Chapter 3
By AOTY19
- 297 reads
F A L L O N
Three days passed without incident the camp had calmed itself from its hectic state. The scouts were working themselves to death trying to get information. It was difficult on them though, and the other camp wasn’t exactly making it easy. There had been no movement since they had first been spotted, which meant more work for us.
I strode past the medical tent and into the makeshift hospital building. The section of land we had been put into had plenty of buildings, but no hospitals. One of the more open apartment buildings was transformed into the medical building. I nodded tersely at Celest, she busy stitching up the gash on the arm of the young Algerian Company Member. I turned down the farthest hallway, smell of formula coming in waves as soon as I stepped through the threshold.
The first well-lit room was sectioned with comfortable space to move in between each crib. Each of the five rooms housed ten infants. It was dead silent for a few moments, it’s the first real quiet I’ve had in weeks. Company bustling about all over the place, I’ve always got one person breathing down my neck and another one shouting in my ear. A soft coo tore my attention from the doorway waltzed forwards, treading lightly through the walking space in search of the waking bairn. He was found at the end of the line, the most isolated corner by the extra blankets and towels. He was looking up in wonder, one foot in his hand and the other in his mouth. My head tilted, eyes squinting in dull curiosity.
The baby boy’s head was nearly bald, just a fine tuft of soft charcoal hair atop his peachy tan head. He had big circular brown eyes beneath puffy mono lids and short eyelashes. As his chubby cheeks began to turn red and his eyes began to water, he dropped the grip on his feet and let out another small fuss. Quietly shushing him, I leant over, lifting with one hand for his head and neck and the other for his lower back. I lifted his chubby body and rested him against my shoulder, he had no problems with nuzzling into my shoulder and putting a tiny curled fist against my clavicle. I bounced gently, lulling him too sleep.
Echoing footsteps sought my attention , I snapped to the other end of the room where one of the elder nurses was standing in admiration. Maimoona tightened her sari around her heavy frame and leisurely stepped down the walkway, coming closer to the two of us. “He is not an easy child to calm. Nurzhan is very temperamental.”
I sighed, moving slowly to put the sleeping child down, “He had just barely begun tae whimper.”
“That is when he is at his worst”, she replied shortly. Knowing smile blossoming on her warm, brown sugar complexion. Her darker wrinkles crinkled as her expression changed. Nurzhan rolled onto his side with one hand halfway in his mouth and the other warped around my finger. I hummed as Maimoona picked up another waking child and began to rock him in the chair across the room. “What brings you down here, Fallon? We have not seen you for weeks.”
I sighed, “Just wanted a bit o’ quiet. That ‘n’ I appreciate the simplicity.”
“Oh? And how is it more simple down here than up in the world of civilization?”
I changed my focus back down onto Nurzhan, “Things down 'ere are more like th' old world. When there actually was civilization. Upby, that’s, that’s no civilization. That’s a jerry-rigged home. Down 'ere, young are taken care o' by elders, they who know whit they're doin'. It’s logical. I just came down 'ere tae escape for a moment.”
Maimoona tilted her head at me, “You need a boyfriend.”
My face morphed into one of surprise at her words, and she had an odd expression when I turned to her. “You heard me. You need a boyfriend to get your mind off everything.”
“I most definitely dae not!”
Maimoona’s hand shot up to her lips, shushing me with a laugh, exclaiming, “Why not? He would serve as a grand stress reliever.”
I scoffed sternly, “No. I’m stronger alone, another body woul’ complicate things. ‘N’ makes me appear weak.”
She sighed patronizingly, “What about that boy you waltz around with so often. Head of Intelligence or something?”
“Absolutely no. Even if I wanted tae, both o' us are on th' council. We begin a kinship, somebody accuses us o' clouded judgement, th' company loses trust 'n' th' system falls apart. It’s illogical.”
It was her turn to scoff patronizingly, “Like that is even a valid reason. I think you would be precious as a couple. You are uptight and temperamental and he knows how to handle you.”
I readied myself to answer when I heard tiny footsteps thumping on the cement floor. Henrik swung around the doorway. Face flushed and breathing heavy, he struggled to catch his breath. I pried my finger from Nurzhan’s sleeping grasp, crashing to my knees in front of Henrik and placing my cold hands on his cheeks. His face in my hands he took as deep of a breath as he could muster, it came out short and ragged. I focused on his eyes, “Whit is it Henrik? Whit’s happened?”
