The Line Book Two: Walled

by Anne Tibbets

  The people, wearing straight-legged pants in black, gray or white fabrics, with matching bulky jackets in the same colors, walked down the boulevards or drove by us in identical vehicles.

  When a young couple passing us on the sidewalk caught sight of Ric and me, they stopped and stared.

  “For the love of Flora,” the woman gasped.

  “Is that an Auberge?” the man asked.

  “Can’t be,” she answered.

  The guard behind me, still in the van, nudged me with his voice. “Go on,” he urged.

  I stepped down onto the street beside Ric.

  Two other people now stood beside the first pair on the sidewalk. They’d clogged the flow of people and a crowd grew.

  “Is it true?” a woman asked. “Did they breach the wall?”

  “I believe they did,” her friend said. And they both clasped their mouths in shock.

  “They need nutrition supplements,” someone from the crowd volunteered. “And a sanitation by the looks of them.”

  I felt my cheeks burn and glared at the crowd. The woman closest to me took a step back.

  Trev led us through the crowd, and we entered the black building just behind the gathering crowd. They parted to let us by, ogling as we went inside.

  I couldn’t quite place how it made me feel, to be gawked at like that. I’d spent the better part of my life wanting nothing more than to disappear and have nobody notice me. This was the exact opposite. At least they were staring instead of shooting at me.

  The conflicting emotions sat strangely in my belly. Laced with uncertainty, it felt as though at any moment they’d change their minds and open fire. And for all I knew, they could.

  Two large metal doors slid open on the black building in front of us, and we entered. When the doors closed they made a sucking noise. The noise from the crowd abruptly stopped and my ears popped.

  “Vacuum sealed,” Trev said.

  I jammed my finger into my ear to wiggle it around.

  “Try yawning.”

  That did the trick. I nodded my thanks.

  The interior of the building looked similar to the outside. There was a black metal floor—sleek, sterile and without seams. The walls were the same, as well as the ceiling. It smelled like cleanser. Some cross between vinegar and ammonia.

  Above us, a single line of embedded rectangular lights shone from the ceiling. Other than that, the room was completely empty, aside from another metal door that was sealed directly in front of us.

  We all stood there, soldiers included, waiting. For what, I didn’t know.

  “What happens next?” I asked.

  The other guards ignored me, but Trev turned around and smiled sheepishly. “The sanitation is taking longer, given your...” He stopped, blushing. “It’ll just be another moment.”

  We waited.

  I tapped my foot absently, and Ric elbowed me. I stopped.

  The door ahead let off a curious suction noise, and then slid open, revealing a long black hallway with yet another door at the end. We followed Trev into the crisp air as he led us to the door. When we approached, a piece of metal at eye level slid open on our right, revealing a black screen. Trev leaned forward, and a three-dimensional copy of his face appeared. It had his features exactly, including his silly grin.

  “Identity confirmed,” the face said in Trev’s own voice.

  He stuck his tongue out at himself, and the face slid back into the screen. Then the door glided open. We marched inside and toward an elevator that opened automatically.

  We piled inside, the six of us, and the door closed. Then without seeming to move, we stood there, waiting.

  When the doors opened again, we walked out into a different large room, complete with a black metal oval table and curved metal chairs. In the center of the table was a metal bowl bursting with exquisite flowers and leaves of all shapes and sizes. I’d never seen so many colors in all my life. I was so enamored with the flowers in the bowl, I failed to notice the man standing at the end of the room.

  He cleared his throat, pulling my attention.

  He was short, with gray hair, and wearing the same black soldier uniform as Trev and the rest of the soldiers.

  “Admiral.” Trev saluted. He stuck his fist across his chest and slammed it against his heart.

  “Dismissed,” the admiral said, and I recognized his voice as the one that had spoken from Trev’s helmet.

  Trev grinned at me as he spun on his heels, and he and the remainder of the soldiers exited the room.

  This left me, Ric and the admiral alone.

  The admiral’s facial expression was blank and completely devoid of emotion. I wondered if he was going to be an ally or an enemy. It could go either way, given the manner in which he was glaring at us. His eyes trained up and down our bodies. Then a glimmer of a snarl appeared in the corner of his mouth.

  My fingers chilled to the bone and I clenched them tightly. People so far had been somewhat hospitable, but this man seemed angry, and I had no idea what we had done to offend him.

  Other than existing.

  Ric was the first to speak. “Where are we?”

  The admiral’s face barely moved as he spoke. “Welcome to Flora City.”

  “And what’s Flora exactly?” I asked.

  The admiral turned his eyes to me but didn’t waver his expression. He hardly blinked. “Flora is the sovereign territory that surrounds Auberge. We encompass over eighty-six thousand square miles and have a population of thirty-six million.”

  “You surround Auberge?”

  “Yes.”

  Ric grunted in what I could guess was shock.

  I could hardly believe it myself. So not only was Auberge surrounded by a wall, it was also surrounded by a completely other corporate territory? “This is the first I’m hearing of this.”

