The Removed

Blurb: The virus was only the beginning.

A familiar whirring sound filled the room and dragged Nova from her deep sleep. She was still clutching the heart shaped locket gifted to her by her grandmother G-Ma, who in turn had gotten it from her own mother G-G-Ma. It contained the same message but she never tired of hearing a strangely monotone voice recount her family’s history from up to three generations prior to the Disease Which Has No Cure engulfed the taking with it nearly all of the aged population. Her G-G-Ma, who’s rounded chestnut face she enjoyed seeing the most, had been in her third decade of life and thus largely spared from the scourge. She had not been able to escape the years of darkness that followed as she along with all of humanity had learned that not everything was a conspiracy or myth. There are some fates worse than death when the very DNA that makes you human is altered.

Directly across from her bed in a cramped room that passed as her personal quarter, the mounted screen that never truly went off brightened to life. “Good morning, Nova Riversdaughter.” An unnaturally cheerful voice greeted her.

“Good morning.” Nova acknowledged the nameless presence.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Great….okay. I’m just okay.” Nova stammered a bit. She had forgotten that since she had now passed the age of discernment she was no longer allowed to lie.

“Are you having any cravings?”

“No…..only a little. I cut myself a little and the blood smelled kind of good.”

“You know blood is forbidden! No injuries regardless of how miniscule are allowed in this facility!” The voice scolded with the sharpness of the sternest teacher.

“It’s just a tiny cut.” Nova insisted.

“Present the injury.”

Reluctantly Nova rose from her bed when the plastifoam mattress lowered itself close enough for her long skinny feet to graze the floor. She approached the screen and held up her left wrist to be examined. Try as she might she could not discern any eyes on the screen but she knew she was being watched, always watched. Although she was supposed to stand still her right hand found a strand of shoulder length dark hair to play with. She could hear rain beating down outside and desperately wanted to feel it on her skin but she knew it was not to be.

“Offense: minor self-injury detected. Penalty given: three days confinement.”

Petulant Nova waited to be dismissed. She was still a child after all, a “removed” child without parents, but a child all the same.

My locket! I forgot to hide it!

“Quickened pulse and heartbeat detected.”

“I am fine. I want to play.” Nova forced herself to breathe.

Several nerve racking seconds passed.

“Permission for recreation granted.”

The screen dimmed again.

Nova turned her back to the screen and leaned over her bed slyly slipping the locket into her pocket. She smiled and felt happiness in her soul recalling the last outing she had had with her Ma. That was just before “they” came to take her away to protection within the city’s domed walls. That was before she knew her G-G-Ma had not escaped those dark days before The Society of Watchers came to power and pulled the remnants of pre-darkness society towards some sort of life completely unscathed. Ma had gotten permission to take her to see a laser dance show and there sitting in the stadium Ma had talked.

“Your G-G-Ma didn’t get the virus. She didn’t get the vaccine either. She was already sickly. The virus kept getting worse and it was changing so scientists couldn’t figure it out. People were dying more than were being born because young women like your G-G-Ma didn’t want kids. Then they came from the sky. Some say they came out of the Earth and were always here. Do you know who they are?” Ma had whispered lips barely moving.

“Nova Riversdaughter, commence recreation immediately!”

Snapped back to reality, Nova picked up a small molded figure and made it walk across the floor while she crouched on her knees. She did not have many toys. They destroyed everything when they came to take her away from Ma. She could ask for some new things but she never knew if her requests would be granted. She was not like other children or she wouldn’t be locked up here. Sometimes though she got lucky and got something that made her feel a little better.

“Show me a wall show.” She said to nobody in particular.

“Request for visual stimulation granted.”

Suddenly the room’s soundproof metal walls melted into a continuous moving image of colors and patterns. A gentle melody filled the room. The air filled with a pleasing floral aroma. Children ran through tall green trees and romped on grass. Nova was dizzy with overstimulation but she loved it because this was the world from the stories G-Ma told her about, relics of a world long gone. Then came the part that Nova didn’t like yet could not avoid. The lush green foliage turned dry and brittle before machines came and ripped the trees out of the ground. “Before The Society of the Watchers came to assist humanity, humans almost destroyed Earth’s environment. It was necessary to restrict humanity’s movement while the damage was contained and repaired. Containment was completed in 2040. Repair continues with a projected end date of 2620.” There was always an explanation for why humans could or could not do something.

The distraction only lasted for a few minutes. The feeling returned again. She couldn’t help herself flicking a tongue over her increasingly sharp teeth. She lifted her wrist to her mouth, still tender from the first attempt.

Her G-G-Ma had been among the first women to report pregnancy after strange encounters. The babies never made it home with the mothers. The seeds of a new hybrid generation were little understood and much feared. Ma had known the day would come when Nova would be taken away and her own life brought to a swift end in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the mutation which replaced hunger for food with a taste for blood.

She kept the secret of the inevitable from her child until the night before Nova’s 12th birthday as all good mothers do.