Chapter 22: Reece

 

 

When Joseph said he had an urgent mission for me, I wasn’t expecting this. People were everywhere in the streets, fighting each other and trashing the place.

It seemed the richest members of Aria weren’t too happy that they now held equal rights with the poor and the clones. The riot had started at the supermarket and spilled out onto the streets. Everyone was eager for a fight, tensions were palpable.

I jumped out of the van and went the remaining distance on foot. It took concentration to duck through the crowd without copping a fist to the head or an elbow to the ribs.

It was a madhouse.

I pulled a fully grown woman off a girl of no more than ten. The differences in their social status was immediately apparent. The woman dripped with diamonds around her neck while the little girl was wearing barely more than dirty rags.

“It’s mine. I paid for it,” the little girl screamed. Her hands were clasped around a banana which the woman was trying to snatch from her fingers.

“You don’t deserve bananas. Give it to me.” The woman spoke through gritted teeth as she lunged for the piece of fruit. I stepped in, grabbing the woman around her middle and pulling her away from the girl.

She huffed and struggled against me, doing everything she could to kick me with her designer heels. “No more fighting. Leave the kid alone,” I said calmly, trying to influence her to do the same thing.

The woman let out a guttural growl as she fought against me. I dragged her away and deposited her on the edge of the fray, giving the girl enough time to escape with her food.

I only had my arms loosened for two seconds from around her middle before she turned around and slapped me across the face. She stormed off, trying to maintain her composure through her anger.

Making an example out of the woman and arresting her wasn’t something I was interested in doing. The citizens of Aria were still raw and adjusting to what had happened. Of course people were going to be angry, I just never expected them to riot like they were.

Members of the Resistance were everywhere as they tried to break up the fights erupting all around us. Normally the supermarkets were reserved for the wealthy, they were the only ones who did not have a ration on their food.

The poor were only allowed to buy certain foods from certain vendors. It was the food the rich wouldn’t have touched, even in desperation. Now people could shop wherever they wanted, it made the rich nervous, they feared their food was being taken away from them.

“More food deliveries are on the way,” I yelled out over the crowd. “We’re not going to run out of food. There is enough for everyone now.”

A few people acknowledged that they’d heard me but my message was barely scraping the surface. I continued to move through them until I was inside the supermarket. The stressed checkout operators were frazzled.

The wealthier people of Aria were standing at the registers, blocking them from the poorer citizens so they couldn’t check out. It was silly and petty but it would do no good trying to tell them that.

I forcibly removed them, standing guard to make sure they didn’t sneak back in to guard the food. Some citizens were going to take longer to adjust than others.

People that had been banned from the supermarkets before were wandering through the aisles, looking at all the food in wonder. Most of them chose at least one chocolate bar to add to their sensible foods. No sweets in any form were allowed in the poor people’s market. This would be the first time they tasted any sweet treats.

It was fun just watching them. I understood their awe and wonderment. Troopers had received some of the food that the rich were offered but there were still hundreds of items in this supermarket that I had never been able to access before – unless it was to guard it.

I made a mental note to buy Wren a chocolate bar before I left. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she tasted it for the first time.

Someone tapped on my shoulder and I spun around quickly to face them. Three teenagers stood in front of me – one boy and two girls. “Can I help you?” I asked.

The girl at the front, the oldest it seemed, spoke first. “We’re clones. We’ve run away from our Makers. Someone said you can protect us?”

I looked at them closer, seeing the bracelet of the cloned on their wrists. It was the only way to visually identify them, they weren’t Defectives but Valid Clones.

“You’re free now and welcome to return to our base with me,” I said. The look of relief on their faces was enough to make my spirits soar.

As much as I tried to persuade the trio to wait in the vehicle, they insisted on sticking with me like glue. They were still scared their Makers would find them and drag them back to their previous homes.

They were brave to leave like they had.

They reminded me of Wren.

I broke up more scuffles and made sure the poor could purchase their meagre meals at the supermarket. When it started to get dark the rich left, seeking the protection of their reinforced and gated houses.

