“Wake up! Are you alright?”
I force my eyes open. Ghent is leaning over me, shaking my shoulders. I bolt up, dizzy and disoriented, before remembering where I am. In his quarters. On his bed. “What happened?”
“You were crying out. I tried to wake you, and you pushed me away.” I scrub at my cheeks and realize they’re wet. A nightmare. I wonder how loud I was screaming. I sniffle as he fetches a bottle of water and a nutri-bar from his supply pack. He passes them over and sits beside me. The lavender scent is stronger now. He must have cleaned up while I slept. His hair is damp and slicked back, and he’s wearing different clothes, loose dark trousers and a black short-sleeved shirt. The dark color emphasizes the paleness of his skin.
I bite into the nutri-bar gratefully even though it’s soggy and a little stale. “What time is it?” I manage around a mouthful.
“Almost five thirty.”
I snap to attention. “We have to go, and you haven’t slept.”
“You needed it more.” He says, looking away. He clears his throat. “We’re going to have to get moving soon. Are you up to it?”
He let me sleep later than he should have. The sun rises early in summer and we’ll have to be in place outside the factory before the morning shift. I feel bad that he hasn’t had any rest. At least he had a chance to clean up. If he makes it outside the palisade, he may never see soap again. He may die in the wasteland. My nightmare floods back to me – Ghent’s body decomposing in the desert, buzzards picking at strips of his rotting flesh.
“What are you thinking?” He hesitates before touching my shoulder. I glance over at him willing my dream out of my mind. His solid frame fills so much of the tiny space. I can’t bear to think of it reduced to a mound of sun-bleached bones.
Making it to the factory before dawn turns out to be pretty easy. We’re traveling light: only the clothes we’re wearing and Ghent’s pack of supplies. My hair is swept back in a tight braid to keep it out of the way. Using the ducts to get out of the housing block isn’t so hard, partly because it’s a downhill climb and partly because I’m less claustrophobic this time. It’s also easier to maneuver in the clothes Ghent gave me from his mothers’ closet, a simple dark shift over durable cotton trousers. My injuries bother me less today. Although my arm stings a little, the swelling on my knee has gone down almost to nothing.
Ghent sets a punishing pace, but somehow I manage to keep up. We make good time to the shed. We’ll have to wait here for the night crew to clock off before I can take up my position inside the factory. Luck is on our side. The shed is not only unlocked, but its back corner houses some warped shelving where Ghent can conceal himself. There’s even an old tarpaulin he can hide under. We attempt a few trial runs with the transmitter. Each time, I move a little farther away to check the range. I try a final run up the factory’s outside staircase, all the way to the emergency exit. The transmitter relays my test message without a hitch.
When I’m safely back in the shed, the buzzer sounds, followed by movement at the front of the factory. The night crew is heading home. In a few moments, the day shift will arrive. I have to get to the upper walkway before there are enough people to notice me sneaking in. I can hide in the supply room and wait for Gamma to put in an appearance. Ghent gives me the signal to get moving, but before I do, he reaches out to stop me. He tugs at the collar of my shirt, double-checking the placement of the transmitter.
His voice is uneven. “Be careful.” He reaches for a stray strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear. Only yesterday I would have thought he was trying to hurt me with those powerful hands. Now I see a real person: pale skin, dark hair and dark eyes, tall with a muscular frame, and a lightly asymmetrical face, one lip quirking a little higher than the other when he smiles, a brow that furrows into a curious “v” when he’s trying to work something out. He’s a person like me. In many ways, he’s less of an anomaly than I am. At least his mothers planned for him to be here.
“Meg.” He nudges me to get my attention. “Promise you’ll be careful.”
“I will. If I get into any trouble, I’ll give you the signal.” I hope it doesn’t come to that.
We stand face to face in the tiny shed. He towers over me, feet planted wide, arms at his sides. His lips purse and unpurse as if he wants to say something. But I don’t give him the chance. I turn for the door. The first beams of the morning sun illuminate my way as I climb up the outside staircase to the emergency exit. I try to turn the handle, realizing belatedly that I should have tested it before. I should have known my luck wouldn’t hold. Of course, it’s locked. I hadn’t foreseen that. I’ve only ever opened it from the inside. I throw my shoulder against it, but it doesn’t budge. How could I have been so stupid?
“Ghent!” I hiss into the transmitter. “The door’s locked!” I charge for the stairs. Maybe we can both hide in the shed and formulate another plan. When I’m halfway down, I barrel into a figure bolting up. Ghent. He’s holding something. A small metal clip. He grabs my upper arms to steady us both.
“I can fix it,” he says.
