CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel

by A. Bernette

  “Do you think we are going to have an earthquake like the ones they’ve had on the coasts of Southern Allegiance?” Delia asked with deep concern.

  “I don’t know, Delia. I keep thinking that the one we heard about may just be one of many others we haven’t heard about. I just don’t have a good feeling about what we are being told or about any of the information reported. It makes me wonder how many others haven’t made the main news. What I do know is that we keep getting more tremors like the ones we are getting now and more of these small quakes. Eventually, it will lead to something bigger. It’s just a matter of time. I just hope we aren’t here when it happens,” Marie said.

  “Where would we go?” Delia wondered aloud. “We don’t have family anywhere else.”

  “That’s a good question,” Marie said, letting her eyes fall back to the tea cup where the water had now settled. “I don’t want you to worry about that right now.” She placed the tea pod inside the mug avoiding Delia’s questioning eyes.

  Delia could feel her mother’s discomfort. She wanted to ask the questions that sat at the tip of her tongue, pressing against the back of her lips, longing to be spoken but thought better of it. Something else was already weighing on her. Delia never wanted to be an extra burden or cause her more stress.

  “How do we find out what’s really going on?” Delia asked.

  The moment the question came out another tremor, much stronger than the others shook their apartment. The cup of tea Marie had now placed on the table to steep shook, spilling over the sides, and Delia could hear something fall off the shelf somewhere at the back of their unit.

  “Are we supposed to just sit here and wait for this to get worse?” Delia stood up and asked her mom. “I’m sorry Mom. I didn’t mean it like that. They are evacuating us but still feeding us these lies? They keep reporting it like it’s all separate and isolated. It’s not just here. It’s happening in other places too. Everywhere that’s along a ridge or one of those tectonic plates is getting more of these. They may only register as between twos and fours on their Richter scale but still someone should be talking about it. No one is! I think they’re full of bull,” Delia said, her voice rising.

  “Watch your tone, Delia,” Marie said out of habit.

  Delia shook her head. She wouldn’t argue with her mom, but she couldn’t be sorry about how she felt.

  “I know it doesn’t make much sense but I still need you to try and respect that we are under the World Consensus. We will know the things we need to know, the things that are important, when the time is right. In the meantime, there may be other things you can figure out. I can’t answer it for you. At the same time, I don’t want you stirring anything up or asking the wrong people questions. You understand that Delia? You can’t afford to be considered disloyal,” Marie said, grabbing her arms to make sure she understood.

  “Okay. I got it - as always,” Delia said backing away, trying not to show any more of her resentment at the whole situation.

  “Delia, one more thing. Whatever happens, no matter what happens, keep asking questions. Keep searching for the truth. It is there. It’s not always popular to go after it, but look around you and you will find out the truth.”

  Delia grabbed the door handle. “It seems pretty pointless asking questions, Mom, when no one is willing to give you an answer.”

  “I love you Delia,” Marie called out as Delia pulled the door open.

  She walked out the door, tempted to slam it but instead closing it softly, her tablet still in her hand.

  ***

  Lyn heard the familiar ‘knock knock knock’ on the door and knew immediately who it was. Delia stood just outside the sterile looking white door marked with the silver numbers 32-11 in script. She leaned against the silvery metal frame with a look of frustration written all over her face, waiting for Lyn.

  “Hey Lyn, what do you think about all those tremors we just had?” Delia asked as soon as she saw Lyn’s face around the edge of the cracked door. Delia sauntered in and sat down on the simple wood-framed sofa.

  “I don’t know. It’s more than we had back home,” Lyn said, moving away from the door.

  “They seem to be coming a lot. I nearly fell on that last one. Of course, I was standing on one leg,” Ms. C chimed in with a shrug.

  Ms. C and Lyn had been in the living room practicing their Tai Chi. Their large unit was inspired by their other home in the Eastern Way. What had been traditional art from the Orient lay in Feng Shui inspired groupings and patterns around the few small tables.

