Aleesha gives me a sideways glance. She’s already finished her portion. She eats so fast, almost inhaling her food, as if someone’s about to take it from her. And she’s so thin. Mum would say she needs feeding up.
My throat constricts as I think of my mother and the final piece of bread turns to cardboard in my mouth. I keep chewing and try to think of something else. You’d have thought missing them would make me want to think of them more. And I do want to think about them … But only when I’m alone. When I don’t have to pretend that the tears in my eyes are from a dry piece of bread catching in my throat.
Footsteps sound on the path outside and all three of us stiffen and look up. A brief knock on the door, then it opens and Bryn steps inside. My shoulders relax, and I look back down at the table.
Who were you expecting it to be?
He walks in, places a backpack on the table and starts pulling out food. Another bag of flour. Brightly wrapped protein bars and chocco. A handful of withered carrots – real carrots from the earth, not a factory. With a final flourish, he pulls out a pack of burgers. Not real meat, obviously, but they’re Steakhaus and they taste pretty much the same.
“Where …?” Abby stares at the food, her expression both awestruck and suspicious.
“I finally got some of the pay I’ve been owed,” Bryn replies. “You really need to charge people for treatment, Abby. You can’t help anyone if you’re half starved.”
Abby turns to fill the kettle. Her hands tremble as she pulls a bottle of water out from under the work surface. We’re nearly out. I should offer to go to the pump to refill them.
“They don’t have any more than we do, most of them.” Her voice cracks slightly.
Bryn sighs and walks over to her. He hesitates for a moment then reaches out and touches her lightly on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, Abby, I wasn’t criticizing. But people take advantage of you. Not everyone, but some people. And if you don’t take payment, then you won’t be able to afford to buy what you need to treat those who can’t afford to pay.”
“I know.” Abby turns and smiles brightly up at him.
There’s an awkward silence, then Aleesha clears her throat. “So, when do we get to meet this Katya then?”
“Ah, yes.” Bryn glances up at the small clock on the wall. “We should be going.”
Abby starts putting the food away. She holds the frozen pack of burgers in one hand. “We’ll have these for dinner. They won’t keep without a freezer.”
Of course. I keep forgetting how limited Abby’s kitchen is. All the things I took for granted at home seem to be luxuries out here.
“Where are we heading? To Six?” Aleesha asks as Bryn leads us down the back alleyway and out onto the street. He nods in reply and sets a quick pace, dodging through the smaller roads and back alleys to avoid any Metz patrols. As usual when we go out, Aleesha and I wear hooded jackets, pulled up to hide our faces.
Area Six is one of the better areas Outside the Wall. It’s where Insiders live if they can’t get an apartment Inside, and where Outsiders who have more money aspire to live. It’s got proper shops, schools and a medic centre. It almost feels like being Inside. The Chain have a large old house here that they use as a headquarters. Two figures loiter at the bottom of the short set of steps leading up to the door.
“Murdoch.” Bryn nods slightly to a stocky, dark-haired man with a scar on his jaw who straightens as we approach.
“You here to see the new boss?” The two men stare at each other. There’s no love lost between them.
Aleesha steps forward and raises her arm to deliver a ringing slap to Murdoch’s cheek.
“What the—”
“That’s for Area Four, you lying bastard!” Aleesha spits on the ground beside him. “You told us there was going to be a Cleaning.”
Murdoch scowls and rubs the red mark on his cheek. “Well, I needed you to agree to help us,” he says, unrepentant. His lilting Irish accent makes his words sound almost mocking.
Aleesha glares at him and raises her hand again but he grabs her wrist. “Oh, I do like a feisty woman.” He smirks.
Aleesha jerks her arm from his grasp and takes a step back.
“Stop bickering, you two,” Bryn says. “He’s only trying to wind you up, Aleesha.”
“I know.” Aleesha folds her arms. “He’s just grumpy because the only woman that’ll have him is a street whore.” She turns and marches up the steps toward the front door of the house.
