Chapter 59: Feeling the Heat
Three days later, in Jeed, Mikayla had made considerable progress towards her target of a hundred failed assessments. She identified the residents with the most concerning conduct, such as drunkenness and lewd behaviour. She would invite them for a quick in-person assessment. She did not inform them it was an assessment but instead described it as an informal catch-up. She would question them in such a manner that they would appear unfit to remain in society. She would record the conversations as evidence to support her decisions. She would submit a quick report stating why the resident failed and should be considered a ‘gone case’. Mikayla was able to conduct as many as five assessments in one day.
Even though Mikayla’s focus was the reassessment of Jeed residents, Dr. Crane had a new arrival that he wanted Mikayla to quickly assess. This frustrated Mikayla, as it would slow her progress. She did not trust Dr. Crane’s intentions. Mikayla was to meet the new arrival at the Ripe Regional Headquarters.
The arrival was Gilly. Mikayla was given detailed notes about what the enforcers knew about Gilly. Gilly was still unable to walk, but her injuries were not permanent.
Mikayla entered the room Gilly was being held in. ‘Looks like you’ve had a very busy week,’ Mikayla said to Gilly.
Gilly remained silent.
Mikayla stood in front of her as she flipped through the notes she was given.
‘Tried to steal some Sapes. Weren’t the fruits in the Agriculture Zone good enough for you?’ inquired Mikayla.
‘We didn’t steal them. We rescued them,’ replied Gilly.
‘That’s dumb,’ said Mikayla. ‘All the Sapes are tagged at birth. All the Sapes you “rescued” have been returned to their rightful owner.’
Mikayla pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of Gilly. ‘Where are your friends?’ she asked.
‘I was alone,’ replied Gilly.
‘You expect me to believe that you travelled all that way on your own,’ said Mikayla.
‘I walked from the nearby region,’ said Gilly.
‘Of course you did. You can’t even remember the name of that region,’ said Mikayla.
‘I’m traumatised, okay,’ blurted Gilly.
‘You were on the train that crashed,’ said Mikayla. ‘You somehow survived the wastelands to reach the meat processing plant.’
‘I can’t remember any of that,’ replied Gilly.
Mikayla leaned forward to whisper into Gilly’s ear. ‘I want to help you. But you need to be honest with me.’
‘I have never been to the wastelands,’ shouted Gilly.
Mikayla sat back in her chair. She rubbed her ear in response to Gilly shouting near it. ‘So much aggression. Keep that up, and I’ll have to designate you as a “gone case”,’ responded Mikayla.
‘Those Sape torturers are the real “gone cases”,’ said Gilly angrily.
‘One last chance,’ said Mikayla. ‘Who accompanied you through the wastelands?’
‘I’m alone.’ shouted Gilly. ‘I’ve never been to the wastelands.’
Mikayla shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘Too bad.’
Mikayla jabbed Gilly in the neck with a syringe. Gilly was unconscious in a few seconds. She went over to the intercom. ‘Failed in record time. She’s all yours.’
Mikayla quickly signed off on failing her. A security team entered the room. Mikayla handed a copy of the documentation and the recordings over to them.
‘Great, we’re putting her on the next train to the Capital,’ said the team leader of the guards.
‘Sure, that sounds great,’ replied Mikayla.
Demarcus, Polly, and Darius were just outside Jeed.
‘Finally, we can get back in a region,’ said Polly. ‘My legs are about to drop off.’
‘This is the “fun” region,’ said Demarcus. ‘Access is not completely restricted like with Adoy.’
‘Look, there’s a gate,’ said Demarcus as he pointed to a buggy passing through the gate. ‘All we need to do is get through that gate.’
‘It’s guarded. How are we going to sneak in?’ asked Polly.
‘Sorry, I’m the only one who is getting in,’ said Demarcus.
‘So, I’m supposed to make the Southern Agriculture Zone my new home,’ replied Polly angrily.
‘No, I’m going to get us a vehicle so we can drive back to Adoy,’ said Demarcus. ‘We have no chance of sneaking a Sapiod onto a train.’
‘While you’re in there, you better get some supplies and make sure we have plenty of fuel. It’s a long drive back,’ said Polly.
Demarcus nodded in agreement.
They manoeuvred themselves to the closest rock to the gate, where they could hide.
‘I want you to distract the guard. While I sneak past him,’ Demarcus said to Polly.
Polly came out from behind the rock. She ran towards the guard. He drew his weapon.
‘Help me, help me. I’m scared,’ cried out Polly to the guard.
The guard screamed at Polly to get down on the floor. She quickly dropped to the ground.
He went over to her. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked angrily.
‘I went out in my buggy to take photographs,’ said Polly. ‘Then an angry Sapiod chased me all the way back here.’
The guard radioed the Head Enforcer. ‘We may have a Sapiod problem here. What do you suggest I do?’
‘Use your brain, idiot,’ replied the Head Enforcer.
‘Show me where you last saw it,’ said the guard to Polly.
Polly led him away from his post. Demarcus turned to Darius and told him to stay in place. Each time Demarcus wanted to leave, Darius tried to follow. After several attempts, Demarcus was able to convince Darius to stay in place. Demarcus quickly ran through the gate into the region.
Dr. Crane watched the little scenario play out outside the gate using his company’s camera. He had called his staff to go down and meet Demarcus.
