Pulse Point

by Colleen Nelson

  But I didn’t have security inside either.

  I turned to Sy and took a deep breath. “When do we leave?”

  Lev

  Every minute I didn’t think about Kaia was an achievement. She preyed on my mind constantly, especially during the mind-numbing shifts at the gymnasium. Staring out over the running mats, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about her. Why hadn’t she responded to my messages? I’d gone to the orchard last night and sat for hours, but she never came. If she’d just answer my messages, or agree to meet with me, I could explain that I’d tried to beat Tar at her own game and lost.

  “Lev, you’re requested in MM 359,” an overseer said, interrupting my thoughts. She slid into my spot at the railing.

  “By who?”

  She shrugged, her eyes already glazing over as she stared down at the gymnasium floor.

  MM 359 was a matchmaker’s room. I’d gone there this morning to explain my plight and ask them to reconsider the match with Sari. The matchmaker had listened but shaken his head at my request. “The Council has already approved the match,” he’d said. “My hands are tied.”

  What if Sari had also asked for the match to be undone? Maybe she’d realized it was a mistake to betray Kaia. Was she willing to risk Tar’s threats for her friend? I walked there as quickly as I could, my mind spinning with possibilities.

  When I opened the door to MM 359, I saw Sari. She was talking to the matchmaker and for a second I felt a rush of optimism. But then I noticed Tar. One look at the smug expression on her face and I knew my hopes for a different outcome had been foolish.

  “Welcome to your matching ceremony, Lev.” I gritted my teeth at Tar’s words. “A dwelling has been secured for you and your mate,” she glanced at Sari. “There’s no reason to delay.” Some newly matched couples had to wait months until a dwelling was made available. Trust Tar to use her influence to make sure I jumped to the top of the list.

  “This is happening so fast. I’m barely used to the idea that I’m matched.” Sari’s eyes flitted warily between me and Tar.

  All the reasons against the match rose in my throat, but was there any point? No doubt Tar had a backup plan. I’d tried to outwit her before and failed. If I backed out now, what would Tar do? Find a reason to balance Kaia? Punish me in a way worse than this? Instead, I gave Sari a thin-lipped smile. “No reason to wait,” I said, echoing Tar.

  Sari blinked at me. There was so much still unsaid between us. Tar cleared her throat, a signal to the matchmaker that he should begin. The formal matching was quick, just a matter of linking our pulse points with a Councillor—in this case, Tar—present to approve the match.

  “Raise your forefingers,” the matchmaker commanded.

  I hesitated.

  “Lev,” Tar’s voice was a warning. Reluctantly, I raised my finger.

  Sari gave me a nervous smile as our fingertips touched. There was a faint tremor as the pulse points connected. “You are matched,” the matchmaker said and smiled at both of us. One corner of Tar’s mouth went up in a satisfied smirk.

  “What a perfect couple,” Tar said proudly. “You’ll be the envy of your cohorts,” I cringed at Tar’s words. In her mind, Sari was a mate befitting a future leader.

  I swallowed back a lump and grit my teeth. “I should get back to work.”

  Sari bit her lip and nodded.

  The matchmaker looked surprised. “Most new mates go for a walk to celebrate. Maybe to the orchard or along the stream?” he suggested.

  I gave him a cool look. The last thing I wanted was to be paraded through the City as proof that Tar had won. I opened my mouth to argue and caught the look that Tar shot Sari. Before I could say anything, Sari said, “That’s a good idea. I’m sure Tar can explain to your supervisor why you’ll be late for work.”

  I gaped at her. Our match was no cause for celebration. Sari cast a quick glance at Tar, who nodded approvingly.

  I stiffened. So, Tar had found a way to get to Sari. Had it been bribes or more threats? It didn’t matter. This match was a sham and Sari knew it as well as I did. As soon as I talked to Kaia, I’d come back to the matchmaker and explain how Tar had orchestrated the match under false pretenses. I’d push for the match to be dissolved. Sari would be embarrassed, but I’d argue that she deserved a mate who wanted to be with her. Not someone who would forever be pining for someone else.