  A large bust of a man who’d been called Buddha sat in the corner of the living room near a plant that had clearly been well cultivated and loved. Ms. C had brought it with them from the Eastern Way. She’d gotten bold and even painted a large yin yang symbol on the wall opposite the door. She called it her inspirational centerpiece.

  Ms. C and Lyn had just relocated from the Eastern Way Region a year earlier. Lyn’s father was an executive at one of the larger corporations manufacturing recyclable clothing and had been relocated to expand the business in the Southern Liberty Region. He divided his time between the Eastern Way and Southern Liberty. He was back in their home region now and Lyn and Ms. C would be joining him there for the evacuation.

  Lyn spoke softly to Delia, “It wasn’t that bad though right? I mean you get these all the time here, right?” Lyn asked looking for reassurance.

  “No, we didn’t used to. You haven’t been here long, but this is not normal,” Delia paused. “And here we go again. It’s like a slow but continuous ripple,” she said.

  “It is happening more often, and not just here,” Ms. C said to Delia and Lyn.

  “We’re going out for a walk, Mom,” Lyn said before walking towards the door.

  “See you later, Ms. C,” Delia said following Lyn out the door.

  Chapter Five

  Rumblings

  Rift Valley, Southern Liberty

  Delia and Lyn walked down the brightly lit hall towards the expanse of windows without speaking. Everything was white - from the doors to the marble lined walls and floors. Delia pressed the down button to call an elevator and as they waited there was still silence.

  Floor by floor they rode down, the only sound being that of the elevator chiming as they reached each level. Surrounded by mirrored images of themselves in the twelve by twelve alternating marble and framed mirrors, Lyn could see Delia’s curiosity. They exited into the lobby that buzzed with activity as people came and went, or simply sat in the white molded chairs and sofas that intersected at unusual angles on white and grey striped rugs.

  The coffee bar was still busy with a line that wrapped around one side of the lobby. Every table had either white roses or white lilies in clear glass vases. The floral scent coming off the elevator always made Delia smile, and reminded Lyn of their garden back in the Eastern Way.

  Once outside, Lyn and Delia walked down the sidewalk along the back of their building, and headed towards the park. Lyn was trying to keep up today with Delia’s much longer strides, but didn’t want to start a conversation about why Delia was in such a hurry, lest Delia return the question with a question. Their friendship was as good as it was because they both understood the need to give each other space and not push too far, both having things they’d rather leave unsaid.

  It was comfortable for Lyn to walk with a friend without talking and yet still enjoy her company. Both of them being only children because they were first born girls in the family made the bond even stronger. The institution of the rule of only one child if the first born was a girl was made as a way to manage population growth.

  The rationale that a female can only bear so many children and fewer males in the population would mean fewer possible partners to procreate. The law had only passed twenty years prior and after two years of lawsuits that failed due the World Consensus’s support of the law, it went into effect

  Although there was nothing that could be proven scientifically, many argu
ed that nature fought back, and in the years after, there was an unusually high percentage of first born males, restoring balance. Additional lawsuits were brought forth in the years that followed, and a decade after the law was passed, the World Consensus ended enforcement.

  It was never removed from the legal records, leaving the door open to restore it if they ever deemed it necessary. Delia and Lyn had been born during the years the law was enforced and by the time the law had been put on indefinite hold, most parents of female children had already gone through their fertility restriction treatments.

  ***

  The park was just a few blocks away and it was one of the few places with green grass and real trees. There were hand-carved benches from salvaged wood, playgrounds for the younger kids, and a massive swing set everyone could use. However, it wasn’t Delia’s intention to go to the park, not just yet.

  As they walked along the side of the building, the Security Enforcement and Protection Agents, whom everyone called SEP Agents, followed them briefly with their eyes. They recognized the girls from their regular walks in the neighborhood.

  “I want to check something out, Lyn,” Delia said once they got around the corner and out of hearing range of the agents.

