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2

A loud bell whirred Sarah awake at eight o’clock in the morning. She had hoped to wake up in her apartment bedroom with the sun creeping in through chenille curtains, but last night hadn't been a nightmare. She really was trapped, Luna was nowhere to be seen, and that boy Andy was still sitting on his cot with the same silver jumpsuit and the same pall of black hair.

She took a sip of lukewarm water, went to refill it in the bathroom, went out, sat on her bed, and waited.

“Are you used to getting up this early?” he said, his tone deep and groggy. "You're full of energy."

“I think so,” she said. “I normally get up for school at eight.”

“You went to school?” he said.

“Uh-huh!” She nodded eagerly.

“Is it hard?” he asked.

An expression of concern spread over her face, an expression so magnified that it became a rictus. “Have you never been to school?”

He shook his head. “There were classes at the orphanage that my sister and I used to go to. We'd learn basics like spelling and reading and math and whatever. It was fun. But that was... years ago.”

“Do you miss her?” asked Sarah.

“Every day,” he said. “We used to live with my grandma but she died from getting too damn old. Guess that's what happens. People die. Can't do anything about it. You're kind of like her, my sister, except you're white.”

The image of what Andy's sister might have looked like – just a girl with an even bigger afro than him – made her smile. There was something comical to it even.

“What?” he said.

“Nothing,” she said. "So!" The word exploded out her mouth, louder than she had anticipated. “Is whatever we do hard? I’ve always wanted to be helpful, but my sister never lets me tag along on any of her adventures.”

“Then how did you get here?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Men came into the hotel we were staying at,” she said. “They tricked us by telling us they were security, then they brought us down to the parking lot and pulled out their guns. Pistols, I think.”

“Guess this is just an adventure gone bad then, huh?”

“I guess,” she said. “But you're nice. I like you Andy.”

He smiled. “I like you too, and you'll get used to the work.”

Seconds later, a man came to unlock the door; one of those robot zombies. An assault rifle was strapped around his shoulders, and he was wearing an eggshell-white mask over his mouth and nose. “Get movin'!” he snarled.

Andy hopped down, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and waited outside. Sarah was about to do the same, but when she got to the door the robot zombie stopped her.

“Where’s your jumpsuit?” he said.

“You didn’t give me one,” she said.

“You tryna get smart with me?” he said.

“No sir,” she said. “I wouldn’t do anything of the sort.”

His orange eyes sharpened. “You new here?”

“Yes, mister,” she said.

“She got here last night,” said Andy, looking oddly calm. “She’s the girl Mr Steel would have told you about.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Sarah, is it?”

“Yes sir,” she said.

His face hardened. “Come with me then, and don’t try anything funny. You too, Andy.”

“When do I try anything funny?” he said.

All three of them began making their way down the staircase. The other doors along the platforms had opened and other children were pouring out, all led by armed robot zombies and all creating a loud, ear-splitting din. Some went down one tunnel, others another way, and others another way again. The direction Sarah had to take led through a series of busted windows, caged animals – dogs, cats, and even a white tiger called Lulu (or so the plaque knotted to the bars proclaimed) – and turned into an octagon-shaped corridor. The walls were made of ventilation tubes, and the ground was smooth like marble.

“Where are we going?” asked Sarah.

“You’ll see,” the man said.

“Why does it smell like urine?”

He laughed. “If that smell bothers you, you’re in for one long day.”

“Why do you have a tiger?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“But that’s not nice,” she said. “You can’t trap an animal like that. It’s illegal.”

He stopped in front of a round door, grabbed her by the arm, and said, “You think this is a daycare? Shut your mouth!”

She sneered. “Fine, but the law will find out about you.”

“Oh yeah? Who’s gonna tell ’em?”

“Me,” she said.

He balled his fist, grumbled, and then punched the access pad next to the door. “In there!” he shouted. “Now!”

