BREEDERS

Chapter 8: History

 I laid down on the cold table, my legs in its usual position during these kinds of exams. It didn't matter that I had gotten my period, they check you anyway. Despite the embarrassment I felt I had to hold still, staring up at the ceiling where they put a picture up of a kitten in a flower basket. I scoffed and Dr. Emerson looked up at me adjusting his light and giving me a cold stare.

"Menstrual flow is a bit heavier than usual. Come back in five days and we will start you on the regimen." I heard the snap of gloves being pulled off and Dr. Emerson was at the sink.

"What is going to happen?"

"We will give you a shot today and then another when your menstruation ends, and a last one right before ovulation. Then we will take a selected donation and the party begins."

"Some party," I scoffed.

"Now that I have you here there are some things I will need to address. Consider it a friendly reminder," he said.

I shifted under my sheet and sat up uncomfortably.

"No intercourse of any kind." He gave me a look that ran up my spine and shook me. I remained stone faced and nodded, feeling the heat rise in my neck.

He nodded when he felt like he had gotten the point across and opened a new sterilized needle, putting a Vein Light against my arm to find a spot and injected the chemical into me. It burned slightly, I was surprised by this. He rubbed the spot vigorously and sat back in his swivel chair.

"This is the start. The very beginning. This will increase your odds of having a successful implantation."

"Sounds exciting," I mumbled.

"We are doing something new this year with the girls who are in the program." He held up a small card, one I recognized as a Platinum Unit Card. He held it out to me and I took it with confusion.

"It is in good faith that we are giving these out, consider it a sign on bonus of sorts."

"You're serious?"

"I wouldn't just hand you a Platinum and take it back."

One thousand Units. It felt heavy in my palm. Not enough to escape just yet, however. My mind wandered and the imagination stirred. If I had not gotten my period what if? Would I have stayed in Sector D to be with Sam and raised kids like rats trapped in a hole? Probably. I looked down at where Dr. Emerson gave me the fertility shot, the site a dark red. I wondered about the mystery man that gave my mother one of these. It was an awful lot of money for simple blowjobs, and a man with that much money just to hand out wouldn't go seeking company in the dirty streets of Sector D.

"Thank you Dr. Emerson."

She was waiting for me out in the lobby, wringing her hands nervously. When my mother finally looked up and saw me she didn't look at all relieved, more like she would burst at any moment.

"You know, the more you look at me like that, the more anxious I get. I'm not going to die going in there," I scoffed.

"P.I.P showed up at Michelle's apartment, they took Sam," She whispered in my ear, immediately covering my mouth with her hands so I wouldn't shriek. She pulled my arm to go to the exit as fast as possible. When in the elevator, she shook her head at me in warning when I went to speak. "Outside," she muttered under her breath.

Once outside I let loose. "What the hell are you talking about? P.I.P came for Sam? For what- why- how- when? I don't understand, we were just with him!"

"I don't know how, but someone told somebody that he was in possession of birth control," she huffed. She grabbed my arm again and started speed walking. "Does Dr. Emerson know about you and-"

"I'm not sure." Her head whipped around to look at me with wide eyes.

"You're not sure?" She repeated harshly.

"He said he was giving me a friendly reminder to not have sex. I could be paranoid," I reasoned.

"It sure as shit isn't a coincidence."

"Where did they take him? Is he going to be okay?" I could feel the bile rising in my throat, the weight of a panic attack heavy in my chest. The penalty for birth control was death.

Sam was going to die.

"Michelle is going to meet us at District D's Holding. I don't know much else, and neither do you." My mother's words hung in the air.

"I don't know anything," I said quietly. She did not want me to tell anyone where Sam had gotten the birth control, because it would all lead back to her. She sold Frankie placebos though, at least the last few batches. Maybe there was a chance that P.I.P would let him go if they found Sam had no actual substances- this time.

"Do they know Sarah was the one-"

"I don't know. You keep your head down and don't talk to anyone when we are there. The officer's have no reason to question us, do not give them one."

"It had to have been Franky... what he said to me the other day when I threatened to call P.I.P on him."

"You gonna call my own people on me? Do you know what kind of world you're living in?"

I hadn't perceived what he had said to be an actual threat, just hard spun words to make me question myself. Franky wasn't the kind of guy to mess with. Thinking back, he knew a lot more than I liked. He knew about the incident at the Red Dragon. What else did he know?

"If we are going to go see Sam then I need you to keep your head on straight. Be a doe-eyed little girl," my mother said.

"There's so many things that have gone wrong. Sarah's outburst- how Reed had just revealed that Sam and her do not have the same father, and then acting like that information was not confidential. How those people put away their cameras. That guy with the red hair who just stood off to the side. Zachary-"

"Okay you need to stop. We are going to be there in a minute and all you are doing to yourself is getting worked up. These aren't things we should be discussing."

Pangea International Police Sector D read across a two story building, the lettering a pale yellow against clean red brick. It was the cleanest looking building, and it stood alone, segregated from the other buildings as if quarantined. Vehicles with P.I.P written on the side in black letters against blue paint lined the front, a small army idol in their parking spaces. The wind struck against us lightly, still harsh enough for it to lick through our clothes and chill us, sending my curly hair about my face. An ever pressing feeling of impending doom loomed over me as we walked up the concrete steps, unsure what fate would fall upon us.

We stood outside the tall steel doors, my mother pushing a black button on the intercom, a dome like camera shifting about our faces. Compared to the other technology, this was quite outdated.

"How can I help you?" A cheery feminine voice came from the old intercom.

"Here for a person in custody, Samuel Ryker," my mother answered stiffly.

"Hold please."