Murdoch mutters something that I don’t catch. I suspect it’s nothing flattering.
A slim woman with short brown hair and a sad face greets us as we step into the house. “Aleesha, Trey, nice to see you again,” she says without enthusiasm. “Katya is waiting upstairs.”
“Thank you, Matthews,” Bryn replies.
I hesitate at the foot of the stairs, wanting to ask how she is, but she’s already disappeared into a small room that leads off the hallway. Matthews had accompanied us and Murdoch through the tunnels when we broke into the government building. Her partner, Sanders, had been killed trying to get in.
At the top of the stairs is a landing with a series of doors leading off it, one of which is slightly ajar. Bryn walks over to it and pushes the door open.
The room is small. In the centre is a small square black table about waist height with a surface as smooth as glass. A holo table. There’s a metal cupboard against one wall and a handful of chairs scattered around. A woman stands in front of a tall window that looks out over the street below. She turns as we enter.
“Trey and Aleesha. Thank you, Bryn, you can go.”
I barely sense Bryn leave the room. My eyes are locked on the woman in front of us, tracking her as she comes to stand in front of us. My heartbeat thumps in my ears like a dull drum and the air in the room feels suddenly thick and hard to breathe.
She’s every boy’s fantasy of the perfect woman. Like an avatar in a VR game: too perfect to be real. Thick blonde hair that cascades down her back, a sculpted face and emerald eyes that seem too bright, too dazzling, to exist in the real world. She even wears the figure-hugging, all-in-one suit that clings to every curve of her body.
I swallow hard, feeling heat rush to my groin. A sharp dig in my ribs jolts me out of my daze. “Close your mouth,” Aleesha mutters. “You look like a dead fish.” She sounds angry.
Katya laughs, a tinkling laugh that bounces around inside my skull. “Don’t be jealous, Aleesha. I’m afraid I cause that reaction sometimes. Don’t worry, I’m not interested in boys.”
My cheeks burn, and I tear my eyes away from her to stare at the floor.
A boy. Is that all she sees?
Aleesha snorts. “I’m not jealous.”
“Now, I want you to tell me exactly what happened when you broke into the government headquarters.” Katya’s tone is suddenly business-like.
“Surely Murdoch and the others have brought you up to date.”
“They have indeed,” she replies, ignoring Aleesha’s sullen tone. “But I’d like to hear it from you, in your own words.”
Aleesha starts off, and when she pauses I take over the tale. Between us we explain everything that happened from the moment we left Murdoch and Matthews in the basement of the government headquarters to the point at which we’d escaped back into the tunnels.
Aleesha leaves out some of the details, including her conversation with the President. I know from what she told me afterward that there was more to that than she’s letting on. But she doesn’t leave out anything that might be important to the Chain, just her personal stuff, so I keep quiet and don’t say anything.
When I come to describe Mikheil’s death, my voice cracks and I have to pause to clear the thickness in my throat. As much as Mikheil’s father hadn’t blamed me for his death, I can’t help but feel responsible. I should have done more to save him.
“And what happened to the microchip with the information that Mikheil did manage to retrieve?”
“The President took it fr
om me when I was searched,” Aleesha answers quickly.
I stare at the floor, hoping Katya takes my silence as assent.
It’s destroyed anyway. You made sure of that.
The crunch of plastic and metal underfoot. Dust blowing away in the wind.
“And you chose to come back, Trey. To leave your parents and help us?”
I start at the question and look up. Those eyes captivate me, locking me in their gaze. “Y-yes.”
Heat flushes through my cheeks again.
Katya frowns slightly but says nothing. She turns to Aleesha. “And you, Aleesha. You’re willing to continue working with us?”
“That depends on what you’ve got planned.” Aleesha folds her arms. “If it’s as dumb as the plan Millicent came up with, then no.”
“I-is she okay, Millicent?” I ask hesitantly. An image of the elderly Insider appears in my head. Aleesha was right, her plan had been wrong, but I can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for her. She had helped me find my family after all, and I sensed there was some hurt buried deep inside her.
