Page 18

Chapter sixteen

Andrew

M y pen twirls between my fingers. As I reread the incident reports from last night’s movie screening at the Academy, I can’t bring myself to start the paperwork required to submit to the Commander.

Forest's sudden shift in demeanor earlier today lingers on my mind, eating away at every waking thought.

It’s as if there’s something I’m not seeing.

I can still see her eyes and how they looked at me when she got home last night. Nothing about her has been the same since this new school year started. I think back to Fallan’s haunting blue eyes piercing straight through me during the assembly. Five minutes alone with her is all he would need to take revenge for the sins I committed. He looks at her with hate that I know is for me.

I never thought I’d see the day he learned to hate her. I was beginning to think it was impossible despite the code.

I look over the file with details about the Tainted they had to expel last night. As far as I know, the execution was far away from my children and their companions. Only after I had seen the itinerary of all that attended did I realize Fallan and another Unfortunate were there. Had the Shifter not gone after a Tainted and ruined the night, I wonder what Fallan would have done. He bribed multiple people to get that position working the booth. Trying to figure out his plans has been nothing short of hell.

“I left you like this thirty minutes ago, yet everything is the same,” my wife’s voice whispers.

Her arms wrap around my shoulders from behind, resting her head on my own as I quickly shut the file, closing my computer's screen with a wave of my hand. I can feel her mouth pull into a frown at my secrecy. Her heart is far too big to involve her in the news of an Untouchable child’s death, even if they were Tainted. Thankfully, she was not tasked to do the autopsy.

“And now you're hiding your work,” she says with a sigh, pulling her head away from atop my own. I grab her wrist, stopping her from walking away from me. Hesitating, she eventually lets me lead her closer, pulling her onto my lap.

I feel her small figure press into my chest. A few wrinkles encompass her face in all the right ways, aging her with a grace and beauty even the richest Untouchable struggles to achieve. I run my thumbs over her cheeks, reveling in the fact that she chose me, and I chose her. Not everyone can say that.

“I’m not hiding things, Katiana. There are just some parts of my work I think are best to spare you from seeing,” I admit, knowing any conversation about last night would only lead to countless worries regarding our children.

“I’ve seen plenty of death, Andrew. You seem to forget who’s in charge of the Expulsion Tests,” she says with a large frown, touching the scar behind my ear.

She looks over my face for a reaction, and she gets it. My mouth curves as it falls into a more prominent frown than usual. She pulls her legs up higher, stringing them over my lap as she presses into me more. I feel her head land on my chest. My hand cups her middle, feeling the small indents of her ribs beneath my fingertips.

“You must focus on yourself, my love,” I whisper, smelling her familiar scent of lavender. She pulls away from me, cupping my face between her warm hands while she observes me.

“Says you. You look like you haven’t slept for days. What’s on your mind?” she questions, holding my gaze to her own, never letting up.

“Our daughter,” I admit after a few moments. “She has been getting into a great deal of trouble recently, and I can’t help but wonder why,” I say, half expecting her to goad me about how silly I’m being.

“She has always been defiant, Andrew. We both know she got that from you,” she says, not trying to convince me of our daughter's innocence.

“You know what defiance leads to,” I say, brushing over her scar, her eyes growing slightly wider.

“An Untouchable can only receive so many marks on their scorecard before Re-Regulation devices are used.”

“Have they used one on her?” she questions, not giving any of my points a second thought.

“Not too long ago, yes,” I begin. My wife’s nose scrunches, only making me question the nature of her curiosity more, “But they used the devices on a group, not just our girl. It was for her safety and the other students. She was fine,” I admit, clenching my jaw as I hesitantly grab the file that can answer all of the questions I’m sure she has.

I glance at the nearly closed door, making sure the space around us is private as I hand her the yellow file. In most scenarios, showing her this file would only result in my superiors screaming at me, but given her close ties to the Tainted’s Expulsion Tests and our children, it’s something she needs to see.

Her hands fumble as she breaks open the file. I see her cover her mouth at the image of the girl’s bloody corpse. Multiple pictures of the grounds were taken, all to ensure a quick and effective cleaning of the area. The student's motionless figures all stand out in the photo. Our own children’s still bodies were enough to scorch my mind with unpleasant imagery.

“It was just the one girl who was Marked?” Katiana questions, holding it together much better than I expected.

“We call them Tainted now, and yes, just the one. One too many,” I sigh, running my hands up and down her side. Her eyes narrow at one of the pictures, flipping around the file to point to my daughter’s familiar figure sprawled across the ground. Her brother is only a few feet away from her.

