The Facility

by Eliza Green

  Then, something did break, almost unexpectedly. Her hands shook. Her body trembled. Her lower lip wobbled.

  Dom pulled her into his arms. Her body shook with sobs, coming thick and fast. He stroked her back and rested his chin on the top of her head. It wasn’t long before Dom’s T-shirt was wet with her tears. The sound of his heart beating too fast only aggravated hers.

  They stayed there, wrapped up in each other, Anya on the bed, her legs hanging loosely on either side of him. But Dom’s reaction to finding her with Frank yanked her back into reality. She pushed him away, her eyes lowered.

  Her hair, matted with Frank’s blood, felt heavy on her head.

  ‘Maybe you should shower,’ said Dom.

  She nodded, giving his appearance the once-over. ‘You, too.’ Slashes of red covered his arms and T-shirt, from when he’d pulled her away from the gold door.

  ‘You first. Just keep the dressing dry.’

  He turned and tidied away the antiseptic, the bandages. She saw the needle and thread ready, just in case her wound ran too deep. The throbbing in her arm reminded her of how close she had come to dying.

  Ω

  The hot water helped to clear her head. She used soap from a special dispenser to scrub her hair and skin, but it was awkward with one hand. She kept the other arm, wrapped in gauze, on the outside of the shower curtain. The soap smelled like lemons and lavender. Deep-red water circled around the drain.

  She found two sets of clothes on the sink. One had a pair of flat cream leather sandals sitting on top. The other set had men’s shoes, along with some essentials.

  She brushed her hair and then shook out the folded fabric and groaned. At least the sand-coloured dress came to her knees. She dressed, feeling better to be in something clean. She slipped on the sandals.

  Anya paused. She examined the fuzz on her legs, then searched through the essentials for a razor. She found one, soaped up her legs and ran the blade over her skin. It felt like something she should do.

  She returned to the infirmary and flashed Dom a grin, looking down at her outfit.

  His eyes trailed over her, turning her cheeks into an inferno.

  ‘Better,’ he said.

  She waited for him to shower. He soon emerged dressed in a sand-coloured top and trousers. He folded his T-shirt and combats and packed them in his backpack.

  ‘How long do we have in here?’ said Anya, perching on the edge of the bed again.

  Dom leaned against the counter, facing her. ‘As long as you need.’

  ‘Good.’ Her heart raced and she stared at her hands.

  ‘Did you have something in mind?’ They way he said it, slow and careful, sent shivers through her.

  She chastised herself for thinking about him like that. Frank had just been killed.

  ‘No. I just need a minute to get my head straight, that’s all.’

  She wanted to yell at Dom for accusing her of trying to open the door.

  ‘Had you known Frank for long?’ said Dom.

  His question startled her. She’d forgotten that Dom and Frank had never met before the third floor. Dom had already been rotated by the time Frank started.

  ‘Yeah. Long enough.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Anya. I really am. Can I get you anything?’

  She clamped her bottom lip between her teeth to stop it from wobbling. What she really wanted was to go home. Even a grey block in Essention was better than here. She searched the room.

  ‘There are no cameras here,’ said Dom, following her gaze. ‘I checked the first time I used this place.’

  She shook her head. ‘I want to go home, Dom. To Brookfield. I don’t want to do this anymore.’

  ‘We can’t leave.’ He pointed to his wrist. ‘Remember?’

  His words rattled something loose inside her. ‘Why did you think I was trying to open the door?’

  ‘I didn’t know what to think. I saw you there and I just—’

  ‘Jumped to conclusions about me?’

  Dom lowered his gaze. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘I followed Frank there. I was trying to stop him.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said again, this time looking at her. ‘I didn’t handle that well. I’m not good at this.’

  ‘Good at what?’

  She glared at him until he turned away.

  He had his back to her, his hands resting on the counter, head dipped low. He drew in a hard, shaky breath and released it.

  ‘Sheila says I’m too impulsive. I make snap decisions.’

