Chained - Everything you know is a lie...

by Susanne Valenti

Chapter Five

  Artie was waiting for us when we got back to The Wall where the cable cars were moving smoothly around and around on their track. He had a grim look on his face and was alone.

  His eyes flickered to me and quickly away. A muscle tensed in his neck.

  "I sent everyone else up. Come on, we need to get back," he said, steering us into a cable car. It turned slowly around and headed back up towards the city.

  I stood at the glass wall, staring down at everything we were leaving behind. After several minutes, I realised the silence had grown tense and I looked back to see Artie frowning.

  "What's wrong?" I asked. My mouth felt dry.

  "I hope nothing," he began. I felt my pulse rise. "They may need to quarantine you for a few days to be sure that you don't pose a threat to the population. Also, there may be disciplinary action against the two of you for breaking protocol." He wouldn't hold my eye and I knew he was trying to downplay what he thought would happen.

  "But she was dying!" Taylor burst out.

  "I know." The look on Artie's face showed how much that worried him. "But there's a reason friends shouldn't be paired together on these sorts of expeditions. It's easier to think clearly with someone you have no personal connection to outside of the job."

  "I don't think I would have let anyone die," Taylor said incredulously.

  "No. But you may have remembered to radio back before acting so rashly," he snapped and I almost recoiled. Artie never lost his temper. "We have the whole population to think of and we can't risk any contamination getting inside The Wall." He glanced at me and I could see the fear in his eyes.

  "I feel fine," I said, trying to reassure him. "And I thought we were extending The Wall to cover that area soon, so it shouldn't be contaminated should it?" I asked, staring desperately between Taylor and Artie.

  "Well, no. But we were doing those tests, taking those samples today and until they come back clear we have to follow contamination protocol. I'm sorry but I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better." He bit his lip and drummed his fingers against the glass in agitation.

  The cable car glided to a halt and I staggered to regain my balance, bracing myself on Taylor's arm. As I let go, I glanced at my hands and realised they were shaking again. I took a deep breath as the doors slid open.

  Waiting for us were six armed Wardens and Professor Delo. They were all dressed in their own biohazard suits. Delo's usual look of distracted indifference was replaced with a stern frown.

  As we joined them, I was very aware of the broken helmet still grasped in my hand and the fact that everyone else had theirs on.

  "We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you. For the protection of yourselves and the population, you will have to be detained and checked for contaminates before we can consider you for re-introduction to the population." Professor Delo spoke in clipped tones and the Wardens moved forward to surround us.

  "You will need to put on a new helmet for the journey," he said to me, handing one over with a look of disappointment on his face.

  I obediently fastened the new helmet into place and surrendered my broken one to a grizzled Warden.

  "I'm the only one who had my helmet off," I said, looking uncomfortably at the way Taylor and Artie had been surrounded by the Wardens too.

  "We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you," Professor Delo repeated, his eyes hard. I nodded and he turned away to press some buttons on the control panel by the sealed door which lead back into the city.

  "Lift your arms please," he commanded and we all did as instructed.

  A dark grey mist descended from vents in the ceiling. It crept down in twisting tendrils that snaked together. It kept coming, falling all around us and getting thicker and thicker until I could barely see my hand in front of my face.

  The temperature dropped and it felt like the mist had found its way deep inside my bones, making me shiver. Then the temperature started to rise again. It became unbearably hot and the mist began to ascend, condensing as it went, and disappearing back through the vents.

  The heat continued to soar and I could feel myself perspiring, though the air filtering through my helmet stayed cool and fresh. It felt like my skin was on fire and I twitched, trying to stop myself from screaming out.

  As quickly as it had heated up, the temperature dropped back to normal.

  "Decontamination complete," a smooth female voice announced over the speaker system.

  "What the hell," Taylor muttered.

  "We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you." The ice in Professor Delo's voice was unmasked.

