Imperfection

Imperfection Chapter 9

No no no no. 


This is not happening. 
I am not crouched down beside Walker's motionless body, my shoes sticky with his blood. 
I am not screaming at the man in gold, who studies the scene with not a single hint of empathy. 
And I am not alive and breathing, living without the bullet that should have been in my chest.

I'm staring to think this is all a joke.

"Why am I not dead?" I think out loud. 


"Good question," The golden man says, turning to walk off the stage. 
"Dismissed!" He yells over his shoulder. 
Two Sapphire Dux Ducis hastily follow him as he walks into an elevator, their blonde ponytails flopping wildly as they hustle out.

I cradle Walker's head in my arms. His ash colored eyes are almost completely hidden by his thick eyelashes, his lips are parted just wide enough to see the faint glimmer of his teeth. A soft, scratchy sound comes from deep within his throat. One of my tears falls upon his pale cheek and slides down his chin to his neck.

"I'm sorry," I mumble. " I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"What happened-" he croaks, quietly. "To not choosing the easy way?"

I touched his cheek with my bare palm and watched as his eyes became dull and lifeless.  I never thought I would have anyone die locked in my embrace.

Verse from the book of Vita:

Part 1: Philosophy and Beliefs 
Verse 30: Death

"Life, as beautiful and treasurable as it is, is indeed limited. During the 
Praeterita, life could be stolen from innocent, young souls at anytime. Several Praeteritains did not have the opportunity to enjoy this precious phenomenon that we call life. Many died at early ages, as young as toddlers, infants even. 
In Beta, all civilians are guaranteed 80 anni of life before they are to be peacefully laid to rest. In Beta, death is nothing to be scared of. Death is quiet and relaxing. The Dux Ducis, our generous supervisors, guarantee that life in Beta is fulfilling and wonderful for all of their civilians. So much so, that death will be almost like a vacation."

The Dux Duci carried Walker's lifeless body out of the building. His skin was gray as the cement walls as they tossed his body onto the back of a rusting old truck.

My hands are still sticky and burgundy from his blood. It's sickening to know that he's dead, even though it should've been me who was shot in the chest. Walker should be standing here, with my blood on his hands. Instead, I am still here breathing, being ushered out of the building by other Dux Duci.

They're saying we'll begin working today. They’re yelling commands to each other, like "Take these ones to the farm" and "Make sure there is enough equipment for them to go down in the generator."
They command us to split up and follow them, turning their backs to us and expecting us to follow. 
One Dux Ducis leads a flock of us down a dark hallway marked, "Generator." I join a group of kids who are following a Dux Ducis who wears a long white coat over his Dux Ducis uniform and latex gloves. 
He walks holding a clipboard behind his back. His hair is short and black, tasseled at the top of his head. He wears shiny silver glasses over his glimmering mocha-brown eyes. There's no doubt this man is a
Steel. He doesn't speak to us; instead he studies the surroundings intensively. 
The hallway we walk down isn't dark and damp. It's icy and bright, glowing with aging light bulbs and machinery. We're walking towards a bright room filled with big clunks of metal with touch screens and keyboards. There seems to be thousands of different screens all in this one room: screens that read percentages and large numbers, screens that show maps of each Betain province, screens that present pictures of people and their biographies.