Immortal (7 page)

“Gabby, you’re not going to believe it!”
Sarah said, as she sat her tray down and took the seat across from
Gabrielle.

“Sarah, have you seen Jericho or Rebecca?”
She asked.

“No. Not yet.” She replied.

“I really need to talk to them, or one of
them, or both of them.” Gabrielle was getting flustered.

“Gabby! What’s up?” Sarah asked.

“Jericho was controlled.” She blurted out.
“Didn’t you hear?”

“Wow. I heard someone at the factory was,
yesterday, but I didn’t know it was Jericho.” She said concerned.
“Is he okay?” She asked.

“I don’t know Sarah.” She dropped her eyes to
her tray. “I haven’t been able to find out anything yet. I hope
he’s okay.” She said sadly.

“Look!” Sarah exclaimed. “There’s Rebecca!”
She waived across the room to Rebecca who had just entered
building. Rebecca waived back, and continued ahead in line. It
would be a few more minutes before she would be able to make her
way to the table.

“I’m sorry, Sarah. What were you going to
tell me when you first sat down?” Gabrielle asked.

“It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. You’ve
got enough on your mind.” She said.

“No, it’s okay Sarah. I could use something
to keep my mind off this for a bit.”

“Bit. Very funny.” Sarah laughed. “That’s
what I wanted to tell you.” She said excitedly.

“What? Something new with Lucas?” Gabrielle
asked, as she smiled slightly.

“Kind of.” Sarah replied. “He is going to
have a sister!” She exclaimed, as she beamed at the idea.

“You received the notice?” Gabrielle asked,
astonished.

“Yep. Just yesterday.” Sarah said as she
nodded her head.

“Wow. When do you go in? For the implant?”
Gabrielle asked.

“Next week. The notice said the embryo is
ready to go.”

“I didn’t even know that you had applied?”
Gabrielle asked.

“We didn’t. It wasn’t like it was with Lucas,
where we applied and waited for the notice. Come on Gabby, you know
how it is, the rule says you have to have the second child before
the first turns two years old, and Lucas just turned one you know.”
She giggled, “So what do you think we should name her?” Sarah
asked.

Sarah was right, Gabrielle thought. She was
quite aware of how it worked. She and Jericho had talked about it
many times. Under law, every unlinked individual must link by the
age 25, or they would be notified of their selected mate, and
immediately the linking would take place. Every newly linked couple
must apply for their first child within the first year of marriage.
Once approved they would then receive notice of the scheduled
implant, and the viable embryo would be implanted and carried to
term. Parents knew that the first child would always be male, and
the second child would always be female. If the parents did not
apply for the second child on their own within the specified time
frame, they would be notified automatically when the second embryo
was ready for implantation. The rule was every family had two
children. One male, and one female.

“I still like Bit.” Gabrielle said, as she
smiled, just as Rebecca sat down. Sarah laughed.

“Still nothing.” Rebecca said, her face still
a picture of worry.

“Nothing from your dad?” Asked Gabrielle.

“Nothing. But I haven’t seen him since this
morning.” Rebecca said. Her face suddenly lit up. “There he is!”
She exclaimed as she jumped up and waived at Jericho as he entered
the building.

She did not notice as the Guardian nearest
them turned towards her, as it instantly reacted to her outburst.
From across the room, Jericho had seen the subtle movement of the
Guardian, and motioned for her to sit down and put his finger to
his lips in a shushing motion. Rebecca caught the signal and shut
up and sat down, but still did not notice the Guardian, which had
not moved in their direction, but was obviously now focused on
them. Gabrielle had not noticed the Guardian either, but gave
Jericho a quick discreet wave, which he stealthily returned, and
continued in line. Jericho had seen the Guardian’s quick reaction,
and it had seemed like the room had been completely empty except
for himself and Guardian. Had they always reacted so quickly, he
wondered to himself. Had they always been so fast to lock in on a
loud voice, or fast motion? Had they always silently began to move
towards him and his friends, and they had never noticed it? Or was
it his newly heightened sense of their presence, that he now
noticed these things. One thing he that knew for sure, was that it
did not matter. His new rule was to do nothing to attract the
attention of a Guardian, and it was a rule that he would teach
Gabrielle as soon as possible.

