by Sarah Dalton
“I don’t know,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair. It was indescribable to say how much I loved to see the sunlight shining through his yellow hair. “The Compound isn’t that big.”
“One of these days I’m going to look in the register and find out. It’s weird. Don’t you think it’s weird?”
He laughed. “It’s good to see you back to your old self.”
“What do you mean?” The wind whipped my hair. It was longer now, almost to my cheekbones.
“Finding a cause. Something to fight against.” He slipped his fingers in between mine. We were entwined. Heat tickled at my stomach.
“Is that a bad thing?”
He chuckled. “No. It’s just a you thing.”
It was another sunny day with a cool breeze, in Scotland it was never warm, and in the distance I heard the sounds of children playing. There was a school set up in the castle, but it always seemed to be suspended when the sun was out. Behind us the leaves rustled on the old Chestnut tree. Ahead of us the sweet sounds of the Children of the People swelled and rose. It was beautiful.
“I’ve never heard anything like that,” Daniel said with a lowered voice. “It’s almost like the hymns that my mum used to sing, but with more… I dunno what… layers I think.”
We approached with quiet steps; two outsiders observing from afar. I held Daniel back so that they wouldn’t notice us.
“Ali said they don’t like to be watched,” I explained.
The people swayed and danced, flinging their hands to the sky. Another young girl received her garlands and I explained to Daniel about the purpose of the ceremony. After she took her flowers, the rest of the group held hands while the children danced in the centre. At the end of the song the men broke the circle and lifted the young girl above her heads where she stretched out her body and contorted so that her head was thrown back. The men carried the girl around their paddock before putting her back on the ground. Then the ceremony was over.
“That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” Daniel said.
“Yep,” I agreed. “I don’t know what to make of it either.”
“Maybe they’re harmless,” Daniel suggested.
Or maybe they weren’t. Despite the bliss of my first few weeks in the Compound I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. Perhaps I was just suspicious from Area 14, but I didn’t like the attitudes towards girls. They either seemed to be young mothers, heralded as some sort of sacred brood mare or carrying out domestic tasks. At the end of the day when the men came back from the fields or from fixing the barns or tending to water pumps they would collapse next to a campfire and drink beer. They never spent much time with the women. I’d come from a place where girls and boys were segregated. Now it seemed that adults segregated themselves.
“Hey.” He yanked on my hand to bring me back to reality. “This is my first time out of hospital and you’re spending it worrying about everyone else.” His lop-sided grin was back and that warm feeling spread from my stomach to my heart.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
We moved closer and my heart quickened. I reached for his free hand so that all of our fingers were entwined and we pressed our foreheads together so that I could see nothing but his sea coloured eyes – those eyes which could so easily turn into thunderstorms and become endless pools of trouble. I was lost in them. Helpless at sea. Our noses touched and my face and neck burned. Our lips touched and his hands were clutching me to his body. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He tasted salty and sweet and something that was just Daniel. My kiss with Sebastian had been pleasant. This was everything else. It was desperate and essential and everything I wanted and more. Heat travelled up and down my body, so hot that I thought we were going to combust. My hands were in his hair, his golden hair, so unruly, so him.
When we broke I had to catch my breath. I was cold without his body next to mine. My fingers drifted to my sore lips, and I looked down at my shoes. Daniel leaned forward and brushed my hair away from my eyes.
“That’s better,” he said. His eyes changed into thunderstorms. “You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
I felt the smile spread across my face before I even realised I was smiling. “I think I have some idea.”
Daniel put his arm across my shoulder like I’d seen GEM boys do to GEM girls back in Area 14. It was like an unreal fairy tale. Blemished girls didn’t live in fairy tales. We were yelled at and trodden on and told that we’re useless. I didn’t deserve to be wanted or loved. Yet here I was with the boy I loved, walking snuggled up to each other without a care in the world. I wrapped my arm around his back and sunk my body into his side. We fit like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Everything was right. I forgot about my worries. I walked Daniel back to the hospital carefree.
11
A dead boy floats in a lake.
The water is still and black. Soft ripples spread in concentric circles as the boy’s arms open wider and wider. There is no noise.
The picture freezes. It shakes and then the world around me explodes in a boom. There’s a rata-rata-rata; a horrible, relentless noise. I cover my ears, but it’s too late for my eyes because they’ve seen it and they can never forget it – the sight of the bodies lying lifeless in cars. Blood soaked clothes. Blood stained helmets. Blood splattered windshields.
There’s a boy in front of me. His face is perfect and smiling. His eyes dark and kind and I know this boy. He’s trying to tell me something, but I can’t hear over the gun shots. Then the world falls silent again and I sigh with relief because then I will hear his voice but I can’t. I can’t hear him. He’s silent. The world is silent. I can’t hear anything.
And his face changes, starting at the lips which swell and protrude into something pink and glossy. The skin stretches tighter and hair grows longer and into a red curly mane. There’s a sneer on those lips, one which results in a familiar stomach turn, and I feel the scream in my throat trying to escape. But I can’t make a sound. I can’t even gurgle. My hands move up to my throat and she smiles.
