CHAPTER 1
Alex is gone.
The light grey walls of the room were only lit by the white, blinding spotlights on the ceiling. The classroom had no sign of colour; everything was black, white and grey and the only vibrant colours that stood out were those of the stationary and the students' hair, skin and eyes.
A short, grey-haired teacher started hovering over the children's open notebooks. Her brown, wrinkly skin resembled that of a paper bag, crumbled and thrown in the middle of the street. She approached the next desk slowly yet with heavy steps and stopped in front of a blonde girl whose eyes were hidden away from the teacher's sight.
'Anne, this is your second time to come unprepared in the classroom. As a punishment for this, I will request for you to be locked in your room-'she didn't manage to finish her sentence.
'Cell,' Carlos, a boy sitting on the desk to her right, whispered in a tone of sarcasm and Anne raised her head up again, just to look at him.
'Shut your mouth or perhaps you will be next!' she shouted hitting his desk and all the students could make out the veins popping on her forehead. She did not appear kind earlier but, at the moment, every hint of vulnerability had given its place to the hardened characteristics of her bony face. Everybody was holding their breaths. 'I'm fed up with you!'
Carlos was looking directly at her without breaking eye contact. A vein popped at the point where his left eyebrow ended. He was determined to win this battle. He did not respond. Anne's gaze fell upon his face. Carlos looked back at her, expecting to be rewarded with a smile or some other gesture of gratitude but what he received was a vacant stare instead. At that moment the bell rang; it was time for the break.
He lingered in front of his seat for a while after the bell had rung. He was not sure he would make it out of the classroom without a punishment, some scolding to say the least. But the teacher did not give another look at him so he was more than pleased to exit the cold room.
Anne was waiting outside for him, her round eyes ready to explode.
'Are you crazy? You could have betrayed the whole pack! That's what you always do!' she shrieked, refusing to understand the struggle Carlos went through every single day.
'The "pack"... What do they think we are? Some kind of animals? Cause they sure treat us like we are,' he continued furiously as the two friends started walking along the corridor.
'It's true, Alex escaped,' Edith, "the snitch", had just passed in front of them, whispered those words and vanished with the same hurry that she had appeared. It took the other two a minute to understand what had just happened.
'What was that all about?'Carlos asked in confusion.
'So ... he did it,' Anne whispered to herself.
'What? Wait, you knew about this?' he demanded to know.
'Yes, well, um ... Alex told me. He-he wanted someone to know in case-' Anne stopped. That was all she was ready to share. That was all Carlos should know. Alex had left and that was it.
'Anne, what's going on?'
'Alex, he's gone,' she answered and only then lifted her eyes off the floor. 'He left.'
'But how-' Seeing a classmate approach them, Carlos dropped his voice. 'Here comes the "chatterbox!"' he said as another blond girl joined them.
'Oh, Anne. I knew I'd find you here!' the girl said, choosing to completely disregard Carlos' presence.
The shrieking of the girl made it obvious that it was Carlos' time to go. Besides, he had to tell Lucas the news. After a final glance over his shoulder, Carlos retreated slowly, ignoring Anne's dreadful look for abandoning her with the annoying girl. 'You owe me an explanation,' he thought as he stared back at her. The loud chattering of the girl now echoed all around the crowded hallways of the school.
Carlos knew Lucas would be at his usual post; the science lab.
***
'Did you hear the news?' he asked and seemed impatient to reveal everything to her.
'No, what news?' she asked in bewilderment and leaned her head toward her shoulder, like a puppy confused by a sound it had never heard before.
'Um ... about Alex ...'
'Alex? Alex who?' she asked again.
'Please stop answering with questions. I'll tell you right away, just ...' he said and guided her inside the restrooms by pushing her lightly on the back.
'So, what is going on here?' she asked and looked into his eyes after the door closed behind them with a bang.
'Alex, a boy from sixth grade, escaped. He-he somehow managed to surpass the surveillance cameras, the guards, he-' Pierre took a breath at this point, '-he left the school last night.'
It took her a minute to process his words. 'Are you serious now? It can't be true. Maybe it's just another rumour, it has to be. You mean Alex, the one that ... Anne was talking to the last few days?' she asked and her eyes were on fire, asking for answers, demanding them.
'Yes. Sonia, trust me I-I know. He's gone,' he answered firmly.
