The Luminosity Series (Book 1): Luminosity Page 12

  “Listen, I have to go before I’m late. Please just do everything you can to get back here to tell me if Evan’s safe. And be careful,” I said.

  “Okay…” Grateful for her presence, I nodded before giving her a hug.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Behind my eyes was a cruel lie. Our fake smiles only meant more deception to those who remained sheltered within their rooms. At the hospital, patients would never witness the lies, greed, and manipulation that had taken over the outside world. Maybe the ones on their death beds were the lucky ones. They wouldn’t see their end coming like the rest of us.

  I strolled through the halls in terror after my conversation with Janelle. After witnessing the absence of newborns, I didn’t think I’d feel any worse. But being assigned to the third floor that day was even harder. Down here, I’d be subjected to the suffering bodies of the elderly—the lowest priority hospital patients. Sickened by their neglect, I did everything I could to convince them they were valued. After two weeks of being assigned to their floor, I gained their trust and respect. The dying had that instinct about them. They were a good judge of character. They were aware of who the real threat was. Until then, I related to their misery and lack of willpower. And there was one patient in particular who especially didn’t deserve to dwell within these walls. His name was Charlie.

  “Hi Charlie,” I said, making my way into his room. I sensed he was already in a moderate amount of discomfort by the wretched look in his eye. I wheeled the cart over to him, struggling to fake a smile as he gawked at me, desperate for relief.

  Charlie never said a word. In fact, I didn’t speak many words to him either, knowing what I learned about him. Aware of his condition, Charlie became a prime example of imprisonment. Here he’d linger until his death—a fallen victim to ignorance in its purest form. He had severe brain damage, with no recollection of his life or his family—a void that must’ve felt worse than the end itself. After being robbed and beaten after the collapse, he was forced into a cold, aimless existence—a paralyzed prisoner to this hospital. I had tried so hard to avoid him, to push him from my thoughts as if to ease the guilt of his unfortunate circumstance. But I couldn’t. And that day, the looks he had given me became even more agonizing. He was ready to give up on this world.

  “Okay, mister… let’s get you out of that pain you’re in,” I said, glancing at the medications in pity. The fatigue from my sleepless night set in while I glanced at the sun setting beyond the hills. The auroras appeared earlier now. This meant that darkness wasn’t far off. Janelle wouldn’t make it back before curfew.

  As my eyes wandered in search of Charlie’s medication, I quickly learned they were missing from the cart.

  “We’re out of medication for this one,” Sonya said, putting a cold, gentle hand on my arm. She seemed to appear from out of nowhere, watching, waiting, eager to stop me.

  “What do you mean?” I asked in disbelief, blinking in confusion.

  “We’ve been ordered not to fulfil this man’s medication. We checked our inventory this morning. Our stock is dangerously low. Perhaps you weren’t careful enough about the dosage you were giving him,” Sonya said. I stopped, startled by her assumption. My blood ran cold as a sharp, cluster-like pain triggered in my head.

  “That—that can’t be accurate. I gave him exactly what I was supposed to give him. And I haven’t been anywhere near the pharmaceutical supply.”

  “And what would explain you running through the hospital earlier, other than to beat us to the punch and cover up your own mess, of course?” Sonya asked.

  “What? No! I’m telling you I didn’t do this!” I shook my head in anger.

  “No matter, due to tighter resources, now we have no choice but to cut back,” she said.

  “But his condition is life-threatening. If we don’t treat it, he’ll die,” I whispered, trying to be discreet. I was out of air as I fought to ignore my sudden headache, as if I could feel Charlie’s pain.

  “You know we have regulations to abide by. Besides, his family transferred away from this territory and abandoned him. He doesn’t even know who he is anymore. Maybe it’s for the best he gets put out of his misery,” Sonya explained without an ounce of sympathy. My body shook as I turned my head to peer at him again. I couldn’t help but wonder if Charlie had, at one time during his stay, remembered his relatives had left him here. He gave me a look of distress, flooding me with guilt. But it seemed he wasn’t sad for himself, but rather, for me. I swallowed as I closed my eyes. “Step aside, Aubrey.” Sonya cleared her throat before giving a hand signal to the two guards who stood behind the corner. I choked down the fear as they stared at me, speculating my reaction and analyzing my every movement. My vision drifted from one guard to the other. Intimidation was their only power here, and I couldn’t give in to the temptation to intervene. But I couldn’t stop myself either.