Demarcus walked down the main street to where he believed the head office would be located. This is where he hoped to find Mikayla. He did not get far before being approached by Ripe staff.
‘Are you looking for someone from our company?’ asked one of the staff.
‘Yes,’ replied Demarcus. ‘I’m looking for Mikayla.’
‘Right this way,’ said the staff member.
Demarcus felt deeply concerned by how prepared Ripe was for his visit. They walked to the Ripe Head Office. It was located at the edge of the Industrial Zone. The staff led Demarcus into the building and directed him to an office. Demarcus sat down in the empty office.
Mikayla was walking in the corridor. A staff member informed her that she had a visitor. She was surprised. Her next interview was not supposed to be for another hour.
Dr. Crane eagerly watched the cameras in the office where Demarcus was waiting. He believed he was about to observe a very interesting social experiment.
Mikayla entered the office. She immediately recognised Demarcus. ‘Hey, it’s great to see you,’ she said as she rubbed his arm.
‘I’m here about Darius’ said Demarcus sternly.
Mikayla felt concerned by the hostility she detected in Demarcus’ voice.
‘He should be with your family,’ she replied.
‘No, he’s not,’ replied Demarcus. ‘He’s outside the region wall.’
Mikayla put her hand over her face. She realised what had happened to Darius.
‘Whatever you did to him, you need to fix it,’ said Demarcus firmly. Mikayla did not respond. She remained with her hand over her face.
When Mikayla entered the room, she was holding a file. She placed that file on the table as she sat down. Demarcus pulled the file over. He opened it. The file was about Gilly. It stated that Gilly had failed and was to be transferred to the Capital Region. Mikayla had endorsed it.
Demarcus slammed the file down on the table. Mikayla pulled her hand away from her face. A message flashed up on her phone. It was from Dr. Crane. He instructed her to commence an assessment for Demarcus. She looked across at Demarcus.
‘Do you have nothing to say?’ barked Demarcus at her.
‘You were on that train with her,’ said Mikayla.
‘What have you done to her?’ shouted Demarcus.
‘The unthinkable,’ replied Mikayla.
‘Why?’ demanded Demarcus as his face became red and tears started to well up in his eyes. ‘You were supposed to help them.’
‘No, I’m here to support the greater good. Your brother and your friend offer little to society as themselves,’ said Mikayla. ‘We can give them greater value by turning them into fruit pickers or laboratory specimens.’
‘No,’ said Demarcus, ‘you are just evil.’
‘The world isn’t simply black and white,’ said Mikayla. ‘Sometimes we need to sacrifice, but in the end it is worth it.’
Mikayla got out of her seat. She walked over to a bag in the corner of the room. She opened it and pulled out a sports bat. She placed the bat on the desk in front of Demarcus.
‘I will continue doing this work. I won’t stop until someone stops me,’ said Mikayla. ‘Maybe you could do the greater good by being the one who does that.’
Mikayla got down on her knees and lowered her head so that Demarcus could strike her. Demarcus picked up the bat as he stood up. He looked at Mikayla. He threw the bat to the ground.
‘I’m not like you,’ he said as he looked at her in disgust.
Mikayla got to her feet. ‘Stay here,’ she said to him. ‘I’ll be back shortly.’ Demarcus sat back down again.
Mikayla exited the office. Dr. Crane watched his monitors to see where Mikayla was going. She went into a laboratory. She grabbed some chemicals and began mixing them. Dr. Crane immediately called security to detain her.
A few minutes later, two security guards rushed into the laboratory. They could not see Mikayla. She was hidden behind the door. She was holding two large beakers of chemicals. She moved into the doorway. She threw one at the feet of the guards. The chemicals exploded on impact with the ground. The guards fell over, screaming in pain. Mikayla grabbed a third beaker before running out of the laboratory. She threw the second beaker down the corridor. It also exploded on impact. Alarm bells started ringing in the building. Emergency services were automatically alerted. Demarcus opened the office door to see what was happening. Mikayla screamed at him to run.
Demarcus ran down the corridor to the emergency stairwell to escape the building. Several other staff members were also rushing down the stairs. Demarcus made it out of the building. He ran off to see if he could find a vehicle to escape the region.
Mikayla decided to head to the Observation Room to find Dr. Crane. Due to the panic of the emergency, the Observation Room was left unguarded. Mikayla rushed in. Dr. Crane was still standing in front of the monitors.
Mikayla hurled the beaker at Dr. Crane. It exploded upon contact with his chest. The force of the explosion knocked Dr. Crane to the ground. The flames started to engulf the room.
‘Game over, shithead,’ said Mikayla as she turned to leave the Observation Room.
Just before she could reach the door, it locked itself. Mikayla pulled on the door as hard as she could, but it was impossible to open. Dr. Crane rose to his feet. Most of his flesh had been burnt off. His robot upgrades were visible. Mikayla knew there was no way out of the room. Mikayla charged into Dr. Crane, knocking him back into the flames. Soon, the entire room was ablaze.
Demarcus jumped into a buggy. He drove it threw the security checkpoint barrier and out into the Southern Agriculture Zone. He stopped by the rock where Polly and Darius were waiting. Darius was reluctant to get in the buggy.
After much persuading, he finally got in. They drove away from Jeed. No vehicles pursued them as emergency services and enforcers were too busy dealing with the fire and the panic it was causing.
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