  Sari lifted her pulse point and her hologram floated in the air between us. “Look! There you are!” My face showed up as one of the icons, and I was on her locator map as well. “Should we meet up later? To make our dinner? You can join me in my dwelling until we move into our own.”

  Her words were for Tar’s benefit, not mine. I was sure of it. I ignored her offer. “I should get back to the gymnasium. I don’t want people thinking I get special treatment because of who my elder is.”

  “I guess I should go back to work too,” Sari sighed. “We’re short-staffed at the clinic.”

  Her words hung between us, taking up more space than the four people in the room. I gave Tar a quick bow, silently cursing her, and nodded to the matchmaker. I held the door open for Sari, but Tar called her back. “A word, Sari?” The expression on Sari’s face hardened, but she obeyed. What choice did she have?

  As I went back to the gymnasium, I composed a message to Kaia. As long as we stayed in the City, we could never be free. Not from Tar, or the whims of the Council. Maybe leaving the City was our only option. Could we do it? I looked out the Dome, at the barren, cracked plain that separated us from the Mountain. The question haunted me as I stood on the balcony. Was it possible to survive out there?

  Kaia

  “We’ll go the way Raina did,” Sy said. “Through the underland.”

  “The underland?” I repeated. I’d never been down there, few Citizens had. Its mystery was part of City lore. If a child was caught misbehaving, elders threatened to send them to the underland.

  “Do you know how she found it?”

  “The way out?”

  I nodded.

  He gave me a bleak look. “She said it was better if I didn’t know.”

  I frowned at him. Doubts swirled.

  But Sy forged on, his mind locked on one target: escape. “The tunnel will take us to the windfarm. We’ll go just before dawn. Once we’re outside, we stay beside the stream and go to the Mountain.”

  At his usual time, he left to work in the garden, swearing he was clear-headed even though we’d been up all night. He left me with a list of things to prepare while he was gone. I tried to rest, knowing we had a long night ahead of us, but my mind was spinning.

  When Sy came home loaded with supplies, his eyes shone bright and he spoke in rapid bursts. His manic behaviour made me anxious. Could I trust him? After all these years of worrying about his mental fitness, I was willing to follow him outside. A saner me would have thought I was the crazy one. Maybe Sy’s madness infected me too? Is this what grief did?

  I stood mute as Sy packed our satchels, stuffed them with things he’d collected from the garden and our dwelling: a drinking gourd, one of the emergency ones every dwelling had in case our water purification system went down. It had a spout that Sy said could clean 1,000 gallons of water. He warned me the water outside might not be safe to drink. He also packed a pot, wrapped in an extra tunic; a pair of his bamboo gardening shoes, the dried mud scraped onto the floor and left in a dusty pile; a clean bedroll bound tightly with twine. “This,” Sy said, “you need to keep handy at all times. It is the most important tool or weapon you’ll have with you.” It was Mae’s knife, the one she always used to prepare dinner. How many times had I watched her chop vegetables with it, the metal blade slicing through beets and avocado, dicing carrots? Swallowing back the wave of grief that threatened to sweep me up, I let him attach it to a belt around my waist.

  Sy held up thick, rubbery leaves
newly harvested from the garden. “Aloe,” he said squeezing the leaf so clear goo oozed out. “The sun can burn. This will help. And garlic.” He held up the bulbs still wrapped in papery skin. “Rubbing it on your skin will deter insects. We have to eat as much of it as we can. It will make our blood unappealing.”

  I grabbed his arm. “Our blood?”

  “There are insects that suck blood outside. Don’t worry, they’re small.”

  He gave me a look of determination. “I knew one day, we’d join her, Kaia.”

  I gave him the bravest smile I could and looked around our dwelling. Bereft of us, the space was just that: a space. Sy’s garden on the balcony would wither and die without him to tend it. Mae’s half-finished mending still sat where she’d left it. Impulsively, I grabbed a scrap of fabric she’d been using and brought it to my face. Her smell lingered on it. I held it in my hand, squeezing it in my fist.

