Regress (The Alliance Chronicles Book 1)

by SF Benson

  “Z?” It hurt to swallow.

  “Hey.” His hand resting on my cheek comforted me. “You’re back.”

  “Back?” I sat up.

  “You don’t remember?”

  I shook my head. Bad idea. The room spun.

  “You told me about Cris, and then you collapsed.”

  “Oh.” The tears came back. Again, I tried swallowing but it felt like I sucked a cotton ball.

  “Water?”

  I nodded, much slower this time.

  “Come on.”

  I trudged behind him into the office. He reached into a black backpack and handed me a bottle of water. I guzzled half of it down before I could speak. “Thank you.”

  “Can you tell me what happened?” He leaned on the desk.

  “I-I don't know.” Swallowing was a little easier. “The police found him near the river. They claimed it was a robbery, but—”

  “But what?”

  I rubbed my eyes. “I think Cris was killed for the card. He told me—”

  Zared’s body tensed. “Shit! Where is it now?”

  I jumped. “Oh God, I left it at the apartment. Mom—”

  He grabbed my hand and we ran out the building.

  The railcar moved at a sluggish pace. It was stupid of me to leave something so dangerous out in the open. Cris told me to keep it safe. I failed him. Miserably.

  The elevator doors opened. Words of anger in both Portuguese and Spanish drifted down the hall. Mom and Dad were fighting over the tablet. Before I opened the apartment door, Zared placed his hand on mine. He motioned for me to follow him back to the elevator.

  “Tru, by now your mom knows about the card. She’ll protect it.” He pushed the elevator button.

  “But—” I turned away from him.

  Zared grabbed my shoulders. “There's nothing you can do about it right now.”

  “But I need to get it back. Cris said...” I leaned into him.

  “After what happened with Cris, she’s not giving it to you.” He dragged me into the elevator. “C’mon. I still want to show you something.”

  Neither of us spoke as the railcar moved through the city. So much plagued my mind. I think Zared understood my need for silence. With his arm around my shoulders, I closed my eyes, but couldn’t sleep.

  Mom’s betrayal caused my brother’s death. We were all in danger, and she did nothing to protect us. Some parent. Cris protected me and warned me before danger happened. The same couldn’t be said about my mother.

  When I opened my eyes, the landscape changed. Abandoned, yet familiar shops replaced the ruins of New Jefferson. The first glimpse of Tudor style homes made my heart leap. New Palmer. Home. My real home. Thanks to caring, passionate citizens, the neighborhood hadn’t suffered much. Discarded homes, many in good condition, were proof I might be wrong about some things.

  I thought the disease creating New Detroit’s sickness was people not giving a damn. No. New Detroiters were infected with a virus of discontent, which ignited the Street Wars. People became fed up with politicians, crime, and social injustice. The city imploded. Fortunately, New Palmer was spared.

  We walked down the tree-lined streets hand in hand. I don’t think I wouldn’t have survived the day without Zared. He made my loss a little bearable. We stopped in front of a brown brick-and-stone home, a modest house on the gently-curving street. The front yard had a massive tree, some overgrown red flowers refusing to die, and a couple of crumbling stone dog statues. Chipped and faded black paint framed the house. Squirrels scurried from underneath the roof.

  “I know this house,” I stated.

  “You should,” he agreed.

  “This was my old neighborhood. I grew up not too far from here.” I faced him. “Why did you bring me here, Z?”

  He sighed. “I asked you to trust me, but I’ve been less than honest with you.” Zared shuffled his feet looking down at the ground.

  “What are you saying? You’ve lied to me, too?”

  “No. I learned information about you. You deserve the same courtesy.” He cleared his throat. “This is where I grew up.”

  I dropped his hand. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Uh,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “no.”

  I stood with my mouth open. We attended the same school, but Zared was a stranger to me. Something told me this wasn’t deception. Getting reacquainted was natural. I. Could. Do. This.