She leans forward, her piercing eyes finding mine, searching me; searching my soul. She leans forward until our noses almost touch and then she whispers something in my ear. I hear the sound of her voice, but I wish I hadn’t.
“This is all your fault,” she says.
*
I woke up to soaked sheets and shouting outside my trailer window. Bleary eyed and shaken, I climbed out of bed and pulled the curtain back to see Sebastian shouting at a bulky man outside the market.
“What’s going on?” Kitty wandered into my room, rubbing her eyes. She looked long and lean in small shorts and a vest top. I tried to suppress a twinge of jealousy. We’d been trailer mates since Ali sorted out my accommodation. Before we’d shared a spare trailer together Kitty had been living in the barn. She had always preferred to be away from people but was trying to become more accustomed to being around people. It was her way of learning how to fit into society.
“I think I need to go out there. It’s Sebastian.” I rammed my feet into boots, still in my unattractive flannel pyjamas.
Kitty squinted out of the window. “What are they fighting about?”
“That’s that I intend to find out.” I barged past her in the tiny space I call my bedroom, which doubled up as the living room and the kitchen, to open the door and step out into the freezing cold.
“The Clone pushed me,” shouted an angry man. “He shoved past an’ put his stinkin’ Clone hands on me fer no good reason. Why should I calm down? He’s filth.”
“I did no such thing,” Sebastian shouted back. The two men were face to face, just inches apart, while a group gathered round. “We bumped shoulders, you old fool.”
The man, who was short and stocky with brown hair greying at the temples, pushed Sebastian with both hands, shoving him backwards. Sebastian stumbled for a few steps before regaining his balance. “Who you calling an old fool, boy
?”
“Who are you calling boy?” Sebastian squared up to him. I’d never seen him look so furious before. His cheeks were bright pink and his eyes wide and feral. His jaw was set which made his usual soft features appear cruel.
“That’s enough!” I yelled, stepping in between the two of them.
“Get away from me, Freak!” The man pushed me away at the shoulder and I fell to the floor, jolting my knee. “First the Clone and now you want a piece of me.” He beat his chest. “I’m sick of this place, letting in scum like you. Genetically engineered scum.” He spat on the floor, the disgusting pile of phlegm landing so close to me I had to squirm away from it. My stomach turned.
“That’s it.” Sebastian flew at the man, throwing a punch, but he was nowhere near as experienced as his opponent who ducked and landed a punch to Sebastian’s kidneys.
“Let’s ‘ave it then.” The man stepped back, waggling his fingers to encourage the fight. He had wide eyes and a devilish grin. “Let’s see what yer made of. All you Clones are made fer violence, everyone knows that. Aggressive little shits. Let’s see if you can take a piece of me.”
Sebastian straightened up, wincing at the pain in his side. His face was red with rage and frustration. He flew at the man, fists flailing, screaming a battle cry as he went. This time the grey haired man had no chance of ducking. Sebastian punched him straight in the face and blood spurted from the man’s nose. I’d had enough.
“Stop it!” I shrieked. The heat of my own anger focused through my mind, and before I knew it, I’d pushed the two men away from each other, picking them up and tossing them. The crowd gasped and screamed.
“What the hell?” the man pulled himself up from the ground. “You freak bitch! You did that! What the hell are you?”
I ignored him and ran over to Sebastian, helping him to his feet. I turned back to the man. “You have no idea what I am or what I am capable of. You leave me and my friends alone.” I turned to the crowd. “That goes for you all. Leave us alone or you will find out just what I can do.”
A man in a white coat jogged over to us. It was Dr Woods from the Council. “What happened here?”
“A fight,” I replied. “That man started it.”
The doctor tutted as he placed a medical kit to the ground. Sebastian had a cut lip and he held his side. “It doesn’t matter who started it. It matters that people got hurt.” He reached into his bag for a bottle of fluid and a cotton wool ball before dabbing Sebastian’s face with it. “And it might not be my place to say this, but do you really think it is wise using your superhuman powers or whatever they are in front of the people? We’re trying to keep the peace among these people and it doesn’t help when you stir up trouble––”
“I told you––”
“Yes, you said he started it. But you finished it.” He glared at me. “You are the one with the ability to scare the people here with your powers. Just keep that in mind.” He packed away the cotton wool and fluid whilst shaking his head. “That is no behaviour for a girl. Maybe you should go back inside your trailer and keep out of it. Now, I’m going to check on Tobias.” The doctor snapped his medical kit shut and walked away. The crowd had filtered out, with just a few stragglers turning to stare at us as they went back to their business.
“Can you believe that guy? He blamed us,” I said.
Sebastian sighed and pushed his hands into his knees. The blotchy red of his cheeks faded to a pasty grey. “He had a point, Mina. It’s going to be hard enough for me to fit in here without you tossing the locals around.”
“A thank you would have been nice,” I snapped. “You weren’t doing much for your image either. What were you thinking throwing punches like that? You should just walk away.”
“Thanks for the almighty power of hind-sight there.” He sighed again. “I don’t know what happened. I just lost it. I’ve never felt like that before. Except for…” he trailed off.
