Imperfect Freedom

Twenty

"Come on. We can't stay here." Elle says, grabbing my arm.

"Wait! What about Sorrel?" I say. She groans.

"We have to go Mae!"

I frown. "No. We can't just leave him here." I debate.

She glances at Sorrel who's eyes are struck with fear then sighs, a sound that comes out as a groan.

"Alright. He can come with us."

I try not to show my excitement. Sorrel pushes himself up and slides his feet over the side of his bed. Elle and I stand on either side of him and he leans on our shoulders. We walk to the door and look outside. All we see is darkness and blinking lights.

"Okay. Let's go." Elle directs and we push through the door and start heading down the hallway in the direction of the nearest exit of the defiance. When we reach the light grey door, there are already people heading out and up the spiral staircase to the dark world above. I recognise a few from being part of the CD for a few months but don't know anyone's names. No one questions why Sorrel is limping along with us, and we manage to escape into the cool air unnoticed.

The streets are empty and as we slowly slip through them towards the collection of buildings of the nursery. The tall white buildings around us are dotted with small dim lights so we manage to see our way slightly. Occasionally we see a lit up window, but most whites are asleep at this time of night. At one point we spot a black patrol and have to hide behind a black rubbish bin, but that is the only encounter with anyone. Eventually we find ourselves in the courtyard of the nursery. Around us in a hexagonal shape are the 6 nursery buildings. First the infant care nurseries which we can hear the quiet wailing even though it is supposed to be 'sound proof'. Then it's the pre-primary nursery, all the one's, two's, three's and four's. Next to that is our nursery for the fives through to nines, then the primary school and high school. The last building is administration, where the new borns were brought from the hospital and where you chose your apprenticeship when you took your devotion, and also where the nursery workers (which there are a lot) can go to get a break from the kids. The workers themselves slept in whichever building they worked, like the cooks sleeping near the kitchen and the infant care workers sleeping with the children (not that they'd get very much sleep. Each of the buildings are tall like the apartments around them, and they all have ten floors each. Unfortunately for us at the moment, they don't have elevators, only stairs, and our dorms and kitchen is on level seven.

We have to stop about four times for Sorrel to catch his breath and because he is feeling exhausted, and when we finally do get up there we are horrified to discover one of the supervisors guarding the dorms. We hide on the stairs for a while but eventually we let slip. Literally. Sorrel slips on the stairs and falls over. He groans in pain an that gives us away.

The lady comes to the arch of the stairway and looks inside. She immediately spots us and I can feel fear set in my stomach. What would she say? But at first she doesn't say anything. Then she whispers, "Are you from the defiance?"

Elle nods and the woman sighs. "Follow me then. And bring the limping boy with you."

We do as told and follow her to the kitchen. She gestures for Sorrel to sit in a chair by a stainless steel bench and he does so, although it takes him a moment to ease himself into the black seat in the dark.

"I'm sorry I can't turn the light on but that would attract anyone awake. I'm not worried about the chef, he'll keep out of CD business but teachers like Ms Winifred would surely alert the council." The lady says in a quiet voice.

"Are you part of the CD?" I ask. She nods, although I can barely see in the darkness.

"Yes. I'm guessing this is the boy who released Hayley a few nights ago?" She says and Sorrel make a murmuring sound.