By seven it was time the supermarket closed. We received grateful thanks from the owner and workers. The manager presented me with a chocolate bar and wouldn’t accept any money for it. I slipped it into my pocket to give to Wren later.

The trio were happy to leave, tired of shadowing me on my guard duty. I took them back to the warehouse and left them with the clone coordinator. They practically fell into the chairs with relief.

The last thing on my list was to see Joseph. I doubted the man had slept in the last few days. His weariness and fatigue was starting to show. He wouldn’t last much longer without some rest.

I knocked on his door. “Sir, can I talk to you for a moment?”

He looked up from behind his desk. “Ah, Reece, certainly. Please, come in.”

I closed the door behind me. “I patrolled at the 7^th Avenue shopping district today.”

“Yes, I heard about the riots. Thank you for your contribution. I’m sure you made quite a difference there today.”

“We all did our part. That’s kind of why I’m here now. The food is running low and people are worried they will go hungry. With everybody able to purchase food now, it seems they are eating more than usual.”

Joseph twined his hands together on the desk, thinking it through. “It’s understandable. Most people have been starving their whole lives. We’ve never had enough food in Aria. Only the rich ate until they were full. And then some more.”

“I think we need to speak with the suppliers and arrange for more deliveries. It means talking to the outside but I think it’s important to keep the peace.” I stood there like a statue while I waited for an answer. I was overstepping my position but I never was that good at keeping quiet.

“I agree,” Joseph said quickly. “Are you volunteering to make the journey?”

“I am, sir.”

“Then you should leave tomorrow. I’ll assign all your missions elsewhere.”

I nodded and stepped out of the office. Tomorrow I was going to leave Aria for the first time in my life. I told Wren the news as soon as I found her with the liberated clones.

“I’m coming with you, right?” she said.

“If you want to.” I wasn’t entirely happy about Wren accompanying me, just in case it wasn’t safe outside our walls like we’d been told. It was difficult shaking off information that had been drilled into us since birth. But I wasn’t going to admit that to anybody.

“I do want to come.”

My lips curled into a smile. “Then we’ll have an adventure then, hey? Venturing to the outside in search of food.”

She smiled and it lit up her entire face. We went back to our home, both tired from the day’s activities. We would have to relinquish the house soon, when Joseph decided what he was going to do with all the safe houses dotted around the city. He would probably give them to liberated clones.

For now, it was home.

And it felt wonderful sharing it with Wren.

After a small, plain dinner of rice noodles I pulled the chocolate bar from my pocket and held it up for her. “The manager at the supermarket gave me this today. Have you ever eaten chocolate?”

That got her attention. Wren was at my side in an instant and I pulled her onto my lap. She was still so tiny, little more than skin and bones. “I’ve never eaten it before but I’ve seen it advertised in the newspaper. Is it good?”

I opened the packet and held it out for her to take. “Try it for yourself.”

Wren’s eyes flicked from me to the chocolate bar and back again, weighing up whether she should accept it or not. I pushed it into her hands and waited for that first bite.

She nibbled on the end.

Her entire face ignited.

“Mmmm. It’s so good,” she mumbled between bites. She only ate until the halfway line and then handed it back. “The rest is yours.”

“No, you have it.”

“I can’t eat the whole thing, I want you to have some too.”

She convinced me to take the chocolate and I finished it off. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted, worth every minute of my guarding duties.

We went to bed shortly afterwards, setting an alarm for early the next day. Neither of us knew how long it would take to get to the closest town outside so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time.

When the alarm sounded at four a.m. I started to question my decision. It was still dark outside when we set off. Excitement about leaving the city made me jittery and unable to keep still.

The gates weren’t even being guarded anymore. We passed through the gap in the wall unceremoniously and then we were officially on the outside.

Thick forests greeted us, along with a single road that seemed to stretch on for miles upon miles – as far as I could see. It was all so different to the gray of our city. The colors of the forest seemed to be bright and alive as the sun started to rise over the horizon.

