Utopia

Chapter Five

I awake to the sound of a large gate rolling opening as our car drives through to the unfamiliar site. I feel tired and slightly frightened of what could be ahead. I couldn't see what was awaiting me, the only thing illuminating the road was the cars limited headlights. As the Officers sitting beside me mumbled a conversation I tired and failed to get a sense of where we were.

"I have not been here in ages, I thought they were finished with this." Said one of the Officers sitting in the front.

I tried not to let my fear be seen but I couldn't help but whimper slightly. Not only was I scared but also curious, I have never heard anything like this before. I used all the courage I had, which wasn't much, to ask the Officers a small question, " Where are we? And what do you plan to do to me?"

" Where we are taking you is none of your business and as for what they will do to you, well that will be reveal in good time." This was said by the older Officer who was driving the car and obviously in charge. 'Well that was helpful!' I thought to myself sarcastically.

A thought occurred to me that maybe the reason the Officers were always so vague was that they really didn't know. Was there some sort of authority over them that we didn't know of?

My tangent was broken by the sight of a looming building bright with artificial light. Shielding my eyes from the brightness, I tried to comprehend what purpose a building of that size could be. I had never seen any building this big before, even the Officer's Base- the biggest structure in town- looked like a shack compared to this. There had to be at least thirty stories and so many windows that I hadn't even begun counting as there was so many other things that caught my attention.

Before I had time for my eyes to move past the building and to the gardens, the car suddenly stopped causing body to lurch forward only to be forced back to the seat by my seat-belt. The Officer's didn't even look in my direction as I rubbed my back from where it was slammed against the seat.

There was no time for me to recover as the Officer sitting next to me opened the door and yanked me out, almost making me land in a heap but I lucky caught my grounding. Two Officer's now flanked my side without exchanging orders. What kind of a person did they think I was? All I ever wanted was to keep my sister safe, to be there for her, I didn't ask Vince to remove the data from chip to become a fugitive! I remember that day very clearly.
It had been weeks since the first news report was released and yet I still hadn't been to get tested for whatever it was they were looking for. Even though I knew I should go, especially if it meant the war could be over but I also knew that I had to be there for Poppy, I couldn't leave her. Eventually they would realise that I never got tested but I would deal with that later, right now I could indulge in that fact that Poppy and I were safe.
I left the house to walk to the markets when I ran into Vince who was doing the same.
"Hey", Vince said in a very happy tone. Everyone was thrilled by the news of a changing world.

"Hi, I have something to tell you but you can't tell anyone. Do you promise?" I said this in a hushed tone hoping no one would over hear me.

"Of course I won't tell anyone. You can tell me anything!"

"I haven't gone to be tested yet. Why should I do? I need to be her for Poppy but I don't want to be caught!" After I said this I breathed a sigh of relief, Vince always had that calming affect on me.

" Come over to my place later and I will delete your chip. They will never know who you are or wether you went to get checked."  Vince always had an answer for everything that's why I trusted him with so much, helping people just came naturally to him.

"Thanks. Have you been tested yet?" He had never mentioned if he had or hadn't, which was strange as we normally tell each other everything.

Vince looked really awkward as he scratched his hair and fiddled with the end of his shirt. Why was he acting so strange?

"Yeah of course I have been tested it is what we are suppose to do, right?" He sounded unsure and it was as if he was lying to me but I couldn't see how, why would he lie?
I let it go and we continued walking toward the markets with the plans to hide my lack of obedience.

I shook my head trying to remove the memory wondering why it should come up at this moment. The Officer's continued to push me forward towards what seemed like the door of the great building.

When we reached the giant door, I craned my neck to get a look at it, was everything here so big? Just as I thought this, the doors swung open on heavy hinges, making a loud creaking noise. As I grimace from the sound, a lady not much older than me wearing formal clothing stepped towards me and took my arm.
In a firm yet gentle voice she addressed the Officers, " I shall take her now." They nodded and left. I stared in shock, since when do Officers take orders from others? Who was this women-who has power over the Officers- and what was this place?