Tainted Plans

by Jenn Vakey

  “We only have another hour, Pax,” I said gently. “The rules are very clear. We’re not supposed to have contact with anyone in the eight hours leading up to when we leave. That way you don’t have to lie about missing the signs if anyone asks. You know your father will.”

  He nodded solemnly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit. “He’ll want to make sure it’s not something that’s going to happen to me.”

  I found that fact a little funny. People were so worried about their children catching something that would trigger Pulse. Something that wasn’t even real in the first place.

  But I couldn’t think about that now. We only had an hour left to walk around Eden. The last hour that we would see it when we weren’t desperately trying to escape.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “It’s time to go,” Dallin said, standing in our doorway. It was dark outside, the city quiet. While there wasn’t an official curfew for anyone over the age of fifteen, most people weren’t out at night. There wasn’t really a point to be. Not when a large part of the population started work before the sun even came up. “Are you sure you want to do this, Leeya? You don’t have to leave. You’ll be safe here.”

  It was a selfish request, but I couldn’t fault him for it. We were the only family he had left. He had raised us since we were infants. He loved us like his own. Now we were leaving him alone.

  “You have no idea how badly I’m going to miss you,” I told him, crossing the room and wrapping my arms around his waist. “But I can’t let her go without me.”

  “Just like I can’t just up and leave with the two of you,” he countered. “No matter how badly I want to.”

  “Maybe soon,” I said. “After everything has settled. After you know they aren’t looking for us. Maybe you can come to Alkwin and meet us.”

  He smiled, but I could see it in his eyes. This wasn’t just a farewell where we would see him again. It was goodbye. The forever kind.

  Lillith tossed the strap of her bag over her shoulder and stepped toward us. “Let’s get this over with. I’m not going to feel safe until we’re outside of the wall. Even then…”

  I hated seeing my sister so worried. She might have the abilities, but I had the strength between us. We both knew it. Of the two of us, she was timid and sweet. I was the one with the mouth that tended to get me in trouble. It was like we were two parts of a single person. I liked it that way.

  Dallin nodded and handed me my bag, taking the third one for himself. The more important of the three as far as I was concerned. Ours just had clothes and personal effects. There was some of that in his, but mainly it held everything I had managed to sneak away from the Healer office over the past month. Things we would need to survive. And if Alkwin was real, things to offer the community.

  All of the lights were off in the house. It helped me not to look around and really think about everything we were leaving behind. The home we had grown up in. The chair our mother used to sit in after a long day working in the fields. Things I would never get to see again. Memories that I would only be able to reach through my mind.

  The walkway was empty when we stepped out. We didn’t have to go through the city central, but it still left me nervous being out like this. I felt exposed. It was one thing for us to just be out walking around, but we had our bags. There was no reason for a family to be walking around with bags in the middle of the night. No good reason.

  We walked between houses of sleeping people until we reached the edge of Sentry’s section. Thankfully, it backed up to Distribution, which was where we were going. Dallin wouldn’t tell us about this part of it. More of the rules to make sure that the operation was kept hidden. I didn’t question it. I already had more than enough to worry about.

  As we had done before, we walked quietly between the houses until Dallin veered off. He didn’t slow until we reached one in the back. Hidden under the wall’s shadow.

  My heart was racing as I watched him lift his hand, bringing it down five times. Two, one, two. A secret knock. Even then, I didn’t really feel safe. What if the person in there had been caught? What if there was a group of Sentry waiting to arrest us?

  But when the door opened, I saw only an older woman wearing a red jumpsuit. The color of Distribution.

  “Quickly,” she said, taking a step back so we could enter. “Are you sure you weren’t followed?”

  “Certain,” Dallin answered.

  She nodded, then led us back into the home. It was smaller than ours, about a third of the size. That wasn’t a surprise. Not only did she appear to be living alone, but Distribution as a group had smaller residences. It was clear that she had been here a while, though. Homey was a good word for it. The furniture was older and well worn, but still in good shape. There were personal items lining the shelves. Pictures, trinkets. I was still looking around when she stopped and started speaking.

  “Tainted first,” she said, motioning to a chair set up in the middle of the room. “Hers is the most important. Even if we’re interrupted before finishing the second, she will still be able to get her sister into Alkwin.”

  Lillith looked nervous as she put her bag down and sat in the chair. We knew what it was she was going to be doing, but that didn’t make it any easier. The technique, called tattooing, was a barbaric practice that hadn’t been done for hundreds of years. It involved injecting a special serum under the skin with needles. The end result was a picture permanently left on the body. Thankfully, the serum they used was invisible, only showing under a certain light.

  “The back of your shoulder, dear,” the woman said kindly. “Left.”

  Lillith nodded, pulling the shoulder of her shirt down as she turned her back to the woman.

  “Why the back?” I asked, watching as she picked up some type of gun with a vial attached. It reminded me of the kind we used for injections in the Healer office. Or, at least, the kind that were used before our technology advanced beyond needing them.

