Pearl's Number: The Number Series

by Bethany Atazadeh

  “Okay, let’s go,” Evie said, and Jeremiah immediately opened the door, leading the way. Their little group melted into the crowds. No one looked twice at them, too focused on chattering over what might’ve caused the alarms to recognize the source in their midst.

  Everyone placed their stolen badges face out and up high, as visible as possible, keeping Pearl in the center of their little group to block her lack of ID from view. They flowed out the front revolving doors and down the steps.

  Outside the building, there were at least a dozen more security officers directing the traffic, but also studying those fleeing with narrowed eyes, looking for a perpetrator. One guard’s eyes landed on their little group. He spotted Pearl’s bandage hastily wrapped around her shoulder, leaking blood, which drew his attention to her lack of ID badge and the white hospital gown poking out from underneath the blue scrubs. He nudged his partner, and the men strode toward them across the square, hands reaching for their weapons.

  The others didn’t see the guards coming. Pearl moved on instinct.

  She reached around Jeremiah, pulling the light-blue scrubs off the virus tray, revealing the green liquid vial underneath, picking it up and holding it over her head as if to drop it right then and there. Jeremiah grabbed her wrist, stopping her, but then his eyes found the guards as well.

  They didn’t react immediately, taking in the vial of the green liquid for a moment before their steps slowed in confusion. One halted suddenly, placing a hand on the other’s arm. A string of words Pearl couldn’t make out in the distance, and the two men turned on their heels and bolted.

  Jeremiah still held her wrist, frowning slightly after the guards. “That was risky, but it worked,” he said, bringing her arm down gently. “Let’s put it back now.”

  Pearl blinked, letting him pull her hand back down to the tray, too weak to stop him. But it was time. Noble nodded, and his expression spoke volumes. Do it now. You might never have this chance again. Pearl had experienced more than her fair share of missed chances. She wasn’t about to let this be one of them.

  Evie’s gaze was expectant. She still believed they were bringing the virus back to Eden. Pearl prayed her daughter wouldn’t hate her forever for what she was about to do.

  As Pearl glanced down at the vial in that split-second of indecision, the sun-light reflected off the side of the glass, making her blink away tears. That’s why she was crying. The sun was in her eyes. She couldn’t let herself think about the other implications of what she was about to do. If she did, she’d have to admit her heart was breaking, begging her to make some other choice.

  She looked into Evie’s clear blue eyes one last time, before she let go.

  The glass vial shattered on the ground.

  44

  Evalene

  THE GREEN LIQUID HISSED as it hit the ground and began to evaporate, slowly vanishing into the air until it disappeared completely, leaving behind only tiny shards of glass. Evalene couldn’t stop staring at it.

  What had her mother done?

  Pearl sagged as if drained of energy, now that she’d accomplished what she set out to do.

  The virus was loose in the world.

  Airborne.

  Released in the heart of Archland where thousands of people filled with BioGrades would make it spread like wildfire.

  And they had no idea what the full effects might be, how far it might reach.

  “How could you?” Olive cried, her face pale.

  Jeremiah still held onto Pearl’s wrist as if somehow that might stop the virus from taking to the air. He stared at the ground. But it was too late.

  Noble ducked under Pearl’s arm, breaking Jeremiah’s hold. “Now’s not the time to talk about it,” he snapped to the group. “What’s done is done. We need to get out of here before they put the city on lockdown.” He lifted Pearl in his arms. “Let’s go! Now!”

  They followed him in a shocked haze, headed toward the wall and the exit out of Archland. How had this happened? Evalene glanced at Jeremiah. She’d never seen him look so worried.

  Ahead of them, Pearl bounced in Noble’s arms as he ran, and Evalene frowned as she spotted blood seeping through her mother’s two layers of clothes and dripping onto his shoulder. Why hadn’t her wound stopped bleeding?

  They didn’t have time to stop and check. Evalene had to trust that Sol was right and it was just a minor injury. Panic swirled behind them as the news of what happened spread.

  “If we’re going to make it out of the city, we need to run!” Noble shouted over his shoulder. The group picked up their pace and sprinted for the edge of the city.

