The Lost Ones

18 - Adrian

Our first day in the city goes pretty well, seeing as only yesterday we were running from homicidal lunatics. This must be some kind of world record. Maisie borrows a digital camera from Jane, who did a master's degree in photography at university ('It's how I met Colin' she said dreamily) and goes a bit overboard in taking pictures of everything.

"Maisie? Don't you think that's a little too much?" Lela suggests gently.

"Don't be silly! I want to remember this day for ever!" She waves Lela's comment off excitedly with a flap of her hand.

And so we just let her get on with it. I understand how she's feeling, though. On the outside I'm just extremely casual and laid-back (Lela will tell you otherwise) but on the inside I'm practically exploding with happiness. We're free. We're finally free. After all we've been through.... and now, we're wandering round a city. Nobody is staring at us like we're crazy; here in the city we're just part of the normal crowd of tourists.

We explore the busy streets in complete amazement, unable to believe our eyes. Young children play in the streets, on bikes and scooters. They've never known life to be anything else apart from what they have here. At midday we sit on a wooden bench in the park, just watching the people walk by. There are large families holding picnic baskets, couples young and old holding hands and just people enjoying the scenery.

"It's weird. It all seems too...perfect. It's like there's nothing sad here." Lela says to me as we're walking back to the lodging house. Maisie's still taking about a hundred pictures a minute and Peri's got a large collection of pebbles from the park ('You never know when you'll need a pebble') which are spilling out of her arms.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." I laugh, and she smiles but she has a serious look in her eyes.

"Maybe it isn't. But it's just...odd. That's all." She says.

"You just need some adjusting time Lela, it's fine. All of this has happened to us so quickly." Maisie says, and Lela nods in agreement.

However, at dinner she isn't as chatty as usual and I can tell that something's wrong. But, knowing Lela, she won't want me to keep asking her about it and if I know what's best (and I usually do) I should probably shut the hell up about the whole thing and just leave her to get on with it. It's an unspoken rule, mostly because she's good at punching despite being quite a bit shorter than me.

"Alrighty, my dears, you'd better be popping off to bed soon. You've got a big day coming up tomorrow." Jane says cheerily, collecting up bowls and plates with a clatter.

"What's happening tomorrow?" Gemma asks curiously. Jane looks up at her worriedly.

"Didn't they tell you when you arrived here? After three days of staying in a lodging house you have to make a decision at Town Hall as to whether you'll be living in Cerise City or not. If not, you can stay another two days while you get sorted, but you're always welcome to come and live in the city!" She informs us. We share an uneasy glance.

Are we staying here - forever? It's such a beautiful and happy atmosphere... but then there's the hospital. Charles Magannor's after our blood - and our bones and brain tissue too - and they'll probably be tracking us down at this very minute. It won't take long before they find us in the capital city; a place where they can find us in plain view. If we stay here we'd put everyone in danger, Jane's family, the happy people we saw in the park... every last immune family hunted down for parts.

There was no way we could do that. Nobody could live with that on their conscience. I guess Gemma and Drew, as leaders of the group, were thinking along the same lines.

"We just can't stay here and watch everyone get slowly killed one by one. We need to go after tomorrow and head north." Gemma says decisively.

"Let's all get some sleep. We can deal with this in the morning. 'Night, everyone." Drew waves at us before we go our separate ways.

Lela's already in the girls' dormitory, probably fast asleep by now. She's right, something feels very wrong here. Is it just the tension and the dread of tomorrow? No, it's something else. I pass Alan's - one of Jane's nephews - room. There are whispered, but still slightly raised, voices. I recognise the girl's voice to be Claire's, the anxious-looking maid.

"But...Alan....what can I do? I barely have any money, I depend on Mrs Tourney...." I could hear Claire say pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Alan says firmly.

"But it's your child, Alan! Where am I meant to go?" She says and I can hear the emotion in her voice.

"There are...homes. I suppose. For girls in your situation." Alan sighs, his voice almost irritable.

"But my family are relying on me for money! My mother has to work three jobs just to be able to put bread on the table for my four younger siblings. I can't go home like this." Claire sobs.

"What about your father?" He replies passively.

"He.... he died. Of the disease; it was years ago. Back in my home town on the coast. It's a place called Costero, I think it's pretty quiet nowadays. Lots of people were dying back then. We escaped to Cerise City but not many others did." She sighs sadly.

"Well Claire, you can't work here in your condition, I'm afraid. My family would get in a lot of trouble if anyone found out you were still working like this." I could see Alan turn away from her through the crack in the door.

"But...it's your daughter. I found out the gender from the test. The child's your family." Claire whispers.

"It's your family. It has nothing to do with me."

It shocks me how little he seems to care. So that's why they never seemed to be happy when we saw them at dinner - Claire is pregnant with Alan's baby. It infuriates me how he's treated her; he's just going to throw her away like she's nothing. I have half a mind to open the door fully, storm in there and give him a piece of my mind... but Alan's twice as tall as me and I know better than to just shout at him.

So there's nothing I can do. I walk past silently, desperately hoping that they don't notice me, but thankfully I make it back to the dormitory without anyone spotting me. Half of the guys are already asleep, but Drew sits upright on his bed, reading. He looks up when I come into the room.

"Where've you been? It's pretty late." He raises an eyebrow.

"Nowhere... nowhere special," I peer at his book. "The Hunger Games? You're reading classics now?"

"Hey, it's a good book!" Drew grins, pretending to be offended.

"It's exactly ninety years old. Talk about old school."

"Oh, shut up. I need to catch up on things, anyway. Did you have books in the hospital?"

"Yeah. They needed to educate us somehow."

"That didn't turn out so well, did it? Got you thinking for yourselves and they managed to create a monster. Or two monsters." Drew says, making me laugh.

"At least it's their own fault, anyhow. Enjoy reading your book, granddad." I switch off the lights above my bed.

Drew turns off his lamp after a while too. I can't sleep for a while, so I think about what he said to me. They created their own monster. If you think about it, it's true. If they'd just kept us in the dark about everything (not that they didn't try to) then none of us would be here. In a way, the hospital is the only reason that any of us have got this far. They only have themselves to thank for this whole mess. I know one thing though: wherever we're going to go, we need to be one step ahead of the hospital.