Caged (The Idyllic Series Book 1)

by Amy Johnson

  “Don’t,” I whisper, fighting for breath. The fire in my throat spreads to my lungs and makes my head spin. “Knox. Please, Knox.”

  “The human can’t help you,” Eins whispers as he brings his face up to mine. His breath is hot on my cheek, sending goosebumps down my body. The lights in the room is dim, and his single red eye comes to life, blinding me.

  “Knox, please,” I repeat when I realize I can’t move. My body is numb.

  Zwei laughs and wraps an arm around Eins.

  “Isn’t she adorable?” she asks as she runs the fork through my hair. I can still feel Eins’ breath on my cheek, nostrils filling with the rotting smell of his breath. I recognize it instantly.

  It’s decomposing flesh.

  Tears pour down my cheeks as I try to look away from the two of them. Zwei laughs again, making the lights in the room tremble. The stimulus hurts my head and forces me to close my eyes.

  “Please stop,” I whine, and then I’m surrounded by a sensation of falling.

  I jerk, eyes shooting open. The room comes into view around me in the form of grey walls. I’m face down on the carpet, wrapped in the blanket so tight that it’s a struggle to breathe.

  “Eden,” a whispery voice says as I’m trying to unroll myself from the cotton prison. “What is going on? Are you okay? Eden, answer me, please.”

  Knox’s voice is breathless and hoarse, panicked. When my eyes adjust, I see that he’s pressed himself up against the bars of the window, searching the room with eyes that dart back and forth. Those same beautiful eyes are moist and wide.

  There’s another emotion there--one that surprises me. I’ve seen it several times before in the familiar faces of the other Luddites. I saw it in the face of Baylee as she lay immobilized by the paralyzer bullets. The day Cyrus threw the grenade, the emotion flashed in his eyes. It never left, always present like a speck in his eyes. It takes shape in the form of Eins and Zwei in my nightmares.

  That horrid emotion is fear.

  Knox is scared and not for himself. I gave him fear.

  “I’m here,” I whisper, reaching into the bars and wrapping my hand around his. “I had a bad dream. That’s all.”

  His eyes relax, pupils returning to their normal size.

  “You were screaming,” he says, letting out a quick breath. “It was a terrible sound.”

  There’s nothing to say; so, I just hold his hand and lean back against the bed frame.

  Eventually, I fall back asleep, but my body won’t stop quivering like I’m a leaf on the end of a branch, caught in the wind. When the lights click on in the morning, Knox has already let go of my hand. I lay flat in the bed and wait for the female cybernetic to come for her testing.

  ✽✽✽

  The next few days pass with little change.

  We wake up, go outside, come back inside, and go to sleep.

  Outside, I recite Sara Teasdale poetry to Knox everyday. His favorite is Alone, because he says that it captures the utter loneliness he faced before I came to be his exhibit mate. Sometimes, I repeat the same poems several times a day.

  I recite Buried Love to him in an effort to capture the pain of lost love and the strength of longing and Barter to show him how important it is to appreciate nature. My favorite poem to share with him is Child, Child, and I do so everyday.

  “Child, child, love while you can / The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man, / Never fear though it break your heart - / Out of the wound new joy will start; / Only love proudly and gladly and well / Though love be heaven or love be hell.

  “Child, child, love while you may, / For life is short as a happy day; / Never fear the thing you feel - / Only by love is life made real; / Love, for the deadly sins are seven, / Only through love will you enter heaven.”

  “She is talking about love between a man and woman. What does that have to do with anything?” he asks, biting his lip, when I finish.

  “Think a little deeper,” I say with a chuckle. “Apply that love to a bigger picture.”

  When he does his signature head cock, I shake mine and laugh.

  “Love is the reason,” I say slowly, like I’m talking to a toddler. “Love when something attacks you. Love when you’re scared. Love will never be wrong.”

  He stares at me for a long time before the machines come to run their reports. Then, he plasters on his happy face and moves to stand by the glass.

