, and the training grounds. It took months of hard work before they needed me less. Once everyone we thought was coming arrived, we held a meeting to discuss what the plan was. I asked them to keep communications open so if anyone else calls through, we can still help them. They agreed with me. Then we started drawing up plans. We needed this was going to work. The only way it would is to make sure there was a clear understanding. We can't leave anyone behind.
We talked for three full days. We wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same side. I kept the plants moving while we talked. Though, I felt like throwing up at how far they were traveling from me. First was about food and what we should do about it. I asked for people to have their own gardens. That was allowed, but shut down as a source for food. There's just not enough hands to do that and the other things we need to get going. We needed teachers for the kids. Construction workers, electricians, daycare workers, farmers, and makers. The farmers can do a lot for our food. But it's the makers that will turn wool into blankets. Then there was when we let people enter the tower. If we let people enter as they age, it could set a dangerous precedent. Losing too many people when their children were old enough.
We made the plan that once a year we would let people enter the tower. That would give both the children and adults entering the tower for the first time the best chance of living. We didn't know if they would have to go through the tutorial first before getting to live there or not. I would keep growing the plants outward and help train them when I was in the area. The stipulation being that I had to return to the area twice a year for a month. I could stay closer but someone pointed out that there's no telling when the tower would end, that everyone could be spit out one day onto a dead planet. That was all it took for me to agree.
Roy was less than thrilled about this plan. He wanted to go with me all the time. "You can't just leave him." Amanda told me. She was right, of course.
"I know, but what else do I do?" I asked. It sounded more like a whine, but I was at a loss. If I took Roy, he could be in danger. If I didn't, then I would abandon him like Skyler.
Amanda sighed. "Take him with you. I'll pack a bag full of books to use. Teach him to read and some math while you're gone. When you come back. He'll spend that time in Daycare."
"Will that really help?" I asked.
"What other choice do we have? We have enough kids without parents and not enough hands as it is."
I frowned. We were really out of our element. So many left or were dragged away into the tower. "I think I have an easy job compared to you," I muttered.
"It might seem that way." She said, sitting next to me. She said nothing more than that. Amanda and the teachers had their hands full with the kids. Teaching them to read, write, math, and now how to fight as well. Everyone was being thrown out of their normal lives, while I'm doing what I have been doing sense getting this power. Confining myself within the plant's shelter. I'm the only one not suffering from this.
We allowed Roy to go with me until he turned six. He had to start school and interact with the other kids. I attempted to return before dark so I could be with him. I had someone refurbish a bike so I could move quicker. The first week, from what the teachers said, Roy wasn't doing well. He wouldn't talk to the other kids and would stay inside during recess. He would hide from the teachers when P.E. started. Worried that I had made a mistake and I should have left him before this. I started trying to force him into leaving my side more. This back fired on me as Roy acted out more when I did this. Now Roy was being a problem child in school and out.
Not knowing what to do, I asked the other parents about it. They gave ideas and suggestions. All of which I tried. None seemed to work. Roy acted out no matter how I talked or punished him. Amanda listened to me complain and ask what I was supposed to do. If I had messed up somewhere along the way. Maybe I should have just left him with her. I asked how badly I messed this up for him.
Roy was in day care, as I didn't want him to hear me complain about him. I didn't want him to think that just because I was out of my mind with what to do; it wasn't really his fault. He was such a good kid most of the time. It was just now when he started acting out.
"Noa. You haven't failed. Roy is six years old. He's not 26 and pulling this. He's just a kid. So nothing's worked yet, we'll keep trying." She said, patting my back. I hoped she was right. That I hadn't taken this child in and ruined his life.
When I went to pick him up, I found him talking to a little girl. She was speaking in another language. Not that it bothered Roy as he chatted away, with her answering back. When I got closer, the mother and teacher came over to me. They pulled me away from them before they noticed me.
Turns out they couldn't understand each other. That day at recess, she walked over and started talking to him. He told her to go away; she kept going. The teacher said, "Roy and Seiko started screaming at each other. We walked over, but the other teacher asked us to wait," she said. Apparently Seiko was just saying a few phrases over and over: "I want to be your friend," "Stop being sad," and my favorite "You're a crayon." I couldn't help but laugh at that. Seiko's mother had shaking shoulders. Apparently, Seiko hates crayons because they 'don't color right', so that was her best insult. After the initial outburst, they became fast friends. Even teaching each other their languages.
Seiko wouldn't let Roy bully her. Every time Roy tried to shove her away, she would shove him back, and while I didn't think they should shove each other. I was happy that Roy was making friends. Roy tried running from her and hiding from her. It never worked as she would find him or wait him out. If I showed up before Roy came out from his hiding place, she would run over to me and wait. Roy would be forced to come out to leave. Only to see her standing there with a smirk on her face. I had gotten so used to the insult of 'crayon' that I knew it in any sentence.
Once Roy was settling into a routine, I spoke again with the people. We talked about what day we should make into the tower entering day. We had a few years to get set up and used to things. Farms were going well and if the 15-year-old's and older wanted to enter the tower now, it wouldn't ruin us. We would struggle a bit at first, but then everything would be fine again. So it was decided when we would say goodbye to our new friends and family. We had spent so long working together that it felt bitter sweet. One parent from Spain said that we should hold a feast to calibrate them. We all agreed to that and prepared to do so. I made a promise to Amanda to be here when the day arrives every year, no matter what.
"I mean it Noa. If anyone has to be there, it's you." Amanda said, pointing at me. Nodding along with her, but I thought she was exaggerating a bit. I cleaned the area from toxins but had little to do with the rest of the living situation. I grew as many plants to keep us safe, if some of them gave food that was only an added once. Over all I think that the work that Amanda did was way more worthy of praise. She wrangled everyone together and held monthly meetings to keep us all on one page. She listened to the people and helped make the best of a bad hand.
"You know, you're pretty cool." I told her. She blinked at me and shook her head.