A
He made his way to the convenience store as Coach advised and that is where he met Sim. The man was a strange sight. He was primly and properly dressed as if he had just come from a dinner date. He had on a long dark coat, blue jeans, and a pair of dress shoes. Gray. His face was a bit scruffy, an appearance he didn’t think much about until he would meet JZ.
“You alone?” Sim asked.
“No,” Cody said.
Sim smiled. “I’m sorry about your family.”
Cody crooked his head. “I told you—”
“You’re lying,” Sim said. “But most people wouldn’t know or wouldn’t care. They see you alone and vulnerable even with that gun. A desperate man with nothing to lose will overpower you. He’ll take everything you have, then he will kill you.”
Cody wanted to cry, but he did not. “Why?”
“Because—”
“He can,” Cody finished the answer to his own question.
Sim nodded. “I’m Sim, by the way. And I see you. I’m not one of those people. I love children and would never harm you.”
Cody yanked the revolver from his waistband and pointed it at Sim. “How can I be so sure?”
Sim nodded. “Listen—”
Cody pulled the trigger and following a short pop a bullet cut into Sim’s shoulder. The impact threw Sim back onto a waist high cooler. His eyes widened. Clearly Sim did not expect this from the boy. He held up his hands. “Wait!”
Cody stepped closer and pointed the gun at Sim’s head.
“I’m a father and a teacher,” Sim yelled. “Or at least I was. I want to help.”
“Yeah, and Coach was a coach and the random guy who wants to kill us was a mailman. What we were doesn’t mean shit anymore.” Cody’s face hardened as he sneered at Sim.
“Yes, it does,” Sim said, still holding up his arm in a defensive position. “That’s the point.” He winced in pain as he raised himself off the cooler.
Cody lowered the gun with reservation while taking slow steps backward to retain his distance from the man.
“I don’t know if that was completely necessary,” Sim said, clutching his shoulder wound.
“I’m sorry,” Cody said looking downward in shame. “I just saw my old coach and he told me to watch out for crazy people.”
“Is that what I am?” Sim said.
The boy offered no reply.
Sim shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. You did exactly what you should have. It’s what your instincts instructed you to do, and we must always trust our instincts.” He then prodded his shoulder wound while Cody looked on, perhaps not sure how to proceed. Sim glanced up at him after completing his self-examination. “Clean shot. No bones broken from what I can tell.”
“That’s not your real name,” Cody pointed out, ignoring Sim’s self-assessment.
Sim lowered his eyebrows. “No. You’re right. In my former life I was kind of a know-it-all. I had all the information you needed on anything. Or so I tried to make it seem. My colleagues started calling me ‘Sim’. Short for SIM card.”
Cody knew exactly what a sim card was, but such luxuries as smart phones were a thing of the past.
“You were a teacher?” Cody asked.
Sim nodded. “Among other things. Sixth grade for ten years. I loved…love kids. When my daughter died, I thought to go with her. But then a new purpose crossed my mind. To honor my daughter. My kids. In this world.”
Sim’s eyes grew glassy as he retreated in thought.
“What idea?” Cody asked.
“An orphanage,” Sim said proudly.
“And how do you know there are any children left?” Cody asked.
Sim shrugged. “If there is you, then there are others,” Sim said. “I’m going to find them and bring them home.”
“Home?”
“Follow me if you will,” Sim said. “And remember this…” Sim said. “You are the fortress, and the fortress is you.”
Cody followed Sim, though he couldn’t explain why. Perhaps it was his instincts kicking in again—the same instincts that implored him to shoot Sim minutes before—or maybe he followed Sim because he had nobody left and no place else to go. At any rate he followed him, ten steps behind the whole way, his gun at the ready, until he was confident the man was not leading him to his death.
In the end he was glad he followed because he discovered Sim’s truth that day…the fortress, which Sim had already established, fortified, and stocked. And Cody was the first orphan of the fortress. He was given thirty days to pick a new name, because in the new world, Sim said you could have any name you chose, but after it was chosen, you could not change it again while you lived at the fortress. And you could not reveal that selection for thirty days. Then it was done.
Cody chose Ace.