I followed him to the door at the back right corner of the room. When I stepped into the hallway, I remembered the night that Dana had punished Clark for what happened in the alley outside Archangel…I remembered him on his knees in front of me as Dana pressured me into punishing him.
“That door,” Clark pointed to the door in front of us as we walked, breaking me away from the memories, “will lead you into the office area of the Commission,” he explained. “From here on, you will need your card to open every door.” He stopped at the door and stepped aside, motioning to the black pad next to the door frame. “Just wave your card in front of it.”
I waved my plastic-encased card in front of the pad.
I heard a click and the red light turned green, so I put my hand on the cold handle and opened the door, walking into another hallway that I remembered vaguely from past experiences.
“And that’s all it takes,” Clark declared. “I’ll show you what the lock looks like when you need to use your hand or finger prints.” He started down the hallway and I followed, curious why we turned immediately left rather than continuing straight.
“Down this hallway are the conference rooms and a few of the offices,” he explained. “Generally, we will be hanging out around here. We’ll just pick a conference room that has no meeting scheduled and stay in there.”
“That sounds really boring,” I chuckled.
“It generally is,” Clark agreed with a smile. “I am happy I will have someone to talk to now.”
We came to the end of the hallway and Clark pointed to the hallway on the left. “That will lead you to the meeting room,” he told me. We turned to the right and I saw a large conference room to my immediate left and a door on my right with a name I didn’t recognize. Clark turned to the door of the conference room. “Here is where the schedule is posted for the rooms,” he explained, motioning to a screen next to the door. “The office staff will be in this room at five-thirty,” he showed me the note before moving to the next conference room, pointing back to the first office.
“That’s Sarah’s office,” he explained. “She’s pretty much in charge of the schedules and paperwork of the Commission. She’s really nice, but she gets stressed out really easily. If you ever need any pens or anything like that, just ask her. She has a stock of everything you could ever need.”
The office next to Sarah’s did not have anyone’s name on it, nor did the two doors after that one.
“Are some of these offices empty?”
“Yes,” he answered. “At one point people worked in there, but I guess they couldn’t really handle the Commission…No one has filled the positions since.”
“But…what happens to people who quit the Commission after working down here?” I whispered. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach, I already knew the answer.
“Take a guess…” he hissed, looking at the schedule of the next conference room. “Not this one.”
As Clark was about to move toward the door of the next conference room, there was a tapping to our right. I turned and jumped out of my skin. Dana was there, his glasses off, staring through the conference room glass. All eyes in the crowded conference room were on us.
I took a deep breath when I saw Dana motion for us to join them. I glanced at Clark who nodded, an apologetic look in his eyes.
Clark led the way, holding the door open for me.
“Good afternoon, Little Lily,” Dana greeted. “Is Clark giving you a good tour?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He turned to the rest of the room. “Everyone, this is little Lily Sandover, Tommy Sandover’s daughter,” he introduced me. “She is the reason I called this meeting. I want you to keep her safe here at all costs. She has recently been the target for some of the children of the Commission who have nothing better to do with their time,” he explained. “She will be staying down here with us every day after school until the threat abates.” He turned back to me. “There are a few people you should know.” He pointed to Sean. “You already know Sean, my head of security.”
I nodded to him and he smiled warmly.
“Hello again, Miss Sandover.”
“That is Jim,” Dana pointed to a man who raised his hand to get my attention. He was a young man with a very soft face and hyper-blonde hair. “He is in command of the security for the cells and wards of the Enterprise labs.”
“Do you want her to have clearance into the back?” Jim called to the leader of the Commission of the People.
“Level B,” Dana answered. “She can go back and take a look, but she cannot access Ward Ten, the Dome, or the cells themselves.” He looked at me seriously even as he answered Jim’s question.
“Very good, sir.”
“Over here is Sarah, she’s the organization back here,” Dana said with a wink. She was beautiful with curly auburn hair that cascaded around her in such a perfect way, I was immediately jealous of her good looks. She smiled shyly, which left me wondering how a girl who seemed so innocent could work in such a dark place.
“These boys over here,” Dana called my attention as he motioned to the three in the room that had sunglasses on, one of whom I recognized as Mark, “are a few of my elite security force,” he said. “Mark, of course, you have already met. He is Clark’s gift.”
I looked at Mark, who dropped his head in a small bow.
“They don’t speak, and they don’t understand almost anything you say that’s not a learned command, but they are loyal and they are strong,” Dana explained. “As with Clark, I have put Mark in charge of your safety. He is your personal bodyguard. However, the other two, Sam and Dale, will also be your bodyguards if I need Mark for any reason. They’ll just quietly loom in the corner. You’ll get used to them.”
Dana smiled and reached toward Mark, who shied away, but Dana still placed his hand against the side of Mark’s head.
“They are adorable, aren’t they?” Dana grinned. He stepped in front of the other man, blocking my view, and reached up with both hands, carefully grabbing the sides of Mark’s glasses. “I am willing to bet, Little Lily, that you have never seen one of these before.”
