Unequal Odds

“What to wear? What to wear?” I flipped through my closet to try and find a dress for the formal party tonight.

“How about this?” the wall asked. Another blue dress stopped in front of the spinning rack.

“I hate blue.” I said.

“That’s the only color I’ve got. That or black.”

“Show me a dress like this.” I pointed to a picture in the magazine I was reading.

“Hmmm…” the wall pondered, and then whipped out almost an exact copy of the bright pink ensemble, but in black.

“Perfect. Thanks!” I slipped into the clothes and a small beep came from my infobracelet.

“Request to open door,” The wall told me. I opened it to see my best friend, Alleria, brush past me.

“Hey girlie, ready for your welcome back party?” she smiled at me from my bed.

It had been three months since I woke up from a coma. Tonight, my old clique, the Vivicas, was holding a party for me. Everyone was going to be there.

“Don’t look so sad.” Alleria giggled, “Tonight’s going to be totally swingin’. What ya think?” she span in front of my three full-length mirrors in the indigo strapless dress she put together. She had a beautiful black flower pinned into her hair.

“Marvelous!” I smiled at her amazing sense of style. “Almost ready, I’ve just gotta do my hair.”

I went to the bathroom and tapped the touchpad. I decided on curly hair with streaks of color in it, pushed the corresponding buttons, and a dome covered my hair. It dinged when it was done, and my hair came out washed and styled.

“Are you ready yet?” Alleria called from my door.

“One second,” I grabbed a mint tablet from my dresser and popped it into my mouth. “Alright Alla, let’s go.” We walked out the door to the top of the stairs.

“There she is!” another friend, Copiah, called, “there’s my Pares.” She hugged me tight. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Copi. This party is totally bubbly.” I smiled and took a glass of champagne from atray. “See what I mean?” I said, and she laughed.

As I swept around the room, seeing old friends and meeting even more new members of the Vivicas, I kept seeing a glance of a flitting shadow. I smiled at Alleria.

“I’ll be right back.” I told her, and followed the shadow to an empty room. I walked inside and the door shut behind me.

“Pares,” the eyes of man at the door pleaded. They were very familiar.

“Jake?”

“Pares, you remember me.” He sighed and crossed the room to me.

“Jake, you are dead.” I backed away from him, “the Superlative told me herself.”

The Superlative was the ruler of this town in the year 2033. She’s the one who made all the rules, and the one who told me all that had happened while I was in the coma.

“Lies. All lies.” He hugged me, “they brainwashed you again, Pares.”

“Don’t be silly, Jake.” I pushed myself away from him. “I was in a coma. I’m back to my bubbly self.” I smiled.

“No Pares, there was no coma. You resisted and they fiddled with your mind.” He reached out to touch me, but I backed away.

“Stop it, Jake.” I crossed to the door, but he darted around me to block it, “I like my life, and I don’t want to leave.”

“Pere,” he tried to touch me affectionately, but I moved away again.

“Leave. I want to stay here and there’s nothing you can do about it. I have to go take Copiah home. She’s needs me.”

“Sorry, doll.” He grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder.

I beat against his back, but he didn’t seem to notice. He jumped out the window onto the ground, and then started to run towards the River. He leapt into thin air. He took a remote out of his pocket and pushed a button to reveal the hovercraft we were in. He strapped me in, and took off.

“Jake. What are you doing?” I pounded on the windows, trying to get out. “They’ll know I am gone.” I looked at the bracelet.

“Not for long,” Jake set the car on autopilot and took my arm with the wristlet on it. He tried to pull it off, but failed.

“Warning, entering restricted area,” the bracelet said. Jake tried even faster, trying to get it off.

He pulled me to the back of the ship where a table was set up. He took a hammer from a drawer and tried to smash it, but it didn’t even make a scratch. He took a saw from the drawer, along with a flat piece of metal. He slid the metal under the bracelet to protect me, and frantically tried to saw it off, but with no success.

“Warning, countdown to destruction in 30, 29, 28, 27…” the bracelet said and a painful alarm started to sound my head.

