“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“Oh, I know you will, Miss Fletcher.” Margareta sat down in the seat opposite but her chair didn’t appear to move at all. Somebody brought her a glass of water which she sipped at through thin, serpentine lips. She set the glass panel and water down on the nearest table. “But first, I want you to tell me how long this escape has been planned for, and exactly why you chose not to notify us beforehand.” Sarah stopped rocking and sat forward. Her eyes flicked to the lift but it was already too late. Margareta began to speak, her words trailing off into little more than a hiss. “You see, Miss. Fletcher, when you forget that the Republic provides your future for you, it is very easy to forget that we can also take it away.”
The Dawn: Man in the Middle
(Book Four)
Copyright © 2014 Michelle Muckley
British English Edition
First Edition
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, places, or events is in every respect coincidental.
This work is licensed for your personal enjoyment, but may be lent and copied without prior permission. These permissions extend to your personal use only, and do not intend to cover the copying of the material for distribution to the general public.
For extra copies, and further information about the author, please visit:
www.michellemuckley.com
All rights reserved.
ISBN- 978-1502737236
ISBN-10:150273723X
For those who believe me to be better than I am
Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.
Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)
Spirit can only get you so far
Chapter Forty
The sounds of Sarah calling out to him faded as fast as they had begun. He watched Sarah pressing the button for the lift from behind one of the huge metal girders that sliced through every level on the journey through Omega Tower. When he had told her that he had to find the courage to do the right thing, he knew that she would assume that meant that he would go looking for Emily. Sarah was so blinded by the thought that Zack had feelings for her that she didn’t even consider looking for him on level seventeen. He listened to her fractured breathing, so loud that it was audible from his chosen hiding place, and Zack knew anything she did in this moment would be rash and dangerous. If she found him now she would tear him to pieces. As soon as the lift carried her away, Zack slipped out from the shadows and headed towards their bedrooms. He needed distance between him and Sarah, but before he could create that he needed to find Serena.
“Serena,” Zack half whispered and half shouted as he opened the door to Sarah’s bedroom. The room was empty bar the furniture. The soft glow radiating from the Unity Panel brushed against the objects in the room, and coupled with the late evening sunshine dappling through the windows, the room glowed with the colours of sunset. His eyes scanned the chairs, the cupboards, the white Shangri-La sheets which soaked up the orange rays across the bed where he had lain with Sarah. He pictured himself lying with her now, listening to her tell him how he was supposed to behave in accordance with Omega Tower policy. He shook his head to free himself from the image. He didn’t recognise that man who had floated through life falling from one bad situation to the next since long before his arrival in Omega Tower.
“Serena, are you here?” He closed the door behind him by pressing his body weight against it. He was tempted to turn on the light, but it would draw people in. It would draw Sarah in if she came back. He could hear people outside the room, occasional voices drifting past on the way to the dining room. People on their way to make their Renunciation Pledges. Perhaps a late visit to the hygienist. People were still on a high after the Adoration of Life Ceremony the day before. The bathroom door was closed so he moved across the room towards it and knocked on the door. “Serena,” he hissed. There was no response. He opened the door a crack to check if she was hiding inside. She wasn’t.
His gut instinct told him that he had to search for her, and he began by opening the cupboard doors and checking under the bed like a father searching for monsters in a child's bedroom. After he had completed a fruitless search he looked out to the city thinking how stupid he had been. Why would she be hiding here? He placed his hand against the glass and leaned forwards in an effort to look towards the main doors of Omega Tower when the Unity Panel woke up from its sleep. The image of the computerised woman came into view and the generic sounds of background spa music began to play. He swivelled and backed up against the glass just in case there was a forward-facing camera.
“Good evening, Miss Fletcher. You have completed all daily tasks. Congratulations from our good President for another successful day living as your Omega self.”
“Sleep,” Zack whispered. He had never heard such a message before, and it acted as a reminder of just how little he fitted in here. He leaned back against the glass wall, the heat of the late sun warming his back, thinking about his next move.
“Running speech recognition trace.” That was new. Zack had never heard the Unity Panel do that either. Zack drew his fingers along the side of the panel hoping to find a switch. Nothing. “Good evening, Mr. Christian. You are yet to register with your personal Unity Panel this evening. May I suggest returning to your own living quarters where you can access your daily advisory message.”
He couldn't decide whether it was the constant interaction with the Unity Panel that frustrated him, or the knowledge that once again Sarah had proven herself to be a good citizen by completing all daily tasks successfully. When had she completed her Renunciation Pledge? When had she been to the library? Had she left him at any point that day?
“Our good President,” Zack tested.
“Praise our good President,” the Unity Panel announced. He dared a glance towards the screen and watched as the milky background colour swallowed up the face of the woman. The screen once again became transparent and the familiar message emerged from the hazy background. PROVIDING YOUR FUTURE.
“Not any more,” Zack whispered under his breath.
