by Eliza Green
Ten steps from the changing room to the elevator.
A total of seventy steps from his location on the second floor to the lobby and freedom.
But his access card for the elevator stopped working last night and no longer gave him access to the ground floor. He and Sheila were trapped inside Arcis.
A large infirmary dominated the area in Tower B on the second floor. Dom knew it well when he’d spent a few days there after receiving a severe shock. But what he hadn’t noticed before was how segregated it was from the mixed dorms. He and Sheila worked as first aiders yet neither of them had permission to enter the infirmary, except as patients.
But Dom, a walking zombie, had more pressing problems than the secrecy of the infirmary—his lack of sleep for one. Then last night, a miracle happened. No emergencies to wake for, no blood to clean up. Just six hours of uninterrupted sleep.
It had happened just after Dom had stopped yet another teenager from bleeding out. This time it was a boy from the second floor who’d tended to an emergency only to slice his finger open on a scalpel in his medical kit. After Dom had stopped the bleeding and wrapped it, he demanded to speak to a supervisor. When the female supervisor finally decided to show, he’d shown her the room full of zombie-like teenagers who could barely stand, let alone tend to medical emergencies.
‘We’re not machines,’ he’d said. ‘We need sleep. We’ve already had an accident on this floor. A boy sliced his finger open. That wouldn’t have happened if he’d been rested.’
The supervisor had looked at him as if to say ‘So?’, but then she spoke to someone unseen and unheard. ‘Arcis will consider this. Stay in the dorm and remain on call.’
That morning, Dom relished his clear thoughts as he stood next to Sheila in the shared bathroom. Tactics and strategy had been all but forgotten on the second floor. He didn’t know how long the good feeling would last or if Arcis would change their mind.
With just the two of them in the bathroom, Dom admired his short hair in the mirror. He’d expected to see Carlo after the cut, but he only saw traces of the man who’d hated life so much he wore a permanent scowl. When Dom ran through all nine of Arcis’ floors and got out of here, he’d take Charlie up on his offer to have it cut properly.
Sheila pulled at the skin around her eyes. ‘Thank Christ. The dark circles are going away. I thought I might have to get some drastic procedure done when I got out of here. I’m too young for crow’s feet or bags. What you said to the supervisor last night must have worked. They’re not sharp enough to think of that all by themselves.’
She’d meant it as a joke, but Dom had noticed the supervisors’ lack of empathy long before they arrived on the second floor. It was almost like they didn’t understand how fragile teenagers could be.
‘Have you made a note of the exits on this floor, and how many cameras there are?’ said Dom.
He was certain there weren’t any cameras in the bathroom, but still didn’t know why.
He’d counted two in the dorm, four in the infirmary. There were two in the changing room where the elevator was, and one in the elevator itself.
The people who ran this programme were watching them, recording and monitoring them. Who for, Arcis? Or was it for the mysterious Collective in Praesidium?
‘Relax, Dom. You’re too wound up. They’ve cut off our access to the outside. We’re not going anywhere. Why don’t we just see what happens?’
The thought rattled him. Who were the Collective? The supervisors talked back to mystery voices who whispered in their ear. ‘I can’t just sit back and do nothing. It feels like we’re missing things we should be seeing.’
He thought about the supervisors: one male on the first floor, one female on the second. Both had shown up when the girl with the near amputation had almost bled out. Both had seemed detached, aloof. Both had cared little for the safety of the participants who put themselves in harm’s way. He considered telling Max about how unfeeling the supervisors were the next time he got a message to the outside. But other than their lack of empathy, what was so unusual about them? Or the Collective the female supervisor had mentioned who ran this place? How would that information assist Max or Charlie in their plans to shut down Arcis? The only noteworthy development so far was a dip in the brightness of the lights, just before rotation.
‘We could go round in circles trying to figure out the point of everything,’ said Sheila, touching a finger to her brow. ‘The answers will come, when you stop thinking so hard about it.’
