Remainder (5 page)

Alec and I must be getting closer to our destination because the crowds are getting thicker. We come to an opening with two huge black iron gates open on either side of the entrance. On the brick wall beside the gates, a plaque rests with the words: Salvation is within. I have heard those words before spoken by Dr. Kendall at Training Day. Seeing them again along with the uncertainty of what I am about to witness spirals a feeling of dread within me.

A crowd of people lazily walk towards the big building in front of us. We file into the crowd, our steps matching the surrounding people. As we enter the building, the crowd starts to disperse as people file into the building on both sides. The seats are stadium style and almost make a circle save for the one entrance that prevents the circle from being complete. The rows go up high, making me feel surrounded by empty chairs. A cold shiver runs up my spine and I rub my arms to abate the sudden chill. I have an uneasy feeling about this building and its undeniable emptiness. I follow Alec as we climb the cement stairs to find our seats. The red and white chairs form a pattern: red, white, red, white. I sit beside a girl in red and Alec sits beside me, taking the chair on the end of the row.

There is a small platform in the middle of the great room with a large clear box sitting in the middle of it. The box is about seven feet tall, four feet wide and the sides look as though they are made out of glass. I am curious as to its purpose.    

“What is that?” I ask Alec, nodding my head in the direction of the big container.

“We call it the Reddix. It’s the newest being in sentient technology,” he responds dryly.

“That thing is sentient? What does it live off of?” I ask interested.

“Fear.” He gives me a stony look. A knot forms in my stomach and rises to my throat. I can’t respond, though I am sure my face has betrayed my thoughts.  I watch the people file in, familiars and pure bloods. The pure bloods talk among themselves with excitement in their voices. The familiars in red have sullen looks on their faces as they wait in anticipation. I wonder if they have seen a Draining before and know what is coming. Other people in red look confused and are probably as oblivious to what is going on as I am.

“Hi again,” I hear coming from beside me. I look over and stare into friendly light brown eyes. Enforcer-658 greets me with a small smile. Her furrowed brows and her disappearing smile tell me she is just as curious as I am about what we are about to witness. The bottom lids of her eyes are tinted pink, like she has been crying recently.

“Hi. I was so distracted that I didn’t notice that it was you sitting there. How are you?” I ask and give her a warm smile, trying to push my discomfort to the back of my mind.

“I’m fine, all things considered. How are you?” she asks as she tucks a brown wave of hair behind her ear.

“About the same. How do you get along with your pure blood?” I ask, curiosity getting the best of me. It’s really none of my business.

“Oh she’s great,” she responds with a smile and a nod of her head. The way she diverts her eyes and twists her hands in her lap makes me wonder if she is lying.

“That’s goo…” A noise from below distracts me and keeps me from finishing my sentence. I see that everyone is seated and Enforcers carrying guns fill the large room. The room falls silent with the added presence of authority. I shift, uneasy in my chair. Alec senses my growing discomfort and explains their presence.

"They are here to keep the peace and to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Oh. Why do they need to keep the peace? What is going to happen?" I ask, afraid to discover the answer.

"You will see." Alec's face is hard, tense and his mouth is taunt. Whatever is going to happen seems to make him uncomfortable as well. Or maybe it is being here with me that makes him uneasy.

The Enforcers take their place at each row. A familiar face paces the room, making sure the Enforcers are obeying unheard orders. Roderick’s confident posture puts off an air of arrogance and authority. He looks around the room at the pure bloods and familiars in red. His lips curl into a devilish grin as though he enjoys the tension and unease of the room. Just seeing him makes me uneasy. Memories from his encounter with the boy and old man during Training Day come back to me. I turn my eyes away so I don’t have to look at him.

