Fallen Firsts

by Jillian Torassa

  “You’re too easily recognized?” Malek scoffed behind Christa’s back. “What about the fact that I’m the most talented tech support in the Ten Colonies?”

  “Give it a rest,” she hissed in return, “and just do it, okay?”

  Alexander put his hand on the small of my back. “I’ll wait out here with the girls.”

  My muscles tensed at his touch and I pulled away, though there wasn’t much space in the cramped alleyway.

  “Fellow soldiers,” Christa corrected icily, and Alexander laughed softly.

  “Of course,” he agreed.

  “Shut up!” Malek glared at all of us. “The only way we’re going to get any of these weapons back to the others is if you keep your hawking mouths shut!”

  “You’re one to talk.” Christa managed to break through the lock, and the door swung open with the tiniest click. “Now hurry up and get those cameras turned off.”

  Without another word, Malek lifted his shotgun up to his shoulder and slunk into the black hole that was the shop’s back room.

  The night was much more temperate than it had been when Gideon’s grave was robbed. A warm breeze had swept away the rain clouds, and it now played in the leaves of the trees that surrounded us, creating a tinkling melody that did nothing to calm the nerves raging inside my abdomen.

  But Cece had been right: doing something kept my mind occupied enough that grief couldn’t flow through me, and I crouched next to Christa and Alexander, waiting for the “all clear” from Malek without any crushing feelings of despondency.

  It was late—probably one or two in the morning—so I jumped about twelve feet in the air when a huge, well-groomed dog poked his nose around the corner and growled.

  “Roke,” Christa swore, snapping her gun into position, but Alexander put his hand on her arm.

  “What are you doing?” he snapped. “Do have any idea how loud a gun is?”

  She glared at him but lowered her weapon slightly. “Of course I know how loud a gun is.”

  The dog growled again, his eyes locked on Christa, and this time, Alexander took a step toward it, his hand outstretched.

  “Hey, boy. It’s okay. See?”

  The fur on its shoulders seemed to poof, like it was bigger than it really was, and Alexander stopped, his hand still held out.

  “We aren’t going to hurt you.”

  The dog stared at him, his teeth bared as he panted without blinking.

  “He must have run away from home,” Alexander said over his shoulder. “He’s obviously someone’s pet.”

  “Pet or not, look at those teeth!” Christa said.

  It growled again.

  Having never been in close proximity to an animal this size before, my hands started to tremble as I backed toward the door. It’s just a dog, I told myself. Just a dog.

  But when it took another step toward us, my fear turned my chest into a fizzing chemistry experiment.

  “All clear!” Malek called, sticking his masked head out of the back door, and then the dog lunged.

  “What the—” he yelled as Christa and I flung ourselves into the back room with Alexander scrambling behind us.

  The dog’s heavy body crashed against the metal door just as we slammed it shut.

  “What the hell was that?” Malek wheezed, his rifle ready at his shoulder.

  “Dog.” Christa breathed heavily and it howled loudly. “Junior here wouldn’t let me shoot it.”

  “And draw attention to us? We’re about to rob a gun store, for Adam’s sake!”

  “Now it’s barking! How is that—?”

  “Quiet!” I hissed at them, dropping one of my hands from my own weapon and pushing my finger to my lips. “You’re acting like children!”

  “Jade’s right,” Malek agreed. “If the dog’s going to raise the alarm, we don’t have time to argue.” Without waiting for a reply, he pushed past all of us and entered the main room of the shop.

  Christa and Alexander turned toward me, and I stared each of them down in turn. If we couldn’t even face off a stray dog in the street, how the hell were we supposed to storm the Orchard?

  “Well?” I challenged.

  Christa rolled her eyes and Alexander shrugged, but they both turned and followed Malek into the darkness.

  If we were going to have any success, we were going to have to get our acts together. That was for damn sure.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Victor

  Our first order of business was to turn Gideon into a ghost. After nearly dying, he was pretty weak, but I wasn’t worried about it; he didn’t need to be healthy and robust in order to scare people into action. He would survive, and that’s all that mattered right now.

  Since Galilea wasn’t privy to our side project, Meghan had to go home in order to keep her First from getting suspicious. This meant I was left alone to work with my ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, writing his speech and designing literature in order to tear down a caste system that, up until my promotion, had benefited him more than it had me.

  “That’s not right.”

  My pen froze, its point stuck to the page as I looked up at Gideon. “What’s not right?”

  “There are too many words. Most people don’t read.”

  I looked back at the small card I was designing: “THEY KILLED ME BECAUSE I FOUND OUT” was written in bold across the top, and I planned to smear some of Gideon’s blood across the bottom. “Well, what do you suggest then?”

  “Why are we making these?”

  “So that we can leave them on people’s cars, stuff them in windows and doors, hang them from bicycles—it’ll be spooky. They’ll come from nowhere.”

  “But most people don’t read.”

  I dropped the pen on the table and glared at him. “Then what. do you suggest. we do?” I said with my teeth clenched together.

  Gideon shrugged, dropping his face into one of his palms. “My head hurts.”

  Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I stood and went to the bathroom, searching for more pain medication. “We’ll film the video, too. I have a contact at the Firsts Entertainment Network who volunteered to help, and we can make it look like your spirit hacked the system.”

  “Doesn’t that sound kind of stupid to you?” he called from the other room.

  I stopped, the pill bottle in my hand, and stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. It did sound stupid. Ghosts didn’t exist, and anyone with half a brain wouldn’t believe it. But we lived in a society where having half a brain was ground for enslavement, and I had concocted this ridiculous scheme based on that fact. Besides, Gideon’s fake death had been a success, so even if it didn’t work, at least I wouldn’t have his blood on my hands. That was one burden off of my shoulders.

  “It will work,” I told him, coming back into the kitchen and offering him a couple of pills. “All we need is to get a few people to doubt, and it will all crumble from there.”

  He took the pills, popped them into his mouth, and took a long drag of water in way of a response as I sat back down at the table.

  “Why are you in such a hurry, anyway?” He sat the empty glass on the table, his face screwed up in pain. The medicine would take effect in a few minutes. “I understand you haven’t found the video yet, and the longer you look, the likelier it is you’ll get caught. But isn’t this a lot riskier?”

  I drew a tiny circle on the paper in front of me, tracing it over and over again so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

  “This is the only way.” I wanted to squeeze her hand, but we were outside the clinic now, and there were eyes everywhere. “It will work. Don’t worry.”

  Galilea needed me, so she had been furious to learn what the Council had decided regarding my relationship with Meghan. It had been her idea to ask the Council to make Meghan my assistant, but she left it up to us to figure out how to do that.

  Obviously.

  “I know. I trust you.”

  With a nod, I opened the door and stepped in
to the clean white reception area. Meghan followed behind me, ready to pretend that I had Loved her against her will.

  “The risky part is over.” I answered him without looking up. “Someone will buy it, and that will be enough.”

  With a nod, he rested his head on the table again, groaning softly.

  “You should lie down. The medication will knock you out in a few minutes.”

  He didn’t respond at first, so I kept circling the ring while the clock on the wall ticked.

  “After I took the punishment for this ungrateful Third, I went by her First’s home in order to say a final good-bye,” I told Dr. French, who watched me with soaring eyebrows, a look of disbelief on her pretty round face. “The Smart refused to see me and treated me with the utmost disrespect, so I let myself into her quarters, and in a moment of weakness, forced her into giving me the thanks I deserved.”

  I felt sick just saying it, and Dr. French’s eyes moved to Meghan, who was doing an excellent job at pretending to look abused and scared.

  It made my chest ache.

  “Is this true, Third?” Dr. French asked Meghan.

  Meghan hesitated at first, her eyes shut tight, but then she looked up in earnest. “Please don’t make me be his assistant!” she choked, a few tears spilling from her eyes. “I can’t be near him, not after what happened. Please. Please don’t make me work with him.”

  “Come get me if you need me,” Gideon said.

  I nodded distractedly as he rose from his chair and went to lie down on the couch. Even though I had argued with him for twenty minutes, he still refused to take the bed.

  Stubborn jackman.

  I stood up, too, and grabbed my coat. “I’ll be right back.”

  Gideon mumbled something in response, but he was already drifting into a drug-induced stupor. I planned on calling in sick, anyway, but he would be fine for an hour, and I had an impulsive need to see Meghan. With any luck, she hadn’t yet left Galilea’s house.

  Though I knew it wasn’t real, her words seemed to stab me right in the stomach. But I had to get my emotions in check in order to sell this to Dr. French. “She used me for my power. This is the best punishment I can think of, and her poor soul desperately needs redeeming.”

  These last words seemed to have the greatest effect on Dr. French, as I suspected they would. “Well, I suppose we can give it a try.”

  I barely believed it.

  “After all,” she continued, “it is our job to redeem the souls of the wicked, and if you think this is a fitting punishment, Dr. Doe, I see no reason why you can’t have what you want.”

  What I wanted was to be with Meghan, without the fear of punishment. What I wanted was for her to be free, because I wasn’t any more righteous than she was, no matter what the Ten Colony Council had decided. What I wanted was the years I had spent as a Third Class Citizen, believing I wasn’t worthy of anything but sorrow and hardship, back. What I wanted, I supposed, was revenge.

  And I would do whatever it took to make the Doctors pay for what they had done to us.

  I grabbed my coat and slammed the door inconsiderately behind me.

  Yes. They would pay.

  ---

  Galilea’s home was empty, and I wasn’t in the mood to go all the way back to the clinic to call in sick, so I let myself into Meghan’s wing of the house and then into Galilea’s kitchen.

  “I see,” Dr. French said, after I dialed her office. “Yes, of course. You can continue your practice tomorrow. Feel better, Dr. Doe.”

  “Thank you, I will.” I hung up the landline and rested my elbows on the island with a groan, dropping my head into my hands.

