by Silver, Ruth
“I don't, I don't know. I'm not from around here.” It was the truth. I'd been exposed though. There was no way the Red Plague had passed me without leaving its wrath unless I was still protected from a vaccine through many generations: I doubted it. That was what Isaura had meant when she'd told me I'd die here. She brought me here to kill me, to let the Red Plague do it.
“Come with us.” The man wasn't much older than me. He wore an oversized suit in a blinding white that covered his entire body, and gripped my arm. His voice was muffled as he spoke. “Quickly. It won't take long for it to ravage you inside and then out if we don't act now.”
I didn't fight him. I knew what it meant. I would be like everyone else. Unable to conceive. The choice taken from me like it had been taken from the entire population. Was that how I had been able to be born? Had my mother's family not been inoculated? I may never know.
Reluctantly, I followed the stranger to the elevator and down to the basement. I shuddered as we headed down, the cool air causing goosebumps to rise on my flesh. I'd been there once before and had been held against my will. I didn't know what if anything they intended of me after the inoculation but I would have to go home. I would never stop trying.
“How'd you get here?” he asked through the mask. The elevator sounded and we stepped off, walking the length of the basement. It hadn't changed.
“It's a long story. I was taken hostage,” I breathed wondering if he believed me. I was covered in blood.
“We'll have to give you a decontamination shower and new clothes after your injection.”
“Thank you.” I glanced down at the jewelry, the bracelet that would send me home. “I need to keep this on,” I told him showing him the cuff on my arm.
“Sorry, ma'am.” he shook his head. “All of it has to be burned. Sent to the incinerator. It's all filled with the contagion.”
I bit my lower lip, thinking a way out. I'd have to act fast. The biggest problem was knowing how to use the bracelet, how to activate it to go home.
“This way,” he informed me, leading me into the room where I'd been held captive, sedated and drugged. I took a tentative step inside. The room was laid out differently. Two cots sat just above the floor and a chair was against the wall. The room was painted a light shade of blue. It was almost calming. “Have a seat.” He gestured to the chair. “She'll be right in with you.”
I sat down. The man didn't budge, making sure I couldn't run off. He was right about one thing. I needed the vaccine before there was more cause for concern.
CHAPTER 23
The injection wasn't pleasant, but I'd suffered far worse things back home. The nurse who had administered it had been surprisingly pleasant. She didn't ask where I came from, only wanting to know that I was okay now. I assured her I was fine.
The man who had watched over the door left and she showed me towards the showers at the end of the hall. “Just down that way. They'll dispose of your clothes and give you something new to wear.” I walked inside the women's shower area. I put my clothes in the hazard waste as I stripped down, leaving the metal bracelet on my wrist. I would keep it until they told me otherwise. For now I'd pretend it was forgotten.
I stepped forward and the water turned on. The sensors triggered by movement weren’t equipped with temperature or pressure controls. The system had the water hot and forceful, washing away any trace of blood on my skin and contamination. I closed my eyes, the burns on my hands and arms were scalding under the fire. Grateful for my privacy I imagined the pain away, wished it away and watched my body begin to heal. There were slight marks, evidence of the burns but the boils and intense searing pain diminished.
I found a bottle of soap against the wall and reached for it, washing my hair and body clean. The soap burned worse than the boils or the hot shower. I stepped out and further into the next attached area where towels were lined up. I grabbed two. One for my hair and the other around my torso. I tried to stay warm and dry off quickly. I found clean clothes lined up and slipped on the gray scrubs thankful for the drawstring to accommodate my smaller waist.
Stepping further through the bathroom, several women guards stood on patrol. I headed out, prepared to go past them as they held out an arm stopping me. “Back in there!” They pointed to the showers. “The bracelet can't go with you. You could risk contaminating other people.”
My eyes widened in horror and I ran back the direction I came, seeing their guns, knowing I'd have little chance of leaving the other direction. I ran through the showers, the automatic setting turning on as I scrambled by, barely getting wet. I plunged past the guard and towards the elevator, hitting the button repeatedly.
