Hurters and Healers

11

Alex woke up earlier than me in the morning so that he could sneak back to his apartment without being caught.

"If I get caught and they try to punish me, it was definitely worth it," he had told me before he left.

I got ready for the day then met up with Alex at our meeting spot. Another thing that had improved with all the rules was our food. I guess the government decided that they didn't want their officers and soldiers to eat terrible food with no nutritional value. Isn't it funny how that suddenly happened once people they cared about showed up but not when we asked for it years ago?

"Did you find out who wanted to talk to you?" he asked once we had our food and sat down.

"No, but they could be waiting for me to go to the infirmary first. I just can't figure out why someone would need to talk to me."

"You haven't done anything against their rules, have you? Maybe an old habit that you didn't realise you were doing?" he asked.

"Not that I know of. I don't know, lets just eat."

Connor came to sit with us as we ate. Connor and Alex had gotten a lot closer during practice, especially after Alex found out that Connor was a pretty good fighter. I had practiced with both of them a few times and Connor could even beat me, something even Alex couldn't do.

"Cee, you're needed in the infirmary," a soldier told me about 10 minutes into breakfast.

"Ok, what for? There shouldn't be anyone practicing yet," I said when we were on our way.

"No need to ask questions. You'll find out in a minute anyway."

We walked in silence the rest of the way and I struggled to keep up with the soldier's long strides.

"Go to the back room and make sure you close the door all the way," he said before he walked away.

I walked through the empty infirmary to the room where Alan was being kept about two months ago. I shut the door all the way then turned to the man sitting in the chair.

"It's nice to see you again, Cecelia," he stood up to greet me, a habit he picked up in the air force that never went away.

He had gotten a little shorter and had less hair than when I was a kid. He wasn't putting much weight on his right leg which he had always had problems with. The only thing about him that hadn't changed was his eyes. They were still a harsh blue that always made him seem angry, which was appropriate since most of my memories of him are from when he was angry.

"What do you want?" I asked.

I didn't mean to be so aggressive to him but I could see that I was a bit too harsh to him.

"No need to use that tone with me, I'm just here to talk. I just want to know what I can do here to make everyone happy so that there's no more of this revolution nonsense."

"We told you what you can do and instead you did the exact opposite. For now, we're fine but people are getting restless. They want change but are more afraid of what happens after to do anything. You have us under control because of fear, something I'm sure you're used to."

It definitely wasn't public knowledge that there was going to be a rebellion in a week and it's definitely not the type of thing you tell your government leader, even if he is your father.

"How much longer do you think I'll have people under control for? I may have this compound but it's also one of the smallest. The bigger ones are harder to control which is why I want to start here. I want to figure out what I can do to get people under control before something terrible happens somewhere else, but I need help because I don't understand the people here. You've been here for nine years. You know the way people here think and operate and what would control them," he explained.