BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

TWELVE |

TWELVE |

She scanned my head four more times, each time it came back as a large red light. I shifted uncomfortably on the table as she now flipped through a notebook of extremely neat handwriting. Apparently, there was something abnormal in my scanning which was a little worrying to me. A sinking feeling in my gut told me it had something to do with why Ophelia was trying to sell me off to the wall people.

"I'm sorry for the delay," she said slowly, her eyes turning from the notebook to me, "I've never gotten these results before. It's flashing that your blood is testing positive but also, your brain waves show no traces of the virus. You're also not showing up on the scan as having the vaccine or illicit modifications to your body."

My eyes widened, "W-what does that mean?"

"I have no idea," she breathed, her brows furrowing with confusion.

"I see."

"You know what?" her voice suddenly said bubbly, "Don't worry about it! Glitches are super common, especially on these new models. That's why they're only in this settlement, this place is kind of Flynn's testing ground for new gadgets."

I straightened with hope, "So I'm fine?"

"Well, you're not infected so yeah," she said brightly, "You're good!"

"Oh, thank fuck," I cried.

"In any case, we do have adult vaccines on hand if you do begin to test positive, so if you start to feel sick just come back and we'll get you sorted out. Better to be safe than sorry," she hummed, "I can show you around if you'd like."

My head jerked to nod slowly, "Alright."

It was strange. I couldn't stop thinking about the scan, something in my gut told me that there was something strange going on but I couldn't quite place it. The person on the radio called me "the hybrid child" and I had no idea what that meant but I knew it had to be something more serious than just being an illicit child. What's more, the people at the wall, Bio-Gen they had called themselves, had something horrible planned for us. All of us inside the dome. This scanner having a weird reading off of me had to be connected somehow.

Or maybe I was just trying to grasp at straws.

I sighed softly, following Cerci out of the wooden tent. As we reached the outside and she began her tour, Valen appeared, walking behind us. I tried my best to ignore him, and he strangely kept quiet as Cerci pointed at the different buildings, naming who lived where like it meant anything other than confusion to me.

"This is where I live with my parents," she said brightly, before pointing to a larger house surrounded by thick rose bushes, "That's where uncle Jax lives and Erinna."

I nodded with false enthusiasm, "Oh cool."

"Come on, I'll show you to the farm now," she chirped, "That's where all our trade products are grown and shipped for export. Most of our apple trees are beyond the fence, but we have an apple picking team that goes with the guards during harvest season."

There was a shimmer out of the corner of my eye, and I looked towards a shop. It read: "Maria and Daughter Knick knacks" but the door seemed to be covered in bright, neon yellow tape. It was quarantine tape, I recognized it. It was used in all of the settlements when conducting a quarantine zone.

"What's that?" I asked.

Her face fell, "T-that's Kat's place. Well, her mom and her owned it."

"What happened to them?"

"It's really sad," she replied, lowering her tone, "Kat's family took over the store and made it their own about ten years ago? I think Kat was like six at the time. Anyways, her dad called it "Maria and Daughter Knick knacks" and when he was putting up Christmas lights four years ago, he fell off the roof and broke his neck. Maria hadn't been the same since then. About a week ago she just took her daughter and left. Pulled her right out of school."

That sinking feeling in my gut grew, "I-In a school uniform?"

"Yeah," she replied, "Poor thing. I hope they're ok."

Nauseous filled my body, and I suddenly turned, vomit flying from my lips as I bent over a nearby rose bush at the side of the road. Cerci gasped loudly, rushing over to rub my back, which made my guilt ten times worse. I held back the sob that caught in my throat. I had killed a person—a person who had gotten sick and died. A person who I had been forced to kill. It didn't matter what illness she had, the virus was an illness and I had taken a life.

I was disgusted in myself.

"Oh my god," she said quickly, rubbing my back, "Are you alright?"

I moaned softly, tears free falling from my face.

"Get your shit together," Valen hissed towards me.

I looked up at him, my vision blurring. When did he get so cruel?

"Valen," Cerci snapped, "What is wrong with you?"

He ignored her, wrenching me up by the arm, "Erinna just walked into the tent. You know what that means."

That snapped me out of my mood, fear taking over for my pity.

Jax and Erinna were back.