Utopia

by L. J. Higgins

  “We'll wait a moment until they pass, then continue. Sorry this is so squishy,” he whispered.

  “Squishy? Not at all.”

  His silent laugh sent more breath against my hair, and the urge to rub or scratch it came over me. Deciding it would be rude I closed my eyes and listened as the footsteps grew louder and they passed by our hideout. They continued without pause down the hallway. Both Braven and I exhaled and relaxed as much as we could. They hadn't seen or heard us.

  “Halt!” The voice tore through the silence, and I jerked my head up to look into Braven's wide eyes.

  “The others.” He said it more to himself than to me.

  “What do we do?” I asked, the thud of his quickened heartbeat causing my palms to sweat.

  There was a bang and a crash, then some shouting before Braven opened the door to the cupboard and squeezed his way out. Reaching down, I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my knife before stepping out behind him.

  Braven took off in a quick jog down the hallway and I followed him, my knife now drawn and at my side. As we jogged around the bend, we came to a stop when we could make out at least four Utopian Guards and the rest of our group struggling against them. Fletcher, Vega and Domino were all bound by the hands and on their knees, facing the shiny wall. Lark lay motionless on the floor next to a fourth guard who was also deathly still.

  Tears welled in my eyes, but Braven took a step towards me and placed a hand on my arm, leading me around the corridor.

  “Shit,” he cursed to himself. “Okay, the big dark guy on the right had a stun gun in the right side of his utility belt. We need to get the stun gun; it's the only way we can disable them all without killing them.”

  “What about Lark?”

  “He'll be fine. They've stunned him, but it'll take him a little bit to come to. I'll carry him until he does.”

  I wanted to argue his plan was crazy, but so was the entire situation. We had to steal a stun gun off a guard who had already taken down four of our fellow rebels. Two against four. Gambling was illegal on Utopia, but I knew those were terrible odds.

  “What do I do?” I asked.

  “I'm going to distract them while you sneak in and grab the stun gun.”

  Of course I was going to be the one to attempt to take it. I nodded in reluctant agreement as he took off around the corner. My heart crawled up into my throat.

  A bewildered voice sounded as Braven walked towards the group, “Guard Braven? What…” with a swift kick to the legs, the biggest guard was falling to his side before Braven dropped down hard on top of him.

  The sound of blood thumped in my ears as I crept towards my target. Braven continued to wrestle with the biggest of the three guards on the floor while Vega, now on her feet, swung her leg at the tall thin guard's knees, knocking him onto the ground next to Braven. She pounced on him, trapping him to the floor as best as she could. Fletcher helped her by sitting on his shoulders. Lark still lay lifeless on the floor and Domino stood at the ready to protect him, her knife in one hand and the other up in a protective stance.

  I squeezed the handle in my palm as I made my way towards the big guard. He had his back to me as he edged closer towards Domino. With the ruckus around me he didn't hear my ragged breaths, his focus still on Domino as they locked each other in a battle of the wills. The stun gun was tucked away in his utility belt, and I stretched out to take hold of it. As I wrapped my hands around it and yanked it out, the man turned around, opening himself for an attack from Domino. She landed a hard kick to his back sending him stumbling towards me, and he swung around to counter attack when I pressed the stun gun to his side and pressed the red button.

  The stun gun made a loud clicking sound before his body went rigid. It only stiffened for a moment before he jerked and fell with a loud thud to the floor. My head spun, sending a wave of giddiness over me. I laughed. I laughed so hard I dropped to my knees to clutch at my stomach, dropping my knife and the stun gun beside me.

  “What with her?” asked Vega, pulling back the arms of her struggling guard.

  Braven smirked. “Grab the stun gun from her. Let's get those binds off your wrists and give our friends here a bit of sleep.”

  “What are you doing? The Elite will have you killed for this,” the man under Braven's mound of muscle argued.

  Braven didn't answer, instead he gave him a zap for his troubles before throwing the stun gun to Vega, who zapped the man she had brought down with the help of Fletcher.

