Marked

“What do you guys think of this place? Can we trust them?”

It was Rachel who yelled over the sound of hissing pipes and blowing steam.

Simone, Juan and Hector stood around her in a cramped room filled with machines that groaned like humans with a bellyache.

The smell of old water and dirt filled the air and the heat made beads of sweat form on their foreheads but this was the only place they could really talk without the fear of being overheard.

Simone -having been assigned to cleaning duty- had full access to the bottom service floors so there was no fear of being discovered, at least not for a little while.

“Damn it, Rachel, you’re always asking that question. Why can’t you just accept that something good could happen to us? Don’t you think we deserve some luck after everything we’ve been through?” Juan said.

Suddenly, Rachel felt sorry for him, rather than angry.

He sounded like a small child, desperately wanting to believe that the world was good- but it wasn’t.

“Look at what happened with Charles,” She replied, her words gentle.

“Charles was doing us a favor. He sent us here so we could be someone, so we could have a purpose in life.” He turned to Hector, “You believe that, don’t you, brother?”

Hector said nothing at first.

He cleared his throat and raised his voice so he could be heard over the grumbling of the machines.

“The only thing I don’t understand is why he lied.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he thought we wouldn’t believe him. If he had told you there were people out there who liked to play poacher dress-up but were actually good guys would you have believed him? Because I sure as hell wouldn’t have.”

“Me either,” Simone said, her eyes fixated on her lap. “Can I ask you for one thing, Ray? Friend to friend?”

Rachel nodded, feeling wary of what she would say next.

“I’m happy here. I’ve made friends- Pippa and Tom, they’re good people and I like what they’re all fighting for. Please don’t go and ruin it.”

Rachel felt a pang of hurt at her best friend’s words.

Was it really so terrible that she wanted to be cautious after what had happened with Charles? Was it really that outlandish to believe that in this world, you couldn’t really trust anyone?

She wanted to look at Hector to gauge his reaction.

Was he thinking the same as her or had the luxuries of this new place brainwashed him too? She decided she would wait for a later time to ask. For now, she just needed to get one thing off her chest.

“I’m sorry that you feel like I’m a threat to your new lifestyle, Simone but I just think that anyone willing to put people through psychological torture to further their means are not good people. But maybe you and I just have different definitions of good.”

Simone’s mouth opened into a little ‘o’ of surprise.

“It’s a necessary evil, to make sure we’re not in alliance with the poachers.” She replied.

“Oh please , you can’t tell me your simulation wasn’t terrible. You said so yourself that you had hated it and didn’t ever want to go back in there and—”

“Let’s just try to keep a cool head, all of us.” Hector interrupted, his gaze shifting between Simone and Rachel.

He looked a little scared, like he expected the girls to start a wrestling match right there on the dirt-ridden floor.

“We may not agree with everything they do here, it’s true, but maybe this is the only way we can get into the city to rescue the compound kids. They won’t mark them until they turn sixteen, we all know that but that doesn’t mean that they’re safe out there with those monsters. And let’s face it- there’s no way we’re getting into the city on our own. This is our only chance.” He said meaningfully.

His eyes swept the room, locking on Rachel’s.

“We need to do this for the compound kids.”

Rachel couldn’t argue with his logic, even if distrust ran hot in her veins.

She remembered the fight that had flourished in her heart during dinner and the way she had wanted to become a soldier more than anything so that she could fight back against the people who had mercilessly hunted them for years.

She decided that she would hold on to that feeling during her time here and would let that need to be her motivating force.

“You’re right,” She said. “We finally have the army we need to do this rescue mission. I’m not stupid, I know that. I just want us all to be careful.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of here, Ray. These people are not the marked ones.” Juan said.

Rachel nodded her head, not agreeing entirely but accepting that she just had to live in this new place, act like these new people for now and hope that she could make it out of there with her morals intact.

“Look guys,” She began. “If you’re all happy here, I’ll try to be happy too. But let’s not ever forget where we came from or why we are here.”

Hector and Juan nodded and Simone’s face turned up at the corner into a small smile as she grabbed Rachel’s hand and gave it a slight squeeze.

“Once you get around to knowing these people, you’re going to love it here, too.”

Rachel stifled a cringe.

Simone sounded just like Debra and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

***

On their way back up onto the top floors, Rachel still couldn’t get used to the feeling of the elevator.

She feared that the metal box wouldn’t possibly be able to hold their weight up without falling.

Relax, she told herself. Just go with it.

Simone’s watch beeped as they were walking.

“Oh, no!” She yelped. “I’ve gotta head upstairs to finish the laundry before bed, guys! I’m already behind.” She pecked Rachel on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight. If not, I’ll just come find you after your test so we can get you some new clothes!” And then she was gone, dark, curly hair bouncing as she ran out the elevator.

As they walked towards the dormitories, Juan and Hector were discussing aspects of training and strategy when a thought occurred to Rachel. “How did you get into the soldier program, anyway?”

“You mean besides being incredibly handsome and strong?” Juan teased, lifting his bicep and nearly shoving it into Rachel’s face for emphasize.

Rachel pushed his arm away and fought hard to shove back a smile.

