by H. J. Lawson
Ah... dear brother. I thought the Grounders would have killed you by now....They cannot do even a simple job. They truly are the most worthless people on the planet. Father is not going to be happy you are alive. It's going to be fun hunting you, Xander's mind says.
Dax quickly slides his mask back down and waves his hand toward the two guards. They instantly stand at Xander's side.
Xander does not move, surrendering to them for now.
You are their leader... haha, now this is going to be fun... little brother comes back for revenge.
“Open the door,” Dax orders Xander’s wife. She has a level one pass, which is the key to all of the doors in Purenet.
She stands motionless.
“Just do it. They will not get out of here alive.” Xander makes a hand signal, ensuring her compliance.
The guards push them both over to the door. “You'd better watch what you are touching,” Xander orders.
Please take me. I need medicine for my mother; she is dying, my mind asks Dax.
Xander stops.
Go on, Dax, go get your girl. It will be more fun hunting both of you...
“Shut up!” Dax explodes.
Xander lets out a roar of laughter, and Dax whips his gun across the back of his head. Xander's body jolts forward and the laughter stops.
I will kill your precious girl and her brother and mother because of you. I will make you watch. The whole Sanction will attend, and I will show them all that I am the new Chancellor, Xander's mind explodes with the awful message. My heart feels as if it’s pounding in my mouth.
“Wait there, Hayden” Dax orders to one of the guards..
He is moving toward me; do I want to go with him? His brother is Xander? And Xander wants to kill my family? Too many questions are flying through my head.
What if Rian doesn't pass the training? Then I have to be a Host for the Xander child, and his evil spawn will be growing inside me. I think it would be better to be punished than to let my mother die. The questions fly through my head at an alarming speed, making me dizzy.
The space begins to close in on me as the boys step backward, protecting us. Lowell's hand tightens around mine. “I don't mean her any harm,” Dax says to reassure Lowell, and I believe him.
My hand slips free from Lowell's and he quickly turns around to face me.
I stand on my tiptoes and place my lips near his ear. “I want to go with him, for my mother,” I whisper so that only he can hear.
He shakes his head in defiance. I slowly nod up and down.
“I thought you wanted Xander and medicine. Leave the poor girl alone!” Madam Enid yells, taking us all by surprise.
I take the chance and squeeze through the wall of bodies. I cannot believe I'm going to do this.
Take my arm like you are forcing me, my mind pleads to Dax.
What?
Do it!
Dax obeys my order. They have to believe he's taking me against my will, so they'll let me back into the Cueva… I hope they will.
“Get your hands off her!” Lowell shouts, as he reaches for Dax's gun.
Dax is quicker than Lowell and moves out of the way, dragging me with him.
“She is coming with us.” Dax holds the gun out toward Lowell, and the blue light on his gun glows angrily. It’s fully charged.
Lowell steps toward Dax's gun. I raise my hand to Lowell and rest it on his chest. “Lowell, don't,” I plead.
“Stay here if you don't want to get hurt,” Dax orders.
Don't hurt him, I beg.
Chapter Nine
With that split-second decision, have I changed my life forever?
I turn to watch the metal doors slide shut. Lowell steps toward the doors, but I shake my head, making him stop in his tracks. Lowell places his two fingers onto his lips then the back of his hand. My heart flutters.
Welcome to the party. Xander's voice hammers inside my head as we enter the room. The doors swoosh as they slide shut, closing off the only life I know. The realization of what I’ve done hits like a speeding shuttle, crushing my lungs, stealing my air from me.
Changed your mind, have you? Xander mocks.
Shut up! You don't scare me! I snap back at him.
He laughs at me.
“Over here,” Dax commands, and I walk along the shiny white floor that shimmers from the overhead light, making it even brighter than the sun room I just left. “Don't talk to him, don't let him in your head,” he whispers.
Dax smiles toward Xander in a playful way and Xander smiles back. This is weird, are they playing some horrible trick on me?
