The Last Red

Chapter 28: The Original City

To hell with it. 

"Billy!"

I join Koben in shouting.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Finally, someone speaks back. "W-who's there?"

I exhale with relief.

"You hear us..."

"Are you... b-behind the wall?"

he asks in a sophisticated manner, with sort of a musical accent, all syllables evenly stressed.

"Yes!" Koben exclaims ecstatically. "How do we get in?"

I internally roll my eyes. 

There's a short pause before he speaks.

"Well, h-how did you get out?" he asks, completely confused. Of course he is.

"Is there a door, Billy?" I ask, just to silence Koben's quest for one, once and for all.

"A door?" Billy asks with a broad o, barely pronouncing the letter R. 

"I'm sorry," he almost laughs. "What door?"

"Told you there's no door."

I know. I know everyone hates a gloater.

But it needed to be said.

Koben shakes his head, biting his lips.

"s**t!" he kicks the wall with his foot.

"Guys!" Billy calls on us. 

"I don't know who you are, but I'm gonna go now, okay?"

"No!" I yelp. "Wait! Please..." I feel like I'm holding onto a thread for dear life and now it started breaking.

"We need to get in, Billy! Can you send someone in charge to speak to us? A- a robot," I say. "A drone, or anything?" Throw us a rope? I almost laugh at my internal joke.

"I-I can't help you guys. The city doesn't house rogues," he says and I hear him walking away.

"We're not rogues!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "I'm an albino!" I yell. 

Koben looks at me in shock. "You're crazy."

"Better crazy than a liar."

He clenches his jaw.

"What?" I whisper poisonously. "It's what you planned to use to get your a*s in, anyway."

That shuts him up. He knows it's the truth.

"You're pures?" Billy asks casually. "For real, though, how did you get out?"

I'm done playing games. The stress is eating me out.

"We were never in to begin with, Billy. Just send someone whom we can speak to!"

For crying out loud.

"Uhm," he clears his throat. "But why do you want in?"

I've had it enough with Billy.

"It ain't all sunshine and rainbows out here either, Billy," I say. "Would you just - please - see if you can send someone out here?"

"Call Mr. Oppenheimer, Billy," Koben commands all of a sudden. "Tell him there's a purebred outside these Walls."

Mr. Oppenheimer?

My eyes grow wide open.

"Another one of your secrets?"

"A-alright," Billy stutters. "I'll see what I can do for you, guys."

Koben's nostrils widen as he gets angry. "I met him at the A.S." Now his voice is the poisonous one. "I know for a fact he's obsessed with gene pools, so your purebred self will live for sure if he's the one to decide. If he's gonna kill anyone, it's gonna be me. The mutt."

I frown. Even though it truly seems like he's trying to keep me safe, I'm so angry at him, I can't even look at him without bitterness. 

"Maybe you should start running then, Brad," I hiss.

He looks at me in surprise. 

Hurt.

O.K, that was too far, I admit it.

I wish I could take it back.

But I can't.

"I didn't mean it like that," I look to the ground, clenching my jaw. "I just..." I shake my head, " I don't want you to get killed."

If he dies because of me, I won't be able to live with that.

Hell, if he dies because of anyone, I don't think I'd be able to live with that. Regardless of my anger with him.

He purses his lips.

"Don't worry about that. I'm the one who caught the albino, aren't I?"

I nod, not so sure what to think anymore. 

Tessa's tribe did say catching an albino can get you anything you want... Buy Tay also said it would get you a one-way ticket to East.

But did he mean entry? 

Or death?

"I really am sorry for saying that before," I take a step closer, trying to put my hands over his chest.

But he pulls away.

"Don't apologize to me. If you knew the whole truth, you wouldn't."

There's that thing again. My inner rage awakens all over, but I decide to give him one more chance to come clean.

"So why don't you tell me?"

There's pain behind his eyes and I can tell he's debating it.

"Promise you won't hate me," he says.

I frown. I mean - I can't guarantee anything. I guess... it all depends on what he's hiding. Right?

"They were out here somewhere," Billy's voice announces he's back.

I blink, breaking our eye contact. "We're here!"

I instantly shut my eyes, saying an inner prayer.

When I open them, two drones appear from above the wall and descend slowly to our height, barely producing any sound. 

The drones are round and small, resembling little balls. Only these tiny balls can fly.

The dark grey devices produce a barely visible red light as they come to the height of our eyes.

They're probably performing a scan.

Shivers run down my spine and I feel goosebumps all over my body.

This feels like Judgment day.

I swallow hard, waiting for what will happen next.

But nothing does.

I look at Koben, who meets my eyes instantly.

We both look ready to flee any moment now.

But there's no escaping drones.

Everyone knows that.

Not unless you run into a bulletproof edifice. And then never come out of it.

Because drones can wait forever.

They're solar-powered.

And they have the best processors that exist.

"Who are you?"

The device speaks in a female voice.