  Pod-car sirens screamed so close that Evalene almost tripped, and they ducked down an alley just in time, as the pod-cars roared past where they’d been standing, down the street toward the BioLabs.

  When they reached the wall, Noble set Pearl down to catch his breath. Pearl stared at Evalene, trying to catch her gaze, but Evalene couldn’t. Not right now.

  Olive moved to hack the wall again, frowning in concentration as she plugged in the tiny flash-drive and began typing faster than Evalene had ever seen her do before.

  The moment it slid open, Noble picked Pearl up and ran through. Jeremiah and Evalene followed, while Sol pulled Olive away from the computer, where she stood trying to figure out how to close the gate behind them. “Leave it!” He pushed her toward the gate, and she obeyed, running after them with Sol on her heels.

  Just then an alarm rose from somewhere deep in Archland’s interior, rolling out across the city so quickly that it was biting Evalene’s ear drums within seconds. She covered her ears and screamed as the wall reacted, whooshing closed so fast it almost clipped the back of Sol’s head. It slammed shut with violent force, hard enough to crush anyone in its way, and Sol nearly fell to the ground at the sudden rush of air behind him.

  Covering their ears, the group turned and ran. Despite carrying Pearl, Noble kept up without a problem.

  Behind them a low rumble started underneath the screeching of the alarm, growing to a roar. Evalene glanced back over her shoulder to find the wall transforming into attack mode. Flames licked across the entire surface, so intense they burned the woods around them, and guns unfolded from hidden compartments all along the wall, turning to point out at the forest.

  She burst forward, passing Noble, tugging at his arm to point at the weapons, panicking. “Hurry!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  45

  Evalene

  SHE RAN HARDER THAN she had in her entire life. The guns in the wall began shooting. They didn’t seem to pick any targets, but Evalene felt a bullet whizz by her head so close it nicked the tip of her ear. They ran all out, ducking behind trees the moment they reached the woods, using the forest as cover.

  Olive yelped and fell to the ground. Blood stained her pant leg near her thigh and she screamed at the sight, clutching her leg in agony.

  “Don’t stop!” Evalene yelled, racing back to her side to help, but Olive couldn’t stand on her own. Sol arrived a split second later, and together they forced Olive to get up, leaning heavily on them.

  “Just hold on,” Sol said to her, as he wrapped his arm around her waist, looking over at Evalene. “Let’s go!” She lurched forward with him, and they carried Olive between them. Olive hopped on one foot, trying to help, but they ended up mostly carrying her until they were out of range.

  Out of breath, the three of them paused in the trees, setting Olive on the ground to take a look at the damage. “I’m not going to make it,” Olive cried at the enormous amount of blood.

  Evalene’s eyes grew wide as Sol pulled out his knife and began to cut away part of the pant leg. When neither of them answered right away, Olive moaned, grabbing one of Sol’s hands. “When you said you loved me back in the desert, I should’ve said it back! But I wasn’t sure that I did, and maybe I didn’t yet, but I really, really like you a lot now and wish we had more time—”

  Sol gently pulled his hand out
of her grasp, drawing the pant leg back as she spoke, exposing the wound, and Olive promptly fainted. Catching her, Sol gently lowered her head to the ground, before looking up at Evalene. “Can you toss me your extra shirt?” he asked.

  Evalene yanked the Archland dress overhead, happy to be rid of the layer, handing it to Sol. He ripped off a long strip. Wrapping it around Olive’s leg like a noose, he tightened it before tying a knot. Using the remaining fabric, he hurried to wipe away the blood while Olive was still unconscious. As they got a good look at Olive’s leg, Evalene realized there wasn’t even a bullet hole, only a long, deep cut.

  With a heavy sigh of relief, Sol moved to bandage up the leg. As he did, he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “What’s all this about the desert?” he asked Evalene, not quite meeting her eyes.

  “You, um… kind of told her you loved her,” Evalene answered, biting her lip.

  Olive’s eyes fluttered and she sat up with a yell, face scrunching up in pain. “How long do I have?” she wailed, tears welling up in her eyes. Evalene took her hand and Olive held onto it tightly with both of hers, squeezing painfully.

