Commander: An Omegaverse novel

Chapter 1

The grit of the wet, dirty sidewalk crunched under her feet as she walked quickly through the housing section of the city. She hunched in on herself, making her already small frame smaller, less noticeable to curious eyes. Drawing attention was dangerous now, staying a nameless face in the masses was the only way to survive. 

"Please.... no! Please don't.." She heard a woman crying from one of the apartment blocks, sneaking a glance up as she got closer. A young girl was being dragged away from the building by a soldier while another held who she assumed was the mother reached out desperately to the young child, both of them were crying, screaming for one another as the soldier carried the girl to a waiting black SUV in front, two grey-suited Alphas stood beside the open back door, cold expressions on their faces as they surveyed the situation. The hair on the back of Anna's neck stood on end when she saw the Alphas, her step faltering for a moment as fear spiked through her. The grey suits gave them away as Oversight, monsters that sought out and created scenes like the one in front of her every day, ripping children from their mother's arms, wives from husbands, families torn to shreds to satisfy their Alpha overlords.

The soldier was still wrestling the struggling girl into the SUV as Anna approached. She could feel the blood pounding in her ears, her instinct to run threatened to take over, but she forced her face to remain calm, averting her eyes from the scene. The soldier managed to wrestle the girl into the back and closed the door with a slam just as she reached them. She forced her gaze to remain down as she passed the two motionless Alphas and the now weeping mother. They paid her no attention as they spoke quietly to themselves.  She forced her face to remain calm and placid, focusing on getting home. The mother's wails became louder for a moment, and she saw the black SUV pass by on the empty street. Her gaze was drawn up to it, and she said a silent prayer for the girl in the back as the car disappeared around a corner.

Jiggling the lock of her apartment door, she made her way into the small apartment, shutting it with a slam that was the only way to close the thing, and snapping shut the six locks she had installed when she moved in. Her apartment was small, with cracks running through the ceiling, and paint peeling near the rusted radiator, but it was all she could afford. Her first week in the space, she had spent every night after work scrubbing down the entire place, walls, cupboards, the floor, reminiscing of the sleek townhouse she had owned before... but such things were just memories now, and her freedom was worth the sacrifices she had to make to stay hidden. Walking into the kitchen, Anna flicked on the kettle and opened the cupboard. Ramen had been on sale this week, so this would be the 5th night in a row she had it for dinner. The thought turned her stomach slightly, but she knew she needed to force it down. She was already thin from lack of nutrition and the hormones making her ill, any more weight loss could draw attention to her. Pouring the water into the styrofoam cup, she padded into the living room area, which also functioned as her bedroom when she folded out the couch. Blowing on the steaming liquid, she turned on the TV just in time for the 7 o'clock re-runs of a 90's era sitcom. No new shows were being produced right now, it wasn't a priority for the new government, so re-runs were the only option.  A public broadcasting message filling the screen, the standard propaganda played every hour on the hour spreading the same message: report suspicious behavior to Oversight, what to look for in suspects, that they would be rewarded for their loyalty, that no harm would come to those they reported. 

All. Bullshit.

Anyone with half a brain could see the trauma they were causing, even before the women disappeared, never to be heard from again. But it didn't stop vindictive neighbors from reporting each other, or desperate people looking for anything to report so they could collect on the reward for new leads. Their new leaders had crafted a world in which the people turned on each other, not those causing the terror. Anna snorted at the TV, putting her cup down and going back into the kitchen. Grabbing her pill sorter, she dumped out the Monday-PM tablets into her hand, looking at the assortment. Beta hormones, pain relief for the hormones, scent alteration, heat suppressant...

Anna looked at the TV as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filling it with water. The screen showed the commander staring straight at her through the screen, his three generals standing behind him as he addressed a crowd.  He stood tall behind a podium that had the sign "the future is in your genes" in bold letters. The phrase made her lip curl in disgust.

Anna tossed the pills in her mouth, swallowing them down with a gulp of water. Fuck your genes she silently hissed at the screen. To say such things out loud was too dangerous now, you could never be sure that someone wasn't listening through the too-thin walls of the new apartment blocks Oversight had built after the war. But in her own silent way, she resisted and offered all she could to the Opposition to try and end Oversight.  Returning to the sofa, she grabbed the pot of noodles and began to eat, watching the TV show that she had nearly memorized in the four years this channel had repeated the series but not caring. It was something to distract her, numbing her and taking her back to a time when the world had not been so cruel, and she had never even heard of the word "Omega".