“We don’t have time.” I try to shove him away, back down the stairs, but he pushes past me, almost sending me over the railing, and starts fidgeting with his new device at the lock.
I race up beside him. “What is that?”
“My version of a skeleton key. I can override the lock with it.”
I wonder how many other tricks he’s picked up with only his books and his mothers for company. The thought is unsettling. I’m no slouch with technology. But this deman is something else. It’s strange to think that despite being locked away his whole life, he has more useful skills than I learned in all my cycles at school.
The volume of workers’ voices increases.
“Ghent!” I grab at his arm to pull him away as the door swings open. He flashes me a triumphant smile.
“Get out of here.” I turn him toward the stairs.
Without a word, he complies. I wait until he’s safely back in hiding. Then I slip into the factory, hurrying across the upstairs walkway to the storage area. The lights are dim. They haven’t yet gone to full strength for the day shift. Without my communicator, I can’t unlock the storage room door automatically, but this one is easy enough to crack. Gamma taught me how to do it when we both started working here. After a little recoding, the door opens.
The room is dark, so I feel my way to a low shelf where I can hide behind several of the larger dye barrels. It won’t be safe to move around until the day shift starts up. The air is thick and stale. They don’t go through much dye during the night. I’m probably the first person in here since yesterday. It’s also cold. It takes a while for the sun to heat things up. I rub my hands together and blow on them.
“Ghent,” I whisper into the transmitter at my collar. “I’m in. I hope you’re hearing me. The shift will start in a moment.”
The machines should be warming up soon. My legs cramp. It seems like an eternity before the second buzzer sounds and the whooshing and pumping of the machinery crescendos. The chatter of the girls rises in volume in concert with it. They have to talk loud to be heard over the din. I figure it’s safe to whisper an update: “Ghent. The shift has started. Sit tight.”
It’s warmer now. I imagine Ghent pressed into the corner of the shed, hiding under the stinky tarpaulin. He’s probably as cramped and uncomfortable as I am. Eventually, I decide it’s safe to push myself out of my hiding place. I groan as I straighten my legs. No sooner do my muscles relax than the storage room door opens. Raised voices approach. Startled, I dive back into my hiding spot, calf muscles screaming in protest.
“Why didn’t you want to come up?” It’s a young woman’s voice, vaguely familiar.
“It’s a bit early for this, isn’t it?” says another girl.
Gamma. She must be with Chi again. My heart pounds against my ribs.
“That’s never bothered you before.” Chi’s voice is syrupy sweet. They’re coming closer to where I’m hiding. I crawl back into the shelf. “What’s with you today?”
“Nothing.” Gamma sounds exasperated.
“Hey, if you don’t want to be with me, say so. It’s not like I don’t have other options.”
“Fine.” Gamma’s voice is quiet.
“Then, c’mon.” Chi’s voice has returned to that silky tone.
“No. I mean fine. Find someone else,” Gamma says.
“You don’t think I will?”
“I don’t care.”
“I could easily have someone else by tomorrow, and you’d be alone.”
“How do you know I haven’t found someone else?” Gamma says.
If she has, that was fast work. She was with me last night in her quarters and … oh.
Chi’s laugh is derisive. “Have a nice life, Gamma.”
I hear the door open and close. Chi must have left, but I don’t know where Gamma is. I can make out her breathing nearby, but I can’t get a sense of direction. She huffs, and there’s a loud clank. She must have kicked one of the dye barrels. She’s not in the mood I was hoping for, but she’s here. This is my chance to talk to her alone. I sneak out from my hiding place, slowly unfurling my limbs. Following the sound of her breathing, I realize she must be closer than I thought. Sounds like she’s in the next aisle over. I carefully make my way towards the sound of her breaths.
“Gamma,” I say.
She whirls around. It’s hard to make out her features in the dim light. “Omega?”
“Are you alright? I didn’t see you on the line.” She moves forward and her words come out in a rush. “I suppose you heard all that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I wish I could see her better, but I don’t want to turn on the lights.
“Why didn’t I see you downstairs?” she asks suspiciously. “Did you clock in with us?” She takes a step closer. “And what are you wearing?”
“Oh this? They’re old. Mom’s.”
“You’re not keeping up with the laundry either, are you?” She leans against a shelf. “I’m sorry about last night. I guess all of that was a bit of a shock. Are you really okay now?”
“Can we talk about something else?”
“Do you have a topic in mind?”
“Actually, I do,” I say, crossing my fingers at my side.
“Oooh, I’m intrigued. Do tell.”