‘I told you something was up with the first floor, especially after the last shock killed Brianna. But you wouldn’t listen. My gut says we’re missing some key component about this place.’
He didn’t like to think about it, how easily the group had turned on the slowest and weakest member. The supervisor had promised them all rotation if they sacrificed the slowest. Dom couldn’t take any more shocks. He hadn’t expected the last shock Brianna received to be the one that killed her.
Sheila sighed. ‘Even if we’d known about it, what Arcis was willing to do, could we have saved Brianna? They had it in for her. If it wasn’t her, it would have been someone else. Stop worrying about things you can’t control.’
Dom had heard the male and female supervisor talking on the first floor about how those controlling Arcis needed to move things on. He had expected Compliance to act as a buffer to protect Brianna from the severity of the shocks; up until now, they’d been harmless enough. But when the shock that hit Brianna wouldn’t stop, Dom knew this time was different. Sheila had almost died separating the girl from the conduit. As soon as she did, the electricity had stopped.
Arcis had changed him, made him cold and hard like the supervisors. He’d sacrificed Brianna to better his own situation. Or maybe killing his father had changed him. Maybe he came into this place with the heart of a killer.
Dom turned and leaned his hands against the sink.
‘What’s wrong?’ said Sheila. ‘You’ve got that look in your eye.’
‘This whole situation is messed up. How easy was it for us to use others to get what we want?’
Sheila turned to also lean against the sink. ‘Use others? What about what Arcis is doing to us? You think this sleep deprivation is a necessity? You think the accidents are avoidable? Because I do. A girl almost lost her hand. Either the participants are being put into situations they can’t handle, or they haven’t read Arcis’ safety manual.’
Dom folded his arms. ‘I don’t like who I’m becoming.’
‘What? An impulsive, stubborn control freak who is also the most caring man I know?’ She pushed him gently. ‘Get away from me, you freak.’
Dom laughed despite his mood. ‘I’m serious.’
‘So am I. We’re doing our best in here, Dom. We can’t let this place get the better of us.’
‘It already has.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My father. I’m becoming like him.’
Sheila pushed him harder, punched his arm a couple of times. ‘Listen to me, Dom. You are nothing like that lying, drunk, violent sack of crap. And I never want to hear you talk about yourself in that way again. You hear me?’
Dom avoided her gaze.
‘Do. You. Hear. Me?’
‘I killed him, Sheila. That already makes me like him. He would have done the same to me, to my mother. But I think he enjoyed torturing all of us.’
‘You didn’t kill him,’ Sheila whispered. ‘He stumbled and split his head open.’
‘Because I pushed him.’
‘Because he was hurting your mother. You were protecting her.’ Sheila stepped away and took a deep breath. ‘He made a pass at me, you know.’
Dom sucked in a breath. ‘When?’
‘About three months before he died. I was looking for you. You and Mariella were out. He invited me in. Asked if I wanted a drink. I said no. Then he pinned me against the wall, told me I was sexy.’ She shuddered.
‘Jesus, Sheila
. Why didn’t you tell me? What did that bastard do?’ Dom’s hands had turned into fists.
‘Nothing. He was unsteady, already drunk. I managed to slip out of his grip, get the hell out of there.’
Dom remembered it now, her refusal to visit him at home. She wouldn’t say why. His stomach swirled with the thought of what might have happened, what he hadn’t noticed. He groped for the sink to steady himself. Why hadn’t he paid attention?
‘It wasn’t the first time, either,’ said Sheila. ‘He used to look at me funny when I was younger. I just ignored him.’
‘I’m so sorry, Sheila. I didn’t know.’
‘It wasn’t your fault. Yours or Mariella’s. He was a control freak, had to have everything his way.’
‘I guess I inherited one of his traits. That and impulsiveness.’
Sheila stepped forward and cupped his face in her hands. ‘But everything you do is with love in your heart. He didn’t have a heart. Never compare yourself to him again.’
Dom nodded. She kissed him on the cheek.
They left the bathroom together and waited in the dormitory for the next emergency. Ten minutes later, the call came in.
