The Higher Define (2018)

27

I can't stop shaking from the fear of getting caught. From the scuffling of shoes against the soil, I make a guess that there are only two members who know what's going on.

No, not know what's going on. Two members who are controlling this, controlling us.

"Stupid little bitch thought that she could make things go her way. Guess not." This comes from Kayla and I can hear her voice wafting towards me. In fact, I can almost imagine her presence beside me- kneeling slightly to examine the dirt caked on my features.

Don't move, I tell myself. It's impossible but I need to do this, to stay uncaught. To remain hidden.

"Guess the thing you laced her food with worked, huh?" It's Courtney's voice, answering to Kayla.

They laced my food? Is that what caused the malfunction of my code?

So it isn't me. I'm not flawed, not faulted the way that I made myself out to be. I could have laughed with relief were it not for the situation I was in.

"Let's stop talking. We got to hurry." Someone takes hold of my arms, pulling it above my head and drags my body against the ground. I can hear the loud puffs that are prompted from the strength and energy required and I wonder where they're taking me to.

I wonder how two people are going to drag everyone else. Are they dragging us to the underground? No, that seems stupid. The ladders are the only way in and out- they don't have that physical ability to haul us over their shoulder and go down.

So where?

I try to take a whiff of the air discreetly but it smells the same- of soil, of vegetation and sweat that sticks to my body.

"Work faster, Courtney!" Kayla snaps as my arms are deposited to the ground. They smack against the thick roots of a tree- or what I'm guessing are the roots of the tree. More noises scrape the air as the person who has been dragging me- Courtney, probably moves away.

"I'm the only one working. Would you want me to report your laziness to Emma?" Courtney answers snidely and Kayla returns with a sneer of her own.

I can hear more bodies being dragged to where I am and it feels like forever. It feels like I can't imagine how this is going to go down. I don't want to think of what they might do- kill us? Torture us?

Does Spencer know about this? That the people his parents hire are ordering the younger Corrupts to turn on to their members? Fear traces through my veins.

I lose track of time. Seconds turn into minutes and stretches into pauses that I can't count. If feels like forever when I hear the return of Kayla and Courtney's voices.

"Alright, let's get the transfer done now. Honestly, I don't understand the need for all this moving about. We can always retrieve the codes and resources and transfer them in our sleeping areas."

"Don't be stupid. We need to be near the labs in case something happens?"

What are they talking about? I struggle to fight down the way fear contorts my body and begs for it to get up and flee the scene.

"Don't call me stupid. I was the one who suggested extracting a little of Aspen's code to examine it." Kayla says.

"Right. As if no one thought of that before."

They're going to extract a bit of my DNA? My genetics?

No. I need to run. I can't let them have a part of me that I can't even put a label on, that I'm scared of others finding out.
They'll see that I'm not a Define, that I'm not a Corrupt, they'll exploit me for what I am and what I'm not.