Fall of Venus (17 page)

I
escort Marcus and Evie out the gate apprehensively. Fortunately the Enforcers
don’t question me. We turn down a hallway and approach the door for the north
wing’s laundry room. I peer in to find three residents busy washing their
clothes. I hesitate, not sure what to do next. I can’t just walk them both out
into the atrium. Someone is sure to recognize them, especially Glenn if he is
there.

Marcus’s
quick thinking saves me the trouble of figuring out our next step. He spots a
door that is not quite shut all the way. He gently pushes it and it opens into
a narrow janitor’s closet. We all slip inside and wait quietly to ensure we
weren’t seen.

I
unzip my jumpsuit and pull the extra one out for Marcus to change into. While
he is changing I explain the details of the plan to him.

“Gate
23 is at the end of the next corridor over to the left,” I repeat to him. “Try
to keep a low profile. If anyone sees you go down there with Evie, they’ll be
suspicious.”

“Got
it,” he says. I buckle the belt around his waist and apply some of my homemade
makeup to cover his tattoo.

“Sorry,
I don’t have anything for your eye. You’ll have to lay low and make sure nobody
gets a good look at you.”

“I
don’t intend to do any socializing anyway,” he says facetiously, and then he
gives me a quick kiss and shoves me out the door. “See you in a few minutes.”

As
I enter the rotunda I notice some commotion and people running over toward the
west wing. Dana 421 and Hulky must have come to by now. We need to hurry. I
lower my head and quickly descend the next corridor. Sure enough, there are two
Enforcers at the end of the hallway, leaning against the walls, half asleep
with boredom. As they see me approach them, they straighten up and address me.

“This
gate’s covered. We’re not to let anyone through.”

I
manage to keep my cool and direct my attention to the Enforcer on the right,
who is the larger of the two. “Wyndham needs you to see him immediately. He’s
sent me to cover for you,” I say imposingly.

The
Enforcers look at each other nervously, then the one I spoke to proceeds down
the corridor. I stand in his place and eagerly await Marcus’s arrival with
Evie. I’m impressed that my plan has gone so smoothly so far.
We’re almost
there. Just a few more minutes and we will be out of here!

The
minutes pass at a snails pace. Too slowly. It’s so quiet here I can hear the
purring of the Enforcer’s breath next to me. In my mind, I hear that imaginary
tick,
tock, tick, tock
, counting the seconds go
by. My heart pulses faster with each beat.
What’s taking them so
long?

They
should be here by now. I feel the urge to go find them, but I convince myself
to stay one more minute. That minute passes quicker than I anticipated. I need
to see what’s happened. I turn to the Enforcer, my hand on my baton. But
somehow, I can’t bring myself to use it yet.

“Uh,
do you mind if I leave for a sec, to use the ladies room?” I ask nervously.

She
turns to me and hesitates before answering, “Sure, go for it. Nobody ever comes
down here anyway. Just make it quick so we don’t get into trouble, okay?”

I
nod and quickly jog down the corridor to the rotunda. There are few people in
the room now, all of which are marching with determination. The benches are
empty and there are no sounds of gossip as there were earlier.

I
walk back to the north wing corridor, but it is empty. I check the janitor’s
closet and they are gone. Panic mode sets in. My blood thickens with anxiety. I
start sweating and I can feel my skin flush. I run back to the atrium. That’s
when I spot them in the southwest corridor—Glenn, holding his rifle up to
Marcus’s neck in a choking position, while Evie stands by, crying.

Chapter
21

He
doesn’t even see me coming. Without hesitation I smash my baton down on the
back of Glenn’s neck. He stumbles back and collapses to the floor, still
holding tight to his rifle. I didn’t hit him with enough force to knock him out
but the blow seems to have stunned him. Marcus takes the gun from the holster
on his belt and holds it to Glenn’s forehead. There’s a kind of rage burning in
his eyes that I have never witnessed before—and it terrifies me.

“Marcus,
no,” I murmur. Marcus doesn’t budge. The muscles and veins in his arms bulge through
his tight, stretched skin and I can see a slight tremble as he tries to control
the deep, intense fury that threatens to take control of him. Glenn lies back
on the floor, paralyzed. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Glenn not only
at a loss for control, but truly scared.

“Please,
Marcus,” I plead. “Let’s go.”

Shouts
behind me divert my attention away. About seven or eight Enforcers are marching
this way.

“Over
there!” one of them shouts, pointing in our direction. Marcus holsters his gun,
picks up Evie, and we haul ass down the corridor. The Enforcers posted at the
gate must have missed the scuffle, but now they detect something is wrong and
begin marching towards us.

