EVE

The sound of multiple footsteps approaching coupled with a familiar stench of decay stopped my line of thought.

    My slave driver was close, and he wasn’t alone. The day must have broken.

    My hall mates began stirring up as a result of the noise coming from outside. I sat up slowly. Stricken with fear, I watched closely as the door opened gradually, each second adding to my anxiety. My slave driver walked in first, the other slave drivers followed, and then the 12^th Leaders walk in last. I was right after all, this was my last day

    The Leaders were the judges in the Uranian council. You could call them a living lie detector, as it was impossible to lie to them without being found out. They were the governors overseeing the affairs of the state.

    By now, everyone knew what the deal was. It was very obvious it was a roll call. The smell of terror coming off from my hall mates only made mine worsen. While they were hoping their names would not be called, I was certain mine would.   

    “Take positions, you retched fools,” my slave driver shouted in his most condescending voice. There was scrambling everywhere as everyone tried to look presentable. The leader waited patiently as we knelt by our bed waiting for the numbers to be called, while our slave drivers tried to hurry us, accusing us of wasting the Leader's time.

    The hall quieted soon enough, with everyone kneeling by their beds looking down as a sign of respect. A parasite never looks at a Leader in the eye, and never speaks to them unless spoken to.

    Leaders are the second most esteemed creatures to walk on the Uranian soil, the royals are the most supreme. Well there are the gods and then the seers which are considered myths. I was told a seer was born every five hundred years, but even that was left to chance.

    In order of hierarchy, the Royals came first. They have no obligation to society, their existence was payment enough. A few of them were born into the title, while the majority were adopted into it. Royals could be governors if they wanted to, but they never contested. It was beneath them to do so. Their blood was superior to everyone else because it never decayed. Everyone else does, including the Leaders, but at a much slower rate than anyone else.

    Decaying of the human body was a natural process. I was told it hadn’t always been so, but this was our present reality. Thankfully, the process can be controlled by the continuous intake of the Zeluxe pill. Parasites like us were not privileged to take the pill. We relied on our bodies to control the decay process, which was no good. After a couple of years, our body breaks down because of the decay, sooner than later, they harvest us. The process naturally starts after the age of adulthood, which is18-19 for men and 20-21 for females.   

    After the Leaders, there are the Healers. The Healers as the name implies can heal others from any kind of infirmity using their gifts. They are also responsible for producing the Zeluxe pill to control decay. Except for the royals, everyone else depends on the pill, making an immense fortune for the healers as the pills are overpriced and could only be afforded by the rich.

    Then we have the Electrics. Electrics have a high affinity to technology. They are usually the electricians and engineers. They performed any task related to technology and anything technical. Some of them venture into business and are usually very successful businessmen.

    The last and the least are the parasites. We are the most populated members of society. We make up one-third of the entire population. We have no special gifts. The Royals call us an abomination. I call them delusional. They act like the universe revolves around them. But In all honesty, it does. Even the leaders couldn’t make a decree without their permission. That was actual power.

    Reeling in my wandering thoughts, I try to pay attention to the numbers been called so as not to miss mine when it was called and soon enough; I heard it.       

    “No 914 batch no 4055, step forward,” the 12^th Leader called out.

    I make a move to stand, but my slave driver drags me by my hair so forcefully, with a satisfying smile on his face. I had been so absent-minded, I hadn’t realised he had gotten so close to me. I swallow my screams as that would make him even more excited.

    I was dragged to the harvesting grounds by my slave driver, and he taunted me all the way. This fool has it coming for him. I tell myself to make me feel better about my situation. Sooner than later, he would be dragged here to be harvested by the healers for their experiments as well. He let me go abruptly on reaching the entrance of the harvesting ground and is rewarded by my painful grunt as I fall to the ground. The satisfaction on his face is unbelievable. I had tried to not give him the satisfaction that he was of inflicting pain on me, but a girl could dream.

    A guard by the door pulled me up and dragged me to the stage. I knew this was going to happen, but now that it was happening, my mind still couldn't accept it. It’s just a bad dream, I whispered to myself repeatedly.  Clutching my chest tightly, I tried to control my breath.    

    Silent sobs beside me drew me back to reality. I looked and saw other people on the floor with me, decaying people. There were at least, a 100 of us from my brief observation. Male and female. The skins of some had already dropped off, leaving parts of their skeleton on full display. For others, their stench gave them away. I had always been able to smell decay on a person even when they were no physical symptoms on them. It was my superpower. There were also those like me, as healthy as a parasite could be, but still brought to be harvested.

    I had been too engrossed in my grief, I hadn’t even noticed anything else. I watched as more people were dragged in. I recognised some of them as hall mates of mine but most of them I had never seen before. They were many other parasites halls so they could have been selected from any of them.

