Shades of Freedom

by McNabb, Linda

  “Get on with it,” a muttered comment came from behind him and he turned and saw that it was Gil. He looked just as bad tempered as he had been all day and the teasing he was getting about being beaten up by a girl wasn’t helping.

  Johan knew he would have to sort out the situation soon as Gil was his right hand man and he needed him. He thought back to how supportive Gil had been of him when his mother and father had disappeared. Johan hadn’t wanted to take over the leadership but it was Gil that had talked him into it. He had said that his father was sure to return and he would have wanted his son to keep things going in his absence. Gil was more than his right hand man, he was his best friend.

  “People,” Johan spoke loudly, to be heard over the crowd and he received instant silence. Such total obedience to anyone in authority was almost inbred.

  “We have quite a few things to get through,” he paused as he sorted through the papers he held.

  “When’s the raid on HQ?” someone from the back yelled and started off a ripple of comments.

  “Why don’t we just blow them all up and take over!”

  “Down with the State!”

  Some of the voices were slurred with drink. The tradition of a drinking session after the meetings had progressed to being started during the meetings and more than a few of them were roaring drunk already. Johan held his hands up for silence and then continued.

  “We have more important matters to discuss today.” A chorus of disagreement rose from the crowd and he waited for it to settle down. “It’s time we chose a new leader. My Father… is obviously not coming back.”

  The room erupted into arguments about whether they needed a new leader.

  “I will put a board up here in The Square and you can put on it who you want for your leader. Remove your name if you don’t want to be considered. You’ll all have your say at next month’s meeting.”

  Johan folded the papers he was holding and pushed them into his pocket. There was no point in discussing any of these issues until a new leader had been chosen.

  **

  Kala left the meeting which was still in full swing even though Johan had left the platform. Why was he stepping down as leader and where did his father go? Probably the same place as his mother.

  She wandered around until she finally found the entrance to The Conservatory and went in. There was nobody there and the only light was from the moon but that didn’t bother Kala. She could see the stars through the glass roof many stories above her and it was a relaxing sight. She wandered along the many winding paths and breathed in the restful aromas. She finally ended up in a small alcove and sat down on a seat to rest.

  “This is my favourite place too.”

  Kala jumped at the unexpected arrival of Johan and politely made room for him on the seat. They sat in companionable silence for several minutes. Kala felt safe and relaxed and leaned back against the back of the seat.

  She froze as she realised that she had leaned into Johan’s arm which was resting along the top of the seat. Had he put it there on purpose? Would he think she was trying to show him she was interested in him? Was she? She didn’t have a lot of experience with courting as all her time had been devoted to getting her family up to Level Two.

  She had to admit that, at this second, she wouldn’t push him away if he tried to kiss her. Kala was shocked by the way her thoughts were heading. All she had done was touch his arm by accident and now she was dreaming about being kissed by the man she had punched less than twenty four hours ago.

  Her dreams were dispelled and her face turned crimson when Johan suddenly stood up and started walking off.

  “I have to go. I’ll finish showing you around tomorrow,” and with that he was gone.

  Kala stood up as well, intending to head back to her apartment, and she shoved her hands in her pockets to try to stop them shaking. What a fool she had almost made of herself.

  She felt a piece of paper in her pocket and pulled it out to see what it was. She unfolded it and turned so that the moonlight made it readable. It had been scraped clean and used many times by the look of it but its new message was clear. Her face was no longer crimson as every drop of blood drained from it and she had to sit down on the seat again as she read the words on it again.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Kala entered the Eating Hall just after seven the next morning and it felt as if everyone was looking at her. She ignored their stares but she couldn’t shut out their comments.

  “..a left hook… flattened in one punch…”

  “That’s our new teacher.”

  Rumours certainly didn’t take long to get around here. She took the offered plate of food and sat at an empty table by the window. She didn’t know why she had come to breakfast, she wasn’t the slightest bit hungry and she hadn’t slept at all last night. She had spent all night thinking about the note she had found in her pocket. Who had put it there?

  Automatically she reached into her pocket and touched the piece of paper. She didn’t have to read it as the words sprang instantly into her head.

  ‘You have something I want. Leave it under the purple and yellow bush tomorrow night or your family will die.’

  She didn’t know anybody’s handwriting, so couldn’t tell by that and lots of people had the chance to slip it into her pocket at the meeting last night. Maybe Johan put it there when she had seen him in the conservatory after the meeting. She wasn’t sure if he liked her but would he do something like this? She had to admit that she didn’t really know him so couldn’t rule him out.

  She looked up to see if anyone was looking suspicious but more than twenty pairs of eyes were looking back at her and she turned her attention to the window.

  She could see the purple and yellow bush easily from where she sat. It stood in the centre of the conservatory and had a seat completely circling it. Well now she knew where, but what was she supposed to put there? She had thought about it all night and all she could think of was her Marcs but how had anyone known that she had them?

  They had certainly been a lot more trouble than she thought they would be. If she had known all of this would happen she would have left them on the table back at the Adjudicator’s Hall.