'Gone.' She repeated quietly. 'If he did it then ... maybe we could too,' she thought to herself. 'He won't even have to take the tests! Maybe ... maybe we don't have to take the tests either.'
All adults within New Earth, those who arrived in the dome and those who became adults inside it, were submitted to a series of tests before their placement in a job or a home.
The first circle of tests included, of course, medical screenings. Each patient had a folder in the city's official records. There, any kind of hereditary disease, infection or even the common cold was marked down inside the adult's file.
The second circle of tests was run mainly for identification purposes. During that procedure, the authorities searched for any valid piece of information or identification provided about the subject from his or her previous home.
Those who made it to the final stage had to go through, mostly mental, exercises, solve a series of problems and answer personal and general questions. That was the most critical stage of all three because it determined the adult's score.
The score of every eighteen-year-old person inside the dome was available for everyone to see, simply by contacting the ranking database employees at the city's central administration center, a huge but plain building that made the whole place appear even more miserable.
By that means, young adults with high scores would be chosen instead of underachievers to obtain a better employment, a more comfortable house and live a more promising and prosperous life.
Sonia blinked three times. 'We should let the others know,' she finally spoke. 'This way we could all leave this place,' she thought.
'Yeah, we should.'
***
'Lucas!' Carlos called as he joined his friend. He looked around the white room. It had been a while since he had last visited the laboratory. Not many things had changed. A few more books were added and clear testing tubes were placed here and there, most of them empty. Lucas appeared paler now as he turned the switch of a lamp to the right.
'Do you really need this much light?' he wondered.
'Erm ... let me explain this to you. By simply turning this switch to the right, I lower the volume of sound in the control room. If we speak quietly like we are right now, they can't hear a thing!' Lucas explained, amused to face the confused expression of his friend.
'What? That's-that's just brilliant! How did you- Wait,' he said, interrupting himself. 'Can't they, um, detect the error? You would get in a lot of trouble.'
'No, there's no error. I have just connected the lamp to the cord of the machine up there,' he explained in whispers, in the simplest way he could, and looked at the camera. 'Besides, this only means less noise from the lab coming into their ears, so they won't mind.'
'Glad to be your friend,' Carlos commented playfully. He meant it. He had no idea what he would do without Lucas' ideas and inventions. 'Now, I have something to tell you,' he said and pulled himself together, his goofy smile erased from his face.
'Yes, I know. Alex left,' Lucas continued his friend's words.
Carlos leaned against the wall. The few rays of sunlight that tried to make the room seem warmer were now shedding light to his hazel eyes that sparkled in curiosity. 'You knew? Anne knew as well. Why am I always the last one to find out?'
'That's not the case. You know,' he paused. 'Alex and I had planned the whole thing together. Unlike me though, he was too impatient to wait until the circumstances were ideal and every little detail was sorted out,' Lucas revealed and Carlos' chin dropped, his mouth hanging open.
***
Sonia and Pierre were now walking along the corridor overflowing with students, talking or walking as well. Sonia turned her head toward Pierre that was walking nervously alongside her. His facial expression betrayed his anxiety.
'Cover up this look of yours or the guards will suspect us,' she suggested to him.
'If only I could,' he answered. By the end of his sentence, he realized they were now standing almost outside the door of the laboratory. There, a guard gave them a suspicious look. However, they still slipped through the metal door without any hesitation.
They slowly walked in, always keeping an eye on the guard. They both shortly found out Lucas was not alone but had been talking with Carlos until their arrival.
'Have you um ... been ... informed?' Pierre pushed the words out of his lips.
Lucas nodded and Carlos smiled at Sonia but this time she looked frustrated from everything that had occurred the last few days. She squeezed Pierre's arm and her eyes begged him to retreat toward the exit. He did as asked.
While Sonia and Pierre left the room, Carlos decided to stay.
'So, where were we?' Lucas asked calmly. He had always been like that; serious and down to earth. He never bothered to exaggerate or make small talk. "Less talking, more working" he would always say.
'I'm just so pissed! At everyone!' Carlos snapped.
'They can still hear us if we shout like that,' Lucas said. 'Don't you think I get angry all the time?'
'Yes but you-'
'You need to control these outbursts. For everyone's sake,' Lucas suggested and looked into his eyes.