  “You’re not dying,” Sol said as he created a lumpy knot in the fabric, securing it to Olive’s leg. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Olive said, as if she didn’t believe him. Her grip loosened, but she didn’t let go of Evalene’s hand.

  “Very,” he reassured her, awkwardly patting her shoulder.

  “Oh…” she blinked once and flushed bright red. “About what I said… you see, I, well…”

  Sol tightened her bandages, even though they weren’t loose.

  Evalene felt like an eavesdropper. Might as well help them out a little. “He still likes you, Olive. Don’t worry.”

  “Really?” Olive asked. “You do?” Her eyes lit up hopefully.

  “No,” Sol said. His hands stilled and he looked up at Olive. “I don’t like you.” Olive’s entire demeanor fell, and Evalene was about to kick him, when he added, “I’m in love with you.”

  “Oh,” Olive said, gripping Evalene’s hand even tighter now. Evalene felt a slow smile spread across her face at the admission and Olive’s stunned reaction.

  Jeremiah crashed through the underbrush, almost trampling them, a crazed look in his eyes. “What happened? Olive, are you okay? I thought we’d lost you! Where did you get hit?”

  At that same moment, the wall fell eerily silent.

  Evalene stood, pulling her hand free, feeling icy fear return. “We need to keep going!”

  Sol picked Olive up, cradling her carefully so he didn’t jostle her leg. “I’ll follow you.” Together they jogged through the woods alongside the road, trying to stay out of sight, until they reached the bend in the road where they’d left the bus.

  As they ran, Olive said between grunts of pain, “I um, just need a little time to think, you know…”

  “I understand,” Sol said between breaths, weaving around the trees.

  “But I like you a lot—”

  “Olive, let him focus,” Evalene yelled. “You can talk about it later!”

  “Right! Okay,” Olive agreed, as Sol almost tripped.

  Hurdling through the trees and foliage, they found the bus right where they’d left it. Noble was lifting Pearl inside the bus, and Evalene climbed up after her to pull Olive in next, while the men ripped off the tree branches they’d used for camouflage. Olive winced in pain, but dragged herself across the floor to lean against the kitchen cabinets next to Pearl.

  As Sol leapt into the bus, moving to the driver’s seat, Pearl sank toward the floor as if even sitting was too difficult. Evalene caught her just in time to help her lie down. She didn’t know what to say to her mom, but she couldn’t ignore her pain either. Olive struggled to pull off her Archland disguise layer, folding the stolen dress into a soft pile and handing it to Evalene, who gently placed it under her mother’s head as a pillow.

  Noble and Jeremiah climbed in, and Noble raced to Pearl’s side, dropping down next to Evalene. Jeremiah slammed the bus’s side door shut, yelling to Sol, “Go!”

  The engine rolled over as Sol obeyed, backing up until they reached the road and pulled out onto the highway.

  “Just get as far away from here as possible,” Noble told him as he knelt over Pearl to take her hand in his. “If the virus works like we expect, they’ll be too overwhelmed to come after us!” And to Pearl, he squeezed her hand, clasping it in both his own and bringing it up to his lips to kiss it. “It’ll work,” he encouraged her.

  And Pearl smiled. “It did work,” she told him. Evalene frowned. Her mother sounded very certain.

  “Why is she still bleeding?” Evalene asked Noble.

  Noble pulled away the clothing by her shoulder, frowning as well. “It should’ve stopped by now,” he muttered. Placing the fabric back over the wound, he directed Evalene to put her hands over it. “Keep pressure on it,” he said, standing. “I’ll look for something to bandage it up properly.”

  Pearl ignored their concern, reaching out to take Evalene’s free hand in her own with an elated smile. “Let me look at you,” she said beaming up at her. “My beautiful daughter. I asked God to let me see you one last time, but I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

  Evalene swallowed, glancing at Jeremiah where he knelt beside her. She didn’t know what to focus on first. Her mother spoke of talking to God directly, like one of the true believers back home. Until she’d met Jeremiah, she’d been taught that this was blasphemy—only priests could talk to God.

