by Murray, Lee
“Me,” Doze volunteers. “I’m expendable, and besides I helped fund this operation.”
“And the customer is always right.” Paulo proffers his hand to seal the deal. “Step into my office, young man. It won’t take but a minute.”
“Where’d you get all this stuff anyway?” Doze asks.
“Things get lost, broken, stop working. Now get in the chair and put your left foot here.” All business, Brett moves a stool into position, adding a pillow to get the right height.
“It’s in my foot?” Like something salvaged from an asylum, Doze rests his fingertips in the groves of the armrest and lifts his chin to the ceiling.
“Yep. Under the nail of your big toe.” Brett unlaces Doze’s boot and stuffs his sock inside before tossing it out of the way.
“Is it going to hurt?” Ana asks. She’s not the only one concerned. They’re all going to have to take their turn.
“Oh yeah, it would. That’s where the drugs come in,” Paulo says.
“Do I have time to get high?” Doze jokingly pats his pockets for his buds.
“Don’t worry. We’ve got something a little local for this operation.” Paulo gets out a needle and, before Doze can react, he jabs it into the meaty part of his toe.
Doze stifles a cry. “Give a guy some warning, why don’t you?” He looks over to his sisters, half hidden behind Ana. “Don’t worry, guys, I’m fine. It’s fine. Didn’t hurt. Just a bit of a surprise, really.”
“You may want to look away,” Brett suggests. “In fact, it might be better if we held you down a bit. Don’t want you moving at the wrong time.” Hearing this, Ana and Paulo put their arms across Doze’s chest.
“Girls, why don’t you go hang out with Miss Tera in the other room? I won’t be long.” Kym gives her brother a cutting look as she heads out the door with her sister. “It’ll look worse than it’ll feel. I promise,” Doze calls after them.
“All ready?” Before Doze can answer, he hears the crack of his toenail being ripped upward, followed by a sickening sucking sound as the chip is pulled from his flesh. “Okay, let go Paulo and put this on the tray. I’ll deal with it later.” Taking the gauze from the medical tray, Brett quickly packs the toe, wrapping it firmly with tape. “How are you doing, Doze?”
“Can’t say yet, my mind hasn’t caught up with my body.” They let go of his foot, but all Doze can see is a bandaged toe.
“Can you stand? We need to get a move on.”
“Yep. Didn’t feel a thing.” He grimaces as he vacates the chair, to be replaced by Ana. “Want me to hold your hand?”
“She’ll be fine, Doze. Why don’t you go keep an eye on your own sisters?” Ana covers her mouth but she can’t hide her laughing eyes as Doze takes the hint and retreats into the other room.
“What are you going to do with the chips?” says Tera as she stands at the doorway, watching Brett remove the last one from his own toe.
“They die within an hour when outside a living host. The fluids in our bodies act as a battery for both the chip and the mechanical body part. Without the fluids, the chip dries up beyond use.” Doze can’t believe that this pathetic loser, who’s been known to misspell his own name, is the key to their escape. “But I need to dispose of them permanently.” Brett holds a hammer posed to strike, but Doze picks up the chip that was so recently in his toe. He turns it in his hand, examining it.
“Each one is numbered to match your genetic code, so if ConClave Corporation find them, they’ll know we’re alive. They don’t just fall out of our bodies like dead skin,” Brett says, taking the chip from Doze and placing it next to the others lined up on the bench. He lifts the hammer again, but Doze interrupts him again, this time bending to read the numbers across the bottom of his chip. He recognises similar numbers on two others.
Doze frowns. “Are those Kym’s and Chrissy’s?”
“That’s strange,” says Brett, looking at Ana and Paulo’s chips. “It looks like brothers and sisters share the same numbers, except for the last ones denoting date of birth and gender.” Brett considers the three chips Doze is now holding in the palm of his hand. “I’m assuming you know your mommy, so the question is: Who’s your daddy, Doze?”
5
“We need to make it look less obvious.” From her position on an upturned bucket in the centre of the room, Ana cautiously presses her heavily bandaged toe against the concrete floor, testing to see if she can bear the pain as the drugs wear off. Surrounded by an array of prepacked food and donated clothing, Doze thinks she looks like a refugee adrift at sea, needing rescuing.