“Pollen,
over here,” Marcus says as he grabs my arm and pulls me down a hallway to the
right. At the end of the hallway, where I’d expected to see another guarded
gate, is an elevator. Of course handprint identification is required to operate
it. I look around for a stairway since they are required by building codes. I
discover one a few doors down from the elevator, but I’m disheartened to find
that it requires handprint identification also.

We
are at a dead end. Trapped like cattle awaiting our slaughter. I look at
Marcus, hoping he has an answer to our problem but he just gazes back at me
with tragic eyes. Frantically, I start grabbing door handles, hoping that one
might be open.

BING!

The
elevator door opens.
 

We
all walk on to the elevator, silently, trying not to incite suspicion. The
Enforcer standing in the corner of the elevator is a small man, very young
looking, maybe even younger than I.

“Taking
her to solitary?” he asks dubiously, eying Evie.

“Only
for a few hours,” says Marcus slyly. “She bit the nurse when she tried to draw
blood. They just want to scare her a bit.”

I’m
so relieved that Marcus managed to cover us so cunningly. I almost believe
we’ve gotten away with it until I see the Enforcer looking at me. No, not at
me, at my temple. With all that’s happened I didn’t realized how much I was
sweating. My makeup concoction must be wearing off. Then he squints at my eye,
then Marcus’s eye. Now we’re in trouble. In the distance, a pack of Enforcers,
led by Glenn, are turning the corner and running down the hallway towards us.

“Take
us downstairs,” says Marcus, holding the gun up to the Enforcer’s neck. He
pushes some buttons on a numeric pad and places his hand on the scanner. As the
doors begin to slide together, a man at the front of the pack lifts a gun
toward us. I grab Evie and blanket her with my body in the back corner of the
elevator. Gunshots rain on us just before the doors close.

My
stomach jumps into my throat suddenly as the elevator descends. So much for my
escape route. Now I’m sure we’ll never get out. I can’t remember how many
levels there are at Crimson, but it feels like we are bypassing several on the
way down. The only floors I am anywhere close to familiar with were the two we
lived on. Even though I was in solitary for a few weeks I have no idea what the
layout of the floor is like or even if there is another way out. For all I know
this elevator could be the only entrance and exit for that floor.

I
take this opportunity to snag the itchy piece of cellophane from my eye. It’s
not like I’ll need it any more; I’ve already been discovered after all.

I
realize I am still huddling over Evie. She is trembling and whimpering beneath
my arms. I loosen my grip and cradle her face in my hands, gently wiping away
the tears with my thumbs.

“Evie,”
I say, “everything is going to be okay.” It breaks my heart so see the whites
of her eyes so red it makes her green eyes appear blue. She’s too young to have
to go through something so traumatic like this. Now I’m worried that, if she
makes it out of this alive, she’ll be scarred forever. She’ll end up as one of
those nutjobs who pulls out her hair and needs psychotherapy for the rest of
her life. Only there won’t be any therapists around to help her. We have to get
her to the COPS. Surely they can help. But first we need to get out of here.

Seeing
Evie like this, envisioning her future, resolves my intentions even more. She
will get out. Even if it means my imminent death.

As
the elevator door slides open and Marcus lowers his gun, the Enforcer presses a
yellow button next to the scanner and says, “Code sixty-three, lower solitary
level, three refugees, over.”

“That’s
our cue,” says Marcus, picking up Evie, and darts into the labyrinthine floor.
I follow, not sure where he’s leading us. I’m not even sure he knows himself.
Perhaps there’s another elevator or even a staircase.

We
turn left to get away from the main corridor and then right. I am running so
fast I have to grab the corner of the wall as we turn and swing myself around
just to avoid slamming my body into the opposite wall. The concrete walls are
cold and scratch the skin on my palms.

Ahead
in the distance two Enforcers round a corner, so we duck right into the next
corridor. Everything is so monotonous down here it’s impossible to know where
we are in relation to everything else. There are three doors, then a corridor.
Then three more doors and another corridor. And it goes on and on. The only
noticeable differences are the numbers on the doors, which we are not even
aware of since we are running so fast. We could be traveling in circles for all
I know.

We’re
pursued by three more Enforcers and take another right, followed by a left.
This must be what it feels like to be a lab rat. Running aimlessly through a
maze, trying desperately to find a way out, only to be faced with another wall.
I’m beginning to get dizzy when I hear gunshots fired. There are two Enforcers
in the distance behind us. We turn right again, but it’s a dead end, so we turn
back the other way, dodging bullets as we cross the intersection.

