Host

by H. J. Lawson

  What does it matter which planet you come from? What’s important is being a good person, and Skylier, that is one thing you are, Rian’s mind says warmly.

  “The Sanction has been placed on a curfew. Anyone seen outside past the curfew will be classified as a rebel and punished as one, so be safe, my children,” Abaven announces.

  The group of kids mutter to one another at Abaven’s news.

  “You, with Enoch,” Gerel says to me, then adds, “you’re with me” to Rian, much to his delight. He has a stupid grin on his face.

  On the wall next to the puzzle door are monitors, all with different views. One displays the street we entered to get into the store, and then others show the streets that lead into that street, giving them a look out at all the key locations.

  This way they can see who’s coming before anyone can enter. They must have seen us coming from afar, so why did it take them so long to open the door? Maybe because they’re just a group of kids with a crazy knife-throwing girl as their leader in the absence of Abaven. If they had opened it sooner, Gavyn would have never gotten in. Luckily, he was trying to help. If not, we would all have been killed.

  “Go...go...go,” Abaven yells at us. One pair after another runs through the puzzle door into the empty street.

  “Go,” Gerel says to me, gritting her teeth.

  Adrenaline takes over my body. Part of me wants to knock her gritting teeth into the back of her mouth, and the other wants me to just run away from her.

  I take the latter option and run like the others down the street. You wouldn’t know it was nighttime by the artificial light shining brightly from the streetlights. Only the twinkles of the stars in the crisp new night sky hovering over the glass dome give you a clue that’s its nighttime.

  “This way,” Enoch says as he slows down to a walk and merges into the crowd of people hurrying down the road.

  “The others went the other way,” I say as I watch Rian looking over his shoulder at me as he joins the crowd in the opposite direction.

  “Don’t worry, we will meet up with them in the end. It’s best if we don’t travel in groups,” Enoch whispers. Makes sense to me.

  Enoch says we will meet up at the end, my mind tells Rian.

  Gerel told me the same. Be safe…

  You too, my mind says back.

  I look for Rian, but he’s lost in the sea of white people hurrying off the street to meet the imminent curfew. Each street is bursting to the brim with people. I’ve only ever seen this many people in the communal area back in the Cueva for an event. The Cueva never felt overcrowded like these streets. People are stealing my air, making my chest feel tight as they brush against me.

  “Do you believe what people are saying, that Dax is alive? And he stabbed the Chancellor,” a lady in the crowd mutters to her friend.

  “I do. He was never one to be trusted, unlike Xander,” her friend replies.

  I scowl at the women. “If only you knew the truth,” I say before I can stop myself.

  “What are you kids doing on the street? Didn’t you hear there is a curfew? Your parents will be worried,” she says.

  Enoch tugs at my arm. “This way,” he says, pulling us away from the gossiping women.

  “You really need to work at blending in,” he scolds me.

  “I know, I know. Just can’t stand listening to them bad-mouthing Dax,” I reply.

  “Why do you care about Dax?” he asks.

  Jeez, I can’t be bothered to tell anyone else about my new, twisted family. “Forget about it. What’s the plan?” I ask.

  “We are going on the work shuttle, then to the living quarters,” Enoch replies.

  I stop walking. “Are you crazy?”

  Enoch smiles. “We do it every day.”

  “Every day?”

  “Yes, we all work in the hub.”

  “How do you get past the hand scanners?” I ask.

  I expect him to show me a piece of pig skin like Dax, and nudge my body away from Enoch, right into some women. “Sorry.”

  I can just make out the sound of a tut through the waves of chatter from the passengers as they surge forward toward the shuttle.

  “Our barcodes have been changed,” he says with a smile.

  “What? They can do that?”

  “Yeah, just for select things, like getting us into areas that we’re not meant to be in. I just wish they could work out the bitcoin part so we wouldn’t have to work. Abaven disagrees with that, says that would make us dishonest, but…” Enoch pauses.