Soon, everything glowed a wonderful shade of orange and it was like we had stepped into a world that was the opposite of our own. My body buzzed with adrenalin, finding awe in everything I saw. I was going to wear out my eyes with the way I was so intently looking at things.

“Did you walk through that forest?” I asked Wren. She hadn’t been as awed as I was, making me feel like a little kid overexcited on their birthday.

“I did. Just down here is where I stopped a truck so I could smuggle myself into the city. Be careful when you drive through the rocks on the road.”

“That’s how you got back in?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me everything.” As I drove, Wren told me how she had survived by eating berries and came up with her brilliant plan to hijack a truck.

I was in awe of her after hearing the whole story.

“You would have been killed if someone found you,” I said, it was all I could think about. She had been beyond brave making that journey.

“My fingers were crossed,” she said, like it was nothing. Wren really didn’t understand how incredible she was. It was one of the things I loved about her so much.

We drove down the road at a comfortable speed that still allowed me to look at our surroundings and take it all in. I didn’t pass any other vehicles, it seemed like we might have been the only people in the outside world.

An hour quickly passed, followed by another couple. Finally, the forest started to thin and then gave way to open fields with houses planted in the middle of them.

The road started to have corners that I could turn down as it broke off into a few options. I hesitated at the first one. “Any idea which way we go?”

Wren shook her head. “I didn’t get this far.”

I went right, for no particular reason at all. I was putting everything I had into luck and just hoping we were going in the right direction.

I was hoping the luck was with me.

The first sign of life outside was when a car travelled toward us from the opposite direction. The person driving it looked like any other human. I felt silly for my relief. Of course they were going to look like us, we were all human after all.

The lessons we had been taught at school to make us fear the outside world ran deep in my consciousness. It was going to take a while to shake them away, but the monsters were fading.

Buildings started to pop up on both sides of the road, growing thicker the further we drove. More cars passed by and people started to appear on the sidewalks as they went about their business.

What did these people think about us? Were they taught to fear us like we were of them? Did they even know about Aria?

Wren didn’t know the answers to my questions so we continued deeper into the town hoping to find out. The people didn’t look scary, they probably wouldn’t kill us.

Just in case, I brought a gun with me.

Something that was starkly apparent around us was that everything looked sleek with clean lines. There wasn’t the clunky bricks or lumps of concrete like in Aria. Everything looked… clean.

Modern.

New.

There were large screens on the sides of some of the buildings, advertising products that looked very handy. Like a mop that rotated and a computer that cleaned the house. We didn’t have those kinds of things in Aria.

The smell was different too. The stench of diesel fuel didn’t linger in the air, it was fresh and clear with no discernable smell. It was like taking a deep breath and feeling better for it without my nose tickling with pollution.

People were largely wearing the same clothes that we did, at least some things remained the same. It was comforting to see a little bit of familiarity in a place that was growing more different by the minute.

“This place is weird,” Wren commented.

“It’s just different. They would probably say the same thing about Aria.”

“True.”

We drove around, pointing out everything unfamiliar as we moved. I tried to find buildings that matched the list Joseph had given me. The list of suppliers they found on Stone’s computer only had a few names on it. I needed to find them in a town big enough to get lost in.

After an hour of driving through the streets, I pulled over to the side where a woman was seated at a bus stop. “Excuse me, do you know where I could find the food manufacturers?”

She looked up from an electronic notebook and looked at me like I was from Mars. “Drive to the next left. It will take you to the industrial area. You might find them there.”

“Thank you.”

I swung the next left and headed in the general direction she had vaguely waved to. The roads were different in this city, they were smoother, more defined than ours. It was a much easier drive than going anywhere in Aria.

The van didn’t rattle like it was a maraca.

It was a miracle.

The buildings to either side started to change from low level high rises to the short, stout building belonging to manufacturers. It was a good sign we were heading in the right direction.

“Have you got the list?” I asked Wren. She pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket, neatly unfolding it to run her eyes over the print.