We
turn right again and pause for a moment to gain our bearings. I lean against
the wall next to Marcus and Evie, looking left and right. Then the door across
the corridor snatches my attention. D319. That was my dungeon for those long
weeks after I returned. My eyes focus in on the cell next to it, D321. I wonder
who is trapped in there at the moment. There’s a strange sensation, an
invisible rope pulling me toward that cell. I shake it off as I hear footsteps
marching towards us in almost all directions.

“What
are we going to do?” I whisper to Marcus. He is still holding Evie tightly, but
fatigue is setting in.

“Keep
moving,” he says. He runs forward, this time checking the intersection for
Enforcers. After determining it is clear, we move forward through the
labyrinth.

We
blindly turn left, and there before us is a single Enforcer, holding up a rifle
aimed at us. There’s nowhere to go now. Despair overcomes me as I realize it’s
over. I’ve failed Evie and now Marcus and I will probably be executed.

“Drop
the girl and put your hands on your heads,” he demands. Marcus sets Evie down
gingerly and we both comply, raising our arms up.

“On
your knees,” shouts the Enforcer. Marcus and I drop down. Evie stands by,
clueless as to what is going on. I can’t stop trembling. The quakes of fear
erupting throughout my limbs give me the appearance of a mild seizure. I close
my eyes and try to relax my body, telling myself everything will be okay. But I
know it’s not. It will never be okay.

My
heart explodes and my eyes jolt open at the roaring echo of a gunshot. I’m
still here so he must have shot Marcus first. Surely they wouldn’t touch Evie,
being an innocent child. I can’t bear to look at Marcus so I stare straight
ahead at the feet of the Enforcer. A few seconds pass before he drops face
first into the floor, inches from my knees, with a bloody hollow in the back of
his head. Behind him, holding a smoking rifle, is Glenn.

Chapter
22

“Come
with me,” says Glenn, reaching his hand out to help me up off the floor.

In
the time span of a heartbeat I have to decide whether I can trust him or not.
On one hand he’s turned on me, abandoned me, took Evie from me. On the other
hand, he’s told me secrets that could get him imprisoned or killed if they
found out. And he just killed one of his own. For me. For us. How can I not trust
him now? There’s no way we could get out on our own. We’ve already been
captured once. Glenn is our final hope of escaping.

My
legs feel like jelly as I try to gain my bearings, with Marcus at my side.
Glenn picks up Evie and leads us through the corridors with such precision I
find myself wondering how he knows this floor so well. After a few quick turns
he leads us down a darkened corridor. Marcus hesitates, fingering the gun in
his holster. I can’t blame him for not trusting Glenn. After all, Glenn has
been at odds with him from the beginning. But there’s no time for second
thoughts now.

I
grab Marcus’s jumpsuit and pull him into the blackness. Although it is dark,
there’s just enough dim light from the corridor behind us to see what lies
ahead. Glenn is standing next to a large four-inch thick steel, open door.
Inside is a pitch-black tunnel. The Web.

“Go,”
says Glenn. “I’ll cover you.” I take Evie’s hand and start to enter, but Marcus
stops me.

“Pollen
don’t. If we go, we’ll die in there. There’s nowhere to go. All the doors are
padlocked,” he says, eying Glenn suspiciously.

I
turn my gaze to Glenn, questioning his motives. “Polly, go to your house. I
unlocked the padlock before I left, just in case,” he says. My eyes narrow,
“How do I know can I believe you, after all you’ve done?”

Before
he has a chance to respond, two Enforcers appear at the entrance to the dark
corridor and advance towards us, guns drawn.

“Get
down!” Glenn commands, and as we do, he lifts his rifle and fires twice. The
two men collapse to the floor, one on top of the other. He’s now shot three
Enforcers to help us escape. If that’s not proof enough that I can trust him, I
don’t know what is. “Go now!” he shouts, and shoves us into the tenebrous void.

Marcus
sprints into the Web, carrying Evie at his side, and I follow, keeping pace. I
glance back once more to say goodbye and thank you to Glenn, but it is too
late. He has shut the door, enclosing us in blackness. I can only hope he
hasn’t deceived me again.

It
takes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but there are small emergency lights
on the floor of the domed tunnels that will help us find our way. Our footsteps
and heavy panting echo throughout the tunnel. Marcus and I run for about a mile
into the Web before he has to stop and put Evie down. Since there’s no
indication of anybody pursuing us we slow down to a steady walk. It’s even
quieter here than it was in the woods, where there was at least a breeze to
rustle the tree limbs.