    Shortly after, the hall quieted down as a very beautiful lady walked to the stage. The audience seats was filled up with thousands of people, more Uranians than I have seen in my entire life. Did all these people come here to watch the harvest? They seemed so excited to watch what was about to take place. I could feel their excitement. The realization that these people saw the harvesting of human organs as entertainment was appalling.

    “Parasites, you are brought here today to contribute to the advancement of our society” the beautiful lady began speaking. Turning to us, she continued “the findings from this research would be used for the betterment of Urania. It would lead to the emergence of better healers. This is a heroic act of service to Urania at large, and you are honoured to take part in it…..”

    I tried my best to stop listening. I just couldn’t anymore. She just referred to my death as research for the betterment of Uranians. I would laugh at the irony of the situation if I could afford to. Never, ever, have I been regarded as a Uranian before now. I have always been “an abomination or a parasite” but suddenly, am supposed to die a proud Uranian. The irony.

    Not too far away from us, young healers stood giggling excitedly. I identified them with their blue-collar. Every sect had a different collar for easy identification at official gatherings.

    There was a huge table before us with all kinds of equipment arranged on it. I had gotten a glance at the top of the table while I was being brought in. A huge screen was set above the table and I could see a couple more screens distributed around the arena. It must be to ensure everyone had a good view of what was happening on stage.

The young healers were ushered onto the stage and arranged themselves around the table. The beautiful lady began explaining what procedures they were going to be trying out on us. The excitement on their faces broke my heart. I could tell they couldn’t wait to get their hands on us.

They were going to be learning to take their first reading. I sighed in relief when I realized my organs would not be harvested, but my despair returned almost immediately when she said the possibility of success the first time was almost impossible. Whoever was successful would be handsomely rewarded. I knew the result of a failed reading. I had seen it happen a couple of times during our monthly check-ups. If a reading went wrong, the brain of the person being read exploded.

I had always imagined what the harvesting grounds were like, and what events took place there, but I had never expected it to be a training class. I only heard of organs being harvested. I guess that was the lesson for that day.

Having a brain explosion was less painful than having my organs removed while I still breathed, right? Right?

My mates were getting more hysterical. After hearing all that, who wouldn’t? Their sobs were getting louder. They were terrified. I was too. But as terrified as we were, no one tried to run. We knew it would be a waste, anyway. The least I could do was die with pride.

     The beautiful lady made a disgusted face at us, then made a hand gesture to the guards. Horridly, they offered each of us a little bowl filled with a colourless liquid.

    “Drink” she ordered

With shaky hands, I drank. A bitter taste hits the tip of my tongue. Too scared to spit it out, I swallowed quickly. The guard that had offered me the bowl still stood in front of me, so I handed over the empty bowl to him as I wiped my mouth.

    A surprised look appeared on his face almost immediately and he drew closer, looking at me closely. Looked like I finally caught his attention, I dressed backwards, perplexed by his reaction. He was intruding my personal space. I might be a parasite, but I had some pride. What was so strange about returning a bowl he offered me? I dressed farther away from his scrutinizing gaze and glanced at my colleagues. They all still had their cup in their hands, but there was something different about their countenance. They looked dazed. It seemed as if a spell had been cast on them suddenly. The sobs had stopped even though their mouths were still open. They just knelt there, silently moping.

    What in the world was going on here? Could there be something wrong with the drink we were given?

    I could feel everyone’s attention on me. I stared back at them, more confused than they ever could imagine.

    “The girl is immune to the relaxant. How is that possible?!” someone asked.

    “She’s obviously not a parasite”, someone else replied. “The question should be, how she ended up there”   

    Arguments erupt all around me. They all seemed to have their own opinion on the matter. I was just as confused. One thing seemed certain. I wasn’t supposed to be on this stage and if everything walks out fine, I would not die today. I sighed in relief.

    Shortly after, I was led out of the harvesting ground. On my way out, I sight my slave driver being dragged in. I knew he was going to end up here, but I hadn’t expected it to be this soon. That karma was working on overdrive today.

    I smile at him, returning the smug look he gave me when he dragged me here a few minutes ago. It was the least I could do. Believe it or not, that man was the closest thing I had to family in my life. Except for Mama Nancy, no one else spoke a word to me. After Mama Nancy died, he was all I got. As dysfunctional as our relationship was, I would miss him in my own weird way.

    I was led into a white room with beds arranged along the walls and asked to lie down on a bed by the corner, so I did. Everyone in the room was hovering around me, trying to figure out the puzzle that was me, but no one said a word to me. Someone was poking at my ribs, while someone else was flashing light into my eyes. I hoped they found what they were looking for because my life depended on it. I laid there quietly, staring at the ceiling until I drifted off to sleep.