The Yellow Pill (6 page)

Frey set her pace as fast as she could without seeming
to run, with her heart seeming to have repositioned itself to her throat. There
was another bed standing parked at side of the corridor. She grabbed onto it
while passing, shoving it before her.

Frey forced
herself
to calm
her breathing.
 

The door to an elevator opened and Frey forced her
legs to enter, even as a young woman stood there with a sheet of glass in her
hands, eyes glued to it and light playing on her spotless face.

The elevator was huge and Frey moved the bed to the
side, looking for buttons. There were none. Instead, blue numbers seemed to
float in the air, number four already glowing golden. There was a green circle
with no number on it at the bottom. Frey lifted a shaky hand to touch it,
praying she was doing it right.

They both jumped as an alarm went off. For one awful
moment Frey thought she had pushed something, but the woman looked up towards
the speakers with a frown. “Oh, my. It’s the first time I hear that alarm.”

But the elevator moved on, and then pinged to allow
the woman to exit on level four.

Frey tried not to hyperventilate as she leaned back
against the wall. One closer look at her and anyone would know! She clenched
her fists around the beds handles, knuckles going white.

Calm down. Calm down.

The doors opened. Again Frey had to force her feet to
move. The place was crawling with black clad guards. They had blocked the
entrance, not letting anyone leave.

Frey moved slowly to the left. She shoved the bed up
next to a wall and moved away. A flash of green caught her eyes.

The emergency exits signs didn’t moved in Slum City,
but they were enough alike that she recognized it. Her hands were shaking as
she reached out to touch the glowing square.

“Sneaking around, are we?”

Frey turned, hand going to her chest to grab the
taser
, only to find it must still be where she changed. The
man must’ve thought her gesture one of shock and he laughed at her, wagging his
finger in her face.

“Sorry, I just thought the same as you and my mouth
got the better of me,” he said and Frey slowly took her hand down, her mind
racing. She saw his cigarette package and forced her mouth to form the words.

“I just really have to have a smoke right now…”

The man laughed again and then winked at her, holding
his card against some invisible card reader.

“Well, if we don’t want a second alarm to go off, then
we better unlock it,
hm
?” He smiled as he held up the
door for her. “Nice touch with the bandana by the way.”

Frey let him lead the way out of the maze, knowing the
smell would betray her any minute. The last door admitted them out to a parking
lot.

Frey nodded towards the clutches of what was probably
supposed to look like cars, trying not to stare. “I’m goanna go get my
cigarettes.”

“Truth be told, I really don’t enjoy sharing mine,” he
said with a laugh.

In front of her was a park, behind that, a tall fence.
She ducked behind a vehicle just long enough to pull the robe off. Quickly, she
retied her hair and ran towards the fence.

She was small enough to force her way through, sparing
her the time it would take to climb over. Frey continued her headlong rush away
from the echoing alarm, sprinting over the open stretch of grass to where some
trees were clustered.

The street came so suddenly that she had to stumble to
a halt. It was so clean even the gravel walkway looked more white than gray.
The grass was cut short and perfectly even, the statues and fountains were
immense where they lined the road. There were holographic projections
in-between the statues. The people wore white, light gray or other light
colored clothing, with not one stain or tear in them.

Frey moved back into the shadows of the park slowly. A
woman sat at a park bench, looking at a flat digital glass screen, flicking her
finger at it. Hanging over the bench was her trench coat.

Frey moved over, making no sound and reached out, the
jacket slipping away as if it had been made of water.

The woman didn’t even blink.

Frey’s eyes darted over the carefully cut trees, the
perfect sculptures of abstract forms lining the white walkway and the clean
people. Everyone was strolling around at a slow pace, almost all of
them
distracted with some kind of digital screen, big or
small. That worked very much in her favor.

Another bench provided her with a
light gray shawl with white flowers. Her rough fingers snagged at the silk as
she tossed one end over her shoulder to hold it in place.

Think I might puke again…

The adrenalin was slowly disserting
her, her speeding mind looking for a way out of the park to busier streets. She
would be safer among crowds and skyscrapers, but dreaded what kind of sights would
be assaulting her. The end of the park was coming up.

It was morning and the sun was
shining. She avoided looking in fear that her mind would desert her. She dared
not think of
anything,
least she went insane and ran
back on her own free will.

Don’t think
,
keep walking
.
Don’t think
,
keep walking
…

But for all her urging, she froze as
the park ended.

Holographic projections shimmered in
every possible color along walkways and in-between skyscrapers. They ranged
from animations to swipe commercials. Beautiful men and women were winking at
you, whispering to buy their product.

Railways were suspended in the air
high above them, crisscrossing each other, the sides lined with rows of more
hysteric advertising.