The
Web looks so different now. I’ve never seen it so dark. In the summer, when it
is used, there are overhead lights that emit a manmade light similar to the
sun’s spectrum. It’s kind of like walking under a canopy of trees in the
daylight. Everything is illuminated. In some places I even need sunglasses to
block out the glare. And in the evening, it has that sparkling streetlamp
luminescence. But now, it’s almost total darkness, except for the dim yellow
emergency lights. They produce just enough light to ensure we don’t run into
any walls.

Once
we reach a gated intersection we sit down on the floor to catch our breath and
figure out where we are. There are small emergency lights just above some
street signs, which illuminate the words. We’ve reached the intersection of
route 92 and Crimson Pen. Way. Route 92 is a high-speed terminal, usually
reserved for train-like vehicles.

When
they first designed the Web there were already underground railroad terminals
to transport people around cities quickly. They used the same concept to extend
the Web. The major roadways were made into high-speed terminals, some going up
to three hundred miles per hour, with specific depots for boarding. Those
intersections without depots were barricaded by walls and provided stairways to
travel underneath the terminal. Other extensions of the web, such as
residential and business areas, were mandated for pedestrian and bike travel
only. It took longer to travel by pedestrian terminals, but time was often made
up by using the high-speed terminals.

Marcus
and I decide to walk down route 92. That should take us to Highway 78, and
since it is off-season (and most of the population is dead) there won’t be any
trains running. After walking a few feet Marcus holds out his hand to stop me.

“Pollen?”
he says.

“Yes?”

“What
do you remember?” he asks.

Amidst
the frenzy of our escape, I haven’t had the chance to talk to him about all the
memories that came back to me while I was in solitary confinement. I turn to
look into his eyes and say, “I remember everything.”

Marcus
leans over, pressing his body against mine, pushing my back into the cold,
concrete wall of the terminal. Even in the blinding darkness I can feel him
gaze longingly into my eyes before he brushes his velvety lips against mine.
Evie is giggling again, but we don’t let that stop us. I savor the moment never
knowing if it will be our last. When he pulls away he reminds me of a harsh
reality.

“We’re
going to lose each other again,” he says, caressing the tattoo on my temple.
What’s left of the homemade makeup is cracked and crusted over. My eyes start
to well up with the thought of losing Marcus again, but I try to hold back the
tears. Only a single one falls down my cheek. I fall into his arms, pressing my
face into his shoulder. There’s got to be a way. Somehow we need to find a way
to keep our memories so this doesn’t happen again.

“No,”
I say, pulling back, roughly wiping my cheek dry. “We’re not.” I remember the
pen I put in my pocket after I knocked out the two Enforcers. I take it out,
pull up my sleeve and begin to write on my arm:

Virus
killed population. Mom and Dad dead. Evie and I escaped from Crimson. Stay with
Marcus. Find COPS
.

I
hesitate for a moment while I consider writing something about Glenn. He did
just help us escape. But does that mean I can trust him in the future? What
will they do to him at Crimson, now that he’s helped us? Torture him? Kill him?
I’m sure at the very least they’ll take away his status and imprison him. I
figure it’s better to be safe, and I complete my arm with
Don’t trust Glenn
.

I
hand the pen to Marcus. He pulls his sleeve up revealing some round scars I’d
never noticed before. He writes:

Virus.
Find COPS. Protect Pollen and Evie
.

“What
about Evie?” asks Marcus, handing the pen back to me.

“I
think she’d be better off without the memories,” I say sadly. Marcus nods in
agreement.

With
the disturbing thoughts of lost memories allayed, we move on. Marcus and I
discuss what we remember, stirring up old emotions, giving us a chance to
loosen our guard. Evie gets tired of walking every now and then and Marcus and
I take turns carrying her or holding her hand.

By
the time we reach Highway 78, I’m surprised to find that I can still remember
everything. We had to have gone at least ten miles already, if not further. I
assumed the electromagnetic perimeter, the third perimeter, would have been
closer to Crimson. Either way, we’ve gone pretty far, it’s getting late, and
after the events of today, I’m exhausted.

Evie
has fallen asleep on Marcus’s shoulder. Her arms are still wrapped around his neck,
her tiny fingers tangled in his hair. Her light brown locks are draped over his
back. Her curled eyelashes flutter as she dreams what I hope are blissful
dreams. Her perfect, pale skin, pink lips, and blushed cheeks have got nothing
on a porcelain baby doll. I still find myself amazed at how tender Marcus is
with her, even if he is struggling to hold her up. Although he is trying to
appear strong, I can see he is weak, enervated. He just doesn’t have the
stamina he did before, when we were lost in the woods.

