by Jess Petosa
The General glanced at Marnie, who was suddenly more interested in the floor than the conversation.
“Most of our Exceptionals live outside of the center of Zone D, in walled in towns we called Sectors.”
“So, they’re prisoners then?” Ally asked.
The General didn’t nod or shake his head. “I wouldn’t call them prisoners, but it is easier to control them when they are contained. It is also easier to protect them.”
Luke seemed ready to argue but Ally didn’t want to make a bad impression on the General when they needed his help. She decided to change the subject, and quick.
“When can I see my brother?” Ally asked.
They had all been taken straight to the med unit when they arrived, but Stosh has been whisked off to a special room. They all slept in one big room with cots the night before, and Stosh hadn’t made an appearance this morning.
“The doctors have him in a sterile room while he recovers from his infection. It ran quite deep but they say that they think they caught it quick enough,” the General answered.
“Sir,” Marnie said. “There wasn’t a single lie in what they told you, nor did they leave any details out. I think it’s safe to say this is a trustworthy group.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “I’ll have you all escorted back to your rooms and tomorrow we’ll meet to talk about the next step.”
The General didn’t leave them any time to talk. The young soldier that had accompanied Marnie into the room escorted her back out of it. Ally was interested in speaking with her, especially after what she had to say, even if it wasn’t meant to be heard. She thought that she might have more in common with Marnie than anyone else at this point. She still didn’t think anyone in her group shared her passion. A passion that had started to grow on her trip down here.
They were escorted back to where they would be lodging for the duration of their stay. It was a large apartment, with three rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. They were locked in for the most part and had to press a button beside the door to be let out.
“I don’t like being locked up like this,” Luke said from the couch.
Ally and Sabine were standing by a window, observing the courtyard below, and Max had disappeared to wash up
“This is probably a better welcome than you would have given them had they stumbled upon your City,” Ally pointed out. “If I recall, the room we lived in didn’t even have windows.”
“Fair enough.” Luke answered. “But I still feel antsy. I’m out of time to get back home and stop Heath.”
Ally walked over to the couch and sat down beside him. “I think Heath will choose to do the right thing, like you said.”
“So if the General lets me leave, what are your plans?” Luke asked her.
Ally shrugged. “I guess I’m realizing that I didn’t really have much of a plan past finding the southern city. I didn’t know what to expect.” She wasn’t ready to tell them that a new plan was forming in her mind.
“And what do you think now?” Sabine said. She walked away from the window and sat down in a chair across from the couch.
Ally looked at the white carpet below her feet and shook her head. “I’m thinking that Zone D may be a lot different than our City, but the underlying issues are the same.”
“We should have asked if they have a breeding center,” Sabine added.
Luke reached over and took Ally’s hand. “I think your issue with our City and Zone D is less about localized behavior and more about human nature. I’ve seen the history books, Ally. Someone always has to be better. Someone always has to conquer.”
Ally let go of his hand and stood up, walking back to the window. Down in the courtyard Ordinarys wandered around with mini ports in hands, or bags over their shoulders. A few soldiers stood guard by the gate.
“I know it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to get along. I know that it’s natural for some to lead while others follow, and for some to gather in the cities while others live in smaller towns. I just think that the implementation could be better. We aren’t talking about a small separation of classes here Luke, we are talking about forced labor and breeding centers. We are talking about Exceptionals walking around with cuffs on their wrists and being forced to work for the good of the Ordinarys. You think that Exceptional girl downstairs was here by her own choice? She is our age and I’d bet anything that they are holding something against her to get her to work for them.”
“You don’t know that,” Luke said. “Despite these stupid cuffs, the General actually seems nice. Nicer than Aden was, at least.”
“You know, in the Old World there used to be forced labor too,” Sabine said from the chair. “I read it in the history books in the library. Certain Ordinarys used to force other Ordinarys to work for them.”
“Really?” Ally said.
Sabine nodded her head. “They would buy and sell Ordinarys and force them to work on their land and clean their homes. In the Old World they were called slaves,”
“Sounds familiar,” Ally said.
Sabine looked at her hands, careful not to look at Luke. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted to read it so badly, because of my situation. I’m not even sure if I was allowed, but I would sneak the books up to my room.”
“How did we get past that? The slaves, and all.” Ally asked.
“A movement started. Small at first, but then it grew and grew around the country. There was a leader too. He gave speeches and challenged the crowds, the government, and the rest of the Ordinarys. Some of his speeches were recited over and over again through generations. Of course, everyone had to come together to make a change. Everyone had to play a part.” She continued.
The room was silent for a minute or two.
“Then we need to start a movement,” Ally finally said.
“What are we starting?” Max asked as he walked from his room.
“A movement,” Ally stated.