“Millicent is taking a well-earned rest. But she is continuing to assist us with her connections and financial support.”
Funds. Of course. From the size of Millicent’s house, she obviously isn’t short of money.
“So, what’s your plan?” Aleesha asks.
Katya walks over to the window and stares out. “Breaking into the government headquarters was a mistake. And the plan to just take down a section of the Wall without any preparation work was … ill-advised. Too extreme. Taking the Wall down should be the final element of our plan.”
Her accent is slightly odd. Like an Insider’s but more clipped, and she elongates some of the syllables, drawing them out as if she takes pleasure in the words.
“And the first stage?” I ask hesitantly.
“Remove the threat.” She turns back to us. “If we remove the Metz from the equation then the government has no power. They rule by force, by fear. If we can remove that fear, people will support us.”
“You’re going to take down the Metz?” Aleesha stares at her as if she’s gone mad.
“Yes.” There’s a certainty in her voice, as if she’s stating a simple fact to a child. Grass is green. The sky is blue. We will take down the Metz. I wonder if she always gets what she wants.
“We’ve developed a tool that we think we can use to take control of them.”
Take control of them.
The Metz are trained law enforcers. Inside, it’s an honour if your son or daughter is chosen to join the Metz. Lucrative too, for the family. But out here, there are rumours that they’re bots. Machines designed for a single purpose.
“They’re not people?” I blurt out.
“They’re cyborgs. When the officers are recruited, a chip is implanted in their brain. The government use it to control them. To override their emotions and make them do the job they’re designed to do: put fear into the heart of the population.”
“Was that the tool that Bryn didn’t think would work?” Aleesha says into the silence that follows Katya’s words.
Surprise flickers in Katya’s green eyes, but her expression doesn’t change. “It’s still in its test stages. We’re planning to try it on a small scale. If that doesn’t work, then we may need to take more active measures to find out how they’re controlled.”
“And that’s it? Surely there must be some failsafe or something. If it was that easy to take control of the Metz someone would have done it by now. We’re not all dumb Outsiders, you know.”
Katya gives her an appraising look. “You’re right. It may not be as easy as all that. We need to know more about their compound. What their setup is, how officers are controlled when they’re out on the streets. Who controls them. That’s my job to investigate.”
“How can you investigate?” Aleesha shoots back. “You’re from out of town, right? You’re not even chipped.”
“That’s not for you to worry about.” Katya smiles coldly.
A shiver runs down my spine. Being in her presence puts me on edge. Part of me – a large part of me – wants to be close to her. To touch that perfect porcelain skin and … I shake my head.
Get those thoughts out of your brain.
Was this what Bryn had meant when he said he didn’t trust beautiful women?
“Bryn said you were from Russia.”
Katya turns her gaze to me. “I have lived in many places. But yes, originally, I’m from Russia.”
“Where’s Russia?” Aleesha asks.
Katya gives her a patronising look. “It’s the largest country in the world. Don’t they teach you anything at school here?”
Aleesha’s jaw clenches and her hands ball into fists at her side.
Uh oh.
“We don’t get taught much about geography outside of Britannia,” I say quickly.
A half smile turns the corner of Katya’s mouth. “Obviously not. Well, that’s enough for today. I’ll be in touch once we have a use for you.”
She walks over to the door and opens it, giving us no choice but to leave. There’s a slight click as the door locks behind us.
We walk back downstairs and follow the sound of voices into the small room Matthews had disappeared into. Bryn looks up as we enter. “Everything okay?”
I nod.
“Fine,” Aleesha says tightly.
Bryn guides us back through Six to the boundary with Area Five. To our right, the wide road leads up to the East Gate, one of the three official routes through the Wall. There’s a queue of people waiting to get in. We hurry over to the other side of the road, where Bryn pauses. “Look, are you guys okay to get back from here? Got something I need to do.”
I look at Aleesha. “Sure.” She shrugs. “I know my way from here.”
