by Eliza Green
‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
He blew out a breath. ‘Yeah. Just a little shaken.’
‘Was he one of your prison guards?’
‘The worst.’
Dom hadn’t spoken about his experience in the medical facility and she didn’t want to pry. But she’d seen his condition and experienced the place for herself. Some things didn’t need elaboration.
The group entered Zone C, midway between the exit and the large, white structure at the heart of the city. Carissa glanced nervously at the Learning Centre. She was holding one arm and looking more nervous than Anya felt to be back here.
They approached a familiar, grey building with a grass verge to the front. Seeing the medical facility from the outside made her shiver. But the fact no one was stopping them worried her more.
She assessed the deserted streets and the rooftops she could see. Jacob’s rogue orb zipped overhead. What she wouldn’t give to see what it did right now.
‘Where is everyone?’
Dom’s brow creased. ‘I don’t know. Maybe they don’t have the manpower to fight us.’
‘Maybe.’
She looked back to where the train track sat idle above the street. This entire place was like a ghost town.
‘I hope there’s still power here.’
‘Me too,’ replied Dom.
The double doors showed damage, probably from the time of their escape. They’d made it to the lobby only to find the door was locked and Copies were trying to break it down. Her Copy medic had helped them to escape the clutches of two guards who had caught up with them. One of them had killed Yasmin. Anya wondered if her medic was still alive.
‘Do we need special access to this place?’ Dom asked Carissa.
Carissa nodded and approached the door. She tried the handle but it wouldn’t budge.
With wide eyes, she looked back at the group. ‘I don’t know how to open it, other than with my chip.’
Each of them had removed their tracking devices soon after they escaped the city.
Dom stepped forward and shoved the prison guard ahead. ‘You do it.’
The Copy grunted from the rough treatment, but pressed the chip in his wrist to the plate on the left. It flashed green.
That confirmed this city still had power.
‘At least you’re good for something.’ Dom turned to the others. ‘Get ready.’
Anya lifted her Electro Gun to eye level and aimed it at the door. Her revolver was tucked in her waistband. Others fanned out around the lead group, creating a semi-circle, guns pointing out.
Dom poked the Copy in the side. ‘Open it.’
He did and Anya braced for an attack, an ambush. Anything.
None came.
‘It’s empty,’ the guard said.
‘Lucky for you,’ Dom growled at him. He shoved him inside.
Anya’s knees nearly buckled when she stepped inside the place that had held her and so many others prisoner. She caught Sheila’s shiver and saw June’s lips thin with tension. This place was evil. But hopefully something good could come out of it.
Her memories of this place had remained intact, not stolen by the Collective’s machine. It had been less than a week since she’d been here. So much had happened in that time.
Carissa led the way to the lift. The door refused to open for her.
Dom shoved the guard towards it. ‘Open the lift.’
While the guard did, he eyed Carissa. ‘173-C?’
Carissa’s blonde hair fanned out as she turned sharply. ‘What did you call me?’
‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’
‘M-my name is Carissa.’
‘That’s not what the Collective calls you.’
His sneer unsettled Anya, but her attention was drawn back to June, who appeared to be in discomfort.
Vanessa was holding on to her elbow. ‘Can we get moving, please? This girl needs attention.’
Dom shoved the Copy into the lift. His three rebel soldier guards entered it after him. Vanessa entered with June next. Then Charlie. Carissa and Jacob followed until it was full.
‘The rest of us will follow,’ said Anya. There was more than one way to access the levels below. ‘Where are you taking her?’
All eyes were on Carissa for the answer. She looked around nervously. ‘The Nurturing Centre, third floor down.’
‘Where the babies were being kept?’
She nodded.
The lift doors closed.
Anya said to Sheila, ‘We’ll use the stairs.’
‘Okay, let’s go.’
