Catalyst - Casey L. Bond Page 0,3

Bacteria lived in the water. It could worsen my “condition.” It might hasten my death.

I thought of Sonnet. She was meeting friends at the lake. She was probably there, laughing and having fun, kissing her boyfriend, Aric.

Soldier Enoch kept inching forward. “Seven. Your father has requested that you return home immediately. I am to escort you there.”

I snorted. “Escort? You mean you’ve been given orders to drag me back, right?”

He scowled. “We won’t harm you, but you have to come with us.”

When he reached for the restraints hanging on his belt, the metal caught the sun, glinting a spot onto the brick beside me. I stopped him. “Don’t bother. I’ll come without a fight. I just need to catch my breath.”

Enoch nodded and I saw the tension ease from his taught muscles.

All the fight had been sucked out of me by the eight block sprint anyway. Besides, where else would I spend the night? I had nothing. No friends. No money. Nowhere to go. And soon, I wouldn’t even have the breath I was fighting for.

Sometimes I envied those who died suddenly. They didn’t realize that they had no future, just continued living life blissfully unaware of what was coming. It sucked knowing that I was going to die when I’d barely even lived.

My father and mother refused to let me leave our home. The only exceptions were “special occasions,” which really meant trips to the medical pavilion or hospital, or the rare event to further Father’s political career. Today had been awful. This trip to the doctors was the first time they’d thrown up their hands and given up on me.

Pity. I’d seen it in the looks the physician had given my family, refusing to meet my eyes at all. In the doctor’s eyes, I was already gone. When the doctor left, my parents spoke around me, as if I wasn’t even in the room, discussing plans and after-death arrangements. To them, I was just another burden that needed to be handled, a thing they had to add to their never-ending to-do list. Something that had bumped something more important out of the way.

When my body stopped revolting, I pushed off the wall and followed the pair of soldiers out of the alley. The white-furred dog seemed disappointed. He whimpered, trotting alongside, until his hackles raised and lunged at me again. His master kept him under control. Poor thing. He’d been promised a meal and was still hungry. If I had been in his position, I’d be angry and frustrated, too. Who could fault him?

He thought human meat was delicious. I wondered if the muscle and meat of a terminally ill person would taste bad to him, rotten and unappealing. He turned in a circle and whined again.

When Soldier Enoch’s page lit up and another voice came over the static, he held it to his ear. “I’ll check it out. It’s on my way.”

Lumbering to the end of the alley, I almost collapsed in joy just to see a car parked and waiting. The sun would have warmed the seats to a delicious temperature. Only soldiers and the Elite had them now. Of course, my family had one. It was almost more expensive to keep them running than it was to purchase one. It was one of the many disgusting ways our society differentiated between the haves and have-nots.

Opening the back door, I fell onto the seat and reveled in the warmth, waiting as Enoch walked around to the driver’s side. Soldier Blaken and his mutt kept walking, departing with a small salute. Thank the heavens. I liked dogs, but not rabid ones that still salivated at the thought of ripping me apart. That ever-present hunger was still there in his sad, brown eyes.

Soldier Enoch watched my every move from the rear-view mirror. “Please use your seat restraint, Seven Anderson.” In compliance, I stretched the fabric belt across my lap and clicked it into place. Only then, did he start the engine and pull the car away from the curb.

Passers-by watched in rapt fascination as we carved a path down the city streets. It was quitting time, of course. Now everyone would see me. I didn’t care, but my father would be angry when I got home. I didn’t want to deal with him at all, so I ducked down as much as I could. Enoch guided the car toward the wall and began driving alongside it into an unpopulated area that seemed to buffer the Elite section of