Michaela

Vel found herself in an abandoned office building. She briefly looked around to see laptops in cubicles turned over onto the floor among the debris. As she peered out the window at the dull grey sky directly in front of her, she noticed that she was on one of the higher floors of the building. In an instant, the walls that circled her and the floor beneath began to shake. Vel backed up, looking towards her left through the many windows and in between the other abandoned buildings off in the distance. Vel's eyes grew wide as she made out what was approaching her, a tornado engulfing buildings in its path nearing the very building she was in. As the tornado got closer, this massive size of chaos sent Vel into a panic. She looked and to her right was an office closet. Vel didn't hesitate; she retreated and ran straight for it. Once inside, she closed the door shut and jumped to the floor as she prayed for protection. The rumblings around her became more violent as seconds passed. She could hear things on the outside of the closet door smashing into walls as well as fixtures falling from above. She closed her eyes while balling up into a fetal position and prayed that the destruction approaching might spare her and pass to another building.

As abrupt as the rumblings had come, they had stopped. Vel's premature hope that her prayers were answered came to a sudden realization that this was far from the truth. She opened her eyes to a weird uneasy feeling and darkness surrounding her. Something brushed past her arm as a spec of light peeked through the dark murkiness. Vel heard a muffled whistling sound as she tried to gather herself.  With more and more light piercing through the gloomy surroundings, she felt a sudden gust of wind around her. Vel finally realized she was now in the eye of the tornado. Vel could vividly see objects and people who seemed to have been taken by this force of nature circle around her in the distance. Unable to see any beginning or end to the tornado's wrath, something weird happened next. On her left forearm was a tattoo of a golden open heart-shaped locket that began to give off a radiant glow amongst the dismal surroundings. In the locket of the tattoo was a vivid picture of a 10-year-old girl. Vel rubbed the face of the girl on her arm while things around her spiraled above and below her. An uncomfortable smile filled Vel's face as she softly whispered Michaela, then suddenly woke up, gasping for air.

"Vel, you ok? You were dreaming, mumbling something." Melida exclaimed. Melida Irwin was Vilma "Vel" Harris' best friend and current coworker. Vel looked around at her surroundings to make sure she was awake. Tears began to trickle down her cheek before whispering to Melida, "It was so real, Melida, it was so real!" "What happened?", Melida asked. "I saw Michaela again," Vilma whispered. "Huh? Listen, Vel, you have to stop doing this to yourself. Michaela is gone! It's been ten years, for God's sake!", Melida replied. "So how come I can still feel her then? I saw her; she was a big girl, so beautiful but stern-looking like Bryan. I still feel her. I swear I can!" Vilma shouted. Suddenly, Vilma and Melida heard three hard knocks at the door. "What's all the commotion? Let's go! You have 16 units", a voice yelled from the other side of the door. "Vilma, you going to get us killed. Is that what you're trying to do?", Melida whispered to ask. Vilma sat up while wiping her tears. Then she stood up to fix her uniform, brushing down with her hand the One Nation symbol that sat over her breast pocket. "I'm ready. Let's go", Vilma said, walking towards the door. Melida shook her head before opening the door and then greeted the guard as she slithered by him. "Next time I hear a peep out this room, y'all will be reported. You got that?!" the guard assured, gripping his weapon. "Yes, sir!", Melida said as Vilma walked towards the stairwell. "What about you?" the guard asked, pointing towards Vilma with his semi-automatic handgun.

Vel initially turned to Melida, then to the guard with a look of disgust, glancing at the W.H.O. stitched into the left sleeve of his government-issued uniform. Melida made a face to signify for Vilma to answer, and she did. "Yes, ...sir," Vilma mumbled reluctantly. W.H.O. stood for World Health Organization, the now one dictatorship government that ran the World. The year was 2035, and a cancerous cell has globally decimated any non-Black persons touched with the disease. The powers that be have developed a cure found only in black female newborns called the Lackcell. They take these infant saviors from their mothers soon after birth. Once extracting the cells needed, the babies are whisked away to a particular facility called the Blacklist. There, they are said to be killed off and discarded directly after. These savage efforts of the One Nation are to control the populace for each district and region, which according to them, ultimately will ensure the survival of the human race. The Black race of old, or those of African descent, are now referred to as Black Bloods. They have to follow harsh rules and regulations enforced by the One Nation government.

Keeping a close eye on the Black Blood population and reproductive activities was crucial to the system implemented by the One Nation. The Black Blood men worked in separate quarters from the women. Both Black Blood men and or women must get permission from an authority to do as little as use the bathroom. Once a Black Blood mother births her first child, if not a girl, she has only one other chance to try and conceive again 3 1/2 years after the first pregnancy. The Black Blood women must either go through Tubal Ligation, which in 2035 is permanent birth control or take an injection that lasts 3 1/2 years from initial pregnancy. This injection is called Medroxypro-40 and was created in the same Pharm Buildings they extract the Lackcell trait from female newborn infants. Pharm Buildings were funded and controlled by W.H.O.