  “No. I can’t let you do this to him!” I took a step forward, hoping my intention was clear.

  “Security!” Sonya signaled. Suddenly, I recalled what Janelle said about the hospital taking people’s lives. She was right. This wasn’t a reason to end someone’s life. It was an excuse. Out of options, I clenched my teeth as I scanned the room. My eyes drifted toward a nearby drawer marked with a biohazard symbol. Without thinking, I plunged toward it, grabbing a black needle from out of the drawer. One shot was lethal, like death had been liquefied, melted down into a syringe that could be injected freely, without consequence. And now, I aimed it into the space ahead of me, targeting all of them in defense. Unaware of what had come over me, my wooziness returned without warning. My heartbeat quaked through me as Sonya’s surprised expression doubled in my vision. In that instant, the guards raised their guns.

  “Put it down! Now! Get on your knees!” a guard yelled. I didn’t want to listen, but who was I kidding? I didn’t stand a chance against their weapons. My hand shook, struck by my sudden rebellion as the needle plunged to the floor. Losing my motive to resist, I grabbed onto the chair beside me to steady myself. Sonya spun her head around to the guards.

  “Contain this woman… She’s a danger to herself and these patients,” she said with a shaky, thorny voice. Without a hint of sympathy, she nodded back at the soldiers to signal them. I swallowed the dull ache of regret as the guards walked closer, reaching out their arms to grab me. That’s when I panicked.

  “Come with us, ma’am,” a guard ordered.

  “No. Please. What are you doing? Let go of me!” I struggled. My eyes widened as two more military guards rounded the corner. A doctor and nurse led the way, their footsteps earthquakes, shaking and rattling my core with every thud. I froze, noticing the same black needle in the hand of one of the doctors. And in that second, I leapt forward before anyone could stop me. But I was too late. “No!” I whimpered, trying to slide out of their grip. My feet screeched against the shiny floor as they pulled me backward. And in that moment, I wanted to pass out as the doctor injected Charlie’s arm with the lethal poison. Paralyzed, Charlie’s eyes stayed focused in front of him, glossy and lifeless, letting go. I looked up, my hair falling in threads across my face as my gasps sent them back into the air. I dug my nails into the soldier’s arms, scratching and clawing to free myself, but it was no use. They only used more force as my adrenaline spiked into a violent surge. “You don’t have to do this! Please! He doesn’t deserve to die!” I screamed, breaking myself free from the guards while the tears fell from my eyes. But his time was already up. My screams echoed down the hallway as Charlie’s body shut down. Now, another team of military guards burst through the stairway door, armed with weapons, pulling me away before I could dive across the hall to his aid. I held my breath, struggling to release myself from their grasp again. It was over for me. I wouldn’t survive this. In a state of horror, I had fallen apart inside. Everything I had ever done was for nothing again. This was it. And as the steady sound of Charlie’s heart machine blared throughout the room, I knew I had failed him. Within t
he deafening noise, Charlie’s life had been taken. And a part of me had been taken with him.

  15 SANCTION

  My vision doubled upon waking. My head rested against a large table, my hands twisted behind my back. Handcuffed to a chair, my memory was still a fog. The only feeling I could recall was the sinking sensation during my descent. Then it hit me. I was sedated. Put to rest. Calmed into obedience. But nothing would suppress me long enough. My skull throbbed as I raised it from the table, blinking repetitively to wash away the dry sting. My heart pummeled inside my rib cage. I was jittery, and breathing felt impossible.