“As long as you can put your shoes on and can keep up, it’s not going to be a problem. If we get caught it’s over for us, with or without the chips,” Paulo tells her dismissively as he walks past, slinging his pack up onto his shoulders. “We need to be at the Gate before dawn.”
“Your brother’s a jerk,” Doze tells her as he rolls up the rest of her supplies and closes the top of her pack while she gingerly shoves her foot into a pair of old workmen’s boots.
“My parents would expect me to defend him. But I don’t know how,” Ana says, her head turned away to watch her brother slip out the front door without waiting to see if they are following.
Doze checks the way is clear before motioning the others forward. Ana’s deliberate stride soon distances herself from Miss Tera’s quickening steps, followed by Brett, Doze and his sisters, their shoes kicking the sand as they skip to keep up. One by one, they make their way cautiously over the sand dunes towards the shoreline. The curving edge of the sea, completely devoid of trees or buildings, is the most exposed route, but other than going down the middle of town, it’s also the most direct. The steep slope of the dunes force them closer to the water, the gentle waves of low tide threatening to wash over their dry shoes.
“I want Ana,” Chrissy’s demand cuts through the metronome of their footfalls like an off-key note.
“Shush, Chrissy. We have to be quiet. Remember?” Doze hears her suck back her cry, her eyes widening. “Don’t worry. She’s ahead, waiting for us.” When he looks back he sees that he’s right. Ana has waited to walk with them.
“Come on, Chrissy, I can’t carry you, but I can hold your hand.” Ana takes her hand, giving it a quick kiss before pulling her gently beside her.
“Okay, Kym, it’s up to us to guard the back.” Kym gives Doze an incredulous look but humours his need to keep the mood light by rolling her eyes. Keeping the sound of the ocean lapping to their left, they strain their eyes to discern rocks from phantoms barring their way in the darkness.
“Doze, that star is moving.” Disentangling herself from Ana’s grip, Chrissy points towards the moving object in the sky.
“That’s not a star. It’s a satellite. A machine they send over us to check on us.” He urges her to pick up the pace but, stubborn, she doesn’t move. “Chrissy, we don’t have time to muck around.” Wordlessly, she points, this time below the orbiting satellite towards the town.
“What?” Ana and Kym draw closer.
“Don’t know. Chrissy’s seen something.” Standing close, they strain to hear anything over the wash of the waves. “There’s nothing there.” Chrissy steps away, defiantly jerking her head towards the top of the dune.
“Who’s down there?” The question causes Chrissy to clamber up the dune.
“Mummy.” Grabbing her ankles, Doze drags her down before she can reach the top. Shaking the worst of the sand off her, he propels her towards Ana’s outreached arms. Keep going, he mouths but she refuses, shaking her head as she draws the girls closer and lower to the sand.
“Chrissy. What are you doing down there? Are Kym and Doze with you?” Shades of meaning colour his mother’s questions and they flick down towards them, like bait on a hook.
“I’m here, Jill, but not Kym. We thought she’d been evacuated with you.” Speaking loudly, Doze uses the noise to cover the sound of his feet kicking the sand to cover the tracks of the others as the beam o
f a flashlight trails across the sand.
“That’s not true, Doze.” Covering her mouth with his hand, Doze struggles to get Chrissy to understand. “Shut up. Stay here and don’t say another word until I get back.” Thrusting her into Ana’s arms, he shrugs off his pack and scrabbles up the steep bank as if drawn forward by the blinding beam.
“I’m glad to see you,” Jill says. “I was so worried. Now, let’s get Chrissy. There’s a bus waiting.”
Doze steps closer to his mother to prevent her from peering over the edge. She staggers back; it’s not the alcohol that’s making her unsteady on her feet.
“Why are you still here, Jill?” Doze cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders, expanding the menace towards her.
“I was lucky, really. When the storm didn’t hit as they expected, they let anyone who was missing family come back and help with the search.” The tips of her fingers turn white as she tightens her grip on her torch.
