Class Zero

by Y A Marks

  I rounded the entry to the cafeteria. Three people were sitting at the far table, busy with late night conversation. I took a few steps. They paused and raised confused eyebrows.

  Smiling, I waved my fingers and then glanced over the glass counter where the food was served like I knew what I was doing. They all frowned before turning back to their conversation. I circled a few times, trying to convince them of my mental understanding of all things kitchen, and then politely walked away.

  Okay, I was going back to bed. This was a mistake. I would just have to endure the sick baby for a few more hours.

  I strolled around the three-story central hub that sat in the middle of the room all while making my way toward the ladder which would take me back to my room. The main entryway opened, and Rylan walked inside.

  “Paeton?” His expression was the same as when I saw him on the street, confused yet excited.

  I forced my nervous shivers to calm down and smiled. “Hey! What-chu… What are you doing up at this hour?” I acted nonchalant, like I strolled around rebel compounds every night.

  “I was helping AJ with the nav system in the jet.”

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that’s… what I do.” His speech slowed. I could tell there were hundreds of questions in his mind.

  “You work on planes?”

  “Maps mainly; blueprints, too.”

  “Wow. That’s pretty awesome,” I said. I really didn’t know what in the world he was talking about. “So what’s the big deal with maps?”

  He took a few steps toward me, scratching the back of his head. His face and clothes had dark streaks on them. I guessed that he had to work around some dirty areas near the plane.

  “Well, we use a mixture of GPS chips to navigate. Like everything, we have to make sure one of the satellites up there doesn’t follow our signal. Josalyn is pretty good with keeping us undetected, but we like to have a few extras just in case.”

  “That’s awesome!” I said, my mind totally blank.

  He took a step to the side as his face tightened. He was studying me, and I did my best to cover up the real reason I was up late—him.

  “You have no clue what I just said, do you?” he asked.

  “Yes. It was about maps something-or-other-or… No,” I admitted. “I, uh, got the map part though.” I released a fake laugh.

  He smiled and shrugged. “Um, would you mind if I showed you?”

  I stared at him. His desire to share his love of maps with me was written all over his face.

  “Sure, that’s cool,” I said. In the back of my mind, I was hoping beyond hope that I wouldn’t fall asleep in the presentation.

  “Great.” He bowed and extended an arm toward the stairs that led to the Corridor of Death.

  With a gulp, I forced the largest fake smile I could.

  A few moments later, we descended the steps. Despite the time, Rylan was surprisingly energetic. He asked me a few random questions, and I him. Once we reached the hallway with the gun ranges, we exited the stairwell. We rounded the corner and he showed me the same place that Josalyn had dragged me to. After walking into the darkness of the room, he disappeared into the shadows. A moment later, a few lights above me whined and slowly illuminated.

  After Rylan moved to a huge arc-like table, I continued toward him. The ceiling lights were just enough to see comfortably without overpowering the soft, blue glow radiating from the table where Rylan stood.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “This is where I do most of my work. It’s a basic holo-projector, but I did all the coding for the programs that run the mapping application. Of course Josalyn gets me the maps, but I try to make sense of them.”

  “Okay, cool.” I nodded like this was important information because I didn’t want to seem rude or anything. So far it was like blah, blah, blah, I do yackity-smackity.

  A second glance from him let me know he’d understood my dilemma. “Okay, why don’t I show you.”

  He started clicking on the table, which I could now see was a wraparound console. A few seconds later, a building appeared in the middle of the hollow area. At first it was tiny, no larger than my fist, but soon it grew until it took up the whole hollow area and stood at least six feet tall.

  “Recognize it?” Rylan asked.

  I almost laughed. “Of course. It’s the Stadium.”

  I took a step forward, leaning over the console and searching every nook and cranny of the building before me. The walls, roof, and windows appeared solid, just like they did in person except there was a haze of blue along the edges.

  The building turned slowly, and I had the urge to reach out and touch it despite myself. It was my home. As unkempt as it was, even in the hologram, it was a kind of wonderful I couldn’t explain.

  I didn’t realize how homesick I was. Just seeing the Stadium again made me smile.

  “If we know a building or city forward and backward, we can get in and do what we need to do,” he said.

  “Okay, I think I understand now.”

  “Nah, I think you’ve just gotten a taste.”

  I frowned, and he walked over with a tiny orb. He placed it inside my hand and guided me back a few feet. “Stay here,” he said and went back to the console.

  The Stadium disappeared, and Café Lanta popped into existence. However, instead of Café Lanta being in the hollow area of the console, it appeared around me as though I was standing on top of it. I was there. Each chair, table, and umbrella was where it was supposed to be. In the distance the skyline stood in all its glory.

  It was exactly the same as I remembered, except the blue glow of the hologram gave it an ethereal quality. The edges of the buildings sparkled. As the holographic sun set behind the buildings, for the first time I was able to witness the full skyline at night. I had never seen it before. I always left Dhyla’s before the sun was fully set. Each little window radiated blue, orange, or yellow light. Levels of buildings illuminated spotlights and tiny, floating hovercars appeared as though they were fireflies.

