2634: Dalmore

Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

‘Kyle?’ I ask.  Kyle. Come on. Kyle. I’m sorry,’ I plead. ‘I truly am. It was ignorant of me, I should have been more understanding’ He doesn't respond. ‘I found out some stuff. Could you please listen to me. Just for a minute,’
‘Fine,’ I hear Kyle’s voice over the silence, ‘One minute and that’s it,’ He haggers.
I start by explaining about The AIC. Kyle, on the other hand, would merely say a sarcastic "wow" whenever I finished a sentence. But when I'm done, I'm met with quiet.
‘Kyle? Are you there,’
‘Yes,’ He says after a while in a stiff voice.
‘Kyle I’m sorry for not listening to you’ I apologise.
‘I don’t believe you at all’ He says.
‘I’m sorry but you have to listen’
‘Why?’
‘Because I joined an organization named The Alliance and I have a feeling things are going to get messed up from now on. And my parents, they started the organisation,’
‘The Alliance?’
‘The Alliance’ I begin, I forget I didn't tell him. But I didn't know it would stir up that much confusion from him. ‘It’s like a rebel group that wants to take down the AIC,’
‘I’ve heard that name somewhere,’ Kyle says.
‘You have?’
‘Quick, what are your parent’s names?’
‘Mallard and Mellisa Merrick,’

‘I’ve heard those names before. Your parents are legends!’
‘What?’
‘They’re all over the newspapers like years ago. I’ll take a closer look at it,’ With that, Kyle cuts off. Even though we’re alright, there still is a cold veil between Kyle and me.
“Adria?” A voice pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up at Zion.
“Huh?” I ask.
My eyes flicker back to Zion, who is covered in yellow gore.
“You can start by shooting,” Zion rolls her eyes, pointing to an incoming Mutant. I raise my gun trying to focus it as much as possible.
“Look out!” Cora calls behind us. I turn around to Cora who is running from a Mutant. But her warning is a bit too late, I am already on the ground, squirming to crawl out of the Mutant’s grasp. It’s drool slobbers all over my face.
“Adria!” I hear a gunshot and the weight on top of me increases. I look up at the Mutant above me, it’s face and body motionless. I scramble up, facing Cora who has her gun still aimed at the Mutant. I look around for the other one, but I find it shot dead on the ground, “One for the team,” She says before walking off. Zion is gone too. I pick up my crossbow and wander alone, searching for more Mutants.
New Orleans is quieter than usual today. I haven't spotted any of the Rebels today. Anywho, after Pearson explained the backstory of the world, she sent us back to Veritas (but after Ares went to the bathroom). I still don't know what she meant when she said that my parents started the rebellion. I tried asking her, but she wouldn't give me a straight answer. She replied with ‘I’ll tell you later, not now,’ As frustrating as that is, when we got back to Veritas I couldn't find Alec or Soren anywhere.

Deciding to search a nearby park, I see three people deep in discussion, I can't see them up close but I recognize their uniforms. One is explaining something, the other two listening intently. Unfortunately I am too far away to listen. At the same time I don't want to get caught, so I take a seat on a picnic bench and pretend to look puffed out. However I still can't hear them.
“Adria?” One of the people ask, noticing me. I look up and Ares, Alec and Soren are staring at me with confused expressions. I get up awkwardly.
“Hey, guys! What are you talking about?” I ask in the most nonchalant voice I can muster.
“We could see you. You’re a lousy spy,” Soren says, to which I roll my eyes at.
“Be glad you're not one. He’s explaining what happened yesterday with Pearson,” Alec answers.
“The Alliance looks like a bunch of stuck up people,” Alec says.
“Well, they’re not The AIC,” I respond.
“Well I think that they’re awesome. They look super cool and I want to fight those stupid AIC people,” Ares states.
“Well I think we should trust them,” Soren says. To which I agree, it’s a lot better than waiting around for something to happen.
“Well, I don’t,” Alec says bluntly.
“Of course you don’t,” I remark. I check the surroundings for people, just in case anyone else is listening before saying, “OK, well if Ares has finished explaining, properly-”
“Hey!” Ares interjects.
“Like I said, if Ares has explained it to you properly, you'd know that there's something going on with Angrove. Some things are not adding up,” I say.
“That’s what we’re doing right now. Angrove better come clean this time,” Soren growls, setting his watch up. The watch makes out a static sound. We wait for minutes but Angrove doesn't pick up, “I’ll try again,” Soren says about to tune it in again. The static sound drops.
“Hello? Angrove speaking,”
“We’ve got some questions for you lady!” Ares barks.
