With the Renata’s agreement to unconditional compliance, Alina held up her end of their bargain and had the guards release the girl’s shackles. She then dismissed the two men from their guarding duties leaving her and the girl alone.
“So what now?” Renata broke the silence, desperate to acquire the freedom promised and escape her imprisonment.
Alina stared at the poor girl and her situation again and almost snickered aloud at the idea. Ironic really, even laughable, a resistance dedicated to freedom is in such a state they’d been forced to imprison a child. How they’d fallen from their path, they were meant to be a pure light, a beacon of hope in a poisoned world.
Alina quickly made sure they were truly alone and unobserved. “We lie,” Alina announced. “Kid, frankly so far you’ve been nothing but an uncooperative pain in the ass however, that is not a bad thing and actually works for us. You’ve made this Legio division very desperate, got my bosses pulling hairs from their damn scalps. But that’s going to change with me. We’re going to take a gamble. With me and only me you will show full compliance leaving them no choice but to put you under my guardianship.”
“And … then what?” asked the girl cautiously.
“Honestly as of now, I’m not sure. We’ll address those possibilities later but before anything we just need to guarantee you falling into my hands. Which, if not already clear, will also result in your liberation from this room,” Alina answered.
“How do we do that?” Renata asked eagerly.
Alina hid her grin. “In around twenty minutes we’ll be going to an emergency audience with the division heads that I’ve called. I’ll be declaring a case for you to be placed in my care. During said meeting, you will be completely silent. You’ll only nod in agreement when I signal.”
“What signal?”
“It’ll be clear. Now, during the entirety of this meeting it’s vital you only respond to me. No matter what is said, done or threatened, I alone am the only person you listen to. For now, with every other being on this planet I want you to embody your uncooperative teenage attitude,” Alina informed. “Do you understand?”
“I can do that.” Renata nodded, a slight grin tugging on the corner of her lips at Alina’s orders, but the girl managed to resist.
“Good. You may just survive this. Like I said before, I was able to delay the audience giving us a little time to chat.” Alina wandered over to Renata who despite being released from her chains still rested on the bed. She took a seat next to the girl and pulled out the folded documents from within her coat pocket. “So I’m going to need some answers,” Alina explained.
“Ask away,” Renata stated.
Alina’s scanned over the document depicting everything the Legio Liberatatis knew about the girl from the research and tests she’d undergone.
“According to this you’ve been in Legio custody approaching a month now?” Alina asked.
“That seems about right,” Renata nodded.
“What were you doing before, how have you survived for almost fifteen years?”
Renata hesitated. “Originally I travelled across the Wilds with caravans as a stray orphan to whatever settlements would take me. But I always found myself on the move never really able to settle down and I’ve apparently got a nasty habit I’ve attracting trouble. Which as you could guess isn’t the type of thing people want around them.”
“Your parents?” Alina asked gently.
“Never knew them. My earliest memories are in the orphanage of Kosice.”
“You said originally, what has happened since?” Alina inquired.
“Few years ago I was picked up by the military. I was being transferred to another site when the transport was intercepted by the Legio. And here I am.”
“The Legio took you from the military?” Alina questioned stunned, failing completely to hide her shock.
Renata nodded in confirmation, not a single lie residing in her eyes.
“What did the military want with you?” Alina asked carefully, worried she already knew the answer.
The girl shrugged. “No idea, they never told me anything. Kept me in a cage and performed a constant abundance of tests. A lot of them more … uncomfortable than the ones you’ve been doing,” Renata answered. An answer which tensed the muscles in Alina’s jaw.
A dozen questions ran rampant in Alina’s mind, but she never spoke any of them aloud, vibrantly aware the girl would possess no answers. Pushing them aside for her talks later with the division heads. Alina turned back to Renata and the result papers in her hands. Her eyes scanning over the statistics and test results for the hundredth time in the last half hour, still barley believing them. But at each glance they remained unchanging, this was real. Alina held back a grin. Both Alina as well as the division’s scientist still didn’t really understand how, but through some kind of mutation Renata was so resistant to the corruption and radiation of this world she may as well be considered immune. She was the future and both and military and Legio knew it, and Alina herself would see the girl’s destiny fulfilled.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Come,” Alina stated standing from the bed. “Let’s stretch your legs before heading to the meeting. You said you needed the bathroom?”
Though it wasn’t a grand or luxurious sight, Renata seemed to enjoy freely walking around the Legio base halls beside Alina. Though that wasn’t exactly surprising, to Alina’s knowledge, Renata had been confined inside that room ever since falling into their division’s hands. The poor girl was just happy to finally be tasting fresh air and moving around off a leash.
Alina toured Renata around the lower three levels of the base, ignoring any of the confused and alarmed stares they received. Aware of limited time the two of them possessed before the meeting, she chose to first take her the canteen to allow the girl to pick some food of her own choosing, and thanks to Alina’s presence Renata was guaranteed to get it. It turns out Renata had simple interests choosing only a few pieces of bread before they returned back to the top levels of the base.
