We step out of the lift, which closes behind us and descends in a few seconds.
‘You gotta start playing things a little safer, you know,’ Ryan says, under his breath, as we follow our illuminated paths along the concrete outer corridors of the Dome.
‘I know. I know!’ I say, and I do. I’ve been on thin ice for a while.
‘Look, we all wish Ketch was back here, and the whole team knows that you’re meant to be leading us right now.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m no Ketch. Plus, those are pretty big boots to fill. I don’t envy you right now.’
Ryan sighs.
‘What?’ I ask.
‘Do you really have to ask? Someone managed to break into the Dome, kidnap the most important person on the planet, get her down to the ground and escape with her. I’m the acting commanding officer of the Final Guard, the unit that is specifically trained to stop that exact thing happening,’ he says, rubbing his temple. ‘I’m in big shit.’
‘Oh,’ is all I manage to say. He’s right. He is in big shit. We follow our illuminated path through the greenery of the Dome. It’s busy with people who usually have no business here, people who should be in their hiding places, creating this illusion, the orchestrators of Eve’s reality. Now they’re out in the open, studying the disturbed soil, analysing the escape route in fine detail.
Ryan raises his eyebrows as we pass the shattered doors that lead to the Drop, the crunch of glass under our boots alerting a few white-coats to our presence.
They say nothing.
We say nothing.
I get the feeling I’m not the only one who feels like an intruder in here. This is Eve’s home, real or not, and this seems like breaking and entering.
Our paths eventually cross with those of my Final Guard comrades, glowing from underneath the soil and leading us to the upper garden zone.
‘Welcome back, Captain.’ Hernandez nods and the whole squad turns to greet me.
‘Yeah, and what a day to return,’ Reynolds adds.
The Final Guard pauses for a moment. What a day indeed. We’ve all dedicated years to protecting something that isn’t here now. We failed and we all feel it, the anxiety.
‘It’s good to be back. I just wish it were under different circumstances,’ I say to them.
‘Don’t we all?’ Ryan mutters, and my six teammates nod in agreement.
We are like a family. The Final Guards: Ryan, Franklin, Reynolds, Hernandez and the Murphy twins, Finn and Ewan. Of course, there are guards no longer with us, those who gave their lives for the good of life itself.
‘How’s your brother?’ Franklin asks me.
‘He’s been better,’ I say honestly. Images flash in my head from my first visit with Ketch on the Med Level half a mile below us, where the smell of his burnt flesh and raw wounds made me physically sick. ‘But he’s alive.’
‘We didn’t expect anything less. Tell him the new management hasn’t a clue what he’s doing,’ Reynolds jokes.
‘Watch it! I can suspend you now, you know,’ Ryan threatens.
A nervous silence falls unexpectedly between us and I’m tuned in to the collective anxiety about why we’ve been called here.
‘Look –’ I take a breath – ‘before we go in and hear whatever Miss Silva has to say, I just want to apologize to you all.’
‘Don’t be soft, man,’ Finn says.
‘You did nothing wrong by us,’ his twin adds.
‘Well, you say that but when I … when Eve and I had our encounter, it was at a time when she was fragile and unsure of her future. I can’t help but think that what happened between us might have had an influence on the thoughts that eventually led to her leaving this place.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself, Mr Turner.’ Miss Silva’s voice cuts through the air like a sword. ‘The door is open, when you’re quite ready, gentlemen.’
Shit.
The guards widen their eyes in a you’re-screwed kind of way and my stomach lurches.
‘Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?’ I whisper to Ryan, as we head into the upper garden zone.
The UGZ is the largest space within the Dome and usually home to thousands of plants, birds and other wildlife. Most endangered, some totally extinct in the wild after the climate shift wiped out their habitats. We would often locate Eve in here, enjoying the flowers, feeding the birds.
Now, though, it’s empty. No fluttering of wings, apart from the butterflies in our bellies.
‘Enter, line up and don’t utter a word,’ Miss Silva instructs. No, orders.