  Lev

  “What are you doing here?” Sari’s voice made me jump. I hadn’t heard her coming. I’d ignored her messages and had been waiting in the orchard since my shift at the gymnasium had ended.

  Of course, now that we were matched, she could find me wherever I was. Tar didn’t have to keep track of me anymore, not when she had Sari. “I was supposed to meet someone,” I replied. The sky outside had turned dark. I’d spent another night waiting for nothing.

  “Kaia?” Sari asked.

  I looked at her and saw the worry on her face.

  “Yes.”

  Sari sat on the ground beside me, gracefully bending her slender legs to one side. “I’ve been covering for her at the clinic. I told them she’d been quarantined with a virus. But it’s been days. They’re starting to wonder.” Sari’s lie had bought Kaia more time off than most people had in their lives. “She has to leave her dwelling soon, don’t you think?”

  “She hasn’t responded to any of my messages.”

  Sari hesitated and looked like she had something to say, then decided against it. “Do you think she’ll forgive us?”

  “You maybe. But it’s because of me that Mae’s gone and we’re—”

  “Matched,” Sari finished. “I keep wondering if it’s better this way. Her two best friends, together.”

  “Sari—” I held up my hand. I didn’t want to listen to her justifications. All they did was grate on my nerves.

  Sari rose on her knees and leaned towards me. Before I could stop her, she put her lips on mine, pressing herself against me. If I closed my eyes, the taste of her was familiar enough that I could pretend it was Kaia. I didn’t push her away. I should have, but I didn’t. Missing Kaia, guilt and regret, all the things I’d been feeling disappeared as Sari’s mouth moved against mine.

  She pulled away first, smiling.

  I gulped. A hot flush spread up my neck. What if Kaia had come and seen us? Sari was sitting so close that when I jumped up, she fell backwards. “I have to go!” I said.

  Hurt and anger flashed across Sari’s face as she stood up. “Where? To find her? What’s the point? You’ll never match with her! You’re the son of a Councillor! She’s nothing.”

  I turned on Sari. “She’s not nothing!”

  “She is in the City. Councillor Tar explained things to me, Lev. You need to think about the future. Our future.”

  “She bribed you, didn’t she? Promised you things to match with me.”

  Sari met my eyes with a steely look of determination. “We could be happy if you’d give it a chance.”

  I looked at her with disgust, then turned and ran.

  Kaia

  Night had settled again on the City. We’d been sitting in the darkness for hours.

  “Kaia!” Lev’s cries broke the silence. “Kaia!” He pounded on the door.

  I looked at Sy, who shook his head and held a finger to his lips.

  “Kaia, please! Open the door! I need to talk to you!” Hearing his voice made me wince.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears. I wouldn’t get to say goodbye to him, or feel his arms around me one last time. But no matter how hard I pressed on my ears, I could still hear him. “It’s not what you think,” Lev shouted through the door.

  “Be quiet!” a neighbour yelled. “Or I’ll get an overseer!”

  Tears prickled in my eyes. Just go, Lev, I silently begged. Don’t make this harder for me than it already is.

  “Kaia, please open the door!” He was angry. I covered my mouth to stifle my own cries. “Just. Open. The. Door.” Each word was punctuated with a slap on the door. He’d probably sent me messages that had gone unanswered. It was better this way. The less he knew the better.

  “What are you doing? Get moving. You don’t live there!” another neighbour shouted.

  Lev’s voice changed from tearful to resolute. “Tomorrow, Kaia. I’ll be waiting for you in the orchard tomorrow night. And the day after that and the day after that. I’ll wait as long as I have to until you’re ready to talk to me.”

  Oh Lev. Tears trickled down my cheeks and it took everything I had to stay crouched on the floor and let him walk away. For the rest of the night, I wondered if I’d made the right choice.

  And finally, it was time. The door shut after us as we walked down the stairs with our bags. Solar-powered lights along the walkway glowed so we clung to the shadows. We saw no other Citizens. Except for the hum of the air purifier, the City was silent. My stomach churned at the thought of what we were about to do.

