The Numbered

Chapter Fourteen

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" she asked, terrified.

"Actually the pertinent question should be, who are you Hannah and what do they want from you?"

The man was talking in riddles. Just my luck she thought, I'm stuck in an empty office block with a madman.

"You are Hannah Green, aged 17, adopted child of Lynne and Daniel Green. You were born with an SPR of 72, however neither you nor your family have any idea what your flaws are? You are unusually attractive when compared to your peers, you are supremely more intelligent, although you have spent the last 11 years at school pretending not to be. You are strong, healthy, have perfect sight and hearing. Your fertility levels are optimum, you are clear of all genetic abnormalities and life limiting diseases. You have excellent hand/eye co-ordination and are physically strong and fast. You are also compassionate, loyal, a hard worker. Although having lived as a Flawed all your life you have never felt completely at home or accepted and have come to see that as your flaw. To put it bluntly Miss Green, you are an all-round good egg."

Hannah became aware that her mouth was hanging wide open. This stranger had just acutely summed up her life in less than a minute. He knew everything about her and what was more scary he sounded like he had been there, seen her develop, knew her insecurities, many of which she had barely admitted to herself.

"Who the hell are you?" Hannah shouted, now angry. The fear was still there, but now she felt violated and wanted answers.

"Hannah, I want you to try and see me as a friend. Trust me young lady, you're gonna need one soon."

"Stop talking in riddles. What do you want?"

"On the day you were born the consultant, Eastman, who oversaw your birth gave you a false SPR. He lied to your parents and falsified your official data. Your SPR score wasn't 72, Hannah, it was 100."

Hannah laughed out hysterically. He was mad, she was right.

"He deliberately downgraded you and nineteen other babies over the period of a few weeks. Your birth parents unaware of your real score, gave you up for adoption as they didn't want to risk being downgraded. For many years now, I have been following you all, looking out for you when I could. To be honest you have been one of the luckiest. Several of the others died young and a couple of them were not placed in families quite as nice as yours. They had a very different upbringing and are now languishing in prison. With you, however Eastman chose well".

Hannah heard everything this man had said, yet she couldn't comprehend a thing and she didn't believe a word of it.

"You are probably wondering why Eastman did this."

Hannah hadn't even got to that thought yet. She was wondering when someone was gonna jump out and tell her it was all a cruel joke. She looked up at him and really studied his face. Something about him felt familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Why are you saying all of this?" Hannah asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"Eastman was a member of a group that has been planning to, shall we say, try to alter our current status quo. There is an increasing belief in certain areas that the oppression of the Flawed is to say the least, unsatisfactory. This resistance has been going on for many years and countless lives have been lost in the process. You obviously don't know anything of this because it's all covered up, painted over and made to look pretty. Do you remember the explosion at the mines several years ago? Well that was actually a peaceful protest, put down with brute force and then dressed up as an Industrial accident."

Hannah's legs gave way and fell back against the wall of the lift and slid down to the floor. He was talking about the accident which killed Bob, Mary's husband. She remembered back to that day. The alarm sounding, hundreds of people rushing to the mine to try to help, the heavy army presence she thought had just arrived to help. She also remembered the hushed conversations, the anger of her father, and the tension in her neighbourhood. Surely this couldn't be true, but even so, what on earth did it have to do with her?