  “But what?” I push.

  “I think he has worked it out, because how else could he afford the things he has? Wait till you see his stuff,” Enoch explains.

  “If they can get you in, that’s all I need. A barcode upgrade will get me into the Chancellor’s labs,” I say.

  Enoch pulls me to the side toward a quiet street, threading his way through the crowds, which part around us, muttering with disgust at our behavior. “Skylier, do you really think that’s all you need? That you can just walk right in, you and Rian, get your family, and leave? There are going to be guards monitoring every section. I guess they will be on high alert after what happened today. It’s a suicide mission. You may as well stay out tonight and get yourself arrested and get the punishment over and done with,” Enoch says bluntly.

  “I’m not stupid, I know I need more than an upgrade.” I wish it were that simple.

  “I said that, Skylier, because no one deserves to die. Your life is worth more than that. All of the lost kids, we were on the edge of death, either at the hands of the Sanction or our own, when we were rescued,” Enoch says, pressing his lips together.

  “Did Abaven rescue you?”

  Enoch nods as sorrow fills his eyes. “I was thrown out with some others, but luckily for me, I was too high to follow the other Bazis into the wasteland, and I and some others spent the night by the Sanction walls. The banished Hosts thought that they would be allowed back in, and that their being banished was a mistake. The drugs actually saved my life. Abaven rescued me and the Hosts.”

  “They threw you out? Why?” I ask.

  “The crowds are thinning down, we need to hurry,” Enoch says, changing the subject.

  “How am I going to get on the shuttle? I don’t have an upgrade, do I?” I ask.

  “Here.” Enoch passes me a flesh-colored patch with a barcode on it. “Place this over yours. It’s just a temporary one, though. It will do the job for the shuttle because their scanners aren’t as good as the ones in the capital.”

  I slip the paper off the back, making sure no one is watching me, and place it carefully over my barcode, giving me an instant upgrade. No need to be a Host or Bazi first. I wish the real world were like this. Why can’t it be? If there is technology available, why can’t we give it to everyone? There would be no division in class, and everyone would be able to get treatments for sickness. Then there would be no Hosts and no Bazis.

  “This way,” Enoch says as he heads toward the hand scanner that will allow us access into the Gate.

  “Don’t I need bitcoins for the scanner to work?”

  “Nope, the shuttles are free,” Enoch says, to my surprise.

  Bright red lights flash and a siren begins wailing. Gasps from the people in line by the scanners can be heard. A group of guards runs toward the sound.

  “It’s a rebel,” people in the crowd mutter as they move backward, pushing others out of their way.

  I can make out a man running through the checkpoint. Red spots appear on his back. I hear the buzz of electricity between the screeching of the sirens, and the man’s body jolts, then convulses as he thrashes on the floor.

  “A shock gun. His brain has been fried,” Enoch says as he stands beside me.

  “A-Aren’t you wo-worried about that?” I stutter as my eyes are fixed on the man, who is foaming from his mouth.

  Enoch pauses. “We’ve been okay for this long, and Abaven wouldn’t let anything happen to
us. His technology’s way better than theirs,” he assures me.

  “How can his technology be better than a whole Sanction’s?”

  Enoch shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t know, just know the stuff I’ve seen him do is mind-blowing. It’s better if we go to the checkpoint now, while the guards are busy with him,” Enoch says as he walks toward the empty monitor. Everyone else is cautiously standing away from it, scared they will be next.

  Enoch scans his barcode over the monitor. The red beam reads it. The white plastic doorframe glows green. Enoch walks through, looking over his shoulder at me and smiling.

  My heart races as I approach the monitor, and my hand trembles as I hover it over the scanner. A red laser beam scans my barcode and the doorframe glows green.

  I pause for a second in shock and relief and notice the guards are heading toward me, two of them carrying the man’s body, which looks lifeless except for the uncontrollable twitching.