He sputtered out a response in between heavy gasps, “Note…They left…a note…”
I pressed a swift kiss to Henrik’s forehead, turning over my shoulder with a quick, “Take care o’ him.” I ran down the hall, swinging around doorways and charging out of the medic building. As soon as I was out of the door I slammed the button that called for a shut down. People began to close their stations, making their way into their perspective housing buildings and locking the doors. I pulled the bandana around my neck over my nose, glaring out beyond the borders. After a moment of hesitation, I tore myself away and burst through the doors of the deliberation building.
Marco was there as soon as I began to march down the hallway, “11:06 am, the note was delivered right to our doorstep.”
“How did th’ scouts miss that?” I demanded
“Scouts weren’t exactly focused on the front walls, Boss.” I took a deep breath and bounded into the conference room. “Talk tae me.”
Agnes stood up suddenly, leaning forward and slapping her hands on the table, “We’ve not even gone through the full procedure for a meetin’!”
I threw my hands down as well, leaning forward until my face was inches from her own near frightened freckles. “I could give a damn! We have contact from whit has tae be other people. This is top priority. So a'm sorry if it gets yer knickers in a twist that we aren’t following procedure!”
She crashed back in her chair, clearly defeated, and as soon as I opened my mouth again, she grumbled, “Ya could at least do roll call.”
I seethed, glower directed straight at her snooty figure while she stared at her nails, “Tae hell wi' rollcall! Whit does th' damn note say?” She jumped and looked at me with wide eyes. Marco who had been standing beside me, jumped into action, holding the note to me to read. He remembers exactly what it says, thanks to his photographic memory, but the writing was so small he would’ve needed his reading glasses to recite it from the page. He enunciated his words as clearly as he could, “A grand old greeting to humanities last hope. You’ve been watching us; I don’t suppose you’ve seen much, have you? Ha-ha. I suppose it was unfair, as we’ve been observing you. We look forward to a response. Signed; the compound across the way.”
I sighed; the note didn’t specify anything about who they were or what their intentions were. I didn’t trust it, and I didn’t trust them. The Company is going to be on high alert, meaning that we needed to stay on lockdown. And only select people are going to be in passing between buildings in order to maximize safety.
“So what does this mean?” Trevor inquired timidly, young eyes wide and fearful.
I just about growled to myself at my foolishness, I hardly noticed Trevor’s eyes widening even further and Marco tensing like coiled snake. “It means, that we still don’t know anythin' o' importance”, I shoved off of the table and angrily rubbed my jaw and mouth to keep from swearing in frustration. “These fowk are being cheeky, 'n' they're playing games wi' us. I won’t have it, not as long as it’s my company they're playin’ wi’.” A few of them nodded in agreement.
Without another angry word I turned to Dominika and began listing off orders. “I want th' full force o' security oan patrol. Bit keep hidden, because we’re goin’ oan a code red lockdown. Only th' highly trained ar’ goin’ tae shift between buildings. These fowk have had their eyes oan us, who knows whit else they can dae.” She nodded curtly, somehow understanding the words as my accent thickened. “As for th' rest o' ye, get tae work explaining th' situation tae th' company. Move warily, keep them safe. Agnes 'n' Amaya, put yer heads t'gither oan a response, then clear it wi' Marco 'n' I. They wantae poke us wi' a note then we'll throttle them wi' a letter. Go.”
The council jumped into action, pulling on masks and glasses and hats as to conceal themselves. Usually the gear is to protect ourselves from nuclear particles outside the company compound, but for now they functions well as visual covers.
I breathed deeply in an attempt to calm myself before I heard unsubtle whispering behind me, “It is very attractive when she is domineering like that. Taking charge of the room”, there was an excited shiver that accompanied the notion.
“I know, she’s so demanding. Am I the only one who noticed that her accent got thicker the angrier she got?”
“Da! Da, it is very tempting. Inviting, almost, yes?”
“Oh sí, sí; muy atractiva, muy tentador.”
I glowered over my shoulder, Dominika and Marco had pushed their chairs together and leant toward one another, staring at my figure with matching devilish smirks. I squinted at Dominika, “Go.” She playfully pursed her lips and uncrossed her legs, moving to go. As soon as she was standing she dropped the lively expression, opting for a more somber version. I winked at her as she passed by though, showing no harm. It was at least a nice way to end a stressful meeting. ‘Cherish the little moments’, as Oni used to say.
I turned back to Marco, who sat with a smaller smirk than before, the one he reserved for when he was about to tell me just what I was feeling or thinking. “You’re stressing.”
I crossed my arms, “N’ ye aren’t?”
He looked away momentarily and then back at me, shrugging, “I ain’t gon’ lie, I don’t like this, at all. But the note wasn’t particularly threatening, so I’m not completely worried. Yet.”
I nodded, processing his logic. There was no reason to explain my own emotions, he knew them well enough. The company is our family, and there is nothing more important than family, not to us.
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