  My heart warmed until the heat touched every part of my body. I fumbled with my fingers, trying to get a hold of the joy. It was so perfect and lovely.

  I glanced over at Rylan.

  “It’s not over,” he said.

  “What?” I could barely contain myself as it was.

  He did something, and the hologram started moving. Café Lanta slid behind me. I turned around and watched it slowly fade away behind trees and air vehicles. I faced forward. My body flew through the holographic air. Trees were underneath my feet. Hovercars and helicopters were so close it was as if I could touch them. I passed over the three-tiered Interstate and entered downtown Atlanta. As the buildings drifted by me, I felt the urge to lean forward like I was some superhero and fly through them. Closing my eyes, I let myself be free, gliding through the skyline I loved.

  When I opened my eyes, Rylan wasn’t at the console. I searched around and found him next to me. He had his arms out forward like I did with a grin on his face.

  The program guided us to the heart of the city, right above Piedmont Park. From there, we shot upward until we passed through each of the tiers and even through the heart of the Summit. At which point the simulation stopped, leaving us floating seventy stories in the air looking down on Atlanta.

  I gazed around me. It was both beautiful and frightening. It was as if we were really there. It took everything for me to keep my mind steady, knowing it was nothing more than a simulation. A few seconds later, we descended to the garden area inside the Summit. The holograms faded into blue and then dissipated with only the room remaining.

  My knees wobbled a bit. It was such a mental rush that my brain had to readjust.

  “You okay?” Rylan asked. “It’s a bit weird the first time.” He grabbed my shoulders and held me up.

  As I stood there, his hands slid down my shoulders to my arms. I gazed into his face. My arms rose, and my right hand cupped his cheek. He was
hot and the light bristles of his unshaved facial hair tickled my fingertips. His hands slid from my arms to my waist. I allowed myself to relax and enjoy the musky scent that lingered around him.

  Underneath my skin, my pulse quickened. His gravity drew me in. A lightness circled my head, and I began to drift as though his scent was a drug. Everything was easy. Being there was easy. My eyes locked with his and began closing on their own. My toes pressed against the floor, and my ankles lifted me toward his lips.

  All of a sudden, reality hit me like a baseball bat. I snapped my arms to my side and backed away.

  What was I doing? This wasn’t what I wanted. I had to save the kids. Boys were dangerous.

  He dropped his arms. “What’s wrong?”

  “I…I—nothing.” Emotions that I didn’t understand flowed through every part of me. A whirlwind of desire and hope and happiness boiled to the top of my heart. I couldn’t stop it. No, this wasn’t me. I had to get back to me.

  I spun away from him.

  “Paeton, you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I glanced over my shoulder and gave him my best smile, hoping he wouldn’t notice how flushed I was. A pinkish-purple rose blossomed inside of me. With every petal opening, my chest caved in on itself.

  I walked away, trying to keep my composure. I zipped up the stairs and back into my room. Once inside, I grabbed my pillow and covered my head with it. What was happening to me?

  CHAPTER 19

  The next morning, I shot out of bed and raced down to the cafeteria. Sun Hi was nowhere to be found. I stood in line, gathered as many pieces of half-stale muffins as I could without looking like a complete jerk, and placed them into a bath towel. After securing some brown orange juice, I slid into a corner to wait for Sun Hi to show.

  I barely slept a wink last night. I couldn’t get Rylan off my mind, no matter what I did. He possessed me with something. He had to be a secret underground wizard who had put some crazy spell on me. The map room must have had subliminal messages inside of it. That had to be the reason I was so light-headed last night. He was a mad hypnotist and a stalker. And he was mean, just mean, looking at me the way he does with those mesmerizing, gray eyes. Who did he think he was?

  I dashed up the ladders. I had hope that Sun Hi was in her room. Before I could reach the door, she opened it as a wide yawn played on her face. Without saying anything, I pushed her back into the room and shut the door.

  She caught herself from hitting the ground and turned with eyes like daggers. “Girl, are you crazy?”

  I gave her my politest, happiest face. “Hey, Sun Hi. Good morning?”

  “The world had better be ending, and you just saved my life,” she said.

  “Well… Hey I like your room.” I glanced around. The room was exactly like mine except in reverse. She had a few pictures on the side wall and a painting of a window on the far wall. At the bottom was a signature of the name “Bryson.” Around the fake window were yellow curtains.

  I thought about asking her more about Bryson, but before I could, she snapped her fingers like a thousand times in front of my face.

  “Okay, Paeton, this had better be good. I’m missing breakfast.”

  “Breakfast? You mean the gruel they feed us. You call that breakfast? It’s nothing like what you and Dhyla made at Café Lanta. Look, I brought you some.” I opened the little napkin to my stash.

  She eyed the food and raised an eyebrow. “Quit stalling.”

  “Me, stall? What are you talking about?” My legs started to shake. I pressed my palms to my thighs, trying to hide my anxiety.

  “All right, I’m gone.”

  She turned and started to walk out. My stomach squeezed into a tiny square.

  “I think I…I think I like Rylan,” I said. As soon as the words fell out, I immediately wished I could suck them back in again. My neck was hot and my mouth was dry. Every part of me shuffled until I thought I would just explode into particles of nervous energy.

