Running With the Wave

Chapter 42

Era:

They set me down as soon as we got out of the cell. I still feel loss from Keara's death, but seeing Moa so upset... It made me realize that I do need to live, if not for myself than for Moa. I look at the faces of the Keepers that form a circle around me. All of them are expressionless, without feeling. Like stone. I wonder if any of them realize how sick what they're doing is. Probably not. Just more brain washed people who think treating people like crap is okay. The Authorities... They're the ones that came up with the idea of imprisoning the women. If they died, would everyone else understand? I guess I'll never figure out, because I'm not going to be alive much longer. We travel down many hallways, but I don't get tired. After having been on the run, walking the distance to the Range is nothing. I think of Hunter, back at the campsite, and find myself wishing I had never left. I miss him, I still love him even when I know I have to do this. Why can't I just put him out of my mind? Will I ever be able to?

"I love you, Hunter." I whisper, "I'm sorry I've treated you badly. I'm sorry I left you to have your heart broken. I'm sorry you ever had to meet me."

The Keeper beside me looks at me in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Just ignore me like you guys usually do." I mutter.

He gives me a strange look then goes back to being stone. We turn a last corner and reach two huge steel door. The man with the clipboard comes out, looking as bored as ever.

"Name?"

"Era." I sigh.

"Age?"

"Fourteen."

"Reason to be Disposed?"

"I'm barren."

He stares over his half moon glasses at me.

"Where's the little girl?"

I look up at him in surprise.

"Who?"

"The one that's always been with you." He says impatiently.

"Dead."

He purses his lips and nods.

"So I'd heard. Right this way."

He turns to go into the Range, but I stay put.

"You noticed us. Why didn't you ever say anything?" I ask quietly.

He stops and sighs, his shoulders sagging.

"Some things are better left unexplained." He tells me, a sharp edge to his voice.

A Keeper gives me a warning look, then shoves me forward. I stumble through the doors, and then they shut behind me. I look at the man with the clipboard, who's back to being expressionless. I begin to wonder if these men have suffered at the hands of the Authorities too.

"This way, girl." Another Keeper takes my arm by his gloved hand and shoves me to the center of the room.

The room is square, small, making me feel slightly claustrophobic. The walls, floor and cieling are sterile white with no sign of blood that had obviously been scrubbed off. A wall screen is projected on the back wall where the Keeper stands with his rifle, ready to shoot me. A glass wall covers the wall where the wall screen is, and the man with the clipboard as well as a few extra Keepers and one other man that I've never seen before stand behind it. I hear the click as the Keeper turns off the safety lock and I close my eyes.

"Goodbye, Moa. I'm sorry I didn't succeed." I whisper.

Then I stand there and wait for that small bullet to come and destroy my world.