“Miss! You can't go in there!” I heard another voice as I glanced behind me seeing two armed guards following after me.
The elevator door shut before they had time to stop me. I hit the button for the seventh floor. It was dangerous but I didn't have another choice. The elevator ascended and I shut my eyes, my right hand touching the bracelet as it was secured to my left. I thought of home, of Joshua and of the life I wanted with him. I thought of Isaura gone, of the future, the world I was from, and of the one thing I couldn't explain but could feel, love. The elevator dinged and I stepped off seeing guards pointing their guns at me on the seventh floor. Behind them, Joshua and Janessa were being held, their hands behind their back handcuffed. They were hostages. At least I'd made it home.
CHAPTER 24
“Where is she?” Fabian demanded keeping Joshua and Janessa held at gunpoint. He was running the three-ring circus. I felt my stomach somersault and I turned my head, vomiting on his shiny black shoes.
“Dead,” I answered. “Hence the shower,” I gestured to my new attire. “She's also dead in 2225 if you must know. Now let Joshua and Janessa go!” I demanded. “I did your dirty work, I killed her for you.”
“Olivia, no,” Joshua shook his head and frowned. Was I not supposed to confess to what we'd done? I'd done it. I wasn't afraid of a jail cell or the consequences. Some people deserved to die. Maybe it wasn't my choice to make, but it had become my choice when Isaura had taken me, drugged me, and then tried to kill me again.
“I'm not afraid of Fabian or any of them,” I retorted. I was back home. Right now that was all I cared about.
“Take her away!” Fabian demanded and I felt a guard gripping my arm, pulling me back to the elevator as they led me down and outside into the streets of Torv.
“Why are you doing this?” I shouted as they dragged me towards the hall where the council members convened. Once inside, Joshua and Janessa were thrown in beside me. What's going on? I asked Joshua, careful not to let anyone else know we were speaking to one another.
I'm not sure. Two guards came in when Isaura hadn't returned and they got Fabian to find out why we were in the room without the patient. Fabian is next in command so without Isaura's body we're under some scrutiny.
I don't see why. She's dead, he wanted her dead and it's done. She's not coming back, Josh. Not ever.
You and I both know that, he told me. They don't quite understand the potential of what she was capable of. They're afraid of her, but even more afraid she'll return and retaliate against them.
I sighed watching as the members of the government all took their seat at the long mahogany table. Janessa, Joshua and I stood with guards keeping a watch on the door. Fabian stood alongside us. Had he intended on betraying us all along?
“Olivia, Joshua.” The eldest member Douglas recognized us, giving a faint nod. “And, you dear, are who?”
“Janessa,” she breathed barely audible. Her voice was fragile, fear showed in her eyes.
Douglas began the inquisition, “Fabian, tell me what's going on, please.”
Fabian took a step forward. “For the past several months, Isaura has been working against our command and our instruction. She had abducted women from their homes, some with the promise of fortune and a child and others just out of pure need and want. She's experimented
on them, drugged them and forced them against their will to participate in the most advanced and insane scientific endeavor imaginable.”
Douglas sighed. “She's been working on fixing the problem with conceiving children.” Had he given Isaura permission after all? Did he know what she was up to in the lab? “Where is she now for the crimes against humanity that she's committed?”
Fabian sighed. “I'm not exactly sure. Olivia claims that she's dead, but we've no body.”
“I see,” Douglas answered. “Please Olivia,” he gestured. “We'd like to hear your side of it.”
I stepped forward glancing at Fabian. Was I supposed to protect him? Would he have protected me? I wasn't sure he would have.