“Not you, Juan. We all know you’re all muscle and no brain.” She teased. “I was talking to Hector.” Hector laughed and his brother gave him a shove.

Juan threw a hand over his chest, feigning hurt. “That’s offensive. I know you have a crush on my brother and all but you could at least pretend I’m here too.”

Rachel’s cheeks flushed red. “I don’t--I”

“Aha! Look at you, you’re all red in the face, St. Rachel. Guess I ain’t just muscle, after all, huh?” He tapped his temple and smirked.

“You are just, you’re-“She struggled.

Mercifully, Hector didn’t seem to read too much into Juan’s banter. He shook his head as if shaking thoughts away and said, “Just prove to them that you’re strong and that you won’t jeopardize their mission. That’s all they really want to see.”

Juan danced around the hall, imitating a boxer. “That and prove to them that you can kick some ass.” He stopped when he ran into a door behind him. He rubbed the back of his head and Rachel laughed, glad the attention was drawn away from her.

“Don’t know how you’ll manage to do that first part though,” Juan said, pinching Rachel on the forearm.

“Ow! What was that for?” She exclaimed.

“You’re so skinny. In my test, I had to lift these giant boulders and chuck them at city people. In the other I had to single-handedly open up a man-hole and shove people down there to hide them from the poachers. Pretty impressive, ay?”

“That doesn’t sound too terrible,” Rachel mussed. Compared to the simulation she had to go through before, that sounded like cake.

“They didn’t make you do anything...questionable?” She asked.

“Well, there was this last simulation.” Juan said, his voice dropping. “I was surrounded by poachers and we were in front of that old fart Charles. I was dressed like a poacher and I wanted to save him coz you know he ain’t all bad but at the same time I knew if I saved him I’d blow my cover so I had to let him die. Some twisted shit right there.”

Something about that didn’t sit right with Rachel.

It appeared as though these people would be willing to do anything not to be discovered and that scared her.

“What about your simulations?” Juan asked Rachel.

Her eyes darted to Hector, who had been silent the entire time. His curly hair tickled the sides of his cheeks and his eyebrows were drawn together as if he were thinking really hard about something.

She pictured him with a bullet hole over his forehead and sweat began to dew on the back of her neck.

Would Hector hate her if she told them how she’d let him die?

“Messed you up that bad, huh? S’okay, you don’t gotta talk about it if you don’t want to.”

A beeping sound from the guys’ watches saved Rachel from having to reply. “Shit. These damn people and their curfews. We gotta go, bro.”

“I’ll meet you in the dorms.” Hector said, sharing a look with his brother that she couldn’t quite decipher.

“Cool. See ya, Rachel. Don’t choke tomorrow.” He winked and with that he was gone.

“Um...I guess I’ll just- I don’t really know where I’m sleeping tonight...” Rachel said, more to herself than to Hector.

A few young men were walking down the hall all chattering animatedly. Hector flashed them a smile and nodded as they passed. He leaned against the wall casually and pulled Rachel next to him.

He leaned in close to talk. “Listen, Rachel. Tomorrow when you go into your test try not to be yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve gotten to know you these past few weeks.” The way he said it made Rachel feel naked, like he could see inside her. “You won’t like the things you will have to do in that simulation but just try to remember what I told you. Give them what they want to see because that’s the only way you’re going to get into training.”

“I still don’t understand.”

He sighed. “Sometimes you are just too kind for your own good but that won’t get you far here.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“These people, Ray, they’re not bad but I can’t decide if they’re entirely good yet. I’m just afraid if you are yourself in those tests that they will see you as a threat and make you leave.”

Rachel pondered this a moment.

Debra had said they couldn’t let a few bad apples ruin everything they had worked for years to create. Did being compassionate make Rachel a bad apple? She didn’t doubt for one second that these people would go to great lengths to protect their secret, so maybe by their logic, Rachel’s kindness could be seen as a liability.

“Do this for me.”

Rachel was at a loss for words so she simply nodded. Hector smiled and it wrinkled his brown eyes.

A flush settled over her cheeks again as those earnest, brown eyes lingered on her face and Juan’s previous words came rushing back to her.

Was it possible that Juan been right? Was she crushing on Hector?

Her mother had always warned her never to love any man- that men were not loyal. That to love was to open yourself up to getting hurt.

Deciding that she was not her mother, Rachel shook her head and smiled back. “Okay, I’ll try my best.”

“Good. You’re going to do great.” He replied. His hand twitched at his side and for a moment Rachel thought he would reach for her hand like he’d done before but instead he disengaged himself from the wall.

“Want me to go with you to find Debra? She can tell you where you’ll be sleeping tonight.”

“It’s okay, I think I can find her myself. I’ll just follow the trail of rainbows and sunshine.”

Hector laughed. “Funny, aren’t you? Get to bed ’cause you’re going to need your rest tomorrow. Buenas noches.”

“Alright Mr. ‘I’ve only been here for a few days and I’m already leading the scoreboards’ I’ll take your advice. But be prepared to be knocked out of first place tomorrow.” She winked and walked away before he had a chance to do anything other than chuckle.