I try to keep my voice light and gossipy. “I’m curious about something I heard in the Clinic the other night. I didn’t get a chance to ask you about it yesterday. I wondered if you or your mom might know anything about it.” I hope Ghent won’t freak out that I mentioned Ma Temple. I rehearsed this about a hundred times last night without saying her name, but it slipped out anyway. “It’s probably not even true, but some women were talking about a Med-Tech, a Delta Jaye?”
Gamma scrunches her brow. “You heard about that? I wonder how it got out? I’ve heard some wild rumors about that woman. You’re probably right that they’re not even true. I mean, if they were true there’d be Protectors everywhere. There would have to be if we actually had demen loose inside the palisade.”
With her fingers resting against my forearm – when did that happen? – she must sense my shiver.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“I’m sorry,” I splutter, trying to recover my composure. “It’s my arm. From the factory. I guess it’s still a little sore.”
“I didn’t even think to ask about it with everything else going on. You probably should be home resting. Do you want me to take you?”
“I’m fine.” I try to make my voice sound casual. “But I’m interested in what you were saying.”
“Maybe we should go outside and get you some air?” she says.
I’m prepared to take the risk of talking to her outside. It won’t do any harm as long as we go out the back stairs and no one sees us. She doesn’t seem to think I’m involved with the deman. I don’t protest when she loops an arm through mine to lead me to the door.
“I don’t want anyone to see me here,” I say, remembering that I didn’t actually clock in, and I’m still not wearing my contacts.
“Oh, so you are playing hooky?” She opens the door. “Don’t worry. You know how good I am at sneaking around.” She guides me to the emergency exit by the back stairwell, unwittingly retracing my earlier steps. Pushing the door open she ushers me down the stairs. I don’t think anyone could hear us over the din of the machinery, and I’m pretty sure we’ve managed to keep out of sight.
“This way.” She grabs my wrist and makes for a small patch of grass dotted with shrubs about fifty feet behind the shed. My heart thumps as we pass, knowing Ghent is so close. Gamma helps me to the ground behind the bushes, out of sight of anyone who might come outside for a cigarette. She kneels beside me, and notices my eyes in the daylight. “Omega, why didn’t you put your contact lenses in?”
“I lost them.”
“Don’t you have a spare set?”
“I couldn’t find them either.”
“No wonder you’ve gone into hiding. Do you want me to call Mom? She could probably arrange a new set.”
“No. I mean, not just yet. I really want to know about Delta.”
“Okay, but after that you have to go home, alright? I’ll call Mom about your lenses.”
In the sunlight, I notice the light spray of freckles across her nose, and I wonder if they control for that in the Procedure. I’ve never thought to ask, but I always felt they suited Gamma. Did her mother design them, like they design everything else about us?
“Earth to Omega.” Gamma waves a hand in front of me. “Tell me the rumor you heard, and I’ll see how closely it matches what I heard.”
Something bangs in the shed. Ghent, warning me not to trust Gamma.
“What was that?” Gamma says, looking right at the shed.
“It’s nothing. Probably an animal.” I tug at her forearm to get her attention. “At the Clinic yesterday some women said something about a deman inside the palisade, and the name – Delta. I didn’t hear any more. But it’s really strange, right?” I try to keep my tone light. I hope she doesn’t think there’s any more to this than good old-fashioned curiosity.
Finally, she takes the bait. She clutches my knee as she speaks. “I overheard Mom on her communicator. There’s a rumor that this Delta and her partner have been harboring a deman forever. Can you believe it? And he escaped. He’s supposed to be loose inside the palisade somewhere. And it gets even weirder. They’re also saying the deman is their son.”
“Does your mother know what happened to Delta?” I hope I’m not pushing too hard. I don’t want to rouse her suspicions any further, but she’s our best lead.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t hear the whole conversation, but it sounded like her partner was ill, and they’re keeping them together.”
“In the Clinic?”
“I don’t know. Why?” Gamma leans back on her heels. I’m digging too deep. I know it. Another thump sounds from the shed.
“I wonder what kind of animal that is,” Gamma says as she scrambles to her feet and motions for me to follow. “Let’s go find out.”
“No.” My voice is too loud as I reach out to pull her back down. She raises an eyebrow and I try to come up with a believable explanation for my actions. “I don’t want anyone to see me out here.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go take a quick look. Be right back.” She pats my arm as she slips away.
I peer around the hedge to see that she’s heading straight for the shed. It’s quiet except for the distant sounds of birdsong and the odd coyote howling in the distance. Even the machine noise from the factory seems strangely muted. Ghent’s trapped. He can’t get out of the shed unnoticed, and even if he could, there’s nowhere to go. I speak low into the transmitter, “Ghent, don’t move. She won’t look in there if you don’t make a sound.” I hope I’m right. “Ghent, please. I hope you can hear me.”
