We moved through the nearly deserted hallways past rows of apartment doors and approached a figure who was crouched down and concealed in a shadow beyond a broken light. Something about him sent a shiver running down my spine and my hands instinctively balled into fists.
We drew level with the man and he stood up, making my heart lurch at the sight of his dark overalls. He had a tattoo that looked like some kind of twisted knot which ran from the side of his neck down beneath his collar. Ew.
"Didn't mean to scare you," he said in a gravelly voice with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"You didn't, she's fine." Taylor spoke as easily as he would to anyone. The man was still looking at me and my nose started wrinkling of its own accord.
“There's a broken light." He pointed to further demonstrate the obvious. Why is he being so weird? And so creepy?
“Yes," I said, managing to keep most of the unease out of my voice.
“Have a nice day." Taylor smiled pleasantly at the man who was desperately in need of a shave. And a bath. I heard they didn’t even have baths below level twenty five. It was probably just a bucket and a mop head by the time you reached ten. On level zero? They were no doubt slapping on a vat of aftershave and hoping for the best. Aftershave they stole from topside, of course. Not that I was biased or anything…
I didn’t say a word and Taylor tightened his grip on my hand, dragging me on down the corridor.
I glanced back and saw the guy watching us through narrowed eyes as we turned a corner. I narrowed my eyes right back and he shook his head at me like I was the weirdo.
“That was rude.” Taylor frowned at me.
“I know, they shouldn't be allowed up here when we're around," I began but Taylor stopped walking and jerked me to a halt beside him. "What?" I asked.
“I meant you were rude. He was just doing his job."
“But he's a Dweller," I scoffed, lowering my voice in case he heard us. I was all for silently ridiculing his bath habits, but I hadn’t missed the muscles on that dude. He could throw me over his shoulder and drag me back to his cesspit for playtime if he wanted to. I shuddered.
A small fraction of the population within the city didn't want to further themselves. They lived on the bottom floors of the housing buildings without trying to advance any higher. Generally speaking, anyone who lived below level twenty was known as a Dweller.
They were given menial jobs that basically amounted to city maintenance in various forms. They were fond of tattoos and working-out too much and had a bad reputation among the rest of the city residents. The Lawless Trials were mainly populated by Dwellers who had been caught breaking the law and I didn't doubt that plenty more of them were up to undiscovered illegal activities.
“You shouldn't be so judgmental.” Taylor scowled as he started moving down the hallway again, pulling me along behind him.
“Everyone has the opportunity to better themselves. I'm not planning on staying on forty my whole life. And there's no reason for them to stay down there; they want to be Dwellers.” I tried, and failed, to stop my lip from curling as I said the word.
“Whatever. You still don't have to be rude." Taylor looked away from me like he was disappointed and my heart twisted in my chest. I glanced back in the direction of the smeller – I mean Dweller- with a frown. It wasn’t like I wanted to be a bitch, I was just stating facts. The Wardens were always putting out warnings about making sure your doors were locked since there’d been a rise in home invasions. And who were the culprits one hundred percent of the time? Dwellers. So I may have been a harsh, cold bitch about them. But I also had my reasons. Reasons which would ensure I never woke up with a tattooed creep in my home, wielding a knife and rubbing my favourite soap up and down between his asscrack.
We arrived at the elevators and Taylor pushed the button to call one, still giving me the silent I’m-very-upset-with-your-behaviour treatment.
I rolled my eyes while he wasn't looking. I loved that boy but he could be judgemental as fuck sometimes. I was already slapped with Dweller jokes at school just because I lived on forty. He had no idea what it was like to be looked at like you were less than. And if I didn’t differentiate myself from them, then no one else in my class was going to. And yeah, maybe that made me a hypocrite. But it sure as shit didn’t make me a bullied one.
As we waited, I noticed that Taylor still had a firm hold on my hand. He'd been doing that more and more lately and I pursed my lips as I tried to come up with a way to reclaim it without offending him. I shook my hand loose, running it through my hair to give me a reason for wanting it back and Taylor threw an annoyed look at me from the corner of his eye, which suggested I hadn't been as subtle about it as I'd hoped.
The elevator dinged and opened smoothly. For once, it was empty of passengers and the space inside echoed dully as we stepped in.
The brightly lit, silver cube welcomed us onboard as it did every day with the promise of a quick and easy journey to our destination in a monotone female voice. Taylor hit the button and we headed up to level one fifty, my ears popping from the sudden upward acceleration.
I glanced at Taylor who had adopted a sullen expression. He must have gained a good foot on me now, the planes of his face were sharpening too and he was looking more like a man than the boy who I played kiss chase with as a child. The silence stretched between us and I chewed on my bottom lip.
“You need a haircut." I grinned at him as he brushed his floppy brown hair out of his grey eyes.
“So my mother keeps saying," he replied and a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth again. I felt the knot of tension in my stomach release. Just like that, we were best friends again. Like we always would be. Even if I was downgraded to a Dweller and claimed my own cesspit to splash around in, Taylor would never abandon me for it. He was a better person than me. A better person than most people. I roughened up his smooth edges and he smoothed out my rough ones. Together, we found the perfect balance.