“Who is holding her neck down?” she questions, pointing to the figure inches from my daughter on the ground. I feel a pit form in my stomach at the sight of the dark-haired man pressed against my daughter. They both lie still. His hand rests on the back of her neck. It's a gesture so few know will calm her. I keep thinking about his sudden presence, making me question the validity of how much he truly remembers.

Is it possible he never forgot?

“The Unfortunate from the transfer program,” I say after a few moments, still trying to process what I see. “There were quite a few moments of panic before the attack. Chances are he wanted her to get down before she got hurt from whatever went after those two kids,” I say, unsure of how true that theory is.

Katiana slowly nods her head as she closes the file. I watch her raise her eyebrows as she’s pulled deeper into her train of thought.

“Is he the Unfortunate?” she questions, my only response is a nod. She clenches her jaw in dismay.

“You handled it the first time. There’s no coming back from what you all did to him; don’t let your paranoia ruin you. There's no way he remembers,” my wife says, speaking with disgust not directed toward Fallan but toward the people I work with.

“From what we did to him?” I question, throwing her words back at her as she takes a deep breath.

“You know where I stand on the situation,” she says coldly, reminding me just how little of a say she had all those years ago.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Xavier’s familiar voice says, nudging open the door to my study with a look of pure embarrassment as Katiana quickly pulls away from my lap. Sneakily, she puts the file back where it belongs. Katiana pats down her clothes, adjusting any areas I might have untucked with my gentle touch. “You said you wanted to meet around noon. I can always come back if it’s a bad time,” Xavier finishes, unsure of how to react to the situation he’s stumbled upon.

“I still have some work I need to get done. I was just about to leave,” Katiana says, making her way closer to the door with only a brief look in my direction. I mouth an “I love you,” watching the smile spread across her face as she slips past the door. Xavier rubs the back of his neck, moving closer once I drag one of the open chairs in my study closer for him to sit in. He takes a seat with a heave, dragging himself closer to me.

“You seriously could have told me to piss off,” Xavier says, trying his best to stay on my good side, given the interaction I saw between him and my daughter this morning.

No one has mustered the courage to bring it up. I’m starting to think maybe it's better that way.

“I asked you to stay here to keep me on track. There's no use in having you leave now,” I say, pushing past my annoyance at his sudden presence due to my lack of time management. The boy looks tired, holding his head in his hand to stay upright. I see now how young he appears and yet he’s years older than Kai. His uniform is messy, but that doesn't affect his ability to charm the women he interacts with. Unlike most egotistical Untouchable men, he holds himself on no pedestal, and I’ve never seen him gravitate towards the materialistic, even when his comrades urge him to.

I turn toward my computer, switching it on once more, letting its graphic images pass over my eyes and Xavier’s. I see the countless elderly Unfortunates lined up at the edge of the ward. Each one is taken out silently, all by the hand of their own chips. Xavier watches the graphic images displayed in front of him with wide eyes. His throat bobs as he tries to gulp down words. It’s a sorry attempt at digesting the information in front of him.

“It's the Release,” I clarify, clicking away the video before checking off the files of each elder laid to rest, confirming their passing.

“What the hell does that mean?” Xavier questions, looking at me with a brief touch to the chip behind his ear.

“Don’t worry, Untouchable chips are not designed to harm us in any way. The new Commander requires all Unfortunate elders 70 and above to be released outside the ward to conserve resources. It was their people or ours,” I say, listening to Xavier scoff.

“The same Commander who has shown his face zero times since being appointed by the Council. Call it whatever you want. It's public execution,” Xavier says, sounding much more like Katiana than I expected.

“Would you rather it be our people?” I question, silencing his rant as quickly as it had started.

I can't stop Xavier from grabbing the file Katiana had placed down on my desk before she left the room. He scans its contents, letting his eyes linger on the same photo that had drawn Katiana in. I watch his eyes absorb the image, giving me little time to try and pull it away from him.

“The chips can’t kill us, but they can be used to manipulate us instead?” Xavier questions, yanking the file closer to him and away from my grasp.

“Because you’re a saint when it comes to Re-Regulation devices?” I begin, watching his face drop into a frown. “I’ve seen your file, Xavier. I know why you could work your way up so young,” I admit, waiting for him to respond.

“It doesn’t mean I agree with what I had to do to get here,” he says, most likely reflecting on the countless Unfortunate executions he had to take part in to show his loyalty.

