by Melissa Faye
I sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of fruit chips, excited to hear what else they would talk about. The conversation was awkward, not unlike my own first date with a girl in high class. I began zoning out until I suddenly heard Vonna shouting.
“Is that what you think?” she says. “That being an NB is my duty! That this is what’s best for all of us?”
“Vonna, I just meant...”
“No. You were born into power. I mean, you couldn’t have been luckier. You are a clone of the most powerful man – men – in the country, and what the lot of you are doing is disgusting. Do you know what state our tents are in? Our healthcare? Our food rations?”
“Yes, I mean, I’ve heard that you are living in tents. It sounds almost fun, like when people would camp...”
I sprinted into the room, prepared to stop Vonna from physically attacking the Chancellor.
She stood above him, then backed away, shaking her head. She seemed to vibrate with anger, her face beet red. Her fists were clenched so hard I suspected her nails were poking into her palm.
“You don’t know anything about what our lives are like,” she hissed. “You say you’ve heard, but you’ve probably never walked more than ten feet into our space. We are rotting away in there. And you – you say it’s fun?”
She turned and saw me standing in the door.
“Charlie –“ She kept shaking her head. “Charlie, please ask this gentleman to let me go about my work without interruption. I wouldn’t want to get in trouble.”
She stormed out the door, slamming it behind her.
I sat on the couch across from Enzo. He was completely deflated, hunched down into the armchair.
“What did I do?” he asked.
“Enzo, is Vonna correct? Have you never seen the NB’s living conditions in person? Have you ever – I don’t know – felt what those shock collars do to a person?”
“No! Of course not.” Enzo squirmed lower into the chair. “It’s not my job to look over that. I’m leading the work in the camp itself. I have someone else maintaining the NB living quarters, and we check in of course...”
“Well, if you want to get to know Vonna, maybe you could start there,” I said.
“What do girls want from us?” Enzo asked.
I imagined the letter I would write to Yami. Dear Yami. I miss you. Today I had a conversation with the evil dictator ruining our lives about the birds and the bees...
“Do any of the – your – the other – Chancellors, do any of them have partners?” I asked. Enzo shook his head. I tried imagining what it must be like to be Enzo. Raised by a group of arrogant, controlling men, exactly the same as him but much older, with little to no access to people his own age. Who knows if any of the others ever wanted to date or marry. Was this Enzo’s first crush? At his age, I had a dozen friends to talk to about girls. What about him?
I let out a long, frustrated exhale. Enzo covered his eyes with a hand, leaning his head back into the cushion. I gave him some space; I returned to the kitchen to eat chips and wash some dishes. Enzo appeared at the door several minutes later.
“Charlie, thank you for your help tonight,” he said. “You always give me new things to think about. I – I think I’m going to try what you said. About Vonna. I’ll arrange a tour of their living quarters for starters.”
“That’s really good,” I said. “And you’re welcome.”
I messaged Jane immediately after the Chancellor left. She came by and we laughed hysterically at the image of Enzo in shorts and a t-shirt – neither of which he had returned, and neither of which I would be requesting to get back.
WE FOUND VONNA THE next afternoon serving in one of the cafeterias. When she saw me, she scowled and turned away. We approached her area of the line.
“Don’t you start with me,” she snapped. “Jane, did you know he was going to do this?”
“No idea, I swear!” Jane whispered.
“Well, I heard that kid did it. He walked around this morning, looking at all the tents.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” I asked. Vonna sneered and directed her answer to Jane.
“It’s not good unless he does something about it, and I doubt he will.”
Someone pushed us along the food line, and we nodded good-bye to Vonna.
“That was a jackass kind of thing to do to her, you know,” Jane said as we found a spot near the corner of the room between the windows and a large screen. Today’s entertainment was a cycling schedule of activities and pictures someone had taken at one of the events from the week before. I ignored the screen and stared out the window.
“I’ve been called worse,” I smirked.
“Oh, I bet you haven’t,” Jane teased. “I bet the girls love your goofy grins and you’re ‘I didn’t do it!’ looks. I bet you were only with your girlfriend because she was the only one who could put you in your place.”
I smiled briefly. “I suppose so.”
The screen on the wall flickered for a second before switching to a video feed of the Chancellor. All eyes turned to face the wall. I had never seen the screen used for anything besides basic information. The last time the Chancellor spoke publicly like this, it was to let us know we would all be tested and sorted by fertility status. What now?
The Chancellor stood in a community in front of the standard Chancellor’s mansion. It was impossible to tell where he might be; these buildings were as identical as the Chancellor’s own clones. On one side of him stood a Gray Suit, and on the other, I could see the elbow of someone wearing a jumpsuit. It wasn’t the standard light blue of the NBs. It was bright, deep red. There was a bandage on the person’s forearm.
The Chancellor addressed the camera directly with a microphone on his lapel.
“Good afternoon, citizens of the UCA. I have seen how compliant our citizens have been since my last message about fertility testing, and want to thank all of you for your support in moving humanity forward.
