𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧

Chapter 19: Alan

I pressed the buzzer beside my bed. Repeatedly. Maybe a few times too many. 

The Nurse came to my room, accompanied by a Guard. He stood outside the door while she opened my door. "What is it now?" She drawled, rolling her eyes. "We're busy, you know."

"Listen! Violet needs my help! Let me go and see her!" I coughed, my face red. 

I flinched as the Nurse strode forward. 

"Be quiet! I am tired of you making noise. Day in, and day out, you want to disturb us with your fantasies. Violet is fine. You keep saying she needs your help, but she's doing perfectly fine without you."

That stung more than it should have. 

"She's in her room, resting. Look," the Nurse pressed a button on a remote and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. Fancy Upper Quarter stuff. I had never seen such a thing before. 

Violet was lying in her bed, her eyes closed. It looked like camera footage. 

I looked around the room fearfully, wondering if there were other people watching me through holographic screens at this very moment. I bet there were.

"You see?" The Nurse said. "She's resting! Why won't you believe me? Violet is fine!"

"Why won't you let me see her?" I countered angrily. "Don't we both have the Virus? We should be able to see each other! This feels like a prison! Is the Government just keeping us as prisoners? Maybe to experiment on?" As soon as the words left my mouth, a wave of regret washed over me and I wished I could steal back the words. Had I really said that? Oh no, oh no oh no oh no-

The Nurse slapped my face and I clutched my stinging cheek. "That is crossing the line, Alan," she said slowly, her voice dangerously low. "Guard!" She yelled towards the door. 

The door clicked open and the Guard came into the room, armed with a stun gun. I squirmed. "Don't shoot me!" I had seen what it had done to Violet. It was nasty and involved a large amount of blood, which I really couldn't handle. Even the thought of it turned my stomach.

"Don't shoot him," the Nurse said calmly. "We need him active. He's been asking too many questions, though. We thought he would listen but he's trouble. Do it."

"The Control Pill?" He whispered, a look of hesitation on his face. "Isn't it a bit early?"

"Yes, the Control Pill. Now."

The Guard produced a purple pill from his pocket and the Nurse brought over a glass of water. "Take this," he said. 

The Nurse added, "It's to help with your sickness. You'll get better."

I recoiled - I had no idea what was in the pill. Who knew what it would do to me? 

"NOW," he ordered, slowly lifting his stun gun. The barrel was inches from my face, not a very nice sight to see. "Or I'll shoot you. I'm not afraid to."

The odds weren't in my favour. I was tied down, with a stun gun aimed at my face. There wasn't really anything I could do to get out of this. 

What would Violet do? Would she fight? She'd probably pull off some insane escape move, but I wasn't her, was I? 

Swallowing my distrustful feelings for them, I obediently swallowed the pill. Everything suddenly became brighter and all the thoughts vanished from my head. The world was pure and white. I smiled. 

"What is your name?" The Nurse asked me. 

"My name is Alan," I chirped brightly.

"How old are you?"

"17 years old."

"So you were born in 2119?"

"Yes, Nurse."

"Call me Nurse Lara from now on."

"Okay."

"Pledge your loyalty to us, please." A paragraph of text labelled 'Loyalty Pledge' appeared in front of me - another cool screen. Life certainly was fancy in the Upper Quarter. 

"Okay," I replied, leaning forward to read out the text. "I am very proud to be a part of the Government's first testing program for the Virus! I will assist in the production of the vaccine as best as I can and I will follow the orders of the Leader. I pledge my loyalty to the Government." The words rolled off my tongue like I had been born to say them. I smiled expectantly at them, not even registering what the words meant.

Nurse Lara gasped, sharing a look with the Guard. "Wow, the neuroscience specialists have done very well. I didn't know it worked so well. Do you know how it works?"

"I don't really know the science behind it," the Guard admitted, blushing. He whispered into her ear, "All I know is that it does something to the brain. Rewires it to make sure that they don't control us. Magical, isn't it? And to think that this is only the beginning." 

"Yes," Nurse Lara muttered back. "And he doesn't even know that we know about-"

"Know what?" I asked. 

"It doesn't concern you, Alan. You will not ask questions in the future, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She smiled at me and I felt a rush of pride for making her happy. "Alan, it's getting late. You feel very sleepy now. You should rest and forget all of this."

I nodded. "I would like to rest now. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!"

I pulled my blanket over myself and obediently slept.