“Okay.” Max cocked his head at Luke, who in turn gave him a look that begged him not to ask questions. Max looked back at Ally. “Can we at least eat dinner first?”
The following morning they were taken outside to the courtyard before their meeting with the General. Ally noticed a few Exceptionals with cuffs around their wrists.
“I wonder if everyone here is a prisoner?” she asked Luke.
“We’re not prisoners, remember?” Luke responded, mocking the General.
“I think he just wants us to believe that. Even if he would let us leave the City, right now we don’t have free reign of it,” Ally said. “So in some respect, aren’t we being held captive here?”
She looked around the courtyard again and recognized someone.
“Kemp!” she cried out.
She sprinted across the small space to him. He was leaning against the wall, looking at his hands. He didn’t even look up as she slowed down in front of him and gave him a hug.
“Kemp?”
His hands twitched and he finally looked up. Not at her, but through her.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
She was surprised that the General hadn’t mentioned Kemp or the others.
“Where is Po? Where are the others?”
Kemp finally looked at her. “Luella?”
Ally frowned and shook her head. Something was wrong. Kemp was distant and confused.
Luke came up beside her. “Who is this?”
“He’s from my settlement. He was the one who hid the vaccine all this time and gave it to my brother and I.”
Luke observed him carefully. “Are you sure?”
Ally looked up at Luke. “He wasn’t like this when we left. He was smart and talkative… normal.”
“Something must have happened on the trip,” Luke said.
Ally leaned against the wall next to Kemp and refused to move. She stood there for an hour, and then two. Finally the soldiers made their group go back to their room and Kemp was left standing there, cou
nting his fingers.
This was just more confirmation that their country needed help. Kemp was broken, his mind lost. Something had happened to him on his trip south. A trip that could have been safe if not for Rogues and hostile towns. Something had to change.
Ally was going to make sure of it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
[ ally ]
That afternoon soldiers came to take them to see the General. Sabine chose to stay behind just in case someone came with news about Stosh.
They were taken into a nicer room than the one from the previous day. This one seemed like more of an office, with a computer in the corner and a long table in the middle of the room. The General sat at one end.
They all took a seat and were given glasses of water and some bread to snack on. It was still odd for Ally, to be in a place where food was so readily available. Traveling over the past several weeks had left her thin and run down.
“Tell me a little bit about these Rogues and the issues with the eastern city,” the General said.
Luke started off the conversation, since he had the earliest experience with the Rogues. “By the time my father had alerted me about the Rogues, it was really too late to do anything other than prepare. And now I realize that he did that on purpose. He had a lab in the same building as his office and he had some test subjects in there, all Rogues he said he had collected in different stages of mutation.”
“What are the stages?” the General asked.
“From the best I could understand, it starts with a mental breakdown that takes away human reason. After that, the exterior of the body starts to break down. Their skin starts to turn a greenish gray, but the color can vary for each person. Their eyes turn yellow and their teeth sharpen. Their hair falls out and their skin bubbles in places. It is a really strange transformation, especially since it is one that is somewhat reversible, but I guess Exceptionals have already proved the impossible.”
“You talked about a cure. Do the Rogues truly make a full recovery?” the General asked.
“Mentally, yes.” Luke said. “Physically, it depends what stage they are in when we give them the cure.”
“Has anyone made a full recovery?”
Ally nodded. “I’ve seen it.”
“Is there more of this cure? Enough to add to Zone D’s defenses?” the General asked.
Luke nodded. “If we could find a safe path home, we could get you not only the cure, but also the formula to make it yourself.”
Ally knew they already had the formula right here in Zone D. Kemp would have it memorized, if his fragile mind still held that information, and they at least had the cure serum for the city to analyze on their own.
“That reminds me of another point. I think it is important that you follow me,” The General stood and opened up the door to the hall. He didn’t even look behind him before disappearing out of sight.
Ally, Luke, and Max all stood and hurried after him. Soldiers flanked them on all sides as they moved down the hall and into an elevator. One of the soldiers pressed a button labeled C and the elevator jolted to a start. They were moving down, and after several floors, Ally realized that they were most likely going underground. When the elevator bounced to a stop, the General had to pull out a key card to gain access to the floor.
“The security clearance required to access this floor isn’t something we give out sparingly, especially to visitors, but I think you’ll understand the severity of the matter soon. I also hope that you realize how important it is to keep whatever you see in here to yourself.”
The General stepped forward and they followed, the soldiers taking up their places again. There was no hallway this time, just another boxy room with large, steel double doors in front of them. After several more clearance steps, the doors slid open.
Ally’s mouth popped open.
“Whoa,” Luke and Max said at the same time.
They stepped into the large room. It was a decent size, with a ceiling that stretched at least two stories high. The room was filled with row after row of desks, and each desk had it own small computer screen. There were five larger screens on the wall, and each held a different picture.