Sarah stepped inside; it was a narrow repository with lidless packing cases. Within them were messily stacked silver jumpsuits. The crates were labelled in red paint: EXTRA SMALL, SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE, and so on, eventually repeating.

Sarah didn’t know her size exactly; it wasn’t often that she went out and bought new clothes – she was a slow-grower, after all – and most of her jackets and pants from when she was ten fit just fine. If she had to put money on it, she would say she was somewhere between extra-small and small.

A draught wormed its way into her neck and travelled down her spine until stopping at her haunch. She didn’t know how at first – how could there be a breeze this far down? – but then she noticed the ventilation shaft bolted to the other side; it lazily passed air and thrummed like a dying bulb. She thought about climbing through it, like one of those detectives breaking into a secret base, and –

“Don’t even think about it,” said the man. “That vent leads nowhere, you’ll die. Understand?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I wouldn’t do anything of the sort,” she said, chuckling.

He grabbed a small jumpsuit from one of the packages. “Take your clothes off and put this on.”

“With you watching?” she said. “I’m not comfortable with that.”

“I said take – ” He paused, and then his eyes widened. “Fine.” And he turned away. “Hurry up!”

She spent the next minute donning the jumpsuit, and when she finished it was snug and well fitted.

“Finished?” he said.

“I think so,” she said.

“You think so?” he said.

“She’s dressed,” said Andy.

The man turned, grabbed, and nudged her out the door. After he shut it, they made their way back through the tunnels, passing the same things as before – Lulu and the smell of urine – and through one of the busted windows a room was occupied by half a dozen kids sitting around a huge accent table. She didn’t have enough time to see what they were doing, but she figured it had something to do with packing Jade or Afterburner, like Andy said, and if not, then who knew? She was curious about it, but at the same time she knew not to ask too many questions or else the big scary man would get upset.

Eventually they made it to the Package Area, as signified by the holo-sign; inside, the room was a couple paces long, dark, and illuminated by phosphorous lights. Two long tables, each occupied by a kid. A boy and a girl. The boy had a buzzcut while the girl had red locks. They were cutting plants from the reed-trimmed wicker baskets placed alongside them.

There was a sickening odour of burnt rope, which was strange because, as far as Sarah was aware, the place had no ropes. The man ordered herself and Andy to sit at the contour chairs and get to work, but she wasn’t sure what get to work meant. She didn’t know what to do with the baskets or the plants, and when she voiced her concern, the man told Andy to show her. Then he left, locking the door behind him.

“Are you new?” the boy asked. “It’s super easy.”

“What’s your name?” the girl said. A country accent.

“Sarah,” she said. “What about you?”

“Valerie,” she said, “and this is Pip.” She pointed to the boy at the other table.

“Hi Pip,” Sarah said. “Wow, I love your hair Valerie.”

“I like yours!” she said with a big smile.

“I like Andy’s,” said Pip, and they laughed.

“Who wants to show her?” said Andy.

“Didn’t Teslaface say you had to do it?” replied Pip. His voice seemed to come from a distance; quiet, but cheerful.

“Teslaface?” said Sarah. “Is that the zombie guy?”

“A zombie?” snickered Valerie.

“That’s what he looks like.”

Pip said, “I bet he eats cow brains.”

“It’s probably better than eating the crap they give us,” said Andy, and then he reached back and grabbed a plain steel strongbox from one of the packages. “Okay, you paying attention?”

“What’s that?” Sarah said, and then he clanked it open, revealing an empty interior.

“Our job is to cut the Jade – that’s this green stuff” – he pointed at the hash – “and put them in these boxes.”

“That sounds boring,” said Sarah.

“They aren't really trying to make it fun for us,” said Pip.

“I know,” confided Sarah. “My sister does all sorts of fun things. She's a hacker.”

“A hacker?” said Andy.

“Uh-huh, she makes a lot of money doing stuff with her MD.”

“What’s an MD?” said Valerie.