“I was asked while in Spade to come here and assassinate Isaura. That ending her life may end some medical breakthroughs, but it would also bring peace and stability to the turbulent nation.” It wasn't a secret that the Republic of Cabal had its problems. “Joshua, Janessa and I volunteered for the mission. Isaura had in the past proven instable at best. She'd come to Spade for me and would have destroyed the town months ago had I not volunteered to go with her. Just as she had destroyed Shadow.” I felt my stomach somersault and the blood boil inside of me. My skin had reddened, my hands trembled. “When men from Cabal came and told me she needed to be stopped, I was willing to do the job to protect the women we'd rescued and saved. Some are capable of conceiving, a few already have,” I admitted. “She may have left a mark on society both good and bad but you have to understand she wouldn't stop what she was doing.”
“And you felt killing her was the only course of action?” Douglas asked.
“Am I guilty of murdering Isaura? Yes,” I answered. “I'm prepared to face whatever consequences await, but I'll have you know she would have killed all of us if it was to her advantage. She would have stopped at nothing to get what she wanted.”
“And what about Mindonsiphan? Is it not true that you've been treated with a great magical medicine that can bring us down to our knees?”
“Is that why you're afraid?” We've never threatened them using our abilities, our power, or our strength. “Isaura was treated with it, too, so were her test subjects. You can't ignore the world around you is changing.”
Douglas sighed, glancing at the other members of the room. “Duly noted. We need to speak alone. Please take the three of them out into the waiting chambers. You may remove their handcuffs.”
Janessa and Joshua's hands were unbound by Fabian before we stepped into the hall just outside the room.
“You protected me,” Fabian breathed, surprised I hadn't named him as one of the men who had ordered the assassination on Isaura.
“What good would it do not to?” I asked. I reached over hugging Joshua. No matter what happens, go back to Spade. I'll come find you.
Joshua moved back from my arms, giving me a peculiar look. I pulled him back against my chest giving him a kiss as the doors opened and they called us back in for their verdict. It was hardly a trial. Perhaps because they hadn't wanted the entire country to know what Isaura had been up to.
“Joshua and Janessa we hereby order you to leave the town of Torv and The Republic of Cabal at once. You are forever banished from stepping foot on the soil of The Republic of Cabal for your crimes against the government: espionage, treason, and assassinating a government official.”
Joshua shook his head in disgust. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. I could see how he was feeling just by the look in his eyes. Go home, please. I told him again.
“Olivia you are hereby sentenced to life in prison. You are forever banished from The Republic of Cabal after your life and you should be buried far from our soils for your crimes.”
“Wait!” I held up a hand.
“You don't get a say in this.” The eldest gentleman, bald and in his upper eighties stared me down.
“I accept my sentence, I ask that you please consider my request. There is a town north of where Haven used to lie known as Spade.”
“We're aware of the town of Spade,” he answered. “They haven't any representatives in our council. What are you asking?”
I sighed. “They are formally declaring themselves a country from the south-most point of Haven north through Spade.” I would do this for Henry. Joshua would have a home and the women that we'd rescued would be safe in their own country, protected and cared for.
“What if I say no?” he asked amused.
“War will fall on The Republic of Cabal and you thought the Red Plague was bad? I can assure you, The Republic of Cabal will burn like the boils of the Red Plague singed our skin. You so much as consider touching anyone in Spade and I myself will be sure to haunt your town and torment you upon my death.”
A nervous laughter erupted in the hall. The eldest gentleman raised his hands to silence them. “That's enough. Your husband Joshua and friend Janessa can have Spade. Frankly, I don't care. They so much as set foot in Cabal–any one of your people–and I will personally see to it that they're executed for trespassing.”
Joshua's eyes narrowed. “Touché.”
“Now get the girl out of here!” He waved his arm at me and Fabian led me down to the prison.
I didn't get to say goodbye to Joshua. He'd been escorted out with Janessa and I'd been taken down to a prison cell.
“I'm sorry.” Fabian stared at me sadly. “I hadn't meant for any of this to happen. Well, not like it had,” he confessed.
I sat on the cot, my feet at the edges of the dirt floor. “I'm not afraid,” I said. “I just hope you won't get into any trouble for this.” Fabian frowned. “It'd be best if you sent the eldest down here first to have a word with me. Someone who can verify you locked me up.”
