Tainted Read online

CHAPTER SIX

  ‘You’re going to get us in so much trouble,’ I tell Sebastian, as I step closer to the door. Every fibre in my being is tense and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is a bad idea. Sebastian’s plan, or lack thereof, is certifiably crazy.

  It’s clear he’s only doing this after hearing the rumours I repeated to him last night. He’s always been slightly obsessed with conspiracy theories about the tainted; I guess it’s only natural considering the family he’s lost because of it. I should try to stop him, but the closer we edge towards the door, the less inclined I feel to turn back.

  Curiosity begins to prickle just beneath my skin, and I wonder if we really could uncover some of the mysteries that have always troubled us. Maybe I should be committed to the loony ward too?

  Sebastian’s courage seems to waiver for a moment when he gets to the door. He stands there with his hand reached out, frozen still in the air. It hovers for a few seconds, but then his resolve strengthens and he places it down on the scanner.

  We both hold our breath as we wait to see if his fingerprints will be accepted. The scanner beeps though and there’s the distinctive sound of a lock unbolting.

  ‘If I ever find out who helps you with this crap, I swear I’m going to kill them,’ I mutter under my breath, as the door swings inwards, not caring whether Sebastian hears me or not.

  I don’t know what I expected, but a small, bare chamber with one lone couch and another door on the wall opposite is not it. I almost laugh with relief. All that security was for nothing.

  ‘Okay, satisfied?’ I ask. ‘There’s nothing in here.’

  Sebastian ignores me and continues across the room, heading for the door on the opposite wall. He quickly disappears inside it and I rush to follow him, afraid to be left behind in the empty chamber.

  Taking a deep breath in, I approach the door and slowly push it open. My breath catches in my throat though when I see the room on the other side.

  ‘What is this place?’ I wonder aloud, as I walk inside.

  A long mahogany table stretches down the centre of the room surrounded by huge leather chairs the colour of dirt and rust. An unused fireplace, flanked by two well-lit niches, is located on the far wall. Inside the niches are the busts of two men—most likely old, long dead presidents from before impact.

  Though the focus of the room is on the table, my eyes are drawn to the plush carpet, with its striking shades of sapphire and gold intricately woven into a fern like pattern. Nowhere else in the ARC has carpet and it somehow seems to make the room even more intimidating.

  ‘It’s the Council Chambers,’ Sebastian responds, calmly.

  My head whips around to look at him. ‘The Council Chambers?’ I repeat the words in disbelief.

  They’ve always been nothing more than another room in the ARC I never expected to see; one cloaked in so many layers of secrecy and mystery I almost began to doubt it even existed. As I look around at the sumptuous furnishings of the room I can’t deny the place does indeed exist.

  ‘We so shouldn’t be in here,’ I whisper, my voice barely audible, even to my own ears. ‘We should get out of here,’ I add, looking back towards the door.

  ‘You worry too much,’ Sebastian says, taking a seat in one of the large leather chairs. He props his feet up on the table, looking very much at ease. ‘When will we ever get another chance like this?’

  Never—especially not if we’re caught in here. I try not to think of the consequences of being discovered, but they plague the forefront of my mind. In my nervous state, an eternity of community service, imprisonment and death by exposure all seem like highly possible, rational options if we’re caught. Maybe death by exposure is reaching a little far. I’ve never actually heard of anyone being sent to the surface to die so I suspect that one is more of a myth. Well, I hope.

  I glance back towards the door. Someone could come in at any moment and we’ve already been in here too long. When I turn around Sebastian has left his chair and gone to open the only other door in the room.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I race after him as he disappears inside only to find the door does not lead to another room, but a closet.

  ‘Now, tell me seriously, what do you think?’ Sebastian emerges from the closet in one of the gowns only those on the Council wear. He runs his hand through his messy, brown hair and looks down at the long, black robe.

  ‘I think you’re going to get us in a whole lot of trouble if you don’t stop playing dress-up and leave with me.’ I turn to look at the door again. We should really get out of here.

  His face drops. ‘Ah you’re no fun. Where’s the adventurous Elle gone?’

  ‘Unfortunately “adventure Elle” prefers not to cross that silly line when adventure becomes danger,’ I respond. ‘Please Sebastian. You’re being careless and all you seem to be doing in here is messing around. Can we just go already?’

  He opens his mouth to respond, but shuts it quickly as we hear the sound of several deep male voices coming from the chamber we’d entered through.