“Why? Why not let everyone come back home?” He pushes back his sleeves, stretching his arms forward as he takes possession of the gap between them.
“Oh, um. I think they’re worried that the danger isn’t over. We’re so vulnerable here.” She shrinks into herself as if she has lost permission to take up space.
“Guess we better go and look for Kym, then.” Pretending to reach down for Chrissy, Doze clenches his fist and turns swinging, knocking his mother over as his knuckles slam into her nose.
“What the fuck!”
Flat out on the ground, Jill covers her face against the next blow. When it doesn’t come, she levers herself into a sitting position and pinches the bridge of her bleeding nose.
Doze leans down for her fallen torch. Using the light, he inspects the back of his hand, where pain emanates from the central knuckle.
“Listen to me, Jill,” he hisses. “I know what you are and I know what you’re doing, so I’m going to make you a deal. You remember the last deal I made, don’t you? This one comes with a similar pay off.” Satisfied that there’s no real damage to his hand, he turns the light to her face, using it to blind the fallen woman. “You’re going to let us go. You’re going to tell the voices in your head that you found no one.”
“Well, how am I supposed to explain this?” The blood has left twin trails drying down her neck.
“You fell. Tripped on a shoelace. I don’t care, and neither will they.” Doze clenches and unclenches his fist, as if debating whether to attack again or not. The anger of her betrayal rages within him, not just for this time, but for all the times before. For his father. If it weren’t for his sisters, Doze might pound her until all that was left would be the memory of someone who might have been.
“And if I don’t?” Unsure which master will provide her with longer life, Jill scrambles for time.
“If you turn me in, I’m going to tell them that our running was your idea, but you chickened out at the last minute,” Doze threatens.
“They won’t believe you.” Her voice trembles with doubt as she struggles to her feet, keeping an eye on Doze’s clenched fists hanging dangerously at his sides.
“Are you willing to risk it?” Doze imagines he can hear the faint echo of a dead machine as he taps the left side of his head. “Remember, you’re not the company’s only watcher.”
“Fine. Go. But you won’t make it outside the Gate,” Jill spits the words at Doze, making it difficult for him to remember his sisters listening below.
“Keep the deal, Jill, and you’ll be fine. You always have been.” He watches for a while as she fades into the black. He slides down the dune to the others. Chrissy has her face tucked into Ana’s leg, refusing to look at him.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that.” She shrugs her shoulders away from his touch.
“We need to catch up. The others are probably wondering what’s happened to us,” says Ana as she passes Doze his back pack.
Aware of the night passing, they break into a jog, the town quickly dropping behind, its few lights appearing like low hanging stars. With only a slip of moon, it feels like the world has abandoned them to their fate, with no clear path ahead, and no wind to push them forward. No one speaks. Instead, the sound of their breathing matches the sound of the waves sipping the sand.
“Doze, I’m tired.”
“I’ll carry you,” Ana offers, but Doze is quicker, swinging Chrissy onto his shoulders without a pause in his pace. Kym pulls ahead, her feet flicking sprinkles of sand as she digs deep for traction.
“Where are they?” Doze and Ana both know they should have re-joined the others by now, unless they too had reason to run. “The Gate’s not far now, but if they’re not there we’re going without them.” Ana falters a step behind.
“I can see it.” Ahead, standing like a starfish, her arms reaching out as if to embrace the sky, Kym’s silhouette is outlined by the faint glare of searchlights roaming in random patterns from twin towers on either side of the Gate. “It’s bigger than I thought.”
Doze lifts Chrissy off his shoulders and motions for her to lie flat against the side of the dune. “Get down, Kym,” he hisses. In front of him, the beach gives way to a wide strip of lawn, left to grow long and thick with wild flowers.
“Can you see them?” Falling heavily beside him, Ana struggles out of her pack. She smells strongly of sweat and salt, as if she has captured the ocean beneath her skin.