  When we go inside, I catch one number at a time, until I have both codes to unlock our doors.

  Knox’s is a simple four digit code: 3756. I mouth it to myself as I go to sleep every night at least twenty times, even though I won’t possibly forget it.

  My code is much more complex: 468953. At least the numbers in Knox’s code are close to one another and make some logical sense. Six digits prove harder to remember, but I have confidence in myself.

  Before we go to bed, I tell Knox a story, normally about other Luddites. I introduce him to the cook and gardener, teaching Knox about sacrifice in the way he devotes his time to feeding the Luddites, regardless of how he feels.

  Together, talking through the bars, I tell him about Emory, head of the Elders, in an attempt to teach him about the wisdom that comes with age.

  “How can she be smarter than everyone else simply because she is older?” Knox asks, scrunching up his nose at me.

  “She’s not smarter; she’s wiser. There’s a difference.”

  “How so?”

  I groan, launching into a lengthy discussion about how wisdom comes from experience and how a person uses their intelligence. The abstract concepts are harder for Knox to understand because he can’t visualize them.

  “So, we put Emory in charge because her experiences with the machines help her make wise decisions for the greater good,” I explain.

  Knox shakes his head, looking more confused than when we started.

  On the morning of the fourth day, something changes in the air of the dome.

  “Eden,” a cyber in white says, pulling my attention from the blade of grass I had been stringing apart. He holds a small tablet in his hand, nothing unusual for the observing machines. I push myself up off the ground and walk over to the edge of the dome.

  “We are ready to move on to the next phase of your stay here,” he tells me. I cock my head to one side but remain silent. “Do you feel any affection towards Subject 3?”

  I glance back at Knox.

  “No,” I finally answer, not wanting to admit that there’s an ember of feeling deep inside my stomach. I like his smile and soft hands, the faces he makes when he’s confused, and the soft tousle of his hair. His eyes strike me as the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, right behind snowfall and a sunset.

  “So, we are going to have to do this in a forceful manner,” the cybernetic states as he keys in my answer.

  Knox appears at my side, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. It takes everything in me not to jerk away from him.

  “Play along,” he hisses into my ear, and I know the cyber on the other side of the glass can’t hear him. I snake an arm around his waist.

  “She was only joking,” Knox tells the cyber. “We are affectionate towards one another.”

  “Then you will not mind if I run through a few exercises to prove that statement.”

  The heat leaves my face.

  How did I not see this coming?

  “Hug,” he commands, and Knox wraps his arms around me. My hands hang limp at my sides. “Should you not hug him back?”

  I shake my head, but a shock forces me to wrap my arms around Knox in return. He’s so skinny that they fit around him with no trouble. I clasp my hands in the small of his back and rest my cheek against his chest.

  It isn’t a terrible thing, hugging Knox. He’s softer than Cyrus, and cleaner as well.

  “Now, kiss.”

  I push away from Knox and shake my head.

  “No,” I mumble, waving my hands in front of me. “Absolutely not.”

  Knox
grimaces and reaches out for me, but I jerk away.

  “On the cheek,” he says. “You cannot refuse, Eden. You know the punishment.”

  “Let them shock me,” I say, voice raised, “I’m not-”

  The electricity dances up my wrist and cuts my words off. I fight to breathe, gritting my teeth against the pain. It makes my vision dance and brings me to my knees.

  Knox grabs my upper arm, and the pain stops--quicker than it began. With strength that surprises me, he jerks me up off the ground, bringing my face up to his.

  His lips burn against my cheek. When he pulls away, the skin still tingles, spreading over my entire face.

  “What is that emotion?” the cyber asks, blinking rapidly as he screenshots my reaction.

  I stumble away from Knox and cover my face with my hands. He pries them away, turning me to face the machine again.

  I’ve read about millions of first kisses. I was there when Rhett and Scarlett shared their passionate first kiss, wild in desire and mind-melting passion. Technically, a kiss on the cheek is nothing. It might not even count.