Gamma wanders around searching for the source of the noise. She hasn’t gone near the shed door. She’s still investigating around the side panel, but she’s getting awfully close. I hope Ghent heard me. I hope he takes my advice. “Ghent. I’ve got this under control. Please stay there.” I realize that if he can hear my transmission, Gamma might be close enough to hear it too. I bite down on my lip. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I don’t know if Gamma heard me though the communicator or through the bushes, but she calls out. “Did you say something?”
I crawl out and point toward the nearest pasture. “I saw something. It went that way.”
She spins to look in the direction I’m indicating, a fallow field, covered in a small layer of weeds.
“What did it look like?” she asks.
“I don’t know. Small. Like a groundhog.”
“Pretty noisy groundhog.”
“Maybe it was a raccoon.”
“In the daylight?”
“Gamma, please come back.”
She takes a last look around, shrugs her shoulders and scampers back to where I’m hiding.
“Do you want to go home now? I could call Mom about those contacts. Or I could even say I’m sick and go back with you. We could play hooky together. Just like when we were at school.”
A day cavorting around with Gamma, and Ghent listening in, is not exactly part of the plan. Unless…
“Can we go to the Clinic?” I ask.
Her nose wrinkles. “Why would you want to go there?”
“I was thinking. About Delta. That rumor.”
“Like we could maybe check it out?” She claps her hands together like a child. Her honeysuckle fragrance wafts around me, and I feel guilty for using her like this.
“Do you think we could?”
“I don’t see why not. If I call in sick, they’ll make me check in with Mom anyway, and she’s doing rounds at the Clinic today.” She presses her fingers to her lips. “But I’d have to figure out how to explain you.”
“I’d wait outside.” I sit up straighter as the idea begins to take shape.
“No way. This is our adventure. We’ll do it together.” Her expression brightens. “I’ll go to Mom’s office to check in with her, and let you into the Clinic by the back way.”
“What if someone sees?” I ask.
“We’ll disguise you. There must be some way to hide those eyes. We’ll just have to keep out of sight until I think of something. I have to report to Tau so I can clock out,” she says. “Will you be alright here?”
As I watch her head back to the factory I wonder if this is the right thing to do. I lower my lips to the transmitter so they’re almost brushing against the metal. “Ghent. Stay where you are. Gamma’s going to take me to the Clinic to find your mothers. Can you follow at a safe distance?”
Silence.
“Ghent. Can you hear me?”
I’m answered by a scraping sound. Metal against dirt. I peer around the bushes to see what’s happening. The shed door clangs shut as Ghent charges toward me, low to the ground, covered with his cloak. He had twisted it through the straps of his pack earlier but he must have taken it out for the extra cover. He falls beside me, panting. “Meg, don’t do this. It’s too dangerous. I’ll go to the Clinic. Tonight. By myself.” His words are clipped as he gasps for breath. I’m horror-struck. He can’t be here. Gamma will be back any second.
I grasp his wrist, my fingers barely encircling it, and speak in a wobbly voice. “Get back to the shed.”
He pulls his arm away and kneels in front of me. “Only if you promise you won’t go through with this. Make up an excuse to get away from her.”
“No! This is our best chance.” Then it dawns on me. He’s worried about me. He’s risking himself out here in the daylight to protect me.
When he speaks again his voice is sharp. “Don’t you understand? She’s a Temple. This is a trap.”
He may be right, but we don’t have any choice. He can’t go waltzing into the Clinic after dark. He needs to be outside the palisade by then.
“We can trust her.” My fingers rake against the dry ground, causing dirt to grind underneath my nails.
“Omega?” It’s Gamma’s voice.
We’re trapped. I can’t see her yet, but there’s no way Ghent will make it back to the shed before she gets to us. He grips my shoulders and shoves me further into the bushes, urging me to move away from Gamma. Then he scrambles to his feet, maintaining his crouch and tries to pull me along with him. I shake him off. Shoving him into the bushes, I raise a finger to my lips. He knows what I’m going to do and I can tell from his expression that he doesn’t like it. He reaches up to cover my mouth, but before he can catch me, I call out to Gamma.
“Coming!” I force my voice to sound cheery as Ghent sinks back to the dirt. I start to move in Gamma’s direction. She’ll be able to see me in a moment. Ghent reaches out to stop me, but with one more step, I’m in Gamma’s sightline.
“There you are.” She calls out from a distance that’s way too close for comfort. “I’m officially off shift. Let’s get out of here.”