“No. They must be further down the beach.” He makes an attempt to pick up Ana’s pack, but she shakes her head and points to Chrissy. In the few moments they have taken to scout the Gate the little girl has fallen asleep. Her cheek resting on a half-closed fist, and her arms crossed across her chest, Chrissy lets out a soft snore. Doze hands the pack to Ana, then lifts Chrissy’s tiny frame into his arms, cradling her head to his shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
The short break has wearied them all; Doze knows that he’s moving only through the will not to fail. Battling to keep one foot in front of the next, he’s glad to have Ana beside him. Now loaded with Chrissy’s bag, she’s also taken charge of Kym, holding tightly to the girl’s hand. He can hear their effort to keep up as they drag their feet across the wet sand. In the distance, the Fence stays unchanged. Like a mirage, it seems to get no closer.
“Doze, is it getting lighter?” Ana’s hoarse whisper catches him sleepwalking. Widening his eyes, he can see she’s right. The stars are less visible as a weak glow edges the horizon.
“It’s fine,” he replies. “We’re almost there.” Suddenly, the line of dunes drops away, revealing a steep slope ending at the base of the Fence.
“The others are down there.” Woken by his sub-vocalisation, Chrissy breaks out of her brother’s arms and tumbles to the ground, the little nap having recharged her inquisitive batteries.
“Miss Tera. Paulo. Brett. Hello.” This time she remembers to keep her voice low as she waves to the group below.
Getting to the bottom isn’t easy. Doze goes first, sliding and stopping, ready to catch the girls as Ana lowers them down one by one.
“I’ve got you.” He steadies Ana in mid-tumble.
The awkward moment is interrupted by Ana’s sudden cry as she rushes towards her brother. His clothes are streaked with dirt, and there’s a long graze on the side of his face. “Paulo, are you hurt?”
“No. It’s nothing. Didn’t see the drop off in time.” He palms the worst of the injury on his temple to keep his sister from fussing. “Now that you’re here, we can get going.”
“But how do we get through the Gate?” There’s no denying that they have lost the advantage of darkness.
Paulo says, “The searchlights won’t work now, and if we keep close to the Fence we should be less noticeable.”
“The Gate will be closed. Do you expect us to knock and they’ll open it for us?” Doze mocks. “Or shall we wait for a bus?”
“All the buses have left.” Ana looks back towards the town, her face a mixture of hope and fear.
“They
’ll send an Ambulance if there’s still someone to evacuate,” Tera says. “Someone who is still carrying some of their hardware.” She pats her chest.
“No, Miss. You wanted to go home.” Doze remembers his last trip through the Gate, inside an Ambulance, his father reassuring him there was nothing to worry about.
“If they get me now or later, it doesn’t make any difference.” The emotional move from anger through disbelief to acceptance has made her visibly younger, removing the tight fear kept close in the lines of her face.
“We can think of another way,” he whispers.
“There’s no time.” Kicking off her shoes like a wild child, Tera takes off, her feet spitting puffs of dirt in her haste. They watch stunned as she waves her arms and whoops joyously towards the Gate, expecting to hear the sounds of approaching Ambulances at any moment. Tera arrives at her destination with a jerk, as if hitting a glass wall.
“What is she doing? A dance?” Kym squints and shakes her head. “I think she’s saying that there’s no one there and the Gate’s open.”
“The lights must be automatic.” Doze is the first to react, grabbing his sisters’ hands he rushes towards the open Gate.
“But why would they leave it open…unguarded?” Ana asks. Barely out of breath, she moves closer to inspect the nearest tower. “The evacuation. With no one left, they don’t need to guard the Gate.”
“This feels wrong.” Doze keeps his sisters behind him as he stands before the imaginary line between the town and the world outside the Fence. The morning sun has cleaned away the remaining dredges of the night, setting the cross wires sparkling like freshly washed wine glasses.
“So we just walk out?” Doze asks as Paulo takes a tentative first step across the imaginary line, inside, outside, in one easy step. Once over, it’s as if they’ve all been given permission to breathe again.
“Hurry, guys, there’s still no cover, and we don’t know if they’ll come back to check.” Encouraged by Paulo’s lead, Brett cautiously walks over next, and again nothing happens.