Ω
That morning, Dom and Sheila dealt with three mild shocks from the fifth floor, two attempted suicides from the fourth and a deep cut from the third. The suicides worried him the most. Were the participants under that much stress? What happened on the fourth floor to force them to consider that?
His thoughts went to Anya. A few days ago she’d received her first shock. He’d been one of the first on the scene and tended to her. While she was disorientated, he’d given her the medicine that helped to control arrhythmia after an electric shock. The medicine had one extra ingredient: Charlie’s antidote. He’d tried to visit her in the infirmary, but his access card refused him admission.
How was she feeling? Was she confused, angry, irritated? Compliance stuffed down emotions. The antidote released them. The dominant feeling to return differed in everyone. For Dom it had been uncontrollable anger. He’d almost broken his hand punching the outside walls of Charlie and Max’s bungalow.
Anya would finally see Arcis for what it wasn’t—the sanctuary it pretended to be. Maybe she’d see something different to him. Arcis was pulling them deeper into a programme that tested them psychologically. Why? He didn’t know. But he needed Anya to help him figure it out.
Giving her the antidote had ignited a new fear inside him. It brought him one step closer to telling Anya what he was. She must understand he had no choice. The rebellion had to happen. Her parents had to die.
Telling her would take some Dutch courage.
Would she yell and scream, accuse him of using her? He wouldn’t blame her. Would she want nothing to do with him when she found out he was not only a rebel, but a killer? Definitely.
Yet, he had to take the risk. She had something he lacked, something that completed him. Sheila was his friend, but Anya understood him in ways Sheila couldn’t.
He and Anya had something worth risking everything for. Anya steadied him in those dark moments when he wanted to jack it all in.
13
Dom
The female supervisor burst into the second floor dormitories ‘Everyone get up! Now. Rotation is imminent.’
Dom shielded his face from the overhead lights. What time was it? He’d been working late last night trying to reset a broken arm. He’d fallen into bed maybe only minutes earlier. He checked his watch. Nope. Two hours ago. He kicked off the covers and placed his feet on the floor, groaning and scrubbing his scalp. Sheila, he saw, looked more alert, but not by much.
The supervisor hovered close to the door. ‘Stand by your beds, now.’
Eleven participants stood, in various states of undress. Boiler suits half on.
The supervisor wrinkled her nose at the dishevelled appearances. ‘The left side of the room will rotate today. The rest of you will continue on the second floor.’
She turned and strode from the dormitories. Only four on Dom’s side of the room were leaving.
Before the supervisor could change her mind Dom dressed fast and fired his possessions into his backpack.
‘Thank God,’ said Sheila. ‘Can’t say I’ll miss this floor.’
They waited by the elevator with the other two who’d rotated, Lucas and Lilly. Nobody spoke. Dom needed at least another six hours of sleep before he could formulate words. The elevator whirred as it came from the floor below. The doors opened; a brown-haired boy waited inside. They climbed in and mumbled greetings to him.
Dom stared at the ground while the elevator rode one floor up. The doors opened and he exited into an identical changing room to the one on the floor below. They weren’t alone. A girl waited there. Too exhausted and in no mood for a chat, he didn’t look up at her, instead focusing on her grey-and-white trainers. Sheila gave him a quick nudge but he ignored her.
He heard a familiar voice say, ‘I just left you!’
His gaze shot up to see Anya staring at the brown-haired boy. Her eyes were less dilated. She appeared sharper and more alert to how he remembered her being on the ground floor. Someone from the second floor said they’d treated a girl called Tahlia Odare, but she’d died. Charlie had mentioned that name, had asked June Shaw, a fellow rebel, to befriend her. Tahlia had lived in Praesidium. Not many people escaped the city. But she had.
He’d also heard another rumour: Tahlia had suffered the same fate as Brianna and Anya had almost died separating her from the scanner. If he wasn’t so tired he would have yelled at her, told her what an idiot she’d been. Arcis had targeted Tahlia, possibly because she’d lived in Praesidium. What had June found out? Dom wondered if there was a connection.
