by Alechia Dow
“Why are you smiling?” Ellie blinks her eyes slowly as the corners of her mouth lift into a yawn.
“Just thinking about music.” And you.
Ellie stretches in her seat. “What was the first song you heard when you got here?”
M0Rr1S doesn’t have to think long. That first song was a gateway into a new world. “‘Across the Universe,’ by The Beatles. I loved it. It reminded me of home and the universe and the colors. Although I didn’t understand the song entirely, it was beautiful.”
She nods. “It’s a good song.”
“What was your first book? The first book you read that made you fall in love with reading?”
“When I was little, my dad would read me Corduroy by Don Freeman. It’s a story about a little bear who feels alone in a big department store, and loses a button. In the end someone buys him and loves him. I cherished that book.” She exhales slowly. “It’s in your bag now. But what book made me fall in love?” Her eyes glaze over in thought. “The Witches by Roald Dahl. I was looking for a book at the library, I was maybe nine years old, and I wanted something scary. This was when my dad worked in a small school library in Brooklyn, and they didn’t have any new kids’ books. But there this was, and I loved it. I love stories about witches. I think for a while after I wanted to be one. Oh, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. That book opened up another world to me.”
“I feel the same way about music.”
“Yeah. Music and books, they transport you. They make you feel in ways you didn’t know you could. I listened to Taylor Swift and Adele so much, even though I’d never had a boyfriend, but she made me understand heartbreak. And Beyoncé. I listen to her and feel strong, powerful, unapologetically black and like a queen.”
Little flutters of warmth spread through his stomach as she laughs. It’s happiness. That’s what Ellie does to him; she makes him feel weightless and happy. No one has ever done that to him before.
Pebbles from the road pelt the sides of the car, startling them both. The car slows down, like all of the energy is suddenly drained, until it comes to a stop.
“What’s happening?” Ellie asks, a tinge of fear in her voice.
“I have to switch the battery and add gasoline to the tank, don’t worry.”
“Oh, okay. That’s okay... I have to go to the bathroom anyway.” Ellie gets out of the car at the same time as him, but she runs in the opposite direction, into the field. He looks away, opening the trunk and taking the battery out.
He spots a palm-sized black chip that’s stuck to the hood. He yanks it off with a huff, and feels tiny pulses of electricity. What is this? Then he feels it spread like poison through his system. He attempts to drop it, but it’s magnetized to him, to his energy. It’s draining him. He shakes his hand. Get off, get off, get off. A red flash appears over his left eye. Warning! Energy source compromised.
He pulls with everything he has left, wishing he had used his abilities as soon as it stuck to him. He finally severs the strings connecting him to the chip. It falls from his grasp, and he bends over at his knees.
His finger searches for the button to tell him how much charge he has left. It can’t be much. But then Ellie screams somewhere in the distance.
M0Rr1S doesn’t think, he only runs to the sound of her voice.
That’s when the field starts to move. No, not the field. Humans. Hidden in the fields of long flaxen grass. This is his fault. He should have been paying attention.
Now, because of him, they have Ellie.
He runs toward her, halting when seven different guns point at him.
“Why’s a human traveling with an Ilori?” He can’t see the speaker through the camouflage makeup and clothing. He’s distracted by the way their hand shakes holding the gun.
Another human holds Ellie’s hands behind her back. She’s trembling. “He’s my friend.”
“Is she one of them?” Another with a mask over half their face asks. They eye Ellie.
“Nah, she doesn’t have that light-up screen thing.”
“But what if they’ve adapted? How would we know?”
“Kill ’em or take ’em in?”
Ellie’s gaze locks on M0Rr1S, her eyes big and fearful. The human shifts the gun to Ellie. “I say we kill ’em.”
“Let me radio Oz,” the other one says, unclasping something from their belt and speaking into it. M0Rr1S doesn’t listen. If he had enough charge, he could connect to their frequency and remove the energy or stop it momentarily. But he can already feel the lethargy spreading through him. His charge is too low. There is only one way to avoid these humans. Connect to AvR0la in Il-0CoM. It’s risky, but AvR0la can patch through some energy, if only a little.
If he isn’t careful, he’ll be exposed to all of Il-0CoM. The way he left things only minutes before...they’ll read him, find him, see what he sees and 0rsa will be the first to do so if he’s not fast enough. She’s probably waiting for any reason to ruin him.
“Oz says—”
M0Rr1S can’t sit and wait. He flicks the switch and jumps into—and through—Il-0CoM to AvR0la.
AvR0la, M0Rr1S begs.
Sir? AvR0la’s voice is quiet.
My charge is low. I need you to accept the connection and give me energy. Please.
Sir, I am currently detained. My own charge is low and I don’t have much time. I’ll do what I can.
AvR0la accepts the connection and they link. They see what M0Rr1S sees.
I will freeze the electrical energy in their minds. It will not last long. AvR0la sloppily connects to the human minds, pulling at synapses too gently to be of use.
Stronger, AvR0la, M0Rr1S commands.
