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I DIDN'T HEAR A WORD the governor said after he announced that I'd been summoned. I just sat in front of the television with my mouth hanging open. There were so many thoughts racing through my mind that all I heard inside my head was a low hum of white noise. Beside me I saw my mother sobbing into her hands. Her body shook violently with each large gasp. If I was in my right mind I would have comforted her, pat her on the back, or something. But I was in shock and my mind refused to communicate with my body.
Scarlett Johnson from triad three, you have been summoned.
The words echoed around inside my head like a ping pong ball. Nine little words. They were barely enough to form a sentence but together they still manage to completely annihilate life as I knew it.
Emotions flowed through me in waves. First was the shock, then the disbelief came through me like a freight train. It was a joke. It had to be. Or nightmare, one of the ones that feels so real that you cry tears of joy that it's not when you wake up.
Then the fear took over and squeezed my chest like an angry python. I felt like I couldn't breathe. The walls and the ceilings were closing in on me, threating to pin me down with their weight. Last came the sadness. It came when I glanced over at my mother. She had finally stopped sobbing and all that was left of her was a hollow, sad shell. Besides her sister that lived across town I was all she had left. A dead husband, and a soon to be dead only daughter. That was the legacy that she would have to live out the last few days of her life with. I looked at her and my heart ached. She was my best and only friend. I'd spent the last five years caring for her and we'd gotten closer than I had ever imagined. They took her husband and now the vamps were going to take her daughter too.
I wasn't going to let that happen. I jumped to my feet in an instant and sprinted to my bedroom. It wasn't a far jog in the shoebox of an apartment, and for once I saw that as an advantage. I ripped the doors of my closet open so fast that I thought they were going to rip off and pulled down my beat up duffel bag from the top shelf. It was weathered and the pink fabric was peeling but I didn't care. It was all I had and all I had was good enough. From the closet I hurried to the dresser and pulled out my clothes in handfuls. I didn't care what I grabbed or how many. Time wasn't on my side and I had lost a lot of it wallowing. It was time to move.
I pulled my phone and quickly dialed my aunt Carol's number. It didn't even ring she answered so fast.
"Oh my god Scarlett I just saw the news."
"I don't have time for your sorrys aunt Carol." I cut her off. I knew what came next anyway, the apologies about not calling and about what had happened to my father even though it was ages ago. It was like whenever Carol saw me all she saw was my grief and pain. Marrying into a wealthy family that had immunity ties with the governor was something that had spared her from feeling those two things. "I need you to come get my mom, okay?"
"What?"
"Carol, listen to me. I need to know that you're going to take care of her, okay? I know you two have your differences but she needs a safe place to live and someone to get her meds for her. Don't leave her in this shit apartment in this shit triad Carol. Please."
I paused to blink back tears. My voice had cracked a bit more on that last word than I had intended it to.
"Scarlett, you're not running are you?" Carol's voice was nearly a whisper. "You know what they do to runners."
"I know!" My composure slipped from me for a moment before I could reel it back in. My heart was racing as fast as a horse and it was putting me on edge. "I know." I repeated more calmly. "Just, please promise me you won't leave her here."
There was silence on the other line for a moment before Aunt Carol sighed. "Scarlett. You know I won't. But-"
"Thank you. That's all I needed to know." I cut her off and ended the call before she could slide anymore words into the conversation.
I slung my duffel bag around my shoulders and scurried out into the living room. My mother sat in the living room. She looked up at me and her face was streaked with tears. The heavy dark circles underneath her eyes made it obvious that she had depleted her already fading energy on crying to hard.
"Oh! Scarlett, you're home!" She smiled warmly. "I'm so glad to see you." She spoke slowly and her words slurred together.
Another episode.
She had them from time to time when her body was at its most fatigued. Moments of lapsed memory. Sometimes they were mild, and sometimes she didn't even know who I was. It hurt my heart to see her like this, but I knew it was for the best.
I had to leave. I had to get out and to lay low until this all blew over. I couldn't let the trials take me. I knew if she was well enough to comprehend that she would understand. She would have told me to go. I knew Carol would take care of her. She was rich and her husband had ties that granted his household immunity from the purge. When this was all a distant memory and the entire city wasn't out looking for me I would come back and take her with me too. I heard California was a pretty good state to be human, the trials didn't even exist there. We could be safe, I could work, and maybe we could even afford treatment for her.
I had to do it. I had to.
"Yeah mom, I'm home." I smiled.
"Just in time to help me to bed. I'm so tired." She hung her head, nearly falling asleep in her wheelchair.
