Frey moved a little closer to Jin to lend her support. He had awoken so suddenly, and she had had no time to let him know what was going on. He must be beyond confusion…
Tina shifted her feet just as Luke did, obviously uncomfortable. Joy was staring wide eyed at Jin as if she still didn’t believe he was really there, and Jon looked like he wanted to turn away and walk away, or clench his fist and punch Jin.
”You have as good of an answer as you will get right now. Jin needs rest, and there are others to tend to. Jon, you will help me with the patients, Joy, go and ready the food and medicine.” Li snapped his fingers and Joy jumped. She shot the doctor a look before storming out. Tina and Luke followed and Li lifted an eyebrow at Jon when he didn’t move.
Frey could only imagine what it must feel like to be in any of their skin, looking at another human being, that didn’t just look exactly like you, but had your DNA as well…
”You both need time to process this. So why don’t we go and talk, and leave these two to do the same.” It wasn’t a question, and Li lead Jon out the door and it slid into place softly behind him, leaving the two of them alone.
Frey slowly sat back on the bed. Jin was staring down at his blankets. She reached out and touched his cheek, and he leaned into her touch like it was his last connection to reality.
Then she started telling him what had happened. She started with the unspoiled skyscraper and took him through her escape and when she was shot, Jon and the rest rescuing her from a secure death. She told him how they had broken into Dome, the desert dwellers attacking the main entrance to Alya and continued all the way up until he had lifted her off the ground, ready to smash her face in…
Her voice was raw when she was done, and as she stopped she felt her mouth go dry.
Jin was silent. He said nothing for such a long time that Frey was sure he didn’t mean to speak.
Then he told her of his fight with the pill and how he had gone looking for her. He told her how the city had turned into a warzone, how the people had gone crazy with craving.
Then he told her he loved her.
The tears were hot as they pooled down her face, and sobbing shook her as if I had been waiting for a chance to break free. Jin flipped his legs over the edge of the bed, one on each side of her and pulled her close. She tried to tell him she wasn’t supposed to be the one crying. Tried to tell him she wasn’t the one supposed to be comforted. But no words came out.
”I’m never letting you go again,” he whispered. Then he tilted his head slightly, lips pressing down on hers. Her mouth parted, a fuming fire starting in the pit of her stomach as she felt his responding eagerness. Frey twisted her hands in his hair and pulled him even closer. They pulled away only to suck in a mouthful of air. His breath felt hot on her skin and she slid her hands in under his t-shirt. She pulled it off and then tore her own away. Jin never lost contact with her skin, and she felt like his fingers were leaving trails of fire.
Hot tears of relief and pleasure mingle in a strange tumult of emotions. She wrapped her arms around his neck again, shaking off the drip that was still connected to his arm, and Jin slid to the side. Sweat soaked them and the bed, his breath hot on her face as he kissed her over and over, whispering he loved her.
She suddenly she couldn’t understand how she had ever lived without those words…
Chapter 25
It was Li’s idea to give the people from Hole cell enhancement. It had been met with objections before Li had the time to finish explaining. “I experiment with digital cell generating, remember? It is not human. I can add the cell substance to food, and that will make sure everyone out there will get it. The cell generating will replace damaged cells. Their bodies will be repaired, and that includes the damage that causes them to crave the pill.”
It took them only a few days to get the cell enhanced food out there. It had been about time to do something about the drug crazed mass still roaming around out there, causing destruction and fear, still thinking the true Yellow Pill was hidden somewhere.
Frey wanted her people back… it was beyond painful to see them like that, knowing they were causing harm to innocent people and only making it harder for the future that they were all going to have to share. From what Harry reported from the outside, the people from Hole weren’t giving a very good impression right now.
As always, Jin was reading her like an open book. “We’ll make them snap out of it, Frey. Don’t worry.”
He had healed fast and joined in the meetings, refusing to be left out. Jon always sat as far away as he could, and Frey felt a strange sadness that he was being so distant.
If it hadn’t been so serious, it might have been funny to see the two of them, posing and looking the same… almost.
The cell generating had taken effect fast, speeding up the heeling process, just as it had with her and Jin. The people soon calmed down enough for Luke to call the desert dwellers back from the desert, and for the remaining resistance to come out of hiding.
Jin was away most of the time, gathering groups and trying to make them listen to reason. Many had gone back to Slum City, only a few remaining in Alya.
The people of Alya were still shut inside their homes, and Frey suspected it had take time before they dared to come out.
They passed the destruction, Frey seeing it swish past from behind Tina, many of the projections still not up and functioning, glass and broken parts scattered over the street, the sun making it all shimmer.
She slid off from behind Tina when they reached the edge of Slum City. Dome was barely standing from the quake that The Walls had caused. Sad remains still stood among the wreckages and ruin.