AvR0la, with hesitation, pulls just enough to suspend the humans, rendering them at a standstill. M0Rr1S seizes the moment and reaches for Ellie, just as 0rsa enters the connection. He’s not fast enough.
It’s still alive?
Not now, he answers.
M0Rr1S, why are you traveling with a human? Voices echo in his mind, but he still reaches for Ellie as she reaches for him. Their fingers clasp together in the middle of the circle of guns and humans. Terror bubbles inside of M0Rr1S while Il-0CoM burrows deep into him, searching for answers. He needs this connection. He cannot let the others find them.
Commander.
Why?
Brixton. Coming. His father’s voice. Labmade. They are only fragments from so far away, but he understands the gist.
M0Rr1S tugs on Ellie’s arm. “Run.”
They dart through the fields, the dirt hard beneath their feet. Fighting Il-0CoM, and carrying Ellie would be too much, even for him. They are slow. His own charge hovers at 4 percent. When his charge is gone, he’ll go to sleep and won’t wake up until energy wakes him.
Secrets, many secrets. Too guarded to pry. A voice whispers in his mind.
M0Rr1S, you are wanted for inquisition.
His mind does not open for me.
Must employ other methods. A general cuts through all of the unrecognizable voices in his head.
Can we shut him down?
From here?
Too strong. Familial Code: 1lv.
But a Labmade.
M0Rr1S, you are to report to Inquisition now.
“M0Rr1S, what is happening?” Ellie shoots him a look with her brow raised, her chest heaving.
He can’t do it anymore. Too much prying will jiggle the truth loose. No. He shuts down Il-0CoM, disconnecting from AvR0la. He pulls Ellie into the grass with him. Her breathing is heavy, and she tightens her grip on his hand.
He puts a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”
Shouts ring out across the field. “There are mines here. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Come out.”
“Morris,” Ellie whispers.
Hi
s stares at her deep, brown eyes and smooth, radiant skin. Frizzy, humidity-riddled hair pokes out of her hat and by her ears. She has a small black dot—a mole—on her nose, and her lips are parted slightly as she pants in hot, sticky air.
“We’ve got your car,” one of the humans yells. “There’s no way out.”
“Morris.” Ellie’s hand is clammy in his, and her lower lip quivers.
“Come with us. We won’t kill you.” The voice is closer.
M0Rr1S has to decide what to do. He won’t leave Ellie here, but there is no way they can run and avoid bullets. His charge is too low now, and fighting could kill them both. “Do you trust me?” he whispers.
She gulps before nodding.
He pulls her up with him and together they stand. “Kill me. Not her. She’s a human, like you.”
The humans whisper among themselves. He listens, his eyes drooping from using too much energy too quickly. His request will go unmet. Their leader wants them both alive. “Take ’em in.”
Ellie raises her arms before them, her gaze cast down. She is silent, but her heart pounds in her chest and in his ears. Why is she so afraid? She’s a human among other humans. They surround them, closer and closer.
“Sorry about this,” a younger human hits the back of Ellie’s head with a gun, and she crumples to the ground.
M0Rr1S lashes out. He strikes them, sending them flying through the field. Another percent gone. He rushes to Ellie. She lays unconscious, a small smattering of blood leaking from a cut on the back of her head. They crowd around him.
“Stand down, Ilori.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“I said, stand down.”
Their voices...their species...none of it matter. “She’s human, why did you do this?”
“Only way we take you back is knocked out. Your turn,” one says. They shakily unzip the satchel by their side.
“You’ll have to hit me a lot harder.” M0Rr1S looks up at them, holding Ellie on his lap. He reaches for her glasses and shoves them into his coat pocket quickly.
“We will.” They step closer. He can feel their fear as if it’s a tangible thing. He barely turns in time before something connects with his head hard. At first it does nothing and M0Rr1S rolls his eyes. But then, slowly, he falls on his back beside Ellie.
The Starry Eyed: “Everything”
The Sound of Stars
Written by: Cecil Wright, Allister Daniels, Rupert Montague, Whisper Landsome
The dirt clings to our boots
We bury the secrets in the cold, dead Earth
Our world is tilted askew
I laugh, you cry, I whisper, you scream
I broke your heart
But still you give it to me
Don’t say, don’t say you don’t love me
Don’t say, don’t say you don’t feel it
Because I can’t bear it
You are everything
You are everything
I never wanted to see you in pain
The fault is mine, I’m covered in shame
I know it hurts, but I can explain
I shout, you weep, I lie, you speak
The truth, always the truth
I hold your heart in my hands
I broke it once, but never again
Don’t say, don’t say you don’t love me
Don’t say, don’t say you don’t feel it
Because I can’t bear it
You are everything
You are everything
You are
You are
You are
everything
CHAPTER 18
“We are what we believe we are.”
—C.S. Lewis
JANELLE
My head is killing me. I open my eyes to blurry stars in my vision, and not the pretty kind. I lie on a damp, earthy floor in a room without windows. Light filters in from the hall outside. My fingers touch my sides, then my face. Damn it, my glasses are gone.
I turn, the pain intense. There’s a body propped up against a gray stone wall. Morris? I sit up, groaning, and size up the bars sunk into the dirt ground. Where are we? Another prison? Although it reminds me more of a storage locker, but at least I’m not in chains. I rub the back of my head.
