Aberrant (12 page)

"Someplace safe," he informed, leading me across
the street. He pulled out his key card as I realized we were walking into the elusive
tech center.

I felt my heart quicken. "Safe?" I repeated
uncertain I understood what was happening. "I swear to you nothing
happened." I felt overwhelmed as the door slammed shut behind us, and I glanced
back seeing a keypad to exit the building. Why was I here? "We were best
friends in Genesis. That doesn't go away just because you tell me I can't be
with him."

Landon snorted in disapproval. "I'm sorry you're having
trouble adjusting, Olivia, but you're too important for us to let your childish
mistakes ruin your future and the future of Cabal." He grabbed my elbow
forcefully as he led me up the stairs.

"Let go of me!" I demanded. "Where are you
taking me?" I tried to break free from his grasp, but his fingers dug into
my skin. I grimaced in pain as he escorted me down a stark white hallway.
Stopping, he opened a door, the key already inside the lock before we arrived. Landon
pushed me inside and quickly shut it behind me. "Landon!" I screamed
banging on the window watching as he retrieved the key and shoved it into his
pocket. The window – shatterproof and plastic – barely waivered as my hands
pounded repeatedly and I begged to be released. "Please let me out of
here!" He stared at me through the window. I tried the door but it was
locked, not that I expected it to open. "Landon!"

"Again, I'm sorry you're having trouble following the
rules. Until you can behave yourself, consider this a timeout."

"What?" My eyes widened, appalled by the
suggestion. I wasn't a child. This was absurd! "Landon!" I screamed
banging again on the window and frowning when he turned and walked away. "Bastard,"
I muttered beneath my breath, secretly hoping he heard me. I was angry and
growing bitter with my treatment in Haven. They expected me to marry when I was
already in love. They demanded I have a child with someone other than the only
person I could imagine having a family with. Joshua and I were hardly ready for
children – I wasn't sure I even wanted kids – but I knew I didn't want a child
with anyone else. This was worse than anything I could have imagined.

The lights flickered and dimmed. I groaned as I moved
towards the lone cot. It reminded me too much of the prison in Genesis. I could
no more control who I loved than how I came into this world.

I moved to sit down on the bed. It squeaked with my weight,
and I pulled my knees to my chest. I wanted to go home. Although Genesis hardly
felt like home after what Governor Craynor had done to me, this was becoming a far
worse fate. I needed to leave. If Haven expected me to live locked in a
windowless room for the next three years, they had a huge surprise coming. Tomorrow
I would meet with the council and demand better treatment. This was not how you
treated someone crucial to your cause! I hated the government of Cabal yet
quickly growing to despise the rebel alliance in Haven, too.

CHAPTER 10

I didn't know when morning came. The room remained bathed in
darkness. I hadn't slept, not really. I may have dozed off for a few minutes
sitting up, but it hadn't lasted long.

Landon came to the door, flipping the lights on. My eyes
burned as I squinted and heard the latch as he unlocked it, pulling the door
open.

"The council is waiting for your presence," Landon
informed me.

"What time is it?" I asked, having lost complete
track of the hour while locked in the dark. I begrudgingly pushed myself out of
bed.

Landon gazed down at his watch. "It's just after
eight." I stood up moving off the cot. "We have a special guest at
our meeting this morning."

"Special guest?" I asked, following Landon out of
the prison and down the stairs. I took the time to glance around the tech
center now that I felt calmer. I didn't see much. Most of the rooms were closed
off, and the noise and commotion I could hear was far enough away that I
couldn’t see anything. Besides I couldn't have been higher than the second
floor. I'd barely seen anything of the tech center. It had to be at least a
hundred stories tall. Landon carefully covered the keypad as he typed in the
exit code. The doors unlocked, and he pushed it open and let me step outside
first.

"Rebecca is back from Genesis for the meeting. She
requested a seat at the decision-making table." I wasn't sure whether to
be grateful or not. I couldn't read Rebecca – whose side was she on? We walked
along the street. The dull gray sky filled with low-hanging clouds looked like
rain.

