Caste (The Corporation)

by RaeLynn Fry

  “Of castes that haven’t been assigned yet. My brother doesn’t have his until next month.” Ajna's name is on that list next to the profession of lumberjack. It's been crossed out.

  “They're rigging the Jatis'?” My head snaps up, and I meet Ethan’s eyes. “Do you know what this means? They could be rigging everything! Our Marks have nothing to do with what we're best at; they just put us where the Corporation wants us.”

  “Wait a minute, Karis, that’s a big leap to be making.”

  But I ignore him. It all makes perfect sense. How much of my life could I have chosen if it weren't for the Corporation? My job? My Pair? My life? The stories of other cities outside the Corporation's control start to make sense. Of course they’d say and do anything to keep us where we are, trapped between walls and fences. If they didn't, they wouldn't have the lives they’re so comfortable living.

  “We need to go,” Ethan says. “We have enough information than we can handle for now.” He starts to put the papers back and stops short, holding a small packet out from the rest. I finish putting everything back in the drawer, shutting it.

  “What is it?”

  “Medical reports of some sort.” He stuffs it down the front of his shirt.

  “What are you doing? We can't take that with us.”

  “Ella needs to see this. I have a feeling it has something to do with the sickness.”

  “The Corporation will notice it's missing.”

  “Akin'll never know it's gone, trust me. Now let's get out of here.”

  I glance down at the drawer one last time before it shuts. Peeking from loose papers I see a folder with my name on it, but Ethan’s already dragging me away.

  Twenty-four

  Ella's waiting for us in the kitchen. Relief floods her features when we enter the room. “Where have you two been?”

  “Information gathering,” Ethan says, sliding into a chair at the table.

  Ella looks worn and tired, the red around her eyes sticking out against the brown of her skin. “And you took Karis?”

  “Yeah—”

  “Ethan!” Ella snaps. “How could you do something so irresponsible?”

  I pause, hand on the back of a chair, midway to sitting down. Ethan's mouth drops open, and we're both silent as Ella glares at us.

  “Someday you're going to have to grow up and stop playing these dangerous games. I won't always be here to help you, and the Corporation's tolerance for you is only so thick.” She stands up and pulls some items out of a drawer, setting them on the table.

  Ethan clenches his jaw, and I slip into the chair without a sound. I've never seen Ella this way. She's mad. At

  Ethan. I didn't think it was possible.

  “I'm doing this because I’m grown up,” he says with measured words.

  Ella gives a heavy sigh and sits back in her chair. “I'm sorry,” she says as she rubs at her temples. “I've had a very stressful night.” She takes another deep breath before looking up at us. “Find anything interesting?” She motions for me to sit. I do so, and she grabs my hands, unwinding the strips of bloody cloth, quickly cleaning and re-bandaging them. She doesn’t even ask how I got them.

  “This.” Ethan reaches into his shirt and pulls out the rolled up packet of paper. He flattens it out.

  Ella stares at it for a second, furrowing her brow. “Mauta?” She’s confused and scared and worried, all at the same time. Her reaction sets me on edge. What exactly did we find?

  She reaches out to take it, but pulls back a little, hesitating, almost as if it were poisonous. She finally takes it from Ethan’s hands. “Where’d you get this?”

  “I found it in Akin’s desk,” I say. She gives a sharp look to Ethan.

  “Why? What is it?” he asks.

  “Mauta,” she pronounces it like mot, “means death in the old language.” She turns the first page, laying the packet on the table. There’s a figure made of lines and circles of various sizes. Her face is slowly draining of color. She turns the pages quickly, scanning the diagrams, charts, pictures, and text.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “I’ll have to look at it in more depth, but I think it’s the Corporation’s notes and test results for the sickness that’s going around.” She flips back to the diagram on the front page. “This is a chemical formula.”

  “Wait, chemical formula?” Ethan asks.

  Ella nods.

  “What does that mean?” I feel as if I’m miles behind.

