Alpha: a futuristic dystopian thriller (EGALIA Book 2)

by Allison Goh

  “They can’t see us,” Max said. “But as you can see, she’s safe.”

  Ren looked a little unconvinced.

  “Your mother is really fine,” Max said. “Kate and Jean were friends you know, before Kate was… locked away…”

  Ren looked at Max and nodded. “Alright, I believe you,” he said.

  Turning to leave, he said, “I’ll go back home and monitor what Orion is up to.”

  Max stood up and grabbed Ren’s arm, causing him to stop in his tracks. “No! Wait,” he said, “You have to promise you won’t tell your father about this. We must follow Kate’s plan.”

  Ren stared at Max, “Of course. I’m not stupid Max,” he said, shrugging off Max’s hold on him.

  “Max, don’t worry,” Paris said, “I’ll make sure Kate’s plan works. You have my word.”

  Max looked at Ren and Paris, and hesitated. Could he really let Ren go back home like this? What if he told Orion? But he saw the resolve in Paris’s eyes. He didn’t trust Ren completely but he knew that with Paris at his side, he would do the right thing.

  “Alright,” Max said, “Go.”

  --------

  Orion picked up a mug on his table and threw it at his assistant.

  “What am I paying those guys for? How could they let my wife get kidnapped?” Orion said, his voice boomed across the room.

  The man bowed meekly and said, “I’m sorry sir, your wife allowed her in. She said it was her friend.”

  Orion swore under his breath. Kate! That bitch! How dare she do this and right under his nose!

  Just then, Orion’s right hand man, Peter, entered the room. “Sir, you have to take a look at this.” He handed Orion a microchip.

  “It was mailed to us anonymously,” he said.

  Orion snatched the microchip from Peter’s hands. He looked at the assistant who was still trembling in the same spot. “You!” he shouted, pointing at him, “Get out.”

  The assistant nodded. He looked grateful at his dismissal and scurried out of the door, not forgetting to pick the pieces of the shattered mug on the ground before leaving.

  Once the door closed behind him, Orion plugged in the microchip into his computer and perused its contents.

  Video clips of activities in Sector A, a recording with the Green scientists admitting their involvement with him, and a video clip of Ren at the hospital after he was shot.

  The veins in Orion’s forehead bulged as blood rushed to his head. What in the world. Was Kate threatening him with this?

  He opened the last file, and Kate’s face filled the screen.

  “Orion. I have your wife,” Kate said.

  The camera panned to Jean who was tied up in the corner of what looked to be an office meeting room. Kate continued, “Take a good look at the files I’ve sent you. There’s more where that came from,” she said.

  She cleared her throat. “My demands are simple. If you don’t want all these to get out, stop all activities in Sector A, hand over all the Infinity Chip patients and resign from Congress immediately. You have until midnight,” she said.

  Orion was speechless. His face had turned a bright red. He couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

  That fucking bitch.

  How dare she threaten him with this? How the fuck did she even find out about Sector A and the InfinityBots?

  And, the clip of Ren at the hospital! So Kate was the one behind that nasty episode. She was the one who fanned the flames and instigated the Alpha5 to rebel against him.

  As this dawned upon Orion, he only got more furious.

  How dare she ruin his plans like this, just when he was so close to his final goal.

  He banged his fist on the table and even well-trained, seasoned Peter jumped. Orion’s wrath was crystal clear.

  Orion turned to Peter. “You were there,” he said, gesturing to the video that was paused. “How the fuck did Kate manage to shoot my son?” he said, “And now my wife? What am I paying you guys for?”

  Peter remained silent. He knew better than to speak when Orion was so angry. Nothing he said would appease him anyway. While outwardly silent, he began prepping what to do and what leads to follow up on in his mind.

  Orion turned away and calmed himself down. Now wasn’t the time to berate his employees for past mistakes. The priority now was finding Jean.