"Yeah, I know mom." I wheeled her into her room and helped her into her night gown. I knew that the clock was ticking and every second that passed was another second that I should have been farther away from her, but I couldn’t just leave her. Not like this.
I pulled the covers over her and sat on the bed beside her.
She looked at me and her pale blue eyes had meaning behind them. She smiled warmly and laid her hand on mine but I knew somewhere deep inside of her she knew what was going on. A piece of her remembered. I couldn’t leave her without any explanation.
“I love you mom.” A tear slid down my cheek.
“I love you too Scarlett. More than anything in the world. “She closed her eyes.
“I’m leaving for a while but Aunt Carol is going to take care of you, okay?” It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my voice from quivering.
“I miss aunt Carol.” She mumbled softly as she slid further into sleep.
“I know.” I wiped my tears from my face. “But don’t get too used to her mansion and maids, okay? I’m coming back and when I do you’re going to have to live a boring life with little old me.”
My mother smiled and she drifted deeper into sleep. I wanted to crawl in bed next to her like I sometimes did when shit got rough, but I forced myself to my feet and closed her door tightly behind me.
My phone buzzed in my hand and I brought it to my ear.
“I’m on my way with my driver. We have immunity plates, no one will touch us. Your mom will be safe, you don’t have anything to worry about sweetie.”
“Thank you.” I hung up. I didn’t want to give her even a split second to let her curiosity about my plans slip out. And I definitely didn’t want to hear that she was so sorry, or that I was so brave, or that everything would be okay.
The truth was that I’d been summoned. Nothing would ever be okay again.
I slid on my black leather jacket and let my hair down before slipping out the front door and locking it behind me. I wasn’t stupid enough to use the front door, not with the half-wit invicta members that were probably stalking the street at the very moment thinking of all the non-creative ways they could rip me apart for getting them blown with tarragon.
I adjusted my bag on my shoulder, glad that it still held all of our herb filled weapons. Tarragon was the only thing that seemed to hurt the vamps, short of decapitating them. It was our only chance at a fair fight, and there was no way I was going on the run without it.
I turned to head toward the back door creeping as quietly as I could but the apartment door next to ours opened slowly. Mrs. Camino stood in the doorway and leaned against the door frame. She wiped a stray strand of gray hair from her face and took off her glasses.
I liked Mrs. Camino. She was an old friend of my fathers, but the look in her eyes made me uneasy. She was afraid, it was written all over her face. And when people were afraid they were desperate.
“Scarlett, where are you going?” She eyed me suspiciously.
“Late night walk?” I shrugged, frozen in place.
“She pulled out her cellphone and sighed. “I’m sorry Scarlett. You know what happens when someone runs. It’s counted as a death for our triad and we’re shit out of luck. They’re including everyone in this purge Scarlett. We need every chance we can get.” She started to dial a number.
Shit.
I broke out in a run and booked it down the stairs. So much for being quiet and going unnoticed. Neighbors on all three floors opened up their doors to see what the commotion was, and once they seen me rushing down the stairs they knew what was going on. They each pulled out their cellphones and dialed the number for human control.
I would be lying if I said that my feelings weren't hurt. I had lived in the building my entire life. Each and every one of these people had watched me grow up in one shape or form. Everyone watched me care for my mother. Everyone had looked after me in their own way.
And now they were all turning me in for running from the summoning-every single one of me.
The people pleaser inside me was hurting. I hated it when people were upset with me, it was one of the very few things that I had inherited from my mom. But in that moment my need to stay alive for my mother burned brighter than the hurt of betrayal from people that I almost considered family.
I had to stay alive- for her. That was all that mattered.
A wave of relief swept over me when I made it to the bottom floor. The red exit door was in my sights when someone stuck their foot out and I was sent spiraling to the ground. chest collided with the hard ground and my duffel bag was sent skidding away from me.
"Human control said not to let her get out. We're supposed to hold her down until they get here, they're five minutes out."
No. This isn't how this ends.
Before anyone could hold me down I scrambled for my duffel bag, shoved my hand inside, and pulled out the handgun that was inside. I quickly rolled on my back and aimed it in every direction. The three men that had been approaching halted and their hands shot into the air.
They were scared, but they could tell that I was too. And scared with a gun trumps scared without one.
"Everyone just stay back." I winced pulling myself to my feet. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to live."
I slowly backed toward the exit.
"We want to live too." A woman's voice echoed from down the hall. "You know what they do with runners. You're taking away a chance that we have to win.
I saw her point, but it didn't matter. My sense of self-preservation had kicked in.
"I'm sorry." I stuttered before slipping out the bright red door leaving behind everything and I'd ever known.