"Level one fifty. Alight here for the Walkways," the smooth, feminine voice announced as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.
I pushed all thoughts of the Dweller aside as I remembered we were about to go out-freaking-side. The air around me smelled sweeter today. It almost smelled like destiny.
There wasn't a time of day when the Walkways weren't busy.
Rows of elevators gave way to a kind of crossroads where people selected a direction and took the appropriate Walkway out of the building. We wound through the crowd, heading for the south side of the city at a fast pace.
A group of Wardens, dressed in sleek grey uniforms, marched through the crush of bodies and we hastily moved aside to allow them access to their separate walking lane.
The Wardens were appointed to patrol the city and maintain the peace. The city was under their constant surveillance, they used millions of CCTV cameras and microphones to keep an eye on us. Privacy was a concept that didn't really have much meaning within The Wall.
Harbour city was a rabbit warren of skyscrapers interconnected by huge glass Walkways. The long tubes jutted out of each building on the one hundred and fiftieth floor. They connected all of the buildings within the city and once you were in one, you moved fast or got knocked aside.
The Wardens were assigned their own lane to allow them quick, unrestricted travel throughout the city. Sometimes VIPs used the Warden lanes too but for the general population, it was all about leg power and elbows.
I could never resist sparing a few moments to gaze out through the reinforced glass and I tipped my head back as we walked, trusting Taylor to catch me if I fell. The view was really quite beautiful, especially at night. The twinkling brilliance of the city always took my breath away and the sheer scope of it was humbling in its enormity.
Someone shoved me aside and I bit my tongue to cut off a curse as I spied the bottle green uniform of the culprit. The Harvesters pushed their way between the crowd. There were six of them in all and they each held the sa
me superior, arrogant look on their faces.
Dickwads..
“I would consider a job in hydroponics if I didn't think I’d end up like one of those stuck up douchebags," I muttered.
Taylor laughed appreciatively as the Harvesters turned off of the Walkway and headed for a hydroponics building. They did brilliant work and were rewarded with great apartments and the general respect and adoration of the public for providing the city with all the food we needed to survive. It was just a shame it tended to go to their heads and they were all pretentious assholes.
"You could just work in produce. It's almost the same," Taylor suggested as we passed an exit for a produce building. The queue outside was already long despite it being early.
"Yeah, because distributing food is exactly like helping to create it." I shook my head and upped my speed as the crowd thinned slightly.
Taylor smirked at me as his gaze skimmed the crowd. “At least you’d get to cut the queue and maybe even grab the odd snack on the sly.”
“I should have known you were thinking with your stomach,” I teased and Taylor shrugged like that was obvious.
The skyscrapers within the city were allocated for various purposes; population buildings for housing, school buildings raised the new generations to be productive members of society, health and wellbeing buildings held gyms so that people could exercise, and so on. We passed by many of them on our way to the cable cars and people swarmed on and off of the Walkways at the various exits.
It took us forty minutes of switching Walkways and passing through buildings to reach the edge of the city at the south side and enter the skyscraper designated for 'Cable cars and Wall maintenance'. We joined the back of a line and waited for a retinal scanner to register our arrival. I huffed impatiently and Taylor raised an eyebrow at me.
“What?" he asked.
"I just hate having to queue all the time," I sighed. Taylor shook his head at me, he never found the city rules as irritating as I did.
I stepped forward and leaned into the scanner. A red light blinded me momentarily and the door slid open to admit me. We moved into a wide, open hall where the other members of the expedition were already gathered and joined the back of the large group who were all converging around a small, balding man.
Professor Delo was one of the city Guardians, the scientific leader for Harbour City. He was in charge of any expeditions outside of The Wall. Not that there were many. He was also the leading expert on the contamination and its effects so was responsible for keeping the city contagion-free. It was a job he took very seriously and presumably he did it well seeing as we were all still alive. He climbed up onto something to see over the crowd, commanding the attention of the room as he laid out our objective.
"We are doing vital research for the continued prosperity of our great city," he called out in a rather wobbly voice. "But it is imperative that you all remain safe. Stay within your groups and maintain radio contact. If you think there is a reason to fear anything at all then check back with us before proceeding. If you or your equipment are compromised, your first concern is for the population. We can't risk any contamination entering the city."
A chill ran down my spine. In all the excitement about going outside The Wall for the first time, I had forgotten about the reasons for staying in. My mind brought up images of the contaminated people who used to live out there and I pushed them aside with a shudder. There was nothing left alive outside anymore. That was one thing the Guardians were sure of.
“You can collect your biohazard suits from the lovely gentleman to my left and sign yourselves in with the less lovely gentleman to my right. We will be leaving within the hour." As he finished speaking, Professor Delo dropped down into the surrounding bodies and was quickly swallowed by the crowd.
"Striving forward together!" he called out from the depths of the group as an afterthought.
"For the good of the population," everyone chanted back instantly.
“So, kids are you ready to head into the big outdoors?" Taylor's dad, Artie appeared behind us and laid a hand on each of our shoulders. He was a tall man, thick with muscles which had softened a little over the years. His head was topped with more full, black hair than a man his age deserved and a matching moustache to round it all off. He was also one of my favourite people in the whole world.