Anya and Dom followed Sheila, Imogen and Thomas as they took three sets of stairs down to the third level. At the bottom, they exited into a white corridor. Anya squinted beneath the harsh, overhead lights. She’d forgotten how bright this place could get. Her medic had brought her down here once, when she was trying to convince her that having a baby by force was a good thing.
Anya followed the sound of soft voices up ahead. They met up with the others in an open area, set before the door leading to the Nurturing Centre viewing corridor.
Carissa walked up to a different, plain wall that had a slight shimmer to it. She glanced down at her wrist.
‘It needs a Copy’s chip to open it.’
The soldiers shoved the guard forward. With a grunt, he waved his wrist in front of the wall. A part of it transformed into a door, showing a new corridor that appeared to give them access to the area behind the rooms and the viewing corridor. Vanessa helped June inside, followed closely by Carissa and Jacob.
Dom ordered the remainder to watch his ex-guard before following them. Anya entered the new corridor, keeping back. This was Carissa and Jacob’s show now. She had no idea what this equipment did or how it worked.
She entered a room—one of three—that she’d only seen from one side: through the viewing corridor. Her chest tightened suddenly. Her incarceration, her forced connection with Alex... it was still raw. She needed to find Alex and Jerome, to free them both—if they were here at all.
Their rescue would have to wait. Right now, June needed help.
Anya stood back while Vanessa helped June sit on a gurney in the middle of the room. A machine containing seven vials made of clear glass stood off to the side. Each vial contained an amber liquid.
Jacob stroked the front of the machine.
‘Do you know how to use this?’ he asked Carissa.
She walked up to it and frowned. Anya wondered if Carissa was accessing the files she’d grabbed before disconnecting from the city.
‘This machine accelerates growth.’ She shook her head at Jacob. ‘We can’t use this on the foetus while it’s still in June. They use this machine to grow the babies once they’re out the host’s womb.’
The truth made Anya shiver. It could so easily have been her. She had seen the other two rooms from the side of the viewing corridor. They’d held children of varying ages. Had they been products of that growth machine?
A hand on her back startled her. ‘Are you okay?’
Dom was looking down at her. His brown eyes settled her nerves and she nodded. ‘Just remembering.’
He flicked his eyes up to Carissa. ‘So, where do we take her?’
‘The Harvesting room on the first floor has surgical equipment,’ she said.
June’s eyes widened. ‘Harvesting? Surgical?’
Dom nodded. ‘I can vouch for that.’
‘Anything that can take the baby out?’ asked Vanessa.
Dom’s lips thinned. ‘More than there should be.’
Vanessa helped June to stand. ‘I’m sorry, we need to move you again.’
June nodded, but Anya saw she was in huge discomfort. And also that her belly was growing in size again.
As they left the room, Jacob said to Dom, ‘We’re going to need you to come with us. You’ve been there before.’
Dom jerked a nod and followed. But when Anya didn’t move, he stopped. ‘Are you coming?’
Dom smiled. ‘Of course. Be careful.’
He bent down and grazed her lips with the softest kiss.
‘I will,’ she whispered.
8
Carissa
Where was Quintus? Or the rest of the Collective? Carissa had felt a slight tingle in her head, where her neuromorphic chip was, when she’d passed the first of the tag stations. Quintus had told her she couldn’t break her ties to the Collective, that she belonged to the Ten always.
She followed Vanessa and June to the lift. Now wasn’t the right time to check if the ten voices were still active inside the Great Hall.
But soon. Because she had to know.
Jacob encouraged her on with a gentle nudge and she picked up her speed. Ahead, the soldiers steered along the Copy guard, known to Carissa as 148-C. His clones were gone. That they existed at all meant the replication machine technology must still be working. And that the city might have sizeable power reserves.
Carissa almost touched the NMC connection disc that used to allow her to hear the Collective. It made her nervous to attempt connection now. If the Collective was still online, it could use the connection to kill her.
The Inventor’s hand on her back startled her. She jerked her finger away and looked up at him.
‘Is something the matter, miss?’
His eyes were pale and warm. She hated that he could see right through her moods.