The uncomfortable silence is broken as I hear the click and clack of heels on the cement floor. Dr. Kendall saunters into the room, her white lab coat swaying with each step she takes. With her head held high, her presence demands respect. While Roderick gives off an air of authority, I get a different sense from Dr. Kendall, like an air of intelligence. If she and Roderick had a battle of minds, there is no doubt in my mind that she would win. With Dr. Kendall here, Roderick’s presence makes more sense. I wonder how often they work together and if they have a mutual respect for one another. Roderick’s behavior is savage and beastly like a rabid dog, while Dr. Kendall is serious and refined. Dr. Kendall says something to Roderick, I’m not sure what, and he jumps to attention, ready to follow orders. I can clearly see that he is the dog and Dr. Kendall the master. He is at her disposal to follow her every command.

“What you are about to witness is what we call a draining," explains Dr. Kendall. “When a pure blood dies, so does the clone. If your pure blood is dead, our society has no use for you anymore, so we drain you of all your blood.” As she speaks, her demeanor never falters. All business, all the time.  It is as if she is unaware of how much suffering she commands with such ease.   “If you want to stay alive, you had best make sure your pure blood stays alive. Your survival depends on the survival of your pure blood."

Two Enforcers bring out an old man wearing no clothing save his red boxer shorts. The moment he sees the Reddix, he starts to struggle. However, it is no use. The two Enforcers holding him are much stronger and he is old and frail. There is no point in him trying to put up a fight, but he does. He struggles all the way to the Reddix. They must plan to place the poor man in the box and he must know what is going to happen once he is in there.

Dr. Kendall walks over to the Reddix and places her hand, palm down, on one of the glass sides. A red grid appears and encompasses her hand. It makes a sound like it is scanning the foreign object placed on its surface. “Access granted” resonates in the form of a female robotic voice from the Reddix. An opening, the shape and height of a standard door, opens, raising the piece of glass upwards. It blended in so perfectly to the rest of the frame, one would never know it was there. The Enforcers holding onto the old man throw him into the contraption and the glass door slides back down, trapping him inside. He runs to the glass opening and slams his balled fists against the hard substance, as if beating his fists against it would cause the door to reopen.

"NO!" he screams in horror. He looks around the room, like he is searching for someone to save him from the torture that is sure to come.

"Please," he begs. "I have information.....I know things....please..." All of a sudden, we hear a noise as if something at the top of the Reddix is opening. The man looks up in horror as six white long thick cords, or tubes, I’m not sure which, slither out of the ceiling. There is something attached to the end of each one, a silver needle-like point that looks incredibly sharp and huge. The needles have to be at least six inches in width and length. The old man stands in terror, frozen in place. He stares at one of the cords. The white cord raises up its needle the way a snake would raise its head to study its prey. The other cords all around him make the same movements as the one at which he is staring. He does’nt seem to notice the other ones and keeps his gaze focused on the one in front of him. As if he had all of a sudden been freed from his paralysis, he moves to the left. The cord in front of him moves with him. The old man then moves to the right, the cord still following him in swift movements. The cord, in its entire snake like demeanor, rears back, like it is about to strike, its pointed end jutting out in the direction of the man. In one fast, smooth motion, the cord attacks and hits the man in his jugular. As if taking a cue from their leader, the other cords follow suit; two attack through his boxers and attach themselves in his groin, one goes to the other side of his neck, while the last two latch on to the veins in the crease of his arms.

When all the cords are in place, they begin to move as if they are contracting. Moving up and down in a rhythmic fashion, the white tubing of the cords quickly become red with each contraction-like movement. The man screams out in pain as his life, his very essence is sucked out of him, his screams echoing in the now silent room. No one speaks, no one moves, everyone’s eyes are glued to the display in front of us. Surprisingly, even Dr. Kendall and her Enforcers are silent as the watch the event unfolding. The old man’s eyes look around the room, searching for someone, anyone who can help him. His eyes find mine and lock in place. The seconds tick by like hours. His mouth moves as if he wants to speak, but words fail him. He is probably too weak to speak or he realizes that there is no use in calling out for help. I feel so helpless. What can I do to help this man? If I intervene, I do not know what would happen to me. Alec may use his aleuron on me that activate my pain receptors. Or worse, I could be killed. I sink as deep as I can into my chair and clamp my eyes shut. I can feel Alec’s eyes on me, probably gauging my reaction to what I am witnessing. I feel tears well up in my eyes, but I fight against their urging to be released. I will not cry! I will not give him, any of them, the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

“Open your eyes, 656,” I hear Alec demand. “You need to see this.” I open my eyes and dart them in Alec’s direction. If I could shoot daggers out of my eyes, I would have shot them at him. Does he find pleasure in this barbaric scene the way Roderick does? Right now, I hate him for making me watch this bloody act. I know I should be careful, but right now, I hate Alec and I don’t care if he knows it.