  “Mauta is man-made,” Ethan says.

  “But, that would mean—”

  “The Corporation engineered it,” Ella finishes for me. “But it also means they have to have cultivated a cure.”

  “That changes everything. That means they’re experimenting with human lives.” Ethan slumps back in his chair

  and runs his hands through his hair, resting them on the back of his neck.

  “The bodies,” I start.

  “Are failed experiments,” Ethan finishes. It all makes sense.

  “They’re toying with my brother’s life,” I say.

  “But why?” Ethan asks. “And how are they infecting people?”

  Ella’s fingers skim across the text in the report. She turns the page. “Though the filters in Neech.”

  My mind spins. It’s mass genocide. “But then why isn’t everyone sick?”

  “They have notes about certain locations, but they have the same questions. I’ll have to study this more to find out.” She closes the packet and folds her hands. “There’s something else I need to tell you about this sickness.”

  My questions about the packet are forgotten as I stare into Ella’s serious face. My heart speeds up, and my stomach sinks as my brain starts to buzz. My breaths are slow and long. I swallow. “It’s about the medicine, isn’t it?”

  Ella’s shoulders sink. “It’s almost complete. I need only one more ingredient, and then you can go back to your brother…”

  I already know what she’s going to say. “But you can’t get it.” And we didn’t find what we needed at the Tower. Akin kept his promise.

  “No one can get it. I’ve tried looking, but the Corporation has pulled all the sources. Even D’mitri doesn’t

  have access.”

  “When can you get it?” Ethan asks, desperation tainting his words. He reaches out and takes my hand in his. I barely notice. My entire body’s tingling and throbbing. I feel so disconnected from everything around me.

  “Never.”

  A breath hitches in my chest, and I feel the sting of tears.

  “Never? That’s insane!” Ethan shouts. “How can they take it back like that?”

  “They can do whatever they want, Ethan. They’re the Corporation,” Ella says.

  “Maybe if I go and talk to him, he’ll listen,” Ethan says. He’s squeezing my hand tighter, and I don’t think he notices. “Make some sort of deal.”

  “It’s too dangerous; I won’t let you go,” she says.

  I stand up and turn to leave the room. I hear Ethan’s chair scrape across the floor as he stands, following me.

  “Don’t,” I say, my voice sharp against the sudden silence.

  “I—” he starts.

  “I need to be alone right now,” I say and walk out of the room.

  ७

  I use my trick from Neech and throw a knotted rope of bed sheets out the window and into the night. Akin wants his deal; fine, he’ll get his deal. But I’m going to make sure he regrets it.

  I barricade my bedroom door with a chair and work quickly, tying the sheets together. I have to be long gone by the time Ella or Ethan come to check on me. I give them no more than fifteen minutes, twenty tops.

  I walk through the streets at a pace that makes my legs burn, not caring if I’m seen or not. Akin told me to go to his residence, so that’s where I’m headed—the apartments behind Corporation Tower.

  I pass the pastures and the barn. The Corporation building is an obelisk of black except for th
e very top floor. Akin Hughe’s office is like the bright beacon of a lighthouse. I wonder if the break-in’s been found out, but then I remember I don’t care. Only one thing matters, and that’s getting Ajna’s medicine.

  The apartments behind the Tower are larger and nicer than the others in the city. Miniature parks landscape the small areas between the two and three story buildings. I don’t know which one is Akin’s, but I can guess.

  I walk towards a brick, two-story house that sits in a sea of grass. It’s lit with lampposts along the perimeter and up the walkway. The bright red bricks make the house distinctly different from the dull white and tan stucco apartments behind it. Akin’s own castle in the middle of Dahn.

  I hadn’t really thought about it, but I’m not surprised to see the property buzzing with Military Guards. I step out from the shadows and into the light of the lampposts. Immediately, I hear the hustle of rushing feet, and I’m surrounded by four Guards. All of them with their weapons drawn.