The buildings were all entirely made
out of reflective glass, making the moving and flickering an insane distraction
everywhere around her.

Frey snapped her eyes to her feet. A
sure way to make people notice her would be by staring. No one seemed bothered
by the crazed motions all around them. In contrast, the people didn’t seem to
think it enough, since they had their eyes glued to that glass screen. Even the
kids had them.

Frey couldn’t move. As much as she
was trying to get her feet to step forward, they just wouldn’t obey. The press
of people wasn’t as bad as in China Town and yet it felt immensely worse. Maybe
because of the sheer size of it all…

Slick sport cars slid in and out of
view, their roars too loud. There wasn’t one scratch on the gleaming hull’s,
not one scrap of garbage on the ground, not one line drawn anywhere, not one
single person begging on the streets.

It was so unread and yet so
horrifying real Frey wasn’t sure she could handle the information.

It’s… it’s the opposite of Slum
City…

“Excuse me, miss,” a voice said.

The heavy hand on her shoulder made
her react without thinking. Grabbing the hand she twisted forward, letting her
opposite foot go under her for balance as she threw the man to the ground. Frey
registered the black clothes and mask before she kicked out at the second
guard. The man staggered backwards, his hand going to his ear.  

She didn’t stay to hear what he
said. If people hadn’t noticed her before, they certainly did so now, throwing
themselves out of her way as she came charging past. Her shawl was lost somewhere
and her dirty hair was flying out behind her like thick ropes.

Gunfire erupted, the only familiar
sound to her since yesterday. Someone screamed behind her.

There was full panic among the
crowd, the sort of panic that told Frey these people weren’t used to being
fired at. There was shoving and yelling, cars crashing into other cars as they
tried to avoid the scattering masses.

Frey leaped over one of the cars, a
reflective glass screen warning her that a black-clad was aiming his gun at
her. Frey threw
herself
to the side, but still felt
the pain dig into her midsection.

She landed in the crowd with a
muffed scream. For a second all she could see was a forest of feet running this
way and that. But she rose, her body refusing to accept defeat. Black fog was
creeping up across the edges, her head reeling as if the ground was suddenly
moving. Her knees buckle at a sidewalk, blood pressing out from between her
fingers.

The sounds seemed muted and dull,
the ground rocking as if wanting to tip her over. The glitter and gleam was eye
watering and too bright. Frey knew it was only a matter of time before they’d
be upon her…

The screeching of a black truck came
sliding into the street, twisting so the rear pointed at her. At first she
thought it wouldn’t stop in time and a small, distant part of her was glad it
was going to be quick. But before it came to a complete halt, the back doors
swung open and two men jumped out while another threw something into the crowd.
Smoke bombs went off and if she had thought people had panicked before, it was
nothing to the intense hysterics as they were robed of their sight.

Frey screamed as she was lifted into
the trunk. The truck was speeding away even before the doors had closed.

Frey tried to pull away, but her
hands were slick with blood and she was loosing strength fast. Someone pulled
her stolen trench coat open, ripping her dirty singlet with ease.

“Give me the aid kit!” The voice was
male and sounded calm through all the strange chaos that seemed to shout in her
head. Something pressed against the side of her stomach and she screamed again,
arms pinned to the ground.

Frey felt her whole body go cold.
I
think I’m dying…

Darkness crept into her vision, not
the fog of unconsciousness like before, but total and utter blackness.

The last month replayed in her mind
like she was watching a fast forward version of it, not even witnessing it
through her own eyes.

She opened them to see Jin standing
over her, looking concentrated and focusing on her abdomen. She wanted to reach
out and grab his hand, but darkness slowed her before she had the time.

Frey opened her eyes. She had just had a dream, but
she couldn’t for the
life of her remember
what it had
been… she was staring up at a roof that she didn’t recognize.

It was white.

Frey frowned and turned her head.
The walls were made out of glass, the room huge. There was a drip attached to
her arm and she was staring at it, trying to figure out why it was connected to
her.

It all came back at the same time.
She reached over and tore the drip out of her arm, swinging her feet over the
edge and sitting up. She almost fainted and looked down to see fresh blood well
up beneath the startlingly white t-shirt. It was so white it hurt her eyes.
Frey put a hand to the side of the wall, a groan escaping her.

“What the-
Lay
down! You can’t be-“

Frey grabbed the hand as it touched
her shoulder. She twisted it, knowing there was no way could throw him in her
condition. He yelped in pain and surprise and Frey could hear others approaching.
The guy was down on his knee to prevent his fingers from breaking and yelled at
the advancing footsteps to help him.

Frey dropped his hand and let a
right hook fly towards the approaching woman. The blood loss and pain made her
clumsy and she missed. Someone grabbed her around the middle, pinning her arms
to her sides, surprisingly gentle.