  Enoch waves his hand, motioning for me to join him, and I don’t hesitate this time.

  The guards walk past me without a glance. I feel invisible. I grip my hands together, trying to control the shaking, and head toward Enoch with my eyes locked on him.

  I’ve never been in this part of Purenet before. Children of Cueva had no reason to be here, as this is the transportation area for those that live in Purenet.

  The gate is like the one in Cueva that takes us to Purenet, with its white, domed walls and glossy, white tiled floors, but there are lots of gates, all with shuttles waiting at them, unlike at Cueva, where we have only one gate. That’s all we needed: one way in, one way out. We weren’t allowed anywhere else.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Enoch and I stand waiting for the shuttle doors to open, along with the other people. Their skin is like Enoch’s, shimmering with heavy makeup. Sweat droplets wash away sections of the fake skin color, revealing the natural skin tone, which is a fraction of a shade tanner.

  The people who surround me are just as captive as those that are in Cueva, unable to go outside and smell the fresh air, held under this dome by an invisible source of fear that is no longer here.

  I can just make out the soft sound of music playing gently above the commuters’ chatter. It’s coming from an older gentleman whose face isn’t painted Purenet white. His natural dark skin, as dark as my pupil, seems almost blue-black. His white teeth glisten brightly, and the innocent sound of his voice is filled with emotions. His skin has weathered creases over his face, as if creating a map of his life. He stands out as an element of wrongness within Purenet, yet he is the only pure thing here.

  The words flow from his mouth as if he’s telling a story, a story that time forgot, of the fall leaves drifting to the ground from the gentle breeze of the new season. I’ve never seen a leaf fall from a tree because I’ve only ever seen trees from afar when I was in the Grounders’ community, but I wasn’t there long enough to watch the change of season.

  The way in which the singer sings about them makes me feel like I can almost see them, can almost appreciate the crispness of the change in color, the smell of the leaves—nature at its purest.

  People pile behind me, blocking the view of the man and stealing his music with their need to fill the silences. As I drown in their endless words, all I want to do is listen to the man’s voice and hear the calmness that it brings.

  The doors of the shuttle squeeze as they open, releasing a chemical smell that flows from the shuttle as if it’s releasing a breath.

  I sniff in the smell, even though I don’t want the toxins in my body, but I can’t help myself.

  “They are always cleaning, steaming the trains down before people get on because they are worried about spreading viruses,” Enoch says as we step into the shuttle. “Grab a seat. We are in for a long ride.”

  There are rows upon rows of seats without tables. Along the top of the shuttle there are monitors playing images of the Chancellor and Xander in their military clothing. Then pictures of the army and the emperor are displayed, the images rotating. Other people on the shuttle don’t even look at the images, as if they are already brainwashed.

  I follow Enoch’s lead and take a seat next to him. There are no windows on the train, leaving the outside to the imagination.

  Two guards stand at the door and look around the shuttle, making me feel uneasy. Their guns aren’t glowing blue, so at least there’s that. As the shuttle starts to move, the guards ease up a little and begin speaking to one another, releasing some of the tension in my shoulders.

  The wealthy get off first, since they live the closest to the capital, and then as the journey goes on there are only a handful of us left in the carts. The shuttle comes to a halt and I rise to get up, but Enoch shakes his head. “Next stop.”

  The guards glance at us then exit the shuttle.

  Enoch and I are alone in the cart as it leaves for the next station. He was right. We were in for a long journey.

  “Why aren’t the guards going to our stop?” I ask.

  “Normally the guards don’t come down to the Cavern in the evening; they kind of leave us alone, and the same goes the other way. If there is a problem in the Cavern, we deal with it without the guards. We have our own cells and law system. We are our own committee, but I have a horrible feeling those days are numbered. Today was the first time there has been an uprising like this,” Enoch says.

  “Jeez, you have your own law system and cells. Can we throw Gerel in one of them? What’s the deal with her?” I ask

  “She’s… been through a lot,” Enoch says.