  “Use the video,” Orion said, facing Peter once more, “Cross reference that meeting room with all the databases. Find them.”

  “Yes sir,” Peter said, and exited the room.

  Now alone, Orion pulled out his leather chair and sat down. He shifted the computer screen to face him and stared at the videos.

  This was bad.

  The incriminating evidence that Kate had gathered was formidable. He needed to contain this. Kate needed to be removed.

  In a fit of anger, Orion stood up and started toward the door. He needed to take action, NOW.

  As he swung his arm, it caught the edge of his desk and nicked his arm. The skin tore and blood oozed out.

  Orion hissed in frustration. Of all the things to distract him now, he thought.

  He raised his arm and wiped the blood off hastily.

  As his thumb smeared the blood away, it revealed the cut. However, it had already closed up, leaving a fine almost invisible line where the skin had rejoined.

  The corners of Orion’s mouth twitched. He smiled.

  That’s right. He was immortal.

  That bitch Kate didn’t stand a chance.

  Chapter 14: Heaven has no Rage like Love turned to Hatred

  Orion huddled under the blankets. His room in the basement was cold and dark. He sniffled. Oh no, was he going to catch a cold again? This wouldn’t do. Mom would be upset. There wasn’t much medicine left, he’d better not fall sick again.

  Frustrated at his own self and his weak immune system, Orion grabbed yet another blanket from the stack beside his bed and pulled it over him. To comfort himself, he sang to himself the tune that his mother would have, had she come to tuck him in.

  His parents were too busy to tuck him in anymore. His baby sister demanded all their attention. She was probably being tucked in right now, with mom and dad by her side, singing her their bedtime song.

  Thinking about his baby sister Katherine, Orion felt warm inside.

  No, it wasn’t feelings of tenderness that warmed him up. It was jealousy.

  He hated his sister. No, he hated his parents for favouring her.

  Orion didn’t understand why he had to hide while his sister could go out and play with the other children. Why he had to go to a different school, one that was small and barely had a playground while his sister went to a big school and they constantly had field trips to fun places.

  He didn’t understand until recently.

  Since he could remember, his parents argued constantly. Over and over again, they quarrelled every night. He learnt to sleep through the noise. This stressed him out. What exactly was wrong that was causing his parents so much frustration? What could he do to make things better? It seemed that nothing he could do would take their unhappiness away. It didn’t help matters that he was sick so often. Medicine was rare and expensive in a time where sickness was an abnormality.

  His sister’s arrival had helped things. Her presence brought smiles to his parents’ faces. Everything she did was right, she was an angel to them.

  He remembered the day she came home clearly. She came bundled up in white cloth. She slept all day, bundled up like that, like a caterpillar in its cocoon waiting to spread its wings and fly freely as a butterfly. He watched her sleep and sometimes, even dared to reach out and stroke her tiny arm. She barely stirred.

  Like the caterpillar, she grew up quickly. Soon she was taking her first step and mumbling her first words.

  He saw the look on his parents’ faces each time his sister reached a new milestone. The radiance that lit up their faces as Katherine warmed their hearts with every smile, laugh and tear. They hardly qua
rrelled anymore, their lives preoccupied with taking care of his baby sister and commemorating her every step.

  While his parents constantly oohed and aahed over Katherine, they seemed increasingly distant toward him. He even had to shift to the bedroom in the basement. He was a big boy now, they said. Give Katherine the upstairs room. She was still young, she needed it. That way they could be closer to her if she needed them. But what about when he needed them?

  This year, as he approached his 12th birthday, his parents started bickering again. This time, those hushed words, those strained syllables, spoken in that guilty, panicked tone, finally made sense to him.

  They were arguing about him.

  The realization was acute. It pierced him. The bareness of it, the simplicity of it, and the harshness of it.

  It explained the differences in treatment he and Katherine got. No wonder he always had to be hidden. He was an outlier of the system, they would all be doomed if he was found out.

  He wasn’t a child of The Genetic Lottery.