Dana stepped away, Mark’s glasses in his hands, and I understood why Mark had been taken into the Commission of the People.
He was not like anyone else I had ever seen before. I hadn’t given much thought to his slightly darker skin, but now that his eyes were revealed, I realized he was someone from Asia. His eyes were narrow, shaped like almonds above high cheek bones. With the exception of his jaw, the lines of his face were soft, not nearly as angular as Caucasian men. His nose was smaller, flatter against his face, and his lips were narrower.
Mark dropped his eyes to the ground and Dana shook his head.
“No, no, no,” he scolded gently, reaching under Mark’s chin and lifting his head. “Let her get a good look at you.”
Mark looked at me, his eyes innocent, gentle, and mildly frightened. I looked into the almost-black eyes, admittedly fascinated. Dana was right, I had never seen an Asian before, not even on the news. Very rarely were the political tensions in Asia were covered on American news, and even then it was a brief note before moving on to something more prevalent in America. I had only heard about what they looked like by rumor.
I was staring. He looked so different and yet so similar. For some reason, it shocked me how similar Asians appeared to us considering the way they were generally spoken about.
“He is quite the specimen, isn’t he?” Dana chuckled. “His face was the least-chinky of the batch, which is why he’s allowed to go out with his glasses. Though, we try to limit his outside exposure.” Dana placed his hand against the side of Mark’s face. “Got him out of a large, hidden society in the Western Region about eight years ago. They had been hiding underground in a destroyed, quarantined area ever since the population cleanse of the Second Revolution. Made quite the little society down there.” He grinned at Mark and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “They don’t understand English, though. I gave the
m normal names because theirs were too damn difficult. In Mark’s case, I made it so he can’t speak. I couldn’t understand a word he said and all he did was yell. But, like any good, stereotypical slant-eye, he can fight, which is what we programmed into him.”
Dana turned to Mark.
“Right?”
Mark stared at him, his eyes innocent, child-like, and full of confusion.
“Yeah, you can’t understand a word,” Dana laughed. The rest of the room also leered. Only Clark, Sean, and I remained silent. Dana looked at Mark again and then started forward quickly, causing Mark to flinch and causing another round of laughs to circle the room.
Dana placed a hand on Mark’s hair, ruffling it despite the experiment’s cringe. Dana smiled, turning to me and motioning me closer.
“Come here, you can touch him,” he said. “Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous. He’s very tame now, aren’t you?” Dana turned to Mark, who could only stare back in complete confusion. Dana grinned and moved his arm from Mark’s shoulders. “It never gets old…” he chortled.
Dana grabbed my wrist, pulling me closer. He brought me to stand in front of Mark and then pulled my hand up to rest on Mark’s cheek. The former experiment moved away at first, but my fingers made contact with Dana’s insistence.
“Go ahead and touch him,” Dana assured. “He feels like a human and everything.”
“Don’t give him too much credit,” one of the men laughed darkly. “He’s as machine as they come. Can’t feel anything, can ya?”
I cringed as I heard the jibes and laughter. Mark did not react apart from looking around in confusion. It was a good thing he could not understand the horrible things being said about him.
“He has a heartbeat, too,” Dana said, guiding my hand to rest over Mark’s heart.
I looked at Mark apologetically, but he only stared back. His eyes were so dark it was unsettling, but I didn’t feel any fear toward him—just fascination.
“Here’s the best part,” Dana said. He pulled me away from Mark. “I would say that, most of the time, they’re dumb as bricks, but when given an order, they follow it, regardless.” Dana ran his fingers over my cheek. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
Before I could say anything, I felt both of Dana’s hands around my throat, pushing into my windpipe, causing pain to shoot into my jaw.
“Dana, what are you doing?!” Sean snapped.
“What the hell?!” a few others gasped.
Suddenly, Dana’s hands were gone and I stumbled backward into Sean, who held onto my shoulders to keep me steady.
“Just take it easy,” he told me. “Slow breaths.”
I took a few deep breaths as I turned my attention to Dana and Mark. Mark was throwing punches and swipes at Dana, who continued to dodge, despite Mark’s incredible speed. Mark caught onto Dana’s wrist and pulled him closer, trying to knee him, but Dana grabbed Mark’s knee and pushed it to the side, using his other hand to punch Mark, who ducked and tried to kick Dana’s legs out from under him.
Dana lifted his own leg to meet Mark’s, but Mark spun them both and pushed Dana up against the glass of the window behind him, holding him by his throat.
“Cease!” Dana ordered. Mark stopped immediately and retreated. Dana laughed and straightened his suit jacket over his shoulders before turning to me. “He’s quite the fighter,” he chuckled. “Which is the reason I ordered him to protect you at all costs. Just a few simple orders that he understands, and he will fight until ordered to stop or until the person is dead. He’s really remarkable, being what he is.”
I was still coming down from the adrenaline high of being choked. I was unable to fully take in what had happened. I stared at Mark, who turned to look at me before looking to Clark and Dana.