  Thanks to drugs, Gideon wouldn’t be awake for another couple of hours, and I really wanted to see Meghan. Maybe I would go to wherever she was assigned today—twice a week, she was assigned to do something other than be my assistant—and simply wait for her to finish her work. Shan and I couldn’t film Gideon’s video until he woke up and until everyone else at the FEN went home, and I didn’t feel like working on an accusatory pamphlet that no one would be able to read, so I straightened and searched for the paper that would tell me where to find Meghan.

  Though Galilea’s house was lavish, it paled in comparison to the Doctors’ headquarters. I had never before noticed the thin layer of grime that seemed to cover every surface inside Liminis, and though the electricity was more reliable for Firsts than it was for anyone else in town, the light seemed darker, somehow.

  No wonder she wanted to destroy the Doctors; someone like Galilea couldn’t stand it when anyone had more than she did.

  She was petty. And I didn’t trust her.

  I had just located the slip of paper that had Meghan’s assignment written on it when the front door opened.

  “I’m in your kitchen,” I called out, not wanting to alarm her.

  “Victor?”

  “Who else would it be?”

  But when I looked up, I was surprised to see Mata standing there instead of Galilea.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Galilea and I have a lunch date,” she said, looking me up and down with suspicious eyes that didn’t match the flirtatious smile. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for Meghan.”

  “Of course.” She crossed to the island in a few strides and hoisted herself on top of it, crossing her legs and leaning backward. “Your girlfriend.” Under her Doctor’s jacket, she had on a very short black skirt.

  I cleared my throat and stared at the floor. “It looks like she’s at the Orchard today.” Lamely, I lifted the paper and waved it at her, trying not to let my gaze get pulled in by her smooth, white legs.

  “Why aren’t you combing through old computer files at the clinic?” She tossed her hair over her shoulder with one hand. “You aren’t giving up, are you?”

  Not for the first time was I struck by an uneasy feeling about this woman. Like she knew something that I didn’t, and I was trying to figure out what that was when my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the wail of sirens.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, gawking at the small kitchen TV that had snapped on of its own volition.

  “Attention Citizens of Liminis.” The screen was white and a pre-recorded voice filled Galilea’s house. “You are in danger. Return to your homes immediately and do not leave until further notice.”

  My heart raced. Had they found out about Gideon? Or me? Or was this an attack from someone outside of the colony?

  Mata slipped off the counter, her face more serious than I had ever seen it before. “Do you know anything about this?” she snapped, grabbing my arm as the pre-recorded message continued to repeat in the background.

  “Attention Citizens of Liminis—”

  “No!” I yanked my arm out of her grasp and took a step back. “Do you?” Her reaction puzzled me, and her grip was surprisingly strong.

  “So you don’t know anything about the rebels?”

  “Rebels? What rebels? What are you talking about?”

  Her light eyes filled with anger as she stormed past me into the living room. “The survivors, the survivors!” she called over her shoulder.

  I hurried to keep up as she slammed open the front door and was swallowed by the sunshine outside. “What survivors? Mata, wait!”

  She spun around on the spot, and I almost ran into her.

  With her chest pressed against mine, she glowered up at my face. “I warned the rebels in Erroris what was coming. Many escaped, but they were scattered. I left a list, hoping that one of them would stumble upon it and find the others.”

  I blinked, suddenly 85% less suspicious of her than I had been before.

  After I didn’t respond, she growled again and nearly ran to her car, which was parked in the driveway.

  “Mata! Wait!”

  “Hurry up! We have to follow those sirens.”

  ---

  I was dangerously close to vomiting.

  We followed every single
police vehicle in town right to the Orchard, where a group of rebels now had about fifty people held hostage.

  Fifty people, including Meghan.

  “How the hell did this happen?” I asked Mata in a hushed voice, turning in to her so that we weren’t overheard. “You knew about this, didn’t you?”

  Her arms were crossed over her chest as she surveyed the chaos in front of us. We stood, side by side, and half a dozen police cars were parked on the lawn in front of the impenetrable wall. Some of the officers pointed guns at the front doors, others tried to force spectators to go back to their homes. No one seemed to know what to do.

  “Not exactly,” she answered, moving her eyes to my face. “We can’t talk here.”

  I knew she was right, so I swallowed my questions and let them eat away at my insides instead, turning back around to stare at the scene unfolding before my eyes.

  The Doctors had decided long ago that fear, rather than force, was the most effective way to rule people. Rather than have a highly-trained army (which could potentially be used against them), they would take it upon themselves to punish any dissenters that might pop up throughout the years. Because of that, the police forces had never been trained for a situation like this.

  Mass revolt had never been a problem before.

  “How many are there?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” Mata replied.

  Just then, one of two double doors to the Orchard opened and every police officer pointed his or her weapon in that direction.

  My eyes widened when I recognized who had just stepped in to view.

  It was Meghan’s mother.

  “Stop!” I yelled, darting forward, my heart beating quickly. “Stop, she’s not one of them!”

  The police officers looked at each other in confusion, but I was wearing a Doctor’s coat. My word was law.

  At least, I hoped to Adam that was the case.

  Mrs. Amicus was still in the sights of every firearm when I ran up to her, panting, and she had tears running down her face.