  “What is it?”

  “There is a spot I have been watching for the past six months and I want to show it to you. If you are up for it,” said Delia, hoping Lyn would agree to come.

  “Is it about the tremors and quakes?” Lyn asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Alright. Let’s go and check it out,” Lyn said with a smile.

  They walked towards the neighborhood park, passing several families with young kids and couples. A young man had drawn an audience around him as he performed magic tricks to the oohs and ahs of the crowd. His black top hat and cape were his magician’s adornment, and both had seen better days. The top hat had frayed from his fingers grabbing the rim so often. It also doubled as a tip jar which he passed around after every act, storing the lubles in a secret compartment.

  An older man seeming to take a nap sat on a bench near the edge of the park - an apple in one hand around which his grip would tighten every time it was about to fall to the ground.

  Lyn traced the path of a green balloon that floated towards the clouds as a little girl pointed at it and cried. Delia and Lyn continued walking, choosing a side street that backed up to a small man-made hill, which was a former dump site long since covered over with layers of dirt and grass.

  The hill had a well-worn path in the dirt, beaten by the treads of those who used it as a shortcut to other parts of the city. Lyn and Delia followed the narrow path with low creeping roots, dried and dead. They could easily lose their footing if they didn’t follow the narrow strip that had been worn over time. They climbed up to the top of the hill and back over, moving carefully as they leaned with the hill to keep from falling and sliding.

  Once down the other side, Delia strode purposefully over to a round piece of metal. It was at least three and a half feet wide and flat, with orange rust around the two handles that were soldered to the top. On Delia’s first trip, it was the rust that told her it had been there a while. Delia squatted beside the large cover, grabbed the handle on one side, and pushed against it. The large cover slowly slid out of the way, exposing what looked like a cement tube that quickly disappeared into the darkness of the earth.

  “What is this?” Lyn asked.

  “It’s something I found one day last fall when I was out running. I’d been going up and down the hill, doing a few reps and when I stopped to rest up there on the top, I saw the metal cover and was curious, so I came down. This is what I found,” said Delia, happy to finally show it to someone.

  Lyn tapped the top of the metal circle with her foot and pulled it back, suddenly uncomfortable with the sensation. “Are you sure we should be over here Delia?”

  “No, but we’re here now.” Delia ran her hand over the surface of the covering she’d handled several times before. “I am not one hundred percent sure, but my guess is that it’s one of the emissions pump holes. Obviously someone made it and now it’s not being used, and hasn’t been for a while.”

  Around the circle was evidence that a structure of some sort had once stood nearby, but had been demolished. Loose stone and concrete were still scattered about, now partially covered by dirt, weeds, and grass.

  The large factory in the area that made regional uniform emblems had closed a few years back, the business having been consolidated with other larger factories making emblems closer to the western coast. The emissions pump was no longer needed and the pipes that ran underground from the factory had been sealed and abandoned. The hole, however, had only been covered.

  “Maybe it was abandoned because it was dangerous,” Lyn said, stepping back another foot, but not able to get rid of the odd feeling.

  “That might be true, but it is also interesting. Something real is going on and I think this hole is a clue. I checked it out the day I found it and noticed that when I came back after a few tremors the cracks in the cement looked worse. I couldn’t be certain though, so when I came back the next time I brought something to measure them. I’ve been measuring them ever since. I have proof those cracks are getting bigger and I’m measuring again today,” Delia said with a serious look in her face. Her mom and dad would probably tear into her if they knew what she was doing, but she had to find out.

  Lyn stood near the gaping hole while Delia got down on her knees then her stomach. She leaned against the side to measure the size of the cracks along the walls in the hole. As she lay against the ground, a light rumbling started again. Lyn’s eyes opened wide. She didn’t know what was going on. Her body was tingling as the rumbling was happening. The rumbling in the ground ended and then the tingling in her body did too.

