by Lizzie Rose
‘I like the old buildings,’ I mumbled, ‘they give it character.’
‘Yes, well, we have to look to the future now and Paradise is our future.’
There was sharpness to her tone which surprised me. She briefly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound harsh but you have to face facts. This is our reality and our future. We can’t go back to the way things were even if we wanted to. Now, whilst what happened today is very sad and regrettable, the main thing is that we don’t dwell on it. Joe was delusional and dangerous. It’s a pity we didn’t recognise the signs earlier on but we can’t do anything about that now. Brush yourself off and move on. Joe was just one person who couldn’t be helped. There are plenty of others out there who need you.’
I nodded slowly. ‘I’m sorry, it was just a shock.’
‘Of course it was. Why don’t you have a break for a while? Spend some time in your pod and relax a bit.’
‘I was supposed to be going into town this afternoon.’
‘Well, from what I hear they’re managing just fine. You have to learn to delegate a bit and then trust that they’ll get on with the tasks you’ve given them.’
‘I do trust them.’
‘Great. So, why don’t you go and chill out with some music and a good book? I’ll make sure they call you if you’re needed, I promise.’
‘Ok, I guess it’d be a good idea to get into some dry clothes.’
‘Exactly. You go ahead and I’ll see you later.’
*
By dinner time it was raining outside, so I flung a jacket over my uniform and hurried over to the main building. But instead of going into the dining room, I headed to the entrance of the accommodation block. A guard met me at the door and saluted smartly.
‘I’d like take to take a look at Gracie’s room.’
‘You can look by all means, ma’am, but you won’t find much.’
‘Just the usual, huh?’
She eyed me warily. ‘Well, actually you won’t find anything at all. It’s been emptied.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know for sure, ma’am, but we were given orders to empty it. Her commune clothing went away to be cleaned and her other belongings were put into storage. We’re expecting the room to be occupied again tomorrow.’
‘But what if Gracie wants to come back? I was told that might be an option.’
‘I really don’t know, ma’am.’ She shrugged. ‘We just follow orders. Follow me and I’ll take you there now.’
*
The room was tiny. There was a single bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table with a small lamp on it, and a chest of drawers. Plain beige curtains hung at the windows and a thin cream carpet covered the floor. Scanning the room I saw that it was indeed empty. The bed had been stripped and there was nothing in the drawers. In fact, the only item that had been left in the room was a small MP3 player, sitting in a docking station. It had the same selection of music as the one in my pod. The door opened and the guard stuck her head around and peered at me.
‘Did you find what you were looking for, ma’am?’
‘Don’t they have cooking facilities in these rooms?’ I asked. ‘And where’s the bathroom?’
‘They’re communal. There are two on each landing with a separate shower room. And no, they don’t have cooking facilities seeing as they’re so close to the dining room.’
‘So they’re just rooms?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘And don’t they have any personal things? I mean like diaries or books?’
‘Diaries are not authorised items,’ she replied, giving me a strange look. ‘They are allowed any of the items on the authorised possessions list if they wish.’
‘Did Gracie have anything like that?’
‘She had a few books and toiletries. Some of the unused items have been returned to the community shop and the rest has been put in storage.’
‘I see. Ok, well, thank you for showing me around.’
‘Not at all, ma’am. Do let me know if you think of any more questions.’
Nodding, I followed her back down to the dining room.
*
I had literally just sat down with a plate of lasagne when a guard appeared at my side.
‘Ma’am,’ he waved a salute with one hand, ‘there’s an emergency situation. I need you to come to the security office right away.’
‘Ok, let’s go.’
The security office was bustling with people in uniform running around and shouting at each other. Simeon raced across with a young man at his side.
‘Ava, this is Jamie, one of our security managers. He took the call.’
Jamie saluted me and I returned the gesture.
‘Ma’am, I just took a call from the town. About ten minutes ago the Nexes attacked en masse and several guards were hurt. We sent in backup as soon as we heard and they’ve contained the situation for now but they’ve discovered that the Nexes are plotting to come here and burn down Paradise. We’ve managed to get a lot of the troublemakers into the prison but it’s reaching maximum capacity. The rest have been placed under house arrest and the Standards have been told to return to their homes and stay inside until further notice.’
‘What about here?’
‘We’ve put in extra patrols around the borders and we’re checking the cameras constantly for any sign of intruders. We also have the capacity to be able to lock the pods.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Nicholas put it in a central locking system as an emergency safety measure, you see, but he said it was only to be used with your authorisation.’
‘Have you heard from Nicholas?’
‘I have,’ Simeon put in, ‘he’s sending reinforcements and said he’ll be back with us as soon as possible.’
‘Ok, well yes, I guess that locking people in is a good idea but let’s not create a panic. Can we do it without them knowing?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Once they’re all safely in their pods we can activate the locks and they won’t know anything until morning. It will seal their windows shut too.’
‘That’s fine but what about me? What if I need to get out in the middle of the night?’
‘I can override the system so that it doesn’t affect your pod, or Simeon’s for that matter.’
