Utopia

Part 7

   “Lyra stop, you don’t know where you’re going!” he yells but the sound slides right off my back, replaced by the therapeutic buzz of the striped creatures. Only once I’m fully immersed in the flowers, far out of the way of the imposing trees looming above my head, do I finally stop. 

   The creature stirs as I unstrap the jar from my belt and hold it up to the light.

   “Do you know what this is?” I ask Kai once he’s caught up to me. His muscles are bunched and corded and his brows reach together in agitation. Once he sees the creature, he softens slightly.

   “It’s called a butterfly,” he tells me, the creature’s wings flutter. Yes, Butterfly, gentle and fragile and beautiful. It suits it.

   I wipe by hand on my trousers to clean it of the blood and then I press my thumb to the bottom of the container. The light changes from green to red and the lock releases. With a ceremonial twist I take off the lid and the butterfly flutters out. It lands on the end of my nose for a moment, those gossamer wings beating as if to say thank you and then it flutters away. We both watch, even after it flies completely out of sight.

   “All my life I’ve been stuck behind the Field, helped them to build up the walls that seal us all in,” I say and then I let the container slip from my fingers. When it hits the floor it shatters into a million tiny pieces. “Right now I’m free; I don’t ever want to be caged again.”

   I don’t know whether it’s me that’s changed or him but when we set off again, it feels different - like there’s been a shift in the air, a change in the direction of wind. I’m sure he feels it too. We travel slower now; taking each step as it comes, knowing that if this is my life now then I’ll need the chance to take it all in. My thoughts travel to Vixen, the girl without a choice.

   “Why did you take us?” I ask Kai, my voice barely carrying across with the breeze.

   For the first time since we started, his footing falters. He quickly recovers but it’s indication enough to tell me that what I’d surprised him. He surveys me judiciously, gaze running from my frizz of red hair to my dirt-caked bare feet, lingering on my TAP-free palm for a little longer than necessary.

   “To save you,” he says simply and when his green eyes spark with shadows, I know this is all the answer I’m going to get.

   Just like he’s been doing for the past hour, he examines his bracelet. Every time he does his brows dip even lower and he walks a little more brusquely – leading me to wonder…

   “What’s with the bracelet?” I ask, reaching out to pull his wrist closer so I can inspect the thick band of metal. Surprisingly, he doesn’t resist.

   “It’s a filtration device, sort of like your clip but a bit more long-term. It filters my blood so any trace of the Sickness is removed before it can fully infect me,” he explains. For a moment I wonder how Outsiders could possibly possess technology more advanced as the Field and if anyone knows of this device. If they did wouldn’t they tell people?

   “So you aren’t immune?” I ask. But of course he isn’t, he wouldn’t need the bracelet otherwise. Outsiders can get Sick too; it’s something no one at the Field has ever considered. If they weren’t immune then how did they survive the initial outbreak?

   Kai points at two sections of the bracelet positioned on either side of where the veins of his wrist would be. Both are shades of deep red: blood.

   “See how this blood is slightly darker?” He points to the left compartment containing liquid more russet brown than red and thicker than honey. “That’s the blood that’s being filtered and the other compartment holds the healthy blood that’s transferred back into my body.” I examine the black strip that circles the bottom of the bracelet with a single red light blinking frantically.