  “That was strange,” Lyn said, half to herself, half to Delia.

  “Unfortunately, that’s pretty normal. We are getting those rumblings all the time. What’s strange is the smell that came out this hole when the rumbling was happening. It was horrible. Ugh,” she said shaking her head, “and still is. The closest thing I can think of is the smell of rotten eggs and sewage. Bad combination. I’ve never smelled anything like it.” Delia fanned her nose as she leaned back away from the source of the accosting odor. After a few moments she leaned back in, looked at the markings and entered them into her small tablet.

  “Not that. I mean that too, but my body was tingling while it was rumbling. Probably nothing. Just strange.”

  “Or it’s something,” Delia said pausing to look at Lyn. “Maybe you are just…sensitive…”

  Lyn shrugged, ignoring the question. There was something Lyn wasn’t saying but Delia wasn’t in the mood to question more than she already had. So far, she hadn’t gotten any good answers from anyone today. Everyone seemed to only have half answers and those answers didn’t feel right to her.

  “Let me cover this back up and we can get out of here.” Delia crouched down to a squat again and began pulling the metal plate back over the hole.

  The earth shook again, this time much stronger. Lyn fell onto Delia who landed on the metal plate that wasn’t quite covering the hole, banging her elbow on the edge. She let out a yelp before quickly closing her mouth to stop the gagging odor from entering and reaching her tongue.

  Delia’s upper body went into the hole and Lyn struggled to get up as the ground continued to shake. Delia was stuck between the edge of the hole and the plate now.

  “Help me out of here before my nose burns off!” Delia yelled out to Lyn.

  Lyn grabbed the handle on the edge of the metal plate and tried to pull it back. She wondered how Delia had made it look so easy. Squatting down like Delia had, she tried pulling again, this time getting it to move just a few inches. It was just barely enough for Delia to get her hand up for leverage.

  “Thanks,” Delia said with a push to the cover, effortlessly sealing the hole again. “Let’s go.”

&nb
sp; “What do you think it means? With the cracks getting bigger and that horrible smell coming out?” Lyn asked Delia once they’d gotten back over the hill and were trekking back towards the park.

  “Nothing good. I can’t prove it but those cracks seem to get bigger with the tremors or quakes. And that smell only came out like that when the ground was rumbling. I doubt that is a coincidence,” she said, her eyes narrowing in thought.

  Delia and Lyn approached the park which the last tremor had shaken up as well. Now the benches, swings, and playground were nearly empty. The magician was gone and the kids too. Delia supposed those tremors must’ve jostled everyone out of their false sense of comfort and back into action. It was another reminder that they were evacuating and needed to get ready.

  The nonchalant attitude towards the tremors and earthquakes characteristic of nearly everyone she saw or talked to surprised her. It was as if they’d suspended reality to continue believing the lie that this was normal and just a precaution. How could they be so blind?, Delia wondered. They’d managed to turn off their common sense to feel safe and maintain their false sense of security.

  Delia and Lyn walked again in silence until they were in the middle of the park. The SEP Agents walked along the outer walls, scanning the center occasionally but not leaving their assigned beats to come in.

  “My dad used to work for a small private company, as an environmental scientist, before it was bought by one of the UniCorps’s companies,” Delia shared with Lyn as soon as they were out of the range of the agents. “When they were bought out they were asked to do things that he wasn’t comfortable with.”

  “Did he use to work with the pump holes?” Lyn asked curiously.

  “He never told me what he was working on and still won’t talk much about it, but I know that whenever he hears about these emissions pumps and the holes like what we just saw he gets mad. I mean cursing under his breath, storming out of the room mad. After about a year working under the new owners he quit and took a regular job where he couldn’t be at risk of giving away secrets or being told he was possibly committing treason. He’s retired now but I can’t ask him about it. He flat out refuses to talk about any of this with me. Says it’s better that way,” Delia said in a hushed voice, checking the surrounding agents.