“Rena made these for you in case you returned.”
I sit down opposite him and hesitantly begin eating. I only eat a couple then offer Quin the rest. He takes a sandwich, eyeing my right arm.
“What happened?”
“It was injured in the attack.”
“Do you want me to take a look at it? I’ve mended plenty of wounds…mainly my own.”
“No thanks, it’s healing just fine.”
I want to ask him about his knee, however I resist the urge in fear it will cause an angry response.
When I finish eating, he takes my plate, says goodnight, and leaves. I crawl over to the opening and watch as he goes into the house with a key, exits a few minutes later walking to the back of the house, and then leaves in his truck. I stuff the Beta gun back into its spot, remove the tablet from the hay bale, and press my palm onto the screen, which turns blue scanning my print while I sit with by back against the wall, my knees bent as I anxiously await five minutes until the tablet comes back on.
Devlan’s voice begins to speak though the screen remains blank.
“Finally a compromise was reached that the Dormitories, as the settlement was to be called, would be constructed in the northern province of the Wasteland between Tyre and Acheron. Nuceira didn’t want to contribute to the undertaking as they felt it was too dangerous, and they didn’t have the wealth and resources that the other two cities had, but they eventually succumbed to pressure and allocated some of its people to work at the completed structure.”
The screen finally comes alive with an aerial view of a large complex of buildings out in the middle of a vast forest valley floor. I’d always viewed the Wasteland as nothing but sand and heat, but now I’m wondering if the terrain varies depending upon which direction you go.
The campus of buildings is quite extensive, consisting of five large circular structures sitting in the center, encompassing a manmade pool with a fountain in the middle. There don’t appear to be any roads except for one at the south end of the heavily guarded complex. The gate onto the grounds is a mile away, lined with large trees to obstruct the view of anyone that might be passing by. The rest of the land is covered in concrete sidewalks with a few trees and small ponds that look to have been created more for aesthetics, not utility. The remaining buildings on the grounds are smaller and grouped in threes, producing triangular patterns with spindle-like pathways to the larger buildings in the center.
“At first, the doctors at the Dormitories took volunteers, mainly Regulators, to test new weapons and experiment on to enhance their fighting ability. Many died, went mad, or were seriously deformed, so when the volunteers stopped coming, the cities resorted to using their convicts. Two came out of the initial project as super soldiers, however they reverted back to their criminal personalities and were executed. After several years, it was determined that to build a perfect warrior, they would need to start from scratch…the point before a human being is actually created.”
The picture dissolves into another showing men and women huddled together over a large work table.
“Since childbirth is heavily regulated, the cities offered incentives to women who voluntarily underwent a procedure to remove their ovaries. They were paid handsomely, and the flyers they distributed touted the fact that they were contributing to the safety and security of Sirain. Many women took the cities up on their offer; Regulators were forced to contribute to the cause by donating their sperm. Out of the millions of embryos generated, only fifty thousand survived the regimen they were put through.”
The image changes to a sizeable room containing shelves lined with thousands of vessels, all hooked up to machines feeding the embryos.
Then the screen goes black.
I place the tablet in the satchel, lie down, and clutch the blanket up to my chest. I’m beginning to understand where I may fit into this picture, and the thought sickens me.
Chapter 5
“Meg…Meg wake up,” I hear someone shout off in the distance as the loft begins to shake. I reach into the space between the hay bales, remove the Beta gun, and aim it at Quin who has just reached the top of the ladder. “Well, good morning to you too,” he says, with a half-smile on his face.
“Sorry, old habit,” I say, as I put the gun back, sit up, and rub my eyes trying to remove the sleep that still sits behind them. “What time is it?”
“Five,” he announces. “Feel like a run?”
I nod, then promptly kick him out of the barn so I can change my clothes.
We run three miles, then another five. On our third circuit, Quin decides to make it a competition. I win, but he says his knee is still bothering him. I roll my eyes and go to take a shower while he goes to help Terrance with breakfast. Rena comes by around seven and the four of us spend the day playing cards, drinking, and munching on scraps.
For someone who likes to get attention, Quin has barely spoken since earlier this morning. We need to keep bringing his focus back to the card game. His mind wanders a lot.
I wonder what his life has been like out here.
Around six, Terrance and Quin leave to handle an errand for Rena, who also departs a short time later. I head up the ladder to the loft and press my palm onto the tablet and wait.
A picture of the Dormitories fills the screen and Devlan begins where he left off.
“Training and conditioning was started as early as five years of age. The High Rulers