  He turned back around. Anya noticed his trembling hands. He held her gaze for a split second before looking away.

  They were alone. She wanted to know more about him. It was the perfect time to ask. Her heart slammed against her ribcage at the thought.

  ‘No more lies, Dom.’

  He nodded but wouldn’t look at her.

  ‘What did you inject me with after that first shock? You said I would feel different.’

  He met her gaze. ‘An antidote to Compliance.’

  ‘To what?’

  ‘The drug the controllers of Essention have been putting in our food and water to keep us... compliant.’

  Anya remembered how Dom had stopped her from drinking the fountain water in the playground.

  ‘How long have you known? How long have they been—’

  ‘From the beginning.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We’re easier to control.’

  Anya looked away and dug her fingers into the soft mattress. She admitted to feeling different since Dom’s injection. For one, her hands no longer shook. And her eyes were only a little dilated. Before, decisions had been made for her; after, she started to think for herself.

  ‘One of your impulsive decisions?’ she said.

  ‘I don’t regret that one.’

  ‘Why give it to me?’

  Dom sighed. ‘I needed your help. I still do.’

  She stared at him. ‘For what?’

  ‘I need to make it to the ninth floor alive. You’re strong, but you’re stronger when you’re off Compliance.’

  Anya shook her head. She wasn’t sure if Compliance existed outside of Dom’s imagination. But too many things—including her strange moods—had happened for her to dismiss the idea.

  She stared at Dom, his deep-brown eyes full of remorse, concern, worry. He folded his arms across his chest, prompting her to ask another question.

  ‘What’s going on with you and Sheila?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Don’t lie. I’ve seen the way you two behave together.’

  ‘There’s nothing going on between us, Anya. There never was.’ He dragged a hand across his mouth and chin. ‘It was all an act.’

  ‘What are you talking about? What kind of an act?’

  ‘For you. So you’d keep moving forward. You were so content with staying on the ground floor, I needed to do something to get you here. Sheila and I pretended to be together. It seemed to ignite something inside you.’

  Sheila hadn’t been the catalyst for her progression. It was that night in the playground, when she and Dom had opened up to each other.

  Anya jumped off the bed. ‘You are so full of yourself, Dom. Why would I be interested in someone who has lied to me from the start, who thinks I would be so stupid as to open a door we all agreed to leave, and who used a girl prettier than me to evoke a reaction?’

  Dom stared at the ground. ‘I lied to you for a good reason and I didn’t really think you’d tried to open the door. When I saw you there covered in blood... I don’t know.’ He dragged his hand down his face. ‘My first reaction was shock. I thought I’d lost you.’

  His voice broke on the last sentence. He looked at her, his eyes soft and pleading. ‘And the thing with Sheila was her idea, not mine. She said that girls compete with each other and that you were just like any other girl. She said it would be only a matter of time before you became obsessed with her and that you’d do what you could to see her
fail.’

  Anya blushed. She hadn’t been obsessed with her, but she admitted to being drawn in by Sheila’s games.

  She wanted nothing more than to slap Dom in the face. But when she saw the faint red on his cheeks, she bit her lip instead.

  ‘Well, I don’t know what secret you feel the need to hide from me, but that’s your business. And, Sheila?’ She smiled. ‘Yeah, dangle a bitchy girl in front of me and I’ll take the bait. But the last twenty-four hours were different. She’s different. You, on the other hand—’

  ‘No, you’re different.’ Dom’s eyes grew large. ‘It bothered me how you watched the wolves for so long. I couldn’t see the point. But you taught me to look at things from a different perspective. And that made me curious about you. ’

  Dom’s warm and soft gaze reassured her that he was telling her the truth. His dark-brown hair was short, but long enough that she saw soft curls emerging. She imagined grabbing the curls between her fingers.

  ‘Why are you curious about me?’

  Where had that come from? She tried to stuff the words back in her mouth.

  ‘I don’t know. Sometimes I wish I weren’t.’

  ‘Why?’

