The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 13, Wonderland

 I felt like I'd plunged beneath cold water, like I'd inhaled smoke straight from the Incinerator. The only piece of evidence, the dead woman's necklace, was literally hanging around my neck.

Reason and panic warred inside me. They couldn't be looking for it. Who cared about a stupid necklace? It was all I could do not to rip it off my neck and fling it away.

We turned the corner.

The K-guard Kaptain with the smashed nose and rancid breath, who'd taken Yerik's coin, stood in the center of the hallway. He smiled, his eyes slowly taking in the stiffness in my body.

"Hands on the wall," the Kaptain called. "Submit for inspection." There was a smugness to his voice, as if he could sense the way the necklace burned against the skin of my chest. It felt like I'd just lifted it from the flames. Would I cry and beg when he found it?

Farther down the hall guards ransacked rooms, but all I could see was the Kaptain's steady progression towards us. I choked back the impulse to run—that would only make things worse for Xyla, and I could see her door from where I stood. The K-guards were already inside, tossing out books and clothes. Xyla stumbled out as if she'd just woken.

Then the Kaptain reached us, and began to pat down Wesson. I placed my hands on the cold metal wall, trying to steady myself. He can't know about the necklace. How could he know? Then he moved to me. His hands roamed all over my body, his body pressed close to mine.

"So you'll put out for a W, but not a K?" His voice was hot in my ear, his hand running over my chest and squeezing. Through my terror, I realized he wasn't looking for the necklace; he was looking for a reaction. The sudden relief was followed by a surge of disgust and anger. He wanted a reason to hurt me, or more likely to hurt Wesson, but I wouldn't give him one. Instead, I closed my eyes, and thought of a blue, blue sky.

Finally he stepped back.

"Keep checking!" he roared down the corridor. "No one sleeps till we find them!"

Them? But I hadn't seen them scan a single chip—so who, or what, were they looking for? It couldn't be Xyla and I. We didn't leave anything for them to ID us with. We were safe.

The guards moved closer and closer to Xyla, her hands pressed against the wall, waiting for the inspection.

"Z," I heard Wesson whisper distantly. "It's alright. It's just an inspection. She's going to be fine."

I should have felt better. Xyla was safer than me. If they ID'd her she would be fine. So why was I terrified?

The guards were almost to Xyla. Raised voices, and children crying echoed from the family and women's section.

One of the guards reached Xyla.

Just keep moving. Just search her and go.

But I was caught in a living nightmare. The guard searched her, and then stepped back and pulled out his gun. "Kaptain," he called out. "We've got something."

Wesson's arm wrapped around me. This wasn't happening. This was a nightmare. I was still asleep in Xyla's room.

There was nothing, no evidence—

Xyla's bullet wound. It hit me like a bullet. There was one piece of evidence we'd been in the Chute, and it was burned into Xyla's skin.

The Kaptain strode toward her and ordered her to lift her shirt. She made an act of being offended and refused. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at her head. Cold settled over my heart as Xyla lifted her shirt, and the Kaptain tore off the bandage, ignoring her cry of pain.