“I, ummm...just had some nausea and I’m worried about how that will affect the offspring.”
“Okay. Well, try not to worry too much.”
I gave him a small tight-lipped smile. He turned around to where Eden had surgical gloves extended out toward him. She looked stoically past him, focusing her attention on putting gloves on him. I crept off the table and slid up silently behind him. He turned as I pulled out the hypodermic needle and I lunged towards him. Eden grabbed him around the waist as he fought both of us. I slammed the needle sharply in the side of his neck pushing down with all my might. Dr. Weler struggled for a few more minutes before becoming very still, blinking up at us.
Stepping over him, Eden rapped twice at the door with her slender hands. Mason slipped in silently. “You okay?” he asked. I walked to my clothes to get dressed.
“No. You need to stay in your robe, Ariet,” Eden instructed quickly.
Picking up Dr. Weler under both arms, Mason dragged him onto a chair. Kneeling in front of the Healer, he whispered in a calm but strong voice. “Dr. Weler, there has been a small complication following Ariet’s testing. You have authorized for her to be kept in a private medical wing in order to monitor the fetus and ensure her wellbeing. Ariet will be kept there for a few hours. You will personally take her there with Eden. Do you understand?”
Dr. Weler nodded firmly. “Yes, Mr. Black.”
Eden obtained a roller medical bed with a glass cover over it resembling a cocoon. “Ariet, you need to lie down in there and pretend to be asleep. No matter what happens, do not open your eyes until I tell you to.”
I climbed in the cocoon-like bed and wrapped myself up warmly, the chill of the situation starting to affect me. Dr. Weler ushered me through a set of double doors at the edge of the examining room, with Eden directing the bed at my head. There was a small opening on each side of the cocoon lid, where Mason had slipped one hand through and was rubbing circular motions on my palm as we moved. There were a few minutes of silence before I felt us slow slightly and could hear Dr. Weler instruct the Carer on duty to allow us access to the medical recovery room. Mason squeezed my hand sharply. The bed came to a full stop and I heard the beeping of machines around me. “Stay here for a few moments, Ariet,” he whispered. “I will be back”.
“Thank you for your help, Dr. Weler. You will check on Ariet in three hours. No one is to disturb her until then, do you understand?”
“Of course, Mr. Black.”
A sharp gust of cold air blew over me. I opened my eyes to find Mason smiling down at me. “Right, Ariet,” he said softly. Eden was pacing nervously in front of a sealed metal door. “The next part is going to be tricky. There is a medical disposal tunnel that only one person can enter at a time. I’ll go first and then you will follow. Eden will stay up here to keep watch. Thor will meet us at the exit of the tunnel. Okay?” He smiled warmly but it didn’t reach his eyes. They were laced with fear and worry.
Crawling gingerly into the small opening after Mason, I had scooted around carefully until my bottom planted firmly on the cold, hard metal. Slowly I shuffled downward, feet first as instructed. After what seemed like forever, I saw a small opening ahead of me. “Mason,” I whispered. “Are you there?”
A light shone up into the tunnel. “Yes, I can see your feet, keep going. There is going to be a sharp drop at the end. Thor will catch you.”
I had no idea where I was, and having twisted and turned in the dark access way, the only thing I knew was that we had descended far downwards. All of a sudden I felt the tunnel give out from under me and I had a quick sensation of falling until landing safely in Thor’s arms. He nodded curtly as he lowered me to the ground. I scanned the room in silence.
“Did your part go okay, Thor?” Mason asked. “The engineers?”
“Without a Hitch, Mas,” he replied.
“Thank you for this. I know what a risk both you and Jules are taking.”
“Well, we have nothing else to live for,” he smirked sourly.
Mason quickly yanked me behind a small alcove in the wall with Thor following suit. He quietly held a finger to his lips. Shaking silently in position, I heard footsteps coming from the right of us. Two men, who looked as though they were Guardians, shined beams across the platform in front of us. Thor nodded silently. This was expected. We waited for a few more minutes until we were certain they had passed. Mason led me out slowly, his arm protectively around my waist.