  "Sorry," Taylor mumbled. The Warden standing behind him gave Taylor a harsh shove forwards as the door opened and we made our way out into the city.

  Traversing the walkways when accompanied by a small platoon of Wardens was a very different experience. Instead of the shoving and jostling that I was used to, we were in our own lane with plenty of space between us and everyone else.

  Of course we were subject to curious glances and some outright hostile glares but I tried my best to ignore those. When we needed to cross over and take the exit into the Warden Central Building, we were given a wide birth by the other travellers and made the transition easily.

  We paused at the building entrance to get scanned in and I saw my name flash up next to the word 'detainee' on the screen.

  We approached the elevators at the end of a pristine corridor and the Warden to my left, a stumpy little man with a large, hooked nose, stepped forward to hit the call button. The doors slid open after a short pause and several people stared at us with an annoying amount of interest. They were all clutching tablets and wearing ID badges naming them as 'Warden Administration Clerks'.

  "Official business. Out," snapped the biggest Warden at the front of our group. He was tall enough to dwarf everyone around him and had a large unibrow.

  I moved aside quickly as everyone within the elevator scurried to comply. A woman who lived in an apartment down the hall from mine, peered beadily at me and clucked her tongue as I was escorted past.

  Unibrow tapped twice on the wall of the elevator and a screen appeared. He leaned forward to let the retinal scanner do its thing.

  "Warden one-five-six-eight-seven, where would you like to go?" the smooth voice asked over the speakers.

  "Interrogation," he replied and the elevator plummeted down, and down, and down.

  I didn't think I had ever been as deep within the buildings as we were heading. I glanced at Taylor and he offered me his hand. I reached for him but a Warden placed his palm between ours before we could touch each other.

  "No touching," she said firmly.

  The doors finally opened to reveal an undecorated, white hallway that stretched off into the distance. It was lit with harsh lighting that stung my eyes. There were white doors all along either side, numbered with odds on the left and evens on the right.

  We were herded along the corridor by the Wardens until I thought I'd never see any colour but white again. Eventually, we came to a halt by a door numbered two hundred and six.

  "In," Hook-nose ordered, putting a restraining hand on Taylor's shoulder to stop him from following me through the door.

  I did as instructed and stepped into the room, turning just in time to see Professor Delo give me one last, scrutinising look. The door behind me closed, making a sucking noise as the seal fitted into place followed by four loud clunks as it locked.

  At first, it was pitch black inside but at the sound of locks falling into position, a dazzling light filled the room. I stood and surveyed my cell.

  Everything was white. There was a large bed to one side with something blue folded on top of it and a single, hard chair. A small opening to my right held a washroom with a shower, sink and toilet. I could see the gleam of cameras and speakers hanging from the ceiling.

  "Hello, Maya. Pl
ease change into the outfit on the bed and place your biohazard suit by the door," a friendly male voice spoke over the speakers.

  I moved towards the bed and picked up the pale blue tracksuit. It might not have been to my taste but at least it would give my eyes a break from all the white. I moved into the wash area to change.

  Taking off the clingy fabric was a relief after so long. My hair stuck to my back and I felt like I'd run a marathon. I switched the shower on and held my hand out to check the temperature. The very thought of a shower loosened some of the tension that had been growing in my muscles. I stepped into the hot water and let out a deep breath.

  Once I was clean, I felt much better. I studied myself in the mirror and was pleased to see I still hadn't turned orange or anything. I placed the biohazard suit by the door and lay down on the bed.

  My mind spun. I wondered whether Artie and Taylor had been locked up in cells like mine. I hoped Taylor was alright, he was probably blaming himself for everything.

  I spread my wet hair out behind me and tried not to overanalyse the workings of my body. It must have been getting late but the lights weren't getting any dimmer. My stomach rumbled, just a normal rumble for someone who hadn't eaten all day. I took a deep breath and pulled the blanket over my eyes. My lungs did not feel scratchy.

  After what seemed like forever, I drifted off to sleep.