‘I know,’ said the boy smiling. ‘Supervisor One came to get me when you left. He sent me to the second floor. Jerome nearly had a heart attack. But then Supervisor Two sent me to this floor. And here I am.’
Dom ignored Anya to stare at the new boy. Had he heard him right? Had Arcis changed the rules? Two people from the first floor had skipped the second ahead of seven others on his floor. Why?
Anya stared at him before looking away, as if embarrassed. Dom couldn’t think straight. The lack of sleep had melted his brain. When he slept, then they’d talk.
He managed quick introductions all round. He said nothing as he passed a tight lipped Anya to get to the clothes rail. He was being a jerk. But her being here had shocked him into silence.
Everyone dressed fast and Dom yawned into his fist. ‘I’m going to need some sleep before I fall down.’
The others followed him as he made his way across the suspended walkway connecting Tower A and B. He entered a poorly lit room in Tower B to see a wall ahead of him with three openings, each marked by a different colour above the opening: blue, green and black. Three sconces lit up each plain entrance point. Together Dom and the others studied a small screen by the exit door containing a rudimentary map of the room: the blue section was the dorm, the green section was the kitchen. The black section had no listing.
It appeared as if Dom wasn’t the only one with sleep on his mind. All except Anya headed for the dorm. Dom felt her hot gaze on him as he walked away from her. His skin tightened at this new awkwardness between them. In his mind, he turned around and told her they would talk soon. In reality, he kept walking.
Dom dropped into a bed three away from the entrance to the dorm. He must have passed out upon contact because the next thing he heard was movement in the room. The others were awake.
He sat up. ‘What time is it?’
‘Midday,’ said Sheila. ‘We’ve been asleep for three hours. We’re going to explore. You coming?’
Three hours had taken the edge off his mood. He got up, still dressed in his new clothes: a hoodie and plain trousers. He looked around the room that was painted in a royal blue; the grey ceiling and grey bedspreads provided the only contrast. The dark walls felt constricting all of a sudden. ‘Yeah, sounds like a
good idea.’
He took the lead, and his stomach clenched at the thought of seeing Anya again. She was free of Compliance. Would she still want to be his friend? Where would he even begin to explain? Would she be the same person off the drug?
He navigated the middle section with ease arriving at a kitchen and a communal room. Anya was asleep on one of the beanbags dotted around the communal space. He smiled and hunkered down to her level.
He shook her. ‘Wakey, wakey.’
Her eyelids fluttered open and his heart skipped a beat when she flashed her cobalt blue eyes at him.
She crawled forward and climbed to her feet. ‘How long have I been asleep?’ She stiffened when her gaze flickered to a spot behind him.
Sheila.
Anya still thought he and Sheila were together.
But you never corrected her.
Dom had lost interest in keeping up the pretence. His and Sheila’s ruse had served its purpose.
‘A few hours. Not sure. There aren’t any clocks in here.’ Dom looked around. ‘Did the supervisor come?’
Anya shook her head.
He smiled at a piece of hair sticking out at an angle from Anya’s head. He reached out for it, his fingers twitching as they neared her. Anya blushed a beautiful red and fixed the issue before he could.
‘So, are we still pretending, Dom?’ said Sheila. ‘Or can I drop the charade now?’
Dom gritted his teeth. ‘Not now.’
‘Because I thought the plan was to get her this far. And now here she is.’
‘I said, not now.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ said Anya.
‘Nothing,’ said Dom. ‘Just Sheila shooting her mouth off.’
He glared at Sheila one last time.
‘Okay. You’re the boss.’
He was going to kill her.
Anya chewed on her lip in a way that drove Dom crazy. She was unsure, hesitant. And he knew why.
‘I, uh, I’m sorry about Tahlia.’
Anya dropped her head and hid behind a veil of hair. ‘Thanks.’ He would ask her about it properly when Sheila wasn’t around.