We crept along the wall, staying in the shadows with Thor leading the way. After a few feet, we came to a heavy grate with a valve attached. Thor opened it with ease. Gesturing for us to kneel, we crawled for a few feet until the roof reached high enough so we could stand. The small service way ended on an old train platform. The whole area was dark, except for a small light beam held by both Thor and Mason. On the tracks was a large oval shaped craft. It couldn’t have fit more than two people in it. Turning expectantly to Mason, I held out my hand. He looked at it for a few seconds then enveloped me in his arms. Thor stood back as if to give us a moment of privacy and carried our supplies to the craft. Mason held my arms firmly, locking eyes with me. “I’m not coming with you, Ariet.”
Angry tears stung my eyes. “You are leaving me to fend for myself and this child out there?”
“No. Thor is going with you. We need his strength and agility to keep you safe. Jules has also been teaching him how to be a Carer and what is needed to keep the baby safe and to bring it to term. He has also packed a bag of medical supplies. You will have to source more rations within a few days of exiting the tunnel.”
“You have to come, Mason,” I begged. “What about the baby, your baby?”
“I’ve got to stay here, Ariet. I need to stop this from happening to more families. I’m going to stop Evelyn once and for all.” He turned to Thor, “Take care of her. And yourself, my friend.” They roughly hugged each other, emotions rising. Mason pushed back. “It’s time to go.”
I felt torn between the two of them. This stranger, who was to protect me yet our dislike for each other mutually evident; and Mason, who I had grown to care deeply about, who was the father of my offspring.
Thor grabbed my wrist tightly, pulling me towards the craft. “We have to go. The Guardians we saw just now will be back, they do their rounds every fifteen minutes. We need to give Mason time to close the tunnel and get back up to the rehabilitation room.”
“But they’ll kill him!” I cried, my voice bordering on sheer hysteria.
“Mason can take care of himself, trust me.” Thor said strongly.
I allowed myself to be led into the craft, all the while never taking my eyes off Mason. He held the light beam over a panel of buttons aligned next to the craft on the platform. On his command, the lid of the craft slid back. Thor gently lifted me and tucked me safely inside, clipping a harness over me. “Put this on, Ariet.” He held out a dirty looking helmet. Ignoring him, I was still staring at Mason, willing him to switch with Thor, when he rammed the helmet over my head. He jumped into the seat in front of me wearing his own helmet. Giving Mason the thumbs-up, he faced the front. I had my hands pinned to the glass lid, sobbing frantically now, searching for a way out. Mason waved slowly as he pushed the last command button. The craft came to life and, with a final wave, we shot into the darkness.
I had this uneasy feeling that my nightmare had only just begun. Too stiff and tired from crying, I couldn’t move. The craft traveled in darkness for a few hours, eventually slowing to a stop. Thor opened the lid and exited quickly. He gestured frantically for me to get out. I felt nothing but fear and bewilderment. Giving up on my refusal to budge, he disappeared behind me and yanked me out of the pod.
“We have to hurry, Ariet,” he reprimanded me sharply. “The Creators will be looking for us now.”
Quietly, we followed the wall, with the light beam gently illuminating the way, until a heavy metal ladder appeared before us. Thor indicated for me to stand still and pushed me flat up agains
t the wall. He climbed the ladder two rungs at a time and disappeared out of sight. I could hear his movement above me, heavy grunting sounds and clangs of metal. All of a sudden there was light, blinding me from above. Thor slid down the ladder jumping down to a halt in front of me. “I’ve opened the hatch. You need to climb up, be careful. It’s damp and the rungs are slippery. I’ll be right behind you.” Gingerly, I climbed the ladder. Reaching the opening, I froze, not sure of what dangers awaited us in this world.
Thor nudged me from below. “Hurry, Ariet. I hear something in the distance below us.”
Panic swept through me, and I scrambled through the opening, Thor right behind me, almost landing on top of me. With some effort he swung the hatch closed and shoved a thick metal object he removed from his back pack through the handle opening.