  She didn’t really care who it was that wanted them. She would leave them under the bush tonight as instructed and then that would be an end to it all. She would have nothing left for anyone to threaten her over.

  She pushed the food around her plate for a while and then stood up and left the Eating Hall. She wanted to see if mother was up yet and to check on Alissa as she hadn’t looked very well last night. It was coming up to winter and Alissa was always sick for most of it.

  “Are you ready to finish your tour of Clover Downs?” Johan was coming in the door as she was going out and she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen him. Kala tried to tell by his tone of voice if he could be the one who wrote the note, but he was either a very good actor or it wasn’t him.

  “Sure.” Perhaps it would take her mind off her problems for a while. She followed him down the stairs and over to several doors. A familiar chiming sound made her press her lips together in confusion.

  “A lift?” Kala felt her anger start to surface quickly. She had been climbing all those stairs for nothing. “You didn’t tell us there was a lift.”

  “They don’t go very often. Most of the time they get stuck between floors for hours so nobody uses them much. Cal assures me that they work perfectly now so I thought I’d test them.”

  Kala’s anger seeped away and was replaced with a nervous feeling of being trapped for hours in a small lift. Before she could say that she would rather take the stairs the lift doors slid open and Johan stepped in.

  “Are you coming?” his eyebrows rose slightly. “Or are you scared?”

  “Of course I’m not,” Kala replied, a little too quickly, and stepped inside. The doors slid closed and Johan pressed the button for the eighth floor. She didn’t realise she was holding her breath until the lift
eased to a stop at their destination and the doors slid open again.

  “Well that one works,” Johan commented. “We’ll test the other one on the way down.”

  Kala didn’t comment that she had no intention of joining him and they headed off down the corridor.

  The room they turned into had obviously been a schoolroom but everything in it looked old and worn out. The desks were in a bad state of repair and the chairs looked unsafe. There was only one small shelf of books to the left side of the room along with a stack of crumpled, very old looking paper with pencils on top. The walls were dark and completely bare, with no windows at all.

  “We don’t have computers here. Everything is done by hand,” Johan commented.

  “How many can read and write?” Kala asked wondering how anyone could learn in such a dismal place.

  “Everyone over six can read and write well but they are a bit out of practice since…” Johan broke off and Kala’s attention followed his to the doorway. Several small heads popped around the doorway and then disappeared.

  “Come in,” Johan said gently. A group of six boys came into sight and walked slowly into the schoolroom. They stopped short of Johan and Kala and one boy was pushed forward by the rest. The blond-haired boy looked shy and when he spoke he was so quiet that Kala had to strain to hear him.

  “Will there be any classes today?” he said with a look of hope in his eyes.

  “I hadn’t planned on starting today,” Kala began but the disappointed look on the faces in front of her changed her mind. She could check on her mother later. “But I guess there’s no reason why we can’t.”

  Pure delight lit the faces of the boys and another dozen children showed themselves at the door. They all came in and quickly found a chair each. The word spread quickly and by the time Kala had handed out a piece of paper to each of them more had arrived, including Alissa and Katee. Alissa looked a little better but still pale as she took a seat.

  Kala managed to find some coloured pencils and decided the first thing they needed was some pictures to put on the walls. She was surprised that Johan didn’t leave and he stood watching from the back of the room. He helped put up the pictures on the walls when they were finished and they were all standing back to admire the difference they made when Gil stormed into the room.

  “She has to go!” he shouted as soon as he saw Johan and he pointed at Kala. “This is just too much.”

  Kala’s eyebrows lowered as she tried to figure out what he was talking about. Surely he couldn’t be objecting to her running the schoolroom.

  “Let’s take this outside shall we?” Johan said calmly nodding his head slightly towards the children who were waiting to see what was happening.

  Kala, Johan and the furious Gil went into the corridor and Johan shut the schoolroom door behind them.

  “Now what exactly is the problem?” Johan said evenly.

  “She has sabotaged the Hand Cars. They will take weeks to fix. She has to go before she does any more damage.” Gil wasn’t even trying to stay calm and his voice echoed down the corridor as he paced back and forth.

  “What makes you think that it was Kala?” Johan’s quiet voice seemed to have a calming effect on Gil who stopped pacing.

  “I found this down there just a few minutes ago.”

  Kala reached out and took the small white hanky that he held up. It was definitely hers, as it had K.P. embroidered in one corner, but how had it come to be there? The only explanation Kala could think of was that she must have dropped it when she was helping on the raid the other day.

  “And what were you doing down there Gil? We aren’t going out again until tonight,” Johan’s question took Kala by surprise. He seemed to be taking her side without any hesitation.

  “I was going to oil the doors,” Gil replied shortly, obviously understanding just who Johan was siding with and sending a black look at them both.

  Before things could get any worse the school room door opened and one boy came out.

  “Excuse me Miss…. Alissa fell over.”

