S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus by Saul Tanpepper Page B

his whistle even harder and waves his EM pistol frantically at us. Now he’s about a hundred feet away.
    â€œ Our friend fell in!” Micah shouts. “He fell in! It was an accident. We need help!”
    The cop reaches us, his feet slapping the sidewalk. He’s panting and I’m sobbing by then. So’s Ashley.
    â€œ Our friend fell in! We have to save him!”
    â€œ You can’t go down there,” the cop says. He’s an older man, graying at the temples. His face is rough and scarred. He shoves his pistol back in its holster but keeps his hand on it. “It’s dangerous. Bad currents. Can’t you see the signs?” He points.
    â€œ But our friend—”
    Just then there’s a watery gasp from below us and Kelly’s head pops up. His face is blue and his eyes are bulging. He scrambles to grab onto something, but the edge of the overpass is too far out of reach. The cop bends down under the railing. He leans over and extends his baton.
    â€œ Grab onto this, young man.”
    Kelly gets a hold of the baton, but he’s too weak to pull himself up. Reggie joins the cop. He reaches down and grabs both of Kelly’s arms and he lifts him out of the water like he’s nothing but a stack of wet laundry. Kelly shoots up and manages to grab the lowest rail.
    Reggie slips out from underneath and quickly repositions himself over the railing. “Hold on!” Kelly hurtles over it and smacks down on the walkway, where he collapses in a wet, shivering heap.
    I rush over and wrap my arms around him. He places his face in the crook of my neck. His skin is cold and there’s a scratch on his cheek that’s just starting to pink up with fresh blood. I notice he’s hiding it from the cop.
    â€œ There’s no swimming here,” the officer repeats. “I could have you arrested.” He gives us a stern look and keeps it on us a few seconds longer than necessary. We all know what that means. An arrest like this would go on our permanent record and add time to our LSC, time that would, without a doubt, get front-ended.
    He sighs and shakes his head. “What are you kids doing down here anyway? This is no place for young folks like you to be. You should be at home enjoying the summer break.”
    We all look around at each other. Finally, Ashley manages to say, “School project?”
    The cop snorts. “Right, like I’m supposed to believe that.”
    â€œ We were just looking for some privacy,” Reggie says. He sidles up to Ash and wraps his arms around her.
    The cop sizes them up for a moment—giant Reggie and diminutive Ash—then he looks at me and Kelly. Finally his gaze settles on Micah and we can all see that he’s figuring out the math. His eyes flit around, as if he expects to see another person to be hiding somewhere.
    But he just shakes his head again and tells us the next time he comes by we had better be gone. “This is a class B zone,” he tells us. “Only authorized individuals are allowed in here. It’s not a… It’s not a motel.”
    He turns on his heels and walks away, much to our surprise. He doesn’t even bother to scan us.
    â€œ Class B?” Reggie whispers in disbelief. “Man, we are so lucky he didn’t bust us.”
    Class A would be the East River, of course. The penalty for trespassing there wouldn’t be arrest or LSC years. It would be vaporization by one of the mines.
    When the sound of the cop’s shoes on the pavement fades away, I turn back to Kelly and shake him. “What the hell were you thinking jumping in there? You almost drowned!”
    He slowly raises his eyes, but he doesn’t look at me. It’s Reggie he stares at, his eyes dark and penetrating. “Well, Reg, you wanted to know if the tunnel’s open. I got your answer.” He takes in a shuddering breath and looks at the rest of us.
    â€œ Blocked?” Reggie