Inhuman

Chapter 6

    I looked up at the fall sky through a hole in the ceiling. The air was getting colder. It was almost October, it’s not like it made much difference; it was only September last month, The sky looks so bright my memory is back fully now only I wish it wasn’t, mostly because it’s such a sad memory. “Hey” Mateo says he sits next to Juniper's leg is better now. Later on we snuck back into the hospital, Axel didn’t want to go but we all made him and now he’s gone we just left him in the hospital he saved us from the soldiers. He’s probably dead, or worse being tortured for Oxitec to get answers.
I shrug my shoulders. “Hey,” I say back to him. I haven’t said anything since then. Us sneaking back into the Hospital was my idea, because my stubborn mind couldn’t wrap around the fact that it was dangerous. 
Mateo’s dark hand grabs mine and his carmel brown eyes look at me, after Axel nobody has talked to me, only Mateo, not even Keanus’ talked to me. “It’s not your fault you know” Mateo says he was a good friend. We are back at the pharmacy, but it’s a different one. Mateo has a gold dust sprinkled on his eyes, “At my old job you would have been the perfect model” He says and I give him a sad smile, when he says this it’s just a reminder that we had perfect lives before this.
I messed up everyone's life , the only person in all of Oxitec. “It’s all my fault” I say, those words hold a deeper meaning then what everyone else thinks it means. 
Mateo shakes his head and stands up. “Okay” he says walking away I follow him confused. “You said losing Axel was your fault so maybe it is'' He says. Catayla looks at him confused too, after Axel was taken Catalya is now the leader of the group. So much for a rebel group. I think to myself. Juniper and Nova hold each other's hands, one head resting on the other's head, they have smiles on their faces and I grow envious of them because they have each other.
Catayla stands up and puts her gun behind her back, she has tears in her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. I never realized how close Axel and her were. “We need to find more people” She says and as she says this someone comes through the door Catayla has her gun at the ready and Sallow steps in front of her protecting her. 
The guy puts his hands up and I see a scar on his palms with burned x’s in them. The sun shines on his face and my heart skips a beat for a second. Axel I think to myself , but when the guy steps up he is the complete opposite of Axel he has blonde hair and when I look at his eyes they aren’t the blue green they are nearly black like charcoal. He hands us a letter and Nash takes it almost snatching it out of his hands not breaking eye contact. He looks at the name on the note and the note skims past his view before he hands it to me. I know who it’s from, the handwriting says it all the perfect loops and swirls, I tear open the envelope craving something from Axel. Anything to tell me he’s alive. Catayla stands up and there is a second letter in the envelope. It says Catayla I hand the letter to her, without taking my eyes off of the one meant for me. 
To my dearest love, 
    I want to start off with that I am alive, what am I saying you know that. Otherwise the  letter wouldn’t be in your hands. I miss you and I wish I was with you right now, holding your hand or kissing your soft lips. That’s just what I'm wishing for, but maybe that wish will come true.  My memory has come back fully now and I’m sure yours is back by now too, Catayla no doubt wants to get more people. I figured where you are because of this person standing in front of you. At first I thought he was bad news but he’s really not. He wants to join our cause. 
Your my one and only shorty
I laughed at the nickname, my laugh was full of tears. I traced my fingers on the words as a tear fell on the paper. Catayla laughs for a moment too. Then she looks at the guy. “So you want to join us?” she asks. The guy nods his head, “What’s your name”. She says she has that look of no trust in her eyes again. 
The guy puts his hand on his chest and he seems very well mannered “My name is Muhammed” He says his voice was different from all of ours everyone looks at each other confused. He is from london. 
Keanu tries not to smile, tucking his lips under his teeth. Everyone made a bet with him that he couldn’t last a week without making a joke. If he does last a week we’ll all let him drink. “Like Muhammed ali” Keanu tried he really did, but he just couldn’t last, he looked around at everyone, He mutters under his breath. 
Muhammed looks offended, but just shakes it off, “I guess you guys are going to need more people” As he says these people start rushing through the door I never realized there were that many survivors. Sallow’s brown eye’s dart through the crowd with some hope in his eyes. 
I hear a voice through the crowd and I see a hand. It was a girl. “Lucas” The girl shouts, Sallow’s eyes find the girl’s hand, she makes it out of the crowd. “Lucas” She says nearly screeching his name. Sallow opens his arms and the girl jumps in them, both of them cry and laugh at the same time. This is the first time I’ve seen Sallow cry, “I thought you died” The girl says she has flaming red hair just like Sallow, but her eyes are different, they are a darker brown as Sallow’s are more like a bronze color.