“I know you don’t take comfort from it,” I say, drawing in a deep breath. “That's why I like you,” I finish, relaxing in my chair as I watch him scan the file.

“How much do you know about the Tainted?” I question, watching him look over the picture of the girl and the claw marks that cover her chest.

“I know your wife runs the tests that are supposed to keep them out of our population. I know that, occasionally, some with low levels of mutation in their DNA can get by the tests. Shifters are attracted to them, right?” he questions, running his fingers over the marks left on the girl’s body.

“As far as we know, Shifters can use the Tainted to return their forms to a human-like state. Their DNA is far more mutated than the Tainted’s. Unlike the Tainted, they don’t possess special abilities. All they possess is a blood lust that we are unable to satiate. We knew there were some tears in the ward. The real question is, how does a Shifter of that size make it this far into New Haven without anyone noticing? Two minutes alone with our weaponry, and it would have been down.”

Xavier closes the file, looking at me like he’s realized something.

“What is it?”

“A few men said they went back to the grounds to check for any sign of the events of last night, not that I knew what the hell they meant since I was running Unfortunate sector watch. They said it looked like something large had been sitting in the brush around the school, farther away than where the girl would have been attacked. I had no idea what it meant then, but maybe I do now,” Xavier says, the gears turning in his mind as he continues to sort through the details of what happened. He’s always been praised for his cunning and intellect.

“And?” I question, pushing him further.

“Maybe the Shifter was watching and the girl and her partner just happened to stumble across it. If it wanted to wipe out more students, it would have. I don't think it intended to be seen, considering how far it got into the sector,” Xavier says, painting the picture of last night in my mind.

“What could it have possibly been watching?” I ask. He looks as if he’s sorting out the answer as we speak.

"I’m not too sure. What are they most drawn to?” Xavier questions.

"Tainted. More specifically, the blood of them,” I say, watching his shoulders shrug sleepily.

“Maybe there was someone worth hunting that we don’t know about,” Xavier says, making a chill run down my spine.

Xavier opens the file again, grabbing the photo of all the students and pointing to my daughter’s figure.

“Her hand is bruised in the photo,” Xavier says, grazing his finger over my daughter's still figure, not mentioning anyone else around her.

“One of your dipshits stepped on her hand last night,” Xavier continues. I reflected on the image of her wary figure as she held her hand close to her last night.

“By some miracle, she thought it was her own clumsiness that caused the injury,” Xavier finishes, drawing in a deep breath as he watches me.

I look over the photo, feeling angrier the longer I think about my men trampling my children.

“If you find out who’s responsible, let me know,” I say after a moment.

Xavier gives me a wide grin while throwing his head back with closed eyes. His body leans into his chair, making him look much more relaxed.

“It wasn't hard to piece together that it was Nick with all his arrogant table talk in our unit. Let’s just say I might have been late today in between eating lunch and dumping laxatives in his morning brew,” Xavier says, causing me to slip out a laugh I didn’t know I had in me.

“They told me you were reckless, that you had few cares in the world. I think I’m starting to see that,” I say, trying my best to maintain my professionalism.

“I have too many things to care about, Andrew,” Xavier says, pulling himself closer to my computer. “I think that’s part of my issue,” he finishes, looking over my tab of “to-do’s” lining the side of the screen.

“So, are we going to keep talking, or will we get this done?” Xavier smiles, clapping me on the back as he opens the video files of today in the Unfortunate sector.

He crosses off “ Review footage of Deviants ” from my list, both of us wincing at the footage in front of us.

The muddy ground and rotting buildings take up the screen. There are feeble shopkeepers lining the streets and sickly children tossing around mangled toys while weaving in between barbed wire fences that aren’t standing upright anymore. Emaciated citizens work their way through the streets. Some shops are lively. Others are decorated with slumped-over citizens lying on the sidewalk. I think about the quality of life we’ve created for these people, reflecting on the facade of lies we tell the Untouchables about the Unfortunates’ living conditions to make them feel better. Every day, grueling labor for our gain is forced onto them by a chip they think is in their head to help them.

“For the glory and grace of the fucking New World Order,” Xavier says in a scoff, shaking his head at the screen in disgust.

“Glory and grace for some people,” I whisper, worrying once the room fills with silence.

“I always thought that motto was a sham anyways,” Xavier says after a few moments, giving me one last conspiratorial smirk before we begin reviewing hours of less-than-pleasant footage that very few can stomach to get through.