The Twins

Chapter 7: The Officials

Part 3: Purple

The elevator creaked with a laboured moan as the doors opened and several dozen officials stepped out. They brought a load of supplies with them which they quickly "volun-told" some of the Saru Tokai to do. Chatter spread around the camp like wildfire, especially when they started setting up tents.

"They did that last time too. They must be expecting some of us to expire." Tiana said casually.

Marie glanced at the teacher in confusion,"........what?"

Tiana sighed. She obviously didn't want to go over the details of what happened "last time" but she leaned against a hut and began to speak anyways.

"When I first got here and still had the blue eyes a bunch of officials showed up to hand out supplies and check on people. We were able to contact our families, and get the medical attention we needed. Apparently all the people with pink eyes, who were about to expire...die rather...were all brought into those tents and were never seen again. I can only assume that the officials keep track of who's about to die and they show up to take care of the bodies." Her eyes lost their mischevious look for a moment as it seemed to dawn on her that she had pink eyes. She was about to "expire".

Matthew watched the exchange quietly. He didn't want to interfere. He was good at figuring out what people were up to or what they wanted, but horrible at talking to them. This seemed like a bad time for his bad social skills to show up and mess things up. After all, people who are about to die can be pretty unpredictable, especially if they were crazy to begin with.

Marie patted the adults shoulder,"you said you enjoyed the surface right? At least you got to come here."

Tiana grinned like a madwoman,"oh yes. Here I can do whatever I want. Unfourtunatly I would much prefer having just stayed home but noooooo Tiana, Saru Tokais can be a hazard to other people if they stayed on Edis! Who would fix the pillars? It's an unimaginable honour to do something for the common good! We aren't like we were before as humans, now we take care of each other! It's for the common good!" Her smile slowly twisted into an angry scowl,"common good my ass." She muttered making sure no officials were around to hear.

The twins glanced at each other. Since birth, the citizens of Edis are taught the importance of why the Saru Tokai have to go to the surface. There were many reasons but mail one was that the Saru Tokai mutation was created because of all the radiation on the surface and that radiation could harm others.

At the end of the war small gamma ray particles buried themselves in the genes of a few people and twisted them in a way that science couldn't yet explain. The gene effected still preformed the tasks it needed to so the mutation did nothing to the carrier but if the mutation was fully present, and a Saru Tokai was born that person put off the same radiation that twisted their genes in the first place. In small doses it was harmless, but if the whole population of Saru Tokais were still on the surface, the regular population would definitely be effected.

Matthew thought back to the lessons about the Saru Tokai in school. Ms. Mortal herself taught him a lot of those lessons. It was odd that she would ignore them and say that going to the surface wasn't worth it. It was definitely worth it. The whole population would be at risk if the saru tokai stayed. He supposed that being forced into an unpleasant situation brings out the worst in everyone though. Perhaps it was her fear talking, not her.

Suddenly an official approached the group with a friendly smile,"hello there I just need to check you into the database. May I scan your faces?" She held a small hologram and had her hand poised above it. The twins nodded and she went ahead and put the hologram up to their faces. Tiana scowled but let the official scan her anyways.

"Alright great!" The official exclaimed then pointed to Matthew and Marie,"you two are all set to talk to your parents. Would you like to come with me?"

Marie's eyes lit up and she grinned, following the official instantly. Matthew followed but slower, what would his parents have to say about this? An even worse thought crossed his mind; what if he started to miss them? Could he continue searching for Amani when all he really wanted was to go home?

Doubts flooded his mind almost as if a dam burst inside of him. I'm stuck here can I really go find Amani? Marie already has purple eyes what if she expires soon too? I can't loose either of them! She's my sister she's always been there for me and he...He makes me feel like nothing else matters in the world. His thoughts raced in circles as his breath got shorter and shorter. Who even am I? I'm a Saru Tokai but I know nothing about that side of me. I play video games, I read, but what makes me who I am? I'm stuck here. I'm stuck. I can't breath. I can't loose them, they make things make sense. Help!

Marie stopped running and turned to face her brother. He had been following close enough behind but she could tell that something was wrong. His eyes stared off into the distance, far away.

"Hey." She said softly,"we're ok."

Matthew focused on her face, his thoughts starting to slow down.

"Breathe."

He did. Slowly, ever so slowly he got his grip back on reality. They were ok.

They had each other to make sure of it.