"How does she get between the cities?" I asked, certain
Landon must know something. He gestured for me to follow him as we turned the
corner. I'd been here a little over a week and was still terrible with
directions.

"Inside Council Hall there's a teleportation device. It
appears in Genesis as a window inside the Warren's home, the perfect hiding
place," Landon admitted. "I thought it up. Wasn't easy getting it
assembled without anyone noticing, but you could walk right up to it and stare
outside. You'd never know what you're looking at."

"Isn't it dangerous?" I asked. "You could
lead the enemy right to Haven." It seemed incredibly risky.

"All great technological advances come with some
risk," Landon beamed. "It's a shame we only have one window. Our
scientists were working to develop additional devices, but they take time, and
our resources have been better spent focusing on reproductive issues the last
few years."

I nodded, surprised he shared this information with me. Perhaps,
he believed he could trust me. We rounded the corner and my eyes caught sight
of a line of young men stretching around council hall, extending for blocks.
"What's going on over there?" I asked.

Landon's face perked up, a hint of a smile playing on his
lips, "they're here for you, Olivia."

"Me?" I felt nervous and swallowed the bile rising
in my throat.

Landon patted my back, as if he had the ability to reassure
me. His touch was repulsive. I pulled away slightly from his grasp, my gaze
still attached to the hundreds of young men lining up along the edge of the
building and pushed back down into the street. "They're submitting their
applications to date you."

"You're joking?" My eyes wide and mouth agape, I
couldn't believe this was happening. "This is because of Joshua yesterday,
isn't it?" It had to be the reason they found it necessary to punish me.

Landon sighed. He seemed agitated with me, short-tempered.
"We've told you, Olivia, you can't be with Joshua."

I rolled my eyes, "yes and you've also told me I have
three years to decide. What's all this!" I gestured towards the young men
as I pushed them aside to walk through the main entrance, they were in my way.

"Hey! No cutting in line," one of the young men
yelled before his voice faltered off realizing I wasn't there to apply.
"Are you Olivia?" His voice echoed against the building as he took
another step, further inching towards the foyer.

"It's none of your damned business!" I shouted
back, my eyes glaring as I knocked Landon hard with my elbow. I knew it
wouldn't win me any brownie points but I didn't care. I was beyond pissed. My feet
clanked over the marble flooring. In the center of the room a table had been set
up where the young men were fast approaching, one after another. "You're
wasting your time," I called back to the woman hosting the event as she
recorded their information in an oversized book.

"This way," Landon escorted me away from the line
of bachelors towards the open door.

"Please, come in," the older wiry-haired woman
gestured us inside and shut the door promptly behind us. All the noise and
commotion from the main foyer disappeared inside the room. "The council
has discussed in great length this morning about your insubordination and your
punishment. Do either of you have anything to add to the discussion?"

Landon took a seat at the head of the table, and I remained
standing and glanced around the room. I was surprised to see Joshua, arms
folded across his chest waiting for a verdict. I wondered if he'd spoken to the
council without me.

"Yes," I spoke up, glancing at Rebecca. "This
is ridiculous!" My hands flailed violently gesturing towards the door,
"there's a line of men out there, longer than the Mississippi looking to
date me!"

Rebecca nodded, her lips tight not giving any indication of
how she felt on the matter. "We've already told you that we'd like you to
meet people in Haven. This shouldn't come as a surprise to you, Olivia."

I huffed, growing frustrated with standing still. "I'd
like to tell you my side of what happened." I took a firm stem forward,
eyes narrowing on Rebecca and then Landon.

"Proceed," Landon nodded curtly. I wanted to jump
across the room and strangle him. This was all his fault!