It was the kick-start he needed and he slipped from Sarah's room into his own. He completed the same circuit of useless checks in search of Serena before he could convince himself that she wasn't here. By taking slow and cautious movements he managed to avoid waking up the Unity Panel, the whole search performed in silence, tiptoeing on hunter’s feet. The room was exactly as he and Sarah had left it. Once Zack allowed himself to accept that Serena had already left, he knew that his plan to follow her had failed. Without Serena he had no plan to guide him. Serena had been his passport out of here, but he had let the chance slip through his fingers.
He opened his bedroom door and walked to the end of the communal corridor so that he could watch the people passing through. He didn’t know what he was looking for. Inspiration maybe. Any kind of idea that might lead to a plan. He watched as the glass lifts rose and descended in the central lumen of Omega Tower as people moved towards and away from their destinations with a purpose. He could barely feel the comforting breeze from where he stood so he began to step forwards, certain that it would help clear his mind. Just then a child ran past him, a blurred vision of a yellow dress whizzing along like a firefly. He let out a yelp and jumped back.
“She startled you, our good President.” A man was approaching. He looked like a carbon copy of Zack, or at least the vision that Zack had of himself since he arrived in Omega Tower. White skin. White uniform. Cropped hair. No stubble. Regulation and perfect.
“Yes, she did,” said Zack as the man arrived at the mouth of the corridor just an arm’s length away.
“She is a lively little thing. Ever since the Adoration of Life Ceremony she has been on a high.” The child whizzed past them again, her arms outstretched like an aeroplane that she had never seen. “She doesn’t have any siblings, so every time there is a new child born sh
e gets excited.” Their eyes followed the line of the child as she dipped and swooped.
“Oh,” Zack said, not knowing what else he should say. The other man suffered none of the same hesitation, and continued rattling on about the joy of new life and the benefit of unity and community. Zack found his mind wandering to something that his father told him when he was a teenager. They had never enjoyed a great relationship, something to do with his father’s belief in the benefit of a good beating. But occasionally, in a rare moment of sobriety his father would say something that stuck with him. Many of these ideas Zack had long since forgotten. But this one thing had survived the test of time and hatred because it sounded so enticing that it had to be the truth.
Zachary, there will come a time in your life when you are grown when you won’t have to make a choice. You will just know, and do, what is right.
Zack knew that this was the moment. Being a grown-up had nothing to do with earning a salary, or owning a home. It had nothing to do with winning or losing. His adult life had been stunted by Delta Tower but now he understood what his father meant. It was the moment when you realise the value of another person's life ahead of your own.
You won’t have to make a choice. You will just know, and do, what is right.
It was at that moment when Zack’s eyes caught sight of something unexpected. It was a grey suit in the lift on one of the higher levels. It was such a simple thing, but yet so out of place. Even from a distance he knew it was Margareta. Next to her there was another woman. The other woman could have been any woman from New Omega, but there was something that told Zack that it wasn't just another woman. With every inch that they gained on him he became certain that the woman was Sarah.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” Zack said to the man. He didn’t wait for a reply and he slipped into the shadows of the communal corridor and into his room. In the moments of panic that followed he charged left and right, his hands working their way across his forehead, his fingertips boring at his scalp as if trying to find the answer to a riddle. He ran towards the kitchen cupboards and rifled through in search of a weapon. He pulled out a dinner knife, rounded and blunt at the end. He didn't see how it was supposed to help him but figured it was better than nothing and so slipped it in his pocket. For the first time in weeks he wished that he still had his bag and water canisters from Delta Tower. He could have swung that like a weapon, and he could have used it to carry a water supply. Because he knew more than ever he had to get out of Omega Tower right now.
He edged to the door where he had a good view of the lifts. He willed the lift to keep descending, for him to be wrong, but instead it stopped exactly where, deep down, he knew it would. On level seventeen. He knew he should have run when he had the chance, because now he was stuck. He considered the likelihood that Sarah had been taken into custody, but the more he watched her walking alongside Margareta, the easier it was to see that she was in no way held or restrained. She was here because she wanted to be, which meant that it wasn't Margareta bringing Sarah to the scene of the crime. Sarah was bringing Margareta. She had betrayed him. Just as she saw that he had betrayed her.
He had less than a minute before they would be on top of him. He flicked the small silver handle so the opaque lines in the glass of the door sealed him in, but it was only a psychological benefit. Moments later he heard them round the corner, the sound of their voices sending a shiver across his skin, picking up the hairs on his neck.
He retreated into the bathroom and closed the door behind him as slowly and quietly as he could. Idiotic ideas of hiding behind the toilet or inside the shower came and went at the speed of light. He tried to focus on their voices and footsteps but he couldn't hear the women anymore. They had disappeared into Sarah's room. Zack wondered if it was the Unity Panel in Sarah’s room which had alerted them, and he was thankful he had managed to slip into his room unnoticed by his. But still, surely it was only a matter of time before they came in anyway. As soon as he considered the idea he heard the door of his bedroom being tested from the outside. He backed up flush against the wall. He reached down to the cool metal of the dull blade in his pocket, gripping the handle with white knuckles, running his finger across the almost blunt blade.
