Exile

EXILE

The Barren Plains Series

Book 1

Janelle Armstrong

Exile

The Barren Plains Series, Book 1

Janelle Armstrong

Copyright © 2016

All Rights Reserved.

Cover Design by Dawné Dominique

Smashwords edition

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

CHAPTER 1

RO

The huge steel door looked new in spite of being decades old. I stood before its massive bulk, trembling with fear. The polished surface reflected the wavy outline of my figure in the dim light of the lantern I held. The dark tunnel behind me led back beneath the surface to certain death, and the way before me held the terror of the unknown.

I bit back a sob, trying not to think about how many others before me had gone through this door to their deaths, including my mother and father. I rubbed the icy skin of my arms, too afraid to do anything at first. Did I really believe there was a chance I could survive? Or was everyone right and there was nothing but desolation and death beyond this door? What unimaginable horror awaited me on the other side of this slab of steel? My heart pounded painfully against my ribs. Taking a ragged breath, I reached a shaking hand out to grip the cold metal handle. I really didn’t have a choice. I could stay here and die alone in the darkness or I could take a chance and face the unknown.

FIVE DAYS AGO

Riona?

I looked at the woman sitting behind the small reception desk outside the science wing. I much preferred my name shortened to Ro, but it was against the rules to use any name other than the one you were given at birth.

We’ll be ready for you in a moment. The woman’s tight smile held no sympathy for the procedure I was about to experience. Her hair was dragged back into a tight bun, and I assumed that was why her expression was so disagreeable.

I went back to my daydreaming. The air vent above me droned on as it fed air into the corridor. Considering Arcadia was buried under tons of rock, it seemed trivial, but it was something I’d never noticed before, so I added it to the worrisome list in my mind about this place.

I shifted uncomfortably on the cold metal chair. Another girl sat across from me and stared at me with wide, jumpy eyes. Her straight brown hair was parted neatly in the middle and tucked behind her ears. I would have given her a small smile of support, but I knew her. Her name was Gen and she and her friends had been my tormentors for most of my life.

Being the daughter of traitors made me a target for some. The only way to protect myself was to be as inconspicuous as possible. Whenever Gen or her friends were around, I was adept at blending in with other girls. If they wondered why I hid within their ranks, they chose to ignore me, but didn’t give me away either.

There was no place to hide in this small waiting area, but it didn’t matter. Gen was alone and looking as white as the tunic she wore. I hid a small smile of satisfaction, knowing she was as nervous as I was about the procedure all Arcadian girls and boys were required to have during their seventeenth year. I secretly hoped she was terrified, because it made my own nervousness bearable.

I rubbed my thumb lightly over the bumpy, slightly raised circle branded onto the thin skin of my left wrist. Today I would receive the second concentric circle. The first circle had been branded when I was born and now the second would be done today. It signified I was old enough to pledge. My name would become part of a list of candidates Chairman Brume drew from in a ceremony designed to find a suitable mate, one that would keep our limited gene pool healthy. I had no interest in pledging, and judging from the way I was treated, no boy would want to be bound to a girl with my reputation anyway. They probably thought being a traitor was in my DNA and could be passed down to each generation like blue eyes or blond hair. I was viewed like a piece of suspect food. Was I tainted or safe?

I ignored Gen and let my mind drift. I wiped my hands on the plain, loose tunic that covered me from neck to hips. The baggy trousers I wore had a drawstring waist and cuffs that could be unrolled as I grew, but I was taller than average and my cuffs were at their limit. My ankles were now exposed, creating muffled snickers as I walked by.

We’re ready for you now, Riona.

I gave a small start. The grim-faced receptionist was staring at me with impatience, and I wondered if she called my name more than once.

I stood and followed the woman through the door into the procedure room. It contained only a chair with a wide armrest and a small table covered with a white cloth. I blinked under the harsh light.

A distracted technician with unruly, spiky, blond hair came in as I shifted from foot to foot. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized Sawyer had been assigned the task of imprinting the second circle. Since leaving the education wing to join in the general population of Arcadia, I’d been assigned to his lab as a helper several times. I liked the young scientist because he was always kind and never treated me like an outcast.

Sawyer hadn’t noticed me yet and it was only when he saw my name on the digital chart that he looked up and gave me a quick, shy smile.

Hi, Sawyer, I said, feeling a little queasy.

He jotted a short note on the chart and said, This won’t take long, Riona. Please sit down and give me your left hand wrist side up.

I sat and held out my arm, which he strapped securely to the cold metal armrest. I wasn’t sure if he noticed my slight tremor of fear.

He paused, sympathy in his light blue eyes. It will only be uncomfortable for a second or two.

He pulled the cloth off the table and my eyes were drawn to the long metal instrument with a circular design at one end. He gave a quick twist to the handle and the circle began to glow a deep red.