  As I took a sharp breath and closed my eyes, a door beside me swung open, revealing the two military guards who had brought me here. I recognized their merciless faces, tense and fixated on me. The nature in which they stared at me, in such aversion, the way their black boots collided with the floor snapped me into attention. Ready to employ whatever scare tactics they could to coerce me, I froze. My lip quivered, frightened of what was about to happen. I battled to readjust my posture. But it was no use.

  “Aubrey Rae Adams…” the soldier to my right said as he dragged up a chair. I glimpsed at the other guard already glaring at me. Then I peeked back at the first man, waiting for him to continue. “Do you have any idea the consequences of obstructing regulations?” he asked. Of course I did. Everyone did. And why he even required to ask was absurd, but all I could do was nod my head, evading his rigid gaze. “Then I’m sure you understand that you must be held liable for your attempts at interfering with hospital operations,” he said. I pressed my eyes shut as tears seeped down my face.

  “No. I don’t understand,” I sassed in a grimace, realizing my attitude would only result in more torment.

  “Don’t make this harder for yourself. You’re in hot water as it is. And your mother’s caused trouble here before. Many families with an account of insubordinate acts will not end up qualifying. For the sake of your future, it would be wise to cooperate,” the soldier said. I swallowed.

  “That man didn’t deserve to die,” I said, blinking coldly as the aggravation flowed through me like an endless river. The soldiers peered at one another before facing me again. I struggled to hide the anxiety, my weakness, but my body wouldn’t stop shuddering.

  “Ms. Adams, if we uncover evidence of you looting drugs from this facility, or being too generous with dosages, you will be sentenced to maximum punishment in a prisoner’s camp,” he said.

  “I did everything I was told to do. I swear,” I choked on tears. In my mind, the images flashed back into memory now. The day I left. My mother’s resistance. The spasms of guilt when I returned. Desolation. The barricades closing behind me, reminding me of a prison, returning here without the possibility of ever leaving again. But I’d always be trapped by my regret. It was a heavy thing. Like quicksand, once its grasp took hold of you, there was no escape.

  “Aubrey Rae Adams, under federal regulation, I am revoking your labor duties from this hospital. At the end of two months, you will be reassigned only if you have successfully completed correctional counseling. If your counselor reports signs of behavioral improvement, your qualification status won’t be affected. If you fail to improve after the timeframe required, you’ll be taken to a nearby facility and placed in solitary hold until we find a suitable place for you. Is this understood?” the soldier asked in an abrasive voice. In an instant, the room narrowed in on me. The pressure around my wrists released as the other soldier removed the cuffs. In tears, I massaged my forearms, analyzing the marks resulting from their grasp. “Ms. Adams?” I nodded in agreement as I allowed the pain to dwell dormant inside me.

  The two soldiers left me alone in a state of intensity. I aimed my lifeless gaze at the wall, the guilt overwhelming me as my thoughts drifted back to Charlie. I burst into a cry, gasping on air, leaning my head forward as I pounded my fist onto the table. Ruining my own chances at qualification seemed like a small sacrifice compared to his death. But the colony qualification wasn’t even my biggest fear. It was the worry that one day, everyone who made my life worth fighting for would be gone.

  “You shouldn’t be crying. They let you off easy… just like your mother,” Sonya said in a breathy voice as she entered the room. My head turned to her in shock. Sonya looked at me with an exhausted expression. She took a seat beside me from the other side of the table, her chair scratching across the floor, creating an obnoxious screech. I winced as my pulse shot higher. She leaned forward, clasping her fingers together as if to pray while attempting to look me in the eye. The fluorescent lights buzzed above us, still flickering from their lack of use.

  “How dare you…” I said, wincing at her in disbelief.

  “I did you a favor. If I hadn’t put in an encouraging word, they would have sent you away for good. I wasn’t going to let you get away that easily. You see? There’s no action that goes without consequence here, Aubrey. Somebody always has to pay. Luckily, in your case, it was Charlie who lost his life because of this, not a young woman like you. But next time you might not be so fortunate,” she explained. By now I was out of my mind with fury, letting out breath after breath as I stood up from the chair and placed my hand across my forehead.

