9.3

The following days passed by quickly, almost as if someone had sped it up. Every minute Cass didn’t spend staring at the codes she’d found, was spent with her new group of friends.
      She was finally making peace with the fact that she started caring for them after only knowing them for a week and it felt right. The evenings were a lot of fun and she’d gotten to know the others a bit more in depth as well.
      Luíz hadn’t actually just dropped a pot of salt into a pan of soup when he was a cook. He’d messed up multiple dishes over the course of a week, but that wasn’t the worst. The final straw was when he’d almost burned down the entire facility after preparing cereal for the enforcers for the very first time. He thought he had to cook the milk first, because it didn’t look “ready” to use straight out of the bottle. While boiling the milk, his coworker had asked if he could check on the bread quickly. And that’s when it had all gone to shit.
      It hadn’t been just burnt milk, he had accidentally left the cardboard box of the cereals too close near the stove and that had caught fire. Then his kitchen towel had gone up in flames and before he’d known, his entire station and the neighbouring once had gone up in flames.
      Before the enforcers could douse the flames, half the facility had gone up in flames and the other half had been declared off-limits for the time being. Mostly so the factory could be restored in peace, without workers trying to do their best.
      And then there was the complete opposite of Luíz; Norah. She had been a great chef while growing up in the Care Centre. From the moment she started her cooking lessons, the caretakers had known and told her that she’d work in one of the food manufacturing factories. Something she should take pride in, as she’d prepare actual food for enforcers instead of weaving or folding clothes.
      However, as glamourous and amazing as that had sounded, most of the kids in her part of the Care Centre didn’t particularly like her. No one got bullied, because that was met with punishment of the highest severity, but she never really played with them after the classes and chores and teamwork exercises. The kids demanded she brought snacks back in secret from the kitchen whenever she had been there to cook. If she said no, they’d cry to the caretakers that she didn’t want to share toys or snacks with them and she’d end up having cleaning duty after cooking.
      So when she first met people outside of the Centre who talked to her and invited her over for a drink, her first thought was that they wanted her food. That they wanted to use her for access to spices and luxurious snacks. But as soon as she met the group, she figured that they weren’t after that at all. They just wanted her to join their friend group.
      And then there was Liyeva. Her story was quite literally “I didn’t care”. No talents, no deviations in the Care Centre, so she just spent her life according to the guidelines that were explained when she was a kid. Although she was quite well-known in her bottling hall for outworking everyone and trying to make the others go faster as well – sometimes with a nudge or small threat.
      Apart from Cass herself, Travis was the only one who hadn’t talked about his past in depth yet. Only that he used to look up to the enforcers and wanted to become one when he was older, until he saw one of them arrest a loving caretaker.

                                                                              ***

Before Cass had realised it, the weekly group break day had arrived. She’d wandered to her bunker after work that day, after spending time with Arah, not knowing what she was going to do that evening.
      Luckily, she didn’t have to think. Just as she had set down for dinner, she heard a knock on her door. She laid her fork back down and slouched towards the door.
      “What do you want?” she asked before looking who was standing there.
      “If that’s your response, I’ll leave again.” Sergei was grinning widely at her, holding his own ration and a chair. “Want to have dinner together?”
      “Sure, but isn’t it our weekly break?”
      “Absolutely, but there’s no rule we can’t visit each other on that day. It’s just a day we added as a definite break in a week so we don’t tire of each other. But since we haven’t spend a lot of time together, I wanted to have dinner with you. Get to know you a little bit better after you got to know us.” He walked past her and put his chair at her table. “You don’t mind, do you?”
      Cass shook her head to clear the confusion as she closed the door and walked back to the table. “No, not at all. Would you like a bottle of water? Or a can of lemonade? I should still have some.”
      “Don’t worry! I brought my own and I even brought your favourite drink!” Sergei pulled a can out of his pocket and put it in front of her. “I noticed how much you drink that, so I wanted to show you I care about you and give you this.”
      “You shouldn’t have, Sergei. You’re the sweetest.” She smiled as she opened the can and took a sip. Amazing.
      “It’s nothing. Now, let’s eat.”
      They sat in silence as they ate together. Even though Cass knew she was eating one of her shitty ration meals, it tasted better with the company.
      “So, would you like to tell me a little bit about you?” Sergei asked immediately after he noticed she’d swallowed her last bite. He leaned forward and propped his head on his hands, a curious smile on his face.
      “What if I say no?”
      “Then I’ll just leave. Or would you rather have me pester you about it until you give in? I can do that as well if that’s your preference.”
      “Definitely not. Why do you want to know though?”
      “So many questions, Cassy, I’d almost think you didn’t trust me. I just wanted to know more about you after you heard about all of us. Just interested in who you were before we met you.”
      “Please don’t call me Cassy, I hated that name in the Care Centre. The nurses always called me that whenever I had to come in for checks and tests.”
      “Checks and tests? What do you mean? I only had to visit the nurses once a month to get my vitals monitored.”
      Cass gulped. Shit. She’d just given away her most secret piece of information without thinking twice. The doctors had told her so many times she should never speak about it.
      “I meant that. The vitals check, for which they had to do tests?” Great job at keeping that secret, Cass.
      “You’re not fooling me, girl. They only took a look at your blood pressure, heart rate, weight and height, a quick glance at your overall physique to see how you were doing before jotting it down. I wouldn’t call that tests. I am intrigued now, so please enlighten me.” He took a slow sip of his raspberry lemonade, maintaining eye contact with her.
      “I can’t. I’m not allowed to tell,” Cass tried as an excuse, but Sergei shook his head.
      “We’re safe in here if you don’t talk too loud. I won’t tell a soul unless you want me to. Please?”
      “Oh god, no, I can’t. They told me they’d find me if I ever talked about it.” She looked around frantically, checking her window multiple times to see if any enforcers were coming to get her. She felt her hands shaking and her face had probably turned red in the mean time as well.
      “They won’t find you. It’s not like they have microphones in these bunkers, otherwise they’d have arrested us already. I wonder why they didn’t put microphones and cameras in our bunkers though. It would make a lot more sense if they had, considering the regime they run here.
      Anyway, I digress. You can tell me. Your secret is safe with me, I promise,” he said softly, smiling at her and grabbing a hold of her shaking hands. “It’ll be fine.”
      Cass took a few deep breaths before deciding she’d actually tell him. “So, if I had been a little more flawed, I wouldn’t be here. They should have killed me according to protocol, but saw an experiment in me. So they kept me alive.”
      “They should’ve done what?” Sergei yelped in shock, his eyes wide and utter disbelief painted his face.