 The Black Blood men work mainly as delivery men. Their duties are to box up and deliver the vials of Lackcell once extracted for injection and distribute them to different awaiting Pharm Buildings within the region each day. Bryan Harris, Vilma's husband, is a Black Blood delivery man himself. Only men are allowed in the BlackList facilities and must go through several procedures before entering. The guards thoroughly check them each time for recording devices on entering and exiting the facility.

 Black Bloods have very few interactions with their spouse or companion during the week, which lessened the chance of unsupervised procreation. Vilma despised this rule the most. The two ladies hustled down the stairs to the Pharm Building. Vilma and Melida were assigned to Pharm Building 7. Each district had ten buildings total. Vilma glanced over at Melida because of a sudden ringing coming from the watch on her wrist. "What's that?" Vilma asked. "We're about to be late! We're supposed to be there at zero seven thirty hours", Melida explained. "I know, I know," Vilma responded in haste.



"Good morning, this is Black Blood Melida Irwin, reporting for the first light shift," Melida said, talking into her watch. "Black Blood Melida, you are seven units late!" a voice responded through her watch. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again, sir," Melida replied. "Where is your building 7 team member, Black Blood Irwin?" the voice asked. "Oh, she's right here, sir," Melida responded, bumping Vilma on her arm. "This is Black Blood Vilma Harris, reporting," Vilma said. "Reporting what?!" the voice shouted. Vilma rolled her eyes then mumbled, "Reporting, ..sir."  "There's always an issue with you, Black Blood Harris. Both you and Black Blood Irwin will be forced to work tomorrow this weekend", the voice responding. "But sir, I have to see my family tomorrow, sir," Melida pleaded. "No exceptions!" the voice instructed.

Once inside, both Vilma and Melida went to their stations. Their job was simple.  It consisted of separating the Medroxypro-40 from the Lackcell, labeling them both, and placing them to be boxed and delivered later that day. Melida and Vilma station was across from one another, so they passed the time with conversation. "Hey Melida, I need a favor," Vilma said. "A favor? I think you’re all out of favors today", Melida replied. "Seriously, I need you to go distract the guards for me. I need all cameras on you," Vilma whispered. "What? Are you nuts? And how in the world am I supposed to do that?", Melida asked. "I don't know, go flirt with one of those fools, do something. I promise I'll owe you big", Vilma responded. Melida sighed while shaking her head. "Yeah, you gonna owe big time, alright!", Melida whispered. Melida walked over to one of the guards and started to sing and dance, distracting him and the other guards as best she could. As she did this, Vilma slowly snuck one of the Lackcell vials under her uniform and continued as nothing happened. "Black Blood, get back to work now. Have you gone crazy!" one of the guards shouted. Melida stopped and embarrassingly walked back to her station. "Hope it was worth it. I don't even know why you asked me to do that in the first place", Melida whispered. "I took one of the Lackcell vials," Vilma whispered. "What? Are you nuts, Vel? Why? You'll be locked up and beaten", Melida exclaimed. "Shhh, shhh, I'll tell you later," Vilma replied.

Vilma had a plan. The next day instead of reporting for work, she headed for the BlackList facility. Bryan had told her that the new guard on the weekends undoubtedly had the cancerous disease. She approached carefully but with confidence. "Excuse me, sir, is your name Mr. Langert?" Vilma asked. "You don't belong here, Black Blood. Move along!" the guard demanded. "If you are Mr. Langert, I could have something you may be interested in," Vilma replied. The guard began to cough profusely, at one time, even spitting blood to the side of him. "Didn't I say...", The guard stopped midway to cough. "Sir, are you on the list for the Lackcell? That's an, um, serious cough you have," Vilma hesitantly asked. "What? Yeah, I am. I'll get it next year. What is it to you?" Mr. Langert asked. "Sir, you don't have to wait. I have it. I'll be willing to give it to you if you allow me to come in and direct me to where they discard the children", Vilma explained.



 

 "What? Where is it?" Mr. Langert asked with haste?  "Is it a deal?" Vilma asked. Mr. Langert looked around and signaled for Vilma to get closer. "Let me see it!" Mr. Langert demanded. "Is it a deal or not?" Vilma repeated. "Yeah, Yeah. Take my badge and head down those double doors, make a left when you can't go any further, then use the badge to get in", Mr. Langert directed. Vilma snatched the badge out of his hand, tossing the vial at him to catch, and hustled off. She ran down the hallway till she could go no further. Just as Vilma made the left like instructed to, alarms throughout the facility rang out. She ran as fast as she could till she got in front of a pair of double doors with a sign that read, only authority approved past this point. She used the badge to unlock the doors and instantly fell to her knees. Inside, scientists were walking around in lab coats surrounded by machines and equipment. But that's not what shocked Vilma the most. There were little girls of all ages tripling the number of scientists. Vilma could hear the sound of boots approaching as both scientists and girls scattered. Vilma looked down at her arm and screamed from her knees,..."MICHAELA!"