“You don’t know what an MD is?”

They all shook their heads.

“Well,” said Sarah, “it means Mental Display. My sister says you can call people using your brain when you install it, but it can get viruses sometimes. She has a chip in her brain and a wire that comes out of her wrist. She’s really cool.”

“Interesting,” said Andy, looking surprised. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“Me neither,” said Pip.

“Neither,” said Valerie.

Sarah was as equally surprised as they were. The Mental Display came out a long time ago – although she wasn’t sure how long ago exactly, but her sister got hers installed five years back – so these kids must have been down here awhile. She still remembered the face Mom made after finding out Luna had installed it. Mom was furious and demanded that Luna have it removed right away; she got used to it eventually, but then again, didn’t mothers always?

“Anyway,” said Andy, taking a swatch of Jade from the basket. He grabbed a pair of scissors. “Cut the leaves from the stem like this.” He chopped off a nice piece, and then placed it in the strongbox. “Just like that. Now you try.”

She took the scissors and began cutting off the hash. The leaves pricked her fingers, and she let out a loud, “Ouch!”

Valerie and Pip laughed, but Andy kept a straight face.

“Told you it’s not safe,” he said.

“That stings!”

Now he chuckled. “Doesn’t it?”

She sucked the pain through her teeth and continued cutting, keeping her fingers as still as possible. When she was finished, she packed it in the box.

“Good!” said Andy, picking up his own scissors and hash stick. “Just keep doing that till the basket’s empty, and when that box gets full, grab another one.”

“Do we have to do this all day?”

He shook his head. “After break we bring the boxes up to the adults. Much easier but gets tiring.”

“Then what?” she said sourly.

“Then dinner!” said Pip.

“And then?”

“More hash,” said Andy.

“Then?”

“Shower,” said Pip.

“Then bed,” finished Valerie.

“So the day goes: hash, break, adults, dinner, hash, shower, bed? All the time?” Sarah sounded uncomfortable.

“That about sums it up,” said Valerie, giving a thumbs up.

“Do we ever get to go outside?” said Sarah.

“No,” said Andy.

Horror shot through her. Her eyes widened a little, then closed as she pictured doing this over and over again, then snapped open. She felt slightly dizzy, but she chalked that feeling up to her fleeting anxiety.

“And you guys are okay with that?” Sarah asked.

Pip shrugged. “We don’t have much of a choice.”

“I get that,” she said, “but there must be a way out. My sister’s very good at sneaking in and out of places. Have you ever tried that? Sneaking out?”

“The only way out is through the elevator,” said Andy. “Unless you wanna climb through the ventilation shaft and risk getting suffocated.”

“The one in the changing room?” said Sarah.

“The very same.” He smiled wryly. “But you’d probably get caught and…”

“... Killed…” said Pip.

Valerie nodded. “Don’t worry, Sarah. You’ll get used to it. I like to think that they’ll let us go eventually.”

“Fat chance of that happening,” chuckled Andy. “I just wanna see my sister again. Can’t remember the last time she told me off about my hair.”

“Same,” said Sarah.

“Here’s hoping,” said Andy, and he raised his scissors.

Sarah was confused. “What are you doing?”

He sighed. “It’s like a toast, but for hoping. You’re supposed to tap scissors with mine. It’s to show that you agree.”

“Oh,” she said, and clinked scissors with him. “Like that?”

He nodded. “Break’s at two, which gives us five hours to fill these boxes.”

“Five?” she yelled with disbelief.

Another nod. “Five.”

She sighed, then looked up at the LED clock. 8:51 A.M., it read.

Gosh....

And so she continued picking away at the Jade, nattering with Andy and Valerie and Pip about all sorts of things. When things grew quiet and she could no longer think of something to say – mostly out of the discomforting situation she had been thrust into – she listened to the same few words playing over in her mind:

Hash, break, adults, dinner, hash, shower, bed.