by Melissa Faye
TIME TICKED BY SLOWLY, but 2 pm finally arrived. I excused myself from a group of interns comparing diagnoses notes in the lab and scurried outside. I found Omer waiting fifty feet away, wearing his agriculture uniform and bronze insignia, and headed in his direction. We walked as we spoke. It was strange for a Gold to walk around with a Bronze, so we both pulled our coat jackets over our lapels.
“Your friend came to see me a little while ago and filled me in on the situation,” Omer said. “I know Tomas helped you. He hasn’t been seen since yesterday. We think it’s another disappearance.”
“I’m sorry, Omer,” I said. “I never wanted to get someone else involved, but my coworker –“
“Tomas wanted to be part of this. He knew the risks. I’m most concerned about what we can do moving forward. Tell me exactly what’s happening with Etta and Breck.”
I reluctantly described the situation to Omer: armed guards, loss of physical access, digital barriers from patient information, and Charlie’s workaround so we could see the tests. I told him about the potential dangers of the tests involved, and our concern about whether patient safety was even an issue at this point.
“It’s another case of the community being kept in the dark about a meaningful development,” Omer said. “Your friends have been abducted, and are being held against their will to be experimented on. We need to make their pregnancy public. People deserve to know.”
I stopped short.
“No way. The public doesn’t get to know about this yet. Who knows how they’ll respond if they know what happened, and that Etta and Breck are involved! We could have people flying off the handle, trying to get their hands on my friends, trying to figure out for themselves how they got pregnant. You cannot mention their names to anyone.”
Omer stared at me for a moment with pursed lips. Community members walked past; a few stared at us for a second too long. I felt anxious being so exposed, but mostly I was fuming about Omer’s idea.
“Omer, if the government is against the fertility solution, making this public could put Etta and Breck in even more danger.”
After a long pause, he responded. “Fine. We can do this without using names. We can make it about freedom of information without saying someone is actually pregnant. But we need to make a bigger statement.”
“More flyers? I don’t know how many people believed that one, Omer.”
“More than you know, Yami,” said Omer. His voice became more stern; he tapped his toes impatiently. “We’ve had a dozen new recruits join us. There’ve been papers posted in a few areas around the community asking for more information. I’ve been in touch with contacts in other communities. People are getting riled up all around the region, if not all around the country.”
“So...you’ll put out more posters?” I said.
“We’ll do something with more impact,” Omer said. I didn’t like the air of mystery around his tone.
“Like what?”
“Yami, you’re only talking to me to get protection for your friends, not to be part of our work. Unless you decide to join us, I won’t share our plans with you.”
I struggled to decide what to do. I didn’t want more trouble for the people I cared about. Vonna was involved now, increasing my concerns that much more. But even if I knew what the Underground was planning, it wouldn’t matter. I wouldn’t be able to stop it.
“I’d like your help in freeing Etta and Breck,” I said. “Other than that, I want nothing to do with the Underground.”
“Fine,” said Omer with a harsh tone and raised voice. “Myself or another member will be in touch. But I expect your discretion in who you talk to about the organization and I will not be sympathetic to your wishes if you’ve shared anything about us with others.”
We shook hands. They could do what they wanted, and I would stay out of it. Meanwhile, Omer would help me find the right people and resources to get Etta and Breck to safety. I left our conversation with a sense of foreboding that threatened to tip me over where I stood. As Omer walked away, back towards the agriculture building, I wondered what exactly he had in mind. I made eye contact with a Silver walking towards me. His face was curious. My Gold was now visible as my jacket had fallen open slightly. Omer’s uniform clearly made him a Bronze. Not wanting to arouse further suspicion, I pulled my jacket closed over my insignia and walked quickly back to work.
OMER HAD PROMISED TO get in touch soon with more ideas for breaking Etta and Breck out of the Med. Charlie was keeping an eye on their health stats and promised to message with any updates. Meanwhile, back at my apartment, I found Ben waiting outside my door.
“What do you want?” I said as I brushed past him to unlock my door. He followed me inside.
“What is going on?” he said. He followed me into the kitchen where I grabbed an apple from the fridge. I remember the last time I ate an apple in front of Ben. He described the adaptations scientists had made to apples in the last fifty years, increasing fiber content and decreasing sugars. He extolled the work of leadership in helping us all stay healthy and fit, increasing the likelihood of conception. I took a bite out of it while looking at Ben, daring him to frustrate me further. But instead of launching into a lecture, I saw real fright in his face.
“Yami, Etta and Breck are gone! Tell me what’s going on.” He stood in front of me while I munched on the apple. We were eye-to-eye, and he looked at me imploringly.
“I’m taking care of it,” I said. I went into the living room and sat on my couch. Ben came and stood over me. I pulled out my TekCast to check for the fifteenth time since work whether I had any messages from Omer or Charlie. Nothing.
“Yami! I know I’m not your favorite person. But they’re my friends too. I’ve been reading up on pregnancy in the twenty-first century, and how the fertility crisis started. And now I can’t get in touch with Breck to talk about what I found.”
I stared straight ahead as I mulled this over. Ben had a right to be hurt. Breck was his best friend.