 Sallow was smiling ear to ear. “Well I’m obviously alive” He says and she laughs, Catayla keeps her face composed, but I can tell in her eyes she’s happy for Sallow. One of the people walks up to Catyala and hands her a cloth. Unfolded the cloth was nearly twice her size, “What it is” Sallow asks looking over her shoulder, as Catayla looks at the cloth a smile falls on her face creasing the scar from the burn she had. 
Catayla holds the flag up over her head and through the wrinkles in the deep blue flag I can see a flower, no not a flower, an orange flame. Everyone screams and shouts. I smile at everyone and at the flag, this is our fight. I think to myself, Arya; Sallow’s sister looks at the flag as well and smiles. Oxitec took our memories, they took our lives and now we are going to take theirs. In all the commotion I notice something a tall building twice the size as any of the other ones starts to fall. Someone records it falling and records Catyala holding the flag. Catalya is aware however that she is being recorded and she is also aware of the building, I look at the words on the building and it says Oxitec on it. Muhammed walks up to. “Don’t worry that was an empty building” He says and I let out a sigh of relief, “But we do have to be known somehow and we need a leader” Muhammed nods his head towards Catayla.
Catayla starts talking into the camera. I didn’t realize it but I was shoved through the crowd and everyone outside. “You see that Oxitec” Catayla says pointing to the fallen building. “That is the fury of The Immune and that is just the beginning, we will only keep coming” Catayla’s voice was deeper and louder than normal. “Oxitec we want you to know that you can drown us you can smoke us out, and you will try, but you will never kill us our fury will live on until every one of you is dead” She says her chest is moving up and down rapidly with anger. Sallow stands next to her and takes her hand, I take her hand to and Keanu takes mine. “The originals will always be here” She says smiling into the camera until the camera person drops the camera. Sallow and Catayla both step away from the crowd of people. 
Muhammad crosses his arms “Now that is a natrural born leader” He watches as Catayla rushes back into the pharmacy Sallow not close behind her, all I was thinking about was where are we going to hide everyone. Then it comes to me, I wait until Catayla and Sallow get back. 
I tell them what I was thinking and Catayla nods her head. “Everyone listen up” Sallow says standing on a piece of cement, “With this many people we need somewhere to hide, we have a place but you need to follow us because we can’t tell you where yet” He says and everyone shouts words at him telling him to get down.
They only want to hear from Catayla, the minute she steps on the rock they stop talking. “You heard him, Sallow is my second in command and you will listen to him just as you would listen to me” Everyone tries to argue this, but they don’t. We walk for what feels like forever until it isn’t. When we stop we are by a port. “Okay Yana what’s the plan now we’re in plain sight here” She says and I smile at her cleverly. 
I look over at Juniper. “Tell them what you told me.” I tell her, her once brown hair is cut almost to a buzz cut and is bleach blonde, but it does look cool with her dark skin and she wears camouflage pants and a white tank top. Her hands are in her pocket, her boots make a noise on the metal docks. 
she points not out, but down under the sea salted waters. “There are tunnels down there” She says her voice is deep and sounds like it is somewhat a Brooklyn accent, but with a hint of Jamaica. Catayal takes a deep breath looking down at the water. “I used to work down there maintaining two cities' electricity, don’t worry you don’t have to go under the water” She says, noticing Catayla’s fear. 
Catayla looks away from the water “Good, but where do we go?” Catayla says, but as she says this Juniper was already lifting the disc that was on the ground hiding the pipes and tunnels. The muscles in her arms are working hard to move the solid iron disc. She just throws the disc over to one side and people trustingly go under, I wait until Catayla, Sallow, Arya, Keanu, and I are the last ones. I went first into the dark tunnel, everyone had a  flashlight, but it was still dark. 
I hear Keanu coming down the latter, “How do we know Crimson heads aren’t down here?” He asks as he jumps down the latter. Even though it was dark I could still see the fear in his eyes. I didn't answer him.
Juniper does though, “The only thing down here you have to worry about is rats''. Catayla and Sallow come down the latter last and Catayla wipes her hands from the dirt of the latter, she looks up at the ceiling. “Did you close the door'' Juniper asks them and Sallow nods his head. “Good, come on I know where the rooms are '' She says, and she leads every person to a bigger part of the tunnel, the tunnel however instead of going side to side goes up and down when she stops she turns around. “Only two at a time in the elevator” She turns on a switch turning on the lights that spiral all the way up to the top of the downward tunnel. Two people step forward and the elevator creaks before going all the way down, the bottom of the tunnel looks so small how are we going to fit everyone I think to myself, but then finally it was my turn to go and as I go down I see rooms filling to whole tunnel and when Keanu and I reach the bottom it was so large that everyone could fit and not only that, but people had so much space it was like living in the whole of a large community. Keanu and I both look around with our mouths open, Sallow and Catayla both look at us with the same amount of shock. 