‘Ok, take Linda’s out of the loop too, just in case. I think we need to bring in a curfew for our residents. Shall we say eight o’clock to be on the safe side?’
‘I’ll go and make an announcement.’ Simeon headed for the door. ‘And I’d better take some guards with me, just in case.’
*
We stayed up the entire night, monitoring what was happening and co-ordinating our troops. By the early hours of the morning I was exhausted and desperately wanted to sleep, but when I did finally get to bed, I had a nightmare. The only thing I could remember was Joe’s face staring blankly up at me. It didn’t matter what they said, his death was my responsibility. Life was so fragile – at least, it was for everyone else.
Deciding that it wasn’t a good idea to spend too much time on my own, I dressed and walked across to the main building. The warmth of the dining room was welcoming but the atmosphere was not.
‘What’s going on?’ I turned to Linda who had appeared next to me. She looked worried as she pulled me to one side.
‘They’re angry about being locked in. Some of them noticed and they’re saying that we’re turning the commune into a prison. I didn’t know what to say to them to make it better.’
‘Ok, I’ll handle this. QUIET!’
Climbing on to a nearby chair, I waited until they’d all stopped talking.
‘I made the decision to secure your accommodation last night because yesterday we received Intel that some of the Nexes were planning an attack on Paradise.’
Shock registered on several faces and murmurs rippled through the group in front of me.
‘Now, we are confident that we’ve isolated tho
se who were plotting the attack, but to be on the safe side, we sealed the pods. I can assure you that this is a temporary measure and ask that you trust my judgement.’
‘You must be seriously worried about it if you’re going to lock us in every night,’ someone shouted.
‘My only concern is your safety,’ I replied. ‘I’m not concerned about the threat of attack, because believe me, I can do a lot more damage to them than they can to us. It just makes it easier for me to protect you if I know where you all are.’
‘This isn’t paradise, it’s a dictatorship.’ someone else shouted. ‘You’re just making us sitting ducks.’ There was a surge of movement as three guards launched themselves into the crowd. They located the man who’d spoken and dragged him out of the room. I tried to keep the shock from registering on my face. Some of the crowd were now eyeing me nervously.
‘Paradise is the future,’ I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
‘Paradise is the future,’ they repeated robotically. A shiver ran up and down my spine.
‘Ok, I’m going to have breakfast now and I suggest you do the same. We must try and continue our normal lives. If we let them break down our community then they’ve won and we may as well give up now. Please, try not to worry, and enjoy the rest of your day.’
As I stepped down from the chair, Linda began to clap loudly and the rest followed. Nodding at her, I walked to the service area, grabbed a mug of tea and a croissant and made for the door.
*
After spending the entire day with Jamie and the guards, I excused myself and returned to my pod. I’d barely had chance to make myself a drink when the alarms went off again. Swearing loudly, I poured my cup of tea down the sink and set off at a run, back to the security room.
‘What’s happened?’
‘There’s been a breach of our boundaries,’ Jamie called out without looking at me. ‘The camera images are a bit grainy but it looks like a person.’
I peered at a screen next to me and studied the picture.
‘How is that possible? There’s a wire fence there, surely?’
‘Patrol 6 has just been to look. There’s a hole in the fence and some wire cutters on the floor but no sign of anyone around.’
‘Do we know how many?’
‘Just one by the looks of things. We’re setting up extra patrols as we speak. A lot of the guys have only just come back from their shifts but they’re going to have to go straight back out I’m afraid.’
‘We have the extras that Nicholas sent though, they can help.’
‘Yeah, but they don’t know the territory. We can narrow the search down to the area between the hole in the fence and the commune, but there’s the quarry in between and some pretty tricky ground around there too. If we send the newbies out by themselves we’ll end up with broken legs all over the place.’
‘I’ll go too.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course. Does Simeon know?’
‘He’s already outside rallying the troops. You’d better grab a torch and here’s a radio headset that you can just slip into your ear. It’s set to two-way so you can hear everything that’s going on and just speak into it when you want to and we’ll all hear you too. I’m just going to get sorted out in here and I’ll meet you in a couple of minutes.’
*
Outside, the rain was torrential and the wind bitterly cold. Our guards were standing with their shoulders hunched; their collars turned up and their hats rammed down on their heads. Simeon rushed over to me.
‘They’re ready for you.’ He gestured me forward.
‘Haven’t you briefed them?’
‘No, I thought it best to wait for you.’
Sighing with frustration, I turned to the guards.
‘We have an unknown person somewhere in Paradise. We know where they came in and the sensors went off a good ten minutes ago. The key here is to locate the person and detain them. Force should only be used if you need to defend yourselves. You are to keep in regular radio contact, advising us of your location and the status of your group. If you locate the unknown person you must update us immediately so that we can back you up. Once the person has been detained, I’ll question them. Is that clear?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ they shouted in response.
‘Good. Ok, let’s go.’
The groups split up and set off in every direction. Simeon, Jamie and three of our regular guards joined me and we set off towards the quarry. Within minutes the other patrols were out of sight. We’d been walking for about twenty minutes when a quiet voice spoke in my ear.