“They’re in the Med,” I said. I put the apple down on the coffee table and looked up at Ben, trying to show some empathy. “Etta went there the other day because she fainted at work, but I had a coworker cover up her lab results. They found out, saw that she was pregnant, and now they have both Etta and Breck.”
“What do you mean they ‘have’ Etta and Breck?”
I told him what I told Omer. Our friends were locked away and I had no idea how to get them out of there.
“What can I do, Yami?” Ben’s face was crestfallen. Nothing like this had ever happened to us, and like me, Ben was at a loss for what to do.
“I know some people who are going to help me break them out. It’s taken care of.”
“It’s not that simple, Yami,” said Ben. “What do we do once they’re out? We can’t stay in Young Woods anymore, not if we want to keep Etta safe. Where will we go?”
I sighed. I hadn’t thought that far, and never expected to be brainstorming with Ben.
“Why don’t you work on that?” I said. I heard that annoyance in my voice and concentrated on softening my tone. “I’m sorry. We do need your help. I don’t know anything about what happens in the noncomm area. If we try to walk through it to another community, what would happen? There’s supposed to be a monorail system. Where is it?”
“I’ll look into that.” Ben’s face relaxed. “You know, if Etta leaves here, she’ll need a doctor, and you’re the best she has.”
Again, I realized that while I was so wrapped up in Etta’s fate, I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead. If she left, I would have to go with her. Maybe Ben would have to come with us too; he would know the most about the noncomm.
“I’ll look over what you send me,” I said. “We’ll get them out, and we’ll run. Together. We’ll need you to help us figure out where we can go and how we can get there.”
Ben nodded and sat down next to me on the couch. I hadn’t been alone in my apartment with him since we broke up. But now he was
going to help me keep our friends safe, and I needed to stop thinking of him as an ex. He was at least my ally, if not my friend. After a few moments of silence, he forwarded me the pregnancy research he had gathered and promised to keep me posted on what he learned about travel through the noncomm. Once he left, I read what he sent me while trying to block out visions of what might be happening to Etta and Breck. At some point, I fell asleep on the couch. I dreamt of Etta wearing a gauzy hospital gown that flowed behind her. She was tied down to a Care Unit and reached her hands out to me. I tried to grab her hand, but the Care Unit took her further and further way and dozens of doors slammed shut between us. I yelled Etta’s name and heard her shouting back. I woke up in a cold sweat and couldn’t get back to sleep.
Chapter Eleven
Charlie messaged me before work and we met at the park that was becoming my clandestine meeting spot. He had more updates.
“It’s not getting better, Yami,” he said. “They’re trying to do a biopsy of the baby’s organs while he’s still developing. It’s too dangerous. The baby is way too small for this. I don’t know if it’ll survive. I don’t understand why they would do this!”
“I think they don’t care,” I said. “I think there are lots of doctors hungry for answers, and a contingent of leaders who want this to go away. Etta’s stuck between two groups who don’t care if she lives or dies.”
I leaned back and stared again at the empty branches above our head. This was where I had talked to Etta about her pregnancy symptoms. Things had changed so much in a few weeks. The leaves had disappeared, raked up by Grays, and snow and rain had created dozens of large patches of mud and slush on the ground.
“I have to get her out of there. Now.”
“How can we do it?” Charlie asked.
“No, I’ll do it,” I said. “You can help, but I’m doing it.”
“Fine!” Charlie still didn’t understand, but I didn’t have time to help him get it. “What’s your brilliant plan for helping two friends escape from locked rooms each protected by a security guard and a handful of trained doctors who know you want to get in there?”
“I don’t know! I’ll make it up. Don’t worry about it.” I stood up from the bench, ending the conversation. Charlie followed me as we walked to work.
We were only a block away from the building when we felt the ground shake beneath our feet. Charlie reached out to grab my arms before I fell over. We heard screams from several blocks away. When I turned towards the yelling, I saw a billow of smoke coming from a building I couldn’t identify yet.
“Come on!” Charlie yelled at me. He grabbed my hand and led the way towards the smoke and noise.
As we approached, people ran in the opposite direction. The street was foggy with smoke and ash. Most people I saw were Golds; it had to be a fire in a Gold building. Their insignias shined through the haze. There were crying children, and everyone was coughing uncontrollably. We turned a corner and finally saw the source of the commotion. It was the F-Lab. An enormous chunk of one of the highest floors was missing. I could see a large fire in the empty space, from which the smoke curled out in every direction. The metal and concrete structure that held up the building were burnt and twisted, and I could see into a room with charred tables and equipment. It smelled nothing like the campfire we sat around on a field trip in middle class. It smelled more like the time Etta accidentally set a grease fire on her stove when they first moved into her and Breck’s apartment.
People were streaming out of the building, nearly tripping over one another. They were covered in soot and using their shirts and lab coats to cover their mouths. A woman was sitting on the curb, unable to move while she coughed harder and harder. Charlie ran over to her, helped her stand up, and walked her away from the smoke. Several ambulance carts arrived and started to triage the injured.
