Golden Dreg Boy, Book 1 Page 14

  The conversation with the officer at the jail…He said I had immunities to all diseases like a Dreg, so I couldn’t be Golden. And that my sister was a Begotten, or a fully transplanted human being, and all of this was in the government’s files. Pike must know this, too.

  “Did they want to hold your execution in a hospital?”

  “How do you know that?”

  He points to the machine. “They log everything in. Who is taken, as well as profiles on all the suspected and confirmed Dregs, Begotten, and Goldens.” He sits back down on the stool. “Did you ever ask yourself why? Does executing someone at a hospital make sense to you?”

  I look down at the dirty floor and then return my gaze to his. “What I don’t understand is how I got on their radar.”

  “I suggest you go see your Dad. He has answers you and I need, and you know the questions to ask.”

  “But that’s suicide. They’ll be monitoring the house.”

  “They are.” He pauses, stroking his beard. “And when they stop, I’ll know because I’m surveilling the surveiller. The longer you wait to go, the better the chance you won’t be caught. Saya will accompany you. But until I give the go-ahead, you’ll need to keep up your training.”

  “But I should go now.”

  “I know you thought me sending you to your father’s building was risky, but trust me, I knew what I was doing. I put you on the spot. I tested you. You also needed to realize he’s not your father anymore. You are not Golden. That’s one of the reasons you need to see him. Not only for info, but so you can get it through your head that being Golden again is impossible.”

  Pike “testing me” doesn’t sound any better the second time around. Twisting and wiggling, the idea is extant in my mind. Regardless of what he says is impossible or not, I will find a way to be Golden again.

  “By asking you to wait until the time is right to go to your parents’ home, I’m trying to protect you. Give you the best possible circumstance for success. Please, trust me.”

  His eyes have me again. Behind the blue lies genuine emotion. I have no reason not to trust Pike. But after Dad didn’t save me, it’s hard to trust anyone. I think about Saya and Pike. They have this bruised relationship where she follows his orders and remains an important part of his rogue group but she has lost some respect for him. Why?

  I swallow hard. I don’t mind training to bide my time until I find out the truth from Dad. At least this time, when I meet him or anyone else from my old life, I’ll be prepared.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The next night, I’m lying on my cot. My stomach lurches, churning food like an olden-day ice-cream maker. Boy, do I wish I had ice cream instead of mashed-up corn peppered with bulky meat. My stomach is used to decadence, to food separated and solid, not mashed to a pulp. While I eat, I think: Don’t throw up. And What’s the point of scavenging for food if we’re going to eat shucky every day? I truly hope my stomach can keep it all down.

  A scuffle about ten cots to the right stirs my attention. I sit up to stare at two girls fighting.

  “Get off me!” The sisters who argued in the chow line on my first day are fussing with each other.

  “They’re at it again.” Isa is near the brawl. She’s watching me, and I look at her, hoping for an explanation. She looks unfazed at the fighting so close to her and laughs it off. “Those two fight all the time. Over shower time, food—”

  “Or their place in line.”

  Once again, Mrs. Shelby tries to break up the fight, this time with help from a man who I think is named Carson. But the girls are so thin and small that they keep slipping through the referees’ grasps.

  Isa stands and tiptoes her way around the disturbance to my cot. “They’ve been acting cuckoo without their mom. Strange things happen when you lose your family and buds one by one.”

  I focus on the commotion again and sigh. The world I’ve been thrust into is the underbelly of society. In my Golden life, no real worries existed. In fact, the only one coming to mind now was my trepidation about my future. These sisters fight over life. They are learning to deal with the bigger digital: their mother is gone and will never come back.

  Taken.

  Isa gestures to my cot, and I scoot over. I’d forgotten about the message she wrote on the bubble’s window during last night’s mission. Talk later. Curiosity balloons inside of me.

  “Close call out there.”

  Is she referring to Noodle and I? “Yeah, close call.”

  “It’s like you didn’t want to move away from that guard.” She forces a smile.