“What do you think about what Katya said about the Metz?” I muse as we walk slowly through the streets. “If she’s right and they’re not in control of their actions, well, that changes things, doesn’t it?”
“How? They’re still killers.” I glance at Aleesha, surprised by her harsh tone, but she stares straight ahead, an expression of grim determination on her face. “Killers. They need destroying.”
I look away. The Metz killed her mother and her friend Lily. I guess that’s not something you can just forgive.
“I’m sorry.” Aleesha’s hand grasps mine, pulling me to a halt. She gives me a brief smile. “I just want justice. Justice for Lily and my mother.” She lets my hand drop and looks away down the street. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose people you love.”
I reach out and take her hand back, giving it a squeeze. “I know. But destroying them won’t give you justice, Aleesha.”
“It would avenge their deaths.”
I try to catch her eye, but she refuses to look in my direction. “Revenge isn’t justice,” I say quietly.
“Maybe in your world it isn’t, Trey.” Her voice is hard again. “But Outside is a different place.”
5
Aleesha
I don’t sleep much. It’s a cold night up on the roof and the thin thermal blanket Jonas gave me barely keeps off the chill. Perhaps I should have taken him up on his offer to stay at his place. But he shares a two-room apartment with a couple of other members of the Snakes and what he’d really meant was for me to share his bed. And I’m done with that. I don’t want to rely on anyone else for help anymore.
My stomach gurgles. Food is going to be a problem. I can’t keep taking Abby’s rations. Though that dinner last night was the best food I’ve ever tasted. I close my eyes and try to bring back the smell of the hot burgers.
Saliva pools in my mouth and I shake myself and stand up, stamping my feet to get my blood moving. Thinking of food is just another form of torture. Today I’ll go back to Jay’s apartment. Get my chits back. At least then I can replenish my stash of food and maybe get something to pay Abby back for all the meals she’s fed me. We’ll be even. I won’t owe anybo
dy anything.
I drop down from the roof and start the laborious climb down to the street. It’s awkward getting up and down from the roof, but I don’t mind. So far, the convoluted route has stopped anyone else coming up here.
The noise filtering up from the street gets louder as I get closer to the ground. Usually, I find the background hum of the city kind of comforting. But today something’s different. Every so often the streets are filled with fearful murmurings about a Cleaning or a Metz raid, but this is something I haven’t heard before. Anger.
I join the river of people on the main street, keeping my head down so I don’t get recognized. There are shouts up ahead and some people start chanting. I can’t make out the words. The crush intensifies as more people push onto the street. I try to turn around and get out of the crowd, but a shot of panic jolts through me as I realize I can’t. My pulse quickens as the memory of another crush, another crowd, forces its way into my head.
A panicked crowd. The Metz. Lily.
I shake my head to try to get rid of the thought and draw in a deep, ragged breath. I just need to stay calm.
“What’s going on?” I whisper to the woman next to me. A scarf is wrapped around her head and neck for warmth, and her drab clothing is held together by rough needlework.
“Some big announcement on the screens. Somethin’ about a gov’ment cover-up. We’re goin’ to Rose Square to see what’s what.”
My heart leaps in my chest. Suddenly the crowd is moving too slowly.
Come on, people.
I try to push through them, but just get an elbow in my chest and a sour look. I wait impatiently as the broiling mass of people inches closer to our destination, carrying me with it. Then finally, we arrive.
Rose Square is one of the largest open spaces in Four and one of the few places where large screens still cover the buildings. There used to be screens everywhere. You can see the outlines of them in the weathering of stone walls and the odd wire or screw that peeks out between the cracks of the buildings. But most of them have been long since torn away and dismantled, their parts put to better uses. The government hasn’t bothered to replace them. I guess they know they wouldn’t last long. Besides, what would be the point? Even the ones in Rose Square are largely ignored by the citizens of Area Four. People here don’t want to know how perfect life Inside is. Not when every day out here is a struggle for survival.
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