‘No, nothing.’
She resumed her walk, keeping her pace even, keen to keep her distance from 148-C, who kept glancing back at her. Her memory banks held a report on this Copy. He’d been reported to Quintus for bullying Dom while he’d been prisoner.
‘It must be strange to be back in the city, miss,’ the Inventor said. She snapped her attention to him. He was looking around. ‘I must admit it feels strange to be back myself, even though we haven’t been gone that long.’
Carissa had become so used to seeing the Inventor in the city she sometimes forgot that he’d been a prisoner here. In her own way, Carissa had been one too. She was a child of the city, destined to live out her days here. Cared for by the Collective. Shaped and moulded by Quintus.
But never loved by him.
Carissa hugged herself as she walked, injecting pace into her step and passing the others. She wanted to make it to the lift before 148-C did.
‘Slow down, miss.’ The Inventor huffed out a breath. ‘I can’t move as fast as you.’
She reached the lift and slipped in beside Dom, Vanessa and a wincing June. The Inventor arrived a moment later. He flashed her an irritated look and climbed on board. She pressed the button before 148-C’s arrival with the soldiers.
A restrained 148-C arrived with this escorts. Carissa kept pressing the button.
‘We should go, Jacob,’ she said.
The Inventor frowned at her, then looked at 148-C. He waved at the soldiers holding him. ‘Take the stairs. We’ll meet you up there.’
148-C smirked at Carissa, as if he knew his presence bothered her. A deep chill ran through her biogel and made her hands tingle. She hated not being connected, not knowing what was going on.
The second the doors closed, Carissa’s fear lifted.
The Inventor’s eyes were on the door.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered, too softly for him to hear.
The doors opened and they exited into the first floor. Carissa had not visited this floor before. Her interest had lain in the second floor, where June had been. She’d only seen the first floor as part of the maps. But Dom should remember it well.
Their dark-haired leader shuddered. He pointed ahead. ‘This way.’
The route brought them to a long corridor with a solid wall and door on one side, and several corridors opposite it. The soldiers, who had taken the stairs, arrived with 148-C.
Dom led the way, looking more confident going in than he’d been coming out of this place. His shoulders sagged a little, but he kept his head and chin up.
‘In here,’ he said softly, pointing at the door on the left.
148-C smirked.
Dom opened the door fast, pointing his gun inside. ‘Clear.’
He stepped inside, but not before hesitating.
Vanessa helped June inside the room.
‘Stay out here and protect us,’ said the Inventor to the spare soldiers. He cast a cool look over 148-C, then nodded at the two armed soldiers flanking him. ‘Bring him in.’
The soldiers pushed him inside. Carissa, last into the room, closed the door.
The room was bright and white—a prominent feature of the city. A nod to the cleanliness the Collective strived for daily. There was a gurney in the middle of the room. Above it, several closed panels were set in the ceiling. The walls, smooth and white, had hidden nooks. All the walls in the city did. The Collective despised disorder. Everything had to be in its place. If it wasn’t needed, it must be out of sight.
Carissa clasped her hands to the front while Vanessa and Dom got June settled.
June looked around the room, worried. ‘What happens in here?’
‘Many interesting things,’ replied 148-C.
Dom grabbed 148-C’s arm, making him yelp. ‘Shut your mouth, unless I ask you to speak. Got it?’
The guard nodded slowly, not looking too put out by Dom’s threats. Dom let go. 148-C rubbed his arm where Dom had used his enhanced strength on him.
‘Ah!’ June cried out.
Carissa rushed over to her. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I will be. Junior’s getting a little antsy.’
Carissa pulled up her sleeve and looked up at the Inventor.
He pushed her arm down. ‘We’re past your growth repressors now, miss. It’s time to take Junior out.’ He squinted at the walls, the ceiling. ‘How does this place work?’
Dom pointed. ‘Up there. The medical equipment.’
Vanessa held on to June’s hand. ‘How do we get it started?’