  My laughs had dissipated by the time they'd freed themselves from their bindings. I watched from the ground as they dragged the sleeping bodies of the guards around the corner to the room Braven and I had been hiding in. When they returned, the four of them all wore Utopian Guard jackets.

  “So you're working for the Utopian Guard now?” I asked Fletcher, embarrassed at my insane laughter.

  “Looks like it,” he replied.

  “Problem is, there's only enough for the four of us. You and Lark are going to have to be our prisoners,” advised Braven.

  “Prisoners,” I cocked an eyebrow.

  “Yup, I'm afraid I'll have to bind your hands to make it look legit. It means we'll be able to make our way through this place without this happening again.” Braven pointed towards Lark's limp body.

  “Here, put these on him.” He threw a set of metal loops to Domino before turning his eyes on me. “May I?”

  I stood and turned around so he could fasten them around my wrists.

  “You okay?” asked Fletcher, his brow creasing in the middle.

  “Sure. We all nearly got arrested, and I stun gunned a member of the Utopian Guard. Now I'm being constrained and am about to walk through halls filled with the people I've been hiding from for the past week. I'm great.” I beamed.

  “She's lost it,” replied Vega, shaking her head.

  I wanted to argue, but I could see why she thought I'd gone crazy. I'd stunned somebody then laughed about it. My cheeks flushed warm at the embarrassment of my reaction.

  “Vega pissed herself the first time she had to escape from the Utopian Guard,” Braven whispered in my ear.

  I wasn't sure if it was true, but it made me feel better and put a small smirk on my face. Maybe laughing wasn't so bad after all.

  “What now?” asked Vega.

  “Same plan as before, but now we don't have to worry about being found. If we run into any guards or staff, let me handle the conversation,” replied Braven. “We have to make it to the IT room next, and we need to do it quick. Alber's counting on us, and the guards we knocked out are going to wake up soon. I don't think they'll be happy when they find we not only stun gunned them but stole their jackets and shoved them all in a cupboard. We need to get moving.”

  “What about Lark?” asked Fletcher.

  Lark groaned at the mention of his name, but made no attempt to move.

  “Braven's going to carry him,” I replied.

  “Of course he is.” Fletcher raised an eyebrow.

  Once Braven had slung Lark over his shoulder, we continued as a group down the metal corridor. We'd tried the splitting up and being sneaky approach, now we were going to try the stick together in plain sight approach.

  “So Braven, hey?” Fletcher whispered in my ear as I followed the others. Vega brought up the rear.

  “Braven what?” I asked.

  “I didn't know you were into the whole muscle guy thing.”

  “What? Me into Braven?” I crinkled my nose.

  He wiggled his eyebrows.

  I couldn't believe what he was implying. The guy was much older than me. Braven had picked me, not the other way around.

  “You jealous?” I teased.

  “Me? Pfft, have you seen the line-up of girls waiting to date the son of the Elite leader?” He puffed out his chest.

  “At least I know you'll have them when I leave,” I said.

  His smile faltered and his tone turned solemn. “It won't be the same.”

 
“I know,” I replied.

  Chapter Eleven

  There was something comical about watching such a brute of a man with another man swinging over his shoulder. I tried not to laugh at the strange sight as Lark's arms dangled next to Braven's backside, but a smirk crossed my lips from time to time. Glancing over at Fletcher, I could tell he found it amusing too and was trying to hold in his laughter. At least it was a good way to ease the tension. Lark had started groaning more often and much louder, to the point where Vega threatened to knock him out again if he didn't shut up. Although he looked unconscious, her threat did the trick and he fell silent again.

  We were thankful to find our path to the IT room was clear of the Utopian Guard, and as we reached the metal doorway Braven slung Lark to the floor, propping him up against the wall. His head lolled to the side and he let out a loud groan.

  “He always was a terrible patient,” said Domino as she crouched at his side and checked his wrist for his pulse.

  “This is the IT room, and I'm not going to be able to take out the IT guys with this lug on my back. Domino, you and Fletcher will have to keep watch here while Vega, Aurora and I get our job done inside,” instructed Braven.