  The admiral’s shrug was barely perceptible. “That doesn’t surprise me. I cannot begin to comprehend why Auberge keeps its citizens ignorant of the outside world. One can only assume it’s to maintain control of the territory.”

  “You said there’s thirty-six million people in Flora?” Ric asked, obviously still having a hard time grasping the enormity of the information.

  “I wonder how that compares to Auberge,” I mused.

  “Auberge houses a little over twenty-three million,” the admiral said. He extended his toned arm with a quick thrust toward the conference table chairs. “Have a seat. We have much to discuss. I’m assuming Corporal Trevors informed you of your status here in Flora?”

  Sort of. It was hard to make sense of everything he’d said between that and the news about Sonya. “He said we had code names and you knew what we’d done inside Auberge,” I volunteered.

  “But how is that possible?” Ric asked.

  The admiral sat in the chair at the end of the table and placed his palms on the slick tabletop. “Since the establishment of the corporate territories and the Treaty of 2156, Auberge and Flora have been at peace. Under the terms of the treaty, Flora may not enter Auberge territory, and Auberge may not enter Flora territory. It was designed to give each corporation control of the territorial assets and to facilitate fair trade. Initially, trade between the two corporations went well.”

  I nodded and sat in the chair beside me. I could tell the admiral was gearing up for an oration. Ric begrudgingly pulled out the seat next to mine and flopped down. He looked skeptical and less inclined to listen, but attentive nonetheless.

  The admiral went on, “But as Auberge grew more and more populated, overcrowded and poorly managed, Auberge became unable to sustain itself. The Chairman of Auberge couldn’t offer any excess goods of worth to trade with Flora and barely manufactured enough to sustain the populous within itself. With nothing to exchange, trade between the
territories ceased, and Auberge’s isolation became total. Since then, Auberge has deteriorated, and Flora has flourished. We became aware of Auberge’s plans to take over Flora by intercepting one of their spies. This spy was unable to supply us with any useful information. But wishing to find out more, we reciprocated, sending agents of our own inside Auberge. Most of them were discovered and executed. That is, until we enlisted Delta.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” I said, interrupting him. “I knew her. She wasn’t a spy.”

  He stared at me blankly. The only sign he showed that the comment bothered him at all was a quick whip of his gaze as it burrowed into mine.

  “How else do you think we knew of your actions inside Auberge?” the admiral asked.

  “One of your other spies?” Ric suggested.

  “As I stated before, they were all captured and executed. Whether you choose to believe it or not is of no consequence to me. But Delta was a valued asset to Military Command, and I will not have you disrespect her sacrifice by refusing to acknowledge her part in your escape.”

  I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down and gripped the arms of the chair. If all he said was true, then I’d never known Sonya at all. This filled me with a mixture of sadness and regret. Then hurt. But I also realized that if she’d told me all along that her plans were to help me escape, with or without my children, I knew I never would have cooperated. What other choice did she have?

  The admiral continued. “Delta’s orders were to infiltrate Auberge and find intelligence on a biological toxin called Bio-Tox 6364 and report back. While investigating this, she discovered there were living specimens carrying the immunity...”

  “Girls from the Line,” Ric said.

  The admiral nodded. “Delta actively sought to extract living samples from Auberge, but wall defenses proved difficult to circumnavigate and the living specimens were erratic, to say the least. In the end, she found Naya—”

  “To be fair, Ric found me first,” I interposed.

  “—and with the help of other Auberge citizens...” the admiral continued as if I’d said nothing.

  “That would be me and Tym,” Ric added.

  The admiral’s face finally moved as he pressed his lips together in frustration. I got the sense he wasn’t a man used to being interrupted. “Delta then deleted your existence from the Auberge databases and burned down their server room to try to permanently remove you from their systems. Once she secured your cooperation and had your identity wiped, she waited for you to give birth. Then she was under orders to extract you.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But if she was under orders to get me out after we uploaded the virus, why did she let me and Ric leave to go get the girls?”

  “To ensure your cooperation,” the admiral answered. “Delta stated in her report you were very attached to the children, and she didn’t believe you’d come willingly without having first located them. Of course, it didn’t quite work out that way.”

  “And because of me,” Ric added.

  I eyed him with confusion.

  “I promised her I’d bring you back,” he said, his eyes darting back and forth as he searched his memory. “That morning, before we left for HQ, she made me promise that whatever happened, I would get you ‘through to the end, no matter what.’ She was very insistent. At the time, I didn’t know what that meant, but now it makes sense. She was planning this all along.”

  I sat with that a moment. The weight of it made me shift in my chair.

  “For what purpose, exactly, does Flora need a living specimen?” Ric asked, getting back on topic.

  “For the inoculation in your blood,” the admiral explained. “After we extract a sample, we can duplicate it and inoculate our population. We’ll be immune to any biological warfare Auberge has planned.”

  “And then what?” I asked.

  This seemed to confuse him. “How do you mean?”

  “I mean, after your population is immune, then what happens? You wait for them to attack?”

