The Supremacy (7 page)

“What was the room you woke up in?” Another asked out of the darkness. It was an older male voice that called to me.
“It was just a plain room.” I lied, “White, sterile, nothing of importance. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more. I don’t remember any of it.”
“Because that is how they want it.” The voice grew louder until he became visible through the darkness of our small cell.
His eyes were bright, like a crazed caged animal ready to fight for his life, and that is very well what we all were doing. His stature was impressive, rippling veins traveled up toned arms which flexed involuntarily as he lowered his large frame next to me, “The less we know, the less likely our chances are to escape this.” He waved his arms dismissively around the room.
“Are we going to die?” The red head quietly asked, her slender arms wrapping around her legs as she brought them to her chest.
“We will stay alive as long as we are useful to them.” I smiled. It was the only truth I could bestow; they would keep us alive until they no longer needed us. After that, we would all die.
“So, yes.” She admitted, mostly to herself as she turned away from us.
“Who knows,” I tried to encourage her, “maybe the reason the two haven’t come back is because they have been placed somewhere.”
“
Pfft.”
The behemoth of a male beside me blew out his breath in disbelief.
“What is your name?” I asked her, trying to take her mind off the inevitable ending of all our lives.
Her voice was barely above a whisper, “Stephanie.” She answered, her head barely tilted from where it rested on bent knees,
“And I’m Brian.” The substantial male to my right tossed his hand forward for a shake that nearly crushed my hand without even trying.
“Erin,” I said, nodding at him.
“We all know.” He smiled gently at Faith, “The little one was pretty scared when you were taken away.”
“I wasn’t sure if you were coming back.” Her voice was muffled by my shoulder that she was still resting against, “and if you didn’t come back it would have been my fault. You were just sticking up for me.”
“
No!
” I yelled, holding her tighter to my side, “None of this,
especially
anything that happens to me, would
ever
be your fault.”
“Yeah,” Brian added in a low chuckle of laughter, “I think Erin can take care of herself,
and
cause her own problems.”
“But what about Dustin?” Stephanie asked, her voice cracking under the emotional enormity of her question, “Is
he
coming back?”
No one answered her. She didn’t need an answer. He wasn’t coming back.
“Let’s all try to get some rest.” Brian added after a beat of uncomfortable silence, “Who knows what these demons have in store for us in the next round.”

Chapter Eight
With Faith resting on me, it was hard for me to relax. I did my best to hide the pain in my back, but by doing so I was inadvertently forced to lean against it.
I tossed and turned until my tired body ultimately gave in and I collapsed into a grief stricken sleep, a sleep that no matter how hard I tried, I could not escape.
***
Cold blue eyes haunted my dreams.
A white room held me as I lay bound to the frigid metal operating table. Chilling hands danced up my back, probing and prodding my spine. I cried out in vain for them to stop.
Needles piercing me, drawing my blood, tormenting my spine, stealing my flesh.
“
Stop
!” I begged once more, “
Please
stop.”
“Marrow is almost harvested.”, “Marrow”, “harvested.”
Freezing hands climbed up my spine once more, scratching circles into my tender flesh. Bright lights blinded me as I thrashed against restraints that would not give way to my struggles.
I stared into the surgical lamp, praying for death to save me from my torment, when suddenly the room started to shake and wobble, rippling all around me until I was standing in the center of the pen where the Testers were gathered at the end of our bus ride. I was staring at the lectern, watching John as he walked closer to Declan.
Even in my dreams, I could not escape the memories of John’s death. His murder replayed over and over in my mind. His screams speared into my ears, wreaking havoc on my fragile psyche. Over and over, like a broken reel I watched as his limp body flew through the air… Declan standing over him.
“
I saved you!
”, “
saved you.
”, “
It could be much worse
.”
Blinding light hit my face. I could feel the sun seeping into my body. I turned my head to see John’s smiling face looking up at the clouds, watching them dance as the wind pushed them through the bright summer sky. We were lazing on the roof of our apartment building. I remembered that day well. It was the last day we had to be free, the day before The Supremacy took over our Zone.
“What a beautiful day.” John’s chest expanded on a large inhale, “Perfect for a swim.”
“Eh,” I scrunched up my nose, “I doubt Corina will let me go anywhere today.”
“Who cares what she thinks. It’ll be worth it just to watch her flip out.” He smiled his usual one-hundred watt smile, enticing me to be as rebellious has he was, “It’s better than wasting the day away sitting up here.”
Dark clouds descended on my beautiful memory of John, blackening the brilliant blue summer sky. The darkness infiltrated like warriors fighting for new land. Bone shaking thunder began to sound as savage lighting streaked across the sky. The wind started to pick up almost violently. It whipped my hair around my face and nearly blew us over.