“Marcus,
what happened to you after they brought us back?” I ask nervously, fearing his
response. We continue to walk at a steady pace, our footsteps landing at the
same time.

“I
woke up on a table, all kinds of tubes stuck in me, with a killer headache” he
starts.

“Where
they tagged you?” I interrupted.

“Yeah.
As soon as I regained consciousness, they took me to an interrogation room.
Left me there, strapped to a table for god knows how long. I wasn’t completely
lucid at the time so it could have been hours or minutes for all I know. When
the Enforcers finally came, they asked a lot of questions.”

“Like
what?” I asked, slowing my pace.

“They
wanted to know how much I knew about Crimson. About the virus. About the
Trinity. I told them I didn’t know anything but they didn’t buy it. Or maybe
he
just wanted to see me suffer anyway.”

“Who?”
I asked. I don’t know why I asked. Somehow I already knew the answer when I saw
the ire in his eyes earlier today.

“Glenn.
He was one of the interrogators. There were three of them. Man, they really got
their kicks out of torturing me,” said Marcus.

I
shudder at the thought of what sort of pain he must have endured, the agonizing
horrors that Glenn must have afflicted upon him in his anger and jealousy. Once
again, I ask for something I really do not want to know. “What did they do?”

“They
hit me a few times. Bruised me up pretty good,” he says. Marcus scrunches his
sleeves up to show me his arms. “They burned me with cigarettes.” That explains
those unusual scars. I rub my arms as I imagine the red-hot end of a smoldering
cigarette, blistering through his flesh. I can almost smell burning skin. And,
of course, I blame myself.

“And,”
he starts, “never mind.”

“What?”
I plead.

“Pollen,
I can see you’re already getting yourself worked up over this. What happened,
happened. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. Just let it go.”

But
I can’t. It was because of me that Marcus escaped from Crimson. It was because
of me he got recaptured. And it was because of his relationship with me that
Glenn did this to him. No. I can’t let it go.

“Show
me,” I say.

“Pollen—“

“Show
me,” I demand, the desperation in my voice echoing into the depths of the
terminal, causing Evie to stir.

Marcus
gently cradles Evie and lays her on the floor. She curls up into a ball, a
kitten in a cozy nook. Marcus unzips the jumpsuit and pulls his shirt over his
head to reveal a web of scars across his back. I find myself surprised that
with all the technological advances we have, the Enforcers would use something
as primitive as a whip as a torture device. Perhaps that was the point.

“When
they were done with me, they put me in solitary. I just got out yesterday,”
Marcus says as I trace the lines across his back with my fingertips. I pull his
shirt back down and turn him around to face me.

“Why
did you come with me?” I demand. “After all that I put you through.” My eyes
swell up with tears, which blur my already limited vision.

Marcus
lifts the hat off my head, allowing my hair to cascade down my shoulders. He
gently combs some wisps out of my eye, traces my scar with his index finger and
caresses my cheek with the backs of his knuckles.

“Pollen,
I—“ Marcus pauses, staring into my eyes. Then he smirks, “Are you really
going to make me say it?” The darkness of the Web masks the flushing of my
cheeks. I know what he is going to say. It’s crazy. We’ve only known each other
for a month or two, but we both seem to know we belong together. I grasp his
hand and hold it against my cheek, relishing the moment.

“No,
you don’t have to say it. I just needed to know,” I say. Marcus wraps his arms
around me and we embrace. My arms squeeze him so tight he flinches, and I think
about the trails of scars over his back.

“I’m
sorry, does that hurt?” I ask, releasing him and pulling back.

“Not
anymore,” he replies, kissing me gently on the forehead.

We
stop for the night and I lay by the tracks, next to Evie. I wrap my arms around
her tiny form, intending to never let her go. She sleeps so peacefully. I hope
with all of my heart that when all this is over, she won’t remember. We will
start a new life. Marcus, Evie and me. We’ll get away from all of this and be a
family.

Marcus
sits up against the wall next to Evie and me, determined to stay awake and keep
watch, just in case anybody follows us. He strokes my hair as I drift off to
sleep.

It
is a short slumber, and I wake up abruptly, startled by an ominous vibration in
the floor. My eyes shoot open.
How long have I been out?
Evie is still sleeping next to me. Marcus is sitting
up against the wall, but his head has slumped over. Fatigue must have set in
and he’s drifted off to sleep.
 
The
vibrations beneath us and the rumbling sound in the distance can only mean one
thing. A train is coming.