Banished

A loud drumming finally wakes me. It nearly matches the pounding in my head and gives me one more reason to throttle the next thing that makes a sound.

“Psst. Keira. Wake up.”

“Keira?”

“If you don’t leave me be there won’t be enough of you left to knit a sock.” I hiss back, wincing as the sound of my own voice pierces my skull.

“Drink this. It will fix you. I am sure of it.”

The voice doesn’t sound sure. I roll onto my side anyway. I will do anything to get rid of this pounding in my skull. I feel oddly squishy too, like I am made of wet noodles all mushed up together. I am muddled, disconnected and not at all sure my hand-bone is connected to my arm-bone but I reach for the glass of black liquid anyway. I shake like a newborn, muscles spasming, and the liquid sloshes. My vision is blurred and hands seem to appear from out of thin air to help me drink.

I retch at the vile taste and the consistency makes me think strongly of raw egg mixed with chunks of fat.

“Drink it damn you!”

Is Aito yelling at me? That can’t be right. I want to keep him happy….so I drink it down, gagging as I do. The empty glass drops from my hand and makes a far away tinkling sound as it shatters. I roll back and close my eyes. So much noise. Everything hurts and I am exhausted.

“Is it working?”

“How should I know? I stole an untested substance. I have only suspicions of it’s curative properties.”

“Stop talking gibberish. Will it fix her or not?”

“Shut up!” The inane whispering is making me crazy! Also, a strange tingling is racing through my body.

For a while it is wonderfully quiet. I would smile if I had the energy. Then….

“Well?”

Quieter but I can still hear them. Their whisperings are like a rough sandpaper against my senses and now a million ants are biting my back.

“It worked on us didn’t it? Granted, you were only shot and I had a few holes that needed filling but still….”

“Onlyshot!”

“Shhh.”

“You shush. Because of you we have major issues. Because of you I nearly died!”

“Well, I am sorry about that but it was the only way.”

That’s it! My patience is gone and I leap off the cot, swaying slightly.

“Did I or did I not say to shut up?!”

Two pairs of bright eyes goggle at me. I cock my head to the side and stare back. Huh. I raise my hands and feel my head, prodding the scalp gently. It is all in one piece. Finally! The drumming sound is still there but now it is outside my skull. Ah, it’s raining. My hands roam down my body, exploring. Everything seemed to be where it should. I no longer feel disconnected or squishy. My back still itches but the agony of a million tiny bites is fading even as I think about it.

“What the hell happened?” I am very confused.

My question is met with silence.

“Right.Nowyou shut up.”

Aito and Naoaki stand before me, both with odd looks of wonder and maybe a touch of fear on their faces.

“What?” What is going on? I look around Aito’s tiny lab for clues. He’d pieced this hidden lab together over the course of two years, stealing and swapping favors for parts He is always making something. Or taking something apart. I understand exactly none of it but I support him because that is what friends do. Also, it is another way to thumb my nose at the minders and others in charge. I shift my gaze back to the two in front of me.

Still not a peep.

“I hope you two have come up with an explanation.” I sit back down on the narrow cot and wait.

It takes almost an hour for them to get me up to speed. It might have taken less if they hadn’t kept interrupting each other. When did they become friends? I push down my petty jealousy and listen to a story of utter disaster.

“So in a nutshell, Aito was caught stealing some disgusting drink from a lab that’s illegal and isn’t supposed to exist, I save him (I skirt around thehowbit) but the potion gets left behind. Then Naoaki goes to fetch it from wherever Aito had stashed it and gets shot in the process… and to top it off… the three of us are considered Failed and are scheduled to be Banished without Trial as soon as they can figure out where we are. Did I miss anything?”

Large unblinking eyes meet my recap. I look at Aito. Blond curls, blue eyes, bemused smile….why can’t I stay mad at him? I sigh. For most, Banishment is the very worst thing that can happen to you. Locked outside the city walls and left to fend for yourself in a world where the DNA of nature has been twisted in the Wars so badly no one even knows what lives out there now. Certainly, no one has ever made it back to enlighten the rest of us. The Trials determine the extent of one’s twist or DNA deformity. I would never pass because of my orange eyes but I would be forced into the Trials anyway, so the minders could push me into exposing whatever other twists I might not even know about, a kind of trial by fire. It is cruel and violent. Those with more extreme twists are often pushed to the brink of death, then Failed and cast out, Banished when they are too hurt to defend themselves from whatever lurks outside. With us listed as Failed it means no Trials. It means we might have a chance.

“I have a plan but you are not going to like it.” Aito grins and I immediately mistrust the twinkle in his eye.

“Also, we have to take Fish.” Pipes up Naoaki.

“Who the heck is Fish?” I have often thought of myself as the leader type. I am tall and fighting fit. I am a thousand times more dangerous than these two (again, I shy away from thinking too hard on that). I have always assumed that the stronger led…. Yet the more time I spend around Aito and now Naoaki, the more I am coming to realize that I am just the muscle.

“Fish is my little cousin. I am bound to take care of him.” Naoaki stands defiant, arms crossed, decision made. I try hard not to roll my eyes. I get it. I understand loyalty.

“That’s great Naoaki but how are we supposed to take Fish with us if we are Banished. It isn’t like it’s a vacation. We can’t just pack what we like and invite people to come with us. Besides, isn’t he better off taking his chances here? Maybe he’d be allowed into one of the work houses.” The work houses are a joke, though every twist hopes to be relocated to one. The minders hold the shiny prize of matriculation into normal society over your head to keep you in line, while in truth, you end up working in a segregated factory making crap no one really needs, and someday, maybe, your children might be allowed into regular society. Maybe.

“We’re not going to be Banished.” Aito says matter-of-factly.

“But you just said….” I am confused again.

“We’re going to escape.”