As you know, while we are doing this important work, a small group of rebels has been undermining our efforts at every step. They have bombed buildings, killed leaders, overthrown communities, and independently conducted their own fertility research without sharing that information with national experts. They stand between us and a solution to the crisis that has plagued humanity for hundreds of years.
I come to you with good news. Thanks to information provided by loyal, upstanding citizens, we have identified the leader of the rebel faction and have brought her here today to show you that the rebellion is almost destroyed. With their leader gone, the rebels have been losing battles with our steadfast soldiers and have lost control of over half of the communities they viciously seized.
The rebel leader who stands next to me today has been fomenting dissent for over ten years within our own walls. She orchestrated mass demonstrations, and when those weren’t enough to destroy the society we have built for ourselves here, she has resorted to violence again and again to get her way. She built an uprising by lying to the people about government conspiracies and murdering those who knew the truth.”
He turned to the side and nodded to someone, and the woman in the red jumpsuit was shoved into the camera frame. There was a bag over her head, though her black hair spilled out underneath. Her wrists were shackled, and I could just make out a collar around her neck. The Chancellor held her by the arm tightly, pressing his thumb directly into her bandage.
“Not only has the rebel leader standing here today caused violence and upheaval across the nation, but she has single handedly set back our research by years. Were it not for her, we would have been able to peacefully test all citizens, and would have had the time to form new communities structured around fertility and fairness to all. We would be well on our way towards finding a cure to infertility that still impacts most of our citizens. Because of this woman, we were forced to respond quickly to new developments and have lots resources we need to continue our research.”
The camera panned out
and the Chancellor let us enjoy a dramatic pause. The prisoner next to him stood perfectly still, and there were additional soldiers both next to and behind her. They appeared to be standing on a small platform outside of the mansion. I squinted at something hanging off the front of the mansion. There were a few small pieces of paper taped to the front as if on display. My heart jumped into my throat when I recognized them – the sunset paintings breeders made and put up on the mansion walls one day earlier.
The Chancellor, whichever one it was, was speaking in front of the mansion in the center of the Hideaway, only a few hundred feet from where I stood.
He cleared his throat and continued.
“As punishment for her crimes, the rebel leader will serve our breeders at Breeding Camp #3, the Hideaway. She wears red as a reminder of the bloodshed she has caused. She will not be allowed to speak to or interact with any other citizens, including all breeders, non-breeders, soldiers, and leaders in the camp. She wears a collar to represent her servitude, and the soldiers at camp have permission to enforce her schedule and behavior as needed. Until she is deemed harmless to the thriving community here, she will be guarded at all times.”
A soldier stepped forward and removed the manacles from the prisoner’s wrists.
“Citizens of the Hideaway, thank you for helping us reeducate this woman in the ways of our community. What’s best for the community is best for all. You are accused of treason, Yami, and are sentenced to a punishment not nearly as severe as you deserve.”
The Chancellor’s grin stretched cheek to cheek as he pulled the hood off Yami’s head and the rest of her black curly hair cascaded down her shoulders. My breath caught in my throat for a second before I took off in a sprint towards the main lawn.
Chapter 19 – Yami
The bright sun blinded me for a moment once the Chancellor removed his hood. His words were not surprising. I had heard him lie again and again over the last few years. I knew he was planning on pretending I was Other Yami, but wasn’t sure how he would get away with it. I was clearly much younger. Still, I imagined his speech would get many people’s attention and cause a lot of trouble for HQ.
My arms were bruised from the shackles I had worn for the past twenty-four hours and I shook my wrists around to try to recover the feeling lost in my fingers. This was the wrong move; a soldier grabbed my hands tightly when I moved them, as if I was going to attack someone. I let my hands fall back at my side when he let go. I was desperate to get out of the sunlight but didn’t dare move again.
I felt a pulsating pain in the spot where the Chancellor’s doctor had ripped the tracker from my arm. I didn’t need to see his face to know the pleasure he took in digging directly into the wound while he lied to the nation about my crimes.
The Chancellor stepped backwards to get a good look at me.
“I think that will do well, don’t you, Yami?” he asked.
I hadn’t talked to anyone in over a day, and the fury inside me came unloose.
“I think you can go to hell,” I spat. “No one’s going to believe that garbage. You’re a –“
I didn’t get any further. One of the soldiers pulled my right arm backwards and pushed it into my back, sending me to my knees. I clamped up, unable to move.
“That’s better,” the Chancellor said. “I like it when you know your place, Yami, do you understand?”
I said nothing but grimaced as the soldier tightened his grip on my bruised wrists.
The Chancellor gave the soldier a nod and he picked me back up. The Chancellor waved at me as the soldier led us away from the lawn. A sudden commotion made me turn my head in the other direction.
A streak approached us, sprinting across the street. A man with blonde hair. He ran towards me, yelling my name, until two soldiers stood in his way and held him back.
It was Charlie. My Charlie.
“Stand back, sir,” one of the soldiers said. “The Chancellor has given us permission to punish the prisoner, but you may not attack her.”
