Divided (25 page)

55

Phillip

All of the Chipped are gathered in the city, ready to attack on my command. I look at the green dot amongst the blue dots in the Compound. Arys is the green dot. She should see all of her family die, she should be here, watching the screens as the Chipped move into her tribe and slaughter everyone. It’s what she deserves.

     ‘The war begins tomorrow! Prepare the computers!’ I shout to the group.

     They all do as they’re commanded. A battle of this scale will require a large number of Chipped. It needs to be perfect.

56

Arys

Life has already become a ridiculous routine. Get up, shower, breakfast, train, lunch, an hour to myself, train, dinner, train, and then lights out is at eleven. As the bell rings throughout the Compound, signalling the end of the final training session, my muscles are heavy, and all I want to do is to get to my bed and sleep, but Lizzy insists that we both sneak out tonight. I can’t help myself but ask her finally about how the obedience enhancement works. Surely it will stop them breaking rules? She laughs suddenly when I do.

     ‘You mean the government issue one?’ she asks, shaking her head. ‘It only works with people you deeply respect or fear! They’re less scary now we’re used to them, and what have they done to earn our respect? You should know this, Arys!  That memory drug has really messed with you.’

     ‘So you don’t have to do everything they tell you?’ I ask curiously.

     ‘Well... deep down, I guess when it goes beyond a joke, then yeah it’s wise to do what they tell you to do. But sneaking out into another dormitory isn’t going to do any harm to anyone!’

    I silently agree with her, and when she plans to do it, I don’t argue with her. Apparently the guards are on a schedule, and swap over just after lights out at eleven. We get in there successfully and Dan grins at me from his position sat on his bed. Just as we’re all engaging in a hilarious debate on whether or not Chief Frost and the cook have something romantic going on, there is a sharp knock at the door. Dan gets up to open it, and Lee stands outside it, his eyes wide with terror. He’s out of breath and has been running.

     ‘Lee!’ I exclaim quietly, running to him as he walks in. ‘What is it?! What’s wrong?’

     He strokes his ear, signalling as subtly as he can. I get it instantly. There’s a problem with my earpiece.

     ‘It’s... the... Chipped,’ he gasps, talking between breaths.

     ‘What about them?!’ I ask at the same time as Dan.

     Lee catches his breath, and then continues, ignoring the room full of Compound teenagers.

     ‘I work in the control room. Your brother gave us all orders... he’s starting a war!’

     ‘My brother?’ I ask him confusedly, looking around to see if he was talking to anyone else.

     ‘It’s complicated!’ he says, coming in and closing the door behind him. ‘He’s evil. He’s Victor Thorne’s son.’

     It’s hard to take in what he’s said... that I have a brother. He never mentioned that when I was in the cell.

     ‘Okay,’ is all I can say right now; I need to know about the war.

     ‘Anyway,’ Lee continues. ‘He’s sending out all of the Chipped. He’s gone insane, he’s even sent for the Chipped we have at other cities over the country! I’ve sent word to Henry, and all of the tribes know. But we have to stop this!’

     ‘There’s over a hundred thousand Chipped out there, Lee! I’ve seen them!’ I say, trying to keep from shouting out. ‘They’re innocent people! They don’t know what they’re doing and you of all people know that! The tribes will put up a good fight! So many innocent people will die for nothing!’

     A silence follows. No one daring to even breathe.

     Lee smiles slightly. ‘You still call me Lee?’

     ‘What else would I call you?!’

     He ignores this question.

     ‘Are you ready to see your mum?’ he asks.

     My throat tightens, and I feel my heartbeat increasing in speed rapidly, getting faster and faster as I think of all the unsaid words I’ve wanted to say to her for years. I want to tell him that I do, but I can’t. I can’t even nod, I just stand there stiffly. It’s my mother, the woman lost in my memory. I can’t remember her at all. Maybe if it weren’t for the earthquake, my memories of her would be of her comforting smile, or the way she might hum while cleaning, or the way she would sing when I had nightmares. But this is just a dream of a mother I never knew. In reality, she would be a woman trained in the military. Bossy and strong; straight to the point and formal like Agent Williams.

     ‘Yes,’ I finally manage to say. ‘I’m ready.’

Lee leads me down into the same lab I woke up in on the first day here. Dan comes with us, while Lizzy remains in the boy’s dorm, talking through a plan with everyone. We meet two guards on the way down, but after Lee flashes his security badges, we are allowed past.

     Men sit around a large, black circular table, and a woman is sat on the largest chair at the head of it. At first, I expect her to be my mother, and my heartbeat flickers violently, but then I recognise her as Lana.

     ‘I thought my mother was going to be here,’ I say to Lee.