I took a deep breath and tried to speak rationally. "Yesterday
evening, Joshua and I decided to study together. We'd been reading for days on
our own, and it's a lot to absorb as an adult," I emphasized. "We
were going over the books. Sharing what we learned and coming up with questions
for the council," I explained. "At no time did we engage in anything
beyond studying. Yes, we're friends. But we accepted the rules and have abided
by them. Rebecca had explained to us that sleepovers were forbidden, and
neither of us did anything of the sort, sleeping or otherwise. If anything,
Joshua had a girl in his room who wasn’t me! Clearly he wouldn't have done that
if we were still interested in one another. We're best friends," I
affirmed. "You can't expect us to forget each other." Maybe I’d gone
too far, but though I trusted Joshua and the fact he'd spent time the previous
week with Rane, it was still worth noting to the council. Maybe they would be
more lenient on me.

Landon glared at Joshua. "Do you have anything to
add?"

Joshua stepped beside me. He didn't look happy about the
situation. How could I have expected him to? "Only that if we did break your
rules, it was because we didn't understand the reasons behind them." I
still didn't understand, but kept my mouth shut. Joshua stepped forward. "We
promise you, nothing happened. However, if you must punish us, I ask that you
punish me. Olivia is too important to sacrifice by forcing her to leave. Banish
me."

"No!" I screamed, my eyes wide, staring at Joshua.
He couldn't be serious.

"Settle down," Rebecca ordered. "No one is
being banished, at least not right now. I do, however, recommend moving you
both to different floors. I think it would be in everyone's best interest if
Joshua was required to room on the boys’ floor and Olivia spend some additional
time in the tech center. Olivia, you will also be involved in interviewing
potential bachelors to date. We're compiling a list and will narrow the
selection down for you, but we expect you will work with us in this
matter."

I had no choice but to offer a faint nod in understanding.

"If you should both choose to visit one another, it
must be in a public setting. If you truly are studying, visit the library. If
you want to share a meal, go to the dining hall. We have rules for a purpose,
to instill order and prevent anyone from being taken advantage of."

It was in that instant I finally understood everything. "No
one is taking advantage of me!" I exclaimed. "Just because I'm
capable of getting pregnant doesn't mean I will." Did they not trust me? Did
they think of me as a child, a little girl? "You can't send me to the tech
center! I don't deserve to be locked up like an animal! I'm an adult!" I
demanded. "I should be treated like one."

Rebecca’s eyes pierced into me. "We do trust you,"
she answered, "we're not requiring you have a chaperone at all times but you're
young, Olivia. Too young to understand the ramifications of what you're doing
or saying. It's more than raising a child, you will be the future of the rebellion
if you get pregnant, and the father will be your husband. This not a choice you
will make lightly." Rebecca sounded quite forceful. "The
responsibility of being a parent isn't all we expect of you. You are the only
one, the last woman alive who can conceive. This doesn't weigh lightly on any
of us. With time, word will reach not only Genesis, but all the cities. The
government will come for you, Olivia, and we will do everything in our power to
protect you. We can only work with you if you're willing to work with us. Whatever
road you choose, the man who father’s your child must be strong and willing to remain
alongside of you." She informed me.

"What else is in the technology center?" I
blurted. I tried not to look at Joshua, but I could feel he shared my
curiosity. I knew I shouldn't have asked, but I couldn't stop myself.

"We really hoped to have this discussion after you'd
settled in and were comfortable with Haven as your new home," Rebecca
informed me. I waited anxiously, still wondering what the tech center was. Finally
she continued with an answer, one I wasn't sure I'd like. "It's one of our
few research centers in the community. The government has an entire town of
scientists. Although our resources are quite small, we are doing everything in
our power to understand what the vaccine did to the human body, so we can try
to reverse the damage."

Joshua finally spoke, asking a question that had been on
both of our minds. "Are you going to want to study Olivia?"

Alexia replied, "‘Study’ is such an oppressive
word." She smiled faintly and I almost wondered if it was an apologetic
look, considering what we were talking about. "She is not a lab rat, if
that's what you're insinuating."

"What if I don't conceive a child?" I asked. "What
if I'm no different than anyone else in this room?" It was possible they
were making me into something I wasn't.