Hollowland

“Kinda,” he shrugged.

“You’re an idiot,” I sighed.

The worship wasn’t quite as disturbing as I had expected it to be. They sang a few songs, and it all sounded like basic evangelical music. The sermon, however, got a bit weird.

Korech read from the Bible, but he related all the passages about the second coming of Christ to himself. While he didn’t exactly say it, he clearly insinuated that he was the Messiah.

I sat on the couch next to Lazlo, since he refused to leave my side, and Harlow and Lia sat on the floor in front of us on pillows. I tried to see how Harlow took all of this, and she seemed to be going along with whatever everybody else did.

Blue sat on the other side of the room, and the only person who would sit by him was that Vega girl. She and Blue kept similar expressions throughout the worship – as neutral and blank as possible. Whatever was happening here, she stopped buying it.

Lia kept looking back at Lazlo. She tried to be inconspicuous, but Korech caught on. He called her into the middle of the circle and preached about temptation and casting the demons out. He laid a hand on her forehead and talked in tongues.

At that point, she sobbed and all the other girls chanted.

Lazlo took my hand and squeezed it. I couldn’t remember the last time I held hands with anyone, and I tried to concentrate on that instead of the scared, sick feeling growing in my belly.

After it was over, Korech took Lia back to his room for “private prayer,” and while that didn’t sit well with me, I didn’t know what I could do about it. I tried to sneak in a moment alone with Harlow, but Nevaeh followed her around like a hawk.

With Korech out of sight, Lazlo distracted Nevaeh by “accidentally” lighting a kitchen curtain on fire. It wasn’t a serious blaze, so I only had a few minutes with Harlow. I got her outside by convincing her to go with me to look through our clothes in the SUV.

“Nevaeh is going to show me how to make a dress today,” Harlow told me as I hurried out to the car. I kept glancing back over my shoulder as if someone would come drag me off.

“That’s great.”

“And you have to try the bread I made,” Harlow said as I unlocked the back of the vehicle. I had to look like I was doing what I said I would do, in case somebody came out.

“Don’t you wanna get out of here?” I asked.

“Why would I wanna do that?” She unzipped one of her bags and sifted through it, oblivious to my ulterior motives. “They have everything I need here.”

“Maybe. But doesn’t it seem weird here to you?”

“No weirder than most places I’ve been lately,” Harlow shrugged. She pulled out her panties, most of which consisted of lace and satin.

“They won’t let you wear panties like that.” I tried to appeal to her keen sense of fashion and her rebellious nature since logic seemed to be failing.

“Yeah, they will,” Harlow sneered at me. “Didn’t you see the underwear they had there? Nevaeh said that our body is our temple, so we need to cover it and protect it. But our bodies are beautiful, so under the humble clothing we need to dress it up.”

“Wait. What?” I gaped at how cavalier and unfazed Harlow sounded. “They’re encouraging you to wear sexy lingerie? That doesn’t seem weird to you?”

“Yeah. It does,” Harlow said. “I’m not an idiot. I get that they’re probably crazy, but they’re nice, and I can shower. I can have friends and a life here. Nevaeh said that we can be a family.”

“We?” I asked.

“I know that you’ll leave to find Max, but we don’t have to.”

“Lazlo and Blue won’t stay here. Korech won’t let them,” I told her firmly.

“That’s not true,” she said but refused to look at me.

“Lazlo is scared to death of him. There’s no way he’ll stay here even if Korech doesn’t make him leave.”

“No. Lazlo is just scared because you are. He trusts you.” She kept trying to sound casual, but her voice had gotten small and tight. “Just leave Lazlo here. You don’t need him to find your brother. He’ll only slow you down.” She paused before quietly adding, “We’re all slowing you down.”

I couldn’t argue the merits of that. It would be easier for me to simply leave, letting Korech take care of them.

The only people who had been prepared for an epic disaster had been the zealots living off the grid, leaving the rest of the straggling survivors to barter with them. The cost of everything was so much different now.

I didn’t want to leave Harlow here, but it wasn’t my decision to make, especially not when Korech could offer more protection than I could.

“I won’t force anybody to leave,” I said finally.

“Good.”

“But I won’t force anyone to stay either,” I said.

She stopped going through her clothes and just stared down at them for a minute.

I heard the front door slam shut, and my whole body tensed. I leaned back, peering around the SUV, expecting Nevaeh and afraid of Korech. But it was only Blue, his hand shoved in the pockets of his jeans as he walked towards us.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Blue asked when he reached us.

“Nothing,” Harlow shoved her panties into the pockets of her dress. “I need to get inside before Nevaeh starts looking for me.”

She went back to the house. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn’t think of a good enough argument.