At the final moment, I decided not to look. A searing pain made my hand jerk and lasted only a heartbeat, but I would never forget the burning smell. It filled my nose with an acrid, nauseous odor.

All finished. He placed a bandage on my arm and gave me instructions on how to care for the brand. He seemed about to say something else, but looked down instead as the receptionist came in to escort me out.

Gen was right behind her and her eyes darted toward me. A random spark of rebellion deep inside me pushed its way to the surface. I put my hand over my bandage and gave a loud moan of pain.

Sawyer, who was reading a digital chart, looked up in surprise. Gen’s footsteps faltered and she lost all the remaining color in her pale cheeks. I groaned again as the receptionist hurried to escort me out, but not before I saw Sawyer’s lips twitch in a half-smile.

I was pushed out the door into the hallway outside. Grinning with satisfaction, I made my way back to my pod. My smile faded as I realized Gen would probably make sure I paid for that performance after she found out the brand didn’t hurt as much as she thought.

It was foolish of me to antagonize her, but since leaving the school wing, I’d been feeling bold and mutinous. As each day passed, I grew more restless and on edge. In school there was the diversion of absorbing knowledge to keep me grounded, but here outside the education wing, I was in the majority of the population and what I saw made me feel even more uneasy.

We were taught in school we’d return to the surface someday when it was proven safe, but no one talked like that in this part of Arcadia. They all acted like we’d be buried down here for a hundred more years. The thought of spending the rest of my life rotating work shifts, pledging with a boy chosen by our chairman and someday given permission to have a child, gave me a claustrophobic feeling of panic. As each day passed, I grew more afraid of what the future held.

I hurried down the bright corridor someone long ago decided to paint a sick shade of green and turned into the long line of pods, making my way to the very last one. Other than the bathrooms, it was the only place I was guaranteed some privacy.

I reached my space and slid the door open, closing it behind me. Pods were designed to conserve space, and mine contained a sleeping platform, built-in dresser drawers, and some shelves for personal items. In two steps I was able to flop down on my bed and stretch out. The mattress was hard, but I was used to the unyielding surface and ignored the discomfort.

I rolled onto my side and took a book off the shelf. Reading helped calm me down, and right now I needed to settle my restless thoughts. The scrap of paper marking my place was a faded admission ticket from a movie theatre. All that was readable was the word matinee. The theatre name and movie title had long since faded, but I tried to imagine it was a great adventure starring the most famous actors. There used to be a special movie night in Arcadia, but when the current chairman came into power, he announced the tiny discs holding the old movies had deteriorated and were no longer viable to watch. Oh, how I wished I could have seen one.

I turned the worn ticket over and tried in vain to make out any letters. An old man named Arthur gave it to me many years ago. Other than the instructors, he was one of the few adults allowed in the education wing. He worked in the library, keeping the old printed books in repair. Whenever I walked by his tiny workroom, he was often bent over a book, restoring a frayed front cover or broken spine. He was almost invisible to the other children, but not to me. I noticed when he was nearby. One day, I went to his workroom, saw it had been emptied of everything, and I never saw him again.

I was too young to question his disappearance, and as I grew older I learned it was better not to ask too many questions.

I put the ticket back in my book and got to my feet. Normally reading calmed me, but I was too full of nervous energy. I left my pod and made my way to the exercise chamber. Once it had been mandatory for everyone to do physical workouts, but only a few made use of it now and they were only interested in their own body conditioning, not the awkward young girl trying to build her own strength.

I skipped the main corridor and kept my head down as I took the passageway used primarily by the science techs. They paid little heed to me as I hurried past the elevators accessing Level Three, the lowest part of the city. I glanced at the imposing set of metal doors. It was off-limits to everyone except experienced science techs like Sawyer, and contained all the technology that kept us alive in our underground city. At the end of the long passage, I pushed open the door to the exercise chamber and stepped inside.

A lone man was taking a brisk walk on the track that ran around the perimeter of the large room. In the center, two more were working out on exercise machines. Kane, the head of our city’s security, was one of them. He was a taciturn man of average height, but very muscular with close-cropped dark hair turning silver at his temples. He might have been considered handsome if not for the stern, unsmiling expression on his face.

The first time I saw him here, I was filled with apprehension, wondering if he would order me to leave. Not many girls were interested in physical activity. To my relief, other than a brief nod, he showed no interest in me, and after that first encounter I often found him here.

He looked up when I came in, gave his usual brief nod and continued his exhaustive training session.

I gave him a small smile and crossed to the other side of the room to the virtual simulation chamber. I slipped inside and programmed a target practice session with a bow and arrows. I hit the start button and went to stand in front of a blank wall as I adjusted a pair of goggles over my eyes. A realistic field with targets magically appeared. When I looked down at my hands, I was holding a bow. Nocking a simulated arrow, I pulled the bow string back and released the slender shaft toward the target. After a long session of equal numbers of hits and misses, I ended the program, feeling more relaxed.