“Take me back, Jake.” I pleaded while trying to stop the pain, “take me back, or my brain will explode.”

“23, 22, 21…”

“You have to.” I rushed to the steering mechanism of the craft and pulled it out of autopilot. I turned it back to the town’s lights.

“15, 14, 13…”

“Stop, we can end this.” Jake took the controls from me as the hovercraft took a sharp dip.

“10, 9, 8…”

“Hurry or I’ll be dead.” I cried. He hesitated.

“6, 5, 4, …”

He turned around and flew back into the sea of lights.

“2… welcome back.” A different voice played over the frequency. I recognized it, but I didn’t know where from, “bring her to me.” Coordinates showed up on the plane’s screen and Jake stopped. “Bring her to me, or I’ll activate the countdown again…” Jake paused, “No? Have it your way. You have one minute.” a new wave of pain started in my head, and the countdown began again.

“60, 59, 58…” Jake flew to a dark building and landed the craft long enough to shove me onto the wet ground. The counting stopped. A man stepped out of the shadows to see Jake having trouble starting his craft again.

“Problems?” he asked.

“Help me,” I dashed to his oddly familiar face, “Jake tried to kidnap me.”

“I know Pares,” he turned to Jake who is now standing on the grass, “see, she doesn’t remember, and she never will. I made sure of that.” He laughed and I stared at him.

Why does he seem so familiar? Flashes of cold stones and plastic handcuffs filled my head as he seized Jake’s arm and started to lead him into the building. I followed.

“I will have someone escort you back to the party.” The man said, and a woman with cruel features appeared behind me.

“No.” I backed away from the woman, “I remember.” My memory was like an infodisk. All the images, words, and memories gushed into my head. “There was no coma, and you were the one to catch me when I formed my group.”

I turned and ran to the hovercar, the woman that was once behind me moved with inhuman speed. She was leaning on the door to the car. She thrust out a hand that caught me squarely in the chest.

I fell to the ground and watched with disarray as the man led Jake into the building. I felt a prick on my neck and looked at the woman leaning over me. Her head cocked to the side as my vision faltered. She smiled as I struggled to stand, but fell. She caught me easily, and I saw one last glimpse of her cat-like eyes before blackness.

I woke in a dark cell. I looked up from the filthy floor of my cell. Bright light streamed in, blinding me, and then it was gone.

“Pares.” I opened my eyes slowly to vaguely see the woman’s pitiless look across the dark room. She crossed the room in a single motion and effortlessly lifted me to my feet.

She led me to the frightening man who was sitting at a beautiful mahogany desk. I was appalled that it was cut from a real tree.

“Pares,” he looked up and smiled, “how nice to see you again. I have a bargain to make.” He looked past me to the door I had just come through. Jake was standing there and I tried to run to him. The man was at my side in a second and held my arm in his unbreakable grip.

“Let her go.” Jake was restrained by a few control officers.

“How about we make a deal.” The man dragged me along with him to a wall. A chair was positioned in front of it. He strapped me into the chair with metal bands that surrounded my arms, legs, and neck. “I’ll agree not kill her if you give me… hmmm…your life. That’s a great deal, right? Your life or hers. One less resistor in this town is great.”

“Don’t do it, Jake.” I said, but the man covered my mouth with a hand.

“What do you say?” he asked Jake. Jake looked from me to the man several times and I pleaded with my eyes. “You have…fifteen seconds.” He said and a beeping sound filled the room, counting down to when someone would die.

“Let me just say goodbye.” Jake proposed, and the man nodded. His hand was removed from my mouth. The guard led him to me, and Jake kneeled quickly.

“Jake don’t do it, I’ll die for this. You need to stay and keep the resistance alive. Someone has to carry on the work that I started.” I cried, “Don’t forget me.” The beeping stopped. “Goodbye.” I whispered. Jake’s hand tightened in mine.

“Wait!” Jake turned to negotiate with the man, but I felt a needle slide under the skin in the back of my neck. I cried out once, and the world went black.