My eyes shoot towards it, in shock.

I open my mouth but no words come out.

"We're Koben and Gina," he says.

"There are no O.C. chips to read. Whose property are you?"

I quickly give Koben an admonishing look. He mustn't say we belong to the KTL - they'll simply send us back.

But what's our other option?

Say that we're rogues - in itself it means we escaped some place... Ooh, I know. 

"We're from the East," I lie. Well, half-lie anyway. One of us is.

"We do not take visitors," the device speaks. "Please remove yourself from the property surrounding Original City." And then they slowly fly up.

Those sneaky little devices. 

"We're not here for tourism," Koben shuts his eyes in defeat, then lets out what sounds like his last resort. "We're here as donors."

I frown.

"What the hell does that mean?" I ask.

The devices appear once more, this time blinking an intense green light.

"Are you purebred?"

"She is," he says.

"Have you been pure for the last eight generations?" my device speaks.

"Uh-"

"Yes," he answers for me.

"Please bring out your palms so we can test your ancestry," the device commands.

We do as told.

The devices approach our fingers and dab it with a small needle that appeared from somewhere in the middle of the flying ball.

I start sweating uncontrollably as I see a little dot of blood on Koben's fingertip.

He said he was mixed. And now they're gonna see it.

The problem is, I might be mixed as well.

I have no idea about my ancestry.

How bizarre it feels to suddenly fear being mixed when it was all I've wanted to be ever since I can remember.

It takes only about ten seconds for the devices to analyze our blood, but I swear it seems like hours.

"Approved as G-10," my device speaks. 

I frown. "What does that mean?"

"Your last 10 ancestors were purebred Gingers. You qualify as a donor in our G-quarter."

"Declined," Koben's device speaks. "Your previous generation is 43% mixed. You don't qualify as a donor."

Koben doesn't seem surprised at all.

"I'm not here as a donor," he says. "I brought a purebred and I demand a job as a reward. I'd like to work in your city."

Work?

I shoot him with a stare - I didn't even know there were jobs available.

Are there?

And if yes, how the hell does he know it?

The devices change light, staying silent for a moment, their midsection turning in high speed. 

I am... Beyond. Speechless.

I thought I was furious at him before, but I was wrong.

Now I'm furious.

"A donor of what?" I hiss.

"You wanted to get in, didn't you?" he asks quietly. 

"Just trust me on this one."

"Look where that got me."

The device remains silent.

I look in front of me, taking steady shallow breaths. I'm unable of blinking - my mind's going crazy and I feel like everything aroune me's spinning.

Zooming in, and out.

"We'll see what we can do," the device speaks at last.

My knees totter and I almost fall to the ground, but Koben catches me.

"Get. Your hands. Off me," I hiss.

The devices let out a few silent beeps, then one of them speaks again.

"A transport drone shall be here in a minute," it announces.

Then they fly up but still remain over the wall, watching over us.

My mouth's opened in horror.

"What have you done?" I barely manage to utter.

"It was the only way," he clenches his jaw. "It always has been."

I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.

This has always been his plan - even if there was a door. Even if we somehow managed to climb over the wall. He was always going to use my ethnicity as a bargaining chip - I knew that, I did. But I didn't know he knew I'd be some kind of a donor. A donor of what?!

"We're both accepted inside the wall now," he says. "This is more than we could've hoped for."

I may still look at him in shock, but things are getting pretty laid out for me.

I shake my head. "Problem is, I think this is exactly what you hoped for, Koben."

He clenches his jaw. "I'd never bring you here if they were to hurt you."

"You hurt me."

I don't even know who he is anymore - definitely not the Koben I thought I knew.

What have you gotten me into, Bradley?

Sand starts flying all around us as a large shadow falls upon us.

I look up and see a large drone announcing its arrival.

It barely produces any sound as it lands immediately next to us.

Three seconds later, two black metal doors slide upward, revealing a big indoor space.

Every inch of my body is telling me not to enter.

Everything's telling me to run.

Even Koben's face itself.

Then again - I've got nothing left to lose.

Even if I die, I'm going to make my peace with it, as long as I'm told the truth about Mars and everything that's happened to me in my life.

Koben doesn't move.

"It's up to you," he says.

"Oh, how kind," I hiss ironically. "So terribly kind of you to give me a choice now."

He doesn't budge. 

"We can still leave," he says plainly. "I'll follow you whatever you decide," he tucks hands into his pockets, standing in place.

I look at the drones waiting.

Could we just walk away - tell them we changed our minds? Technically, I don't belong to the O.C. As far as they're concerned, I'm a free woman of the East.

I look at Koben's lying self once more and I make my decision in a second - I would never consider continuing life in the Wild with him after everything that's happened.

He's seriously overly optimistic.

"I'm glad you put it that way," I take a step toward the drone and lay a hand over its door. "It makes my decision easier now that I know I'm deciding on your faith, too," then I walk inside it.