The man's struggles become less as his skin grows paler, almost transparent. I can tell he is close to death. We all sit in silence as we watch his life force drain right out of him. Even the pure bloods say nothing and watch intently.

Finally, for what has seemed like eternity, the now red cords withdraw from the man and his body falls lifeless onto the glass floor. Slowly, they weave back into openings at the top of the Reddix until they are gone from sight. Dr. Kendall places her palm to the glass of the Reddix again, opening the glass door. She bends down over the lifeless man’s body and touches his neck. I hold my breath as I watch her. After about a minute, she nods her head to Roderick and rises. I just know that he is really dead. Roderick and another Enforcer enter the clear contraption and pick up the old man’s body and carry him away.  I release my breath and I am overcome with relief that the draining is over. I am glad the man is no longer suffering. I glance in the direction of Enforcer-658 just in time to see tears rolling down her pretty face. I can feel my own tears welling up again and I blink my eyes fighting to keep them in.

Dr. Kendall opens her mouth as if she is going to say something, but a man in red stands up and speaks before she can. “You cannot do this! We will not stand for this anymore!” the man shouts. Other people in red around him start shouting and then they start attacking Enforcers. Some of the offenders fall to the ground, their bodies flailing, and I know their pain receptors have been activated. People start to panic; pure bloods and copies alike start to scramble to get out of the building. Men, women, and children begin falling on the ground, trampling one another, to try and get out of the building. Enforcers, pure bloods, and people in red are all fighting one another. The room has turned into sheer and utter chaos.  All of a sudden, Alec grabs my hand.

He looks at me, a stern concentrated look on his face. “We need to leave. Now.” He pulls me close to him. “Stay close and don’t let go of my hand.” As much as I don’t want to be near Alec, let alone hold his hand, I still don’t know what he would do to me if I disobeyed an order. All around me I am watching what the other Enforcers are doing to others and what they could do to me. With the chaos surrounding us, an Enforcer could easily grab me and have me writhing on the ground in pain. Right now, Alec is the lesser of two evils. I take a deep breath as I grip his hand tightly, and stay as close as I can to him. We make our way through the crowd to one of the exits on the side. It seems to be less crowded than the front entrance, but not by much. I try to stay close to him, however, I am being pushed in all directions. My hand finally slips from his and I am lost behind him in the crowd.

“Alec!” I call out. I feel a sharp pain in my head and I realize someone is pulling my hair. I am whipped around and come face to face with Roderick.

“Hey, I remember you,” he says, a crooked smile on his lips. He reminds me of a child who likes to burn ants with a magnifying glass.  He enjoys torturing the weak. Maybe that is why he became an Enforcer. From the entertaining look on his face, he has found his new prey and I am it.

“Let me go!” I struggle to free myself, but he is so much stronger than I am. He pulls my braid to the side and pushes my head down. I can hear him scanning my microchip with his aleuron.

“Oh yes, the Enforcer sector. Enjoy your first Draining, Enforcer-656?”

“Let her go!” I hear a familiar authoritative male voice say. Roderick loosens his grip enough for me to raise my head, although he still holds on to my hair.

“Well, hello Alec. How’s your cushy job, friend?” Roderick asks.

“I am trying to do my job, but you seem to have my charge,
friend
,” Alec responds bitterly.

“Oh, she’s with you?”

“She is.”

“Well, I was just about to teach her a lesson. Maybe you should watch so you can learn how to properly handle a clone,” Roderick replies icily. I can hear the humor in his voice as he speaks. This is all a game to him, nothing but entertainment.