  Yet, to me, it’s everything, and it’s nothing like I imagined it to be.

  Knox leads me through the rest of the evening, never once letting go of my hand. If he did, I might try to break down the glass again. What is this emotion I’m feeling? Why is my heart pounding in my chest? Why do I suddenly feel want?

  Knox is a stranger to me. I barely know him.

  Yet, I recite poetry to him and he sings me to sleep to ward off the nightmares. His eyes mesmerize me and make me weak in the knees. His laugh reminds me of snow and sunlight, and I love watching him work his magic on the crowds of machines.

  The low bell sounds to tell us it’s time to go in, and Knox lets my hand fall back at my side. His face falls flat, cold, and emotionless as he walks back through the glass hallway.

  As always, I watch the cybers type in the codes, shutting us in without a word.

  “Knox,” I whisper, kneeling by the window.

  On the other side, he paces back and forth, hands on his head and eyes closed.

  “I am sorry, Eden,” he says, still moving.

  “For what?”

  “What happened out there. I should not have made you do that,” he says. “I did not want to see you in pain.”

  “Knox, it’s-”

  “They are pushing things along faster than normal. I did not know what to do.”

  “Listen to me.”

  “No,” he says, kneeling down by the window. “I will not listen to you until you know how sorry I am.”

  I reach through the bars and grab him by the front of the shirt. His eyes go wide in confusion as I pull him forward.

  “I’m leaving,” I say. “Tonight. This has gone too far. They can’t force us to have feelings towards one another. It’s unnatural.”

  Knox’s face falls at my words.

  Nothing that happened in the dome felt unnatural, but I don’t want Knox to know how confused and vulnerable I feel. It’s best to pretend that I felt nothing.

  I know what’s coming. Feelings soften our impending future, but I refuse to be forced into breeding with anyone. Surely, Knox knows why we were put together.

  The events of today solidified one fact in my head.

  I don’t want to leave without him.

  “Will you come with me?” I ask, holding my breath.

  Knox swallows and the Adam’s apple in his neck bobs. His beautiful eyes meet mine, and he shakes his head.

  “No.”

  Chapter 9: Enlightened

  Eden

  “Why not?” I ask him, pacing back and forth in the white room.

  I’ve already asked him that five times, but he hasn’t answered me yet. Instead, he stares at his kneecaps, rubs his palms together, and chews on his lip.

  “Knox, I’ll only ask one more time,” I snap, kneeling by the window again to glare at him. “Why won’t you go?”

  He looks up at me and grimaces.

  “I want to be a cybernetic,” he says under his breath. “I do not want to go out there. It is dangerous.”

  “Have you learned absolutely nothing the past few days?” I say, shaking the bars. “Humans are brave! So what if you’re scared?”

  He flinches and looks back down at the carpet. His hands clench together in his lap until his knuckles turn white.

  “Humans are temporary,” he mutters, not looking up at me as he picks at the threads of soft carpet, “and they are mortal. I do not want to die.”

  I stand up, grasping both sides of my head. After everything I’ve shared with him, he still doesn’t see the point.

  “I don’t want to go without you, Knox, but I have to,” I say, leaning with my forehead against the cold wall. It sends goosebumps down my body and makes me shiver. Every moment I waste, the Luddites face deeper darkness and approaching danger. I need to get out, and I need to get that computer chip before I go home.

  “I am sorry,” he says, and I glance back at him. He’s staring at me with tears brimming in his eyes. His cheeks glow light pink; his chin quivers. When he looks so dejected, it’s hard to be mad at him. I close my eyes, swallow my pity, and take a shaky breath.

  “I have to go,” I whisper as I move to the door.

  I’m afraid that if I wait any longer, my chest will explode. My mind made the decision to leave him, but my heart draws different plans. The act of leaving him physically hurts. The pain digs its fingers into my ribcage, threatening to crawl up my throat and choke me.

