In a nightmare world ravaged by misery, the Imperium offers utopia to a select few. When Arya and Everett are recruited into this elite society, they choose to leave their homes against their families' wishes.
Naive and young, Arya and Everett are...
Everett and I are the last to walk through the massive floral arch that leads into the botanical garden. He's close enough behind me that his suit occasionally brushes the back of mine in a discrete swish.
I press my bracelet-clad wrist to the screen inside the arch as I've done for the past several weeks and take a step forward before a short, startling ping stops me in my tracks.
"F930, report to the Wellness Hub immediately," a toneless male voice emanates from the screen.
Almost immediately, a feeling of suffocating dread starts creeping up from my stomach to my throat.
They know. They know that Everett and I left our pods and went to that place with the weeds and barely made it back without being caught.
I turn to Everett and find him staring at me worriedly. I try to keep my voice level when I say to him, "Try yours."
The screen pings again when Everett taps his bracelet against the spotless rectangular surface.
"M929, report to the Wellness Hub immediately."
As my heart races, my eyes flit to the garden. The citizens take their positions at the hedges and get to work without so much as a glance in our direction.
"Maybe it's got nothing to do with what happened last night," Everett says softly, pulling my attention to him.
"Maybe," I agree, but when our eyes lock, I know that neither of us believes our own words.
▲
Everett and I are met with the Foreman as soon as we climb the stairs leading up to the Wellness Hub and step through the vast, bright entrance.
"Follow me," the Foreman says stiffly.
Without another word, he starts heading down one of the corridors. He walks briskly, making several turns but never checking to see if Everett and I are following.
Why did you order us here? The question lingers at the tip of my tongue, but I'm too afraid of what the Foreman's answer is going to be.
Eventually, we stop in front of the now-familiar white door with the delicate golden pyramid. Just as Lorelai's sister had done, the Foreman fixes his eyes on the pyramid until the door buzzes open.
We follow him inside, down the familiar corridor - lit poorly by the oddly-shaped blue fixtures curling downwards from the ceiling - and through the black door at the end of the hallway. As we descend the winding staircase, our footsteps and the steady, mechanical hum in the air are the only sounds.
As the Foreman leads us through a broad, dimly lit corridor, the humming sound grows fainter until it becomes indiscernible. Here, the walls on either side are made entirely of glass. When I look closely, I realize that there is a door on the left, also glass, with a small screen where the handle ought to be. Beyond this door is a vast space bathed in darkness, but when I squint as we're walking past, I can vaguely make out the outlines of a long row of beds. There is a large engraving on the wall behind the beds, unreadable from my vantage point.
"Arya, we might lose him if we don't go faster," Everett whispers, gently tugging my hand. I realize that in my preoccupation, I've slowed to a complete stop while the Foreman continues further down the hallway. "Is something wrong?"
"It's just . . . This place. It feels so familiar every time we walk past it," I say, gesturing to my left. I struggle to shake off the strange feeling in my chest as Everett and I hasten to catch up with the Foreman.
Suddenly, as we get closer to him, a memory resurfaces in my mind - Everett and I lying on two narrow, adjacent beds under harsh lights, his wide eyes reflecting the fear in mine.
"I knew it! We've been in that room before," I say under my breath, frantically trying to hold on to the hazy memory. Squinting my eyes, I struggle to focus as the engraving on the wall threatens to reveal itself in my mind.
But just as the words come tantalizingly close to my reach, a high-pitched beeping noise completely shatters my concentration. Gritting my teeth in irritation, I turn towards the sound, realizing that it's coming from one of the black remotes dangling from the Foreman's belt.
The Foreman comes to an abrupt halt, and for a fleeting moment, his body tenses up ever-so-slightly as he glances down at the remote.
"What's going on?" I demand, exchanging a worried glance with Everett.
"I'll be asking the questions today, F930," the Foreman says over his shoulder before he starts walking faster. The remote continues to beep incessantly. "I'm afraid the two of you have a lot of explaining to do."
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Hey guys! I'm so glad to say that Under Changing Skies has hit 10k+ reads! A big thank you to all of you for reading this story and for your wonderful comments! We're getting closer to the end of this story, I'd say we've covered about two-thirds of it so far, but I can't say exactly how many chapters are left yet. With the end of 2021 fast approaching (what even is time, at this point?!), I'm hoping to write more and ramp up the updates for this story.
Anyway, I hope you're staying healthy and that you have a good holiday. Let me know how you're doing in the comments! Take care. :)