“You are quite sure that this is where you left her?” Margareta was questioning Sarah. The words were muffled so Zack placed his left ear against the door.
“Yes,” he heard Sarah mumble, “but maybe they already came for her by now.”
“Who? Miss Fletcher, I am sure you are aware that my time is very precious, and I do not like to waste it on wild goose chases. Who came for her? I need names and answers. You remember what I told you? Make no mistake, Miss Fletcher, you are also in trouble for this. How you respond now is paramount.” Zack could hear the irritation in Margareta's voice, and he found a certain degree of satisfaction in Sarah's discomfort. He could hear her trying to stutter an answer together. A smile crept onto his face.
“I’m not sure where they are. But if you just question Emily she will be able to tell you.” The smile of vengeance on Zack's face fell away like the crumbling plaster work on a derelict building in the city below. “Interrogate her.”
“Miss Fletcher, I was under the impression that you were a sensible woman. Are you actually suggesting that I should head on up to the Presidential Suite and ask to question Emily? Everybody is well aware of our little princess's visits to Delta Tower. We know she has a few Guardians that help her out with her little adventures. But, Miss Fletcher, she is still the president's daughter, and whilst I would love to bring her down a peg or two it is not in my power to arrest her, interrogate her, or suggest that she fails to abide by the rules as laid out to us by New Omega.”
Zack could hear static, like a television off-channel filtering in and out. But every now and again the static subsided with a click and Margareta's voice cleared through the mist of white noise.
“Yes, come in, G-23.” More static, and clicking on the line as she waited to hear back. She was using a walkie-talkie. Zack could hear the faint sound of a voice amongst the static, but it was so faint that he couldn't make out the words. “And you haven't seen anything?” Margareta continued before waiting for a response. “Okay, good. Bring them inside, close the doors.” Then silence while Margareta listened. “Whatever you like. Tell them it's the Drifters. Tell them they got close and they’ll be inside in a flash. Just don't let anybody outside of Omega Tower.”
Zack listened as Margareta’s voice was carried away on departing footsteps before he heard the sound of a door closing. Zack opened the bathroom door just a crack to investigate. He glanced forwards and saw Sarah slumped in one of his chairs looking towards the window. He backed away, returning to the relative safety of the bathroom. He took a deep breath, pumped himself up, before slipping out of the bathroom again to follow the course of the wall. If Sarah heard him as he opened the door she didn't say anything. His slow footsteps as he left Sarah behind gained energy until they became a run. He charged towards the stairs and began descending two, sometimes three at a time. His balance only remained steady because he was clinging onto the glass handrail. At one point the momentum took hold of him and he lost his footing, causing his body to slam against the wall. The other Omega Tower residents jumped away from him, and some of them even gasped as he flew past.
It was no longer a case of hoping to catch Serena so that he could leave with her. It was now a case of making sure they left together. Otherwise he knew both of their lives were at stake.
Chapter Forty One
The lights flickered and then went out when Zack was somewhere between level twelve and thirteen. He stopped, his feet rigid as if glued to the ground, swamped by blackness. He could hear the panic rustling up and down the stairway, with anxious gasps and terrified knuckles rattling against locked glass doors. Zack was calm as he took cautious steps back up to level thirteen, his hands inching up the glass railings. He was used to being shut in. It was the people of Omega
Tower who had forgotten what it was like to be trapped.
He flashed his wrist at the sensor and as he expected the door didn’t budge. In the time it had taken him to retrace his steps a small blue emergency light had flashed on above the door frame. It cast a wintery glare which let him see beyond the frosted glass through the clear spaces formed by the letters spelling LEVEL THIRTEEN. There were several Omega Tower citizens venturing out from their private rooms, looking to each other for answers as to why the power had failed. Some were holding their wrists up to sensors trying to make electronic devices work. Zack could hear another complaining that the generators must have failed. Zack pushed against the glass door, but it was impossible to move because he couldn't help but push his weight against it in the wrong direction. He rapped knuckles against the door and motioned for one of the other Omega Tower citizens to help him from the other side. They both placed their hands against the glass and with an effort which caused the second man to break out into a sweat, the door slid into the recess just enough for Zack to sneak through.
“What's going on?” Zack asked of the stranger who looked like everybody else he knew. The stranger took a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow. It was true that without the ventilation systems working it was already heating up in here. Like a giant greenhouse.
“I'm not sure, but this really is very strange. Nothing like this has happened before, our good President.” The stranger reached down to pick up a little girl who was clinging to his legs. “Don't worry. Our good President will get things fixed,” he told her in an effort to reassure her. She buried her head into his neck, unconvinced by his faith in the president. He brushed her cropped hair with his hand as if it was long enough to tuck behind her ear.
The Dawn: Omnibus edition (box set books 1-5) Page 38