~Emilia~
Emilia stood at the edge of the town square waiting for the remaining two elders to appear for the announcements. It was the first time that Emilia had been back to listen since her second day in Fimiston. She looked over at Anna. Mary. Mary had a whole different personality than Anna now. She was almost nervous and blended in with the scepticism of the other people surrounding them, shocked at the rumours.
Elizabeth and Edward strode from the large double doors of the council buildings and entered the balcony like it was a stage. Their white robes bellowed behind them in the harsh wind like forces to be reckoned with. But there was a stiffness to their backs and a sag to their shoulders as they spoke to what seemed like the whole of Fimiston.
"Good afternoon, everyone!" came Edward's booming voice set a little too high on the loudspeakers. There was a solemn undertone to his voice that silenced the entire crowd. "Thank you for coming to these last-minute announcements. Unfortunately, the tragic rumours are true."
There was a wave of gasps and noises of despair as the news seemed to choke at the people's throats. Emilia could feel it as everyone started moving; whether to start walking away to hide the panic or turning to the person next to them to cry openly.
"Our dear Victoria was found this morning in her home, having had passed peacefully in her sleep. I know that all of our hearts will be with her and her family over these next few weeks, and I urge all of you to reach out to the people that you love, especially our dear elderly."
They invited everyone to join them the next day for a ceremony to send her spirit free, where everyone would be welcome to share some words of farewell. There would be complimentary food and drinks to aid the funeral through each prayer and support available for anyone who felt lost without Victoria. They apologised briefly for George's absence and told a short tale about how the elder was unwell as he struggled to mourn the unexpected death of his friend.
"Why didn't they mention George?"
Mary sighed before she answered as they struggled to move through the crowd, still half frozen as they processed the information. "Since his body has disappeared, they can't confirm that he is dead, just missing. They wouldn't want to release what they're not a hundred percent sure about. Plus, revealing that another elder, another council leader, has been 'misplaced'... well it would set these people over the edge."
You almost sound sincere.
Everyone around them was completely distraught. It was Emilia's understanding that Victoria had been an image of the mother, in spirit and in her leadership of the small city. She had been advocating for the support of appropriate healthcare all throughout her time in the council, and she was the head of nursing in the main hospital. She was close to everyone's hearts, and her death hit home for a lot of people that day. The sunny, warm day did not match the mood of the people and did nothing to mask the mass of people openly weeping.
Victoria definitely did seem motherly and sweet for the few minutes that they interacted amicably. She had helped them after all, which saved them from either a painful evening, or drawing too much attention at that party. Joshua had been perfectly polite to her, and Emilia felt bad that she hadn't reciprocated the same courtesies.
Emilia and Mary were walking side by side, but a large group stood crowding the middle of the road. Emilia led them to the left, but suddenly realised that Mary was no longer beside her. She caught sight of her friend's blonde hair going the other way around the small crowd- then someone stepped directly in front of her. At the last second, she stopped in her tracks as to not collide with the scary man in the military uniform.
"Emilia, you're going to have to come with us," he said gruffly as she looked at him, frozen.
Before she could even move a muscle to attempt to retreat, two more of them appeared either side of her, their strong figures boxing her in. She whipped her head around to peer over her shoulder, and sure enough, she saw someone finishing the wall of green around her.
"Don't make a scene. Let's go. Quietly."
He nodded at the others to start. The soldiers next to her turned to travel back towards the town square. The soldier she was facing stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders to turn her around and walk inside their little circle. She didn't know what to do other than to go along with it, but she managed to look back to see if she could find her friend. But the only thing she managed to glimpse was a blonde ponytail swishing in the distance that showed Anna fleeing.
***
She entered the council buildings for a second time, but this time through the front doors. The style through the front door matched the style of the hallway they broke into five days ago. But unlike that hallway, this one immediately opened up into a huge space that looked like a court room.
