The first day of the third week, she was gulping down her breakfast, some porridge and a glass of milk, when Nora entered the cafeteria. She dropped the bowl on the table and ran to hug her. “How’re you? What happened? Why?” She wanted to cry in happiness.
Nora reciprocated the hug with some enthusiasm of her own.
Marie spun her diminutive friend around. “Oh, but I missed you!”
“Missed you too.” Nora wasn’t as effusive as she was used to.
“Are you okay?”
She made a smile that wasn’t a smile. “I was one of the lucky ones who got assigned to work at the recycling facility. I finished my turn last night.”
Marie released her and stepped back. “Was it…?” In her surprise and joy to finally see her friend, she hadn’t looked at her. She was the portrait of a tired, older Nora, with dark circles under her eyes and limp hair. An unpleasant tanginess wafted from her, although she didn’t look dirty. Her hair was still wet from a shower.
Nora raised her right eyebrow. “Was like I expected it to be?”
Something in the way she said it prevented Marie from asking more. “It’s so nice to talk to you again. I thought of you the whole time. I was so scared I wasn’t going to see you again.”
The small brunette’s mouth dimpled in a smile. “Were you really?”
She recognized the tease and smiled back. “Yes, silly. I missed my chatty, exuberant friend.”
Nora immediately covered her disappointment, but Marie had seen her friend’s eyes cloud for the briefest moment. “I’m so glad to see you, really.”
“Me too. Instead of going home, I went here looking for you as soon I was told I had half a day before starting the next job.” The girl’s hand reached out to caress Marie’s cheek.
She let her. “So where are they sending you now?” She knew Nora already had a destination. Callista was nothing but organized and she wouldn’t give vacation days for no good reason. She hoped Nora had been assigned if not to the infirmary at least some place near. Only Rane’s heartfelt recommendation and the general scarcity of medical staff had insured Marie remained working with her. But the doctor had asked for Trisha and Carine as well and their transfer had been denied.
“North—”
“Where Grant is.” She hadn’t thought. The words had tumbled out.
Nora’s eyes darkened. “No, Grant is at the recycling center. The pure breeds punished him—”
“Why?” A hollow feeling spread through Marie.
Two guards entered the cafeteria, causing the already-soft conversations to die out. Nora made sure the pure breeds weren’t too close but still lowered her voice. “They caught him trying to send out a note…”
Marie gasped and put a hand over her mouth. One of the two guards looked her way for a moment but was distracted by a sudden noise coming from outside.
Nora tilted her head and then her eyes widened. “Oh… it was you he was sending the note to, wasn’t he?”
Marie nodded, her hand automatically pressing against the folded piece of paper she was still hiding in her bra. His words, close to her heart, seemed to burn against her skin. For a moment, she irrationally feared the guards could see through her clothes and pressed harder until her friend gave her a warning look. She made an effort to relax her hand and compose her face into a neutral mask. “Tell me, please.”
“They wanted to make an example out of him. After beating him up, he was sent straight to work at the very core of the recycling facility… the inner chamber.” Nora paused.
“What?” The hollowness she had felt a moment earlier was replaced by piercing fear. She had seen Grant after a beating. The marks from the lashes were etched on his body. Old and new punishments had left a permanent map on his skin.
“The place where he works now… it isn’t safe.” Nora fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
“Of course it isn’t.” Something on her friend’s face told her there was more.
“He’s been inside the main chamber the whole time.” She hesitated, but after a look from Marie, she said, “He breathes toxins all day long and the guards didn’t even provide him with a hazard suit or a proper mask.” She reached for Marie’s hand and softly applied pressure. “There’s a reason why people work only one month a year at the recycling center. It’s harmful.”
Everybody knew that. Of course, there was this rumor about wasted women, but Marie had always thought it was an exaggeration meant to scare young and impressionable fathered women. It was funny how, once she arrived at Vasura, she had all but forgotten that wasted women were called such because they wasted away working at the recycling center. She hadn’t remembered when Zena had given her the tour that first day after the branding. Or maybe she had conveniently removed the inconvenient knowledge. “How long has he been working there?” The little breakfast she had eaten was now churning her stomach.
“Ten full days.”
Ten days aren’t terrible, are they? “He has twenty days left.” She would ask Rane which product she could smuggle to help him detoxify his system faster. There must have been something she could give him. She was going to ask the doctor right away. He was young and strong. He would be sick for a week or two. That’s what she had heard. She regretted not having asked Zena more when she’d had the opportunity.
The girl shook her head. “He’s been permanently transferred. He isn’t going to get out of there alive.”
All of a sudden, the room was too cold. “For having sent a note?” She couldn’t believe the magnitude of the punishment compared to the infraction. All the talks about what a death by waste poisoning meant came back to her. Image after image… her mind didn’t skimp in details. Before, the subjects of those scary talks were generic people, normally culpable of having done something hideous. Now, when she closed her eyes, Grant was wasting away and dying, driven mad by the pain.
“For having sent a note to a woman and kept her name secret.” Nora lowered her voice and then added in a whisper, “You would be there with him now if he hadn’t.”