I went back into the outer chamber and found Kane was still there. He wiped the sweat from his face and neck, and paid no attention me as I went to the climbing wall and worked my way to the top using the colorful pegs pounded into the hard surface. By the time I was finished, he was gone. I spent another half-hour running on the track and even if I was still too slender, my muscles were strong and my reflexes fast.

I went back to my pod to clean up, managing to avoid Gen and any of my other tormentors. I would have to face them, but not now. I stretched out on my bed and opened my book, immersing myself in the story.

I was startled from my reading when the voice on the loudspeaker announced dinner.

"Please pause your activities and report to the dining chamber for evening rations."

With a heavy sigh, I marked my place in the book and put it back on the shelf. I was thankful we still had a library. Most of the books had been transferred to digital devices, but we still had paper copies. Before Arthur disappeared, he always let me borrow his newly repaired books before they were sent off to the library or archives. I heard rumors Chairman Brume was going over the lists of books and deciding which might be inappropriate for the population to read.

I didn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t have the sheer escapism that books offered, and feared the novels I loved most might be taken away. I was rereading my favorite, ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ by Jules Verne. The story seemed appropriate since Arcadia was located deep beneath the earth’s surface. It was the last book Arthur gave me. I was already considering where to hide it just in case our chairman didn’t approve of it.

I straightened my tunic and retied the drawstring at my waist before leaving my pod to join the stream of people making their way to the dining chamber. As I walked, my eyes were drawn to the few girls and boys who stood out from everyone with their newly shorn heads. This was a new edict decreed by Chairman Brume. It was now the custom in Arcadia to shave your head in preparation for the pledging ceremony. They were now on their way to a two-week quarantine, and I shuddered to think what other indignities they might have to endure.

When they emerged, they would be joined to their chosen pledges, carefully selected for them by Chairman Brume, and their union approved. The new couple would remain childless until, after enough natural deaths, they would apply to the lottery, hoping their names would be drawn so they could have a child.

Long ago, Arcadians were allowed to choose their own pledges and enjoy a lengthy courtship before joining. They still had to wait for permission to have a child, but they didn’t have their pledges chosen for them or their heads shaved or go through quarantine. There was something very wrong about Arcadia. Something malevolent was slowly eroding the city, and I was afraid Chairman Brume was part of it.

CHAPTER 2

All of our work shifts were on rotation, probably so we didn’t get bored, and this week I was on the first shift for aquifer maintenance. For the next few days, a group of us would scrub and clean the huge filters. Maybe because I was adept at being inconspicuous and ignored, workers talked freely around me and I heard rumors that the water level was dropping. I hoped it wasn’t true, because my list of worries was growing.

I was busy scrubbing my section of the tightly woven sieves when I heard two of the workers talking.

Hey, Gwyn, did you know the tunnel borers are being overhauled? What do you think they’re going to do with them?

Gwyn wiped her greasy hands on a towel. You’d best keep that to yourself, Hank. I don’t think the committee wants anyone to know that.

Hank grabbed a wrench. Why? If there’s a problem, shouldn’t we know?

No, we shouldn’t, Gwyn warned. The committee knows what’s best and Chairman Brume has assured everyone there’s nothing to worry about.

Hank gave a vicious tug on a stubborn bolt. Well, I happened to hear the aquifer level is dropping and we need to find another source of water soon. I think they’re going to use the old borers to find another aquifer.

Shut up, Hank, before you get us into trouble. Gwyn picked up her tools and moved to the next filter.

Did you hear they found another cave system? Hank persisted. They’ve already sent men in to explore it. I bet that’s where they’re going to drill.

Gwyn put her hands on her hips. I swear, Hank, you’re the biggest gossip I’ve ever known. Come on, let’s just finish our shift. She moved away and Hank followed, still talking.

I stayed quiet, but their conversation was unsettling. Next to breathable air, water was extremely important for our survival. We not only needed it to drink, but to grow our food. If we ran out of water, it would be the end of our city and of us.

By the time my shift was over, I was too tired to worry about rumors. A robotic voice reminded everyone to consume their last rations of the day as I hurried into the large dining chamber, hoping to be done before any of my tormentors found me. I grabbed my assigned nutrients and supplements and found a place near the door at a table already filled with people. I hurried to the last empty chair, keeping an eye out for Gen and her friends.

The giant clock on the far wall listed the daylight hours with a painted, yellow sun and the nighttime hours with a white moon and stars. I paused in my eating and wondered what the sun, moon, and stars looked like for real.

I gasped in pain as I felt a vicious pinch on my arm. My tendency to daydream was sometimes my downfall. Gen sat down with her friends at the table behind me, and I knew from her glare she was going to get her revenge on me