by Gideon Mills
When Amita exited the building, the guard who had helped them was there.
“I set up a jamming signal and sent them to a different floor and exit,” he said.
“Thank you,” Amita said.
They rushed to the car and away from the building.
25
I’m alive
Marcus woke up. For the first time in forever, he was not in pain. He wasn’t sure where he was, but when Marcus rolled over, he figured he was in heaven. “I’ve died, and my angel is here.”
“You aren’t dead,” Amita said.
His mother appeared over her shoulder.
“Guess not,” Marcus said. “What happened?”
Amita told the tale of him being captured and tortured by Jameson. Marcus remembered most of it even though he wanted to forget. It would haunt him for the rest of his life, but at least he had Amita.
She had a disturbing story too.
“It can’t be,” Marcus said.
“I don’t believe it either,” Amita said.
His mother nodded. “It’s true.”
Marcus trusted his mother. If she said it was true, then it was. She clearly didn’t care, and that made Marcus happy.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Level three,” Amita said. “We’re in a building that the Resistance had. Your mother helped fix it up this week.”
“What happens now?” Marcus asked.
Ihor appeared in the doorway. “We either run, or we fight.”
Marcus knew that something needed to be done. “We fight.”
Interlude
Adjusted Course
26
Missing friend
The night was chilly as Samantha walked the streets of Detroit. The young woman had lived her whole life in view of the Security Force and the Mara Corp. They controlled everything, and there was nothing to be done about it. The Security Force would take a person away if they got into trouble too many times. Everyone lived in fear of getting written up and being taken away. Never to be seen again.
For Samantha, that was life. She lived on the street level of the city, one of several levels that made up the city. Hers was the lowest in the city, and the worst. Growing up in the orphanage, Halo Home, she didn’t get to leave Detroit or the street.
The street level was filthy, pock-marked with trash. Discarded wrappers from food rations and used syringes from drug use covered the streets. Many of the people who lived here with her either went to a life of drugs or vanished. Three strikes by the Security Force and a person would never be seen again.
Samantha wasn’t sure what had happened to Amita, if it was the Security Force or the drugs. Not that she had ever seen her friend use, but it might have happened. Samantha shook her head. No. Amita was better than that. The alternative, though worse, was the only option.
Her best friend had been missing for over a week, leaving Samantha high and dry. Instead of sleeping like she should be in her rat-infested apartment, Samantha was out looking for Amita. She knew it was fruitless but still did it. She had to find her friend.
Sam was average height with fiery red hair she kept chin length, unlike her short friend, Amita, who was five feet and had long brown hair. Sam missed her. She wasn’t sure why she longed for her friend as much as she did, but it pained her.
Yet another person had gone missing while those above lived a life of luxury. It angered Sam that people lived it up and had the money to modify their bodies while those here didn’t. Before Amita went missing, that hadn’t bothered her much. Sam had been content with her life. Well, more like okay with her place in it.
She had a good job, even if her boss was a disgusting pig who entered her bubble. The work let her not live on the streets, not fall into drugs, and get meal rations every day. That was more than a lot could say on the street level.
Walking in the chilly air down the lonely, desolate street, Sam feared for her friend.
After a while, Sam saw several men huddled together. They stopped talking when they noticed her.
As she walked by one stood. “You want some?”
He was offering her Dyno, the popular drug the people on the street level used. The man had a grin from ear to ear. Dyno created a euphoria state in its users. It was short lived and made the time off the drug horrendous. It was also the last thing she wanted.
Scanning the group of users, Sam didn’t see Amita. “No thanks. You seen a short woman, long brown hair, petite?”
“Nope,” the user said and went back to the group. They appeared lost in their own little world, unaware of the trash they sat on. Sam was sure one of them had either crapped his pants or lay in some foul-smelling trash pile.
Either way, she wanted to get away from the men. Tonight was a dud. It was time to get some sleep before the grind that was work.
Sam walked back to her home lost and confused. A week with no answers. That was just too long.
27
Feeling Dirty
The factory was hot, brutally so as Sam worked the press. It was owned by the Mara Corp. They created drones or robots for the wealthy, either for here or to be shipped across the New Republic. Never for the lower levels of the city. Sam worked tirelessly for something she would never be able to use or see in work. That frustrated her to no end and it angered her beyond belief at how unfair it was.
If the Mara Corp wanted to, they could send a few robots down to the Street Level to clean up the streets. Instead, they let the workers on the Street Level make it worse by the day. It was one way they kept people stuck and in check.
There was only one way that Sam knew of to get to the upper levels of Detroit, the elevator that she passed every day on her way to work. The elevator was the same one that her boss rode down from his level two home.
Michael talked about how great it was on the Second Level, how much better the people were. He complained that he was forced to come and work here, forced to endure the stench of the place.
If he was any reflection of the people on level two, Sam was glad she didn’t live there.