  He rested his hand on my hip. His thumb traced small circles on my skin. I gasped. With the other hand, he played with my hair. “I forgot you never came to my house. All these years, though, I never forgot you.”

  “If I never slipped your mind, why didn’t you try finding me sooner?” My low voice drew him nearer.

  “Fair question, but I could ask you the same thing.” Zared’s voice was so sexy, making me want more than what was decent in public.

  I gulped. “I guess we were both dumb kids.”

  “I guess we were.” He exhaled and stepped back. “Did you know your mom knew my parents?”

  I shrugged. Would this day get any worse? “No, I didn’t. Did my dad…”

  “Our mothers were coworkers.” Zared jammed his hands in his pockets. “I told you my mom was a college professor. Our mothers worked together on Intrepid. My mom’s work on Intrepid may have gotten her killed, not the virus.”

  “Tell me about Intrepid,” I interrupted again.

  “After your family moved, my father went to work with the CHA.”

  I gasped. “No.”

  “It wasn’t a big deal at first. He helped with their experiments,” he muttered.

  “How?” I crossed my arms.

  “He was a researcher. Then, he helped create the inoculations.”

  I lifted my chin. “So, you knew about them.”

  Zared looked away.

  I bit my lip. The little voice warned me—run away, fast. “What are they actually vaccinating against?”

  “Fertility.” He exhaled. “The government wants to determine who gives birth.”

  “But why?” There had to be more to it. I refused to accept the government practiced wide-scale birth control, but anything was possible. After all, if I were right about Tai, then it was a way to rid the country of Creatives.

  “It’s the first step of something called Operation Restore.”

  I twirled a lock of hair around my finger. Our society was too broken for repair. Most people didn’t think hope existed. No one enjoyed real freedom. The New Order dictated where we lived, how we earned an income, and even what we ate. Our leaders weren’t able to alleviate a legacy of despair.

  What did the New Order hope to change? Our future? Everything they did was about making the AR a super power again. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics were the tools. Education was the key. A system of categorization was the reward. Creatives, like me, were inconsequential and banned. Cogents and Curatives, the technologically gifted and healers, were worthwhile prestigious, citizens.

  “The side effect of the vaccine on Creatives was that intentional?”

  “Yeah.” Zared rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t trying to keep this from you. I—”

  I held up my hand. “Your father was a monster.”

  “No. He was forced. I don’t think he had anything to do with the intent of the vaccines.” His voice lowered. “According to his research, the government will evolve the program. The next step was—”

  “Discovered by my mother and Intrepid.”

  “Precisely. But, hold up, there’s more.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “More? I don’t—”

  “You need to hear this.”

  If he wanted to be honest, I probably should listen to him. “Go on.”

  “It’s about me.” His shoulders slumped. “Ever hear of the Riza Corps?”

  “Ko was in it.” Corps was for Initiates. After graduating out of Corps, Initiates moved on to RMA cadet status.

  “Well, I, uh, used to be
with the Corps.”

  I asked for honesty, but this might be a little too much. “Used to be?”

  “I, uh, dropped out,” he clarified.

  “I didn’t think people dropped out of Riza.” It was supposed to be a lifelong obligation. A toe tag was the ticket out of it. At least that’s what I’d heard.

  “Remember, I’m talking about the Corps, the training program. You can quit it.” Zared cleared his throat. “I didn’t like all the rules.”

  I smiled. We had more in common than I thought. “So, you and Ko know each other?”

  “Yeah.” He looked at me.

  Well, that explained her reaction when I told her about Zared saving me. I cocked my head. “Anything else?”

  He hesitated. “I knew Cris as a kid. We hung out while our mothers worked on Intrepid. He was my best friend.”

  I sat down on the curb folding my arms over my stomach. “And you never contacted him?”

  “When your parents moved, I lost track of him. I didn’t know where he was until we met up.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” He settled himself next to me. “I just thought you should know. I'd understand—”

  I gazed at him. On a day full of anguish, Zared became my bright spot. Staying mad at him wasn’t possible. I took his face in my hands and kissed him.