  “Go straight to the gate, Eden,” he says. “Get as far away from here as you can before the alarm goes off.”

  “Alarm?”

  I have the first four digits of my code typed in, but I stop and glance over my shoulder at him.

  “Subject 12, the girl in the Hair exhibit, tried to escape a few years ago.”

  “How long did it take before the alarm went off?” I ask. If I know how much time I have, planning my escape becomes easier.

  “I do not remember. She did not make it very far. No one has ever successfully escaped, Eden.”

  “That might be true for the time you’ve been here,” I say, pressing the last two digits, “but you haven’t been here forever, Knox.”

  The door clicks, swinging open. Outside, the hallway is dark, but as I step out, the lights overhead come to life, setting off a chain reaction all down the hall.

  “Good luck, Subject 23,” Knox says.

  “Thank you.”

  I look both ways down the hallway, orienting myself. To the right is the bathroom; to the left are the training rooms and hallway leading past the testing rooms. I close the door behind me without a sound, tiptoeing on the cold tile.

  With barely a glance at the dozens of rooms to my right, I turn to my left, holding my cuffed wrist against my chest as I hurry down the hall. The air is cold on my bare calves, and the sound of my feet peeling off the tile echoes through the silence.

  I pass the two ‘1’ rooms, skip the ‘2’ rooms, and head towards the testing hallway.

  I hurry past the training room doors and cut left at the fork. I think twice about trying the unmarked, mysterious door on the other side but change my mind.

  The testing rooms loom on both sides of the hallway. The silver doors seem to blend in with the white walls seamlessly. I hurry past, fighting the urge to hold my nose. How many people are being held in there right now? How many humans are being starved, cut open, or injected with unknown liquids?

  I picture the red-haired girl, chained and alone, in her dome the day Linux and I snuck in. Her eyes had met mine, and she had known I was human, even though I was disguised. Had she been a Luddite at one point in her life? If not, when I come back for them, she will be the first person I liberate.

  As I approach the metal door leading into the clothing room, I hold my breath. Regardless, the stench of the testing hallway sneaks in through my nostrils and makes my head spin.

  The light on the doo
r blinks yellow and then green before it slides open to reveal the shelves of white clothing.

  I step in and the door shuts behind me, blowing air up my neck. I shiver and pick up my pace.

  The next door opens just as easily and leads into the prep room. The silver table I woke up on sleeps in the middle of the room, reflecting the bright lights overhead. The service machines sit motionless, powered off until someone tells them what to do. In my mind, I see scenes of those same machines torturing me with needles and chemicals.

  A door beckons to me on the other side, so I edge my way around the spotless table, slipping out as it opens for me.

  Everything goes black, and for a moment my heart pounds in my ears. I lean against the now shut door which is illuminated by bright red light.

  It won’t let me back in.

  Not that I would want it to.

  The air outside is warm, humid, and thick. I take a deep breath and inhale the clean scent of the blossoms hanging from the tree branches. Overhead, smog covers the sky, but the yellow moon bears through like a lightning bug, flickering as thick clouds pass over. The streetlights are off, which leaves the moon as the only source of light.

  Beyond the fence surrounding the Anthros, the city hums, telling me I’m not far from the world I am more familiar with. Its lights shine, distant and dim, blocked out by the ancient, deserted buildings around the fence.

  This is the first time in my entire life I’ve seen true night, and it takes my breath away.

  Under my feet, the asphalt is warm and jagged. I’ve walked barefoot before, but the machines scrubbed off every inch of protective skin I had built up. Walking hurts, which, in turn, slows me down a great deal.

  I’ve never seen a map of the park, so I have no idea where to go to find the chip. I just know I can’t go home without it. Since it’s so late, there’s no way I’m going to be able to find a cybernetic to steal one from.

  I tiptoe along, grimacing as rocks and bits of turf stick into my feet. Shaking them off requires me to stop, so, I don’t. By the time I find the map, rocks coat the soles of my feet in a thin layer.