Frey bit back the cry as her wound
opened further. Then she stopped fighting. She couldn’t win. Not like this.
Right now she was making the situation worse by weakening herself. Going slack
with exhaustion, she let the others close in. A third voice rang over the rest.

“What are you doing?”

“She attacked me!”

“I sure hope you didn’t just grab
her without warning,” a female voice said.

The one who Frey had attacked went
quiet.

“All of you. Back to work. It’s
still chaotic out there,” the man said, snapping his fingers a few times
quickly to get them moving. The one holding Frey carefully released one arm to
circle it under her legs, lifting her and carrying her back to the bed as if
she weighed nothing at all. Sweat was running down Frey’s face and along her
spine. She felt too hot and weaker than ever.  

“She’s really warm,” the one that
had carried her said with concern.

I know that voice…

Frey struggled against the darkness.
She found herself looking up into Jin’s familiar face. She stared wide-eyed at
him for a few seconds, just taking in his familiar features, letting them wash
away the pain. The pain was intense, but she threw her arms around him anyway,
sobbing against his shoulder.

“Jin! Oh my god,
Jin
, how did
you get here
?!
”

Frey released Jin to look at him. He
hadn’t been hugging her back and looked very confused and almost sad. “Jin?”
Frey asked, letting the man with Jin’s face, go. He shook his head once.

“My names Jonas.” He glanced up at
the man somewhere behind Frey. “But my friends call me Jon.”

Frey was leaning away from him now.
her
lungs clenched, keeping her from uttering a word.

“Jon. Could you leave us? I think
this is all a bit too much for her at the moment.”

The man named Jonas rose.

It was the clothes that made her
mind catch up to the fact that this was not her childhood friend, even if they
shared the same face. It wasn’t just the similar features… This person could
have been Jin’s twin.

As Jonas walked out, the other man
came into view. He sat down at the foot of the bed. The man looked to be around
forty, a few strands of gray hair in a sea of black. He was clean-shaven and
had blue eyes. She didn’t trust him, but neither did she sense he meant her any
harm. Not right now anyway…

Frey turned her gaze towards his.
Her hair had come undone, the dark brown locks hanging in strips down her face.
Never in her life had she felt as filthy, as she did then. She saw the contrast
between herself and everything around her like nothing before. It was all so
clean, so
perfect
… 

The handsome man crossed his legs
and folded his hands over them. He sat silent for a while, just looked at her.
Frey didn’t say anything. She didn’t trust her voice at the moment.

“I’m Li. This is my home,” he said.
“You must have a thousand questions, but-” He nodded at one of the glass doors.
“We couldn’t clean more than the wounded area while you were unconscious, so I want
you to take a shower, if you feel up for it?”

Frey could smell the blood and vomit
on her. Dirt caked her like a second skin and her exposed parts were leaving
brown and black stains on whatever she touched. If this man thought she smelled
bad, he gave no sign of it.

She nodded but said nothing.

“Good,” Li said, giving her a small
smile. “I will call Tina back. She can help you.” He then turned his head
towards the side. “Ask Tina to come here, please.”

“At once, Doctor,” a voice answered,
making Frey jump and then cringe from the flash of pain.

“I will answer your questions once
you have showered and gotten something to eat,” he said, leaning forward. “We
are
not
your enemies. You are safe if you stay here, but I cannot
guarantee your safety if you decide to leave my premises. I won’t try to stop
you and neither will the others, but those people out there are looking for
you.”

Frey knew one thing for sure. If
these people had wanted her dead she’d be dead already. So many questions
whirled inside her that she had no idea of where to begin.

Li interrupted her thoughts as if he
could hear the chaos in there. “As I said, I will try to answer what I can, but
as a doctor I firstly want my patient to heal. I will go and get you some
food,” he said as he stood up. “And Frey, again, we are not your enemies. We
want to help you. But for us to be able to do that, we need your help as well.”

“Where’re my clothes?”

Her question took him by surprise.
“Well, I sent them to get washed…”

“I don’t want that. I’ll wash them
myself,” she said.

“Well, yes of course.” He turned and
spoke to the mechanical voice ordering it to bring her clothes back.

As the glass doors closed behind
him, Frey wondered how the hell he had known her name.

The very thought of trying to get up
again on her own was painful. The man Li had been clear. It was up to her if
she wanted to leave, but if she did, she was on her own… and where the hell
would she go if she did? Where could she hide? They had driven in and pulled
her out of deaths clutches back there and now they had patched her up and then
told her she was free to go if she chose to.

I’m in no shape to be going anywhere
right now.

The glass doors opened and a woman
came in. It was the same Frey had tried to punch just a while ago. If she held
a grudge, she certainly didn’t show it.

She was a large woman. Strong, if
her muscles were anything to go by.