The memory hits me like the butt of the gun did. Humans. Humans have us now. This should be an easy solution: I’m one of them, after all. I’ll call out, ask for help. This has to be some misunderstanding. But first, I need to check on the figure.
I crawl toward him and touch the tips of my fingers under where I think his neck is—it’s hard to see without glasses—and feel for a pulse. If they were created to be like us, then he has to have one, right? My fingers shake. His pulse is there but soft. I let air sail through my teeth. He’s cool to touch, but his chest hitches. I trace the edge of my glasses in his coat pocket, and I’m relieved to put them back on, the world coming into focus around us.
“Morris, wake up,” I whisper. I nudge him again and again.
Color blooms in his face and his eyes slowly blink open. His body rises as if to get up, but promptly falters.
“Ellie?” His voice is raspy, and his eyes are dazed.
“Are you okay, Morris?”
“Ellie.” He moves forward, bringing his hands to the sides of my face as his stupor subsides. “Are you okay? Are you in pain?” His fingers search for something on the back of my head. The sting makes me gasp.
“Ow!”
“Sorry... I’m sorry.” His voice wobbles.
I kneel in front of him, with my hands still pressed against his chest. For some reason, I can’t move them. I’m glued to him, half out of comfort, half out of desire. “What happened back there?”
“Il-0CoM.” He doesn’t elaborate.
“You said it was dangerous. Are they coming for you?”
His hands fall from my face and land on mine. “Yes.”
“Do they know where you are?” Are they coming to kill me?
His closes his eyes but he doesn’t let my hands go. “No.” He sighs. “But they will. I wasn’t fast enough. They may know where I’m going.”
I gulp. “Do they know about the vaccine?”
“No.” There’s confidence in his answer, but he also looks weaker than I’ve ever seen him.
“Morris, tell me how you’re feeling.” I shift and fall back against the wall next to him, breaking our embrace. I leave one hand under his, not ready to end contact.
“I am... I was supposed to protect you and I failed. I was supposed to leave you, to not get attached, to let you be free from the Ilori and from me, and I failed. I failed before I even tried. And now, the one thing left for me to do, get to California, save humanity...I failed. I keep failing.”
I squeeze his hand. “That kind of thinking places a lot of responsibility on you and doesn’t hold anyone else accountable. You can’t control everything, Morris. And you haven’t failed. We haven’t failed. We’ve only encountered a new obstacle. Well, a few new obstacles.”
He raises my hand to his lips and kisses it, and I feel a blush coming on. “I will get us out of here. I’m just a little weak.”
“How’d they overpower you?”
“They hit me with something that set off an emergency shutdown and reboot. Nearly all my charge is gone.”
I shake my head. “I’ll get us out of here. I’m human, they’re human, we have that in common. I don’t see why they should hold us here.”
He exhales. “I don’t think any of that matters, not when you’re with me, Ellie.” He closes his eyes, swallowing. “You could stay with them. You could run with them...”
“I’m not leaving you, Morris. I said I’m coming with you, that’s my choice.” I slowly stand and press myself against the bars. I clea
r my throat. “Let us out! We just want to go somewhere else. We don’t know you. We won’t hurt you! I’m human. He’s my friend. Let us out!”
I continue screaming this for a long while until a tall, bald man with beady eyes strides down the hall. He’s escorted by five armed, camouflaged soldiers.
“You vaccinated?” His voice is higher than I would have imagined, and because of it, the fear isn’t too much to bear. But I am afraid. Everyone who has come down that hallway is white, and I’m still black. Now, we’re supposed to be past these things, but...hate isn’t sensible. And my mind travels there regardless.
“Which vaccine are you talking about? Measles, mumps and rubella? Chicken pox? Hepatitis or the flu?” I cock an eyebrow before wanting to kick myself. My dad’s defiance and distrust in authority must have slipped out through the cut in the back of my head. It really hurts. “You can look at my arms—no marks, no shots. I’m human.”
The guy regards me as if trying to figure me out while taking a drag from his cigarette. He ignores my snark. “Why do you travel with it?”
I let my voice drop, so I don’t seem aggressive. Now’s not the time to piss these folks off, even if my head is pounding. “He’s not like them. He’s sabotaging his own kind to save us.”
“Yeah, how?”
I turn back to Morris as he shakes his head, even though he’s not looking at me. Don’t tell them. I know that’s what he’s thinking.
“He saved a center of humans and set us free. He stopped Ilori from killing humans in the street. He’s—”
“Little girl, I don’t care what you say he did. There’s no proof. Why are you here? Traveling through here?”
“We’re going to California,” I answer.
“The Ilori took the coasts, and made their way in. We’re the last of the humans out here.”
“There are others. North. We know that. There’s a big fight happening right now in—”
“Your people are dying,” Morris cuts in. “You may be the last free humans. And her.” Morris doesn’t stand, nor does he look at them.
“Big savior he is,” a soldier grumbles.
I shoot him a dirty look. “Why would I lie?”