“What’s happening!” I screamed to John as he floated away from me.
“Everything, Rin.” His voice was hollow, his form continuing to drift further and further away, “They’re coming for us.” He whispered into the wind, “They’re coming for
you
.”
“Who!” Frantically, I chased him, but no matter how fast I ran, I could never catch up.
My best friend was gone.
Gone.
“
Erin!”
Declan’s voice boomed over the thunder, “
Erin!
” His voice grew violent, “
Erin!
” He screamed and my body began to shake.
The scene started rippling around itself. The sky began to shift and crack like the plates of the earth during a quake. Shattering, the sky fell around me. I watched, frozen, as my apartment building crumbled beneath my feet.
“
Erin!
”
Eyes flashing open, darkness surrounded me. Sweat soaked my skin as worried eyes hovered.
“Dream,” Faith’s voice sounded over my heaving pants for breath, “You’re okay.” She soothed, brushing the sweat soaked hair off my face, “It was just a dream.”
“You don’t remember anything, huh?” Brian huffed out skeptically, “With a dream like that?”
“He was trying to wake you for a while. Shaking you, screaming at you.” Faith whimpered, her hands all but wringing in mine.
“What the hell were you dreaming about?” He demanded.
“Nothing,” I admitted after I cleared my throat, my nerves still shaking my body.
“
Bullshit
!”
“Past.” I burst out threw shakes, “Just past memories.”
“You’re
lying
!”
“No I’m not!” I yelled back, too exhausted to contain my anger.
“
Please
,” Faith begged him, “Just let her rest. Maybe she will remember more later. Give her time.”
I was more than grateful for Faith’s bravery in that moment. Her little arms wrapped around me protectively as her eyes pleaded with Brian for a short reprieve. I couldn’t imagine any ogre denying her, just not a Keeper.
“Ok,” Brian threw his hands into the air in defeat, “I will let her rest.” He paused, “For now.”
But I didn’t need the rest. The last thing I wanted was sleep. The last thing I wanted was to reenter that nightmare.
Trapped in the sinister recesses of my mind grew an inescapable pit of tormenting memories, of things I would give anything to forget. Of things I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I held Faith until she found her own solace in her dreams. I watched her as she slept. It was a peaceful rest. A smile played on her dimpled cheeks. I could not even imagine how she would be able to find joy, even in her dreams. A small giggle left her lips and her tiny arms tightened their hold around my neck. That inconsequential laughter seemed to thaw something deep within my core. Faith was so innocent, still too young to recognize the sinister forces that lived within our world. All she seemed to know was love. She had yet to be tainted by the hate and disparity our kind was forced to endure.
“She has taken to you.” Brian’s groggy voice sounded in my ear, “Don’t get too attached to her.”
I sucked in a deep breath as those few words hit me. They were not spoken with malicious intent. His voice was calm, almost endearing. I was already attached to Faith, almost maternally so. The same as I was with Trent, “It’s a little too late for that,” I admitted, brushing a lone strand of fallen hair away from her face, “She reminds me of my baby brother. So innocent.” I sighed, “She doesn’t deserve any of this.”
“None of us deserve this.” He added sardonically.
“No, we don’t.” I agreed, feeling him shrug closer, “But at least we have had more time to live.”
“Live the life of a prisoner. Not much of a life at all if you ask me.”
And how right he was. None of us had the privilege to follow our own path, to make our own decisions. Our lives were mapped out for us. Our only purpose being to serve The Supremacy, our only way out being death.
“Tell me about your brother,” He asked, he head resting lazily against the cement wall of our cell.
“He is still just a baby, only three.” I smiled up at the ceiling, I could almost see his crooked smile, almost hear his infectious giggles as he chased fluttering butterflies that danced from flower to flower in the meadow that surrounded our house, “At least he is still too young to understand what has happened to all of our lives.”
“And what about your mom?”
“I don’t remember much about my mom.” Faith stirred when I let out a shuttering breath. I never spoke of my mom. An empty pit deep inside of my chest was the place where all memory of her lived, ripping open just as I allowed the thought of her to invade my mind, “She died during the Dark Times,” The time before The Supremacy took over power, “I was five when she got ill. There wasn’t much anyone could do.” I knew my father never stopped loving her; he would never let the memory of her die along with her body. I always attributed that for one of the reasons my stepmother hated me so much. My Dad refused to take down her pictures or do away with any of her belongings. And most of all, he never stopped singing her lullaby, the same one I sang to Trent, and the same one I sang for Faith. Erasing all memory of my mother was the first thing Corina did when my father died.