  Sun Hi glared at me. Her forehead was tight, mouth slightly twisted. “Is that it? A blind man could see your scrawny butt is infatuated with him.”

  “But…” My gaze fell away from her and onto the fluffy carpet she had on the floor. I brushed the edges of my boots over it. Knots tightened and unraveled in my brain while tingles rolled over my shoulders.

  “But I don’t want to like him. I don’t. All I want to do is help Mari and Miko and go back to my old life. What is wrong with me?” I asked.

  A second later, Sun Hi stared off into space to gather her thoughts.

  “You don’t like him, do you?” I leaned forward, trying to find her eyes.

  “I don’t like a lot of people.” Sun Hi turned to me. The skin around her eyes tightened as she looked me over. “Here’s where I give you the ‘leave the boy alone’ speech. The only problem is you’ve already memorized it. You’re not stupid, and I know you’ve tried to keep your distance. So I’m just going to say this: He’s not a bad guy. He’s made his mistakes, and he has his own set of demons.”

  “What has he done?”

  “That’s not for me to say.” She grabbed my hands and tightened her fingers around them. “Be careful, but be fair to yourself and to him. If you feel like it’s not working, get out, and I’ll come and shoot ‘em.”

  I giggled a little, but the look on her face let me know that she wasn’t just giving me lip service.

  My gaze slid down to our hands. “Does this mean I don’t love Mari and Miko as much?”

  “It doesn’t mean you don’t love Mari and Miko, Paet. You’re sixteen. You’re not twenty-one or thirty. You’ve got hormones that the rest of us wish we still had. Just don’t get caught up and stay in control.”

  I was a bit calmer, but I was embarrassed. I just wasn’t used to people my age. I had Dhyla who was probably in her forties, Sun Hi who was definitely early twenties, Ms. Cooper who had to be fifty-plus, Mr. Palmer who was sixty, and Mari and Miko, barely eight years old. She was right. I always avoided people my own age because they were always the ones in trouble. Gangs are made up of teenagers, not forty-year-olds.

  ***

  Walking down to the Corridor of Death for training made every cell in my body tense. My muscles shuttered as if they would fly off the bone. I didn’t want to talk about the night before, but pieces of me were curious about it. I didn’t want him to think I was weird or anything, but part of me wanted to go back to the way things were. According to Sun Hi, I was obvious as the world was round anyway.

  Rylan sat against the door when I walked up. My steps echoed off the walls. The sound seemed as distant and cold. He fiddled with his pockets.

  “What chu you want?” His voice was rough, and he kept his stare on the wall.

  I walked close to him. “I just came to, um, apologize.”

  “Whatever. No need.”

  The air in the room thickened, but it wasn’t with anger. There was something else. The feeling drew me to him, faster than anything before. I looked into his gray eyes and saw a carnal confusion mixed with a passion that I didn’t understand. I forced a laugh to calm myself.

  “Look, I mean I’m… I’m not crazy or anything. I’m perfectly sane. I promise. I’ve just got a lot going on in my head right now.”

  He stood, but it wasn’t like he rose. The room bowed to him. “I told you. You don’t need to apologize or whatever. Dhyla told me to train you, so I will.”

  “Dhyla?” My mind locked.

  His body leaned against the wall, and he turned his head further into the darkness. His intensity lessened for a moment, being thrown against the far walls. For the first time since I arrived, I could breathe.

  “You need to be trained. I’ll train you. That’s it,” he said.

  The back of my eyes burned. My throat clamped down on itself, cutting off my air, again. “So that’s it.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  He spun around. His hair fl
owed over his forehead and eyes, hiding them, but he watched me. His anger cauterized my muscles and bones and my blood was on fire. He walked toward the door. My fingers itched, curling at my side. Without my control, my arms reached for him. I grabbed his shirt and spun him around.

  His eyes focused on mine and locked. My body crumbled as I stood there taking the full weight of his passion into my being.

  “I’ve been with Escerica for a while. There are never people my age.” His voice was low. “Everyone under nineteen dies first. I’m an anomaly.” He took a step toward me, so close that a simple lean forward, and his lips could brush mine. “I don’t blame you. One day though, you have to stop being afraid… and, I don’t know… live.”

  Terror rose inside me creeping along my shoulders and nipping at my neck. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  Rylan thinned his eyes. A moment passed, and my body trembled in the silence. He spun back toward the door, dismissing me. I dashed in an arc around his body to stop him.

  “Don’t go…” I whispered.

  I rested my hand on his chest. His heart pummeled his rib cage as though it was a punching bag. Every drop of his fury pulsated beneath my fingertips.

  I took a deep breath. “One day, I won’t be afraid. I promise.”

  CHAPTER 20

  All morning a single towel wrapped around my naked body as I scrubbed my clothes. Times like these were when I hated being Lower-C more than ever. The clothes stank something awful. I couldn’t imagine I actually smelled that bad. I couldn’t even get my secondary hour of sleep after the dueling baby cries because the scent wrapped around my neck and strangled me.