‘Patrol 17 approaching the quarry, over.’
‘Affirmative Patrol 17,’ the controller replied, ‘go carefully.’
We continued on but then my entire group froze as the same voice from Patrol 17 came back on the radio. ‘There’s someone here. Patrol 16, are you close?’
‘Affirmative.’
Crackling followed and then shouts.
‘That’s not on the radio,’ Jamie breathed. ‘Come on!’
Running in big boots when the ground was slippery was not easy, but I still easily outran the others. It was only thanks to Jamie’s warning in my earpiece that I skidded to a halt, teetering at the edge of a sharp drop. Catching up with me, Jamie grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me backwards. Gasping for breath, we surveyed the scene at the bottom of the quarry. Several torch beams were being held high in the air so that the group of guards were standing in a small pool of light. In front of them a small figure was kneeling on the ground. One guard was holding the person by the front of their clothing and as I watched, he raised his fist and slammed it hard against the kneeling figure’s face.
Shaking Jamie’s arm away from me, I took a running jump over the edge of the quarry. Turning in a graceful arc, I plummeted quickly, landing lightly on my feet at the bottom, right next to the group.
Chapter Twenty One
‘Your orders were to detain the unknown, using minimal force!’
The one who had thrown the punch stared down at me expressionless. ‘It attacked me.’ He let go of the figure and let it drop to the floor at my feet. ‘It was self-defence.’
I looked down and gasped. ‘How did he attack you? He’s just a boy.’
‘Doesn’t make any difference with these Nexes, does it?’ he sneered at me. ‘It still attacked me.’
‘What’s his power?’
‘I dunno, do I? All I know is that he hit me with some sort of force field and it hurt. I may have lost my temper but he attacked me first.’
The rest of his group watched me with narrowed eyes but said nothing. Footsteps sounded behind me and the radio crackled in my ear.
‘Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?’ the controller demanded. I ripped the earpiece out and squared up to the guard.
‘What’s happening?’ Jamie panted.
‘He’s saying that the boy attacked him with some sort of force field,’ I explained curtly, ‘yet I know this boy and his power is not aggressive.’
Silence spread across the quarry as the rain continued to pour down on us. Finally, Simeon spoke from behind me, his voice quiet yet forceful. ‘Explain yourself.’
The guard eyed him and I was pleased to see that he looked alarmed. ‘We got carried away, that’s all. No harm done.’
‘Return to the commune immediately. Go to my office and wait for me. I’ll deal with you on my return.’
‘Yes sir.’ He slouched off without saluting, followed by the rest of his group.
‘Ava?’ the figure at my feet stirred. Kneeling down in the mud next to him, I reached out and gently touched his face. He let out an almighty sob and flung himself into my arms.
‘What are you doing here, Hugo?’
‘I c-came to find you.’ His teeth were chattering so much I could barely hear him.
‘Why? What’s happened?’
‘Don’t you know? It’s awful, Ava. Everyone’s gone.�
��
‘Gone where?’
‘I don’t know,’ he sobbed again, ‘they took them away.’
‘Well, if they’ve been fighting against the guards then there’s really not much I can do.’
He shook his head furiously. ‘It’s not like that. The guards have been attacking us. They raided our homes and trashed them. They set fire to Gran’s shop and they’re threatening to do the same to the farm because that’s where everyone’s come to. We’re all so scared and we don’t know what to do. I had to find you, Ava. You’re the only one who can stop them.’
‘But that’s not right, Hugo. The guards are trying to separate the Nexes from the Duds, that’s all. It’s for your own safety.’
‘No!’ he yelled at me, making me jump. ‘You’re wrong! There’s something weird going on. Some of the guards are ok, they treat us with respect – I can hear their thoughts and they’re just doing their jobs. But the other ones are different. They want to hurt us. And Ava, there’s a body over there.’ He pointed behind him.
‘What? Like an animal or something?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he replied, shaking his head, ‘I mean a person. That’s how they found me. I was trying to creep away from them and I felt something under my hand.’ He shuddered and began to cry again.
‘The boy is obviously deeply distressed,’ Simeon murmured in my ear. ‘We should maybe get him back to the commune.’
‘What about the body he says he found?’
‘It’s dark and he’s frightened. The mind plays tricks on us in such circumstances.’
‘Still, we should probably take a look,’ I insisted.
‘Ok, well, let me take the boy back. He’s had quite a shock.’
‘Yes, ok.’ I turned back to Hugo and placed my arm around his shoulder, ‘Simeon is going to take you up to the main building.’ Hugo’s eyes widened as he looked up at Simeon. ‘It’s ok,’ I reassured him, ‘he’s one of the good guys. He’ll look after you until I get back, ok?’
‘Come along, young man.’ Simeon’s teeth glistened in the torchlight. ‘We’ll see you shortly, Ava.’ He nodded at me and turned away.
It only took us a couple of minutes to locate the body and discover that it was indeed a person. It had been there a while and had started to decompose but even so, the face was unmistakable.
