Hannah sat in stony silence, her eyes fixed on the scenery passing-by. The tint on the long side-window of the car made everything outside appear drab and grey. They had left the Flawed sector and were currently travelling through the Industrial Zone with its vast factories and workshops. Enormous red brick buildings with tall smoking chimneys towered over the area. They turned a corner and passed a labour agency with a large queue of Flawed men and woman stretching out of the door and down the road; all waiting to be assigned work. Despite their many differences; sex, physique, disability, work apparel, Hannah could see they all shared the same desperate desire to work. She knew most of them would not get work that day and would be turned away after hours of pointless waiting. They would then be left with just two choices; begging or crime. After all, with families to feed and rent to pay, you didn't get the luxury of other options when you were a Flawed. Oddly this sight made her feel homesick. She so desperately wanted to get out of the car and run home. She remembered queueing for work with Shane. Pain lanced her heart and caused her to take a sharp intake of breath. Not now, Hannah, she thought, hold on for just a bit longer. How long could she keep her grief boxed up she wondered?
Turning away from the reminders of home, she stole a glance at Zeke. Gone were the combat trousers and military style boots, replaced with a sharp navy suit, pale-blue shirt and highly polished black shoes. He looked important, official, not at all like the person who had saved her life and taken out the guards who'd killed Shane. That Zeke had shown such genuine care and concern for her or so she had thought. But where was he now? This Zeke was reading files, making notes, seemingly oblivious to her presence. What the hell was he doing here?
"We are about ten minutes away," Scott told Hannah and then turned his attention to a small device in his hand that looked a little like a phone. Hannah continued to look out of the window. They were now approaching the Business Zone. In the near distance she saw tall office blocks, monoliths of smoked glass and steel. The company where Hannah had first met Zeke wasn't too far from where they were now. This area was a marked contrast to the Industrial Zone. Here, expensively dressed men and woman moved about with pace and purpose. No queues, no broken buildings or broken people. The area screamed wealth, success and greed. Her father called these kinds of people consumption monkeys, working the Flawed to death and consuming everything else.
A few minutes later the Regional Council Offices appeared in front of them. A lavishly constructed building made from pale grey stone. Grand pillars held up the front of the building and in the centre, was large copper-domed roof, which had greened with age. This building was the largest of the eight regional council buildings around the country. This one served as the home of governance for the entire state of Bellissa, the country's wealthiest state which made its fortune due to the area being fortuitously rich in minerals, natural gas and precious stones. It also had excellent quality farmland. The old saying went that Bellissa 'fed the country, powered the country and (with the help of the precious stones) made the country pretty'. It also had the largest overall population and the highest Flawed to Perfect ratio, necessary to staff the industries that made it so successful.
The car pulled up at a security checkpoint and Agent Scott got out to show their papers.
Sensing Hannah's scrutiny, Zeke looked up and met her stare. Hannah held her breath, waiting. Then with the smallest of movements his eyes softened and he dipped his head once in the slightest of nods and turned his gaze back to the file on his lap. That small, almost imperceptible response was enough for her anxiety to reduce slightly. He was still with her; still complicit in whatever it was she/ they were going to do. Most importantly he was with her and not with them.
Scott got back in the car and they drove up to the grand entrance. Scott left the car first and Zeke gestured to Hannah to leave next. Hannah hesitated, not wanting to leave the temporary sanctuary of the car. "You can do this," Zeke whispered. The guard who had opened the car door, offered his hand to her. With a deep breath, she took it and stepped out into the cool shadow of the imposing building.
"Okay, Hannah, let's get you inside so you can meet the others," Scott said walking off at speed towards the main entrance.
Hannah looked up in both awe and fear. She started up the ten stone steps and found herself at a large wooden door. An armed guard opened the door and escorted the Scott and herself inside. She turned to find Zeke had left them, his absence made her feel more. Crossing a shiny marble floor, they came to another flight of stone stairs, except these were covered in a thick, spring burgundy carpet. Up they climbed before coming to another guarded door which opened onto a long corridor. The burgundy carpet continued to stretch the length of the corridor, while the walls were of dark wood panelling and every few metres, hung old paintings of previous country leaders and dignitaries. The building was old, elegant and entirely oppressive.
"Please wait in here Hannah. There is a pot of tea and some biscuits if you are hungry. I won't be too long," Scott said, opening a door into a window-less beige room. Hannah walked in and the door closed quietly behind her. Shunning the free refreshments, she paced across the room until, Scott reappeared.
"They're ready for you now, Hannah."
Breathe, she told herself, whatever they say go along with it., for now anyway.