  “I’m here to see Akin Hughes,” I say with determination. “He’s expecting me.”

  “I’m sure he is,” one of the Guards says from behind a sneer.

  They don’t lower their weapons; instead, they herd me to the house. When we get closer to the door, one of the Guards holsters his gun and takes my hands behind my back with a bit too much force. I bite the inside of my cheek, refusing to give them the satisfaction of knowing it hurts.

  Two Guards step inside the house, leaving me with the other two out on the porch. I can’t help but notice the meticulous flowers and plants and the fact that the grass is still wet from being watered liberally. The windows are large and covered with some sort of hanging on the inside, but the warm light from the interior still shines through.

  The door opens again, and the Guard glares down at me, obviously unhappy. “Bring her in.”

  I’m grabbed by each arm and lifted over the threshold, not giving me enough time to get my footing. We’re standing in a foyer that stretches up above our heads, illuminated by a giant glittering light. The floor is polished stone, and a sweeping staircase rises in front of us. A room sits off the foyer on each side. The one on the left is closed off, but the one on the right isn’t. Inside is an office with rows and rows of books on shelves against the walls. There’s a fireplace and several large chairs.

  It’s disgusting.

  “Untie her,” the Guard growls. “Mr. Hughes wants to see her in his personal quarters upstairs. If she tries anything, shoot her.”

  Two Guards stay back, posting themselves by the door while two escort me up the stairs. I’m aware of everything; in the lion’s den, it’s dangerous to be anything but. Death is around every corner.

  At the top of the stairs is a hallway that stretches off in each direction, ending in two double doors at each end. We turn to the right. The Guards fall back when we get to the doors. I take a breath and raise a steady hand, knocking against the wood.

  “Come in,” sings a voice on the other side.

  I hate how satisfied he sounds at my presence. I open one of the doors and step through, closing it behind me. After a few seconds, I hear the Guards go back downstairs.

  “So glad you came to your senses,” Akin says. He’s in his suit, sitting in one of two chairs next to a large fire. “Come, have a seat.”

  I walk with rigid steps and sit with stiff joints in the plush chair. I stare into the fire, refusing to meet his gaze.

  “You’re covered in blood, and you smell a bit ripe, Karis. You couldn’t clean yourself up a little before our meeting? And what in the world happened to your hands?”

  “My appearance doesn’t affect my ability to make a deal, so let’s get this over with.”

  “I suppose not, but it does hint towards the level of respect one has towards their partner and the effort they’re going to put forth.”

  “I’m prepared to bleed for you,” I show him the bloody bandages of my hands. “Happy?” I give a sneer of a smile.

  “Something to drink?” Akin asks.

  “No.”

  “Strictly business. That’s a good work ethic to have.” I feel his eyes crawl over me with sickening pleasure. I’m a trophy to him, and he’s already imagining me on his mantel.

  “Let’s just get this over with.”

  “No, I don’t think so.” My head snaps in his direction. “Ah, now I have your attention.”

  “We had a deal,” I growl through clenched teeth.

  “And we still do. But the details are like wrinkles in a fine silk garment; they need to be pressed out.”

  Details. The word makes me want to wretch all over his expensive-looking rug. “I work for the Corporation; you give me the medicine that will save my brother. There’s nothing else to work out.”

  “There’s the matter of how long you’ll be under my employ, in what capacity, severing all ties with Neech, your duties, what should happen if you grow lax in them, when your brother will get the medicine, et cetera.”

  I sit a little straighter in the chair. His lips curl into a smile as he folds his hands neatly in his lap.

  “Ajna will get the medicine as soon as I say yes,” I say, trying to keep my voice from showing my panic.

  He raises his brow in question.

  “That was the deal.”

  “I don’t recall ever telling you when Ajna would get the medicine.”

  I’m trying to take deep even breaths, but it’s not working. My vision’s turning red and all I see is murder. He lied to me. He has no intention of saving my brother.

