This Alien Soul

Chapter 22

Alek

For the first time ever, the Compound actually felt like a prison. My pod, which had been assigned to me when I left my parents pod at the age of fourteen, had never felt so small as I paced it's parameters. .

I didn't want to be here. I needed to be making sure Amber was alright. But I had no way of contacting her.

Everything after she had collapsed in my arms was a complete blur. I remember catching her just in time so her head didn't hit the hard gymnasium floor. Before I even had time to assess the situation she was being snatched from my arms by our history teacher who must have been chaperoning the dance.

Only Lindsey's assurances that she would make sure Amber was okay had kept me from protesting. Though by the glare she had shot my way as she turned to follow Amber's unconscious form, I was not her favorite person right now.

The compound guards had quickly rounded up all the Zionians and we had been shipped back to the compound and told to report directly to our pods. I hadn't thought much of the order until I entered my room and heard the doors locking mechanism latch behind me.

I immediately attempted the emergency unlocking latch. Nothing... This couldn't mean anything good.

Grabbing my communication pad from my desk I first tried dialing up my parents. My call was immediately blocked.

I was sorely tempted to throw the device against the wall to let out some of my frustration. It was saved when it started chiming that I had an incoming call.

I opened up the video projection without even taking the time to see who was calling. Though I wasn't surprised at all when Zeena and Zeke's faces appeared projected into the middle of my pod. 

"What's going on?" I asked immediately.

"We have no clue." Zeena was pacing her pod, obviously feeling just as claustrophobic as I was, her image coming in and out of focus.

"I heard one of the Order members talking in the hallways." Zeke said between bites of an ice cream sundae at his kitchen table. He wasn't as fazed my our situation as Zeena and I were, relaxing with his bow tie undone, hanging around his neck. "They were talking about getting to the bottom of a 'situation'."

Dropping down to sit on my bed, I pulled the tie from my own neck, feeling like it was starting to constrict around my neck. "You don't think this is because..." I wasn't sure how much they had seen. But I was getting a bad feeling.

"Because of you swapping spit with the Homecoming queen?" Zeena had definitely seen then.

Zeke on the other hand choked on his mouthful of ice cream. "Wait! What? How did I miss this?"

"Not sure, everyone else sure didn't." It was clear Zeena was not happy about this. "But I don't think that's why we're in lockdown."

"You sure? I mean some of the Order were there chaperoning. There's a chance they saw..."

"They wouldn't lock down everyone for that." She had a point. Then what was all this about?

We threw around possibilities for a few minutes while Zeke peppered me with questions on my relationship with Amber. Most of which I couldn't answer even if I wanted to as I was just as confused myself. Confused as to why and how I could have such a strong reaction to her.

"Personally, I don't see why you even give her the time of day." Zeena chimed in at one point. "She's a complete bitch."

"Yeah, but did you see her tonight." Zeke whistled. "She was smoking." Once again I was gritting my teeth at Zeke's comment about my girl.