Free Minds

Chapter 37.

"Hey, guys...?" My words turned slurred as I walked into Cami's room to meet the sober expressions she and Tali shared.

   Well, at least I didn't have to worry about explaining what had happened with Dorian. Judging by the guilty looks going around, they'd overheard my conversation with him and Rav somehow.

"Beth?" Talise took careful steps to approach me.

"Yeah?" I toyed with my clammy fingers as she drew closer.

   Where they seriously going ahead to torture me by demanding an explanation? I was still trying to understand what the hell just happened.

   My anxiety switched to confusion when she pulled my phone from behind and placed it in my hands.

"You left your phone," Talise said, as though that was all I needed to understand why the atmosphere was so tense.

"We didn't mean to pry or anything," Camila added, still stationed at the desk she and Tali were working on. "But your phone suddenly went crazy and wouldn't stop. We assumed it'd be something important so...."

   The moment I gathered the courage to stare down at my phone's screen was when my blood ran cold. My vision was suddenly blurred and the agony of a knife wound surged in my chest with the horrified breath I gasped.

   It was. It was something important, like Cami and Tali had assumed. Something very important. Without warning, my legs became similar to that of a wobbling toddler's. I rushed to claim a seat in Tali's chair before they gave up on me.

"Beth..."

Tali's continuing speech turned into a drag of words overshadowed by the harsh beats my heart wasn't ready to cease. My eyes were still trapped by the screen.

   There were images, so many images, posted on the Zavlon Academia website that I had subscribed to with a pseudo profile. Images of the infamous barbershop on the high street, the chains of the low budget clothing stores situated adjacent the shop, the deserted children's park, the structures which had been incomplete for twenty years and as predicted by some, will remain so for who knew long long.

   Each picture revealed everything that made up the Ridgeton District.

   The chills already running down my spine intensified when I glimpsed at images of the hospital Mum worked at and several stores which were not too far from Mr. Shin's comic book store.

   It would be irrelevant to wonder how. The only thing that mattered was that the Yunitides were doing it. They were scraping through Ridgeton, showing no signs of stopping until they found me— or if they were smarter than we dreaded, us.

"Let me take that." Tali's effort to free the phone from my grasp was a struggle until I eventually chose to eventually let her have it.

"This means they suspect one of us is a subscriber, doesn't it?" I failed to soothe my dry throat with a gulp.

   But hold on, Rav's security chip was still connected to my phone. It wasn't going to give the Yunies the opportunity to trace my phone through the fake profile, right? I mean, I used an anonymous email and everything.

"Why don't I hold onto your phone for now?" Tali asked when I voiced those thoughts to her. "We shouldn't take any chances. I can take more measures to ensure it's really untraceable when I get home. Does anyone else have any other profiles on their phones? I may have to keep theirs too if that's the case."

"No, just me." I confirmed.

"We need to leave Ridgeton," Camila said, failing to conceal her treacherous tone of apprehension. "They probably dug deeper into the school records to get your specific address, they're going to find your home in no time. I'll go get Rav and Dori—"

"Could you slow down for one second?" I held out my hands, only recovering from what had violated my eyes. "We need to think this through. I can't just leave. My mother will be beside herself and we can't have her talking to the police. Didn't you guys have to come up with some convincing story as to why you couldn't stay home?"

"Dorian and Rav's parents, like mine, still believe Liberation Week is ongoing." She shrugged.

"Well, my mum still thinks we resumed classes after it was cancelled. And based on the reason I gave for that, I don't think your recycled lie is going to work," I said. "Besides, it doesn't sound like a good idea for me to live elsewhere. Mum will be prone to the Yunies. I can't just leave her by herself."

"You have to, Beth," Tali responded with a headshake. "If they find you, they find the rest of us. They're not going to touch your mother if they don't have any means of reaching you, especially if her disappearance is going to bring unwanted attention. Imagine this, a co-worker of hers realises your mum has been away from work for far too long and decides to find out whether everything is okay. He or she comes to meet an empty home, comes a few days after and sees the same thing. He or she informs management or whatever, they try to contact her, see that it's not going through...eventually they'll notice something is unusual and inquire from her colleagues if this is something she would do on a normal day. Things will start to get weird and even if they don't care enough to call the police, a co-worker will. Or even one of her study group buddies."

   Or friends. Wait, scratch that. I don't recall Mum having any friends outside of work.

"And what about you?" I faced Tali. "I can't have them getting to you too. You'll have to come with us."

"As much as I would love to, school, remember? Ridgeton High is not as weird as Zavlon for my mum to buy whatever wacky story I'm able to come up with. She could easily go there to confirm what I tell her. How about we focus on what you are going to tell your mum?"

"And fast," Camila chipped in. "You need to go back home right now and get your stuff ready and tell your mum whatever she needs to believe."

"But, she's not safe." I sighed. "I don't want to leave when there's still a chance of her being bait."

   The mere thought of hairy, alien Yunitide hands on my mother ignited within my blood an intense level of heat that could only be triggered by pure rage.

"Okay, how about this?" Tali remarked. "I'll borrow some subtle cameras from people I know, install them in unnoticeable areas around your home and make sure they're connected to my phone at all times so that I can keep watch as much as I can. I know of some cameras which alert the owner immediately when any violent activity takes place. I'll even throw in an alarm which will go crazy with my hand if I detect anything usual."

"She could send the recordings to me every night to keep you updated." Camila added.

"Okay." I sighed.

   So it was decided. We were leaving Ridgeton.

   Today.

   The unpredictable sound of the door swinging open startled our sights toward Rav and Dorian waltzing into the room.

"What did we miss?" Rav asked.

A/N: This is turning out to be quite the adventure!

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