She stands perfectly still in the deep shadows of towering plant life. Her straight shoulders rise and fall slowly as she takes a deep breath.
‘I hereby solemnly promise to devote my body, mind and being to fully serve and fulfil the requirements of the position within the Final Guard,’ Miss Silva recites from memory. ‘Do you remember those words?’
‘YES, MISS SILVA,’ we bark in unison.
Of course we all remember the oath we took when we were accepted into the Extinction Prevention Organization. It was a life-changing moment for us. Joining the Final Guard was everything I’d ever dreamt of.
‘We have experienced a catastrophe of unthinkable proportions,’ she says, with unnerving calm, ‘and you failed to fulfil your oath in every possible way.’
We don’t move. We don’t dare even glance at one another.
‘You did not fail the EPO. You did not fail me. You failed Eve,’ she says, almost in a whisper. ‘She trusted you all to keep her safe. To protect her. To prevent the exact events of the last twelve hours. Commander Ryan, would you care to say anything on behalf of the Final Guard? Is there any explanation for their sheer incompetence under your command?’
Ryan steps forward immediately, without hesitation, his fingers visibly shaking as he clasps them behind his back.
‘Miss Silva, the escape was planned and executed with precision. We were –’
Ryan is interrupted by Miss Silva raising a hand, using her palm to silence him.
‘Escape?’ she says, tilting her head. ‘This was no escape. This was a kidnapping. An abduction. We have provided every technological tool necessary to keep her safe, to keep her from being taken, and still you allowed a single person to penetrate our defences and take the most important human on the planet from right under your noses. Eve’s safety was your responsibility.’
‘YES, MISS SILVA,’ we all bark.
‘NO!’ she screams. A few strands of her platinum hair fall over her face. ‘Not you.’ She addresses the collective. ‘You.’ Miss Silva points a long, thin finger at Ryan.
‘My apologies, Miss Silva. I won’t fail you again.’ Ryan gulps.
‘You are correct about that, Ryan.’ Miss Silva snaps her fingers and two armed soldiers step forward from the shadows beside her, weapons raised and aimed at Ryan.
We all instinctively twitch. The sight of unidentified armed men in the Dome makes us want to reach for our own weapons. It’s our training, second nature.
Vivian Silva doesn’t flinch. She stares with her cold eyes into Ryan’s, cutting through the tears forming as he falls to his knees in front of us.
‘Please, we tried everything we could,’ he begs, but it’s too late. The armed soldiers march forward and I recognize them through the partially frosted visors: the same two who escorted Dr Wells in the lift.
‘Commander Ryan, you are under arrest for suspected treason, purposefully neglecting your responsibilities in order to allow the saviour to be forcefully removed from the EPO Tower.’ The soldier places two thick cuffs around Ryan’s wrists that click into place.
The second soldier pulls out a small black sphere and swipes his thumb across it. Ryan is instantly pulled up from his knees by the cuffs.
The soldier takes out a second, larger, set of silver restraints and secures them around Ryan’s ankles.
‘Miss Silva, I swear, I’m no traitor. I’ll make it up to you. Please. Please!’
; The soldier swipes his thumb over the sphere again and the restraints drag Ryan’s body away from us.
‘Please! Turner, don’t let them do this. Please!’ he screams, as the soldiers escort him away.
Adrenalin rages through my body and it takes every ounce of my self-control not to pull the gun from my belt and eliminate the soldiers dragging him away.
But I don’t.
We all stand rigid watching our comrade dragged towards an unknown fate until he disappears. Fighting it would achieve nothing. Not in here. This is Vivian Silva’s world.
I force some deep breaths through my clenched teeth.
Miss Silva lets the screams fade all the way into the distance. We listen to him for what feels like eternity until they must finally have entered the lift to descend.
‘Obviously there’s going to be another shift in command,’ she says plainly. ‘Turner, you will now step up to commanding officer of the Final Guard. Is that clear?’
I’m speechless.
‘I do not repeat myself.’
