The Last Red

Chapter 17: Rock Bottom

When I was a kid, my mom would tell me stories about how life used to be: 

stories she didn't live but were told to her.

She'd tell me birds chirped when they woke up to greet the day, and chickens and peasants would be awoken by the crow of roosters.

In more recent history, people used alarm clocks or smartphones to set their preferred time of waking up.

In the Wild - we'd be awoken by the Sun or a very strong sharp wind.

In KTL, I used to have Omnia.

Today -  I'm awoken by a collective loud banging of metal rods against our cell pipes. 

I'm instantly reminded where I am.

It wasn't a nightmare.

I sit up in my upper bunk bed and feel a hundred years old. The pain in my leg is unbearable. I remove a part of my blanket to see how it's doing.

Shit - the wound looks infected.

The banging's now followed by excited vicious cheers and scary laughter.

I can't believe this is my life. 

What unlucky star have I been born under?

I stick my head out to see if Koben's awake. 

But I only see a part of the bed that's empty.

"Ps, hey!" I call him.

Nothing.

I gather my strength and descend the bed only to find his empty.

No, we will not die today - not like this.

I limp towards the cell door and exit immediately. I suddenly have this newfound energy that I don't know where it came from.

"Rough night, huh?"

My head shoots back to the rugged, yet feminine voice. 

It's the bald woman we saved last night.

I shrug with caution. "It ain't easy being a hero."

She chuckles as if she decided she liked me. I've never had casual conversations like this one, so I can't be sure. 

"Is that what you are?" she rubs her arm against mine. It's full of tattoos. Both her arms are. She's wearing a white ribbed undershirt and a cocky smirk that suits her perfectly.

My throat goes dry but I don't flinch - I have a good feeling about this.

"Yeah," I affirm. "As a matter of fact, I think you owe us a favor," I take a stance.

She purses her lips, enjoying this chat wildly. "I don't know about favors," she snarls her lips as she closes the distance between us, "but I think you lost something back there," she stares at my eyes without blinking, and I feel something sharp touch my ribcage.

I break eye contact to look at a knife in her hand. The same knife she used last night to kill her offenders.

"It's yours," she says as I take it off her palm.

I nod. 

"Now we're even," she says in a low voice. "You've got a beautiful eye, by the way," she winks before leaving.

Shit! - I must've lost one of my contacts. I quickly cover my eyes - more of a desperate reaction than a step in a plan. I don't have a plan. My chances of finding the contact are very slim, unless it's somewhere on my bed.

I limp my way back to the cell, when someone taps me from behind.

I turn, instantly putting my knife up to an Asian girl's throat. 

I mean a pure Asian.

She has skin almost as white as mine, small puffy lips, and a beautiful set of narrow dark eyes.

I quickly cover my eye with my hand.

"Woah! Easy there," she lifts her hands up. "I only came to say hi."

I refuse to lower my knife, but I lower the hand covering my eye. "Now we both know that ain't true. You saw my eye."

"So what?" she shrugs. "This is a free land."

Free land?

My mind hurts from all the stuff coming to my mind that I saw last night, but I can't think of any argument to refute her. Everyone does seem to be acting in any way they please. I guess that is the problem here. 

However, she looks pretty alive to me and she certainly doesn't fit in with the race. Plus, I did see some other funny looking people.

"Guess you're right," I mumble lowering my knife. "It's free indeed," I look swiftly around. "Just not to my liking."

I never thought I'd be someplace I wouldn't have to hide my race. But this certainly doesn't feel like a safe haven.

"I saw you come in last night. You must be freaking out right now," she gives me a semi-smile and uncovers her white set of small teeth.

I nod. "That's a pretty accurate description."

"I'm Nancy," she taps her chest in greeting.

"Kayla," I tap mine back. "Have you seen the boy I came in with last night?"

She shakes her head. Then she turns her attention to the chaos around us. I do the same.

I watch a group of people laughing as they perform some kind of dance. 

Others are playing cards, talking angrily amongst themselves.

"This place is not as bad as it seems," she says without looking at me. "You just have to be liked by a lot of people."

I shake my head in desperation.

"That's why I have to leave you now, 'cause we're attracting attention and I don't want everyone to think I was giving you valuable info while you still only have enemies."

Is that how it works, then? Gather allies and live to see another day? I nod, "Sure."