  “He was a trainee. He didn’t have any business being out there.” I twist a piece of quilted blanket in my hand. She’s fishing for answers.

  Her big eyes become slivers. “How did you know he was a trainee?”

  “Didn’t you see the orange stripes on his uniform shoulders?”

  “Why would they let a trainee guard a government building?”

  “They do it all the time. It’s called ‘a day in the life.’ I went to my dad’s—” Can’t talk about him. “Maybe his dad worked security there.”

  “You tied him up separately so you could talk to him.”

  I clear my throat, and my gaze drops to the dirty linoleum floor.

  “Don’t worry, I was the only one who saw. But Pike and the others shouldn’t know you knew one of the guys there.”

  “Pike already told me he knew.”

  “Oh. I guess that makes sense.” She bites down on her lip. “But he doesn’t know you were thinking about letting him go, does he?”

  “I wasn’t going to—”

  “That’s what it looked like to me.” She huffs. She thinks I’m lying. “No matter, I guess. But like Saya said, we studied you and that building on Pike’s orders. Don’t think you can be a sneak and we won’t see it coming.”

  “Me? A sneak?” I chortle. “Tell me, why do you guys follow Pike as your leader?”

  “Because he’s smart and ahead of the government, or at least keeping up with them. And that’s the kind of person that can lead Dreg into a new era.”

  Hope. He gives them hope life can be better. That their world can be different. In part, by rescuing me, he’s given me hope, too.

  Isa is silent for a moment and then says, “I see how you look at her.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She nods toward Saya lying on her bed. With her back to us, she’s studying those pictures again.

  “Saya’s damaged, Kade.” Isa shakes her head as if silently adding It’s a shame.

  My eyes linger on her face. Her pale skin is stark against her dark clothes. Her nose is pinched and set under big gray eyes, making her look like a mouse. The expression on her face is unreadable.

  “She’s like a bird with a broken wing or a dog with one leg.” Isa shakes her head once more. “And you want to fix her. She can’t be fixed. She just is.”

  I stare into Isa’s eyes. “Why do you care?”

  “Guys fall for her, and they get hurt. And she doesn’t care about anyone but herself and her bestbuds.”

  “I’m different.” I release the quilt from my fingertips.

  “Guys are all the same.” She smirks. “You like a challenge. And you’re too blind to see what’s staring you in the face. The one who’ll never let you down.” Reaching for my hand, she scoots closer. I don’t open it to her, so she places her hand on top of mine. I let her, wishing it were Saya instead.

  “We have raids sometimes.” Isa switches the subject.

  “Raids? What kinds of raids? Like Dreg fighting Dreg for food? Or over territories?”

  “No, of course not.” She laughs. Her gray eyes turn cloudy. “Sometimes the cop squads find us and take people.”

  Hearing Isa say “take” reminds me of the old Dreg from jail. They can’t use me like the young ones. The young ones try not to break the law if they can help it. I’ve seen those ones disappear. At the time, what he said was ridiculous. But these people bel
ieve Dregs are being Taken. And still, I am trying hard to poke holes into this theory. I raise my gaze to Isa. The vivacious color returns to her eyes. She must like direct eye contact.

  “The last raid happened five months before you came. And before that, Saya’s dad disappeared. So, she’s lost two people.”

  “Lost? Like, they died?” I blink back confusion.

  “No, her mate Archer was taken. Probably her dad, too.”

  “Taken,” I repeat, suddenly afraid of the word.

  I recall my father’s conversation with the premier: All citizens will be tested per your orders…Yes, that will weed out the treasonous ones…The raids…mm-hmm…okay. What was it that Pike said? We won’t have to convince you. You’ll see with your own eyes.

  What Dad said was confusing, but what Isa says makes sense. As does her not-so-subtle advice that I should leave Saya alone. Too late. My affection for Saya and being Golden again is all I cling to in the middle of pandemonium and mystery. I’m in the eye of a category-five hurricane named Saya. Being accused of being Dreg has trapped me in the vortex, facing an unavoidable new reality head-on. She doesn’t know being rescued by them has given me a lifeboat.