Michael walked up behind her. Her boss was just under six feet tall with short brown hair that he wore spiky. His breath reeked of alcohol and something else, maybe onions. Whatever it was, it gurgled her stomach and made her want to double over.
He closed the gap between them. “Your friend still hasn’t shown up. One more day and her spot will be filled.”
Sam knew time was running out, and she needed to find Amita. It appeared that wasn’t going to happen, and that made Sam sad and lonely. She didn’t have many friends. In fact, Amita was the only one. That made her even more depressed.
Michael was so close she could feel him touching her, breathing on her, licking his lips. “Maybe the next one will be as pretty as you.”
Sam breathed in deeply. She did her best to pretend he wasn’t there. She wasn’t going to lose this job. She couldn’t lose this job. “Maybe.”
Her boss’s hand hovered over her, just barely not touching her until his hand was on her backside, and then he touched her butt. “Oh, how I’ve wanted to touch this. See it.”
Sam closed her eyes and cried. What she would give to kick him in the testicles, to make him regret touching her.
Michael walked away, leaving Sam alone. The world was closing in on her. The fiery-haired girl had trouble breathing as the machines banged and clanged around her. To her, it felt like the machines were crushing the life out of her.
With all her strength, Samantha continued her job, forcing herself not to think of Michael as he leered at her, or that Amita was gone. Most likely, Amita was never coming back.
28
In search
The next morning before work, Sam went out in search for her friend with little hope. It was early, too early to be up, but she didn’t care. As she walked, she let her mind wander to the good times, to the better times before Amita was gone. Those few moments of pure joy and happiness in Sam’s life were the times i
n the Halo Home with Amita and the nuns. The two of them would wake up early, before they went to the orphanage-run school. They would talk about the sisters, gossiping about the boys at the school as they grew older. Sam had had a crush on one of the boys.
That wasn’t Amita at all. Sam’s best friend never really showed interest in many men. Not that either of them ended up with a guy. Working at the factory took up most of their time. Sam worked every single day. They didn’t allow days off since the droids were in such high demand.
As Sam strolled, she saw a group of people walking through the street. At least she thought she did. It was a group of four, three men and a woman. The female person was short, really short like her friend Amita. She had the same long brown hair Amita had.
If Sam didn’t know any better, she would swear that it was Amita. Blinking at them, she hesitated, confused. It just couldn’t be. The girl in the group had mods, her leg and her arm at a minimum, maybe even more.
No one on the Street Level had mods. It just wasn’t allowed, and it cost too much money. Not even the people Sam knew from the Second Level had mods, though her boss made it sound like they did have them there. The more Sam thought about that, the more she doubted if that was the case. Sam wasn’t sure what level that started, but since she didn’t know the number of levels, she could only fathom a guess.
The group disappeared before she could get a closer look. As much as Sam wanted that girl to be Amita, there just wasn’t a way for it to be.
Continuing to walk, Sam began to wonder if she was going crazy. Seeing Amita with body mods. She had to be seeing things. Just had to be seeing stuff. Even though she didn’t take any of the drugs, she felt like she had.
Maybe she should take some of the Dyno. It would make her life better, and she could forget Amita and Michael. That would be nice now. Her life just felt worthless at the moment.
Never in her life had she felt so lost and worthless. A week ago, Sam wouldn’t have felt this way. While Amita was her only friend, Sam was sure Amita didn’t need her to survive, to be alive, or to enjoy her time. Joking and loving life had been her job, while it had been Amita’s to be the downer. Without her friend here, she was turning into the one who was negative.
Sam started toward work. It was nearly time. As much as she didn’t want to deal with her boss, she would suck it up and deal. That was life.
Suddenly, she saw the appeal of the streets and living life by the seat of her pants.
Rounding the corner to head toward the Mara Corp factory, Sam bumped into a man. Looking up, she gulped in terror. Her heart raced, and she froze in place. Never had she been more frightened in her life. It was a Security Force member.
He glared at her. “Well,” he said with an almost robotic voice, “you have just been selected.”
Sam didn’t like the sound of that at all. Selected. It sounded like a bad thing, which she was certain it was. Anytime a Security Force member talked like that, a person was in trouble. Serious trouble.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said.
“It is too late,” the Security Force member said. “You will make a fine candidate for relocation.”
Before Sam could even react, the Security Force member knocked her out cold.
29
What is going on?
Opening her eyes, Sam wasn’t sure where she was. It amazed her that she was alive and breathing. That alone was a shock. The room she was in was large, much like the factory where she worked.
The main difference were the sounds. Loud at times, the sounds were different and layered with screams of pain. Sam didn’t like that one bit. Also, it had a scent of blood and antiseptics. That too was frightening for Sam.