“Of course you do,” Angrove mutters, “Well what are they?”
I ask, “I heard Pearson talk about you, she said you put her in charge?”
“Pearson left a month ago from Acres Valley for an attempted double-crossing helping Rebels arrive to Acres Valley,” Angrove says.
“What happened?” Soren inquires.
“Pearson lifted the defenses of Acres Valley and attempted to get children into Bulks to escape from here. It didn't work because some guards from Veritas arrived and put a stop to them,”
“Are you part of The Alliance?” Alec asks her.
“That is classified information,” Angrove replies calmly.
“Then who’s side are you on?” Soren asks. “Are you on Feyrer’s side?”
“Feyrer isn’t a bad man, whoever told you that?” Angrove asks, her voice sounding gritted.
“You did, why are you trying to deny it?” I ask, confused by Angrove’s behaviour.
“Deny what?” Angrove asks, in an oddly suspicious tone. “You are in good hands at Veritas, and you should trust Feyrer. He makes sure you are all right and safe,”
“Yeah well, if you haven't noticed, there haven't been a lot of safety considerations,” Soren grits. There is more death than I can count in Veritas, and now suddenly Angrove’s buddying up with Feyrer?
“I’m sure you think your in danger but your not,”
“What? We almost died numerous times this past week!” I exclaim. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Angrove doesn't respond. 
“Well if you have nothing to say, we’re going to leave now,” Alec hisses and tunes off the watch. Something is going on, the minute I meet Pearson, Angrove turns into the equivalent of Feyrer. Great, good to know that the woman we’ve been trusting is also the villain now. Well at least we’ve got Pearson, although my history with her is a little rough, at least she can't remember it.
“Do you still trust Feyrer?” Soren asks Alec.
“No, theres something off with him,” Alec remarks, “I can't tell Feyrer anything if Angrove is on his side. We’ve got to join The Alliance, it’s what we’ve got left,” As I sulk, I hear footsteps not far off from where we’re standing. I crane my neck at who is approaching, Jaxon enters with Levi and Cleo behind.
“Who started the sulking cult?” Levi whistles, looking down at us.
“What do you want?” Alec groans.
“Ooh, so moody,” Levi says, plopping down on the grass with us.
“We know that you know more about what’s happening than us. Don't lie, I’ve seen you guys talk,” Jaxon says.
“So what do you want?” Alec asks.
“Information,” Jaxon says. To be fair, the three all need good explanations. Besides, we can't hide everything from them.  
“No,” Alec says.
“We want to join your secret club,” Cleo says.
“No,” Alec says again.
“Actually, you three can join in. After all, Alec isn't the leader,” I tell them, receiving a murderous glare from Alec. “Be nice,” I sneer at him. We begin explaining to them from the start, about how we got locked together in the Holding Center, breaking into Angrove’s office, how we trusted her and how she decided to turn on us. The three sit, intently listening. Levi often making snarky remarks.
“How do you really know that Angrove is evil?” Cleo asks.
“Because she said she was on The AIC’s side,” Alec grumbles, extremely impatient.
“Then why would you trust her in the first place?” Jaxon asks.
“We didn't know she was evil back then,” I explain, myself just as annoyed and impatient as Alec. “She said not to trust Feyerer but now she does trust him,”
“This is all your fault,” Alec tells me.
“And you knew all this Adria, without telling me?” Jaxon looks at me, betrayal in his eyes. I sigh. Alec’s right this is all my fault, but it was his for telling me to keep quiet.
“Can we go to dinner? Please? I’m dying,” Ares moans, laying down on the grass.
“We’ll all be dead if we don't figure this out,” Alec snarls. This boy is such a mood, I almost feel bad for Ares, “Besides it's not even dinner time yet,”
“So what do we do?” I ask.
“First of all, stop talking to Angrove. Second, we find Pearson,” Soren speaks up.
“And then what?” Cleo asks. No one speaks. I don't even know what to do. The park is quiet, too quiet as we all think. There looks to be nothing we can do. Feyrer has all the power, the guards, weapons and all.
“Then we kill Feyrer,” Pearson says walking up behind us.
I turn around, “We can’t do that, that’s murder!” In partial shock and awe.
“Then what have you been doing ever since you’ve got here? Murdering Mutants,”
“But that's different, the Mutants were attacking us. Besides we don't have a choice,” I say.
“Feyrer attacks you, besides you said you’d be on our side. So yes you don't have a choice,”
“Great, soon we’ll be wanted murderers. Cool, totally looking forward to that,” Alec says. He’s right, I can't do this. It’s too much, there must be another way.