'I know, I'm just tired of all this. I'm sick of being another piece in their game,' he said more quietly yet in anger. 'I can feel them control me, my every single move,' he added and then stopped talking. He ran his fingers through his dark curls and looked outside the window for a moment. 'I'm trying, I really am,' he told himself.
'Carlos,' Lucas said, making Carlos turn and face him, 'come meet me here on the next break if you want. There are some things ... I'll tell you the rest when you return.' And at that moment, as if Lucas had planned it, the bell rang.
***
Carlos was at the edge of his seat throughout the whole lesson. Not because he was so interested in mathematics but mainly due to all recent events and his earlier talk with Lucas. 'First Alex leaves, now something's wrong with Lucas,' he thought.
His eyes rolled to his left to meet Anne's blue ones. She looked back at her notebook and pretended to be taking notes so as to keep the teacher from accusing her of lack of interest. Carlos then rolled his eyes back to his desk and did not bother hiding his shaky legs.
When the bell rang, Carlos jumped off his seat and stormed out of the classroom in a hurry. He stomped down the stairs pushing a group of girls aside. His feet finally lead him inside the laboratory where he and Lucas had met earlier.
'Lucas! Hey, I'm here!' he shouted in an unusually high pitch.
'Yeah, I noticed,' Lucas answered, his voice low and steady.
'So, what's the big deal?' Carlos asked impatiently and cleared his throat so that his voice would come out deeper next time.
'What's the thing you'd want the most right now?' Lucas asked him and took a step closer.
'Better food in the cafeteria? I mean, do they even know what salt is?' Carlos blurted out the first thing that popped into his mind.
'Ah, that's not the point! Think!' Lucas said, more like ordering him.
And that is what Carlos did. He crossed his arms around his chest and for a brief moment he was lost in thoughts. Carlos had always been labelled as another careless rebel, always spontaneous and somewhat arrogant toward strangers although even his friends criticized him much too often. But he always took some time to think, usually when the lights went off at night.
'You don't mean-' Carlos hesitated.
'Carlos, listen to me. We have an escape plan,' Lucas was quick to interrupt him with his steady voice.
'A ... what now? An esc-you're not serious. Quit school? That's just stupid. What would we even do out in the city alone?' he started saying.
'Hang on. I meant an escape plan ... to leave New Earth to-to get out of the dome!' Lucas insisted, trying to make his intentions clear.
The whole city of New Earth was surrounded by a transparent dome made out of magnetic fields, something like a gigantic transparent veil covering the whole city. Nobody ever went out yet somehow more and more people got in.
'No. No way. It can't-'
At that moment Carlos froze. The cracking sound of the door that flew open startled him. It was Pierre.
'You ... you scared me!' he said, trying to repress a couple of swear words but Pierre was not listening.
'Lucas, did you tell him yet?' he asked, his voice low and firm.
'Yes.'
'So, are you coming?' Pierre asked as he stepped closer to his two friends.
Carlos looked baffled by the turn of events. 'Wait, so you knew? Before me? I'm always the last one to know! Great,' he protested.
'I only knew because Lucas wanted some help. And you were busy putting us in risk with your...' He stopped. It was not the best idea to stir things up at such a critical moment.
'I have a few questions,' Carlos said and a sigh followed his words. 'Are we sure it's going to work? You know we're probably getting killed if-if something doesn't go as planned.'
'Yes, yes. There's only one detail that needs to be sorted out but ... I wouldn't ask you to come hadn't I been entirely sure.' Lucas was right. He would never do such thing.
'Alright then...' He was not still completely convinced. 'Since there's a plan ... How many people does it include?' he went on asking.
'Well, before it was just Alex and I. Now it's the three of us.'
'So ... you mean more people can't join?' he asked next, his eyes now rolling on the floor. 'Were you planning on leaving us here?' he then asked angrily.
'Why are you asking?' Lucas asked back, ignoring his second question intentionally.
'Well, you know there are some people ... Anne, for example. I can't leave Anne behind!' he protested. 'I just- she's gonna be a big help.'
'Wait, let me get this straight. You want us to take a girl with us? Seriously?' Pierre asked with his barely-visible eyebrows raised.
'You make it sound like girls are not human,' Carlos said.
'I-That's not what I was implying ... it's just that girls are weak. They wouldn't even last a minute out there!' Pierre fought back, raising his voice.
'Really? Can you leave them behind? Cause I can't. And Sonia. Oh, I could never leave her behind.'