  “Where do they take people?”

  “I don’t know.” Isa pulls her hands from mine, lays them on her lap, and stares at the dirty floor. Her shoulders slump, making her smaller than she already is. Her face crumples inward as well, like she’s shrinking from my question. Then she hops up from my cot. “I only wanted to tell you to watch out.”

  “Thanks,” I reply as she hurries off. I peer over at Saya, who is now sitting up. Her lip-curling frown tells me she suspects we were talking about her.

  I look away. I didn’t ask Isa to tell me anything. Yet I would lend my ear again if she wanted to tell me more. I’ve learned more about Saya, yet she’s more of a mystery.

  “Saya’s not over him,” Cricket said.

  “Guys fall for her, and they get hurt,” Isa offered.

  Who had fallen for Saya and gotten hurt? Rigo? Zee? Cress maybe? Or maybe some other guy still living here?

  Isa and Saya both said that when you’re taken, there’s no return. The pictures Saya clutches at night must be her dad and Archer.

  This whole Taken concept doesn’t make sense. The government wouldn’t do this. My dad wouldn’t do this. But I know the Dreg haven’t made it up. They believe. Although with every mention of it, my heart pounds faster. But it’s still their truth, not mine.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A month of training flies by. How much longer before I’m ready to see my dad? Pike said not until the circumstances were right. Whatever that means. I’ve respected his decision because he rescued me and seems to know what he’s talking about. But I’m getting anxious for the meet-up. Two full months have passed since becoming Dreg.

  Tonight, Nell’s face pops into my thoughts as I try to fall asleep. Only the second time I’ve thought of her since she died. I’ll never get to see her again, and that stings. I fall asleep remembering what a lush girl she was.

  Then something wakes me. Semidarkness engulfs the room. Not time to wake up yet. The windows are wide open, ushering in the cool July night breeze. Not as stuffy in here as usual.

  My eyes flick to Saya’s cot. She’s moving in the light of the moon. Sitting up, she flings off her blankets, throws on a jacket, puts on her boots, and then quietly tiptoes across the floor, weaving through the cots. She walks toward the bathrooms and then up onto the platform, holding on to the rusty railings, and then slips out of a side door I’ve never noticed.

  Wiggling on my jacket, I kick off my quilt and then throw it back over the cot. My kneecaps crack when I stand, and I look around to see if anyone heard the noise. This may be one of the only times I can be alone with her.

  “Be careful, Kade.” Cricket startles me. “Don’t get taken.” Her big doe eyes sparkle. Her hair is, for once, free from its usual grease, and her face shines, freshly scrubbed. Cute dimples. I smile. Saya must have forced her to shower.

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “Come back.” She offers a weak smile.

  “I will.” I tear my eyes away from her face as she rolls over in her cot.

  I hurry to catch up with Saya, hoping the delay hasn’t let her trail grow cold. I heave a sigh of relief as her figure appears in the distance, almost swallowed by the night, walking away from the rec center. She passes people huddled around garbage-can fires in their dirty, colorful clothing and mismatched hats and gloves. In tandem, they blow and rub their red hands for warmth. It’s probably fifty-five degrees or so, which is cold in the summer for Cali.

  I share in their agony because I know that when the tips of my body parts get cold, the rest of my body freezes too. Pulling my jacket hood over my head helps fight off the bitterness nipping at my ears and nose.

  I follow her weaving, twisting journey through a field and past shacks with thin metal-sheet walls and wooden-plank floors.

  A scrawny dog whines as it tries to follow me. He’s not concerned about the clowder of cats snacking on dead mice nearby. He must think I have food. “You’re better off wrestling the cats for scraps, buddy.” I shoo him and continue following Saya up and down a string of hills that stretch for several blocks.