  “She's coming with us? Wouldn't it be better if she stayed out here and kept lookout? She'll get in the way,” said Vega.

  “Nope, she's my sidekick until I get her safely onto the airship. Lark's strict orders. Understood?” he replied.

  It explained why he was keeping me so close. Lark wanted him to keep me safe. I'd have to thank Lark when he came to. I felt much safer with Braven watching my back.

  “I guess that means I should stick with Vega, right?” said Fletcher with a smug grin.

  “That means you should have stuck with Alber,” complained Vega.

  Braven rolled his eyes. “Okay, Fletcher, you can come with us. Let's get this done so we can get Maya and find Alber. You okay with him, Domino?”

  Domino was holding Lark's hand. “He's starting to open his eyes. I'll call out if anyone finds us. Be safe.”

  “You guys ready?” Braven asked the rest of us.

  We each nodded in agreement before he slid his card over the screen next to the door. The door slid open with a hiss and Braven stepped over the threshold with the rest of us hot on his heels. It was much colder inside the IT room, and I cursed at my cuffs for not allowing me to hug my jacket closed over my chest.

  Across from us was a wall lined with monitors and computers. A short, bald guy sat in an office chair in front of them, not tearing his eyes away from the screens.

  “About time you got back, Lewis. I thought you'd fallen in,” his whiny voice called out, followed by a snorty laugh.

  We looked between each other, waiting to see what Braven would do. When there wasn't a reply, the man swiveled around in his chair, not removing his eyes from the monitor until the last moment. The realisation we weren't Lewis was evident in his wide gaze, and before he could speak a word Braven shot him with the stun gun. The man slid from his chair and slumped to the ground.

  Braven lifted him up to sit him upright in his chair. When Braven stepped back from the man's limp body, the man's head shifted to the side, making his glasses slide forward, barely holding on to the tip of his bulbous nose. Behind his glasses, his eyes stayed half open only revealing the whites.

  “Okay, now that's creepy,” grimaced Fletcher.

  “Are you talking about his squeaky voice or his zombie eyes?” asked Vega.

  “We better get this done before Lewis decides to show up for real and sleeping beauty here decides to wake up,” Braven suggested.

  He spun around and pushed the guy in his chair to the side before crouching down in front of the desk where our whiny-voiced friend had been staring at the monitors. He typed on the tablet lying on the desk, and I walked forward glancing over the monitors until I stood behind him. Curious, I leant over Braven to see what he was doing.

  I'd seen tablets and projectors before, but never had I seen so many screens. I only knew what they were from our lessons about Earth's history. They said humans became greedy when it came to technology. Everyone owned a television screen, some more than one. They owned devices to call each other and computers which were larger versions of our tablets. But they used them for entertainment, not for education. The Elite believed it was part of the Earthlings' demise. I found it funny. Although they claimed to dislike technology, without it we wouldn't be living on a floating city in the first place. And it didn't stop them from using it to make sure their messages, rules, and history were heard loud and clear. Every home was fitted with a projector screen for special Elite broadcasts, and every Utopian owned a tablet device.

  Leaning further forward to get a closer look at the screen Braven was glancing at, he turned to look me in the eye, his nose an inch from touching mine. I blinked at the sudden invasion of space.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  In my curiosity, I hadn't noticed I was hovering around him like a damned Earth fly.

  My cheeks flushed warm. “Sorry. Just looking.” I took a step back, giving him some space to work.

  “Thought you might be missing me after our encounter in the closet,” he said with a wink, amused at his own words.

  “Well, what can I say?” I laughed as heat rose in my cheeks.

  I turned to find Vega's eyes boring into mine, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Sounds like he'd give you a good run for your money with the girls, Fletch,” I said.

  Fletcher looked at me with his left eyebrow raised. The situation wasn't as funny as I'd thought. I shrugged at Fletcher and looked over the screens again. Most of them flicked through shots of empty hallways. Some showed offices of people, some were laboratories or medical wards. As I leaned in to look at a screen showing a group of people in long white coats, the hissing sound of the sliding of the door to the hallway behind me stole my attention away.