‘Yes, Miss Silva.’ My voice shakes as I try to force a confidence that doesn’t exist. ‘I will lead the search to find them and return the saviour to her home.’ That sounds like what I think I’m meant to say.
‘There will be no need to search for them, Commander Turner,’ Miss Silva says, her lips showing a glimmer of a smirk.
‘I’m sorry, Miss Silva, I don’t understand,’ I say honestly.
She tuts, frustrated by my stupidity.
‘You will not need to search for them because we have people here, traitors, who already know where she is,’ Miss Silva says with a simple sigh. ‘Extracting that information will be far easier than searching an entire city, don’t you agree?’
She lets the words settle on us for a moment.
Extracting information. Sounds a lot like torture to me.
‘You are dismissed, gentlemen.’
‘YES, MISS SILVA!’ we shout, and fall out in shock.
10
Eve
A knock on my door wakes me.
I didn’t fall asleep easily. I lay awake for ages, obsessing about what I might see when I closed my eyes – people reaching for me, viciously pulling me in different directions, or Vivian dragging me back to the Tower, locking me up and banishing me to solitary confinement for ever. No lies. Just silence and no one. No Holly. None of the Mothers.
Anxiety threatened to take hold of me but, thankfully, my mind went quiet and allowed the sleep to come. It crept up on me, soothing my aching body and busy mind.
It helped that he was here, of course. Bram sat beside me and held my hand the whole night. Anchoring me so that my mind couldn’t trick me into thinking I was elsewhere. Pinning me to this room. Planting me with him. Keeping me safe. Or, at the very least, making me feel it.
There’s another knock at the door before it’s slowly opened. Bram sleepily peers from behind it, carrying two bowls. His face is grubby, with lines of dirt contouring his features. Despite everything, my stomach performs a little flip as he glances at me.
‘Morning,’ he croaks.
‘Morning.’ I smile, sweeping my hair away from my face. The sight of Bram looking dishevelled in the same clothes as last night makes me aware that I’ve not seen myself in a mirror since we jumped. I’ve never been so self-aware, which is ridiculous given the circumstances.
‘Okay, I have to be honest with you,’ he starts. ‘I should’ve warned you before.’
‘What?’
‘The food,’ he says apologetically. ‘It might make you wish you’d never jumped. Breakfast?’
I laugh and take the bowl. It’s full of green slop. I gag as the stench rises up and hits the back of my throat.
‘Yeah … my reaction was similar,’ he admits.
‘Are you joking? You actually expect me to eat this?’
‘That’s all there is down here …’ This time the smirk is gone.
‘What is it?’
‘Floodweed,’ he says matter-of-factly. ‘It’s awful. Truly disgusting.’
‘And there’s really nothing else?’ I ask, hoping this might be some sort of joke.
‘We’re not in the Tower any more, Eve. There are no banana trees down here,’ Bram says. ‘Not quite the right environment for them to flourish.’
‘Very funny.’ I pick up the metal spoon and stir it through the thick green lumpy sludge. ‘I should march up to those gates and demand to be let back in just for the bananas.’
‘It’s best to get as much as you can in there in one go. Eat it all in as few mouthfuls as possible!’
‘Thanks for the advice …’ I say, as Bram gulps down the lot, even using his spoon to scoop up the leaves that have stuck to the sides of the bowl. Nothing has gone to waste.
My tummy grumbles as I look down at my own bowl of slop. ‘Great. When I’m given actual food in the Dome I’m not hungry. Now I’m faced with this I feel ravenous.’
‘Sod’s law.’
‘I’ve been thinking,’ I start, putting the bowl on my lap. ‘My father. I want to find him.’
Just saying those words makes my desire stronger. The last time I saw him I was three years old. I don’t recall the episode clearly, but it left me with a moon-shaped scar on my wrist, a rough patch of skin that my thumb traces over as I speak.
Although he was cut out of my life as a result, I still dream of him most nights. Sometimes I’m back in that room on the last night, being dragged away from him. Other times we’re walking through a field with my mother, the two of them laughing. I’ve always wondered what parts of him I’ve inherited. Whether I look like him or if we share any personality traits, even though I’ve grown up without him – the ultimate test of nature or nurture.
