by K. Weikel
Twenty-Four
Rebecca
I fumble around in my old office, the one I had been assigned to when I had lived in the Domes, searching for the paper with the list on it. It had had every liquid in each vial listed on it, and every Government Official Doctor who worked down here had to have one… but that was a few years ago.
I find one in a drawer and run my finger over it.
“Changing… changing… changing… changing… transformation… yes!” I whisper as I find what I’m looking for.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I turn around to see a woman in the doorway, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.
“I’m sorry,” I say, smoothing down my hair and fixing my glasses. “I lost my copy.”
“So you decide to steal mine?”
“I was going to scan it and print another,” I say, walking to the door. “I was going to put it right back.”
She moves so I can’t get past her.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Do you want to do it for me?” I ask, holding out the paper to her. She rolls her eyes and moves over. “I didn’t think so.”
I walk out the room and over to the copier. I lift the clear lid and slide the paper in, pressing a white button. It springs to life and the information transfers to the blank one. It’s warm when I take it out, and I hand the original back to the woman.
“Here,” I say tersely, and walk away, absorbing all the information on the paper.
I walk into another office. The lights are off and the door is unlocked.
Flipping on the light, I search for the transformation-stopping serum again.
Upgrade-Stopper. This serum halts the transformation inside and out of the patient. Helps make the purple on the skin disappear (not always) and the pain stop completely. Lasting effects of the transformation include purple irises, heightened brain activity, quicker movements, sharper senses, and larger muscle tissue. May cause some discomfort and irritation on skin. Doesn’t always work. This depends on how far along into Change, gender, race, age, and physical activity. Inject only once. Purple liquid. Serum-x-645-Halfling.
This is it. This is how Eenralla will get better. If she doesn’t get better, I won’t know what it is that’s going on inside of her, or why it’s taken so long. If she doesn’t get better, it’s out of my hands.
I rummage for the tube, find it, and pour it into a syringe as I work my way back up to the Dame’s Dome, and walk down the streets to Eenralla’s house. People are everywhere, and I recognize some women from the Rebellion. I keep my head down, looking at the ground. I look too old to be in the Domes, and I am. I should be dead right now… or whatever they do with the people who turn thirty.
Twelve hundred and two. That’s what Eenralla had said her house number was.
“Rebecca?” I hear a familiar voice, and I turn to look. “Oh my gosh, it is you!”
Wryn’s skinny arms wrap around my neck before I can rush away. I don’t have time for this. I have to save the world. Literally.
I give her a quick smile and say “Hey, Wryn, I have to go…” and walk off.
She follows me down the street.
“I thought you reached the age of thirty already?” She asks. “You just disappeared—”
I break into a sprint and count up to Eenralla’s house number. I open the door and walk in.
Eenralla’s eyes flash to me, and she rolls over on her bed, crying out in pain.
And then I see the President standing in the middle of the room.
“Oh, what do we have here?” He smirks. “Rebecca, is it? I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I say, hiding the needle behind my back.
“What’s going on, Rebecca?” The President steps over to me as Eenralla cries out again. “Why did all of the cameras go out?”
“Why do you think I would know?”
“Because I know that you’re involved with the Rebellion.”
“Really?” I challenge him, taking a step backwards, in case I need to escape.
“Really, Tari Oprie.”
My mind goes blank.
Why is the President standing in front of me?