Marked

After having some tea, Charles seemed to have calmed down; at least he wasn’t shaking and laughing like a maniac anymore. They sat gathered around his table where he placed a hot cup of tea in front of each of them and a plate full of cookies.

He sat down on top of the table once more and crossed his legs. “Do you laddys even know how the mark works?”

The four looked at one another.

No one in the compound had really known anything about the mark except that it made you not exactly human anymore. Sung was the only one that had had experience with it but his medical terms were hard to follow. Besides knowing that it altered a part of your brain, the Mark was a big gray zone of unknown to the compounders.

“No, not really.” Hector replied for them. His fingers were wrapped tightly around his mug and his hair brushed his forehead.

“Welp, it’s very simple really,” Charles popped a cookie into his mouth. When he opened his mouth again, crumbs spluttered out after every word. “First they tattoo ya.” He tapped his forehead. “They put it right here.”

“Why?” Juan asked.

“Simple laddy. They use it to identify and monitor you but here’s where it gets real interesting...” The old man took his time drinking his tea and after he set his cup down he rubbed at his overly-grown beard with more patience than Rachel had ever seen anyone have before.

“Would you get on with it, old man?” Juan snapped.

Charles grunted and spat a mouthful of tea at Juan. Blobs clung to his shirt as he sprang up from his chair, all red-faced and with a murderous expression in his eyes. Juan took an intimidating step forward but Hector stood, grabbed him by the back of the neck and pushed him back into his seat.

“We need him.” He gritted to Juan.

“Well, ya want to know what happens or don’t ya? “Rachel detected a hint of humor in Charles’ voice.

She suspected the old man was getting a good kick out of this.

“Go on,” Simone encouraged.

Charles dropped his voice to a near whisper and they found themselves leaning close in order to hear him. “Then they put a chip in your wrist. They inject that sucker into yer skin and let it fester there. That little bugger is what lets ya get food and clothes and all the stuff them privileged fools have.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why they act the way they do,” Rachel whispered.

“Well pretty lady, why don’t ya shut yer mouth and let me finish?”

Rachel scowled but otherwise kept silent.

“Then they insert something else into yer noggin. They put in a liquid into the part of yer brain that somehow erases all the good crap inside you like compassion and empathy.”

“So they turn you into a machine with no emotions,” Hector stated.

“Not exactly laddy. The parts of yer brain that control cognitive functions, basic emotions and all that other useless crap still be working.”

“But they don’t know any better, then,” Rachel blurted the words without thinking and then thought that maybe she shouldn’t have said anything- it wasn’t likely the others would feel any compassion for the people that had just murdered their families.

And you shouldn’t either, her mind told her.

“They are cold-blooded killers, Rachel,” Hector was looking at her straight in the eye, stern but not exactly angry. “It doesn’t matter that they can’t feel compassion. That doesn’t make them innocent.”

“Doesn’t matter what they are.” Charles harrumphed. “Either way I ain’t helping y’alls fulfill your death wishes.”

***

Rachel sat alone just outside of Charles cabin with her arms wrapped around her knees.

All this time, she hadn’t allowed herself to really think about the night on the mountain but now it was all she could do.

The fire, the burning people, the executions, everything, especially her home being broken and torn apart. The things that had once made her feel human had been savagely ripped away and all that was left was...nothing.

She longed to have her mother near even if it was just to hear her bark orders at her and act like she was unbreakable.

But at least that would be familiar.

Rachel sighed and wiped her forehead. The world seemed to have turned upside down in a flash and she felt so lost. Her mother was probably dead- she had just fought with her over Jed’s belongings a few days before.

She remembered the words she’d said to her and how cold they had been. That couldn’t be the last thing she ever said to Ruth. If it was then surely the guilt would eat her alive.

But if her mother had survived, if her mother was still out there she had to go find her and Jed who was somewhere still in the city.

Was she brave enough to go into the capital even though she knew it would be a suicide mission?

Yes, she finally concurred.

For Jed, she’d do anything.

Although Charles hadn’t been as helpful as she’d though he’d be. Most days, he would laugh and tell them they were foolish every time they mentioned a rescue mission. But he’d provided shelter and security and that had to be enough, for now, until they found a way to convince him to mark them.

His traps lay strewn across the wilderness.

It was easy to spot them once you knew what you were looking for and he had made them all memorize every single one of them before he even let them outside.

Nearly a week they’d been holed up in the same room with Charles and his crazy rantings and she couldn’t take much more.

Wanting to put more space between her and the jittery little man behind her, she strode down into the woods, following a small forest creature that in his quest to run away, found himself ensnared in one of Charles traps.

The squirrel twitched, bloody and gutted and Rachel looked away.

That’s what it would be like to go into the capital, she thought. We’d be walking into our death traps.

She may have grown up under a rock but she knew that the city people had many technologies to their advantage- things that sometimes made Rachel’s head ache just from trying to picture them.

So she focused on the forest instead with its quiet buzzing of animal life. A rabbit flitted across crunchy leaves and into a hole in the ground, disappearing from the dangers that were Charles snares.

How easy it had been for him to avoid getting caught, just by going underground. If only getting into the city was that easy. Unless...

A voice caught up to her quickly in the silence and she froze.

Ducking behind a tree, she listened for the source of the sound. It came from a few yards away, to the left and down a winding path.

Her heart sank when she caught sight of a poacher, fully clothed in his grey police uniform, about thirty feet away. He had a contraption over his eyes that resembled a pair of goggles but she could see, even from here, that images and numbers were flitting over behind its transparent film.

“Upload a map of the area to my optic slip so I can pull it up when needed and get me thermal readings within a fifty mile radius. If there are any beggars left out here I’m going to find them.” He barked.

She could still make a run for it. If she was quiet enough, he might not even hear her leave. Careful not to make a sound, Rachel turned to flee back to the safety of the cabin when she ran face-to-chest into a solid, gray uniform.

A cry caught in her throat when a poacher clamped his hand over her mouth and pushed her up against a tree.

Fear flooded Rachel’s veins like venom.

Her heart hammered out an erratic beat and she was sure it would all but rip through her rib cage and splutter to the ground.

The man towered over her, his thickly muscled arms obscuring her vision. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the other poacher retreat into the forest, unaware that she and his comrade stood behind the tree.

Rachel thrashed around, trying to break free but the poacher held on tighter and shushed her until the first poacher was gone.

“Would you stop, already?” He sounded young and Rachel strained to see the face of her captor- of the man that would end her life either by killing her or forcing her to get the mark.

“David, report in.” A radio voice spoke, coming from the poacher’s ear.

The man touched his fingertip to his ear and replied.

“East is clear. Nothing here but forest animals.” The poacher looked right at her as he said this and her mind raced, trying to figure out why he had lied.

Does he not want anyone to know he’s going to kill me? Keep the pleasure and triumph of it to himself?

Intensifying her fear, all she could see was the big, black mark over his forehead, the most prominent feature on the man’s face.

Rachel fought to get away again but he only pulled back slightly, his grip on her forearms tightening.

“You’re an idiot,” He said to Rachel once he had fixed his gaze on her.

Confused, Rachel opened her mouth to ask what he meant but his eyes shocked her into silence.

They were big and gray and framed in lashes.

Most of all, they were human.

“Get out of here before they come back or else I won’t have any choice but to mark you. Do you understand?”

He shook her a little and Rachel nodded, unable to find her voice.

He let her go and relief rushed through her.

"Go,” He groaned with impatience.

“Th-thank you,” She stammered and then she was running into the forest, unable to make sense of what had just happened.