  Before she could react he was in front of her, all five feet ten inches of him. She caught the smell of lemon soap on his skin.

  ‘Because I’m terrified that when you discover my secret you’ll feel different about me.’ The words came out as a soft whisper.

  She searched his face. ‘I’ve watched my parents die, seen people fall to their deaths. I played a part in killing Tahlia, and now Frank has died for the crime of being too damn curious. I think I can handle a little more truth from you.’

  Anya leaned against the bed, trying to ignore the ache in her arm. ‘I want to go home. You tell me I can’t. The game on the third floor finished when Frank tried to open the gold door. How long would we have been there if none of us had opened it? This place feels less like a place of education and more like a testing facility. So now I’m asking you to give me a reason to keep going. Because if you don’t, then I’ll find a way out of this place alone.’

  Dom pressed his lips together.

  ‘Sheila and I work together, on the outside.’

  She frowned. ‘Work where?’

  He lifted his eyebrows as though it were obvious. She gasped and touched her fingers to her lips.

  ‘You’re part of the rebellion?’

  He nodded, his expression cautious. ‘We both are. Six months ago, my mother stepped inside this building. I haven’t seen her since. Sheila and I are trying to expose this place for what it is.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it’s not an innocent skills programme, and that’s why Sheila and I are here.’

  Anya shook her head. ‘This programme is for sixteen- to eighteen-year-olds. Why would your mother be part of it?’

  ‘It didn’t start out as a programme. In the beginning, Praesidium used this Essention to showcase the latest tech it had to offer the towns. It invited some people to come here. Carefully selected people.’

  ‘Is that why you’re in here? How old are you? How long have you been a rebel fighter?’

  ‘Yes, to find my mother. Nineteen. Since her disappearance.’

  The answers flowed a little easier from him now. He searched her face for what she couldn’t give him yet: her approval. She had so many questions. Who was the man who cut Dom’s hair? Had Dom killed anyone? Did the rebels really kill her parents?

  She searched his face for deceit, but only found her friend; a friend who had taught her to defend herself, who had explained how to treat electric shocks, who had stayed with her since Frank’s death. And yet, he was part of the rebellion movement, allied to the people who she hated the most.

  But, here and now, she saw only the good things.

  ‘My parents were killed by the rebels,’ said Anya. ‘Do you know who did it?’

  ‘It was people from Praesidium,’ he said. ‘Our fight is with them, not the townspeople.’

  She wanted to believe him. It felt like he was being honest. It made Jason’s venture to the rebel-riddled outside easier to cope with, for one.

  He stepped closer to her and looked into her eyes. ‘How do you feel?’

  ‘About what?’ Her stomach danced at his proximity.

  ‘About what I’ve told you. I already know how you feel about the rebels.’ His voice had worn thin. ‘Tell me what you’re thinking. Do you hate me?’

  She laughed at the absurdity of the question. But it also caught her off guard. The last thing she felt for Dom was hatred.

  A flash of hurt crossed his face.

  ‘I feel a lot of things right now, Dom Pavesi, and I should be angry at you for keeping this from me. But I understand why you did.’

  ‘You didn’t answer my question.’

  Anya stared up at him, at his slender nose and his slightly parted lips. She bridged the gap between them and touched his arm.

  ‘No, I don’t hate you. I never could. You’re my...’

  Her friend? More?

  She wasn’t sure what they were. She’d resisted her feelings for so long.

  ‘Your what?’ he said softly.

  An inch of space was all that separated them. Her good hand still rested on his arm. He moved it off and laced his fingers into hers. Anya concentrated on his tight breaths and the rapid movement of his chest. He was waiting for her answer. A new dizziness caught hold that had nothing to do with the pain in her arm.

  ‘You’re my friend.’

  Dom lifted her chin. The intensity in his eyes startled her.

  ‘It’s not enough, Anya. I need you to say you forgive me. I don’t know why. ’

  ‘I do, but...’

  He relaxed his grip on her hand. She felt his body go rigid. He stepped back.