  “We’re not done. Sit back down,” Sonya demanded.

  “So I’m supposed to thank you? We could have saved that man and you know it!”

  “It’s disheartening when you become a witness to other people’s hostility, but this is just how it is now. There is no room for resistance against authority in this society. And what you did was an act of defiance. It was unacceptable,” Sonya said.

  “Compared to what? The murdering of infants and innocent patients?” I asked in disgust.

  “I told you before. We have regulations for a reason,” she said.

  “Yeah? Well, the purpose of those rules doesn’t justify their existence. Those so-called laws are only there because they need an excuse to define their actions. No one will ever benefit from this corruption. Not when they’re killing the only people they have left and punishing the rest,” I lashed out.

  “You’re only hurting yourself by acting this way. You are a low level civilian. You’re not capable of changing the ways of this world. That kind of mentality will make you a target. If you do not adapt under their rule, you’ll never make it out of this. Do you understand me?”

  “Isn’t that the whole point? To weed out the people who still question them? They’re not giving civilians a chance to survive, they’re leading them all to an early death.” By now, my breathing had gotten heavier, denser.

  “You’re a smart young lady, Aubrey, a woman with morals. But going against regulations is not wise. You either adapt or you don’t. It’s up to you to decide,” Sonya said. I took a deep breath. My lips quavered in hatred before the words slipped from my tongue.

  “You’re wrong. They decide whether we live or we die. But we bear the consequences. We bow our heads in silence while innocent, deserving people find out they’re not worthy of survival. We deny the truth, because we’re too greedy to accept that what we’re doing right now is ruining our future. And if we still can’t understand that, then we have no future,” I spit out.

  Furious, I couldn’t endure another word of opposition. Sonya swallowed as she arose from the table, overwhelmed by my speech. I held back tears as I clutched the chair to pull myself up. Towering above her, I gave her a sarcastic salute before charging through the door of the small containment room.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I had a new sense of appreciation for the burning sun as it beat down on me through my window the next morning. In my nightmares, I almost understood the parallel—the rage of endless fire within me. But after that day, it was fading. My hopelessness fed the panic. The worry. The need to find him. To know Evan was okay.

  I shot up from my bed from a knock on the door. Peering out the window, I expected to see Evan’s jeep, but instead, Janelle’s old beat-up sedan sat in front of the house. Without th
inking, I threw on some clothes and ran my fingers through my messy hair, rushing down the stairs as her shouts became clearer.

  “It’s me! Open up!” Janelle yelled. As I turned the knob, she let out a relieved sigh as she peered around me, as if expecting to see my mother.

  “Don’t worry. She’s not here,” I said.

  “I heard you got in trouble last night. What the hell did you do, Aubrey?” she huffed, closing the door behind her. I sighed, looking toward the floor.

  “I tried to stop an injection.” I wiped the tears away.

  “So you resisted against the guards?”

  “Yes, Janelle. I resisted.”

  “What were you thinking?” she lashed out.

  “It was a trap. How was I supposed to react? They killed an innocent man in front of me,” I said. Janelle shook her head.

  “But you didn’t have to make it worse by sacrificing your future!” she shouted.

  “I had to do something. I couldn’t just stand there and watch. Besides, my chances don’t matter anymore. This was a test. Someone must’ve set me up on purpose. You said it yourself, Janelle. They’re picking people off.”

  “You’re so much like your mom.” She shook her head, putting one hand over her mouth before speaking again.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “My god, Aubrey. I used to think I was the one who had trouble with authority. I never should have told you about the tunnel. Maybe none of this would have happened,” Janelle said.

  “Oh, so now that’s my fault too? You’re the one who told me about it,” I said, blinking away the tears.

  “Still, you should’ve talked to me before you risked going after us.” She winced, shaking her head.

  “I didn’t want to involve everyone else if I got caught.”

  “We all almost got caught that night. And it’s because we weren’t being smart about what we were doing. You didn’t have to throw yourself into danger just to make up for leaving,” Janelle said in a low voice, her eyelids fluttering in disbelief.