Exiles: The Unity Program

Chapter 4

"Dismantle the only way of communication to the megacity?" One of the girls echoed, but she didn't sound astonished or even scared.

If anything, to Seraphine the girl sounded more curious then anything. Glancing around the group, Seraphine saw no objection on any of their faces. Not that she had any, but there was still something tugging at the inside of her in denial. Maybe it was just from the years of growing up under the strict rules, the ones designed to keep them in line and in their sectors.

But those were the same rules that took her mother from her. Her sweet hearted mother who had gone out of her way to help people when the two of them were struggling. She'd have given the shir toff her back and walked around naked if she'd been able to because that's the type of woman her mother had been. Seraphine, on the other hand, had watched as people criminalized her best friend before sentencing to her a life worse than death. She wasn't sure she could ever just step up and lend a hand so easily after that.

Including now. All she cared about was getting somewhere that had food to put in her stomach and settle in for the rest of the day or night depending on how long it took to get to the place.

Standing around chatting with this group like they were long-lost friends or something was not on her to-do list for the day.

Then again, it wasn't like any of this was.

Seraphine looked up again, taking in the low swollen clouds full of toxin. The world was ravaged with a sickness that she hoped one day would go away and it could breathe with life once more. But there was no sign in sight, no promise of a bright world without the grime and grit. And The Order knew that too. It was why they had such a tight grip on the world.

Her mom had once told her of the old world. Of how they, too, had an Order to control them. It was so bad then as well. They were the reason the sky was so polluted of course. They ignored the signs, of mother-nature cracking and beginning to fall apart.

Seraphine Daye, his voice echoed in her head even to this day, booming and so full of authority it made her chest vibrate. You are hereby detained under the charge of Ideological Corruption. You stand accused of creating subversive media that criticizes the Haven's leadership, inciting unrest, and polluting the minds of the populace. Your actions have been deemed a threat to social stability and the safety of our society. For this, you are sentenced as a dissident of the Haven.

When she had been led away in cuffs and even now as she stood, so far from the city, the weight of the words pressed down, the label of "dissident" a brand as much as a sentence.

If she got back alive, that would be wiped from her record. If not, it would be a permanent stamp upon her name. It wouldn't matter at that point though, would it?

"Fine, I'll do it," Priya's voice interrupts the noise inside of Seraphina's. "But don't say I didn't warn you," she stated coldly before turning to head back around the hovercraft.

Not even trying to see what was happening, Seraphine looked over her group. Each one having been yanked from a cell in order to participate in this program. A program designed to prove them worthy of rejoining society. So why would they just abandon the group out here? The Order had boasted about it, feigned excitement in refining the criminals. They'd hyped up the citizens and made them all eager to see the reformation of the group.

Why would they just dump them out here knowing everyone was waiting to see what would happen?

The answers weren't coming though. Maybe it was the fractured sleep, in and out the last few nights as they'd hurled through the sky. While the seats were far more comfortable than the cot Seraphine had spent the last three years upon, she just hadn't been able to sleep properly. Maybe because it was too comfortable. Or there had just been something else wrong. Something that Seraphine couldn't quite figure it out.

"Let's just get going. I'm sure we can find wherever our destination is. We're supposed to have supplies and things there. This is just a part of this program, they deliberately dropped us off randomly to test us. That's all it is." Delta boy spoke again, so matter of factly.

Seraphine's eyes narrowed at him and she pursed her lips. Delta knew everything, they were supposed. But how could he know this much? This program was shrouded in so much secrecy, that the only snippets anyone around her had ever known was whatever The Order spoke. Everything else was behind locked doors. Sure, rumors existed. Like the one about if you spoke even the tiniest detail that wasn't supposed to get out, you suddenly vanished and everyone acted like you didn't exist (Seraphine took that to be more than just rumor though and had no ounce of doubt it was true). There were rumors that the program was designed to simply get rid of the criminals in a way that people wouldn't even blink an eye at them. Poor kids, they'd say, mourning the losses in thought that they all had tried so hard but the harsh reality of the wastelands had just been too much on them.

It was a good plan. So simple it didn't need wired plans to put it together. Send a bunch of unequipped kids into foreign territory and pretend they had a chance.

Seraphine looked in the direction they'd been headed once more. It was grit in front of them, for miles on end. She swore to herself that if she reached out into it, it would take her hand away in a wisp and she'd never see it again.

Like the mandatory blackouts that rolled through the cities once a fortnight in order to preserve energy. When the lower levels of the cities were plunged into utter darkness and Seraphine was on their edges taking in the sights of them, she knew that if she stuck her hand in, it would be gone. That was proven in her cell. The blackouts went into The Hold, taking away their ability to see or do anything. There were plenty of times someone was dumb enough to consider making a break for it when the blackouts happened, thinking that just because all the technology was off they'd be able to run for it. But when the lights flooded back into existence and the sensors regained consciousness, those who had tried were always dead, feet from the doors. Because trying to escape The Hold in pitch black was not the most ideal thing in the world.

Seraphine could still feel the fear that curled around her heart from the first ever blackout she'd experienced. There weren't many upper sectors in The Hold and because of that, no one had considered even warning her. It was as if her soul had been sucked from her, all colors wiped out and left her feeling so empty.

She still felt like that with the grey garbage she had to wear and the lack of music, laughter, and everything else that made the cities bustle with life.

In the main part of The Hold, there was at least noise. There was books and ways to pass time. Seraphine could've found a way to entertain herself, to make it worth it the endless hours that passed. But the guards and warden all knew that. She was from the sector of life, of art. They couldn't risk her enjoying her time locked up, so Seraphine had been locked in solitaire from day one. Population: her only. They'd taken everything from her.

So while her arms felt gritty right now and the air was too toxic to breathe, Seraphine knew this was far better than being in that cold cell, away from everyone and everything. It was so cold down there and they'd only given her one simple wool blanket that she was forced to curl into fetal position to fit around her body to keep warm with.

Even if The Order had left them abandoned out here, it was better than not being able to see the world or hear voices. And there were more noises now too. The only thing she heard for days to weeks on end was the clinking of her tray being slid through the slot and plopping to the ground, spilling her food everywhere.

She shook her head, trying to get those memories out of her head. It was going to take a long time before she no longer thought about those excruciatingly long days behind those bars. She might as well start now locking them behind their own door and in their own cell and hope with everything she had they'd never get out.

"Let's go," the burly guy who had stopped her trying to go after her mother spoke authoritatively as he stepped in front of them all. "Better get as far as we can before dusk hits."