Her extremities freezing, she had to sit for a moment. She had been sent to a waste plant for no more than what Grant had done, so Callista’s particular brand of justice shouldn’t have surprised her. But she didn’t want to believe the major would send him to die of such a horrible, slow death. She couldn’t believe Ginecea could give a single person so much power over a multitude. Blind rage filled her lungs and drowned her heart. She had never felt anything akin to the feeling she was experiencing. It was frightening and she didn’t have a name for it, but it made her shake and sweat. She tasted a sour aftertaste in her mouth. “I need to see him.”
“It’s not possible.” Nora was looking at the door where the soldiers were ordering everybody out. Breakfast was over already.
“I’ll find a way.” Living how Callista had decided for all of them wasn’t living. She had never been so sure about anything in her life, but she wasn’t going to simply lower her head and obey a mad woman. Ginecea had stopped ordering her about.
They exited the cafeteria and hugged. Nora brushed her lips before walking away to reach a group of girls guarded by three pure breeds.
“See you soon,” Marie said when she was too distant to hear her words. Once out, they had sounded hollow. Something one would say knowing it’s a lie. Eyes burning, she watched as her small friend disappeared behind the soldiers’ bulk. Under the women’s clipped orders, the group moved as one and soon disappeared at the end of the road where a motorized cart was waiting for them. Her heart heavy with rage and longing, she tried to make out the brunette among the indistinguishable dots climbing on the vehicle. The two feelings fought against each other for dominance, and when the cart rounded the corner and disappeared from her sight, she cried.
She blindly walked to the infirmary and went directly to the bathroom where she sat with her back blocking the door, as she had done every day since Grant’s note had arrived. She pulled the piece of paper out and rea
d it, even though there were only a few words and she had them memorized the first time. She couldn’t admit to herself that she had seen Nora for the last time. She didn’t know why the thought had entered her mind, but it was there and had taken roots in her heart and didn’t want to go away. Finally, it filled her completely, and what had been reasonable doubt became certainty. Her head split, her stomach heaved, and she felt sick to her stomach. Once all her breakfast was out of her system, she still felt she must rid of the poison circulating through her body.
A knock rapped lightly on the door. “Marie, are you okay?” It was Rane.
“I’ll be out in a minute. The new menu didn’t sit well with my stomach.” As if on cue, a powerful cramp seized her midsection and she rushed to the toilet. Despite having thought she had already gotten rid of her morning meal and probably the previous dinner as well, she embraced the cold ceramic and let the pain take control of her body.
“May I come in to help you?”
Sitting between the sink and the toilet, silently crying, she barely heard the doctor’s words. “I’ll be fine in a moment.” But that was a lie. She was sure she would never be fine again. “Give me just a minute.”
“Okay.”
The sound of receding steps reached her addled mind, and she lowered her head between her knees and gave free rein to all the dark, twisted thoughts demanding release. She couldn’t keep them at bay. Once her despair reached the point where emotional pain became physical, she screamed until her vocal chords burned, hands fisted by her knees, eyes blind. Later, when she exited the bathroom, carefully closing the door behind her, a silent crowd welcomed her back. Every eye focused on her, but nobody said a word. Rane didn’t ask how she was feeling; she only looked at her like everyone else and then nodded.
“I’m sorry,” she said, walking toward the doctor. There was no time to explain the reasons behind her next action, but by the time Rane raised her eyebrow in puzzlement, Marie had already grabbed one of the chisels lying on the tray by her side and was launching herself at the soldier just outside the door. It took a moment for the woman to realize what was happening. A misplaced sense of euphoria possessed Marie’s heart at the notion a pure breed had underestimated her, and she jabbed the chisel, not caring where it would hit, as long as it hit the woman hard enough. Blood spurted from the soldier, showering her in a red rain. She lowered her hand again, but the woman had raised her gun. An inch to the right and she would’ve been dead, but she had moved out of the way at the last moment. The bullet embedded in the doorjamb instead of her head. The soldier’s eyes widened in surprise at seeing her still standing and untouched. The blood loss taking its toll, she slowly slumped against the landing’s railing and fell on the wooden deck. Marie waited for the woman’s eyes to dim and then kicked her out of the way. The soldier tumbled down the stairs and onto the ground just outside the infirmary where everybody could see her. She steadied her breath and followed the woman outside, standing a few feet by the heaving body, covered in blood, chisel still clutched in her right hand.
The shot had warned Callista’s army that something was amiss. Marie could see several soldiers rushing toward them. It would take them only a blink to realize what had just happened. A smile spread across her lips.
And then Rane was outside, horror in her eyes. She must have seen her smile. “What are you doing? Don’t stand there! Run!”
She hoped there was time to say all the words that needed to be said. “It’s okay.”