I gave a tiny smile. Charlie wasn’t coming to attack me. He was coming to greet me. Or maybe to save me. I couldn’t keep track of how anything worked anymore.
Charlie looked over the soldier’s shoulder and we made eye contact. I blinked a greeting to him, and he blinked back.
My personal soldier spoke up. “If you have a grievance, sir, we can punish the prisoner on your behalf, or...?”
Charlie shook his head.
“No! No. I just got – I was just confused for a moment. No need for any punishment.”
“Though I could see why you’d want to punish her,” my personal guard said with a chuckle. “Did you hear what she’s done? I suspect there will be many breeders here eager to make her pay for everything the country has been through.” He nodded at Charlie. “You may not hold a button to turn on her collar, but there are other ways to seek vengeance.”
The man grabbed my arm and marched me away, just a few feet past Charlie. I watched him for as long as I could until he was behind me.
“What’s your name?” I asked the soldier guiding us. “If you’re going to be following me around, you should –“
I felt a buzz and a burst of pain that came from the collar but felt like it emanated from every part of my body. I tripped over my feet. The soldier stood next to me and waited for me to get up. He had dropped away from me before administering the shock, perhaps nervous that he would get shocked too.
“You don’t have permission to speak to me, traitor,” the man said. His face swam before my eyes for another moment. His eyes narrowed to slits and I felt that buzz again. It radiated through my body. I was frozen in place, unable to control my limbs as the electricity hummed through my system.
He walked me out of the community into a fenced in area full of tents and makeshift buildings. A few NBs sat around quietly, or went in and out of buildings to get food. I couldn’t read their faces. Did they believe the Chancellor? Or did they know I was as innocent as they were?
The space they’d set up for me was a small tent in its own fenced in area. The blankets looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, or like someone had purposely dragged it through mud. From my time at Gray Suit training, I knew what solitary felt like. Even so, I this would be different. I wouldn’t be able to chat with Gianna between shifts, or run through formations with my squad.
“This is where you’ll be when you’re not working, traitor,” my guard said. “I’ll be with you at all times when you’re not in here. If I’m not able to dole out punishments appropriately for you, the other soldiers will be able to step in.” He chuckled at the idea. He clearly believed everything the Chancellor said about me.
“What should I do now?”
Another buzz on my collar. It was like getting punched in the neck. My guard was either particularly amused or particularly sadistic because he held the button down longer this time. I fell to the ground at his feet. He smiled again, and after a swift kick to my gut, he exited my space and locked the door behind him.
I started giggling and couldn’t contain it. I was delirious with exhaustion, pain, and anxiety, and I thought I might be losing my mind. I decided to call my guard Buzzy.
I lay in place where he left me, on my side curled up in a ball. My tent was just a foot away, but I wasn’t ready to use energy to move into it just yet. Who could tell what they had left in there. Maybe a rattlesnake. Or a bed of nails.
My thoughts turned to Charlie. Just the sight of him running towards me like that warmed my chest until I felt myself turn to mush. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I saw him coming for me. I screwed up. I never should have left. I suddenly missed him terribly, and the warmth in my chest turned into a hole. All the space I set aside for Charlie that got filled again with planning and spying and secret trackers. It emptied out. I would reserve it for Charlie. I could be with it again. I knew he would get me out of here.
I hadn’t eaten all day. My brain turned off slowly, like a dimmer
switch. I felt myself on the brink of either sleep or unconsciousness, and stared blankly towards the NBs as the edges of my vision faded.
It was the strangest thing. I could have sworn one of the NBs was Vonna. I smiled as I let the darkness take over.
Chapter 20 – Charlie
I skipped the afternoon activity. I was too riled up. I paced back and forth in my living room. Jane got sick of watching me, and called Zheng to see if she could help. Zheng was in Gentle Acres with us. Maybe she knew Yami too.
“I don’t think so, Charlie, I’m sorry,” she said. She sat on the other side of the room from Jane, occasionally shooting a glare her way. “Did she do all those things the Chancellor said?”
“Of course not!” I roared. “It’s all lies! Everything that man – those men – say is a lie!”
Zheng pursed her lips. “You seem to get along with that young one, though.”
I ignored her and talked to Jane instead.
“What do we do?” I asked. “Please. Tell me what we can do. I might be able to turn off Vonna’s collar, and maybe other people’s, but who’s going to risk helping us when the NBs can see firsthand that their lives could get even worse?”
All the extra nervous energy collected in my chest, desperate for an outlet. I could run a mile around the camp in four minutes. I could chase Enzo down and pummel him until he let Yami out. But I would be shot by a soldier before I got a single punch in.
“What are you even doing here?” I shouted at Zheng. “What are you contributing? Have you found your perfect husband yet? Are you going on a dinner date later? Paddle boat rides? Goddamn painting classes?”
Zheng cowered, and Jane touched her arm delicately.
“Charlie, relax!” she said, cocking her head to the side. “Zheng isn’t your enemy.”