  “What was that for?”

  I put my arms around his neck. “You were honest with me.”

  He smiled and pulled me close. “You’re not mad at me?”

  “No. You asked me before to trust you and—”

  “Do you?”

  I ran my fingers through his thick hair and kissed him again. “Yeah, I do. Please tell me you avoided your Inoculation Day.”

  “I have for the past year.” He hugged me. “And I promise you, you’re avoiding yours, too.”

  “My position affords me the opportunity to choose which lives are valid and which were never meant to be.”

  —Hippocratic Oath, 2020

  Seventeenth birthdays were a celebrated hallmark. Becoming an adult meant being vaccinated and entering the workplace. Nothing special in my book. My seventeenth birthday was disastrous. I lost my brother and learned my mother withheld a vital truth from me.

  That lucent moment happened with Zared Aoki. He wasn’t hiding behind some fabricated identity like my mother. I believed he cared about me. Yes, he had hidden details about his past because he didn’t know how to tell me, unlike my mother. She, Gabriela Pereira, didn’t tell me about her past at all, didn’t plan to. My whole life had been fabricated. And her duplicity robbed a good man of his life.

  If you have to lie, make it worth something. Gain something from the experience. What did Gabriela’s lie gain? Nothing. We lived in a dump. My brother was killed. I spent my entire life in the dark. Damn, Zared knew more about my family than I did. When I considered my mother’s dishonesty, his acquisition of some info didn’t matter much.

  How do you thank a parent for endangering your life? Keeping the SIM card was stupid, and people called me reckless. Maybe she should check her behavior before criticizing mine. My actions never killed people. No one ever got hurt from the things I did, the half-truths I spun. And if Eden is CHA or worse, all of our lives are in danger. Thanks, Mother.

  I wasn’t completely innocent. I’d played a part in my life’s tragedy. Cris said to keep the card safe. I failed. Miserably. If anyone else died, I’d have their blood on my hands.

  My mother owed me some answers. And this time, the Grand Inquisitor would not dictate the question and answer session. Plans changed as soon as I opened the apartment door. Mother held the SIM card in her hand. The tablet lay on the coffee table.

  “Have a seat, young lady.” She pointed to the chair across from the sofa.

  I tossed my purse on the table. The hairs on the nape of my neck were at attention.

  A vein twitched on her temple. “How did you get this?”

  Cris warned me not to tell her about the card. I’d already failed in keeping it safe. I slouched in the chair. “What is that?”

  “Don’t. Play. Dumb. Where did you get it?” Her ice-cold stare bored through me.

  She clutched the card in her hand, attempting to hide it from me. Her face turned red, and the vein pulsed on her temple.

  Sorry Mother. I was the only one entitled to anger.

  “I found it.”

  “And you’ve looked at it?”

  I nodded.

  Mother scowled. “You expect an explanation?”

  “Yes,” I replied. Somehow, I remained calm while my body wanted to have a full-on two-year-old tantrum.

  “If you’ve looked at the information, you know too much already.”

  “Not nearly enough.”

  “You don’t know what you’re dealing with.” Mother’s words were coated in honey, but I didn’t trust what she had to say.

  “I know it’s dangerous, and you shouldn’t have kept it.”

  “Tru—” Mom pleaded with me.

  I stared at the floor. I wanted answers, but I feared what she would tell me. Her fiction was like a bag full of vipers. Each untruth she created was soon followed by another. Common sense said I didn’t need to know everything, but curiosity reared its ugly head. I lifted my chin.

  “Tell me about my dad.”

  Mom’s brows knitted together. “What?”

  Good. I caught her off guard. “Is the man I’ve called Dad indeed my father?”

  Mom reached for the necklace, fingered it, and then put her hand in her lap. “Yes.”

  Even now, she wouldn’t tell me the truth. “So why didn’t you get married?”