  Kala instantly forgot about Gil’s accusations and ran into the classroom. The crowd of children parted to let her through to where Alissa’s small figure lay slumped on the floor. She picked her sister up but it was obvious that she was unconscious.

  Johan had followed Kala into the classroom, leaving an angry Gil fuming in the corridor.

  “She’s running a fever,” Kala’s voice showed her concern.

  “We’ll take her down to Marge. She’ll know what to do,” Johan offered and held out his arms to take the child.

  Kala accepted his offer gratefully and followed him from the room.

  **

  Johan pressed his lips together as he viewed the damaged Hand Cars. Whoever had done this had certainly done a thorough job. Plascrete, the substance they used to build modern buildings, had been poured into all the moving parts of both Hand Cars. Even if they could chip all of it out they would be unlikely to work again.

  “How can you be so sure it wasn’t the girl?” Gil had followed him down.

  “How can you be so sure it was? Did you see her do it?” Johan replied without looking at his right hand man.

  It wasn’t good for them to be at odds but he wasn’t having anyone blamed for something they didn’t do. That was the way the State worked, blame someone and then assume they did it without even giving them a chance to defend themselves. There was no way they were ever going to sink that low.

  “We’re going to have to build a new Hand Car,” Johan turned and began to walk back up to the main level.

  Johan heard Gil follow him and he finally caught up just as they entered The Square.

  “But it will take weeks to build a new one. What are we supposed to do for food until then?” Gil made no effort to lower his voice and Johan cringed as the entire square suddenly went quiet and all faces were turned towards the two men.

  “What! No food! What are we going to do?” one man shouted.

  A murmur started up and grew into a shouting match as they all converged on Johan and Gil demanding answers. Johan gave Gil a withering look for causing such a panic and Gil at least had the decency to colour with embarrassment. How was he going to calm this lot down? Before he even decided what he was going to do another voice boomed over the crowd.

  “People. Nobody will starve.”

  Everybody, including Johan and Gil, turned towards the blond haired man standing on the centre platform. Johan was very surprised to see that it was Charat. He seemed to have made a remarkable recovery for someone so badly beaten. The cuts and bruises were still fresh looking but by the way he held himself he didn’t seem to be in any pain.

  “By tonight there will be more food here than anyone has seen in years. I promise.” He spoke with such certainty and calmness that even Johan believed him for a few seconds.

  It had the desired effect on the crowd as everyone immediately began to disperse. He could be a useful person in helping control a crowd but Johan knew he would have to talk to him about promising more than he could deliver.

  “We’ll talk later,” Johan told Gil who seemed to have calmed down. “There’s no way of proving who did it so blaming each other will only cause even more problems.”

  Gil didn’t look totally convinced as he walked off but Johan didn’t notice, he had other things on his mind. He must have a word with Charat and find out why he had made such a bold statement that obviously couldn’t happen.

  Johan scanned the thinning crowd for Charat and frowned when he couldn’t see him. How had he disappeared so quickly? Johan finally caught a glimpse of a blond head disappearing out the main doors that led outside.

  Without drawing attention to himself Johan slowly worked his way to the doors and saw Charat in the distance heading towards the abandoned warehouses. Where was he going? He wouldn’t get a very good welcome from anyone in Level Nine as they didn’t like Level Ten’s. Johan decided he had to follow him, if only to make sure he didn�
��t get beaten up again.

  Johan waited until Charat was out of sight and then, making sure that nobody was watching him, he slipped out of Clover Downs and went after him. He ran across the black lands and hid behind one of the warehouses to catch his breath. He could see no sign of where Charat had gone so he checked each warehouse as he worked his way into the Level Nine district.

  Johan reached the main street of Level Nine without a single sighting of him and a quick glance down the straight road told him that he wasn’t here either. Johan shrank back into the shadows to think what he was going to do next. A shuffling noise from further back in the dark alley made him flatten himself against the wall and hold his breath.

  “Down this way boy. Just do what you’re told.”

  Johan had to strain to hear what was being said but he was sure it was Charat’s voice. Who was he talking to? Johan crept quietly down the alley and reached the end of it just in time to see Charat pushing a young boy down into another dark alleyway.

  Johan followed them as they worked their way deeper into the more unsavoury parts of the district. Where could they be heading? If they went much further they would run into the dividing wall.

  Johan didn’t have to wonder for long as they did end up standing by the huge dividing wall with Johan hiding not far away in the shadows. Charat looked around cautiously for a minute and then to Johan’s amazement he opened a small door in the wall and stepped through. He pulled the young boy after him and the door banged softly shut.

  Johan was too surprised to follow for almost a full minute. How had Charat known about the secret door in the dividing wall and where was he going? Johan crept forward and felt around for the door. It was almost dark here in the shadow of the wall and it took him several minutes to find the narrow crack with a tiny raised point half way down.

  Creeping through the door that sprung silently open, he pulled it shut behind him. He was in another alleyway but it wasn’t a deserted one and Johan had to scuttle quickly into the shadows as two men came around the corner. That was close, too close.