“Why can't we escape to the Safe Cities? Then we don't have to live like this anymore,” I propose.
“That’s not what your parents wanted, they wouldn't of wanted that of their own child. They lived in the Safe Cities once, even I did. It wasn't good. There is no freedom anywhere here. I told you our cause. It was to fight, fight for freedom. Now if you really want that, come with me,” Pearson beckons us over, away from the park. After a quick exchange of glances with each other, we follow her out. Floyd and a few guards are waiting outside and they follow Pearson and us into an abandoned hospital. “You two,” Pearson points at Soren and Alec, “Need to get your trackers off. The rest of you, I’m going to teach you how to do it,”
“Those lot are not going to perform surgery on me,” Alec sneers at us.
“Too bad. It’s that or you don't join,” Floyd growls.
“Anyways, it's not like we want to take your trackers off,” Ares says, looking down at Alec. We walk into a slightly less shabbier operation theater than the one I was in yesterday.
“Well what are you waiting for? Get on the beds,” Pearson waves at Soren and Alec who nervously lay down on the beds.
“This is not OK, this place is not even sanitary. I’m going to die!” Alec cries out, “Especially with these half-wits tinkering with my head,”
“Keep talking like that and I will kill you,” Cleo mutters. But Pearson is already wiring the sleeping gas onto the boys.
The rest of us are dressed up and we’re in the surgical room with Pearson as Soren and Alec remain lifeless knocked out by sleeping gas.
“Anyway, now that we’re all ready, let's start shall we?” Pearson gestures.
I stand up to see Alec, he has a cloth draped below his neck and he too is in scrubs. I see Soren set out in the same way as Alec. Next to both of them were lots of sharp objects, knives, and even scalpels.
“Come over here to your friend Alec,”
All of us make our way to Alec and I am in the middle of Jaxon and Cleo. I stare at the objects, they look sharp and if I make a mistake, it would be total chaos but at least we weren't operating on me.
“So we’re going to be doing a very homeschooled Neurosurgery. Now this means, this should be a short task, which means it’s simple but has many consequences.”
Jaxon says, “Where are we doing this surgery?”
Pearson smiles, “Your thinking caps or also known as the brain”
My heart drops, I could murder Alec. Why would I agree to this? Even if he wasn’t the nicest person. That would be murder.
“Why so grim?” Floyd laughs, “Just realized you could kill your friend?”
I could feel the anger burning up inside me but it was Cleo who speaks, “Yes and he’s not our friend,”
Floyd muses, “Anyways this isn’t a hardcore surgery. This is simple. Alec and Soren aren't a vital part of our mission so we don’t have to say every step that we do. Normally we would but there’s no one to blame us if anything happens to them,” I roll my eyes and look at Soren and Alec, how could anyone die of a less noble death? Do I actually feel sorry for them? What else does Floyd know? “But we do need someone to say the starting time of the operation and if they do die, the end time,”
“Adria come here and help me,” Pearson says.
“Okay let’s begin,” she gestures to the tools, “So this is a simple operation so all we need is a scalpel or knife, something to get into your skin, alcohol, a needle, and thread, a special saw, and drill, some cloth and a graft,” she then points to a box, “That’s a ventilator and a monitor, helps you stay alive”, she then presses the button on the box which makes a whirring noise and continues, “ We normally would need a shunt but it seems that someone put them in you already, we saw it when we did the X-rays  on all of you, it prevents the cerebrospinal fluid from overflowing,”
“They did X-Rays?” Cleo whispers to me.
“Yea I don’t think these guys know what consent is,” I whisper back. We both laugh, but Pearson gives us a deadly look.
“Please follow whatever I do. We want this to be a clean operation,” She commands and looks at me directly.
“Let’s take turns. Cleo, grab that scalpel and cut near the Cerebral Cortex, it’s just near the forehead. Do as I do”.
Pearson grabs some alcohol and dabs it over Soren’s forehead and looks over at Cleo who does the exact same. Pearson then sprays the alcohol over her scalpel and makes her way to cutting a thin line, just above Soren’s eyebrows, which immediately starts to leak blood. She then cleans the excess blood off and checks for any leaks.
“Cleo, you alright?” She asks.
Cleo’s knife is levitating over Soren’s forehead, she’s still shaking as she punctures his head, making a perfect line across his forehead. Soren’s forehead begins to drip off blood but Pearson instantly dabs it away.
“Now Adria your turn to do it to Alec,”
I gulp and stare at her, trying my best not to shake.