'But-'
'Do you think the girls would ever abandon us like that? Huh?' he shouted and his eyes gleamed. Carlos noticed a vain pulsing at the side of his neck as he gulped but chose to ignore it.
'Keep it down, guys. They might hear us,' Lucas whispered in between their shouting.
'Still, I don't think it's a good idea,' Pierre continued.
'But why? And why is it a good idea for you and me to go and not our friends?' Carlos insisted.
'Carlos, for once, think about it. What if we go out there and some of us get hurt, or even killed?' Pierre swallowed loudly before he could speak again. 'Won't you want to take your own life after something like that? Huh? Wouldn't you blame yourself if anything happened to-' his voice dropped and he stared blankly at Carlos, his face still flushed.
'If anyone's interested in my opinion...' Lucas who had remained silent the whole time said, 'I think it should be their choice and not ours. We ought to let them know and then they can decide for themselves. We're all equals here.'
'Lucas, I know. I'm just trying to prot-' Pierre pleaded to be heard but Carlos was determined not to let him.
'Yes, but shouldn't they have a say in this?' Carlos supported Lucas.
'I'm just trying to help. I'm worried,' he said and looked away to hide his pale eyes that had watered from anger. His fingers scratched his forehead before he opened his mouth again. 'I can't do this,' he finally said with a trembling voice.
'That's fine. Carlos and I will,' Lucas answered in hope to lift the burden off of Pierre's shoulders. But Pierre just could not accept that.
***
Sonia picked up a sharp piece of glass and twisted it around gracefully, letting the sun shine through it for a while, and then placed it back on the heavy desk. He instinctively turned to his right and looked at her; the sun still lighting her face.
The four walls of the room were cold and solid but the narrow windows placed close to the ceiling allowed the sun to slip inside the room. This particular room was located at the far end of the school and was mostly used for the additional training classes.
Additional training was a series of lessons that all students had to attend. These lessons started at three in the afternoon, right after the end of the "regular" classes. Training classes involved some cooking and cleaning lessons, basic hunting, farming and fishing skill-learning and were founded by the governor so that young adults would have basic knowledge on how to be self-dependent when they leave school.
Pierre looked down to his own hands then back again to hers. Sonia was having a hard time shaping a piece of wire to the form of a hook that would be later on used to make a fishing rod. His sight slipped from her slim fingers to the bone of her wrist and even higher, to her left elbow and arm.
His eyes slowly travelled along the defined lines of her collarbones and neck and moved up examining her prominent, curved jaw line that revealed her Slavic nature. Right above her chin, her full, red lips were tightly pressed together as she was trying to concentrate on the task at hand. Pierre's sight finally rested onto her eyes that were actually plain brown but now appeared amber under the afternoon sun.
Sonia then turned to her right, her glowing eyes scanning the room for Felicity. She found her easily, guided by her high-pitched giggle. Felicity was talking to a boy that was previously helping her bend a long piece of hard wire. Sonia could not remember the name of the boy no matter how hard she tried.
'Here, let me help you with that,' Pierre said softly as Sonia let him remove the wire from her hands. She appreciated his gesture but her eyes were still fixated on the mysterious boy across the room.
***
Anne got up, and then sat back onto her bed. She stood up once more. She started pacing up and down the narrow space between her bed and the opposite wall. She slowly stopped in front of her bed, tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her pointy ear and sat on the bed for the fifth time that hour.
Anne had never been locked up in her bedroom earlier than usual so she did not quite understand what she was expected to do at three p.m., alone, in an isolated room with no distractions beside a couple of books she had already read twice.
For a brief moment, she thought of turning her gaze back outside the only window of the room but that idea left her mind as it was a particularly cloudy day and nothing outside the room was fascinating enough besides the occasional sunny spots that were now absent.
Anne finally thought it was best for her to lie in bed until she would fall asleep. After all, 'an afternoon nap is always the best', her mother always said. Mother. At moments like that, she particularly missed her company. She had always been around, even when Anne's father was away.
The blonde girl stared at the digital watch on the nightstand for a couple of seconds. Nine past three. 'Great,' she thought to herself, 'we're making progress.' She then slowly lied on her bed and tucked herself under the soft sheets that betrayed the coming of a warm summer. Anne closed her eyes shut as she squeezed the pillow with both of her hands. 'One more day will soon be gone,' she thought. 'I'm one day closer to leaving this place.'
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