Once Jericho finally had his tray, and was
seated beside Gabrielle, she knew that her life would be okay. He
was alive. He was safe. And he was hungry. He began to shovel his
food into his mouth as fast as he could, and paused only to burp
and nod at the questions that he was being peppered with.

“Did they hurt you?” Rebecca asked. He
nodded, and chewed.

“Are you okay?” Gabrielle asked. He nodded,
and took a drink.

“Did they just let you go?” Sarah asked. He
nodded, burped, and put more grey mush into his mouth.

Finally, his hunger satiated, and he slowed
down, as he remembered that once he was done, he must exit the
building. He toyed at the wafer, nibbled a piece off and chewed. He
chased it down with a bit of red liquid, and began to tell them the
whole story. He cut out all of the worst parts. The agonizing pain.
The tears. And especially the urine soaked pants. He was quickly
able to get to the last part. The part he still could not quite
believe himself.

“And so a door opened, and the Guardian says
that I’m free to go.” He said as he shook his head. “I mean there I
am sitting on the floor, my heart’s beating through my chest. Its
reaching for me, and I think its gonna control me again.” He took
another swallow of his drink. “But it was helping me up. Telling me
I was free to go.” He said.

“How?” was all that Gabrielle, or anyone at
the table could think to ask.

“That’s exactly what I said.” He laughed a
little. “How?” He asked as he put his cup into its holder on the
tray.

“Well?” Rebecca asked expectantly.

“Its picking me up by the arm, and I’m asking
how, and it says in that mechanical voice, that the other had
admitted their disobedience.” He said.

“Other?” Gabrielle asked. “As in Donovan?”
She asked in disbelief.

“Exactly.” Said Jericho. “I asked it, if
Donovan had admitted, but it just repeated the same thing. The
other, it said. But it has to be Donovan. There’s no one else it
could have been talking about.” He said, just about finished with
the last of his meal. They were all almost finished.

“Well if he admitted disobedience then it
must be his punishment that’s tonight in the square.” Said
Sarah.

“Punishment?” Asked Gabrielle. “I didn’t see
a notice.” She said.

“It came out this afternoon. The notice said
that it’s scheduled for right after the evening meal, so it must be
about to start any minute.” Sarah replied.

“I don’t want to know about it.” Gabrielle
said. “This whole thing has me just sick.”

“Gabrielle.” Jericho said softly. “I have to
go.”

“Go. You mean to the punishment? Are the
Guardians requiring you to be there? Is this part of your own
punishment?” Gabrielle asked, distressed.

“No. Nothing like that. They didn’t even
mention it. But I have to go. Donovan or not. Wrong or not. I have
to see this. I have to see this through to its end.” He said.

As they arrived at the square, the girls
opted to stay far away. They did not plan to actually watch the
spectacle at all. They were there, more or less for moral support
for Gabrielle, who refused not to go. And especially once they
realized that Jericho could not be stopped. He felt that he must
attend. The square was not large by any means, but it currently
held hundreds of villagers. They were packed tightly into the
available space, but the center of the square which held the small
raised stage, and a slim path from the control center to the stage
were completely empty. Guardians stood around the back walls, each
unmoving and silent. Jericho made his way toward the center. He did
not want to be in the very front, but he wanted to get close enough
to see Donovan’s face. He wanted to see into his eyes. Jericho
knew, more than anyone, what Donovan had been through over the past
day, because he was certain that he had experienced the same type
of interrogation. This gave him some type of kindred spirit, with
Donovan, even if it had truly been Donovan’s fault to begin with.
What he was did now, wasn’t for Donovan though. What he did now was
for himself. Somehow he felt that if he watched this through its
finality it would give him some kind of absolution. It was a way to
go on with his life, and to leave the events of the last day behind
him. He was near the front now. Close enough that he could see the
rusted chain rings on the whipping post quite clearly. It would be
here that Donovan would be shackled for his punishment. Jericho’s
heart hurt. Even if Donovan was an ass, did he really deserve this,
he asked himself.