Surprisingly, Mark turned to me once more and took a hesitant step forward.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, chink?” Dana snickered, grabbing Mark’s shoulder and pulling him backward, causing him to stumble. “You obey your orders and that’s all, understand?”
Mark stared.
“Oh, right, of course you don’t,” Dana laughed, causing another round of laughter throughout the room. I heard Sean sigh disapprovingly behind me.
I was about to say something, but someone beat me to it.
“Dana,” Clark started, “can you please not speak so harshly of him? He has been very good to our family and to you.”
“I never said that he wasn’t,” Dana defended. “But, some things are just fact. Speaking of being good to people, I even told Danielle that if she wanted Mark for something more exotic, she was more than welcome, but she might not feel anything…”
The men around the table laughed even louder.
“Alright, Little Lily, I need to have a discussion with Clark. The rest of you are excused,” he motioned to everyone in the room. “Mark,” he turned, “take Lily to conference room five.” He held up five fingers and pointed out to the hallway. Mark bowed his head shallowly. He motioned to the door, guiding me into the hallway.
I spared a glance at the nervous and frightened Clark. He tried to smile, but I could not smile back.
Mark led me to the dark conference room silently, opening the door for me as the lights automatically clicked on.
I put my backpack and purse down, already feeling the stress already wearing me down. I turned to Mark as he bowed his head to me and began to leave.
“Mark!” I called quickly. I hesitated when he turned back, unable to stop staring at his eyes. They were so dark, so different, and I knew I should not have been staring, but I could not stop myself. “I…”
He waited patiently. I wanted to say so much to him, to ask him questions, but I knew he would not understand me. Even if he did understand he would have been unable to answer. I felt my mouth open and close uselessly several times before I sighed heavily.
“I’m so sorry…” I whispered, looking him in the eye. He cocked his head to the side slowly, trying to make sense of the words. I felt my heart break. He stepped back a half-step, watching me carefully as I walked toward him. I lifted my hands peacefully and then placed them on the sides of his face. He stared at me, his confused eyes darting between my eyes, my arms, and the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” I said again, hoping he would understand my words based on my expression.
His eyes settled on mine. He opened his mouth and my heart sped up, seeing the dilemma in his eyes. He closed his lips again and his eyes fell to the floor, but then he opened his mouth yet again.
I could do nothing but blink at him as he tried to communicate.
His hand grabbed my right wrist, pulling my hand to his neck, just below his jaw, pressing the pads of my fingers against a line of rough skin under the ridge of his jaw.
I felt tenderly along the scars, examining the evidence of Dana stealing his voice, tears welling in my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
He pointed at me and nodded, which made me believe he could not understand me at all. He then pointed at his ear, pinching the lobe and then dropping his hand.
“What?” I whispered, confused.
He hesitated, looking around and then motioned for me to come closer, but since I was standing so close already, I was extremely confused.
“I’m sorry, what?”
He pointed at me again and I realized he did understand the two words and he was trying to reply. He then pointed at his chest before reaching up and rubbing his earlobe again. I guessed the motion was the experiment sign language that meant everything was alright. I smiled and nodded. His face lit up and I smiled wider before I could stop myself. I didn’t know how old Mark was, but his face had a child-like quality to it for being that of a grown man. His dark eyes were suddenly very expressive and full of life.
When Clark suddenly appeared at the door and I backed away from Mark. The other teen looked between us.
“What’s going on?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,”
I said quickly. He looked skeptic. “Um…are you sure he doesn’t understand what we’re saying?” I asked, pointing at Mark.
“He understands basic things,” Clark said. “Why?”
“I told him I was sorry for what happened in there,” I said. “And then he started motioning to me that everything was alright.”
“Well, those are simple words,” he said. “Besides, he doesn’t know what they were saying in there.”
“That doesn’t make it any better…”
“I know.” Clark looked at Mark and nodded once.
“18:30,” he said clearly. Mark bowed his head and stepped out of the room, positioning himself outside the door.
“What?”
“That’s when he’s taking us home,” Clark explained, dropping his backpack to the ground and sighing. “Dana says he is sorry that he does not have time to chat with you today because he has meetings until ten,” Clark added, malice dripping in his voice.
“I am going to show you around more of the Commission, and we have to go to the lab before we get too settled,” he added, motioning for me to follow him.
“The lab?”
“Yeah…remember that bag Cassie at the front desk gave to Mark?” he asked. “You have to get your tracer chips put in.”
“Tracers?” My heart sped up. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately,” he grumbled. “You’ll get three, one in the ankle, one near the joint of your thumb, and the other on your right shoulder blade.”
Each American child was given an identity chip behind the right ear shortly after birth. Central assured everyone that it was not a tracer, but that it was used for medical purposes in case of accidents or odd complications. I was pleased to realize that the chip behind my ear was not a tracer, but that did not quell the fear at having three tracers accessible to Dana Christenson and the Commission of the People put in my body.
Clark placed a comforting hand on my back, urging me to take a step forward and breaking me out of my stupor.
“Come on,” he whispered. “I’ve done it before, it’s pretty simple. I’ll be there with you.”
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