  My bound hands reached around to my weapon before I realised it was Domino. She dragged in the kicking and thrashing body of a tall skinny man who mumbled and groaned beneath her hand pressing down on his mouth. His arms were tucked up behind his back, held by Domino's free hand.

  “So, this arrived and I didn't know what to do with it.” She dragged the man across the room towards Braven.

  “Let me guess. You must be Lewis?” Braven asked.

  The man's eyes widened before he nodded as best as he could against Domino's hand, his eyes widened further as Braven pulled out the stun gun. Domino let the man go and he let out a loud, “Heeelllppp!” before convulsing and dropping to the floor with a thud. I winced. I didn't think I'd ever get used to seeing someone get zapped.

  “Lark is awake, he can kind of walk but it'll be slow. He's pretty pissed off we cuffed him. Are you nearly finished in here? We need to get moving.” Domino asked, unfazed by what'd happened.

  “How much longer do we have to wear these?” I gestured towards my own cuffs.

  “Long enough to convince people you're my prisoner and we're supposed to be here,” replied Braven.

  “Quit your whining. It could be worse,” said Vega.

  “Yeah? How's that?” asked Fletcher.

  “You could be dead.”

  “Would you guys stop it? We're kind of in the middle of a rescue here,” groaned Domino. “How are you going, Braven? We can't sit around for much longer, those first guys we zapped must be about ready to wake up. Then there's these two.” She gestured towards the two unconscious men.

  Braven had returned to the computer. “Almost there, trying to find… ahhh, there she is.”

  We each leant towards the screen he was pointing at. Pacing back and forth across a tiny room was the slender frame and bouncing curls of Maya. She was alive, and mobile.

  “Cell 2B. Looks like luck is on our side,” said Braven.

  “It is?” asked Fletcher, looking between the two unconscious men.

  If we'd been lucky, I'd hate to find out what unluck
y looked like. We'd been caught at every stage of our plan. And the two IT guys were definitely having a bad day. Maya didn't look much better, either. She made me nervous the way she paced back and forth. She could take two and a half strides before she had to turn around again. The room consisted of a small cot, a sink and what I imagined was a toilet. We needed to get her out of there.

  “Cell 2B isn't far from the flight dock. Let's go get our girl,” Braven said. “But first let's shut these babies down.”

  The sound of the door hissing and sliding open again caught all of our attention, and we each turned to find a short chubby man walk through the doorway. As his eyes settled on the scene in front of him he stopped in his tracks, unsure what to do. He opened his mouth as Lark's body came flying through the doorway, tackling our newest visitor to the floor with a thud. The door slid shut with a hiss behind them.

  “What on Utopia? Lark? Who are these people?” demanded the man underneath Lark's heavy body.

  This lunge must've taken every ounce of Lark's energy because he lay lifeless on top of the man. A heavy weight holding the man down.

  “Think of us as the tooth fairy,” replied Braven as he strode across the room and pressed the stun gun to his side.

  “Only we don't leave money,” replied Vega with a smirk.

  Lark rolled off the man and lay on the concrete floor beside him.

  “Sweet dreams,” said Braven before pressing the red button.

  The man wriggled a little before going limp.

  “You're enjoying zapping people, aren't you?” asked Fletcher.

  “Maybe?” Braven smiled, walking towards the computer.

  “And we thought Aurora was crazy,” said Fletcher.

  I shot him an evil glare.

  “Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Braven, would you hurry up before we get more visitors?” said Vega.

  “Yes, yes. Here we go,” replied Braven. With a few clicks of the keyboard, the screens all faded to black. “Time to get out of here.”

  Glancing around the room, I couldn't help but smirk at the strange scene around me. There were now three bodies lying around the room, plus the exhausted body of Lark laying on the floor next to the chubby man. Then there were the rest of us standing around waiting for our next instructions. It was starting to get crowded in there.