“Jaxon. Could you be a dear and assist Adria? She’ll tell you when to give her the drill or saw”
Jaxon nods and I look back at Pearson who speaks clearly, “Adria. I want you to do a craniotomy, just open his skull near the Cerebral Cortex. I’m sure you learnt this in Acres Valley,”
I snatch the saw from Jaxon, who gives me a look. I then place it where Cleo had made a line and start to cut a bone flap, being as careful as not to cause any hemorrhaging. I could see Pearson was doing the same. I give the bone flap to Ares, who holds it like it was some toy. I begin to growl and he instantly places it on the tray, looking frightened for the first time. I then clip the nerves and veins connecting to the skull.
“Our skulls have evolved since the 21st century so we don’t spew out much blood but still be careful,” Pearson warns.
I begin to start shaking but soon, I cut the outer membrane from the brain and separate it from the bone. I start to relax, knowing that I just finished.
“Good work Adria. Levi and Jaxon, can you finish this?”
“Yes,” they both say together, making their way to Soren.
“I think you know what to do, just avoid any bleeding or vessels”
They both nod but then Ares says, “What do I do?”
Pearson says, “Could you and Cleo make sure everything is going in order and keep track of the time. We need the experts to do this now but still, pay attention. We’re running out of time,”
“Wow we are not appreciated,” Levi says and stares at me, “Good luck”
“Adria continue what you were doing. Take out the tracker from the Cerebral Cortex and then put back everything you took out except the bone flap. I would like you to use metal. It’ll help enhance abilities Feyrer has blocked”
I nod and look around, everyone was surrounding Soren now and I was by myself with an about to die, Alec. I take some pliers and look at the automated magnifying glass TV to help locate the tracker. I see a black spot, must be the tracker, I place my pliers above it, careful not to nick any blood vessels. I plie the tracker out and I stare at the tracker in front of me. It is black and round, and has several wires attached to it. How could this live in people’s heads? I place it on the tray as it drips bits of blood.
“Are you done, Adria?”
“Yes. I’m gonna use sutures to repair his head now,” I answer.
“Wait, is that, blood?” Pearson panics.
I stare down at Alec’s head which begins to bleed out and I begin to panic, the monitor goes red and starts to beep. Everyone looks at me. I begin to feel dizzy.
“Adria. Calm down. Do a surgical bypass,” She says calmly.
I quickly use a scalpel and make a deep cut in Alec's upper thigh, taking just the right portion of his vein which begins to bleed out. I begin to panic but I grab the needle and the thread and begin to commence quick sutures along his vein and thigh. Then I use the graft and place it near the blood vessel and make sutures along there. I wipe out any blood that wasn’t supposed to be there.  I stare at the Ventilator, hoping it would stop beeping but it doesn't. I start to panic, retracing my steps but then the noise stops and the ventilator flashes green. I take a deep refreshing breath and begin to suture the cuts I made in his brain and then I begin to unclip the vessels which don't spark much blood and connect it to artificial tubes which soon connect to screws, which hold the cerebral cortex in place and the vessels. Then I use a metal plate to replace the bone flap in his skull, leaving a shiny object in his head. I make my way to do 25 stitches on his head which leaves a red mark which is quickly removed using a laser that cools down the scalp.
“Well done Adria. Soren and Alec are done. Now I’ve put the rest on anesthesia and the gas seems to have penetrated their lungs so can you do the same on them.”
Finally it is over.
The next day after the surgical disasters which turned out fine after all. We crowd around Pearson in headquarters, “The Veil, that's what’s separating us from the Safe Cities. We don't know much about it but…” Pearson pulls out a map and lays it flat on the table. The map labels everything we know about, New Tyro at the bottom, Safe Cities on the top, Acres Valley(on left in the middle), Veritas(on the right in the middle) and New Orleans between the middle of the page and New Tyro. Pearson continues to draw a vertical line on the map in red underneath the Safe Cities. She then places the marker on the middle of the line and draws straight down, forming a ‘T’ shape which crosses over New Orleans and separates Veritas from Acres Valley. “The lines in red are where The Veil is located. It's sort of like an invisible barrier stopping you from reaching one end. Additionally, it covers up anything beyond the barrier, so that's why you could never see the Safe Cities,”
“But sometimes we can see the farms,” Cleo says.
“I’m getting to that,” Pearson draws a green rectangle in the upper left corner of the Veritas section. “The farms provide food for both the Safe Cities and Veritas but cant provide food for Acres Valley because it’s on the other side,” Pearson explains, “That also means that you can only reach one half of New Orleans,” She says pointing at the part, “But there are gaps in parts of The Veil. That means you can slip through them, one half with lots of Mutants, the other half with less Mutants,”
“Then why would they put The Veil halfway through?” I ask.