Catayla snaps out of her gaze already with a plan. “So we are going to have everyone go in alphabetical order from top to bottom and everyone in thought different sections are going to have different jobs.” She says and every single person nods their heads. “we are going to start with A's last name, everyone with A’s  in their last name step forward, it was not that many. “All of you are on the first level” Catayla says and they all look at her for further instructions. “The A’s will also be in charge of stocking everything, making sure we all have enough water and food” Everyone nods their heads and reports to their rooms. “B’s are on the second floor, you guys are in charge of security” they nod their heads this list goes on forever. Sallow his sister and I all have technology which works right alongside the leader otherwise known as Catayla. Keanu along with all the other L names gets spies, Keanu smiles at this. Axel will have when we save him as an active soldier.  Of course all of us are soldiers at some point, but they are the ones that will go first. I went to my new room sheets already on my bed and made me look in the bathroom. It was small, but functional. There was no kitchen as the cafeteria was down stairs. I am in the middle of the tunnel which is perfect, there are a lot of stairs though. I hear a knock on my door, the door is metal. I put the sleeves to the jumpsuit and I zip up the suit and tell the person to come in. 
It is Keanu, “That really is a lot of stairs” He says and I roll my eyes at him. “Wait until you see how far up the captain corners is” He says sitting on the bed I still don’t forgive him, he is my best friend and yet he never supported me once now that Axel is gone. “Anyway Catayla wants to talk to you” He says and I nod my head, the climb up the stairs really is far. I don’t see why we can’t just use the elevator. When we got to Catayla she was sitting in a chair with a long table along with Sallow, Nash, Mateo, Nova, and Juniper.
 She is doing a good job of playing the leader. “Sit down please” I do as she says. “Look around you everyone”. Everyone looks around “You are all going to be my second in command”.  She says wrapping her two hands together and resting her head on her hands.
I cross my arms and sit back in the chair, “I do have just one question” I say and every head in the room turns to me, their eyes on my fully concentrated I look around the room. “Who is going to, how did you put it Muhammed” I say, making my voice sound like I’m asking a question. “Who is going to make us known?” I ask and everyone looks back at Catayla. 
I know Catayla doesn’t want to be that person, she thinks for a second then her eyes fall on me and a wide grin spreads across her face,the same grin she had when she looked at the flag. “You will” She says simply. I look at her astounded, “Your voice can travel far, and with your history it will be perfect.” She says. 
I hear Mateo’s step in “Oxitec’s followers are leaving” He says fascinated with the idea, can see every piece of his brain firing up. “I would like to design her on screen outfit,” Mateo says with a smile on his face. I can tell he wants to get his sketchbook right now and start drawing what he has in his head, but he constarantes himself.
Sallow looks at me with a sympathetic look “Are you okay with this?” he asked me and I nodded my head, I was ready to do anything in my power to hurt Oxitec, even if that means I’m not fighting in actual battles. Sallow looks at Catayla, he was about to call her cat but thinks twice the only two people in this room that know that nickname is Sallow and I. “Catalya, you could put her in danger; it's very risky,” Sallow says.
He is right I will never be safe especially out there, the Crimson heads are going to be out everywhere, and not to mention Oxitec soldiers will be out everywhere now that we just destroyed one of their buildings. “Everyone here is already in dangoure each one of them is a fugitive to Oxitec” Muhammed says to all of us, “My point is you will never be able to guarantee her or anyone of your safety” He says, Catayla looks at Muhammed with a look of disagreement, but she doesn’t say anything. 
Keanu speaks up for the first since we’ve had this meeting. “Wherever Yana goes I go” He says and Catayla nods her head at him, “I want to make Oxitec hurt” He says and everyone that knows Keanu looks at him in shock, it isn’t like him to talk like that. Muhammed and everyone else that doesn't know him however nod their heads in understanding. Keanu looks at a map on the table, his hand shaking from withdrawal, he hasn’t drunk anything for a month. “You see this building?” He asks, as he taps the map and it becomes almost like a hologram. It was blue. Everyone looks at it in astonishment, but Juniper doesn’t look fazed. They have probably had this technology down here for a while. “We are right here” Keanu continues and tapes the ground shoeing the pipes, “The building is right here” He says point a few blocks down, we all look at him waiting for him to finish his sentence, “This is the main storage facility for Oxitec, we get in there and we are just another step closer to destroying Oxitec” He says and everyone looks at him wondering how he knows this. He just shrugs his shoulders, “I remember from when I was younger, my dad was a guard” He says and Catayla looks at him and remembers. 