The strange thing was that no one I saw was seriously hurt. There was no blood except for people who seemed to have fallen in the commotion. This had been planned carefully so no one would be injured. I had to get closer to understand better.
I snuck past some of the workers into the building’s lobby, covering my mouth and nose with my arm. The smoke was still thick, but it dissipated slightly as it poured out the doors. Most people had left the building by now, and the lobby was almost empty. On the wall, in red spray paint, someone had left a sloppy message.
DON’T BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY
WHAT’S BEST FOR THE COMMUNITY ISN’T BEST FOR ANY OF US
The O in Community wasn’t an O – it was an oval with a V in the middle.
Someone running out of the building ran straight into me, sending me falling backwards until I regained my footing. I looked up at them. It was a small, round woman wearing a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and a bandanna covering her face. A can of spray paint stuck out of the sweatshirt’s pocket. She wasn’t wearing her insignia or TekCast, making it harder to recognize her. When she saw me, she froze. I reached up and grabbed the bandanna off her face.
It was Vonna. She was sneaking out of the building. I knew she had spoken to Omer, but I never would have expected Omer to involve her in this. I sprang to my feet, grabbed Vonna’s arms, and hissed in her ear. “Throw out the sweatshirt and bandanna in a trashcan outside. Then come with me.”
Vonna’s eyes were tearing from fear, from the smoke, or both. She followed my directions and we walked out. I let her go to the trashcan, and then regained a firm grasp of her arm. I pulled her quickly away from the scene. I didn’t stop until we were several blocks away and could barely hear the ambulance carts. I twister her arm around so she was facing me.
“I can’t believe you were involved with this! Someone could have gotten hurt!” The words came out of me with vile and rage. I felt a flush of anger pass through my body. “You could have gotten yourself hurt! What were you thinking?”
Vonna eyes brimmed with tears, but she fought back. “We were careful, Yami. The floor was empty. We turned off the security cameras. No one will be seriously injured. I have time to change and get to class.”
“You are out of control! I forbid you from being involved in this any further!”
“You can’t stop this, Yami. I don’t even know why you would want to. It’s your friends locked up in the Med. You should want change to happen.” Vonna had gathered control of herself and was meeting my tone with a nasty one of her own.
I pointed my finger right in her face. “You are too young, Vonna. You don’t know what you’re doing. Stay out of this, or stay away from me.” I turned and walked away, picking up my pace to escape the smoke. I didn’t want to be seen so close to the explosion - and I needed to get away from Vonna as tears streamed down my face. I was closing myself off from her because I wasn’t willing to lose her. I could only hope it would be enough to convince her to get out while she still could.
Charlie tried to intercept me when I got to the intern room and dropped off my coat. I turned away, unable and unwilling to talk. I took the stairs up to the top floor where Etta and Breck were hidden away. How had I let this happen? How had my mentee taken part in an actual bombing? How had I let my friends be kidnapped and detained a few floors away from me in my own workplace?
I strode over to the first guard I saw. I wasn’t sure if it was Etta or Breck’s room.
“Let me in,” I said. Hatred rose in my stomach. I felt ash resting on my cheeks streaked with tears.
The guard shook his head, wide-eyed. He eyed my clothes, which were dirty from smoke.
“Let me in!” I yelled. “This is a kidnapping! This must be illegal! Who do you think you are?”
A doctor came down the hallway and saw what was happening. I ignored him.
“Miss, please back up,” the guard said. I wouldn’t budge. Instead, I shoved the guard away from the door as hard as I could. He only moved a few inches. I used my shoulder and crouched down, then used my bodyweight to push him further away from the door. With a foot of space, I grabbed the door handle
and pulled.
I got one small glimpse of Etta asleep in a Care Unit before I felt hands wrap around my waist and pull me back out of the room. The guard held my arms tightly while the doctor gawked. He pulled out his TekCast and started to type a message.
I tried to shake the guard off but wasn’t strong enough. “Golds don’t get everything they want, lady,” he whispered in my ear. I stomped as hard as I could on his foot. He let go of my arms, but I only got a foot away before the other guard took hold of me. I screamed and kicked, but no longer made contact with anyone. I felt like a feral animal trapped in a corner. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I started foaming at the mouth.
“Take her down to the Chief’s office,” the doctor said as he looked at a message off his TekCast. The guard led me downstairs. I tried to drag my feet but had no leverage. I walked in front him, his arms tightly gripping mine, and he led me down a flight of stairs and down the hall to the Chief of Medicine’s office.
The Chief of Medicine, Pablo, wasn’t there yet. The security guard pushed me into a chair facing the desk, and I immediately curled myself in a ball, pulling my knees to my chest and crossing my arms around them. I watched time tick by on a clock above the desk. Each second felt like a week. Tick. Tick. Tick. I wiped soot from my face and took deep breaths. I would not cry in front of my boss.
The door opened behind me and not one, but two men walked in front of me. My face fell. It was both Pablo and Chancellor Lorenzo.
“Yami, you should not have been upstairs just now. You attacked a member of the community. You interfered with medical procedures that you have not been granted access to.” I looked at Pablo and felt intense guilt seeing his disappointment. I had not talked to him often, but I respected his work and would never want to let him down.