Pearson draws a yellow star on the left hand side of New Tyro, “This is where we are. So obviously there is a gap somewhere in The Veil. The Veil was designed to keep parts of the continent separate, especially the Safe Cities. They once thought to have two Veils separating parts of New Tyro and another one separating the Safe Cities. But then people from Acres Valley started escaping to Veritas and New Orleans so they had to keep one. Now The Veil down here is a lot weaker than the one separating the Safe Cities. In all honesty, the ones separating the Safe Cities is next to impossible to break, there aren't even gaps in the Safe Cities’ Veil”
“So how do we break it?” Alec asks.
“We’ve tried multiple times but the closest we’ve come to is-”
“Can’t you cut it with scissors? You just said it was a Veil,” Ares says.
“It doesn't work like that,” Pearson says, clearly agitated.
“But have you tried that?” He pressures.
“No-”
“I have you know as a professional smarty pants I am extremely capable of good ideas, so why don't you get one of your slightly-less-macho-than-me-guards and cut the Veil with scissors,” He says mispronouncing ‘professional’ and ‘capable’.
“No-”
“Stop saying no to my ideas. Im not stupid like Alec you know,” Ares says. Alec looks at him with murderous eyes but doesn't say anything, thankfully.
“It doesn't work like that,” Pearson says between strangled breaths. Ares takes a moment to respond. He looks around the furnished room which looks a little too clean for New Tyro, a lot like a government’s office.
“OK,” He says finally. “But if I’m right and your wrong, I get to be in-”
“So what about my parents?” I ask to direct away Ares’ pestering and a way of getting answers.
“You know enough information,” Pearson says, but upon my look of disdain she responds, “Here's the deal, you help us break into the Safe Cities and kill Feyrer, I’ll tell you about your parents,” Floyd speaks up from behind Pearson. I sigh, that’ll take ages but I’ll take it.
“We have to break into the Safe Cities?” Jaxon asks.
“I suppose I didn't tell you the plan properly. But hear me out: first step, break open The Veil to the Safe Cities. Someone slips inside and warns others about another War. Try to get friendly with them. Step two, we kill Feyrer some night, steal a jet and move back over here. Then early morning, we all slip into the Safe Cities, gather up soldiers and weapons and fight. Step three, frolic back in victory because we won,” I take a step back from her. She can't be serious? Killing Feyrer is enough but kill innocent people and then live happily ever after? Presumably there wouldn't be any happily ever after, even if we do survive her mad plan. No, I wouldn't be part of this.
“Your kidding,” Soren says in shock, “We’ll get killed, even worse we’ll get butchered alive,”
“War has its problems,” Pearson shrugs.
“We can't have another war!” I cry. I want to rebel but I don't want another War, not now, not ever.
“Did you know your parents almost started a war for the same reason, freedom? How do you think you’ll be free working for Feyrer like pest control whilst all your friends die in front of your eyes?” Pearson spits.
“It’s better than being the one killing people,” Soren argues.
“Look, I understand. You're teenagers, children, you deserve a good life, and everyone after you. You're not free, your slaves to the government. If you want what's best for future generations, friends and yourselves, you're going to get your hands dirty with a little blood. That is war for you, it's no funny business but it's inevitable,” That’s true.
“Why us?”
“Because you lot are the bravest bunch of idiots I’ve ever seen in my life. There's not a lot of kids that'll do this, I’ll tell you that,”
I suppose she has a point, and my life is messed up enough. War couldn't change that a lot, could it? If I die along the way, at least I would have died for something. “I’ll do it,” I speak up.
That night as I lay in bed, I hear a voice, ‘So, are you going to side with The Alliance?’
‘Yeah, is there anything wrong?’ I ask.
‘No, it’s just...do you trust these guys?’
‘I do. My parents started the whole thing,’
‘OK, that’s good, I guess,’ Kyle says, then a long pause of awkward silence commences. Now I can hear Reyna’s deafening snoring. However dainty that girl may act, she most definitely doesn't sleep dainty and that’s a fact. 
‘I suppose I forgot to tell you about The Veil,’ I begin.
‘The what?’ After I finish explaining it to Kyle, which takes almost forever because I had no visuals, ‘Some of the farmers, they tell us that there are sightings. They tell us they look like bulky black aerial vehicles, just like the jets you fly. But we can't see them, probably because of The Veil,’ Kyle explains.
‘How do people react to it?’
‘The farmers tell us in secret. The government- The AIC, if they hear a word of it, they banish the farmers-’
‘Banish, as in like a criminal?’ I ask, suddenly excited.
‘Yeah, as in going to New Tyro,’