  “Now, before you go thinking I’m not a man of my word, let me explain.” He crosses a leg over his knee. “Getting the medicine to your brother when you say yes doesn’t exactly give you any incentive to stay here with me, now does it?”

  “I said I would.”

  “Yes, yes, but a mind can so easily be changed when the threat is gone. Like yours, I think. But what I’m saying is—”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Humans are, in the end, animals. Animals need to be reminded that they’re on a leash. The Corporation has an experimental antidote that needs to be administered monthly. As long as the patient takes the medicine regularly, they’ll live.

  Should they ever miss a dose, however…”

  I understand his threat with crystal clarity. Should I disappoint or try to fight back, Ajna will die. I dig my fingers into the arm of the chair. My reaction doesn’t go unnoticed. Akin smiles.

  “Here are my terms,” he says. “You will go to your brother’s side, watch him get better, and then return to me. Here, in Dahn, and work for the Corporation. As long as you do as I say, your brother will get the medicine every month.”

  “How do I know you’ll do what you say? How do I know you’ll give it to him in the first place?”

  “You don’t.”

  I take another long slow breath.

  “Give me the medicine. Now. I’ll give it to him every month.”

  His laugh is genuine. “No. But, to show my intentions are honorable, I’ll send someone into Neech to deliver the medicine to your father. Someone you’ll both trust and who I know will carry out my instructions to the letter.”

  “You don’t know anyone my father or I would ever trust.”

  “You haven’t even asked who I have in mind.” Akin feigns disappointment.

  “Probably because I don’t care.”

  “Karis, you aren’t playing very nicely. I have your brother’s life in my hands.” His voice grows dangerous, and I realize this isn’t a man I want to be playing games with.

  “Who, Mr. Hughes, do you have in mind?”

  He just smiles, not answering my question. “I will send this person out tonight—your brother doesn’t have much time—,”

  “I don’t trust you. I’ll do it.”

  His eyes narrow just slightly, and I know I’m pushing my luck with him. “I will send someone to give the medicine to your father tonight.”

  “He won’t
believe you.”

  “Maybe not me, but the person delivering the medicine, yes.”

  There’s nothing really to think about. If I say no, Ajna dies. If I say yes, and the medicine gets there in time, he’ll live. “If your go back on your word in any way—,”

  The front door downstairs slams shut. “Where’s my father?” an angry voice says.

  “Upstairs, but he’s with—” The Guard doesn’t get to finish.

  Akin says, “Ahh, my son is home. I was hoping the two of you would get to meet, since you’ll be spending so much time around him.” A smile creeps into Akin’s mouth.

  I hear the pounding of footsteps as Akin’s son runs up the staircase, and the door bursts open. “Just when I think you can’t get any more vile, you prove me wrong.”

  My stomach drops through the floor, and my head grows dizzy. I feel like I’m in a nightmare. I turn around, hoping what I know isn’t true.

  I grip the edge of the chair, steadying the turmoil of the room. “Ethan.” I say, my heart breaking.

  He stops mid stride and looks like he’s been hit hard in the stomach. “Karis? What are you doing here?”

  “You two know each other already?” Akin asks, but I know his shock is a lie. Of course he already knows. He knows everything about me. He settles back in his chair, a smug expression on his face.

  My skin and nerves buzz with adrenaline, and the only thing running through my mind is that I need to get out of this room. Out of this house.

  “Akin’s your father?” I can barely get the words out.

  “Why’s she here?” Ethan turns to Akin, picking up his pace again. “She’s off limits!”

  “Karis came here on her own, seeking me out. Isn’t that right, Karis?”

  My mind’s days behind the conversation and it takes me a few fuzzy seconds to process what I’ve been asked.

  “Whatever he told you, it’s a lie.” I can see in Ethan’s eyes he’s trying to figure out how to explain things, but I don’t want to hear them. There’s nothing he could say to make this okay.