  Now that he was reaching age 12, the age of compulsory enrolment into public school, his parents were getting worried. They had managed to keep things quiet by sending him to a small school far away from the affluent neighbourhoods. His constant illness had been difficult to cover up, medicine was hard to access and expensive but they had done their best. But now, they were facing a huge problem they had no idea how to solve. Entering the official school system would reveal his identity, exposing them in the process. The same old arguments came up. Arguments since his conception were rehashed over and over again. What were they going to do? Should they turn themselves in? They would be prosecuted and locked away. What would happen to Katherine? What would happen to Orion? Should they all just run away?

  Orion continued to force himself to listen at his parents’ door every night. It was as if he wanted to hurt himself with his parents’ words, driven by a maniacal urge to prove his deepest darkest thoughts right.

  Finally, things came to a head. He overheard his parents one night.

  “Darling, we have to do something,” his mother said. “Orion needs to go to public school soon. They’re going to ask about his papers!”

  “I know. I know!” his father replied, his tone bitter, “Haven’t we discussed this enough? What do you want me to do?”

  “I know you paid a lot for those fake papers” his mother said, “But I don’t think they are going to pass muster. This is a public school. This is the government we’re up against...”

  He heard sniffing, presumably from his mother.

  “It’s all your fault,” his mother changed tack, her sniffing stopped. “You wanted this! Why didn’t we just go along with the sterilization like everyone else?” his mother said.

  “It’s too late for regrets now, isn’t it?” his father said.

  “Yeah well, easy for you to say. We should have just gotten rid of him from the start. He should never have been born,” his mother said angrily.

  “Don’t say that!” his father cried out, “How could you say that?”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” his mother said, “I didn’t mean that…”

  “Orion is a blessing, a miracle!” his father said.

  “I know, I know,” his mother said. “I’m just so sick and tired of hiding, it’s so stressful. And we have Katherine now. We can’t just think about ourselves…”

  “Let’s just go!” his mother said. “Run away! Someone will take care of him… Let’s just take Katherine!”

  “What are you saying?” his father said, “How can we abandon him?”

  That last line struck Orion hard. Abandon him? They were going to abandon him? Leave him? Throw him away like trash?

  Orion slumped onto the floor, his hands covered his ears. He didn’t need to hear any more.

  After crying himself to sleep for several nights in a row, Orion felt his heart harden as his tears dried up.

  That night, he resolved to get his revenge. He packed a few things, some cash he had siphoned, the precious medicine they had left and some food pills and water.

  He wouldn’t wait for them to abandon him, he was going to leave them first!

  Orion grabbed his backpack and snuck out of the house. He gave his house one last look before he sped down the street.

  As he walked down the familiar street, he came to a public phone. This was it. Could he really do this? Did he really want to?

  Yes, yes he did. Orion gritted his teeth and walked up to the phone. He pressed the red button which activated a holographic screen.

  “Egalia’s police department. How can I help you?”

  “I have a report to make. It’s about a couple. This is about a breach of The Genetic Lottery. The address is 68 picket lane.” Orion’s voice barely faltered. He was surprised even at himself.

  “Hold on. Who is this speaking? This is a serious allegation you’re making…”

  Orion left the phone hanging as he disappeared off into the night.

  Chapter 15: Boom, Boom, Boom!

  “Wait dad,” Ren said, grabbing his father’s arm, begging him to stay.

  “Won’t you reconsider?” Ren said, “Mom’s safety is at stake here!”

  Ren had been pleading with Orion to reconsider his decision to negotiate with Jean’s kidnappers. His father had been adamant about not giving in to the kidnappers, and refused to even consider negotiation.

  “No! You listen to me son.” Orion said, as he flung Ren’s arm off him with irritation.

  “You’re no son of mine if you’re so weak!” Orion said, seething with anger at Ren’s incessant pleading.

  “We’re going with the rescue plan. I’ve already narrowed down the location,” Orion said.