  ‘I knew it. I took the charade with Sheila too far. I never should have let her talk me into it.’

  He tried to pull his hand from hers, but she only held on tighter.

  Dom stared down at their fingers, then at her, in expectation. His pupils were almost black, but not because of Compliance.

  ‘I was going to say no more secrets.’

  She felt him relax. A slow smile spread across his face, showing off his slightly uneven front teeth; imperfections that made him more perfect.

  ‘Never again. I promise. Friends. I can live with that.’

  His smile faded, but his gaze lingered on her. A small blush stained her cheeks. But when he made no attempt to move closer to her, Anya rolled her eyes, pressed up to her toes and brushed her lips against his. He gasped and closed his eyes. The sound caused her own breathing to hitch. Her legs turned to jelly, and she was suddenly glad he had a hold on her.

  Then everything between them changed.

  Dom cupped her neck, drawing her near. Their lips touched again, but for longer this time. Sharp jolts of electricity pulsed through her. Instead of draining her energy, this mild shock fuelled her, gave her strength. Dom kissed her so hard and deep she had to lean against the bed for support.

  Her adjustment stopped his advances, but he kept his hand around her neck. With parted lips he watched her, searching for signs he should stop.

  But that was the last thing Anya wanted.

  She reached for him and twisted her good hand into his hair. Dom groaned and kissed her again. He tasted sweet and hot. He smelled of lemon soap and his natural musk.

  God, he smells so good.

  Dom’s hair felt soft beneath her fingers. She pulled on it hard when he tasted her.

  This was like no other kiss she’d had before. They’d all been awkward and rushed experiences, with a side of expectation that she didn’t know how to reciprocate. This... non-friendship with Dom felt natural, easy, safe, passionate.

  Passionate!

  Dom moved her hand from his hair to his chest. ‘That hurts,’ he said as his lips trailed along her jaw, her neck. His breathing tickled her neck. She felt
the strength of his heart beat against her open palm. She had forgotten how to breathe.

  Dom pressed her up against the edge of the bed. His hand trailed down her back to her outer thigh and back up. She shivered as her dress rode up a little and his fingers brushed against her bare skin.

  ‘Screw friendship,’ he whispered, against her throat. ‘We weren’t that close, anyway.’

  And then they got closer.

  Dom slid his hands over her dress to rest them on her waist. He pulled her tight against him. She gasped at the way he kissed: switching between relaxed and impatient. His thumb pressed against her hip in a gentle yet insistent way. It threatened to send her over the edge. She wanted more of him, to feel his skin against hers. She worked her good hand under the hem of his tunic and ran her fingers along the raised skin of his scar.

  Dom jerked beneath her touch and gently guided her hand away. The look of discomfort on his face transformed into a wicked grin.

  ‘I think we should stop.’ He was breathing hard. ‘Being alone here with you is too... tempting.’

  Anya blushed and smiled, trying to calm her racing heart. ‘I know what you mean.’

  They stood a small distance apart. He took her hand again and kissed the top of it.

  ‘I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since I saw you take down Sheila in the courtyard. No, probably before that.’ He laughed. ‘She was so pissed with you after. I had to do everything in my power not to crack a smile when we got back inside.’

  Anya cringed. ‘Yeah, that.’ She’d almost told Dom and Sheila where they could go.

  ‘But I wasn’t sure if you liked me in the same way. You resisted my attempts to hold your hand once.’

  The memory caused her to bite her lip. She had released his hand on the way to the running track.

  ‘I wasn’t sure either. Maybe a part of that had to do with Sheila. I don’t know. She has a way of getting under my skin.’

  ‘She’s good at that.’ Dom smiled and lifted a brow. ‘But you came back after that night.’

  ‘Yeah, I really enjoyed the running.’

  ‘Nothing else?’

  Anya pretended to think about it. ‘Yeah. I wanted to learn some more self-defence. I remember us getting pretty close at one point. You must show me that move again.’