Hide and Seek

Chapter 1 *Part 1

They stood behind me and did not even attempt to move toward the wall of buttons to code their coordinates to their destination. I could feel their stares at the back of my head.  I scanned my arm again to get to my next destination: dinner. The door shuts gradually and heads upwards towards the diner area.

Why did the elevator drop for them instead of letting me off to my destination then to theirs? That never happens. It always takes you to your destination without any stops. I look at an arm close to mine, almost touching but close enough to feel its warmth of it. The shiny white skin gleamed against the small patch of light showing no code anywhere around it.

I stare down at my arm that held a tattooed code design full of dots and lines. It was shaped into a small square that was able to be scanned. When you go through the checking into this underground quarter, the last thing they do is tattoo a small unique code onto your left arm. Getting the tattoo is tremendously excruciating feeling like someone has stabbed your arm a thousand times over.

The door opens to my designation to the cafeteria. As I step out of the full elevator the group of people behind me shuffled forward. I stepped out into the cafeteria and look back at the elevator to see a guy take a card from his pocket. The rectangular red card stood out against the group of people like a sore thumb. The small card was lifted toward the scanner and as I tried to see where it took the group the elevator closed off my view.  I turned and slowly stored the memory of the card into my memory for later. Right now was time to eat. You get one portion of food based on how much you need for your age and weight. You only got seconds if were a 2nd base. 2nd base is the privileged groups that lived on the high levels, close to the earth ground. 

I walked up to one of the empty lines to get my food. I moved forward to the scanner and tin tray that sat below it. I rolled up my sleeve and scanned my arm. A metal bowl moved onto the tray then a cup appeared and dumped a chunky scoop of soup into the bowl with a loud ‘Splash’. I swear I saw an eye plop its way in there. Oh well. A girl has to eat.

I went to find a seat in the numerous benches. I lowered my eyes and sat at the closest bench that was close to my line. The system believes talking at eating time will help spark or spread rebellion to rise. No one has ever risen against the system since I have been here. This underground place was called the Hive and allowed no one that was prisoners at least in or out. No one has ever escaped from here.

As I got to the last few spoon full of soup I tipped the bowl back to my mouth and drank the last of it. Then I whipped every last drop of it into my mouth, making my bowl clean leaving no food left behind. The portions of food were always enough for the hunger to subside but still leave you wanting more. When your bowl was taken it was scanned to see if you ate all its contents. Many people tried to kill themselves by starving finding it the only way to escape this hell hole. If you did not eat your food your burn would start to burn until the food was consumed. I did not have the trouble of wanting to die. I have Hunter to ease my pain.

When I was done the table flipped over and took my tray with it.   Once the tray took my bowl I was sent free from the bench to leave. I walked briskly back elevator. When the door to one open I went inside the empty space and scanned my arm. The elevator read P100, announcing my room that I share with Mae.

As the elevator opened, my room was exposed. The bed and sheets were a dark grey that blended with the black walls and furniture. There were two small closets and drawers filled with uniformed clothes. One for day and night, assigned to our body sizes. We were given one pair of shoes for the day time. There was a shower in the next room connected to ours with bar soap and two towels. The rooms throughout the Hive where the only place not keep under surveillance.