“They must know we are missing by now, Ariet, and are tracking us. We need to get as far away from the hatch as possible.” He grabbed my arm and we ran across what seemed to be a wide pasture of some kind. The golden grass was long enough to cover us midway so we could barely be seen if we ran in a crouch of sorts. Thor guided us to the edge of a wooded area ahead. It looked cold and dark but would provide the necessary shelter to hide us temporarily. Reaching the edge of the forest, he knelt down and gestured for me to do the same.
He removed a square object from his pocket and pushed a yellow button. A loud crunch sounded from the direction we had come in. We rose slowly to see a tuft of smoke billowing from the hatch in the centre of the pasture.
“What was that?”
“I’ve just melted the metal of the hatch closed. It will buy us some time.” He stood up fully and walked slowly into the forest. Although it was damp and dark, it was not at all cold. Warm musty air matted my hair and skin. “We need to get as far into the woodland as possible and find shelter for tonight. It will be dark soon.” I nodded in silence, following his every footstep, stepping in the exact spot he stepped. Fearful that we had blocked Mason’s only way of escape if he managed to survive the fallback.
My life and that of my unborn son were completely in his hands. I wasn’t sure which frightened me more. The fact that we were in the middle of nowhere, and there were people looking to terminate us, or that I was in the middle of nowhere with someone that I distrusted and couldn’t frankly stand. We pushed on through the forest silently, neither of us speaking. The heat was starting to take control, and I needed to rest for the baby’s sake.
We had been walking for what felt like hours, and I was certain the hatch was far behind us. Reaching near exhaustion, I lost my footing on a rock and stumbled, crashing into Thor. With his instincts super in tune, he turned to catch me before I fell to the ground. Panting heavily and rubbing my stomach, I motioned for water. He pulled out a small metal flask. “That’s it, that’s all we’ve got?” I asked, panic stricken at the sight of the tiny flask.
“Just drink it. Three small sips at the most.” Ignoring him, I gulped back the liquid; it stung my throat as I swallowed. He grabbed the flask from me. “Don’t you ever listen?” he growled.
“That wasn’t water,” I gagged.
“No, it was not. It’s a special metabolite drink for you and the baby. You only need a few sips to replenish what nutrients you may have used up in the day. There is enough to last you a few weeks.” Although the acrid taste in my mouth made me want to throw up, I started to feel better almost immediately, recharged somehow.
“I need to rest, Thor, I can’t go much further.”
“We have one more hour before the sun starts to settle, Ariet. We need to keep going.” He turned and carried on walking. Unlike Mason, he had definitely not grasped the concept of manners or politeness. Thinking of Mason bought sadness to me. I hoped he had made it back safely and was alive. He had promised to get word to my family before the Guardians got hold of them. Thor was almost out of sight now. Sighing, I heaved myself up and trudged forward slowly. Sticks and branches had scraped my arms, my sweat dripping into the wounds, burning them.
After a while, Thor slowed down and looked around him. “I think we will sleep here tonight. We need to be up at sunrise to get us further away from the hatch.”
I sat down on the large boulder closest to me. Thor pulled out the second backpack he was carrying. Using a stick, he moved dried leaves and moss into a circular area under a tree. He pulled out tightly rolled fabric. Loosening the tie, it expanded into a large spongy sheet. “Rest,” he said softly. Covering me with a blanket of some sort, he scratched further into the backpack and pulled out a large clear flask with water. I gulped it down greedily. He took it after me and sipped slowly. I immediately felt ashamed and looked away.
“We need to find water tomorrow. We have enough supply for two days. With this heat, maybe even less.” He handed me a small foil bundle, “Here is your ration pack.” I was amazed at what had been crammed into such a tiny bundle. There were two portions of dried fruit, bread and cheese, and what looked to be a grain or pulse of some kind. I munched through the supplies hungrily. My eyes blinked sleepily and, creeping down further into the blanket, I drifted off without saying anything to Thor.