  She walks through grass taller than us. No! I’ve lost sight of her! Tall, thin blades sway in front of me, and I look around uneasily. Following her doesn’t seem so smart anymore. All kinds of craziness rushes through my head. The dog turning into a monster…Dreg jumping me…a brushfire starting…a bomb going off. My pulse normalizes once the moonlight illuminates her figure as she sits down atop the last hill abutting this field.

  I slip closer, wedging between the grassy blades, wishing to see her face instead of her back. I sigh. I have it bad. I’m officially a stalker.

  “Why are you following me?” Her yell startles me. She doesn’t turn around, but her tone is filled with annoyance. Emerging from my hiding place, I skim the prickly grass with the tips of my fingers. Heat burns my face. Before, I would’ve never believed a girl—let alone a Dreg—could make me feel this newfound passionate enthusiasm toward life.

  My voice hardens with the memory of my former self. “You can leave the rec center whenever you want?”

  Her shoulders slump. “It’s not a prison. We’re free to come and go as we please.”

  “But it might not be safe out here.” I look around. Who knows what’s out here? Yet she wanders off alone in the wee hours of the morning. Fearless.

  I walk up the hill, over dead brown grass to stand above her. I see what she sees. This place is amazing. A pocket of heaven, like my backyard deck. A miniature mountain in the middle of nowhere. The stars twinkle above, as clear as ever. Emmaline would love this hill.

  Saya doesn’t look up at me, only at the stars. “I don’t see why Pike keeps pushing you on me. I’m no babysitter.” She crosses her arms over her knees. Their fearless leader has ordered her to train me tomorrow. Believe you me, I don’t want to train under a girl. Admitting she could teach me means she’s better at fighting, and I’m not going to admit that. The only reason I agreed is to be next to her.

  “I didn’t ask for this, Saya. I’m trying to find my way around here.” I look down at her, dig my hands into my pockets, and rock back on my heels. “Imagine your life being thrown upside down, and you have to figure out what you thought you knew all over again. Like being in a foreign country and not speaking the language or knowing anybody. It’s lonely.”

  “I’m sorry. Never thought of it from your point of view. I just…I just wanted to be alone for once. It’s hard to think with so many people around.” She twists her body toward me, and her eyes take me in.

  I’m melting from this look, like wax on the side of a burning candle. She’s gorgeous. The moonlight wraps around her round face, accentuating her high eyebrows and square jaw. Her brown skin glows.

  I’m speechless. I followed her because I want to be alone with
her, but now I don’t know what to do. Dummy. “Aw, come on. Some quality time with me won’t hurt.”

  I sit down next to her. Our knees touch, and she doesn’t move away.

  That’s promising.

  Vastness surrounds us in this secluded area. This is the first time we’ve been alone together since I came to live with the Dregs. What I’ve been waiting and wishing for, a moment to get to know the real her. The parts of her she doesn’t guard.

  “We were fine without you,” she says.

  I’m crushed.

  “But Pike has this ultimate plan he won’t share with anyone.” She rolls her eyes. “Says with time, we’ll know.” She scans my body, examining me like she’s figuring out my worth. “What I wanna know is if you take much seriously.”

  “Surprisingly, I do. Do you ever quip?”

  “Life’s not a quip.”

  “Said with such determination.” I pull at the hill’s grass. Jerking up a fistful of skinny blades, roots, and dirt, I roll them in my hand nervously. “You can’t be this serious all the time.”

  “You can’t be this clueless all the time. Everybody has to wake up and face reality. You know, sometimes I see glimpses of hope in you, and then you mess it up with your doink mouth.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what else is wrong with me.” I’ve grown tired of the second-class treatment she seems to think I deserve.

  “Just you. Like your whole self.” She motions with her hand to my body.

  I snort, throwing the weeds from my hands before grabbing more by their roots and pulling them into my palm. I don’t look at her.

  “You have an uppity vibe,” she smacks her lips, “and you’re needy, too.”

  “I wonder…Can you say one nice thing about me?” I look up from my hands.

  Meeting my eyes, she puffs up her cheeks with air and then blows the breath out. “Hmm. You’re cute.” She looks away.