The Yellow Pill (17 page)

It was Li’s idea
to give the people from Hole cell enhancement. It had been met with objections
before Li had the time to finish explaining. “I experiment with digital cell
generating, remember? It is
not
human. I can add the cell substance to
food, and that will make sure everyone out there will get it. The cell generating
will replace damaged cells. Their bodies will be repaired, and that includes
the damage that causes them to crave the pill.”

It
took them only a few days to get the cell enhanced food out there. It had been
about time to do something about the drug crazed mass still roaming around out
there, causing destruction and fear, still thinking the true Yellow Pill was
hidden somewhere.

Frey
wanted her people back… it was beyond painful to see them like that, knowing
they were causing harm to innocent people and only making it harder for the
future that they were all going to have to share. From what Harry reported from
the outside, the people from Hole weren’t giving a very good impression right
now.

As
always, Jin was reading her like an open book. “We’ll make them snap out of it,
Frey. Don’t worry.”

He had
healed fast and joined in the meetings, refusing to be left out. Jon always sat
as far away as he could, and Frey felt a strange sadness that he was being so
distant.

If it
hadn’t been so serious, it might have been funny to see the two of them, posing
and looking the same… almost.

The
cell generating had taken effect fast, speeding up the heeling process, just as
it had with her and Jin. The people soon calmed down enough for Luke to call
the desert dwellers back from the desert, and for the remaining resistance to
come out of hiding.

Jin
was away most of the time, gathering groups and trying to make them listen to
reason. Many had gone back to Slum City, only a few remaining in
Alya
.

The
people of
Alya
were still shut inside their homes,
and Frey suspected it had take time before they dared to come out.

They
passed the destruction, Frey seeing it
swish
past from
behind Tina, many of the projections still not up and functioning, glass and
broken parts scattered over the street, the sun making it all shimmer.

She
slid off from behind Tina when they reached the edge of Slum City. Dome was
barely standing from the quake that The Walls had caused. Sad remains still
stood among the wreckages and ruin.

The
black screen on Tina’s helmet faded away to show her eyes. “You’ll be alright
on your own?” Frey just snorted. “Alright. See you in a while,” she said and
spun the bike around, speeding back the way they had come.

Frey
jogged over the scattered remains from Dome, having to climb over fallen debris
in some places. She moved quickly across the city, feeling her old senses of
direction take over. It was strangely nostalgic and she was sad to see all the
destruction from the fighting. There was rubble everywhere, buildings having
collapsed from the earthquake. Bodies were still spread everywhere, and the
place was overrun with rats.

Frey
knew they would have to do something about it further on, but right now she had
other priorities. She walked past the big garage, looking up and wondering if
her and Jin’s car was as burn to crisps as the outside.

There
wasn’t one building without a crack in the construction or a floor or two
collapsed.

Frey
felt a moment of fear and started running. There was almost no one outside, and
the city felt strangely dead and deserted.

As the
old black building came into view she drew a breath of relief. There was damage
done to it, but it was still standing. Frey climbed the side up to the roof.
She had been prepared to slid down the other side and knock on Father Patrick's
window, but the old man was sitting on the roof, reading for the kids. He
glanced up as he heard her feet touch the gravel, and the book fell from his
slack fingers as he
rose
, one hand bracing against the
railing. The kids all turned towards the newcomer. Then their eyes lit up with
recognition and they ran to her, yelling her name. The old man’s legs were shaking
as he walked towards her.

She
embraced Father Patrick, and for the first time in her life she saw him cry.

Tina and Luke
were waiting with two trucks at the edge of Dome. They loaded the kids filling
both vehicles. Frey road in one, the old man in the other. The riot had left
many of the lower stores and buildings in
Alya
broken, but in a way it made the whole sight easier for the kids to digest,
reminding them a little bit of home.

Li had
told her he wanted the kids to move to the top floors in his building. They
weren’t used, and since they were close to the rooftop it gave the kids access
to the outdoors without having to be out on the streets.

Frey
hadn’t known what to say.

“Then
say nothing, and just bring them here,” he had answered.

Within
the twenty-four hours that Frey had been gone, Li had made the top five floors
transform from unused white space, to the new orphanage. Li hadn’t needed to be
told to not overwhelm the kids with luxury or color.

Frey
left Father Patrick and the other adults who had to help. She made her way up
to the roof alone, leaning on the railing and closing her eyes. She willed her
heart to slow, the burning behind her eyelids to go away. She breathed slowly
in and out. After a long time she lifted her eyes and looked up at the sky. For
the first time, her mind seemed to comprehend that she would never again be
shut from the real sky…

Frey grabbed
Jin’s hand while she drove, the desert opening up before them like a huge mat
of gold, brown and yellow. The sun was a burning white spot in the sky; already
heating the new day with it’s insane temperature.

The
heat had been a shock, even after all the warnings. District five lay three
days behind them. The sand dunes rolled like big, gentle waves over the
landscape, but the truck had no problems with the soft terrain.

“You
think we’ll find them?”

“Don’t
know,” Frey admitted. “They wouldn’t have gotten out of
Alya
that easily without help, and governments probably have powerful friends.” She
was silent for some time, still holding his hands. “But I wouldn’t miss hunting
those bastards down for anything.”

“Me
neither.”

That
the government leaders had managed to escape was bad news, and they all knew
it. It was only a matter of time before they tried to reclaim
Alya
, probably with an army in tow.
We’ll need all the
help we can get to survive that…

“You
sure that contact they had can be trusted? I mean
,
this is another city we’re talking about…”

“Guess
we’ll find out,” Frey said, trying not to let doubt stain her voice. “Anyway,
we need the help. Couldn’t withstand an attack like things are now.”

“Yeah.”
He was silent for some time.

Frey’s
mind went off to Father Patrick again.
Hope Li made that stubborn old fool
listen.
He was an old man, but the cell generating pills could change that.
He was just too damn stubborn to take them. She was hoping Li was having more
success at making him see sense.

It had
been hard to tell him they were leaving. He hadn’t asked told them not to go. She
had seen that he wanted to, seen it in his eyes. But he hadn’t said it. Instead
he had smiled and told them to be careful and to come home safely when they
were done.

Frey
had been prepared to feel sad about leaving Father Patrick behind, but hadn’t
expected it to hurt so much not telling Jon they were going…

She
shoved the feelings aside, and clenched Jin’s hand harder. Her insides
immediately warmed up with joy that he was next to her. His presence was like a
warm blanket of safety.

She
smiled and let go, her finger stroking his rough cheek.

He
grinned. “So, when’re you going to teach me how to drive?”

Frey
smiled as she grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, looking back over the
rolling sand dunes, and the seemingly never-ending vastness around them. “I’ll
teach you on the way back,” she promised.

A new
feeling was building inside her. It started out firm and warm, somewhere in her
gut, and spread like a tide all the way to her fingertips. She felt as if a
weight was lifted from her heart as she looked over the landscape, where only
the sight of the horizon could be seen.

When
she realized what it was, she laughed out loud.

So,
this is what freedom feels like.