Chapter 13
It was barely light when I heard the rustling of leaves next to me. The night had been cool, and I was relieved to find I felt energized and rested. Looking around for Thor, I noticed him staring at something on a branch above him. Craning my head further, I saw the most beautiful bird. It was blue and yellow with a striking red beak, its body and tail the length of my arm. I had never seen anything like it. Studying Thor’s face, I saw he felt the same amazement, and for the first time ever, he was smiling. I left him like that for a minute or two more before I stirred. He turned instantly when I moved. Nodding, he walked towards me. “What is that bird? It’s amazing,” I asked.
“You saw it too, huh? I’m not sure, but I know that they don’t have anything of this kind in the New World. It must have been one that got away during the Great Illness.” Changing the subject sharply, “We need to keep moving. There are supplements next to you,” I looked down to see that I was still clinging greedily to my ration pack. Having replenished further, I helped him pack up the supplies.
He stirred the mossy mattress he had made for me. “Covering our tracks,” he stated, as if reading my mind. It was uncanny how Mason and he had the same ability. We started to track to the left, going deeper into the woodland.
“What is this place?” I asked from behind. Not feeling so shell-shocked, I had taken in my surroundings and was curious yet still fearful of where we were.
“All I know is this is what must be left of the Old World. When the Great Illness wiped out most of the world’s population, the Creators chose the most profitable land that they could find.”
“Profitable?” I interrupted him.
“Yes, the most viable source of agriculture, soil, water, weather and such. They enclosed what they thought was the most resourceful area they could find and named that the New World. Everything on the outside was left as it was. We have no idea what is out here, Ariet, so you need to be alert at all times.”
We trudged on for a few more hours, alone with our thoughts, the silence oddly comforting. I needed to process this. We stopped for several minutes only once to replenish. While Thor re-laced his boots, I explored the alcove of the forest we were in. A little pathway off to the right caught my attention. I walked slowly forward. Standing on what felt like a loose rock, I stumbled and leant onto a tree in support. Within seconds Thor was at my side. Fear had taken my voice away.
Pointing to where I had stood, a large white bone had been dislodged in the ground. Thor bent down, sweeping the dirt off in a circular motion, he uncovered more and more. I stood frozen in place. “It’s a human skeleton. Looks like parts have been removed, maybe by wild animals, but what’s left here is definitely human. We need to move.” Without saying another word, he grasped my arm roughly and pulled in a direction opposite to the skeleton.
The humid ai
r now started to feel as though it were strangling me. Thor moved quickly through the forest. With night fall approaching us, we chose to shelter in between some tall trees with large roots.
Whilst snacking on a new ration pack, I asked tentatively, “Thor, that skeleton, are you sure it was human?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think it was from the Great Illness?”
“No. It was too close to the ground’s surface. It would have been covered and more eroded if that human had died centuries ago. This is more recent.”
“How recent?” my voice now barely a whisper.
“That I can’t say, but I’m sure that skeleton is of this generation. We need to rest now.” Turning his back to me, he prepared an area for us to sleep and lay down. Looking up at the trees above, I could just make out the stars. Wondering if Mason was okay, I let exhaustion take over and fell into darkness.
Waking with a start, Thor clasped his hand over my mouth. Dragging me slowly backwards, he crept further into the roots of the trees. Alarmed, I moved with him under the root and crouched in hiding. Thor leant forward silently, slowly pulling our supplies in. I raised my eyebrows in alarm. He gestured behind him, motioning for me to listen. And that’s when I heard it. Sticks breaking and leaves crunching, something coming quickly towards us.
“Animal?” I mouthed to Thor.
He shrugged, his body poised to fight, the knife in his hand ready to strike. The sounds became continuous and louder as if all around us.
“It looks as if someone has come through here,” a male voice stated. Strangers! I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to press myself as far back into the root as I could.
Another voice spoke, gruff and deep, “Looks like it was two of them. Tracks end here. Scan the tree tops, they couldn’t have gone far.”
Beads of sweat glazed Thor’s brow, and for the first time I could see worry sweep his face. We sat still in our hiding place for the longest time, listening to the rustling of leaves get further away from us, disappearing into the distance. We crouched there for a while longer until we could hear nothing but birds chirping around us. Thor crept out slowly, motioning for me to follow. We headed out in a direction opposite to the trackers.
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