  Ren looked at his father’s grim face, and his heart sank. His father looked like he could care less about his mother’s safety.

  “And… and what if it fails?” Ren asked, his voice almost a whisper.

  Orion had walked to the door. Right before he slammed the door in Ren’s face, he said, “So be it.”

  --------

  Two hours later, Ren sat in his room despondent. His attempt to convince his father to negotiate with Kate had failed. If only his father wasn’t so stubborn and prideful, if only he had just given in to Kate’s demands. This was actually an easy way for him to bow out gracefully.

  His father had sent his men on a rescue mission. Jean’s location had supposedly been tracked down and they were going to forcefully get her out.

  Ren knew that his mother wasn’t in any real danger but if Orion refused to budge an inch and was going to employ such harsh tactics, he was worried. Not that he thought Kate was a bad person but when push came to shove, he wondered if something could go wrong.

  It certainly didn’t help matters that Max wasn’t picking up any of his calls. He was getting anxious.

  To get his mind off the matter, Ren switched on the television. He flipped through the channels absentmindedly.

  Maybe he should tell Kate to just call it off? He was sure none of them wanted a physical confrontation with Orion’s men. Jean was just supposed to be a bargaining chip, now that they knew Orion was in no mood to bargain, perhaps they should change tack?

  Something caught his eye on the television screen. There was a news flash. There had been an explosion, an office building had collapsed in the far east of the city. The media rushed to cover this explosion, it had been tagged as yet another terrorist attack. The camera panned to show the wide shot of the debris.

  At the corner of his eye, Ren caught a glimpse of something which made his heart stop. There were dozens of black PODs leaving the scene. Private PODs. Only the rich owned them.

  A sinking feeling hit Ren. It couldn’t be…

  Ren got up and hurried to his father’s study in long strides. He had a bad feeling about this.

  Orion was sitting on his chair, a grim expression on his face.

  “I saw an explosion on the news. A building coll
apsed!” Ren said.

  Ren saw his father’s eyes hesitate for a moment. Ren gulped. He knew.

  “Dad, do you know something about this? Was mom’s rescue mission related to this? Why was there an explosion? What’s going on? Tell me!” Ren said, gasping to catch his breath as he fired question after question at his father.

  Orion looked away. He tapped one solitary finger on his desk, in a weird offbeat.

  “Answer me!” Ren said, rushing forward to Orion’s desk.

  Orion’s lowered his hands onto the desk. He looked straight into Ren’s eyes.

  “There’s nothing to say,” Orion said, “I ordered the bombing.”

  Ren’s face crumpled, he staggered backwards.

  “We had to cut our losses, son.” Orion said, his face calm but he hid the tremor he felt in his heart. He didn’t expect things to go south so quickly. Kate had pushed him too far. Her demands were too extreme. He didn’t want to sacrifice Jean, but he couldn’t give up now when he had come so far. The sacrifices he had made… his lonely struggle to the top as part of the Alpha5, the experiments with Ren, the Infinity Bots… he had come too far to stop now.

  Ren looked at his father, unable to process what he was hearing.

  How could he? How could his father do such a thing?

  Max was right.

  His father was a monster.

  He ran out of the room, choking up, not caring who saw him in that state or where he was going. He just needed to get away. Away from his father.

  --------

  3 days later, Ren and Paris journeyed to Kate’s secret laboratory to meet Max.

  He had received a secret missive to meet up and he wasn’t sure what to expect. His mother was missing and presumed to be dead. He didn’t let himself believe it. The thought was too painful to bear. He clung onto every last bit of hope. He focused his energies on hate. Disgust filled every fibre of his body. He couldn’t believe that his father was willing to sacrifice his mother to save himself.

  What greeted him however, stunned him beyond words.

  Jean greeted her son with open arms. Orion ran toward her so fast he almost crashed into her.

  “Mom!” Ren cried, “You’re alive!”