The black screen on Tina’s helmet faded away to show her eyes. “You’ll be alright on your own?” Frey just snorted. “Alright. See you in a while,” she said and spun the bike around, speeding back the way they had come.
Frey jogged over the scattered remains from Dome, having to climb over fallen debris in some places. She moved quickly across the city, feeling her old senses of direction take over. It was strangely nostalgic and she was sad to see all the destruction from the fighting. There was rubble everywhere, buildings having collapsed from the earthquake. Bodies were still spread everywhere, and the place was overrun with rats.
Frey knew they would have to do something about it further on, but right now she had other priorities. She walked past the big garage, looking up and wondering if her and Jin’s car was as burn to crisps as the outside.
There wasn’t one building without a crack in the construction or a floor or two collapsed.
Frey felt a moment of fear and started running. There was almost no one outside, and the city felt strangely dead and deserted.
As the old black building came into view she drew a breath of relief. There was damage done to it, but it was still standing. Frey climbed the side up to the roof. She had been prepared to slid down the other side and knock on Father Patrick's window, but the old man was sitting on the roof, reading for the kids. He glanced up as he heard her feet touch the gravel, and the book fell from his slack fingers as he rose, one hand bracing against the railing. The kids all turned towards the newcomer. Then their eyes lit up with recognition and they ran to her, yelling her name. The old man’s legs were shaking as he walked towards her.
She embraced Father Patrick, and for the first time in her life she saw him cry.
Tina and Luke were waiting with two trucks at the edge of Dome. They loaded the kids filling both vehicles. Frey road in one, the old man in the other. The riot had left many of the lower stores and buildings in Alya broken, but in a way it made the whole sight easier for the kids to digest, reminding them a little bit of home.
Li had told her he wanted the kids to move to the top floors in his building. They weren’t used, and since they were close to the rooftop it gave the kids access to the outdoors without having to be out on the streets.
Frey hadn’t known what to say.
“The
n say nothing, and just bring them here,” he had answered.
Within the twenty-four hours that Frey had been gone, Li had made the top five floors transform from unused white space, to the new orphanage. Li hadn’t needed to be told to not overwhelm the kids with luxury or color.
Frey left Father Patrick and the other adults who had to help. She made her way up to the roof alone, leaning on the railing and closing her eyes. She willed her heart to slow, the burning behind her eyelids to go away. She breathed slowly in and out. After a long time she lifted her eyes and looked up at the sky. For the first time, her mind seemed to comprehend that she would never again be shut from the real sky…
Chapter 26
Frey grabbed Jin’s hand while she drove, the desert opening up before them like a huge mat of gold, brown and yellow. The sun was a burning white spot in the sky; already heating the new day with it’s insane temperature.
The heat had been a shock, even after all the warnings. District five lay three days behind them. The sand dunes rolled like big, gentle waves over the landscape, but the truck had no problems with the soft terrain.
“You think we’ll find them?”
“Don’t know,” Frey admitted. “They wouldn’t have gotten out of Alya that easily without help, and governments probably have powerful friends.” She was silent for some time, still holding his hands. “But I wouldn’t miss hunting those bastards down for anything.”
“Me neither.”
That the government leaders had managed to escape was bad news, and they all knew it. It was only a matter of time before they tried to reclaim Alya, probably with an army in tow. We’ll need all the help we can get to survive that…
“You sure that contact they had can be trusted? I mean, this is another city we’re talking about…”
“Guess we’ll find out,” Frey said, trying not to let doubt stain her voice. “Anyway, we need the help. Couldn’t withstand an attack like things are now.”
“Yeah.” He was silent for some time.
Frey’s mind went off to Father Patrick again. Hope Li made that stubborn old fool listen. He was an old man, but the cell generating pills could change that. He was just too damn stubborn to take them. She was hoping Li was having more success at making him see sense.
It had been hard to tell him they were leaving. He hadn’t asked told them not to go. She had seen that he wanted to, seen it in his eyes. But he hadn’t said it. Instead he had smiled and told them to be careful and to come home safely when they were done.
Frey had been prepared to feel sad about leaving Father Patrick behind, but hadn’t expected it to hurt so much not telling Jon they were going…
She shoved the feelings aside, and clenched Jin’s hand harder. Her insides immediately warmed up with joy that he was next to her. His presence was like a warm blanket of safety.
She smiled and let go, her finger stroking his rough cheek.
He grinned. “So, when’re you going to teach me how to drive?”
Frey smiled as she grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, looking back over the rolling sand dunes, and the seemingly never-ending vastness around them. “I’ll teach you on the way back,” she promised.
A new feeling was building inside her. It started out firm and warm, somewhere in her gut, and spread like a tide all the way to her fingertips. She felt as if a weight was lifted from her heart as she looked over the landscape, where only the sight of the horizon could be seen.
When she realized what it was, she laughed out loud.
So, this is what freedom feels like.
The Yellow Pill Page 15