  “That’s for Premier to decide,” the admiral said, his jaw tight.

  “And what about us?” Ric asked. “After you take a sample of Naya’s blood, what happens to us?”

  “We’ll establish a residence for you here, in Flora City.”

  “What if we don’t want to live here?” Ric asked.

  “Then anywhere within Flora territory. We have many subdivisions to choose from.”

  “What about the girls?” I asked.

  The admiral ignored me and turned his attention to Ric. “I understand you’re a veterinarian, Dr. Bennett?”

  “I was. I also ran a free medical clinic.”

  “We have a thriving pet population in Flora,” the admiral said with just a hint of bravado. “And Naya may start at any culinary school of her choice. Flora City alone has three fine establishments to choose from.”

  “You never answered me about the girls,” I commented, not without edge. “What about my children?”

  The admiral continued to stare at me blankly. “What about them?”

  “They’re still inside Auberge.”

  “Yes,” the admiral confirmed. “They are. Or at least none of the patrols have located them yet.”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear and I didn’t like the callous way he said it.

  The admiral squared his shoulders. “Currently, we have operatives at the wall breach, dealing with the refugees. I’ll notify you immediately if your children are found exiting.”

  “Thank you, Admiral,” Ric said.

  I wasn’t as polite. “That’s not good enough. You need to get them out. Now. They aren’t safe inside. Especially if Auberge finds out that you have me.”

  He had the gall to chuckle at this. “And how will Auberge find out we have you?”

  “You said so yourself that they sent spies.”

  “All the Auberge insurgents have been found and incarcerated. You have nothing to fear.”

  “But what about getting the girls, Admiral?” Ric asked. He swallowed hard and clenched and unclenched his fists, turning red. “Will you help us?”

  “I cannot risk another extraction of anyone at present. Not before the immunity reaches full saturation. These orders come directly from Premier.”

  My stomach turned over as dread set in. “I need to speak to the premier then.”

  The admiral raised an eyebrow at me and addressed me as if I was a child. My dislike of him grew stronger by the moment. “You’re scheduled to meet her tomorrow at fourteen-hundred hours. In the meantime, I have a medical team waiting to take you to have the blood samples taken.”

  “Right now?”

  The admiral nodded.

  “It’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?”

  “I fail to see why this is relevant.” The admiral pushed the glass on the conference table and a screen appeared. Within moments, two armed soldiers arrived and flanked Ric and me on either side. “Thank you,” he continued. “Your cooperation in saving the people of Flora is much appreciated.”

  I eyed the large rifles sitting on the hips of either soldier beside me and couldn’t help but feel more a prisoner than a savior. “Is it?” I asked. “Because if you appreciate it so much, you’ll help rescue my children.”

  The admiral’s face didn’t move. “Take that up with Premier.”

  I set my jaw. “I will.” And we were escorted from the conference room.

  Chapter Seventeen

  We trudged with two soldiers down the long hall, back to the elevator. After a quick, silent ride, we were escorted down another long hallway, and then entered the only door into a bright room. It had white metal floors and walls, and a full staff of men and women wearing long white lab coats, standing around an array of medical equipment.


  The moment I smelled the antiseptic, my insides dropped to my feet.

  Infirmary.

  I stopped, frozen. Ric, who’d been holding my hand, got yanked abruptly as I careened to a stop.

  “Naya?”

  I blinked rapidly, reminding myself it wasn’t the infirmary at the Line, that I wasn’t about to be stripped and hosed off and sold. I noticed immediately that the medical chair was more of a lounge chair than a gurney. And there wasn’t a speculum or a stirrup to be found.

  A woman with bright white hair stepped forward from the group of medical staff and extended her hand to me. “I’m Dr. Durlin. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  I shook her hand and tried to look as if I wasn’t about to pass out.

  “Dr. Bennett?” Durlin asked, reaching for Ric.

  He shook her hand. “Doctor.”

  “There’s no reason for alarm. We just want to take a sample of your blood. A very simple procedure.” Dr. Durlin motioned toward the medical recliner. It was surrounded by the other doctors and staff. Beside the chair was a rolling cart of glass vials, a surgical tray covered in a clear film and a rectangular tablet made of plastic.

  “And if I refuse?” I asked.

  The doctor’s face stiffened, and the two soldiers waiting at the door both shifted on their feet.

  I knew then.

  Either I gave my blood to them willingly, or they’d take it.

  I wasn’t a person. I was a lab rat.

  Again.

  My face burned with frustration. I eyed the soldiers behind me and pressed my lips together tightly to hide my frown.

  What choice did I have? We were vulnerable, in the belly of their territory and completely at their mercy. It was a feeling with which I was far too accustomed. At least in Auberge I knew what to expect. They were out to get me and it was obvious. I didn’t like the uncertainty I felt in Flora. As if at any moment the clean and perfect walls would fall away to reveal a decaying and moldy cage.

  I swallowed thickly and walked toward the medical chair. I took off my jacket, handed it to Ric and then sat. My heart was in my throat, but I figured it was best to get it done and over with.