“Xander, you know what I'm going to make you do next, don't you?” Dax says.
“Little brother, you are so predictable,” Xander replies, shaking his head. “You know Father and I will hunt you down. And kill you all, even your sweet little girl, after she has served her purpose.”
This is a family argument; why are they bringing me into it?
“Unless I kill you first,” Dax says, no longer joking, as he points his gun toward Xander's face. He points to a white, glossy lower cupboard in one corner of the room.
Xander rolls his eyes. “Big man, now you have a gun. I didn’t need a gun to get you in here when you were a kid. Remember how you would cry to get out? Are you still scared of the dark?” Xander smiles.
“Get them in,” Dax snaps to the guard, he called Hadyen.
Xander climbs into the cupboard before Hayden can push him in.
His wife doesn’t climb in quickly enough, and Hayden pushes her in. Her screams bounce off the walls.
“Control your wife!” Dax orders, as the doors quickly shut on them, blocking out her cries for help.
He bends down to a lower cupboard and pulls out some bags.
I will hunt you down for this; father will not be able to protect you this time, Xander's mind says sharply.
Block him, Dax orders.
My block goes up; I cannot bear to listen to him anymore.
The strain on Dax's face fades. “What medicine do you need?” Dax asks.
“Something to treat blood cancer,” I reply.
Dax grabs a pile of flat, two-by-two-inch vacuum pouches and a square white device about the size of my hand. “You will need these.” He shoves them into a bag and passes it to me. I realize that I’m holding my mother’s life in my hand. The warmth of hope fills me—I will finally be able to give my mother her life back.
“Grab what you can from that shelf.” I do as requested.
I go to reach for the last of the flat vacuum pouches. Hayden reaches for the medicine at the same time. Our hands brush together. I swiftly move away, and so does he. “Sorry, after you.” He lifts his face shield to reveal piercing blue eyes, instantly drawing me into them.
Beep... beep... My body jumps as piercing alarms ring out from the other room where my friends are.
“Frigging Outsiders, some of them are worse than the Purenet. I knew we should've tied them up. We have a few minutes to get out of here,” Dax says. There is no doubt in my mind that Madam Uri tripped the alarm. I bet she forced Madam Enid to open the door.
“We need to leave now. You will have to come with us.” Dax says frowning, as though he hasn't worked the next part out yet.
Neither have I, what did I think would happen once I got the medicine? That I could walk back to the shuttle with my friends, and get the healer to make my mother better? How could I have been so naive?
Dax rummages through his pocket and quickly pulls out pieces of... oh my goodness. I'm going to be sick; it's a piece of skin.
I back away from Dax and he smiles, waving the flap of skin up and down.
“What kind of animals are you?” I ask.
“Pig,” Dax says, smiling, as he walks toward another door.
“It's pig's skin.” Hayden laugh.
Dax throws the piece of pig skin through the air toward me. I step back and the skin lands on the floor.
“Come on, you, pi
ck it up, we need it to get out of here,” Dax says.
“I'm not touching that!” Pigs are animals our ancestors used to eat. They are vile creatures that eat their own feces.
“Pick it up.”
I bend down and prod it with my finger; it's soft like human flesh.
“Science class is over, just pick it up,” Dax has urgency in his voice.
“Well, next time don't frigging throw it at me!” I pick it up with my finger and thumb, with my arm stretched out so it's as far away from me as possible. There is a bar code inked into the skin; even a frigging piece of skin has a higher-level clearance than I do.
I pass it over to Dax. “Where did you get pig skin from?” I ask, as he holds it up to the monitor and the doors slide open. The rays of sunlight hit me. Instantly I move away from the danger.
“You don't need to be scared of the sun, I will show you,” Dax says softly.
He holds out his hand and I take it without hesitation. The palm of his hand is rough, not like Lowell's that's smooth. Will I ever get to hold Lowell’s hand again? The thought weighs me down.
