When the rains may come (Science Fiction)

34. Taste of victory

It took the next five days to relocate everyone to Sector 27. It was no easy feat to move around a hundred and twenty four people to an entirely different city. Yes, just roughly more than hundred had survived everything that had happened since the riots of Sector 21. About twenty out of the initial two hundred had died in the riot itself. Thirty something had succumbed to injuries and illnesses in the Rescue and Relief camp. Seven others kept protesting even in the prison, fasting indefinitely and picking fights with the operatives. The rest just took the easier options and ended their own miseries.

And those that were left came back to Sector 27 with barely any air or celebration, with hardly any joy for freedom. The Sector 25 massacre (what it would be dubbed later on) hung over everyone's head like a dark, melancholy cloud.

Cathy spent most of these past five days with the man named Gary Lao. Gary had volunteered to be the last one to inhabit one of the many empty houses in the town of Mathesdale. He'd chosen to help everyone else settle in before thinking of his own comfort. Also, he was easy to talk to for Cathy. But she knew that she was really just avoiding talking to the other three people living in the Koehlwin manor. Especially Lisa.

"And I replaced all the older lights with the ones that work." She said as she came downstairs with a bag full of light bulbs with burnt up filaments. They'd allotted Gary a cozy little two story cinder-block house opposite the old post office.

"You didn't have to do that, you know?" Gary smiled.

"It's okay. No big deal." Cathy shrugged. "You've been doing quite some heavy lifting since you returned. This is just a meager errand."

"Either way, I'm grateful." He said amiably.

"No problem." Cathy said with a smile.

Gary walked over and flicked on the light switch. "I almost can't believe this." He gazed up at the shining light bulb. "There's actually electricity in a place that doesn't belong to the government."

Cathy couldn't hold back a chuckle. "I know right?" she said. "It really feels like magic. But Gemma and Brendan somehow got the old generators at the plant to work again. However they can't really supply energy too far past a particular area. So we've put people wherever electricity has reached so far. Hope you won't mind the surrounding crowd."

Gary grinned. "I've lived in a much smaller place with a lot less privacy for the past couple of months. This is practically a palace compared to all that."

"Good to know." Cathy said before letting out a sigh. They both drifted off into a comfortable silence. Maybe not as comfortable for Cathy. There was a question that kept gnawing at her.

"Are you okay?" Gary said with a slightly worried look.

Unconsciously, the nail on her index finger started to scrape at the cuticle of her thumb. "Were they...were the prison operatives bad people?" She asked.

Gary looked at her thoughtfully and nodded. He sat down on the couch and leaned back a bit. "They were people, alright." He shrugged. "But they were certainly better than most others of their job description."

Cathy kept scraping at her finger. "Really?"

Gary nodded. "As someone who was an active part of the Sector 21 riots, I can tell you some of the prison operatives were better people than some operatives I've encountered."

This is exactly what Cathy didn't want to hear. She wasn't sure if knowing the opposite of what Gary had told her would've made her feel any better. But this just made everything seem worse.

"I can tell what you are thinking of right now." Gary said.

She looked at him. "You can?"

"It's quite obvious, trust me." He smiled wryly before his face sobered up again. "But rather than worrying about what happened at the prison you should worry more about your friend."