“We should just have to match the names with a sign, right?”

“With any luck.”

There were so many signs standing proudly outside the buildings, declaring the owners of whoever was inside. I’d never seen so many things in one place before.

We drove around for a very long time.

So long I was dizzy and completely lost.

“Hey, there’s one!” Wren said excitedly as she pointed to a building on my right. She showed me the paper, just to make doubly sure it was the right one.

I pulled over to the curb and turned off the engine. The building was at least twice as big as any of the warehouses in Aria. You could fit half our city in the space claiming to be owned by Fresh Mornings Produce.

Standing in front of the building made me feel very small. It was like you could fit the whole world into the four metal walls. “Let’s hope they’re friendly,” I muttered as we started the long walk to the front door.

Wren trailed next to me as we stepped through the glass door that opened automatically for us. A small office greeted us with a woman behind a counter. She was wearing a communications piece on one ear. “Welcome. Can I help you?”

The place smelled like cabbage.

“I’m from Aria,” I started. It probably would have been a good idea to have used some of the driving time to formulate a script. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of that a few hours ago. Now, I stumbled over my words. “You give us food.”

The girl smiled. She didn’t look much older than us. “We supply you with fresh produce?” All her teeth were showing, white and bright.

“Yes, that’s what I meant to say.”

“And how can I help you today?”

“We need to increase our order. Our city has recently been liberated and we need more food. People are worried it’s all going to be used up before more arrives,” I explained, as well as I could while awestruck.

The girl started typing on her computer. “You said you were from Aria? Are you a representative of President Portia Stone?”

“No—”

“Yes,” Wren said, cutting me off. Whatever she was up to, I was going to back her all the way. “We need to double our deliveries with a view to increasing them permanently. That is what President Stone requires.”

The girl was more interesting in typing now as her hands flew across the keyboard. Her eyes darted everywhere around the screen.

I didn’t know whether it would be better to make small talk with the girl but I didn’t know what to say. Being outside the city made me nervous and I didn’t know if these people would be like the ones I knew.

What if I said the wrong thing?

What if I inadvertently offended her?

The best decision was to just keep my mouth closed and wait. The girl seemed efficient enough to let me know when she needed more information.

Wren was standing as still as a rock, not daring to move or talk or breathe either. An entire city of people were relying on us succeeding in this mission.

We could not go home with failure.

The girl stopped typing and flashed all her teeth at us again. “All done.” She placed an electronic tablet on the counter between us. “If you could just sign here, I’ll get that organized for you.”

I had to sign with my finger, the tablet tracing my imprint until it vaguely resembled my name. I handed it back to her , still half-expecting her to deny our request.

She looked at the signature for a long time before she placed it back beside her again. “Thank you, Mr. Thompson. We appreciate your custom and look forward to dealing with you in the future. Please pass on our good wishes to your president.”

“I will, thank you.”

Wren and I got out of there before she had a chance to change her mind and realize we had no authority from Stone. I nudged Wren as we reached the vehicle. “So we’re working for Stone now?”

“I thought it would be easier than explaining about the whole revolution thing. Arians need food and she could give it to us. Best not rock the boat right now,” Wren replied.

Smart girl, my Wren.

I loved her more with every day that passed.

Another drive around in seemingly endless circles followed before we found the next supplier. This one was a little smaller and didn’t smell like produce. I wasn’t entirely sure what they manufactured there.

We said the same spiel to the young man at the front counter. He wore his T-shirt very tight, small enough to show all the muscles on his chest.

I didn’t trust him.

“So you want to double your order?” he asked, staring at me wide-eyed.

“Yes, please.”

“Do you have, like, permission to do this?”

“Yes,” I said. He made a face like he didn’t believe me. “Is there something wrong?”

“It’s just that we’ve been supplying Aria with goods for twenty years now and Stone has never told us she wants more stuff. If anything, she tries to keep it down.” He shrugged, like he was trying to work out a puzzle.