Taylor was him reborn minus the moustache and with the lighter hair he took from his mom.
"Sure Dad. I'm gonna jump in line for the biohazard suits. I don't wanna end up with a gross one or something," Taylor said as he moved away and disappeared into the crowd to the left of the room.
“Thanks for getting me in on this Artie,” I said with a wide grin. I had the distinct feeling that I must have looked as though I was about to burst with excitement.
"No problem gettin' you on board, it's my numb nuts son who I have to pull the strings for 'round here." Artie laughed, a deep rumble in his chest and I ducked aside with well practiced speed as he reached out to ruffle my hair.
“You're getting too slow old man." I flashed him a smile as I turned and moved across the room quickly, leaving Artie behind and stopping at Taylor's side.
“Do you think they come in different sizes? I wouldn't want to go out with my ankles on show and end up with them getting contaminated," he joked.
“More likely I'd be tripping over extra material in that case,” I pointed out, indicating my small stature. Shorty, midget, little legs and tiny girl were amongst the nice names I’d been called on a regular occasion but I happened to think that the best things came in small packages so screw them.
“Next!" a pale man called out as we found ourselves at the front of the queue. "One XL male one XS female," he yelled over his shoulder as he threw a brief, searching glance in our direction. "Move to the left. Next!"
We quickly shuffled aside to let the queue keep moving and had matching white suits handed to us.
"Enter the cubicles and strip off everything you're currently wearing. There are lockers out the back. Put the suit on - it should be skin tight but shouldn't cut off the blood. If you need a different size, shout." A frazzled looking woman with a bird's nest of grey hair directed us towards the changing area and I tried not to bounce with excitement as I hurried to follow her instructions.
“See you on the other side." Taylor winked at me as he disappeared behind a grey curtain and I hurried into my own cubicle to change too.
The suit was definitely skin tight. It was like a big, elasticated baby-grow with individual fingers lined with high sensitivity pads and covered every inch of my skin. It ended at my neck and ankles with a series of clips to attach the head gear and boots.
I tried not to focus on how revealing it was and moved back outside where Taylor was stepping from foot to foot.
"I feel weirdly conscious of how tight this is on my ass." He grimaced, pulling in vain at the material which was clinging to his butt cheeks.
"At least they considered your modesty," I laughed, pointing to the padded shorts area on his suit.
"Well I'm not concerned about that, but it is nice for the less well endowed men not to have to try and compete."
“You're a moron," I teased, rolling my eyes as we reached the lockers.
“You can't call me a moron; I'm your only friend, what does that say about you?" Taylor took my clothes and shoved them into the same locker as his without bothering to ask and my lips twitched at our over familiar friendship.
"That I take pity on you."
"I vote to agree." Artie had appeared with perfect timing as usual, dressed in his own biohazard suit.
"You can't agree with her again, where's the paternal bond?" Taylor asked, faking outrage.
“Are you suggesting he puts blood before the truth? We're working with facts here," I added instantly.
"I vote to agree again," Artie smiled.
"Oh no, I won't be drawn into one of these, I'm off to sign in." Taylor walked away as Artie slapped me a high five.
/>
“He's too easy," I smiled as we watched him join the back of the other queue. Most people had already been assigned their groups and were heading to the cable cars.
We moved aside as a group bustled past us. Artie nodded to Dr Lomax who was leading them. Rebecca Adeler waddled by, trying to look superior as she shot me a scowl. Rebecca was in my class and had tried her hardest to make my life hell since I'd been sent to live on forty. The problem was, I found it hard to be intimidated by a girl who hadn't even figured out how to brush her hair properly and only lived on ninety six even with her family intact.
Most of my other classmates had avoided me since my demotion and many pointed out on a regular basis that I no longer met the requirements for our class. Luckily, the education Guardian had decided that as my demotion was due to bereavement, I could stay where I was for school. Besides, I only needed Taylor.
The room was slowly emptying as the various groups formed and were led out to the cable cars. I took a breath and tried to gather my thoughts, plucking at the material that clung to my left arm.
I’m actually going to see what the outside world looks like for myself.
"Trying not to burst?" Artie asked.
“Is it that obvious?" I attempted to stop grinning like an idiot and failed.
"Only to me, kid. Are you eating with us tonight?"
“So long as Jane isn't experimenting again," I said cautiously.
“She's sworn off home cooking, only pre-packed meals from now on."
"I've heard that before." I shook my head as if I wasn't sure, but we both knew I'd be there.
Taylor reappeared at our side. "I signed both of us in, and guess who our team leader is? One Dr Jackson."
"I've heard he's a total asshole," I said, dropping my voice.
"Yeah I think he's a real jackass," Taylor agreed.
“Who'd have thought to put a pair of idiots like you in my group?" Artie gave us a scowl while he tried to hide a smile beneath his moustache.
"That's the rest of the team over there." Taylor jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the final group of people who were all staring at us while they waited.
Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance (Cage of Lies Book 1) Page 2