“Except when?” I probed.
“The time when you were being drowned in the river by the Enforcer.”
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. My dream. The dead boy in the lake. The memory of when Sebastian killed the Enforcer saving my life. I tried to shake it off. “Come on. We should get away from these people.”
“I’m going to help Ali and Ginge set up the stall,” he said.
“Will you be okay?”
“Mina,” he said with a half-smile, “I’ll be fine.”
I watched Sebastian disappear through the trailers on his way to the market. Mothers snatched their children, pulling them away from him as he passed them, as though he had a disease. This wasn’t good. After just a month Sebastian found himself in trouble with the people in the Compound and I just made things worse. Dr Woods was right. I should never have used my gift in front of them, although I didn’t see what me being a girl had to do with anything. It struck me as a strange thing to say, and an even worse thing to believe.
Kitty stood by the door, shifting from one foot to the other. “I saw what you did.”
“I’m not in the mood for a lecture.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” She lurched forward and took me by the shoulders. Kitty had no concept of personal space, and what she thought was soothing was usually just unnerving. I was starting to get used to her. “I think you did the right thing.”
“You do? But it’s just stirring up trouble between us and them.” I wanted to get dressed and make a cup of tea. This day had begun with the worst start possible, and I wanted some normality. Unfortunately, privacy was another concept lost on Kitty.
“Us and them,” she said. “What does that even mean? It’s silly.” She giggled. “You did it to stop Sebastian getting hurt. It’s like your dad always says: if the power used comes from a good place – it’s a good thing.”
I bristled as she mentioned my dad. I hated being reminded that he had been looking after other children apart from me. “I know what my dad says.”
Kitty flushed. “I was just trying to help.” She dropped her eyes from mine and her smile froze.
“Kitty,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to––”
She put her hands up as though in protest. “It’s fine. I know what you meant.”
With a few nimble steps she was gone, blonde hair swishing after her. The door slammed, and I had all the privacy I needed.
12
“You punch like a girl.” Mike grinned at me behind the punch-bag. He was spotting me while Dad and Hiro meditated upstairs in the barn. Kitty was nowhere to be seen, but we’d guessed she was wandering around the Compound border. She did that when she was upset – like a caged cat.
I hit back, harder, almost knocking Mike to the floor. “I’ve been holding back. Didn’t want to hurt you.”
He snorted and regained composure. “No chance of that, sister.”
He’d taken to calling me sister and Hiro “bro” which was strange slang that I’d never heard of before. “Where are you from, anyway?” I asked after finishing a round of jabs to the punch-bag.
Mike grinned again. “London.”
I stopped punching to listen. “How is that possible? You’re not a Clone are you?”
Mike pulled a disgusted face. “Of course not! My parents were in the resistance.”
The Ministry kept London free from all non-GEM families because they didn’t want trouble from the Resistance. I’d always wondered how they lived and even fantasised about joining them, even after my mother’s disappearance, or maybe because of it.
“You were in the London Resistance? Where did you live?” I pulled off my boxing gloves and tossed them to the floor.
“Oh, I get it,” he said with a smirk. “You like danger.” He grinned again and ran his fingers through his hair. “We moved around a lot. Disused buildings… sympathiser’s basements… things like that. We stayed in churches a lot.”
“Churches?”
“Yeah,” he continued. “The clergy were anti-cloning, but the high-powere
d ones pretended to be pro so they could keep their funding and their middle-class GEM family clients. But secretly they hid the Resistance in the cellars of the churches where we make bombs and plot attacks.”
“You bombed people?” I asked.
He winced a little. “Well, not exactly. I’ve only known about two or three terrorist attacks in the last few years, and none of them were carried out by my family. There are different levels when you work in the Resistance. My parents were more the making pamphlets kind rather than bombing Ministry buildings kind.”
“Where are your parents now?”
Mike winced again. “They’re dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Can I join you?” Kitty interrupted the tension. She stood in the doorway to the barn shifting her weight from one foot to the other as though on hot coals. She had a lot of nervous energy and continuously either flicked her hair or fiddled with her clothes. Since we’d been living together I’d noticed how she sometimes raised her head as though hearing a distant sound. She was tuned in to the environment around her, and every movement was cat-like and dainty. She reminded me of a lion or tiger, the kind of big cat that my dad would show me documentaries about in the basement of our house.
“Sure,” I said with what I hoped was a friendly smile. “Mike was just telling me about living in London with the Resistance.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that, story. I’ve heard that a lot, trust me. Imagine being the only two Freaks in the whole Compound.” She slipped her arm between Mike’s. “He’s been chewing my ear off about the damn thing this entire time.”
Mike shrugged at me. “She loved it. Couldn’t take her hands off me.”
The two of them erupted into giggles while I wondered what it had been like for them to live here alone without parental control. I soon found out why they hadn’t gone off the rails when Mary stepped into the barn.
“What have I told you two, eh?” she called.
Mike and Kitty jumped away from each other like two lovers caught in a clinch. Kitty looked at the floor and twirled a strand of messy hair around her finger.