  ‘Quick, get in here.’ He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the closet.

  ‘I ... I can’t,’ I stutter, as I look at the small, packed room.

  Sebastian stops and turns to me, taking hold of my other hand. ‘I will be with you the whole time. I won’t let you go for a second. You can do this.’

  I try not to think about what we’re about to do and simply nod, allowing Sebastian to guide me inside the closet. He shuts the door behind us, encasing the small room in darkness with only the smallest crack of light streaming in from under the door.

  The space is cramped and warm, and with all the Council cloaks rammed in here it’s suffocatingly small. I take a deep breath in and slowly blow it out, trying to ignore the way my stomach has dropped and how my lungs appear to have shrunk.

  Sebastian pulls me to the back of the closet so we are masked behind the gowns. The air is stale and thick with dust, which makes it more difficult to breathe.

  ‘It’s really small in here…’ I moan quietly to Sebastian.

  ‘It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.’ He helps me to sit down on the floor with him and squeezes my hand. ‘Just close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Imagine we’re somewhere open, like the plantation. I’m sure those men aren’t even on the Council. They won’t be coming in here.’

  I give him a small nod, though I doubt he can see it in the darkened closet, and take several deep breaths. Small beads of sweat begin to form on the back of my neck and I can feel my hands getting clammy.

  Shutting my eyes, I try to imagine I’m somewhere else—anywhere else. It’s not just the claustrophobic closet that has me worried though. It’s the fear we might be about to get caught. Instead, I focus on the feeling of Sebastian’s hand in mine. It’s a small thing, a simple thing to focus on, but the feeling of our hands bound together makes me feel like I’m home. The pressure on my chest begins to lessen and my frantic heartbeat starts to slow.

  It quickens again, and Sebastian’s grip on my hand tightens, when we hear men entering the Council Chambers. Several are talking all at once and it’s difficult to discern any individual voice.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Sebastian whispers. His breath is warm against my ear and I shiver in response.

  ‘I’m alright,’ I concede, though it’s nowhere near the truth. I’m far from alright. I almost want to face the wrath of the Council just to get out of this closet. But I can’t handle the idea of getting Sebastian in trouble too, even if it’s his fault we’re here.

  A man clears his voice loudly from the other side of the door and I can hear the other men being called to order. The muffled conversations die down and one lone voice remains.

  ‘Good evening, I would like to welcome you to this May sixteenth, 2065 emergency meeting of the ARC Council. I would like to remind you this is a closed meeting and neither the agenda nor the minutes will be published over the intranet. We’re going
to begin today’s proceedings by hearing from Councillor Ahmed. Councillor…’

  ‘Yes, thank you Chairman,’ Ahmed begins. ‘As some of you may know, this meeting has been called to deal with the fluctuations in footage of the surface. At twenty-three hundred hours last night, there was an anomaly on the footage projected to the ARC screens. It was several minutes before the anomaly was spotted by one of our technicians and in this time the footage was seen by several citizens.’

  ‘How many?’ a deep voice asks.

  ‘It was only a handful. Most weren’t watching the screens or were unsure of what they saw. There was only one who caused any difficulty.’

  ‘Has any action been taken against this person?’ the Chairman asks.

  There is silence before Councillor Ahmed speaks again. ‘We’ve made a public broadcast showing him being arrested for stealing from his neighbours. He’ll be sentenced in the morning and shouldn’t cause anymore trouble.’

  There is silence again and as I rerun the words through my mind I realise the man I saw on the news tonight was framed. I involuntarily shudder and draw my knees up to my chest. They’re acting like it was nothing.

  ‘What are you doing about the live feed?’ asks a mature woman’s voice.

  ‘I’ve got a team who are altering the system. The broadcast to the ARC now has a time delay of several minutes. We have set up several batches of pre-recorded footage to show should the problem arise again.’

  ‘Ahmed, what exactly was it people saw yesterday?’ says another voice.

  ‘We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves, but from what we can gather the storms that rage on the surface subsided for a few hours. The sky cleared and, it seems, there were stars.’

  I inhale sharply and Sebastian clamps his hand down over my mouth.

  Stars.

  The dust cloud that covers the earth has always been so thick, and the storms so violent, it was hopeless to even dream that we would see them again, at least not in the foreseeable future. The sediment that clouds the air isn’t supposed to settle for at least another ten years, or so we’ve been told.

  ‘What does this mean?’ I whisper to Sebastian.

  ‘I wish I knew,’ he whispers back.