A-19

Chapter Two

  I'm awaken from my uneasy slumber by a loud, horrible, jarring beeping noise. The A-19 alarm. 

  It sounds at exactly 6:03 in the morning, operated by the Timekeep supernatural, the one that enforced curfew and wake up time. I have no idea why 6:03 and not 6:00 or 6:05. I think the supernaturals just want to remind us that we could be sleeping in until 6:05, but they have control here.

  And they always do. 

  Since dozing for even thirty seconds will have me whipped, I immediately rise, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and stretching. The purple sky is filled with dark blue storm clouds, like it always is, and Helios (the A-19 galaxy's sun) peeks through, shining meekly. But the worst part about seeing the sky is seeing the supernatural crafts zooming all over, reminding us that they're always watching, always patrolling, and will never let one of us escape.

  I glance over to my right side, where Mom is smiling at me as she gets up from her thin cot. We're in the middle of some sort of desert, cots scattered on the rough sand. Clearly the supernaturals don't care if we get poisoned by scorpions. If A-19 ever has scorpions.

  "Hello, sweetie," Mom greets, hugging me, pushing my head against her chest and stroking my hair. I return the hug, glad for the family I have on this horrible planet.

  Speaking of family...

  "Onyx!" I remind Mom anxiously.

  We both turn around. There's my little sister, still snoozing away in her cot, having somehow slept through the alarm. Her strawberry blonde hair was all over the place, and a little bit of drool was trickling from her mouth.

  "Oh, she's going to get herself whipped," Mother frets, then jerks the blanket off Onyx, who grumbles to have it back. "Onyx! Get up! They're coming!"

  I turn behind me. Sure enough, four supernaturals have come to escort us to breakfast. Not much of escort, really, as to make sure no one misbehaves.

  Onyx moans, but sits up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. When she sees the supernaturals, she jumps to her feet, suddenly waking up. 

  It's too late, I think with dread, wrapping my arms around Onyx. They must've already seen her still asleep.

  The other women on the female side of the barracks are already up, Iva, who's only a year older than Mom, Pandora, an old woman who is surprisingly strong for her age, and Sloan, who's one year younger than me at sixteen. She smiles at me nervously.

  The supernaturals stop in front of us, smiling cruelly. The lead one, a female, marches up to Onyx. I squeeze her tighter, trying to glare at the supernatural, but fear takes over and here I am clutching my little sister's head and shaking like a coward.

  The supernatural flicks Onyx on the nose, who winces and rubs it. The supernatural stand up again. "So, you decided to be a sleepy-head, little squirt?" She glances at the other wardens, who are chuckling to each other. "You know what? I'm feeling merciful today. I'll let you off with a warning, but don't do it again." She smirks and walks back.

  Relief rushes through my veins. Onyx pulls away from me, still rubbing the spot on her nose where she was flicked. 

  I recognize the supernatural of course. She's the top dog, ruthless and cunning, Commander Alvaria, who takes pleasure in just staring at us, making us feel like we're mice stuck in her trap.

  "Hello, human scum," Commander Alvaria sneers, patrolling back and forth in front of us. "You're going to come with us now. And if you want to eat, you're going to be good little prisoners."

  She turns on her heel and marches out of the gate to the barracks, which don't even have a roof. It's just two walls, across from each other, separating the female section from the male section. If it ever has any unpleasant weather, the supernaturals think we should just deal with it. 

  We follow the supernaturals out of the barracks, walking across the sweltering desert. Even though Helios isn't completely out, it's still muggy and humid and horrible, the air feeling like a blanket. I wipe my brow and try not to complaining. On A-19, complaining is punishable by whipping.

  But Onyx isn't so collected. "It's too hooot," she groans.

  I clap my hand over her mouth immediately as Commander Alvaria glances back at us suspiciously. I remove my hand from Onyx's face, and the supernatural shrugs, turning back.

  "Look behind you."

  A voice whispers the words in my ear. I shriek, jumping back and whipping my head around. There he was.

  I sigh with relief when I realize he's another human. One I know very well, one I've known my whole life, the one here who keeps me from falling apart.

  "Heath," I whisper furiously to him. He can't keep doing this. Some time or another, someone will find out about us. I don't know if Commander Alvaria or Mom would be worse. "This isn't allowed."

  "Heyyyy, Heath!" Onyx chirps loudly before I can silence her. "Aren't you the boy who my sister's in loooove with?"

  Oh no. She didn't. Commander Alvaria and Mom and glaring at me, and the supernatural is advancing. Could this get any worse?

  "What did I hear going on back here?" the commander demands. She grabs Onyx by the shirt (we're all wearing navy blue jumpsuits that kind of look like nursing scrubs). "Repeat that, squirt!"

  "Sorry, sorry, it's all my fault," Heath says coolly, walking up to her. "You see, I decided to try to scare Marina here, because it's absolutely hilarious, you see. And Onyx here mistook it for a deep gesture of love." He ruffles her hair good-naturedly. "The little rascal."

  I don't think I've ever loved someone as much as I love him at the moment. I want to throw my arms around him and kiss him silly, but of course, that would give us all away. And grant us certain death.

  Commander Alvaria lowered Onyx, narrowing her eyes at Heath. "You shouldn't be out of your line." She gestures over to the line that all of the men are walking in. They're giving us curious looks. "Why don't you come eat breakfast with me." She grabs him by the ear and drags her up to the front with her. 

  He grimaces at me as he gets pulled away from me. I can't make any faces back at him, my heart broken. He's facing painful punishment to keep Onyx safe. He's truly the best boyfriend ever.

  Yes, you heard me right. Boyfriend. Happiness does exist on this bleak planet. 

  But now...now he might break.

   And I can't help but feel that sometime soon, maybe, I'll never see him again.