Catayla nods her head. “I agree with Keanu” She says as she gets up to look at the map. “First however we need to start with getting the smoke suited up” Everyone looks at me and I swallow even though there was nothing in my mouth, I was suddenly very nervous. “Mateo do you think you could get her into a suit for the rebels?” Catayla asks, nodding her head towards me. 
Mateo smiles “It would be my honor” He says and then he looks at Keanu as well. “Do you think I could take him to” Catayla doesn’t question it and nods her head. Mateo takes us down to his room, “I know just what to do with you two” Mateo says grabbing a sketchbook and pencil and starting drawings, Keanu goes to sit down, but Mateo looks up from his sketchbook. “Don’t sit down,” He says so Keanu and I stand awkwardly until Mateo is done. I showed us the drawings and Keanu and I both looked at each other and excitement was bubbling in me, but Keanu didn’t look too excited. Two people came to Mateo’s door with yards and yards of every color fabric. “Perfect” Mateo picks up the blue and the black the two colors look nice together, but you can barely tell the difference between the two, only by the way you look at the colors in the lighting. Mateo measures Keanu first and Keanu keeps moving around, “Stop moving” Mateo says smacking Keanu in the hand. Keanu stops moving and looks at me with a goofy face, Mateo raises Keanu’s arms and now Keanu just starts giving Mateo a hard time, Keanu lowers his arm and Mateo just lifts his arm again. “You are just like the children I had to dress” This gets Keanu to stop and I laugh at this. When Mateo finishes he comes over to me and measures me, measuring my legs, arms, chest and waist. “You really are short, you know that,” Mateo says and Keanu laughs, I shoot him a dirty look, but he keeps laughing. “Both of you are children,” Mateo says. He starts sewing the outfits Keanu and I both lean over the sewing machine to look at what he is doing. He hands Keanu a piece of a chest plate, it was black then he hands him the whole of the outfit, “Try this on” He says and Keanu goes to the bathroom to try on the suit. Then Mateo hands me my outfit, when Keanu walks out of the bathroom I go in and I put on the outfit. The pants are black and feel like they are made out of canvas. The shirt is dark blue and looks like black but it isn’t. The shirt fits snug around me so no piece of fabric burns up or gets caught on something. Then I put the chest plate on it to make me look taller, but not by much. The plate goes down in a slant and has adjustable straps. I put the belt on after I put the chest plate on and the belt makes the chest plate form fit around me. I look at myself in the mirror and I realize how thin I am. It really is beautiful and makes me look beautiful, I walk out of the bathroom and the two of them look at me, Mateo puts his hands on his mouth. “I think this is the best of my work,” He says and I laugh, “Now it's time for makeup and hair.” I nod my head and Keanu just looks at me, suddenly scared of his hair. I laugh at him and we walk into the kitchen.  Mateo walks away and comes back with a pair of scissors and a hair brush. 
Right before Mateo starts brushing his hair, Keanu grabs his wrist. “Touch my hair and it will be the end of you” He says and Mateo just shrugs his shoulders and begins brushing Keanu’s hair. Then Mateo cuts his hair with every cut Keanu cringes. Then Mateo starts buzzing the bottom of his hair and the sides by his ears. “How bad is it Yana?” Keanu asks, looking at me without moving his head. 
I shrug my shoulders. He looks good, really good. I never realized it, but now I see why every girl has had a crush on him. “It really isn’t that bad” I say and Mateo hits the top of Keanu’s head because he started moving his head.
 When he is done Keanu walks over to the mirror to look at his hair. I expect him to complain, but he just looks at his hair in the mirror. He runs his fingers through it and actually genuinely smiles. “It looks good,” He says, turning around while Mateo was braiding my hair in some type of fishtail braid. He then grabs makeup and puts foundation on my face, eyeliner, and mascara. “Wow” Keanu says looking at me and I get up looking at myself in the mirror. I look my age, I look twenty-five so does Keanu, “You looked beautiful before, but now just wow” Keanu says and I laugh. I really do look different, but I like it.