  “For the safety of Alkwin,” she answered. She wiped off Lillith’s shoulder and flipped on a special blue light above her. Then, placing one hand over the area to hold her still, she began. Lillith winced, but she held back her cry. As the gun moved over the skin, I could see a pale blue image starting to emerge. It almost seemed to glow under the light. Fluorescent. “You must display your back to the Tainted. A show of trust.”

  I watched as the lines formed, looping around in a shape that reminded me of the letter L. There were flourishes on it, though. Three dots on one side, a spiral erupting from the base. “What does it mean?”

  “Sacred unity,” she answered, not seeming put off slightly by my questions. Most people were. I had been told more times than I could count that I asked too many of them. “It symbolizes the bond all Tainted share. Yours will mean friendship. That you aren’t one of them, but you are there as a friend.”

  Not one of them. It pulled on a string that I had been carefully avoiding for the past month. Why my sister and not me? I knew how much danger she was in, but I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. A little left out. I didn’t know if I really wanted to be Tainted, but I didn’t want her to go through it alone.

  I didn’t listen to the conversation when it was my turn. It wasn’t excruciating, but it wasn’t pleasant. I did pick up on Lillith’s comment that it also looked like an L. On mine, it sounded like there were partial spirals on both ends, with the loop in the middle missing the bottom half. I knew the tattoo would be invisible, but I hoped they would have some way for me to look at it when we got to Alkwin.

  The entire process took half an hour. I was vibrating by the time it was time to go to the extraction point. I kept envisioning a crowd of Sentry just waiting in the shadows. Even when the kind older woman bid us goodbye and shuffled us out, I couldn’t stop looking for them. We were marked now. Even if we did decide to put it off for a day or a week, there was a way for them to see what we were. And that was terrifying.

  “Keep up with me,”
Dallin said, weaving through the houses. “We have to go two sections over. If anything happens and we get separated, go there. Laborer’s section, just behind house twelve. There will be a man there named Harun.”

  “Why would we get separated?” Lillith asked, panic sounding even through her whisper.

  “It's just a precaution, my dear girl,” he said, trying to sound reassuring. But it was a lie. I could tell. I could always tell. The look he gave me, a mix between an apology and a sense of dread, told me that he knew I’d picked it up. He might have been putting on a brave face, but he was scared.

  I was beginning to think everything was going to go as planned by the time we reached Healer’s section. Only one more to go. But that's when I heard it.

  “There's a patrol ahead,” I hissed through a whisper.

  We all stopped abruptly, and I could see my fear in both of their eyes. There were Sentry ahead. A lot of them.

  “We need to double back,” he said, pointing in the direction we'd just come from.

  I thought it over quickly, then shook my head. We were all going to be dead if they caught us. Lillith and I already were. I couldn't risk Dallin being dragged down with us.

  “We need to split up,” I told him. “They can't see you with us. Even if they spot us and we get away, they'll know you were helping us. It's too risky.”

  I could tell the idea frightened Lillith, but she nodded anyway. Dallin looked like he wanted to argue, but as the voices grew nearer, he reluctantly agreed.

  “I love you both,” he said, pulling us in for a group hug. “Have them send word when you arrive so I know you're safe.”

  And with that, he was gone.

  I realized too late that he was still carrying the bag of Healer supplies. But I couldn't call after him. I just grabbed Lillith by the hand and we started to run.

  We weaved quickly through the houses. We were maybe ten minutes away, assuming we could quickly find the house. I was so focused on that instead of our surroundings that I didn't see the man dressed in black before it was too late.

  “Stop!” he called abruptly.

  I didn't have a choice there. He had stepped out only two yards in front of me. My feet skidded against the ground as I halted, panic washing over me like a hot shower.

  Lillith squeezed my hand where I held her. I squeezed back.

  The Sentry took one look from us to our bags and knew something was wrong. He was just opening his mouth to call for help when I did the only thing I could think of. I ran toward him, throwing my weight into my shoulder as I barreled through him.

  The move startled him just long enough for me to knock him down. But as we put precious feet between us, I could hear him calling for the others.

  “Run,” I said desperately. We had to lose them. We couldn't just run to the wall and find this Harun guy. That would only end in us all getting killed.

  Lillith kept up, but I could feel her fear through where she held me.

  We had just rounded the corner behind the third house when something hard slammed into me. My feet were no longer under me, my body flying through the air. Lillith’s fingers slipping from mine. Spinning to the point that I almost didn't see the side of the house before my body struck it.

  Everything around me went hazy. Though I had stilled, it still felt like I was twisting out of control.

  It was the scream that snapped me out of it. Lillith’s scream.

  Letting my bag fall to the ground, I pushed myself back up and turned to face her. There were three Sentry surrounding her. Grabbing at her. The one with his back to me had his baton out, raising it up.

  “Stop!” I yelled desperately, but he paid no attention as he brought it down on her shoulder.

  I rushed toward him, pushing him with all my might. The two others ignored me. They must have known. She was the one with the abilities, the true threat. How could they know?