I cleared my throat and turned to face Brian, “What about you? What’s your story?”
“Oh, no.” He chuckled, “I’m not done with you yet. Tell me what you
do
remember about your mom.”
“Her smile,” I admitted, allowing the memory of her flood into my mind, knowing that I would regret it later but willing to bask in the beauty of her for just a short time, “And her eyes. No matter her mood, her eyes were always smiling.” A chill rushed over me as the memory of haunting cold eyes invaded my dreams. Declan’s eyes. “Her skin,” I went on, trying to distract myself, “Soft, but still so strong. I remember how it felt when she held me close, But most of all I remember how she used to smell, like daisies. Always.”
“Sounds like you remember more than you thought you did.”
I knew where he was going, but he could not have been more wrong with his desire to know what I kept locked away in my mind.
I sighed and turned to face him, so I could see his reaction to my words, “Sometimes our best defense in survival is our ability to forget what we cannot handle to remember.”
Shrugging off my admittance, he continued with his inquiry into my life, “Who is taking care of your brother? Your Dad or Stepmom?”
“No,” I let out another shaky breath as I thought of Trent alone with that awful woman, “My Father was killed for trying to run. My Stepmother has Trent.”
“Your Dad was a rebel?” He asked, almost flabbergasted by the knowledge.
“Yes, but see where it got him? An early grave.”
“At least he died fighting for his freedom.”
“Yeah,
his
freedom. Leaving me with his witch of a wife.”
“You and your Stepmom didn’t hit it off?”
I shrugged the question off, “Don’t really blame her. Every time she looked at me she saw the woman my father could not get over and the man that left her responsible for a child that was not hers.”
Without warning, the cell door swung open, clashing violently against the rigid wall. Collective shrieks sounded through the dark room as others were rudely awakened from their own tormented dreams just to find themselves in an even worse nightmare.
The Keeper meandered in as careless of the frightened bodies as only a Keeper could. “Everyone, to your feet!” He demanded through clenched teeth, “You will have one hour of field time. I suggest you make the most of it.”
I lifted Faith to her feet as the Keeper moseyed lazily around the room, his vacant eyes landing on us all until he stopped in front of one girl, still laying on her back.
“
You!
” He snapped his fingers at her, “Why aren’t you on your feet?”
“I-I-I’m sorry,” She stammered her reply before she could straighten fully from the wall, “M-m-my back was hurt on transport. It’s hard to m-m-move.”
The vile Keeper bent to her and grabbed her neck in the same motion, “I’m sure we can help you with that.” He sang into her ear.
“P-P-Please, no,” She sobbed, her eyes filling with terrified tears, “I-I-I can get up.”
“Oh,
no
,” He crooned close to her tear streaked face, “You’re coming with me.”
We all watched in disbelief as he lifted the frightened girl to her feet with ease and carried her out. Once he cleared the door, Brian leaned into my shoulder and whispered, “And then there were seventeen,”
Just then, Declan entered, eyes immediately landing on mine. Brian backed away from me as Declan move deeper into our dark cell.
Casually, he swung his electric prod through the air, “You will walk single-file to the yard. Anyone speaks,” Declan’s chilling eyes locked first on Brian and then me, “You will be escorted to solitary.” A wicked smile played on his otherwise featureless expression, “and
no
one wants that.”
Everyone began to line up, everyone except Faith and me.
She was deadlocked around me, arms wrapped around my middle like a python gripping its next meal. I was afraid to speak knowing the open threat was directed at me. I did my best to unwrap her, begging Brian with my eyes for help.
I did not blame him when I watched his head move slowly side to side in denial. He was looking out for his own life. No one could blame him for that.
Rubbing her arms in encouragement, I took my place in line, allowing her to stay fixed to my side. Her fear had gripped her and froze her limbs in place; no words could have helped her feel secure when a Keeper was around.
Declan moved closer to us, causing Faith’s grip to tighten painfully around my torso, squeezing my bruised ribcage. “
Shhhh
,” I soothed her again once Declan came to a stop in front of me.
Closing my eyes in anticipation, my breath rushed out, fearing the worse. My arms wrapped themselves protectively around the petrified young girl, “If you take anyone,” I said, letting my eyelids flutter open to plead with the Keeper that stood before me, “Take me, not her.”
Faith’s grip tightened, the pressure nearly doubling me over in pain. I slammed my hand outwards to brace myself against the cement wall, fearing that at any moment I may collapse.
“Start walking,” He demanded to the leader of the line before turning away from us.
A shaky breath left my lungs, a breath I was not aware that I had been holding. I was grateful when Declan soon moved his attention to escorting us to the outdoor pens.