FicWad

Rachel sat at one of the computer stations next to Kim. She was looking at her with determined concentration. Everyone thought she was listening intently absorbing the information Kim reeled off for them. Her mind was miles away though. This was a look she had reserved for teachers and employers when she wanted to be some where else or was preoccupied. Right now she was thinking about what Kelsey had said to her. Maybe she did act like them? What if the camps had essentially changed her? Well that was a dumb question. Of course they had changed her; she would never be the same person. But had she changed into something her former self couldn’t live with? She was knocked back into the present by the sudden silence of Kim. The others didn’t seem to notice but Rachel knew something was wrong when she saw Kim’s look of fear. Kim had Rachel’s full focus now and she was watching her very closely. Soon Kim regained her composure and carried on with the talk.
“So there wasn’t any damage or anything else, so now on to duties.” Kim was interrupted by a loud groan from Kelsey. Everyone turned to look at her. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped and recoiled into her chair a little when she saw the look of warning on Rachel’s face. Naomi’s eyes flashed from Kim to Rachel and she tried to diffuse the situation.
“Ok Kim so what’s our call of duty today?!” she bubbled out to the room with a little too much enthusiasm. Kim’s face returned to the computer screen.
“Well…” the computer LCD screen flashed on the wall as Kim turned it on with the click of her mouse. She clicked on an icon, and a table with everyone’s name popped up.
”… Naomi you have to check the border today and … that’s all. Lindsay you are doing … nothing you have the day off. Kelsey and Caroline you are checking on the vegetable plots and the wheat crop.” Kelsey’s face perked up at the sound of the vegetable plots. She had a love for cooking and food in general. Although Rachel hated to admit it she was a good cook.
Rachel ginned to herself. Kelsey would be gone most of the day as the plots were way down at McCracken near Goolwa. The plots were down there to protect them. Up here THEY would destroy them and THEIR population also seemed to dwindle down there. So the plots were kept far away where dangerous eyes couldn’t see.
“Ok I’ll go get ready.” Kelsey got up and left the room with a new found vivacity in her step. Caroline and Lindsay also left the room with smiles on their faces. Rachel remained where she was, hoping Naomi would leave so she could ask Kim what was going on. Naomi how ever sat where she was, playing with a loose thread on her pajama pants. Rachel tried to look as innocent as possible. It was harder than usual as she was fighting the urge to cross her arms and frown. Naomi always took forever to get to the point when she was trying to tread lightly. She stopped playing with the tread and turned to face Kim. Rachel’s face followed still trying to keep the frown at bay.
“So Kim you didn’t tell Rachel what she was doing today.” A flash of surprise crossed Rachel’s face as she realized Kim hadn’t said anything about her duties. Kim’s face lifted up slowly as her eyes flickered between the two women in front of her. Rachel recognized that face. Man she could be blind sometimes. Kim hadn’t said anything about her duties today so she could talk to Rachel alone. Rachel tried to think of a lie to tell Naomi before Kim could attempt to try. She was terrible at lying.
“I already know what I’m doing.” Rachel kept her face calm. Kim may have been a bad liar but Rachel was quite good at it. Only her friends could tell when she was … she twitched involuntarily as pain seeped from the memories of her friends and threatened to flood her already damaged mind.
“Oh yeah so what are you up to today?” Naomi’s face was full of suspicion as she looked back and forth between the pair of them.
“Just checking the 3rd Safe House.”
“Really? I checked that one last Wednesday.” Oh shit.
“Actually it’s the first your doing today Rachel.” Kim’s voice sounded out a little louder than usual. Her eyes were fixed on her computer screen determined not to let her eyes give her away. Naomi’s face relaxed as her suspicions melted away.
“Oh ok, well can I talk to you for a sec Rachel.”
“Yeah sure.” Rachel’s mind was wondering around in circles as she thought of all the horrible scary things that could have caused Kim to lie to Naomi. She followed Naomi outside onto the deck that was slowly being eaten away with time. Rachel smiled to herself as she thought of the many fights her parents had had over it. The smile faded slightly as she realized she would have to do something about the rotting wood soon, someone was likely to fall through it. She snickered as she thought of Kelsey dangling through a hole in the dark wood. Naomi’s voice interrupted her fantasy.
“So sleep well last night?” The frown finally won and settled on to Rachel’s face as she heard Naomi speak. She couldn’t just get straight to the point.
“No Naomi I did not. You know I don’t sleep anymore.”
“Well have you tried anything …” Rachel interrupted with a very loud sigh.
“Look we’ve have had this conversation too many times. When my body wants to go to sleep it will. Now what do you want.”
“Why do you think I want anything?”
“Because you asked to talk to me. So spit it out I have shit to do.” Naomi stood there for a moment with a blank expression. She looked away toward the sea and when she turned back her face mirrored Rachel’s with a frown.
“What’s going between you and Kelsey?”
“Nothing I told her to get off of her fat arse and do some work and now she is.”
“You really need to be more tactful.”
“Excuse me?” Rachel knew she was about to be told off like some child by Naomi, because Kelsey couldn’t act like an adult and she wasn’t going to have it.
