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Seven : Cee

 "Miss Denman!"

I keep walking.

"Benna!"

I can see the kitchen access door and plan to reach it before Cee catches up with me. I have to get to the city centre and take the worker's transport to the Institutes. Imagine, if you will, a bullseye target. In the centre is the city. Our high-rises and residential apartment blocks, playgrounds and parks and schools and shopping centres, criss-crossed by the autogrid. All surrounded by what we call the Rings, farmland teeming with growth and the scattered homes of those who tend the scientist's crops and edible animals. The Rings circle out until they turn into sustainable forests, and, finally, vast nothingness, that terrifying blank patch on maps between the approximate dots that indicate other cities, nameless to most citizens. Irrelevant to our meticulously routined lives. The Institutes teeter on the Northern edge, sandwiched between the city and the Rings, the link where one turns into the other. Somehow, I'm going to have to travel through the Rings. Corin hasn't discussed that with me yet. Apparently it's better if we take things "step by step". That way, if the plan falls apart, I don't know enough to give it all away.

"Stop immediately," Cee barks. I know his spindle-thin finger will be hovering over the button to call my father. I turn around and begin to walk backwards.

"I'm walking to school," I lie.

"No need. You are excused from school today."

"Good." I turn back around and keep marching. "I'm going for a walk. I might be back by lunch, or I might not."

Cee's over-zealously shined shoes clomp faster, trying to keep up. Just as I charge past a trio of chefs kneading bread dough at the bench near the door, Cee's hand seizes my shoulder, yanking me to a stop like a fish caught on a line.

"I'm afraid you already have plans," he says. "Come with me."

I roll my eyes. Cee doesn't even notice, just tightens his grip as he leads me back through the kitchen. As we pass the prep aisle I can see the staff glancing at me beneath their white caps, smirking at each other. Ooh, look at naughty Benna. In trouble again. They've all heard my father and I argue. So far none have been foolish enough to discuss what they witness here with anyone outside the House. I bite back a request for the cream cheese and walnut bread. I can see a measuring cup level with dried cranberries and I don't much like those. Pointless to ask though as I won't be here to eat it.

"I need some fresh air. Didn't Mrs Plum tell you I'm feeling unwell?"

"In that case, it's good fortune your medical appointment has been moved forward."

I screech to a stop. This was not part of the plan.

"What?"

Cee swipes the scanner to his left and prods me through the door, back into a long narrow service corridor that leads directly to the foyer; the heart of the House.

"When?"

"Now." He pulls his notepad from his jacket pocket and voice commands a call to my father. His right hand never leaves my shoulder. Numbly, I let him direct me through the windowless passage. It's too late. I've missed my chance. What am I going to do? I link to Corin. I'm pretty much a pro at that, now.

"She's with me," Cee says at the notepad.

Are you out? Corin says in my head.

"No," I think at him. My eyes pool with liquid. The cream linoleum at my feet blurs. I need to toughen up, this is ridiculous.