  “Sounds like you have as well, and you’re not like her.”

  “What I’ve been through is nothing compared to what happened to Gerel. Rumor has it that she was from a tribe outside the Cader Sanction, and she was selected by a Shaman,” Enoch tells me.

  “What’s a Shaman?”

  “Someone who talks to the spirit world and steal powers from others,” Enoch says in a spooky voice.

  “Powers?”

  “Yeah, powers.”

  “That explains why she’s weird, talking to the spirit world and all that,” I smile.

  “Oh, I heard she liked living there. The Sanction heard that the Shaman had her, which they aren’t meant to; they are only meant to take boys that go up for Selection. In their Sanction the parents sell their kids. Isn’t that crazy? Well, there was a big battle between the Sanction guards and the Shaman, and the guards won. Chinua, the Chancellor of Cader Sanction, lost interest in her and gave her to the Purenet Chancellor as a Bazi gift. Bazis given as a gift are treated the worst. The Chancellor gave her to Xander and his wife, and they are sick with their Bazis,” Enoch explains. Now I feel bad for her. What did my brother do to her? He’s not your brother, Skylier, I remind myself. He’s nothing like Rian or me.

  “The thought of being Xander’s Bazi makes me feel sick,” I say without thinking.

  Enoch nods, shame evident in his face.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “It’s okay, that was a different life.”

  “Is the shuttle moving downwards?” I ask.

  “Yeah, the Cavern is underground. You have to work your way up in Purenet to be able to move to the ground level,” Enoch informs me.

  “I never knew that.”

  “Yeah, that’s something they don’t share with us when we are up for Selections. Can you imagine if they did? Oh, by the way, once you have done all of your Selection duties you are then thrown back into the caves, just like the Cueva.” Enoch smiles as he puts on a posh voice like the Chancellors’.

  “So you are from Cueva!”

  “Yeah, I just didn’t want your guard buddy to know. I don’t plan on going back,” Enoch says.

  “He’s not my buddy.”

  “You know what I mean. It’s easier not to trust anyone, especially a Purenet guard, and one that says he’s spent his life with them,” Enoch explains with a smile.

  The shuttle slows down
and comes to a halt.

  “Our stop?” I ask.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Home sweet home,” Enoch says as the shuttle doors open, letting the warm, dry air flood in.

  I spring off the shuttle onto the tiled floor. Rian, are you here? my mind yells out.

  Right here, sis. Rian waves his hand from the far end of the Gate. He made it, and by the looks of it we all made it, plus a small group of other people.

  This place is crazy, my mind says to Rian as we exit the Gate.

  It’s like its very own Cueva.

  Except theirs hasn’t been scarred by Purenet.

  This is how Cueva should have been, Rian’s mind laughs.

  Bright, naked bulbs hang from the edges of the walls, illuminating the cave.

  Rooms carved out of the rock line the walls, with dusty bed sheets as doors. Some have large pieces of plastic up against the wall, and I guess they move it in place when they turn in for the night. There are no Sanction heavy metal doors down here.

  Everything is unique, personalized by the people that live here. Just like the uniqueness of their homes, the people are different as well. Many still have a faint trace of white makeup on their faces, as if they missed removing part of it when they were rushing to get to the party. Their hair is glowing white, but they have streaks of colors in all the hues of the rainbow. Some have their hair tied up, revealing a shaved head like Gerel, with a tapestry of tattoos on their scalps, though theirs are different from Gerel’s. Metal hoops adorn a row of piercings down their outer ears. The white uniforms from Purenet have been replaced with an array of colorful outfits.

  Rhythmic music, like the song the musician was playing in the station, bounces around the vast, open ceiling. It sounds as if it’s coming from every corner of the cave, and not from a sole player. Unlike at the Gate, people aren’t pretending they aren’t listening to the music. They are embracing it, dancing to it.