If he got me killed, I'll make sure he dies with me.

He follows me inside and takes a seat opposite me.

The doors close with a click and I see sand rustling up in the air through the windows as we are now lifted off the ground.

I avoid Koben's stare, unable to stand his eyes right now.

And to think, only hours ago I thought they were the most beautiful things I've ever seen...

Life can change in a second.

All you need to do is be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And it seems I'm a specialist at that.

We go up and over the tall wall and then fly across an amazing view - greenery, edifices in all shapes and sizes, water fountains, stone figures, flowers in more colors than I can name...

All that's left behind us as we descend next to a two-story white building with lots of glass.

The drone lands and the doors slide open.

I now look at Koben.

He swallows hard, but doesn't move.

I am actually happy that I'm this mad at him right now because it's probably the only thing that's able to make me move.

I get up and get off the drone as fast as I can.

The moment my shoes hit the sand, a woman appears in front of me.

She looks like a purebred African. Her skin's a beautiful Mocca tone, her hair in tiny black curls, and her full lips wearing an intense yellow shade - matching her ruffled dress.

"Welcome, Gina," she greets me with a wide warm smile, opening her arms as if inviting me into a hug.

But I just stand there awkwardly.

She must find it perfectly normal, because she just laughs it off and comes closer to wrap her arms around me.

My arms remain as stiff as ever.

"Ahh," she sighs, squeezing my outer shoulders, "such a beautiful girl."

She narrows her big dark eyes then to look at my bounty hunter.

"And youuu," she walks up to him, "must be Koben," she takes his hand into both of hers. 

He nods.

"It is so nice to meet you both. I am Arina," she says. "I'll escort you to the Mayor," she looks at me. "I know he's absolutely dying to meet you," she gives me a wink.

I swallow hard as the lady walks up to the entrance of the glass building.

I somehow manage to move my feet and follow her with Koben beside me.

Two robot guards stand at each side of the sliding door.

I still get goosebumps every time I see a robot.

But they only step aside to let us through and door opens to a vast marble foyer with an oval receptionist desk in the middle of it.

Behind it, is another smiling lady.

A pure Asian.

"Good morning, Arina," she greets the lady as we approach.

"Hello, Etty. We're here to see the Mayor," Arina bring her hand closer to a little screen on the front of the desk.

"Certainly," Etty inputs some code into the hologram at her side of the desk and the desk screen beeps, seemingly reading Arina's wrist chip.

"Access to the first floor granted," the device reads.

We follow her to the elevator space and just as we approach, an elevator opens for us.

"After you," Arina ushers us elegantly with her hand.

I hesitate for only a second before I step foot into the upscale elevator space with a large mirror.

It is the first time I've seen my reflection in a long time.

I look horrible.

My clothes are all torn, my face and body are dirty, and I have blood marks in more than one place.

I swallow hard seeing my bright green eyes under the strong UV light.

I've been hiding my ethnicity for so long and now it's the sole reason I was allowed entry to this heavenly-looking place.

But why do I have the feeling its angels are not as angelic as they seem?

The elevator emits a quiet beep and the door's opened once more.

Koben looks at me in guilt just as I get out and then again we follow Arina to another receptionist's desk.

A male immediately stands up to greet us.

This time, it's a pure Latin American man. Olive skin, brown eyes, brown hair.

"Good morning, Leonardo," Arina says.

"Welcome to the Mayor's office," he smiles. "Please follow me."

Arina establishes small talk with the man as he escorts us to a door marked with The Mayor's Office.

I can't focus on listening to them as my ears are pounding.

He knocks twice, then enters - leaving us outside.

"Mayor Oppenheimer," he speaks, "your guests have arrived."

"Thank you, Leonardo. Let them in," a stern voice says.

Arina nods, letting us know she will not be accompanying us, then gestures us in with her hand.

I feel like fainting.

Koben offers me his hand, and as I decline it - my re-found anger gives me the courage to step inside.

I install myself behind him, though, trying to remember how to breathe.

There's a mixed man seated behind a giant white wood oval desk, all glass windows behind him.

He isn't even looking up at us.

He's smoking a cigar, scribbling something down on a paper with something resembling a pen in his hand.

Finally, he acknowledges our presence.

"You'll have to excuse me," he chuckles looking at Koben, "I'm a very traditional man," he says turning off his cigar in a little glass tray.

"It'd be such a waste if we all forgot how to use the traditional writing methods, don't you think?"

He leans to his side a little, trying to see me, but I keep myself glued to the floor.

"We used to have calligraphers and now it all looks like gibberish," he chuckles again.

Koben doesn't say a word. He only steps aside, leaving me uncovered.

The Mayor looks at me then, a smile still on his face.

But slowly his smile freezes, replaced by his mouth dropping open.

The pen in his hand slips out of his fingers, producing an echoing sound as it meets the marble floor.

"Genevieve..." he breathes out in shock.