I exchanged a glance with Wren and she shrugged too. I guessed this time the truth was warranted. “Stone has been deposed, she is no longer our president. We represent the Resistance and have taken control of the city. We will be dealing with you from now on.”

The guy stared at me before his lips twisted into a grin. “It’s about time! Every month her guards or whatever used to come here and supervise the delivery. They were the worst, couldn’t even produce a smile. Good riddance to her!”

“I have to agree,” I replied. So dislike for Stone radiated even outside the wall. Her evil had no boundaries, apparently.

“Can we sell you everything now?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“We make, like, a couple of hundred things here. Stone used to only let us deliver a handful of our product lines. You want to see a catalogue?” He was so eager, he didn’t wait to hear our answer before he reached down behind the counter and whacked a book in front of us. “Pick anything you like, I’ll get you a touchpad to make it easier.”

The guy disappeared behind a door, practically skipping away. Wren and I started to flick through the pictures. I’d never seen that many different types of food before.

Chocolate bars with nuts.

Ice cream.

Cherries.

Dinners frozen for later consumption.

The list was endless. I didn’t know what most of them were or what they tasted like but I wanted to. I wanted to eat every single thing in the catalogue until I was ready to vomit.

“This is making me hungry,” Wren said.

“It’s blowing my mind,” I replied. “I never knew there were so many varieties of food. Can you imagine what these all taste like?”

“I want to find out.”

“Me too.”

The guy returned and handed us an electronic version of the catalogue. All we had to do was point to what we wanted and type in the quantities. I probably ordered more than necessary, but once the people of Aria saw these new foods, they would buy them quickly.

By the time we were on our way again, we were both starving. Perhaps it was all the food we’d been studying, but if we didn’t eat soon we were going to gnaw on our fingers.

The guy was kind enough to direct us to an eating place before we left and I followed his directions carefully. A wrong turn now would have been disastrous with our grumbling bellies.

“There!” Wren said, she made an excellent navigator. I quickly pulled over as the car behind me beeped his horn and sped around, accelerating quickly down the road. They obviously drove a bit faster than in Aria.

The café was entirely white as we entered. The tables, ceiling, walls, floor, plates, silverware, everything was stark white. We sat at a table and an electronic tablet popped up from a slot in the middle.

Pictures of the food they offered scrolled over the screen with instructions to tap what we wanted to order. Nothing looked familiar.

“I’m going to have whatever looks nice and cross my fingers,” Wren declared. “I think I could eat anything right now.”

We’d both definitely eaten things that looked worse than what was on the screen before us. I liked her sense of whimsy. “Let’s have different things and then we can taste each other’s selection.”

And we did just that.

I chose something that looked like a sandwich except it was filled with a bunch of stuff I’d never seen before. Wren chose something that looked like a form of pastry.

The food was delivered by a robot only a few minutes after making our selection. We lifted the trays from the mechanical contraption and placed them on the table. It all looked just as good in real life as it did on the screen.

“Here we go,” I said.

My first bite was tentative.

My second bite was heaven.

The menu had described it as a salad sandwich but it had so many colorful slices on it that I couldn’t count them all. Red, green, orange, yellow, deep purple. They were all on the one sandwich, combining to make a taste rainbow in my mouth.

The food was amazing. I could have eaten all day, making my way through the menu until I was about to burst like a balloon. Wren let me try hers and we swapped halfway, making sure to try everything we possibly could.

If we’d had more money, we would never have left the café. The prices were actually cheaper than in Aria – much cheaper – but we couldn’t make pigs of ourselves. Not in public, anyway.

We finished up the meal and looked for a bathroom. It was white too, from ceiling to floor. There wasn’t a spot or mark anywhere. It was like we’d stepped into an alien universe where color didn’t exist except in the food.

I finished before Wren, waiting outside for her to finish up. After a few minutes of watching people coming and going, I noticed something not quite right. A woman passed, she had only one arm.

She was a Defective Clone.

I kept my eye on her and pointed the woman out to Wren when she joined me. Her jaw dropped open as she recognized her.

I hoped that was a good thing.