A sudden commotion at the far side of the
courtyard, subsided seconds after it had started. Though Jericho
could not see directly, he could tell from the crowd’s reaction
that the Guardian had entered the area and now led Donovan to the
center platform. It couldn’t have been very far, but from where he
stood, he just could not see. For what seemed like an eternity, he
expected to be able to see something in the center of the square,
and then suddenly he did. The Guardian stepped onto the platform,
and from Jericho’s viewpoint he could see that the floor of the
stage was stained a dark brown. He knew it was long ago dried blood
from other punishments. It was immediately obvious what took so
long. He watched as the Guardian dragged Donovan’s unconscious body
to the center of the square. The Guardian hoisted his limp body on
top of the stage. Jericho thought that Donovan looked much worse
than he himself had ever felt during his interrogation. His face
was flaccid and gaunt. There appeared to already be streams of
blood soaked into his shirt, though the first lash had yet to be
thrown. And, Donovan was unconscious.

The Guardian pivoted Donovan’s body to the
post, and it calmly and methodically fastened Donovan’s arms around
the rings. The Guardian stepped slightly back it as it released its
hold on Donovan, and his body slumped as far to the floor of the
stage as it could. His arms were still held up in an awkward
fashion by the shackles, as a stream of drool ran from his mouth.
With one quick motion, the Guardian ripped the shirt from Donovan’s
limp body, and as it fluttered to the stage floor, the Guardian
reached down and held something close to Donovan’s face. Suddenly
he was awake. He shook his head to get it away from the Guardian’s
hand. He was coughed and sputtered. As he began to realize where he
was, his eyes began to look around wildly. He seemed to say
something, as his lips moved, but Jericho could make out no
intelligible words. The Guardian stepped back to the edge of the
stage, and with no announcement or warning, its arm flicked
forward, and the whip that had been unseen moments ago lashed out
and wrapped around Donovan’s back and up his side.

The crack was loud, but not near as loud as
his scream. His eyes were wide now. So wide they looked unreal. And
blood began to well up in the red mark left behind from the whip.
The Guardian sent the next stroke on its way.

Donovan wailed, and the bottom of his pants
suddenly began to drip, as his bladder let go. This second lash had
wrapped around his other side, and in less than a second, blood
already dripped from this wound. The third lash hit before the air
had run out of Donovan’s lungs from his first scream, and his
scream became that of a choking cry. He passed out, and slumped
against the post. The Guardian paused. For a few seconds, it was
silent. All was motionless. Another second passed, and blood ran
down Donovan’s back and sides. Was he even breathing? Jericho
thought. From where he was standing, he couldn’t tell. His stomach
turned flip flops, and he thought sure he was going to throw up his
meal. He looked back to see if he could see Gabrielle, but the
crowd which had gone totally silent, blocked his view. No one so
much as whispered. The Guardian took a step towards Donovan, and
then bent down towards his face, and again held its hand in front
of his face. Instantly, he coughed, sputtered, and seemed to fight
for air. He was awake, and his eyes were wide. And even as he
looked around, he tried to get his bearings. The Guardian stepped
back to the edge of the stage. And faster than Jericho could have
thought possible, the Guardian’s arm moved, the wrist flicked, and
Donovan screamed again. It was a blood curdling scream. Agony
sprayed from Donovan’s mouth with bits of spittle, as lines of spit
hung from his mouth. His eyes were still wild and bloodshot.

“No!” Donovan screamed, as another stroke
wrapped around his split and bleeding flesh, and his body contorted
in mind bending pain. He gagged, drooled, cried, and screamed.
Jericho saw his eyes. Donovan would not disobey again. The man
beside Jericho suddenly bent and vomited, and barely missed
Jericho’s own shoes. Jericho fought the gorge in his own throat. He
was determined to see this through to the end. He felt that he owed
it to himself, and also to Donovan as he screamed, and bled. Once
again, Donovan passed out. The Guardian paused, and seconds passed.
It approached the unconscious Donovan again. Once again, seconds
later Donovan was awake, and he screamed with a ferocity that would
surely tear his lungs from his body. And once again the Guardian
assumed its position. The whip cracked. Jericho’s stomach flipped.
Would it ever stop, he thought.