Dax pulls me forward with ease into an empty white corridor. The floor squeezes as we run along it. Square rays of sunlight break through the sky windows. The illumining squares light up all the way down the path.
Neon blue lights glow along the bottom of the hard structure walls with the Sanction's white gloss finish.
My heart jumps into my mouth when I see a guard at the end of the corridor. If we get caught we will be punished, probably with death. A cold chill washes over my body.
Before the guard spots us, Dax pivots and pulls me down another corridor. He navigates us down the maze of corridors smoothly and effortlessly. It's clear he used to play down here when he was younger, but this is not a game.
Dax leads us on a quick walk through the labyrinth of bright white corridors, for running would only draw attention to us.
He places the pig skin over a motion panel. The red light flashes over it and the door slides open. Dax lets out a breath of air, as pills of sweat roll down his face.
Dax and Hayden smile at one another. “Glad the skin skill works,” Dax laughs as he flaps the skin in his hand.
A clean but chemical clinic smell drifts up my nostrils; I'm getting a level-one view of the inner guts of Purenet. There are no sky windows in this hallway, with the sun burning through. Instead there is a clinic atmosphere, with rows of doors and monitors. With no windows to peek through to see what’s happening behind the doors, it's like they are hiding the contents from the world.
“What is this place?” I ask Dax.
“It's my father's private lab,” he says.
“Have you ever been behind the doors?” Curiosity takes over me.
As if the door next to me was listening to my questions, it opens slowly, bringing us to a halt. A man in a white doctor’s jacket stands with the door open, but he's still looking into the room. “Kara, what do you need again?” he asks.
“Two syringes and a bio sandwich, we are going to be working on this subject all day,” a female, who I'm guessing is Kara, replies back to him. I look at Dax for guidance. He lets go of my hand and grips my arm firmly.
The doctor faces us, surprised. “What are you doing down here?” he asks.
Without a pause, Dax answers, “Escorting a prisoner for the Chancellor.”
The doctor furrows his eyebrows. “Through here? Where are you taking her?” He places his hands onto his hips.
Sweat soaks into my hair.
“What are you doing in there?’ Hayden asks. We all peer into the room he exited; a young girl is seated on a medical bed, with her eyes bulging open. She's not looking at us, but past us. Kara is leaning down over the top of the girl’s head. I gasp as Kara’s hand moves away from the girl’s blood-covered scalp. Kara studies the girl’s head for a moment, then moves back in with the scalpel.
“Arh,” I jolt back. The girl's pupils disappear and white replaces them as her eyes roll back in her head. Then they return to a normal position. Her eyes are far from the normal; she's soulless.
Kara glares at us; I can see a painful strain in the girl’s face, yet she's not moving. The doctor closes the door, hiding the secrets with it.
“Nothing for a guard to see,” the doctor replies, standing firmly in front of the door.
Dax pulls me forward, and I follow.
“Where are you taking her?” the doctor asks, and his beady eyes inspect me like I'm his prey, giving me the creeps.
Hayden flicks the doctor’s plastic tag on his jacket. “Nothing for a doctor to know,” he says, as we continue walking away.
“You... you can't do that, I'm going to speak to your supervisor,” the doctor says, as he hurries down the opposite hallway.
“Good job at staying in character,” Dax says to Hayden.
Hayden smiles, “I didn't injure him, did I?”
“True.”
“Was she alive?” I ask, not wanting to know the answer.
Dax nods.
“Why? What are they doing to her?” The need to run back and free her fills my body, but the force of Dax and the other guard drive me forward, away from the girl.
“Tests for endless life, I guess. Something like that. My father has been searching for a cure for death as long as I've known him,” Dax says.
I grip hold of Dax’s arm, pulling him back this time, bringing everyone to an abrupt halt. “We can't leave her! How many others are down here?” I ask, pointing to the rows of doors we just passed.