  Yet Pearl talked as if she prayed as well. Evalene’s heart swelled in excitement. “I prayed I would find you too, mom,” she whispered. But confusion tampered her joy as she registered her mother’s other words. “What do you mean one last time?”

  Pearl’s beatific smile didn’t fade. “Oh, thank you Jesus,” she said, closing her eyes in joy, “my baby has found the Lord. Now I can die happy.”

  “Die?” Evalene’s voice shook, and she had to remind herself to keep pressure on the wound. “What are you talking about? You’re not dying. It’s just a little scratch on your shoulder. It won’t kill you.”

  “Baby,” Pearl’s eyes opened and she ignored Evalene’s words as if she hadn’t even heard them. “I love you so much.” She reached up to cup Evalene’s cheek. “I want you to know that. No matter what happens, that will never change.”

  “Mom, you’re scaring me,” Evalene felt tears come to her eyes, even though she didn’t know why. Her mother was fine. Maybe the surgery had side effects that were causing some delusion.

  But Pearl just shook her head, closing her eyes again.

  “Mom,” Evalene lost control, forgetting to hold the wound, shaking her mother. Dread filled her. “Mom, what’s wrong? What did you do?”

  Because suddenly, she knew.

  Her mother had been in a recovery room.

  Recovering from surgery.

  “No…” the word came out on a sob. Pearl’s eyes fluttered weakly. Evalene returned her hand to the wound, applying pressure again. “No, please,” she begged her mother as tears flowed down her face. “I just found you. You can’t die now.”

  She ran her hands along her mother’s skin, checking her arms and legs for marks of surgery, stitches, something. Noble dropped his search for bandages and came back to Pearl’s side as understanding dawned on him and the others.

  Gazing down into Pearl’s eyes, Noble just whispered, “Where?”

  Pearl pulled her hand out of his briefly to reach up to her collar. The glow from that strange barcode on her neck had dimmed. Pearl’s hand brushed past it, tugging the neckline of her hospital gown and scrubs down to reveal what had been hiding there all along, just out of sight.

  Rough stitches stood out like spiders on her chest. A strange glow lit up underneath her skin where she tapped it below her collarbone. “The newest tech,” she whispered, exhausted, letting her eyes fall shut and allowing Noble to take her hand again. “It’s meant
to run the entire body.” She smiled weakly, peacefully, as if falling asleep, eyes closed. “I think it might’ve worked.”

  But it was a BioGrade.

  Designed to keep her body functioning.

  And it was clearly failing.

  Noble clasped both her hands in his, bringing his head down until it rested against her chest. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a BioGrade?” he said softly. And then he cursed. His next words came out in an anguished yell. “I never would have insisted on this path if I’d known the virus would hurt you!”

  Pearl’s eyes blinked open. As a tear leaked out of her eye, she stared up at Noble. “That’s why I didn’t tell you,” she said simply.

  Evalene’s fists clenched as she pictured her mother back in the square in front of the Bio Lab, dropping the green vial. The expression on her face in that moment returned to her: solemn, sad, as if making an impossible choice. She understood now.

  But she also didn’t.

  “Why would you do this?” she yelled, pulling away from her mother. Her anger threatened to overwhelm her, but when she spoke her voice cracked. “You’re leaving me again. Just like you did last time.” Her vision blurred.

  “No baby, no,” Pearl pleaded with her, reaching out a weak hand to take Evalene’s again. “I’ve never, ever wanted to leave you.” Evalene stared at the floor, unable to look at her, but Pearl squeezed her hand and then reached up to touch Evalene’s chin and pull it toward her until Evalene finally met her eyes. “I swear to you: I’ve never wanted to leave you, baby girl. I love you more than anything in this world. This is just something I had to do.”

  “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t leave,” Evalene said through tears. But she placed her hand over her mother’s where it rested on her cheek, leaning into it, wracked with sobs.

  “I’m not leaving forever, sweetheart,” Pearl’s voice was fading, and her hand slipped lower, held to Evalene’s cheek now only by Evalene. “I know where I’m going when I die, and I’ll be seeing you in heaven before you know it.”

  “No, please…” Evalene wept. Jeremiah drew closer and held her with an arm around her shoulder as she leaned into him.