Dawnrunner

Chapter 11

The grand penthouse is the size of three normal rooms, and is beautifully furnished with an enormous double bed, lavish couches and gold-plated fixtures, all of which have been completely destroyed. The furniture lies in broken pieces across the floor, and there are barrages of bullet holes in the walls and roof. Directly across from the door a large desk lies on its side. Attached to the top is a photo of Commander-General Lowe serving as a dart-board, with large knives in place of darts. The only upright piece of furniture is small chair, on top of which sits a tall man resting his feet on the edge of the upturned desk. The light from a single battered lamp casts long shadows across Lazarus’ face as he examines a small device in his hands.
“It is Carliah, isn’t it?”
I say nothing but feel the push of the blond woman’s hand in my back. I stumble forward a few steps into the light from the lamp. Even now Lazarus doesn’t raise his head to look at me, silently waiting for my reply, but all I can think about is Rachel and the tears I saw on her face.
“What did you do to her?” I ask, trying vainly to disguise the fear I’m feeling.
“Which one?” he responds instantly, “The small quiet one or the redhead with the attitude?”
A lance of guilt tears through me as my betrayal of Christy is ruthlessly put on display.
“Both,” I answer, in an effort to redeem myself.
“They’re fine,” he says calmly. “As you will be.”
Slowly his raises his face into the light: he’s young, much younger than he looked in the square, somewhere in his early thirties. Away from the burning light of the bonfire I see smooth, attractive features, unbidden by the black patch over his right eye and the dirty-blond hair that falls in a fringe over his temples. His good eye stares into me, dark blue and penetrating. Suddenly he stands and crosses the distance between us in two easy steps. Something like a smile creeps into the corners of his lips.
“I am interested,” he says, “in the nature of your relationship with the last one that was here, the redhead. She wouldn’t calm down at all until I promised not to hurt you. I believe her name was Rachel…”
“She’s my… sister.” I answer, cutting him off. It’s a lie of course, but what difference does it make here? And besides, I can’t imagine loving a sister more than love her. In my head I picture her standing where I’m standing, yelling tirelessly at this man to let us go: ‘Rachel-the-indomitable’. Despite everything the thought of her old nickname makes me want to laugh.
The creeping smile practically explodes across his face, showing two rows of perfect teeth.
“Carliah Webb,” he continues with a smugness I can’t yet place. “SR27561. Research assistant for Regenetec Bio-Labs….” My stomach sinks as my life is laid out for all to hear. The device he’s holding is Rachel’s phone! Somehow this man has access to Valkyrie, and my files! “Born in Werribee, District 3, of the GE Human Sanctuary. Daughter of Kyle Webb and Angela Clarkson, divorced. Only daughter…” He stops and fixes me with a stare that threatens to burn.
“Enough!” I yell. “I lied. Rachel is my friend. Families are only allowed one child in the Sanctuary…”
“I know,” he interrupts. “I was born there.”

My mouth hangs uselessly open for a few seconds while I process his revelation. In that moment I forget everything: who I am, where I’m standing, who I’m talking to. Nothing exists except him and me, not the guns of the guards or the blond woman’s vicious punches. None of that matters anymore: all I feel is anger building into rage. When I start to speak again my voice isn’t my own.
“How could you?!” I shriek, catching him off-guard. Once again I feel the soldier’s hands pulling back my arms, but I don’t care. “You attacked the train, kidnapped us, killed the soldiers and killed Commander Rayne! You are from the Sanctuary yet you’re doing everything you can to destroy it! Why?!”
Somehow I manage to pull one hand free and throw it in the direction of Lazarus’ face. He doesn’t move but stands waiting for my strike which never comes. It is stopped mid-flight by the vice-tight grip of the blond woman’s hand around my wrist.
“Let go of me!” I scream. I know I only have seconds before my anger evaporates and fear takes over again. Bit by bit my feel my strength vanishing and until finally I’m little more than a puppet, hanging uselessly from my human bindings. I doubt I could even stand if not for the hands holding me up.
“Please…” I beg through tears, though in truth I don’t even know what I’m asking for.
“It’s ok,” says a calm voice I vaguely recognise as belonging to Lazarus. “Tanya, you can let her go.” Slowly, hesitantly, the woman releases me, and then nods at the soldier to do the same. For a few moments I stand awkwardly on the spot, not knowing whether to start running or collapse entirely.
Lazarus puts out his hand to my arm. The overwhelming urge to try to slap him again is competing for my attention, against the need to stay standing. In the end I decide I only have strength enough for the latter.
“There’s a lot you don’t understand,” he says. His voice sounds like it’s coming from the next room, or the next continent, I’m not sure which. “Believe me, this won’t be easy to hear…”

“You’re lying!” I scream as I pound against the door, “Let me out of here!” All I want is to see Rachel, to go back to our small room with no lights and be left alone. “There’s no way… it’s impossible! I don’t believe you!”
Lazarus has stopped talking, and is across the room staring out into the city. The guard has gone, locking the door behind him. Only Tanya remains in front of me. “I know it is difficult,” she says, carefully pronouncing each word, “it was for me too. But sooner or later, you will have to believe.”
My head feels ready to explode. I can’t remember the last time I ate or properly slept, and now this…
“No!” I scream again. “You can’t drag me in her and tell me everything I’ve ever known is a lie! I won’t believe that!” I start pacing the room in tiny circles: two steps away from the door, two steps back, repeat. Beneath my breath come the only words I know to be the truth. “The Global Effort saved humanity; they built the dome to protect humans from the cataclysm…”
“The Global Effort built the dome to enslave humans!” Lazarus’ voice explodes from the far side of the room and stops me dead. I stand on the spot, completely still, staring at him. All at once the calm, attractive man I saw when I entered the room has vanished, and the demon I watched execute Commander Rayne beneath the statue of Sofia has returned. He walks towards me, speaking with a fierceness that keeps me utterly frozen.
“The Human Sanctuary is the world’s greatest, largest and most inescapable prison. You, and everyone on that island, was born a captive, and a slave.”
“No…” I breathe. He is inches from me now, watching me with his good eye, willing me to believe, but I can’t.
“Carliah, they have built the greatest wall imaginable to keep you locked inside. All your life you have been told a lie: that humans cannot exist outside the wall. It has made you willing to live within their walls, stripped you of the desire to be free. But now you can see it for yourself. Here, in this city, we live: with or without sunlight, humans will always survive.”
“It’s not possible… the air outside the dome is poison.” Reality, come back… I need you!
“They told you what you needed to hear, to trust them, to accept their rule. Now I’m telling you the truth, so you can fight them, so you can be free!”
“Life outside the dome is unsustainable...” Public announcements from the Global Effort play through my mind, beckoning me back to sanity, to my life before this nightmare.
“We fight because it is up to us to destroy these monsters. Now that we have the Dawnrunner, we are one step closer to dismantling their prison, and freeing humanity once and for all. Only then we can take back our planet and begin again. We will live in the sunlight, free of their endless night.”
“When the cloud dissipates the dome will be removed…”
“Carliah, listen to me!” He grabs my arms, bringing me violently into the present. “They created the cloud! They are the reason you have lived your entire life in darkness. The Global Effort are the people who took the sun away from you!”