“Are those....” Luke started.
“Satellite images of countries, including ours? Yes,” the General said. He stepped forward and they followed him down the middle row.
“But how?” Luke asked.
“It was one of the first things Zone D got running after the riots and wars, and we’ve worked tirelessly to keep it going. As long as our satellites in the sky stay up there, we will have images. Most of them are the fuel free kind put up right before the wars, so they could possibly outlast us,” The General said. “We’ve never stopped monitoring other countries, and have even been able to communicate with a few. As you can imagine, their situations are similar to ours, and it’s been invaluable to share information on ways we’ve recovered since the virus.”
Ally couldn’t believe her eyes as they walked down the row. Each computer screen was flipping through different maps of the world. She couldn’t recognize where exactly they were pinpointed, but nonetheless, it was fascinating.
“What do the maps tell you?”
They stopped at the back wall, where the large screens were.
“Right now, they are mainly used to tell us about the people left living in our country, and any possible threats. Sergeant M, please do a full screen of our country.”
A land mass popped up on the screen, one Ally recognized from pictures in a book back in the settlement. As children, they were taught that this had been called the United States at one time. Back when it had been full of Ordinarys.
The land mass was dotted with thousands of bright spots of yellow. Most looking small and minuscule compared to the entire map, but some were large enough to make a difference.
“Are those people?” Max started.
“Yes. Towns, cities, groups of people,” the General responded. “Each colored blot represents one of these. There are thousands throughout the country.”
“Wow,” Ally said as she moved closer to the screen. “I didn’t realize there were so many humans left. In the settlement, it was easy to feel like the City was all there was.”
The General frowned. “Sergeant M, please pull up the northern city on Screen C please.”
The largest screen flicked to a new image. The scene was mostly various shades of green, with a small blue blob in the top right of the map. On the left of the blue circle were large blots of yellow, some of the yellow were interlocking with dots of grey.
“This is a picture of your City,” the General said. “The yellow blots are people. Close up, they would seem more spread out, especially outside the City, but at this range it looks like one large group. The random gray areas are within the City, but unpopulated at the moment. Long ago we were able to zoom in on the cities, but that function stopped working on our satellites and we are unable to bring it in to repair it.
“So you’ve been monitoring the cities?” Luke finally spoke. Ally had almost forgotten he was beside her.
Max’s eyes narrowed. “You knew about the Rogues, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” the General said, holding up his hand. “We didn’t know the extent of what was happening, but we could tell that large groups from the eastern city were moving toward your City. We were monitoring them closely to make sure they weren’t headed toward us.”
“Nice,” Luke grunted.
“Your father’s father was nothing short of rude when it came to relations with Zone D, and refused to help us in a time of need several decades ago, so you can understand why we weren’t quick to send word about the attack, but rather make sure we weren’t in danger.”
“My grandfather refused you help?” Luke asked.
“You sound surprised,” Ally said. She raised her eyebrow at Luke, who shot her a glare in return.
“Did you know that we were coming?” Ally
asked.
The General shook his head. “Not until you were close enough to trip the sensors in the outskirts. We can train in on cities to focus on their population, but we can’t often catch small groups until they are close. We really only survey a five hundred mile radius on a regular basis, only scanning the other Cities at random. We are lucky to have this at all.”
“You said you had a reason for showing us this,” Max spoke up. “It seemed like you thought sharing this with us would affect Luke’s trip home.”
“Sergeant M, please scan west two hundred miles.” The General didn’t even bother to turn to look at whoever he was speaking to. All of the people in the room seemed to be busy at work, and Ally thought a few of them might not even realize they were there.
The screen flickered again and the scene was mostly green, with small dots of blue. There were no areas of grey, but there was a small blot of yellow.
“Is that a settlement? Max asked.
The General shook his head. “No, it’s a group of people moving from the western part of the country. They’ve been moving east for a few weeks. With the movement from the east, we didn’t pick up on them until the eastern group had converged on you.”
“Do you think it’s Rogues?” Ally said in a small voice.
Two hundred miles. This group was two hundred miles from the settlements and the City. The City was still recovering from the battle with the eastern Rogues. Another attack would destroy them.
The General shook his head. “I can’t give you many answers, unfortunately, just that they are continuously moving. The dot has grown smaller in the past few weeks, so we think something may be happening to them.”
Ally couldn’t take her eyes off the yellow dot. “How many do you think there are?”
“A hundred, maybe more?” the General said.
If they were Rogues, that could be devastating to the settlements.
Luke was stiff beside her, his violet eyes glowing. “I need to get home. Now.”
“We don’t know if those are Rogues, Exceptionals, or even Ordinarys,” Ally pointed out. “They could have been forced out of their own city. Maybe they are looking for refuge.”
