Steel Hearts

Chapter |16| Farm

I blinked – once hard, twice fast.  Vegetables and grass– was this too good to be true? But it wasn’t false advertising, no, it was real. I stood still, wondering how this place came to be, what magic had been casted. My mind wandered aimlessly with the most ridiculous notions, but I couldn’t seem to stop. I was in awe.

“Mila!”

Chase? I thought his name, still stuck in some reverie.

That voice…

“Can you believe this?” he yelled, snapping me out of my trance.

Running toward him, the blades of the tall grass slapped against my legs. Giddiness rose inside my chest, my heart pounded, and heat crept over my body. I was eager, rightfully so. It had been so long since a sight like this made me feel alive again. The planet, even if only a portion, a slight portion was this way, it gave hope.

Chase wrapped his strong arms around me, lifting me into the air. He pressed his lips roughly in the crevice of my neck and shoulder. Spinning me around, we laughed and cried. Tears sprang from my eyes without hesitation. Spilling down onto Chase’s reddened cheeks. He smiled up at me, nudging the tip of his nose to mine.

“Is this real?” he said breathily. “God, Mila, this has to be real!”

I nodded and laughed. “Yes!”

My body suddenly stiffened like a board. I tried to speak, but couldn’t. Chase’s wide-eyed stare mimicked my own. Tiny hairs stood on the back of my neck and arms. What was this feeling? Yelling erupted around us. My body relaxed. I fell out of Chase’s arm and folded into a fetal position on the ground.

“Take the boy to be examined, he seems strong enough to suit up,” said a stranger’s voice.

“But what about the girl, she went against protocol,” a timid voice replied from above.

Thunderous steps thumped near my head. “She wasn’t injured. I’m positive this child will obey from now on,” the other man spoke, a hint of humor seeped through his venomous tone.

“Does she need medical attention, sir?”

“She will survive,” he replied, nudging me with the tip of his white boot.

I jerked away from his touch. Gloved hands slid beneath my armpits, lifting me from the ground. Chase called out for me, the heels of his shoes dragging through the grass and dirt. Two Recons pulled him away. He kicked his legs and swore obscenities, trying hard to make it back to me, but failed.

“No! Chase!” I cried, inhaling my next breath. “No…please…”  

Exhaling, I fell to my knees, grabbing a fistful of lush grass. A dream come true had turned into a nightmare. Chase was being dragged someplace else, the other three were gone and nowhere in sight. They could be dead for all I knew.

Ethan. His ticket to Juno…

“My ticket,” I said out loud, looking up at my captor. “Where is my ticket to Juno?” My voice was weak. I hated how cowardly I sounded.

The Reconnoiter kneeled in front of me, plucking pieces of grass. I wanted to yank off his helmet, reveal his face, but I didn’t – I couldn’t if I wanted Chase to be left unharmed.

“Ticket, you say?” he finally said. “There isn’t such a thing. This ticket you speak of doesn’t exist, girl.”

I lunged forward against my best efforts to remain calm. Grabbing his pristine white uniform, I leaned inches from his masked face. My breath fogged the front of his lame shield. “It’s real dammit! I had a ticket, a friend’s ticket to Juno and now it’s gone and you or your men have it! Now, I need it back, and I need to see my friend, Ethan, right now!”

My hands and arms trembled. The Recon remained still, even as I pressed into him with all of my weight. I pounded my right fist into his hard chest. Crying out, I pulled back, massaging the pain escalating over my knuckles. He shook his head and pushed me backward until I stared up into the gray leaden sky.

“Stupid, girl,” he hissed.

I sat up, glaring at him. “What the hell? Are you superman or something?”

He stood. “I’m something that may be of interest to your kind.”

“What do you mean…my kind?”

“It isn’t yet time to speak of this, Earth-child.”

The Recon waved over two figures dressed in pure black uniforms, faces covered with ebony sheer fabric. They hid themselves well, whoever they were. Why? What could they possibly be? They walk, talk, and acted…human. Did aliens exist?

No, they didn’t, I told myself, watching the approaching figures closing in on me. They’re criminals.

“Wait!” I stood, backing away. Holding up my hands to offer some kind of peace treaty, I said, “Let us talk about all ofthis. Okay? Can we do that?” My voice trembled. “I – I’m not –”

The Recon moved quickly, before I knew what hit me, I was knocked to the ground with force that took my breath away. He hovered over me and leaned down to close the space between us. I blinked, a flutter of stars spread across my vision.

“You will obey! You will stop with questions and concerns! Or you will die!” he said with malice. “Now listen and listen good, your friends are dead to you now, you are now dead to them, so do as you’re told and do it well.”

I was hauled off to a shower room. Scrubbed down, plucked and preened, my hair was slicked back into a low bun. Dressed in a green uniform, two females dressed in white leather from head to toe, escorted me back onto the Farm. With a shove, I was forced into one of the rows where other people silently gathered vegetation into wicker baskets.

The redheaded girl to my left sniffled and wiped away tears from her freckled cheeks. I stared at her from the corner of my eye, wondering if I should speak. But if I did, I’d be punished. So I leaned forward and began collecting in my own silence. The girl cried louder, drawing attention of a Recon two rows away.

“Hey,” I whispered, trying to get her attention. “Act cool, don’t cry…just –”

I gasped, covering my dirt-covered hand over my mouth. Watching the young girl fall back onto the ground, body stiffened and blue eyes staring blankly up toward the sky, I wanted to reach out to help, but the Recon moved toward her with his metal device in hand. A red laser shot from the tip and connected to the forehead of the girl. The one Recon did the exact same thing to me earlier that day. It was some sort of electrical current immobilizing my body. I was coherent to my surroundings, but I couldn’t move or talk.

“Oh my God…” I whispered, watching the Recon drag her away by the arms.

The realization that this nightmare could be the end of me stabbed at my heart. I fell forward onto my hands and knees, staring at the ground. I had lost Chase and Ethan, even Inara and Tank. I had lost the ticket.

The ticket…

I sucked in a sob. Life on Juno would never be. Life with Chase would never happen.

We were doomed.