"You'll be fine. Just ask for Nicky, okay?" she tilts her head to the right. And then the short lovely girl leaves me with a load of questions rumbling inside my mind.

"Aaaaaaaaaah," a loud scream echoes the space right before another dead body hits the ground from the floor above - a woman.

No one reacts at first.

Then a man runs to the corpse and flips it as if making sure he saw the face well before doing anything. 

He then gets down to his knees and weeps.

"Noooo," he shouts in pain, "nooo, Nirvana," he throws his head back, looking up to some people leaning against the fence. "You'll pay for this! I swear you will pay!" He yells in a terrifyingly angry voice.

I take a step back just for precaution.

Then he's chased away by those upstairs. "Go away, Nicky."

"Just leave it be."

Nicky?

My inner alarm goes off. This is my cue.

But should I really approach him? What if she tried to trick me?

To hell with it. I've got no better ideas, so I might as well just take Nancy's advice. It's not like we weren't going to die today anyway.

I watch Nicky being taken back to a round table in front of a line of cells, where people were playing a card game.

They collect the body and bring it inside the cell behind them.

I limp my slow and cautious way to the table, taking a de-route, not to attract too much attention from the upper floor. 

I'm also thinking it's not smart to walk across the hole with all those bodies constantly falling down.

Just as I cross to the other side of the block, I see Koben. 

I exhale with relief seeing he's alive.

He looks the same as last night - b****y, dirty, rough, but alive.

I increase my pace to reach him from the back.

"Koben!"

He stops and turns.

"Hey," he says grimly. "How're you feeling? How's your leg?"

"It's - fine," I lie. "Where were you? I've been looking for you," I almost sound attacking.

He doesn't lose his frown. "I was practicing for the fight."

"About that fight," I look around as I pull him to the side, "I think I've gotten a gist of how things work in here."

He looks at me without emotion, so I continue.

"We need to find allies," I say.

"The fight's tonight, Red," is all he says.

"I know," I shake my head in desperation. "Why're you giving me the cold treatment?"

He stares at me in silence for a few seconds, still frowning slightly. "Look, I think you shouldn't stick around me today," he gently grips my lower-arm. "The beef he has is with me, not with you," he lets go of my arm and I feel he'll leave any second, so I grab his hand. 

"I can help you," I say. "We don't have to die. Today, at least," I add and hand him the knife I had gotten earlier.

He nods as he sees the knife. "That's good, you should keep that. Take care, Red," he then looks me in the eyes. "By the way, you should cover your green eyes."

I shake my head, now frustrated. "No, it's- we don't have to hide in here. They won't kill us for being white..." or at least I was told something of the sort.

He clenches his jaw and leans his forehead over mine, then glides his thumb over my cheek. "Just because they won't kill you," he whispers, "doesn't mean it's safe for you to stand out," he pulls his head away. "Flaunting your beauty isn't something you wanna do in this place, Red. And I might not be here tomorrow to protect you," he gives me one last long stare, then he drops his hands from my face and leaves me standing, feeling things I've never felt before.

I clench my jaw, focusing back on my mission. I can't remember the last time I felt like crying of sadness. Usually when I cry it's an allergic reaction to contacts.

O.K., gather yourself, woman. 

Just because he quit on you, doesn't mean you have to quit on him. I'll find ourselves allies.

Because winning a fight is not enough. If you wanna live here, you need to be hard to kill.

And two people are never hard to kill.

My eyes wander to find Nicky. But he's no longer at the table.

Shit!

My eyes lock with the only person sitting at that table. He's one of the oldest people I've seen. His hair is white and his body is full of big dark freckles.

We share a long stare. Until he gently tilts his head towards the cell to his left. 

My throat contracts.

There's a white sheet plastered all over the bars, making it unable to see inside.

Is that where Nicky is?

Only one way to find out.

I quickly look upstairs to see if anyone's eyeing me and I clearly note every move of mine is being watched carefully.

Well, I've got nothing to lose. 

Now I finally realize where I found my inner motivation and strength this morning.

I simply realized I'm at rock bottom.

There's nowhere to go from here but up.

I hold my head high and enter the cell with purpose. 

I grab the sheet and move it aside with my hand to meet three men sitting inside, one on the bed and two on chairs that I'm guessing are reserved only for the privileged.

"We've been waiting for you," Nicky says.