“You need to be more tactful when you’re approaching her to do something. Otherwise she’s not going to do it for you.” Naomi may have been the only friend she had now but the way she was acting was really annoying Rachel. She had the nerve to speak AT her in one of the most condescending voices she had heard. It reminded Rachel of all the teachers who had turned their noses up, told her to deal with it or told her off when she reported the bulling she had endured through out her school career. Her frown deepened and her lips curled into a snarl.
“I’m not the fucking bitch who said that I was one of them now, that the camps had turned me against you guys.” Rachel stormed away she really wasn’t in the mood for this. She walked into the living room expecting Naomi to follow her. She sat down at the computer station and faced the door. She heard Naomi walk through, and shut, the side door. Footsteps approached and she saw Naomi walk right past the living room towards Kelsey’s room. Rachel wasn’t as surprised as she should have been. Naomi hated when people made jabs at Rachel using the time she had spent in the camps as a sword. When Rachel had first met the girls and their friends in the camps everyone avoided her like the plague, except Naomi and Dexter. When they had escaped from the camps it was no different. She was only spoken too when they wanted to know something. Slowly that had changed and the prejudices they had had against her had faded, but they never went away completely. In the beginning they resented Rachel because they believed she had become one of THEM. She never blamed them for that; she had practically looked like one back then. But now it bugged them that they didn’t quite know what she was capable of. They did know how ever, that what ever she had done to survive, was monstrous. If only they knew.
So that was what scared them. That she could be capable of horrible atrocities and that she could do them very things to them while they slept at night. She laughed at that. She would NEVER do that type of stuff to them or any other human being, unless they deserved it. No, she had that reserved for THEM. Naomi was the only one that wasn’t scared of her. No that was wrong. Naomi was the only one who knew they SHOULDN’T be scared of her.
Shouting issued form Kelsey’s room and she knew that now was her time to talk to Kim. She turned to face her.
“So Kim what’s wrong.” Kim hesitated and turned to face Rachel. She kept her head down as she spoke.
“Well … you know the microphones I helped you install.” Kim had helped Rachel install hidden microphones around the boarder and in several places around THEIR city. Rachel knew that getting the microphones in their ‘meeting places’ was going to be tough. She couldn’t guarantee they would get any audio. But she knew that when they wanted to discuss anything privately they would move to a ‘meeting place’ - a quite place on the edge of their camps or cities where prying people couldn’t hear their secrets. It was harder to get a meeting spot in the middle of the city, but on the edge …
None of the others knew about her and Kim’s plan and Naomi would kill them if she knew she had been near the city. Luckily Kim had agreed with her. Her father had been a major in the army so she knew that war was dangerous and that risks had to be taken if they were ever going to win. They had been luky with the microphones they have found six different ‘meeting places’.
“Yeah what about them.”
“Well I think they done the job you wanted them to do.” Rachel’s mouth opened. She had asked Kim to help her put microphones out for three reasons. First so she could learn when ‘hiking groups’ would be setting out. Small groups of them went out wondering occasionally to ‘hike’ and they would organize it at a ‘meeting place’, as leaving the city without a good excuse was against THEIR law. Rachel’s favourite pastime was hunting them but she could only ever do it if she could take them by surprise and only if there were a few of them. Rachel had managed to kill 7 of them, and that was a massive feat in itself, seeing as they could kill her in the blink of an eye. She only did it very occasionally when Naomi wouldn’t ever find out. Going out at night was very very risky. But she didn’t care if she could kill just one of them it was worth it.
Secondly she had installed microphones to see if they could get information on where the ‘blood camp’ was now. The camp kept moving around the state to make sure no prisoner could become familiar enough with the place they were in to escape. She hated the fact that she was free while others were still in there. If she could find out where it was then she may be able to free some prisoners. But the camps were hardly forbidden conversation so no-one had talked about them at a meeting place yet.
Thirdly and most importantly was so they could find out the gossip about ‘The Headland’. ‘The Headland’ was forbidden talk in public as far as Kim and Rachel could tell. The leaders didn’t like that a group of girls could outsmart them for so long.
“Do you know where the blood camps are?” Rachel asked eagerly.
“No I haven’t,” Kim turned back to the computer. Rachel was confused now. What was making Kim so nervous?
“So what’s the news?” Rachel lent towards Kim. Kim’s head dropped and she looked close to tears. Sorrow started to build up in Rachel. She hated to see Kim so torn up over something. She rarely cried. What could be so bad that Kim was crying?
“It’s about the headland … a … they asked the front line to send someone.” She stopped talking as the shouting in the other room stopped. Rachel quickly returned to her desk and opened up the to-do-list. Naomi stormed in.
“That bitch!” Naomi was fuming. Hopefully she wouldn’t pay much attention to Kim. Naomi turned to Rachel and Rachel looked her straight in the eye.
“You stay away from her Rachel.” Rachel opened her mouth to protest but Naomi put up her hand to silence her.
“Look I know what she said and I just fucking lost my nut with her, BUT you stay away from her because I don’t want a war in this house as well as out there.” Rachel tried to frown but her mind was caught up with Kim.
“Fine” Rachel settled for folding her arms and sighing. She hoped that would be enough for Naomi to bugger off.
“Good” and with that she walked out of the room. Rachel rolled her chair back over to Kim as soon as Naomi had left the room. The tears had stopped flowing.
“Tell me. Please Kim.” Kim turned to face Rachel. Her eyes were wide with fright
“They’re sending an Origin.”