The thought of finding him fills me with excitement, although Bram is looking less fired up by my plan.
‘I know he’s out there and that they lied to me, Bram.’
‘That’s true, but –’
‘I know your relationship with your dad isn’t great –’
‘Non-existent,’ he cuts in.
‘Right …’ I say apologetically. ‘But I need to find mine.’
Bram takes a deep breath, plucks my full bowl from my hands and places it on top of his. He rests them on the bedside table before sitting next to me on the bed. ‘Eve …’ he says, looking into his hands.
‘I need to try, Bram. This is what I want to do.’
‘I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you this last night.’ He runs his fingers through his short dark hair. ‘It was the first thing I did when I got out of there. Not only was it important to you, it became the only way of making sure we knew the truth.’
‘What are you saying?’ I ask.
‘We found him, Eve. But he’s not here now.’
‘Where’s he gone? What happened? Where is he?’ I ask, the questions tumbling out. ‘Did he not want to see me?’
‘He did. Very much so,’ Bram says, glancing up at me with a pained expression. ‘It’s just … he’s back in there. In the Tower.’
The words knock the air out of me.
‘What?’ I whisper.
‘Eve, it was his idea.’ His voice is low. ‘We knew we had to create a diversion. Do something that would pull their attention and their resources away from you. Your dad was adamant. You should’ve seen what they did to keep him from you, Eve.’ He shakes his head. ‘After they dragged him away all those years ago, they told the world he was mad, banishing him so that he couldn’t persuade anyone otherwise or stop what they were doing. Ernie took his voice back. He walked straight back inside the Tower, and their cage was rattled. Their guard was down as they focused on how they could break him once more, and that was when we got you out. Eve, your dad sacrificed himself so that you could escape and have the freedom you deserve.’
‘I don’t understand why he’d do that,’ I say, as my fingers brush the scar on my wrist.
‘Because you’re his daughter and he loves you. H
e felt like he’d failed you the last time he tried to get you out of there. He didn’t want to make the same mistake twice,’ he says.
‘He didn’t need to seek redemption or forgiveness. He just needed to be here.’
‘You wouldn’t be here if he was.’
Silence fills the room. I can’t argue with my dad’s reasons for doing what he has. He’s acted as a loving father. I might not be a mother yet – I might never be one – but I’d like to think I’d experience a bond like no other, and put my child’s needs before my own.
‘What was he like?’ I ask.
‘Kind. He’s everything I’d want my dad to be,’ he says.
‘Do you think he blames me for her death?’ The question comes out quickly, but it’s one I need to ask.
‘Categorically no,’ is Bram’s reply. ‘He’s devastated that you’ve been led to think that.’
I believe him.
‘He went back in there,’ I say. ‘It’s crazy that after all this time, he’d do that for me …’
‘He did what so many of us would do without a second thought,’ says Bram. ‘It’s what so many of us have and will continue to do for you. It’s what you do for those you love.’
‘My life is no more important than anyone else’s,’ I tell him, trying to ignore the way my heart thumps.
‘Says the saviour of mankind.’
‘Don’t call me that,’ I say, glaring at him. I suddenly feel angry at the label. All it’s ever made me feel is other, isolated and alone. Not special, just burdened.
‘Eve, come on,’ he starts.
‘No, Bram. No!’ I get to my feet, my arms flying wildly to articulate my point. ‘I’m only here because others have given their lives for me. How can the “saviour of mankind” be happy taking lives? Where’s the logic in it?’
‘You know there’s more to it than that.’
‘No, there isn’t. It’s simple. My mum died because I was born,’ I remind him. ‘I don’t want my father to die to keep me alive.’
‘He made his choice.’
‘And I wasn’t given one.’ My voice is rising. ‘You know me better than anyone. You know I would never have left if I had been told he was in there. If you had told me,’ I add, remembering that Bram had urged me to jump, knowing full well my dad was in the Tower.
The Eve Illusion Page 6