“Marie, run away. I’ll stop them.” The doctor was crying. “I’ll find a way…”
I’ll find a way… Hadn’t she said the exact same words? Rane’s tears would have broken Marie’s heart, but there wasn’t anything left to break. “Go inside. Don’t get caught helping me. Vasurians need you—” She hadn’t time to finish the sentence. Soldiers were already surrounding her and pushing away Rane. Marie slashed at them to make it clear she was the only threat and prayed Rane wouldn’t pay because of her. She looked at the doctor one more time. “I’m sorry.” Something hit Marie’s head just as she saw Rane being forcefully thrown back into the infirmary.
15
The public flogging came as expected as soon as she came to. Or maybe she was made to come to in order to be flogged. It didn’t matter as long as things went the way she had hastily sketched in her head. Callista was furiously pacing on the roof, and the whole of Vasura but the men had been summoned for the spectacle. This time, the major wouldn’t show mercy. Marie was counting on that. She hoped carving lashes on her back wouldn’t be enough to satiate the woman’s anger. She was hoping that dying under the whip wasn’t punishment enough in Callista’s eyes—that only a slow and painful death would do. And so she bore the whip way beyond the pain of the first five lashes. Gratefully, she fainted, and when her eyes closed against her will for the second time that day, the only sound she heard was her cry standing out in a silence so thick it was deafening.
She woke and found herself still chained to the pole, her hands higher than her shoulders, the sick smell of dry blood filling her nose, making her gag. She wasn’t alone. The muted crowd was still there. Callista had ordered them to wait out there? Had they waited for her to open her eyes? No, Callista had wanted Vasura to witness how she dealt with the likes of her. Her lips were bloodied too. Had she bitten them when the pain had become unbearable? The act of trying to ease the pull from her stretched arms almost made her faint again.
“Vasura, look closely,” Callista said from behind her.
The woman had left the safety of the roof and was standing a few feet from her. Marie couldn’t help but shudder at the sound of the major’s reinforced boots echoing closer and closer, until one hand grabbed her hair and forced her to look up.
“This is how I was repaid for being soft,” Callista whispered to Marie, her fresh, minty breath caressing her face.
She gagged again. The woman went on talking to the crowd. At length. Finally, what had sounded like a repetition of words took shape into what was the grand finale of Callista’s speech. The change in pitch and the dramatic pause had told Marie so and she listened. Say it.
“I hereby condemn this criminal to life at the recycling center. She’ll end her days inside the inner chamber, surrounded by garbage as she deserves.”
Marie breathed in relief and started crying tears of joy.
“You should have thought of the consequences of your actions more carefully.” Callista released her hair.
Her face hidden from the woman’s scrutiny, Marie laughed a laugh easy to mistake with the earlier sobs. Her shoulders shook for a while. Someone freed her wrists and she was carried away without any care for her wounded back. A soldier took her wrists and tied them once more, this time to the back of a cart, and she was paraded around the place, walking on unsteady legs, barely keeping up with the moving vehicle. She slipped and fell more times than she could count, but each time, she found the strength to get up, a smile on her face for everybody to see. The last time she rose back up from a stumble, knees bleeding and arms shaking for the effort of not letting go, the Vasurians cheered her. Callista’s shouts resonated over the encouragements, warning them of repercussion if they didn’t stop. The cheers were followed by feet stomping. Shots were fired. A wall of soldiers came between the cart and the crowd. Marie wasn’t allowed to see what was happening to her people as she was hauled on the cart already leaving at full speed. The noise of the engine covered the chanting, the shooting, and the cries, but she could hear them in her mind.
She wasn’t awake for most of the ride. The three soldiers escorting her were better human beings than she would have given them credit for. One of them brought her some water laced with a substance that made her blissfully unaware of pain. In her confused state, she thought she heard the women saying things that would have granted them a place next to her in the inner chamber. A salve was spread on her wounds. She recognized the smell, and for a moment, she thought Grant was there, then realized it was
just the salve. More water that wasn’t water was poured in her mouth. Peaceful nothingness followed.
“Here we are,” someone said and coughed.
Marie made an effort to open her eyes and keep them open. They had reached the core of Vasura, its recycling center, a distinctive four-story building made of rusted metal pipes and peeled paint. A big tower jutted from the side, at least two stories higher than the rest of the facility. A dark column rose out of it, reaching the sky and forming a thick cloud formation covering the sun. The smell was nothing she could ever describe in words. Death and bonfires. Something sweet and rotten. The hint of a flowery perfume corrupted by decay and sickness. Her throat contracted and her stomach heaved, but by now, there was nothing left and that made the cramps more painful to bear. All around her, the soldiers repeatedly vomited before they were able to don the heavy masks lying on the cart’s floor. She hadn’t noticed them before. A mask descended on her face as well and she could have cried for the kindness shown to her. She knew they didn’t have to. As far as they were concerned, she was already dead.
At the base of the structure, a door opened and several figures covered from head to toe with dark, heavy-looking suits exited in a military formation, flanking both sides of the door, rifles aimed at them. One of the suited figures broke the symmetry and came to welcome them. Once within hearing distance, the woman shouted through the helmet she was wearing. “Why didn’t you put on the masks immediately?” She didn’t have to add the word “idiots.” It was clear what she thought of them.
Marie's Journey (Ginecean Chronicles) Page 23