“Take the left here,” Alina said as they approached a three-hall junction. They came to a halt before a set of guarded double doors, which acted as the only barrier between themselves and the meeting chamber.
“Are you ready?” she asked the girl and Renata nodded. Alina signalled to the guards, and they opened the double wide for the two of them to pass through.
The audience chamber was a large empty room on the top level of the hospital. Maybe once a large waiting room? At the back of the room was a line of tables and behind them sat the six heads of Alina’s division. The council was a group of individuals that consisted of four men and two women. Who despite only being in their late thirties and forties possessed greying and balding hair and lined skin which grew more ragged by the day. Just one of the many consequences of trying to restore order in this world, Alina guessed. She guided Renata into the centre of the room before the council and then took a protective position slightly ahead of the girl. A shield between her and the division.
“Team leader Khrav, you have called this audience today. We ask you state your reason as well explain why the girl is present in this chamber,” the council began, with forced formality.
“Renata is the exact purpose of this gathering. I request that the division place the girl under my sector, specifically in my care. A ward if you would,” Alina answered, straightening her posture to hold a powerful martial stature.
The council was instantly struck with a mix of agreement and discontent, some members enjoying the idea, while others could be seen tolerating it and some clearly detesting it.
“And why exactly would we do that Miss Khrav?” the council questioned.
“As I am the only the girl with be compliant with and seeing your desperation, I don’t believe your left with many other options except continuing to wait or removing her,” Alina stated with a smirk, instantly pissing individuals of the council off while entertaining others. “Unless you’re planning to turn to more drastic action with her, straying from our purpose even further?”
The council turned to Renata, ignoring for last statement. “Is this true girl? Will you listen and obey the team leader?” they questioned.
Uncaring if the council noticed, Alina glanced back with a gaze as hard as nails. Renata quickly picked up that it was the signal and nodded to the council.
“Why Miss Khrav?” They inquired, already surprised by quickly getting a simple response from her.
Obeying Alina’s command to the letter, Renata did not even attempt to answer, remaining completely silent.
“Answer him girl,” a women sitting near the canter of the tables barked sternly.
Renata remained silent and unwavering.
“Seems its true she only answers to the team leader,” a fellow division head teased, one of the few individuals who seemed to enjoy Alina’s request. “I vote we assign the girl under Alina. See where it leads.”
“You’re convinced that easily?” a fellow council member questioned.
Alina held back a grin as her plan folded out before her perfectly. All she needed was one council member supporting her cause. She should’ve known she could’ve betted on **** support.
“I’m sure you can all agree it’s better than the girl pointlessly sitting in that room wasting away,” the division head stated. “Our division has been stagnant for far too long. If Alina can truly gain the girl’s cooperation and this can be combined with the research of Dr Landon, the Legio may truly be able to once again approach its goal.”
Despite focusing on a pressure inducing, stoic mask to hold her case against the council, Alina couldn’t help but let cracks form in a fa?ade at the mention of Landon’s name. An English scientist who what you could only consider the complete opposite form the stereotype of the scientific genius he was. Where’d you expect to find a small, hermit like specimen hiding in a lab you’d instead find a tall, athletic man closer to a solider than civilian who preferred to venture out and complete his research himself. Alina and Dr Landon where close acquaintances, possibly even friends depending on your point of view. However, she hadn’t seen or even heard from him in considerable time, not since he vanished many months ago.
“Dr Landon’s research?” Alina asked, interrupting the council’s civil squabbling.
Instantly silence struck the room, and numerous glances were thrown around as silent conversations took place. Eventually the council came to a decision.
“Team leader Alina Khrav the division has chosen to place the child Renata under your guardianship as long as you continue to guarantee her compliance as well perform one extra task.” The council stated, like a singular being.
“Is this task related to Dr Landon?” Alina inquired.
“It is. We assume you’ve seen the research undergone on the girl?”
“I have.”
“From blood and genetic samples, Dr Landon believes it’s possible that the girl’s immunity could be used to produce a cure. A medicine which could purify every poison World War 3 wrought on the Earth from the climate to the mutants and even the Abominations. However, he requires the girl’s presence to know for certain.”
“So you need me to transport Renata to Dr Landon,” Alina said, expertly containing her surprise and curiosity. “Consider it done. Where is our destination?”
“That is the current challenge we’re faced with,” the council explained. “We believe him to be across the continent. Up north, possibly in once-Norway.”
Alina’s face creased. “What in the nine hells is he doing there?”
“Discovering Eden.” They claimed with humour or deceit.
Alina’s composure shattered like glass thrown off a cliff. Her heart stuttered and her breath was caught tightly in her throat. She coughed trying to recover herself. “Eden? That’s not possible.”
“So we thought too, but the Legio is adamant Landon has truly discovered proof. We believe that Eden is real.”
Alina slowly turned to face Renata. The poor girl looked absolutely baffled as she failed completely to understand a single thing being said. If Eden was truly real and this girl could really produce a cure … Alina’s body trembled.
‘We could save the world.’