Dax slumps his shoulders. “Trust me, I want to, but we cannot break the code to get into the rooms. There is more security on them than anywhere else in Purenet. Only my father can access all the rooms.” Dax pauses, “We plan to rescue everyone one day, but we need to help our own people first,” he says, urging me forward once again.
“What is the plan?” I ask Dax as we hurry away from the torture hallway with the weight of guilt hanging around my neck like a chain. “We have to get to the main hub, to the workers' quarters. Then we will climb over the wall,” Dax explains as if he's telling me a playful story.
“How are we getting over the wall?” I ask, puzzled.
“Hush, we are here.” Dax swipes the monitor with the pig skin one more time, and gloss white double doors which are almost double the size of a normal door open, announcing us to the Purenet hub.
Great frigging entrance, only the Chancellor uses these doors!
We freeze for a moment, waiting for what will happen next.
People passing through the hub stop walking and stare at us, but once they realize that we aren't the Chancellor they continue on with their business.
“Phew,” I say.
“It's not over yet. Sorry, kid, this is just the beginning,” the guard next to me explains in a concerned tone.
I can see why. A giant ten-foot screen in the middle of the hub has a picture of me on it. I glance around to find out if the camera is on me and then back at the screen; it's a photo. Panic riddles my body.
“Dax... Dax.”
“Stay calm and do as I tell you.”
I nod in agreement.
“Now.”
With that, our little pack of guards begins to move through the hub with me in the middle, trying to be invisible among the people.
The image of me on the screen disappears... did I really see it?
Another image appears. It's the Head of the Purenet army, standing with his arms folded. This is really happening.
“People of Purenet, we need your help. One of the visitors from Cueva has gotten lost. Please help us find her.”
What's going on? I think, and Dax hears me.
It's a trap; they don't want anyone to panic.
Everyone is hustling past as if nothing happened. But the guards, on the other hand, are quickly moving around.
More guards are appearing with every step we take toward the workers' quarters.
The guards around
me come closer, pressing my body against theirs. The air is being swallowed up by their pressure. I feel dizzy.
“Quickly, they spotted us,” Dax whispers. He has fear in his eyes, but a smug smile on his face.
We all take off running; the force of their bodies pulls me along.
Within seconds we are at the workers' quarters.
Dax places the pig skin over the scanner and the doors open. There is chaos of raised voices behind us as the Chancellor's guards try to get through the people. It will not be long before they reach us.
Chapter Ten
Everyone in the workers' quarters stares at me like I have two heads, as Dax and the others barricade the doors.
“Who's she?” a voice rings out from the small crowd of workers.
“She's with me,” Dax announces, as he stands proudly by my side.
“She's not part of the plan.” A man steps forward. He's dressed as a Purenet, but it's clear he's with Dax.
“She is now!” Hayden yells out. “As Hayden said, she is now,” Dax states, as he walks through the crowd of confused workers on break.
“Reznor is not going to be happy about this,” another voice chirps up.
“When is he ever happy? Let me worry about him, and you work out how to get us out of here,” Dax says to the men. The workers are staring at us with their mouths gaping open.
“I am the Chancellor's son, Dax. I ask for your help, not as his son, but as a man in need. Looking around, I guess most of you were born in the Cueva or your family is from there?”
Many of them nod.
“Xander wants this Cueva girl,” Dax says, looking at me. Everyone's eyes land on me. “I ask that you once again protect a fellow Cueva as your ancestors taught you. Your bond for each other is one of your strongest powers—one that my father fears the most.” Dax rubs his hands together and continues. “This is not an order you have to obey because I gave it to you, but because it is the right thing to do.”
The room falls silent.
“What do you want us to do?” a soft voice asks.
Dax smiles at the young woman in front of us. She is only a few years older than I am; maybe a former Host. “All we ask is that you distract the guards and tell them there's something lodged between the doors—which you are fixing. And the rest of you, please just deny seeing us.”