  We walked towards the gymnasium. There were always overseers stationed here; the gymnasium was open all hours. The sound of a lone runner greeted us as we drew closer. Sy’s pace slowed. I hung back, nervous. We hadn’t done anything wrong, not yet. Or was conspiring to escape a punishable offence?

  A young overseer, a female I knew, stood at the entrance. Sy raised a hand in greeting. She furrowed her brow, taking in our bulging satchels. “I’m Sy. I work in the garden. I forgot to bring these to the storeroom yesterday,” Sy explained, gesturing at our bags, his voice friendly. “New potatoes.” The female gave us quizzical looks. I offered a friendly smile, even though my mouth quivered with nerves. “Mind if we go this way?” Sy said.

  Were there storerooms in the underland? I didn’t know and neither did the female. She hesitated.

  Sy reached into his satchel and pulled out a white-fleshed potato. Dirt still clung to its skin. He tossed it to the female. She caught it, and in a flash, it disappeared under her tunic. She turned away, her gaze once more on the Citizen inside the gymnasium. I ducked behind Sy as we quickly shuffled towards the stairs that led into the underland.

  As the stairwell spiralled down into complete darkness, my steps grew more apprehensive. Curling my feet around the edge of each stair, I pressed my palm flat against the wall, steadying myself. Dizzy and disoriented, I breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the bottom. The air felt different in the underland: cool and musty.

  The corridor that stretched before us was deserted and, except for small, square openings in the ceiling, dark. Sy held up his finger and his pulse point’s hologram wavered in front of us. He swiped across the memory icon and selected the image of Mountain and instantly one of his memories appeared. The same corridor captured sixteen years earlier when he and Raina had walked through it. His memory, saved from that night, became our map for escape.

  We felt our way along the wall following the memory. There were doors every few metres. A few were marked with signs like “Surgery,” “Storage,” or “Councillor Chambers.” I caught whiffs of antiseptic. Familiar in the clinic, the scent clashed with the moist air of the underland. Behind one door came deep male voices. My heart thumped in my chest and I tripped over my feet, stifling a gasp with my hand. Sy put a reassuring hand on my arm, steadying me.

  We kept walking further down the dark corridor. The ground grew uneven. In front of me, the hallway stretched forever i
n the gloom and was lined with endless doors. What was behind all of them? More storage? I wondered how far the underland extended. Was the maze of secret corridors as big as the City?

  Sy’s memory showed that we had to turn down a smaller hallway. I looked around, feeling the cool clay walls. There was no corner, no hallway branching off this one. Sy reached out, patting the walls, the hologram momentarily disappearing. From somewhere deeper in the underland, a cough and a moan.

  “Sy,” I said in barely a whisper. I tugged on his sleeve to turn back. He shook his head, patting the walls more frantically. It was useless. Whatever escape route he and Raina had found before had been sealed off.

  The cough came again. I started at the familiarity of it, as if Mae’s voice was haunting me. I wanted to get out of this place. And then, a triumphant fist clench from Sy. He grabbed my hand and jammed my fingers between a crack in the clay wall. “Here!”

  He pressed his shoulder against the concealed door and it opened into a tunnel. I squinted into the darkness. Sy stooped, ducking his head. The tunnel was half as high as the corridor and just wide enough to accommodate his shoulders. When he slid the door back into place, we were immersed in complete, suffocating darkness. I gulped. I didn’t know what existed at the end of the tunnel.

  Sy held up his finger and the hologram reappeared. It was no help to us now. The memory was also pitched in blackness, but its faint glimmer of light gave us our bearings. I could hear Sy’s breath, heavy and laboured. Fearful.

  The tunnel’s walls were not adobe. They’d been carved out of the ground with rough tools. We inched through the darkness, worried about tripping over large rocks and uneven terrain. A series of pounding feet through the corridor made us both freeze. Overseers. Sy turned towards the door and bumped into me. We stood in the tunnel, not daring to breathe. Were the overseers coming for us? Had we been discovered?

  “Contain them!” a voice ordered. Sy clutched me against him and my bag hung awkwardly off my arm. I thought of the knife. My only weapon. I would run before I would use it. But if I had to, if inflicting harm was my only choice, what then?