“You're not planning on escaping, are you?” Fabian asked. That's when it dawned on him, like a switch had been flicked. “It's why you wanted Spade to be its own territory. So that they couldn't come for you, arrest you again.”
“Precisely.” I grinned, waving him off. “Send your eldest council member to fetch me food or a blanket. Something that he can see I'm here and locked up.”
Fabian eyed me skeptically. “I can't let you go. You do know that, right?” He looked almost apologetic though I supposed it was because he'd gotten me into this mess. Truth was he was probably glad for it. He was now the commanding officer and had control over the medical and science facilities of The Republic of Cabal. I just hoped he'd be honorable in how he handled things. At least for now, the women in Spade were safe and could have children.
“I'm not asking for your help,” I assured him. “Just go fetch the elder.” He headed up the steps. My fingers smoothed over the bracelet, glad they hadn't taken it away from me. Had they I don't know what I'd have done. I sighed, glancing around the cell. It was cool and dark. There were no windows. Genesis' prison had been a remarkable step up compared to Torv.
Several minutes passed before the elder appeared carrying a plastic bottle of water. “You had to send for me? Care to enlighten me as to why?” He asked. “I won't be back down again,” he told me. “Though I will tell you one thing.” He laughed. “You did take a huge problem off my shoulders. Isaura was out of control and needed to be stopped.”
“So you should have given me a medal, not thrown me in prison.” I took the water from his hands and had a sip.
“If it were up to me…” his voice trailed off. “Alas, it's not.” I sipped the water, his fascination almost frightening. “We had to make an example of what you've done, Olivia. We can't allow high levels of our society to be assassinated. You understand why you're here, don't you? I do promise you that even though you're in prison you will be fed and well cared for. We have no intention of torturing you or killing you any sooner. Consider it our thank you gift.”
“I should be delighted,” I muttered having another sip before closing the bottle and putting it down on the cot beside me. “I do have one other request.” I paused thinking it over. “Have Joshua and Janessa left al
ready?”
The eldest responded, “Hours ago. Sorry you couldn't say goodbye. If that was your request,” he shrugged, “you'll have to think up something else.”
“Leave Spade alone.” My voice held warning, a threatening tone and I needed him to understand if they came after me or attacked Spade I'd do what needed to be done. We'd destroy the city of Torv and The Republic of Cabal if necessary.
“I promise we have no intention of interfering in matters north of Haven. We've never been close with Spade and have no reason to offer trade or befriend them.”
“Very well,” I answered as he retreated for the stairs. I could hear his heavy steps and waited until he was gone before focusing on the bracelet. It would take me back to 2225. It wasn't the first place I wanted to go but I could do it. I could get back to Spade. I just needed to break out of prison.
CHAPTER 25
The moment I shifted through time it had been easier than the last. I'm not sure whether I was getting better at it or it just became something natural with the bracelet secured to my wrist. My eyes took a moment to adjust as a cloud of smoke and haze came down the stairs and enveloped the prison cell.
I cursed beneath my breath, my hands worked at the iron bars trying to get free. I hadn't considered that I would be stuck in 2225 in prison! I opened my lips, prepared to scream out for help when a shadow moved through the smoke. “Hello? Is anyone else down here?” I asked certain I'd seen someone just outside my cell.
I felt the breeze of the body as the smoke swirled around him. “What are you doing in there?” he asked, coming up to the cell door, staring down at me curiously, he was almost a full foot taller than me.
“It's a long story. One I don't think either of us have time for. Is there a fire?” His voice was thick with a foreign accent. One I'd heard only once before in Haven. The man had the same dark skin and brown eyes. He looked familiar but it was impossible. “Can you help me, please?” I begged, my hands gripping the iron metal, relieved it hadn't been hot. The fire wherever it was would be coming for us, that is if the smoke didn't kill us first.