     He pulls two chairs out, offering them both to Dan and me.

     ‘She must have something else to do,’ he says quietly.

     A few extra people join us, and Lana starts talking with authority.

     ‘You’re all here at my request,’ she begins. ‘By now, you’ll all know about the war approaching. It begins tomorrow, unless we can stop it. For now we have one way to stop it indefinitely, but that’s unthinkable and mass murder.’

     ‘Which way?’ a balding man asks.

     ‘Pulling the plug to the computers,’ she explains. ‘The chips require an almost constant signal to the brain, be it “Don’t leave the city”, or “Kill”. With that signal gone, the chips overheat, causing fatal damage to the brains. We’re not doing that, I’m sure you can all agree with me?’

     People mutter to their partners, but no one seems to disagree. Lee stands up.

     ‘We have a motto here,’ he says. ‘Much like the Unity motto, although we stand by ours like an unbreakable promise! “Stand as one, or don’t stand at all”. I propose we tell the tribes the truth about the Chipped. They wouldn’t want to kill them if they knew! Then we need to de-chip the Chipped. We have the necessary resources, and with the help of the tribes, we’ll have thousands of people! And finally we will stand as one. Tribes alongside the Chipped!’

     Lana stays silent while all of the men make grunts of approval, all of them turning to Lana to hear the verdict. Lana stands up.

     ‘And how do you propose we de-chip them? There are easily a hundred thousand in just the city alone, and we barely have twenty four hours!’

     Lee remains standing, his face a look of deep thought, until he finally turns to me. I raise my eyebrows at him. What could I possibly do?!

     ‘Maybe instead of de-chipping them, Arys could convince Phillip to call off the war. Maybe she can convince him to send a blank signal to the Chipped, hopefully granting them free will.’

     ‘And how would I manage that?’ I ask, trying to sound formal, like the others, but the thought of my brother scares me, and I realise as I say it that I sound sarcastic.

     ‘He’s telepathic, like you,’ he explains, as if still thinking of the plan. ‘We have an enhancement that will strengthen your telepathy. Consider it as a software update. It solves the problems with emotions and extends the reach of the telepathy so you can communicate with anyone with the same enhancement, not just the people you’re connected to. That way you can convince your brother to call off the attacks. You can speak to him like no one else can!’

     The whole thing goes over in my mind slowly. I can already see problems with this plan, but no one else seems to.

     ‘Genius,’ Lana whispers.

     I don’t think about the holes in the plan for long, as if it stops this war and saves countless lives, I’m ready for it.

     ‘I believe it is, if I do say so myself,’ Lee says, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little.

     Dan stands up, his face looking straight forward, like he’s addressing Chief Frost.

     ‘But what if he’s ready for her? What if he’s planned this? That would not only put her in danger, but this entire operation, as where else could she get the upgrade from?’

     ‘Don’t worry, Danny! She’s in safe hands,’ Lee says.

     Am I really the only person who calls him Dan? Danny sounds like a weak name, whereas Dan is a stronger name. Dan is strong; he pushed me down more times than I could count during training.

     Lee leads us out of the room, leaving the men inside to discuss plans with Lana.

     ‘Smile, Arys,’ Lee says. ‘This plan can’t fail.’

     I give him a weak sort of nod, and we stop in the hallway. He lifts my chin to look up at him.

     ‘You are completely trusting in me,’ I say resignedly. ‘What if I fail? What if I’m not strong enough like last time?’

     ‘You will be, I promise! I have complete faith in you.’

     We continue walking across the Compound, and back into the building with the dormitories. No guards try and stop us now we’re heading back, as opposed to leaving. Lee leaves us at my door, and Dan enters with me. We sit on the floor, the thin carpet underneath us, both of us in silence. I can’t see any of the other girls, they usually keep to themselves.

     ‘I don’t want you to do this,’ he whispers after a few minutes.

     ‘I know, but you know I have to. There’s no other way,’ I reply quietly.

     ‘I don’t think you do know though, Arys. We haven’t known each other long, but I love you and don’t want to lose you.’

     I know it’s survival love. We both know that, but it’s a different kind of survival now. Here, survival is different. It isn’t running, and hiding from the enemy. Here, survival is facing the enemy full on. There are so many different types of love I never even knew existed.

     ‘I love you, too,’ I reply. ‘You remember our plan? We’re going to get out of here and you’ll live with us in the Tribe. No longer being hunted. No longer imprisoned. That’s a promise I will never break.’

     I promised Papa that I will do everything I can to bring down the Hunters and save the tribes. I was only young, but I won’t break that promise.