This wasn’t a hospital. Not one that Sam had been to at least. Not that they let people visit much on the street level. There was one close to her home and Sam was sure it was nasty. This place wasn’t. Definitely not street level.
She tried to get up but couldn’t. She was restrained in place.
Sam thrashed against the restraints. Never in her life had she been tied down like this. The loss of freedom and hope hurt. This wasn’t right, and she had no idea what was going on.
“She’s awake,” a voice said. “A live one. Good.”
The tone was ominous and frightening. The man sounded like he was going to enjoy himself, that whatever he was going to do it was going to be entertainment for him.
He walked over to her and leaned over. “Why, hello, subject Delta four.” The man smiled. It was scary. “I’m Jameson Ward. I work for the Mara Corp. You have been selected to test new equipment.”
Sam’s head throbbed, and her arms ached. She looked at them. For now, they were still hers. She wondered how much longer that was going to be the case.
The pain was never-ending. Needle after needle. Blade after blade. It blurred together for Sam. It was the same each and every day. Sam wasn’t able to figure out what day it was.
She wasn’t even sure how much time had passed at all. A day. A week. A month. She wasn’t sure. All that she knew was the pain from Jameson. He took great enjoyment from the work he did to her.
Each time she screamed in pain, he smiled. The more pain he caused her, the more Jameson appeared to be happy. The more excited Jameson got. Sam wasn’t sure if he was a doctor or not, but she was confident that he was a mad scientist.
She had read a few books growing up, and he would fit in just perfectly as the villain. The way he leered at her and treated her. Like she was his girlfriend. One of many in the torture hall of pain.
Whenever Sam was awake, she heard people either screaming in pain or crying. Sam was sure she was crying as well. It was impossible to tell.
Doctor Torture leaned over. “Good morning,” he said in a tone that Sam figured he thought was sweet. Instead, his voice made her insides scream. “Today, I think we will go about improving you. We have these brand-new eyes to test out. We think they might let you see like a cat.”
More needles were injected into her, and they began the process of removing her eyes. Before they finished, she passed out.
30
The world is different
To Samantha’s surprise, the eyes worked. She wasn’t sure what a cat saw, but it was definitely not what it was like before. Her vison was better, with everything sharper and crisper. The colors were brighter to the point of nearly overwhelming her. In here, she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Seeing more of the horrors around her made her nauseous and increased her anxiety level.
Just coming into her vision was the most powerful woman in the world. Keres Mara, the CEO of Mara Corp, the woman who was plastered on every TV screen in the New Republic.
She stopped in front of Sam. “This is the one. Delta Four.”
Seeing the woman, something else happened. In front of her she saw a stats screen.
Keres Mara: CEO Mara Corp
Stats:
Intelligence: 10
Strength: 9
Cunning: 10
Speed: 5
Modification: classified
Jameson joined her. “It is.” The man had a hint of pride in his voice. His voice disgusted Sam. Her anxiety rose whenever the vile Jameson was near.
“Do the eyes work?” Keres asked. She leaned over Sam, examining her.
“They do.”
“Interesting. Test her further. See if they work after you do another procedure.”
“Very well,” Jameson said.
That was the last thing Sam wanted to hear. She hated the work on the eyes. It hurt so much. Going through that again was going to be horrific. If they actually treated her like a human, the procedure might not be that bad. Big might.
But they didn’t give her painkillers or put her out. The pain, the suffering… She was never going to forget it.
Sam had a new arm to go with the eyes. It worked, and they upped the restraints on her. She still couldn’t liberate herself. All that Sam wanted was to be free of here. To get out of
this hellhole.
She had trouble keeping her eyes open. She was in so much pain. Her body ached, and her mind was lost. She just didn’t know what to do any more. All she wanted was Dyno. That would make it better. Never in her life had she wanted a drug like she did now. That was the only thought that kept her going. She envisioned the euphoria it would produce.
Then, suddenly, a familiar face appeared in front of her. Amita.
“Amita?” Confusion rose in Sam at the sight of her friend.
“It’s me.” Amita turned to another person and said, “This one we save. She is my friend.”
“Okay,” a man said.
His voice startled Sam. In her time here, people hadn’t been friendly, and she worried this one might not be either. But if Amita trusted him, Sam would too.
The people with Amita removed the restraints and helped Sam move. She didn’t have the strength to walk on her own. Sam wasn’t even sure of the last time she had walked.
They dragged her along, but it was too much. Sam couldn’t handle it. They pulled her along, and at some point, she saw Keres again and then passed out.
When Sam woke up, she was in yet a different room. It wasn’t as clean as the one where they had done all the work on her.
A man sat in the room with her. He was tall and lanky with wire-rimmed glasses.
“Where am I?” Sam asked.
“Level three of New Detroit,” the man said. “I’m Ihor. You were being experimented on by the Mara Corp. Amita had us save you.”
“Thank you,” Sam said.