  The Sentry I knocked down turned and swung his baton out, striking me in the head. I teetered, the world cloudy again. Then before I could fight it, my legs were pulled out from under me. There was a weight on my body moments later that I couldn't understand. Not until I saw the Sentry on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

  “Lillith!” I yelled, turning my head so I could see her. They had me. I knew there was no way of me getting free of them. But she still had a chance. She had to get away.

  I watched as she wrapped her hand around the arm of one of the men. Watched as he weakened, falling to the ground. I didn't understand exactly what she was doing to him, but that didn't matter right now. The only thing that mattered was her getting out of here.

  She released the first Sentry and turned to the next. It was going to be okay. She just had to weaken him like the other and she could run.

  Just as she reached out her arm, though, a wave of blackness surrounded us. I thought I was losing consciousness from the pressure on my chest, but then I saw it. The mark of the Sentry.

  “No!” I cried out, my eyes quickly finding my sister again. Just in time to watch the baton of another Sentry swing out and slam into her head. Her eyes went wide, confused. Then she fell.

  My body thrashed under the man holding me. I needed to get to her. But then came a burning sensation on the side of my neck. Not unlike what I felt when getting the tattoo.

  Confused, I looked up into the face of the Sentry above me. He was… smiling. And that was the last thing I saw before everything went dark.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I could see the light even before I opened my eyes. I thought for a moment that I was dead, but there was too much pain for that. My head was screaming, my body sore.

  I tried to move my hand up to my head, but it wasn't listening. No, that wasn't right. There was something on it, something holding it down. Holding me down.

  Peeling my eyes open, I looked cautiously around the room. Everything was white, even the chair I had been strapped to. The lone chair sitting in the middle of the empty room. No, not empty. Because as my eyes searched for the door, I saw that I wasn't alone.

  I recognized the man standing near the door instantly. He was tall and thin, like most men who didn't work as Growers or Laborers. His hair was dark and combed neatly back, with only the faintest trace of grey showing. His hooded green eyes were watching me, not the slightest hint of fear in them. He wasn't afraid of me. Why would he be? I wasn't one of them. Wasn't Tainted. Tied to this chair, I was no threat to him. To anyone.

  Adler Behrer. I had never seen him in person. At least not close up. The same could be said for every member of the royal family. So why did I warrant a face-to-face conversation with the brother of King Phineas?

  “Where's my sister?” I asked, trying to keep my nerves from showing. I knew I was dead. We both were. I just wanted to be with her when the time came.

  “You'll see your Tainted sister again. You just have to earn it first.”

  Earn it? That didn't really matter right now. The important thing was that he wasn't lying. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do to see her again. To be with her.

  Before I could ask what I needed to do, the door opened and another man walked in.

  I sucked in a sharp breath, eyes widening as I looked at the new arrival. Just as tall as Adler, but his dark hair held far more grey. He was also thicker, a man that clearly didn't have to worry about weekly rations to eat. They also shared the same green eyes. Unlike Adler’s, though, his held a deep sadness. One that I couldn't help feel a pang of sorrow for.

  “King Phineas,” I said with a curt nod.

  I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or even more frightened in his presence. It did make me curious. What could be so important that the king himself would be present?

  “Is this the girl you've tasked with going after him?” he asked, his eyes moving around my face. Studying me.

  “Going after?” I responded. That panic began to bubble up again as I started shaking my head. “As in kill someone? Because I can't kill someone.”

&n
bsp; “No!” King Phineas snapped. There was so much power even in his voice that it wiped all the thoughts from my head. “He's to be brought in alive.”

  I nodded, the first bit of relief really settling in. While I would do just about anything to be with my sister again, that was one line I really didn't think I could cross.

  “You shouldn't be here, brother,” Adler said, looking to the king. “Word will get out about the altercation tonight. Your presence will only raise questions.”

  King Phineas gave Adler a baleful look, but he just turned and walked back out.

  Adler was right about the questions. I was filled with them now. What could they need me to do that would be important enough for the king to be involved?

  I wanted to ask Adler, but I didn't. Some little voice in the back of my mind told me that would only give him control. Something my rational side said that he already had. Still, I didn't want him to have any more.

  “You are in a unique position, Miss Harkins,” Adler said, walking to a panel on the wall. He punched in something, then stepped back. The wall near it lit up, then a picture appeared. It was a young man, maybe a few years older than myself. The picture was slightly grainy, like it was pulled from a security camera. He had wavy, sandy blonde hair that reached his chin, which he had tucked behind his ears. Chiseled facial features and deep set eyes that were turned away from the camera. Definitely not what I had been expecting when I was tasked with bringing someone in. This guy didn’t look like he would be trouble for the government. He was too… handsome.

  “And why is that?” I asked, pulling my gaze away from the image to face Adler.

  “You’ve already been granted access to Alkwin,” he explained. “That’s where you will find this man.”

  My heart started to race again. He wanted me to bring back a Tainted. Someone who was sure to have abilities I couldn’t contend with. How would I even manage it? Not only that, I would have to betray the people of Alkwin. Even if I did that and managed to get my sister back, where would there be left for us to go?