     Dan eventually leaves me and I crawl into my bed. When I rest my head on the pillow, a bulky object is stuffed under it. I pull up the pillow to reveal a long, black backpack. Inside, I find my sword and my letter from Papa. I re-read it again, drawing hope and comfort from his words. He told me to go north and to find the bridge, where I will get his next instructions. I got to the bridge. I never got his next instructions.

57

Kai

The plan has changed. Henry instructed all of the men to stand and fight, and all of the women are to take the children to the hills and to hide themselves from the battle. Some women choose to stay and fight, but the majority agree, and they pack their remaining items. Any with young children leave. Maybe in the Old World, teenagers wouldn’t lead men into battle, but this is different now. Henry organised people into separate regiments, with a mixed array of skills. He personally chose leaders, and however old or young, they’re all treated with an equal amount of respect. The teenagers have been through as much as the adults, and still fight for the freedom they believe in.

     I walk past the main fire, now relit and blazing furiously, the dark smoke rising thickly into the sky. All of the leader’s tents have been relocated to be around the fire. The Festival has ended. No longer is it a time of celebration, but a time to say goodbye.

     ‘You shouldn’t even be here, Red!’ I hear Henry saying inside his tent.

     ‘I know it was a risk,’ a woman’s voice says. ‘But I snuck out.’

     Her voice is soft, and weary, as if she’s exhausted.

     ‘Why are you here?’ Henry asks.

     ‘I had to take a hovercraft. It’s about your daughter, Arys,’ she replies.

     I shouldn’t listen in, but after hearing Arys’s name, I have no choice but to get closer.

     ‘What about her?’ Henry asks, his voice sounding a little scared.

     ‘She came to the bridge. We sent her into the Compound,’ the woman says, talking fast as if trying to get it all off her chest. ‘A man working on the inside will give her the enhancement that strengthens her telepathy to not only connect her with her sister, but with anyone like her. She’s to convince Phillip to call off the attacks. If the plan succeeds, you won’t be attacked.’

     ‘We can’t let the outcome of this war depend solely on the use of enhancements!’ Henry whispers angrily. ‘If this fails, then thousands of innocent people will kill thousands of innocent people!’

     Innocent people? He can’t be talking about the Hunters?

     ‘Red, you need to go.’ Henry whispers. ‘If anyone sees you here...’

     I take cover behind a tree, crouching down low. I watch as the woman walks out of the tent, her blonde hair blowing behind her as she walks off. My mind reels, going over everything the woman said. Arys went to a bridge, and they sent her to the Compound. Whoever “they” are, I don’t know. Hunters are innocent? This makes me feel sick, they can’t be innocent! They have killed us and our families and now they’re innocent? But my number comes back to me. I don’t think on it.

     ‘Henry?’ I call inside his tent.

     I waited outside of his tent for an hour, before going to him so it’s not obvious I was listening in.

     ‘You can enter, Kai,’ he says quietly.

     He’s sat on a small stool next to his bed, writing. His hand moves rapidly over the page, as if he’s in a rush.

     ‘Arys told me something before she ran way,’ I confide. ‘She said something about going north to find a bridge and it was Papa’s request. I was wondering if that means anything to you.’

     Henry sighs. ‘Well, I may as well tell you, you have the right to know.’

     He stops writing and looks at me in an almost fatherly fashion.

     ‘Noah sent her to “
North Bridge
”. It’s not only a bridge, but an organisation. Before the earthquake, some of us got together. We were originally agents of Unity, the government division focused on the earthquake happening. When we heard of the plans, we were forced to take action against them. We knew that the government were going to take babies of a year old, or less, and knew that the adults were going to be the experiments,’ he pauses for a second. ‘You don’t know about the Hunters do you? About the chips?’

     I shake my head, hanging onto his every word. He holds the answers to what my life is based around. He explains in detail of people who came to the government, seeking refuge in the Compound, wanting safety. They were granted that, but the people already living in the Compound, and the city around it were injected with electronic microchips. They were controlled and told to kill the survivors. They didn’t know they were doing it and couldn’t stop themselves.

     I’m a murderer. I have killed one hundred and seventy six innocent people. My father... I killed my innocent father...

     ‘So what is the bridge?’ I ask, throwing away the thoughts like I’ve done all my life.

     ‘North Bridge are the people who are working to connect the Hunters and the tribes. They plan to unite them; to make them one.’

     ‘Then why did you declare war on them?!’ I protest.

     ‘There’s nowhere we can run. They will reach us and if we aren’t prepared, then we will all be killed. The tribes need warning, and if they’re prepared to fight, then there will be fewer casualties.’

     ‘But tomorrow, they’ll be killed! The plan would have failed!’

     ‘Not if we can help it.’