‘He knows how.’ Dom grabbed 148-C’s arm roughly.
‘I’ve forgotten,’ he said coolly. ‘It’s been so long since you were here.’
Dom twisted 148-C’s arm behind his back. The Copy yelped. ‘I seem to remember you being squeamish about blood.’ 148-C’s eyes widened. ‘Help us now, and I’ll spare you the gory parts.’
The Copy nodded tightly. Dom let go, but the soldiers flanking the prisoner kept their weapons pointed at him. He walked over to a panel and pressed it. It revealed a control pad.
Dom stood at his shoulder. ‘How does it work?’
‘You type in the procedure you want done. Then the arms do the rest. You remember them, don’t you?’
Dom slapped him on his ear. 148-C hissed.
‘What command to we need to deliver the child?’
148-C glanced at Carissa. ‘She’s more likely to know than me.’
All eyes were on Carissa, including June’s.
She shook her head. ‘I never worked here.’
The Inventor stooped, drawing her focus to him. ‘Miss, you have the commands. You know what they are. Think.’
She shook her head again. ‘But I’m not connected.’ She pointed to 148-C. ‘He is.’
‘We can’t risk him issuing a false command. Think, miss. June trusts you.’
Carissa bit her lip. She tried to remember, but the pressure turned her thoughts blank.
The Inventor shook her arm gently. ‘Do your best, miss.’
She nodded.
There were too many eyes on her; she closed her eyes to concentrate better. She thought back to her visits on the second floor. She’d spoken to the head medic about the procedures. 28-C had called June “Patient Zero” and said that she was awaiting foetus transfer. But that was before June had received the implant.
She opened her eyes. ‘Try this command: foetus removal.’
Dom typed in the procedure. Panels opened in the ceiling. He jerked his head up. A sudden shudder ma
tched the fear in his eyes.
The first metal arm extended down, almost hesitantly. It had a set of pincers. June’s eyes widened. Carissa rushed over to her and held her other hand.
‘It’s okay,’ she said, even though she’d never witnessed operations in this room. She’d only read reports about the work that went on in the Harvesting programme. She turned to Dom. ‘Talk to her.’
He left the control panel and came to June’s side. ‘It’s okay. It usually starts with a morphine injection.’ He pointed to an arm carrying a needle. ‘See?’
The second arm raced towards June. She recoiled from it.
‘Dom?’ June whispered.
The needle jabbed her vein roughly and stayed there. She cried out.
Dom smiled. ‘It’s okay. You won’t feel the next part.’
Carissa wondered about his time here. But a third and fourth arm extending down dragged her thoughts back to the next part. One had a set of retractors. The other had a laser and was cutting through the fabric on June’s clothes. The pincers held the clothes apart while the laser continued to cut. It made a neat incision in June’s belly. The retractors pinned the skin back, exposing the womb.
So much blood. Carissa had never seen that much before. The smell of iron filled the air and made her feel dizzy.
148-C said, ‘You promised I could leave!’
Dom nodded to the rebel soldiers and they took him outside.
Carissa covered her eyes, peeking now through slits in her fingers. The set of pincers lifted the baby out. Vanessa had her jacket off and was holding it out for the arm to place it in. The arm hesitated, then dropped the baby into it.
A fifth arm sealed the tear in the womb and the retractors retreated up and into the ceiling. The pincers held the skin closed while the arm with the skin-repair tool mended the horizontal slice in June’s skin. Carissa removed her hand from her eyes and examined June’s belly. Except for a slight bulge from the trauma, her skin was healing nicely. June sighed with relief, but her eyes were on Vanessa, cradling her bundle.
‘Give her to me,’ she said.
Vanessa looked up at her, surprised. ‘How did you know the sex?’
‘I had a feeling.’
Vanessa smiled at the baby Carissa couldn’t see and handed her to June. And that’s when she saw her. A human baby. No flaws. No horns. No strange additions. Just flesh and bones.