  “We did. It was a private ceremony.” Her hand went back to the necklace. “The government doesn’t know about it.”

  “Why not?” I tilted my head and watched my mother squirm. Amazing! This woman could not be a spy.

  “I was trying to protect him.” Mom tapped her foot on the floor.

  “From what?” I could keep this game up for as long as she played it.

  “Being associated with a traitor would ruin his career.” If the tension got any tighter on the necklace, it would snap.

  I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “No! If you were protecting us, you would have destroyed the card.”

  “You sound like your father.” She gave the necklace a rest.

  “Is that what you two argued about the night we moved?”

  Mom raised an eyebrow. “You remember that night?”

  “I do.” I played with my jacket zipper.

  “Your father begged me to destroy the card.”

  “Why didn’t you?” I massaged my aching temples.

  “It doesn’t matter.” She lowered her eyes.

  I should be talking to Dad. He would be straight with me. Just then, I realized he was rather late coming home from work. “Where is Dad by the way?”

  Mom screwed up her face. “He left. My keeping the tablet was the last straw for him. Keeping the information might have cost Cris his life.”

  Surely she wasn’t that clueless? “Are you for real, Mom? Your mistakes got him killed!”

  “Watch your tone, young lady. I am still your mother.”

  I sprang out of my seat and headed for my room. I had enough of deception for one day.

  “We're not finished here.” Mom followed me.

  “I’m done. I just want a shower and—”

  “Sorry, not happening.” Mom yanked my shoulder and spun me around. “Finding the card has put us all in danger.”

  “Are you serious?” I threw my hands in the air. “You created Intrepid! You created the danger!”

  Thwack!

  My cheek stung, but I refused to shed a tear. She had never hit me. I stood there slack-mouthed, inching away from her, with stars disrupting my vision.

  She covered her mouth, reached out, and then abruptly withdrew her hand. “I’m sorry, Tru. Everything I’ve done kept all of you safe. My safet
y never mattered. If the New Order killed Cris, they'll be coming for us next. They won't stop until they get what they want.”

  I rubbed my cheek. Uninvited tears ran down my face. “If my life is in danger, don’t you think I deserve the full truth?”

  Mom collapsed on my bed. “Ask away.”

  Would she be honest with me? Or would she spoon-feed the lies to me, one at a time? “Let’s start with Cris,” my voice trembled. “Who was he?”

  “Back when I was a programmer, a fellow co-worker befriended me. She raised her son alone. We worked together. The virus spread, and she panicked. She didn’t want him to end up alone on the streets. So, I promised to take care of him if anything happened to her. When she died, he came to live with us. You were two years old. You grew up believing he was your brother. We raised him as if he were ours.”

  Man, I must have been a gullible toddler. A stranger walked in the door, and I believed he was my brother. “How did he know about Intrepid?”

  “By accident. Cris was smart, too smart. He accessed it on our computer—”

  “We had a computer?” I didn’t remember having one after we moved to the ‘A’.

  “Yes. Cris’ discovery of Intrepid ended our computer use. Your father got rid of all of them. He didn't know I had a tablet here. He figured we'd stay protected if you had no way of finding the information.”

  “And the information?”

  Mom stiffened with my question. “You didn't access it?”

  “It's all on the tablet?” I edged closer to her, keeping a safe distance just in case. “Mom, do you realize how risky it is to—”

  “It's on the card,” she said.

  I threw my hands in the air. “Destroy it then.”

  “I can’t destroy it.” Mom wrung her hands.

  “What on earth is so important that it—”

  “Human cloning,” her voice dropped even lower.

  I tilted my head to the side. “What?”

  “The New Order plans to replace humans with clones.”

  “I thought the UN banned human replacement years ago.”

  “They did.”

  Human replacement cloning was a theory turned into reality by a group of scientists. They claimed lifespans could be extended and birth defects eliminated. When the New Order came into power, the United Nations wasted no time banning the practice. Experts said the cons outweighed the benefits. It was too high a price for mankind to pay.