There were wooden pillars lining the walls, and large round tables to each side that held many people in sharp attire discussing matters of the most importance. They were all faced to the back of the room where a seat almost looking like a throne stood in front of a high desk to judge all business discussed here. A man with greying hair was ascending the raised platform, ready to take his place at the head of the room. It was the silver fox from the party, the one who was secretly meant to be on their side. Emilia gulped as he locked eyes with her. He immediately looked away as if he didn't know who she was.
Emilia tried to calm her breathing so that she could try and think clearly, one thing at a time. When she had first arrived, Doctor Sander's had asked her to stay behind so that she could be brought before the courts and identified. The fact that they had called her 'Emilia'... made her sick to the stomach to think about.
She wasn't sure what she would do if that was the case. She tried to think strategically and decide on what story she should go with if she was inevitably questioned; the story she had countlessly practiced with Yelena or the story that she had no memories. The latter was slightly more attractive as she would be able to deny anything they could assume on her. She could just claim to have been homeless for the week she had been here.
They passed through a few more corridors turning and weaving in circles, where she spent every second trying to find windows. Any possible route for escape could be needed soon. She was highly aware of the gun on her thigh and the knife in her boot and knew she wouldn't be able to explain herself if she was searched.
They entered a large industrial elevator that creaked and looked like it had stains on the linoleum flooring. The soldiers still surrounded her, but their positions relaxed as they leaned on the walls. It sent Emilia the message that they didn't think she could escape. It sent a pang of annoyance through her, but she quickly quelled it and tried to see it as an advantage.
They were travelling to the fifth floor, but the carriage stopped on the second to allow a group of people to enter. They were dressed in white lab coats and holding thick files and clipboards which reminded her of the people who attended to her on the train. They immediately stopped talking as they saw the other riders of the elevator and reduced to standing in silence as the ride continued.
Emilia briefly looked over at the files that one of them had foolishly let be exposed to anyone's eyes. It contained a network of pictures of large cylindrical tanks with dark blobs floating in the middle, next to images of more figures opened up on a cold metal table.
They were people. Dead people.
People of all ages were being preserved in these tanks, so that they could be observed and later analysed under the knife. Emilia had to have a double take to make sure that it was real. They were all extremely skinny, with blackened extremities that matched the rot of their lungs as they were being dissected. The page was littered with red stamps that warned of its confidential contents, but it managed to bleed into the pages and make the black and white pictures seem to come to life in the reality of the bloody messes that they were. They held a certain element of familiarity that she couldn't place. It made her heart race as it properly set in that regardless of who she was, she was behind enemy lines.
The documents were the concrete evidence of the human trials for the man-made TB84 disease.
The scientist holding the document noticed her gaze just as the ding sounded the arrival to the fourth floor. He flipped the file around before looking away with a mean expression and exited with his colleagues close behind him.
They got off on the fifth floor. She hadn't realised until now, but the interior of the building was very nicely made; smooth and architecturally aesthetic. The outside of the building was run down and convinced the people of the city that it had been made in a rush. The idea of slavery entered her mind again as the soldiers took a few more detours around a maze of hallways, before finally arriving at a door with a small window. The lead soldier opened the door for her and stood alert again, without looking at her.
She took a deep breath and entered.
It was a small conference room with a strong lock that slammed into place as soon as she entered. The room was all grey, and definitely set up to imitate an interrogation. There was a small camera on a tripod in the corner of the room, and a table in the centre with one chair on either side. She sat at one of the chairs and stared at the large mirror extended across one entire wall. She tried to look unbothered, defiant. Then remembered that a normal person under these circumstances would look scared and confused.
She sat there, wiping freshly picked blood from her cuticles for what seemed like hours. Then miraculously, someone remembered that she was there.
She entered the room like she owned it, holding it open for her colleague, then let it slam behind them. She was tall, her long legs accentuated by her military green jumpsuit. Her hair was pulled back in tight braids and twisted into a large bun behind her head. Her eyebrows were as thin as Emilia remembered them to be, with the same pair of tall heals that promised to make her look down on anyone she spoke to. She was the second non-uniformed officer that had accompanied the silver fox on the stage.
But most of all, Emilia could recognise that voice like chalk on a blackboard anywhere.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. My name is Evelyn."