Scott escorted her down yet another corridor and she found herself outside another heavy wooden door. The guard opened it on their approach and she followed Scott inside. The room was huge, dominating by a large marble fireplace. Above was hung an aged oil painting, depicting a hunting of uniformed men wearing bright red jackets, on horseback, chasing after a scrawny, tired fox. Hannah gave a wry smile and thought how appropriate the image was.
To the right of the fire was a large oak desk and sat behind that was an equally large man. She knew who he was immediately.
"Welcome Hannah," he said and moved around the desk towards her. He shook her hand a little too much force and vigour.
"I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your friend," he offered. His voice showed concern, his eyes did not. The cold, grey orbs which had fixed upon her made her feel exposed and small.
"Please come sit and sit over here and meet the others."
That was twice someone had mentioned 'others'. It was then she realised that behind her sat a large gathering of people. All looked up at her expectantly. Five men including Scott were stood around the edge of the room. Zeke was seated in one of the large armchairs and next to him, on three large sofas, were nine other people just like her, in fact, exactly like her. All of them wore Flawed clothing, ageing shoes and sported home-cut hairstyles. What was most similar was the look of concern and worry on their faces. That too was identical to hers.
As instructed, Hannah took a seat to the right of Zeke, as nine pairs of eyes watched her every move.
"Good morning and thank you all for coming. My name is General Briggs and I have asked you here today because I have some very important information to share. I apologise to some of you for whom we had to use false pretences to get you here, but this information is of an extremely sensitive nature."
Briggs, I knew it! The leader of their state, whose face adorned their stamps and their currency, and the most reviled man amongst the Flawed was seated just two feet from Hannah.
"It is my pleasure to inform you ten, wonderful young people that some information has come to light which I believe will be of great benefit to you," he began.
Hannah took a quick glance at the other nine. They were a mixed bag indeed. Five boys and four girls; all attractive, healthy and each one staring at the General, waiting with baited breath.
"On the day each of you were born there seems to have been a clerical error when the consultant worked out your Standard Perfection Rating."
The nine, each looked shocked and looked from one to the other in surprise, Hannah tried to mirror their reaction.
"Each of you were graded as Flawed, and your birth parents thought that it was in your best interests to have you adopted into more fitting circumstances. This was a mistake."
Gasps of shock were uttered from all of them and Hannah copied this too. She could not believe her ears. Our best interest, she thought scornfully. Utter lies, she screamed inside.
"All of you were actually graded in the 99th centile and above. We can only apologise for the mistake and we have taken action to ensure that this mistake will never be repeated."
"What's my score?" asked the young man seated nearest to Hannah. Sporting a wide muscular frame and square jaw, his nose looked like it had been broken in several places.
"Elyas Morgan, am I right?" the General checked.
"Yep. What's my score?" Elyas replied, while chewing gum.
The General looked down at a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of him. "Elias, your score is actually 99.78."
"Hell yes!" shouted Elyas as he jumped up off the chair, punching the air with his fist.
Briggs smiled, yet Hannah could see he was clearly annoyed with the young man's reaction. "Please sit back down, Elyas," he instructed.
"What's my score?" came a chorus of voices.
"All in good time. We have an information pack for you all. To help towards apologising for such a grievous mistake, it is our intention to move you back immediately to your rightful families where you can begin your lives again. We shall meet up again tomorrow so that you can get to know each other better. I am sure that you will all benefit from each other's support in what we hope will be a smooth transition for you all."
All of the nine looked shell shocked. Hannah could see how happy Elyas was, but she couldn't read the other's reactions.
"In the next room, you will find your birth parents-your rightful families. We hope your reunion will be a joyous one. I should add that it would not be fitting for somebody in your lofty positions within the 99th centile to show any other kind of response. Remember we are trying to be kind to both your birth parents and your adopted parents. I am sure you wouldn't want them to be distressed in any way."
Hannah felt it, they all felt it. The veiled threat, the hint of the darkness she had been waiting for, had crept into the room. In other words, put up and shut up.
"Please come this way," the General said and they followed him to an even larger room filled with the most beautiful, elegant and well-dressed people Hannah had ever seen. They all looked the same. Would she recognise her birth mother and father?
"Hannah, is that you?"
Hannah turned to see a man and a woman. There was nothing familiar about them, which pleased Hannah. She searched their nervous, smiling faces for similarities to her own. She saw nothing; she didn't want to see anything. These were not her parents and never would be.
Hannah nodded at them and they rushed forward and enveloped her in an awkward hug. As they muttered apologies and statements of never having stopped loving her, she caught the eye of a boy of a similar age to her. He wasn't smiling.
"Hannah, we would like you to meet your brother, our adopted son, Edward. We know you are going to adore each other."
Edward stepped forward and shook her hand politely.
"Very nice to meet you Hannah. Welcome home," he said with a smile. The smile didn't reach his eyes.