Chapter Two Noah

Asiren split the air, wailing through the hospital wards and hallways.

"Emergency Protocol!" a disembodied voice barked. "All staff, adopt emergency protocol immediately."

Noah hurried back down the hallway on autopilot, wheeling the cleaning trolley in front of him.

He hadn't been able to stop shaking since Flynn had appeared on the stage. His father was here, in Bellator, in broad daylight. He'd been standing right next to the city's chancellor.

But he'd hardly had a chance to process the fact before a shockwave had reverberated through the building. Noah had spun to face the window as the deafening noise rolled across the city. In the distance, he had seen a column of smoke rising into the air. But the hospital was right in the centre of the city, surrounded by towering skyscrapers making it difficult to see which area the explosion had affected.

When he'd looked back at the screen, the feed had been cut. Instead of a view of the stage, he'd been faced with a message scrolling across the empty space: transmission loading… transmission loading…

But it never did.

As he made his way back towards the hospital's main thoroughfare, Noah searched his mind for possible targets.

The square? Liberation Day was an important event. Anyone wanting to have a big impact on the city would know it was a prime day to attack. But the security around the stage had been tight when Flynn and Helen had made their way to the stage. Surely, that would make it an impossible target.

He ran through other possibilities. The academy? One of the medcentres? The library?

If Danforth had discovered the Resistance's hiding place, she would waste no time destroying it. With Faith inside.

His heart pounding, Noah dodged a tech striding in the opposite direction. As she passed him, she barked orders into her wristclip.

"Call in all off-duty staff." Her voice faded as she retreated down the hall. "Expecting multiple casualties. Matriarch House employs hundreds of people and…"

Relief flooded over Noah. The bomb's target was not the library or the Liberation Day Ceremony, but Danforth's central operations building. Filled with Danforth's employees, but no-one that he–

He forced himself to keep walking. Ella had been working undercover in Matriarch House.

How badly had the bomb damaged the building? Was his friend, even now, trapped under the rubble? His promise to Ruth came back to him. She'd asked Noah to keep an eye on Ella, to be there for her as she transitioned into the alien world of Bellator.

He curled his fingers into his palm. He had let Ruth down. If Ella was dead, she would never forgive him. But how could he have kept his promise, in a city where men were powerless? Worse still, he couldn't attempt to rescue his friend, or even discover what had happened to her. He was trapped.

He paused at a set of doors to allow a group of medics through.

"…at least forty" "still getting people out" "almost completely collapsed" "rear of the building"

Breathing through his nose, Noah left the group behind. With no real idea where he was going, he ploughed ahead. If he kept moving, surely people would assume he had a specific purpose.

A new question nagged at him as he plunged forward. Who was responsible?

His prime suspect, had it been the library gone up in flames, was unlikely. Danforth was hardly going to destroy her central government building. It wasn't the Resistance, unless Madeleine had an undercover team that she hadn't revealed to the rest of them. And destroying Matriarch House would hardly further the Resistance's cause. In the old days his prime suspect would have been Eremus, but that was in the days when…

And then he knew. Jacob. The ex-Eremus leader hated Danforth with a passion. Destroying the chancellor's central operations base would have a major impact on her. And Noah had never managed to get to the bottom of Sarah's appearance the previous day. What if she'd been in Liberty Park to scope out a location? A bomb had certainly been Jacob's weapon of choice in the past. And the park was only a five-minute walk from Matriarch House.

Noah's thoughts returned to Ella. If this was Jacob's doing, he had potentially killed one of his own citizens in his efforts to get revenge. Not that he would care.

As Noah passed through a door, he glanced around.

His heart almost stopped. Without realising, he had wandered into the main reception area, an extremely busy part of the hospital. And not one that drudges frequented without a specific purpose.

He had ended up here once before. Almost given himself away. Cursing his stupidity, he considered potential escape strategies.

The reception was chaos. Medics and techs hurried in and out, calling out requests to one another. A line of hospital outpatients stood around the desk, clamouring for attention. Numerous pieces of equipment were being brought through the space on their way to the Emergency Department: trolleys, wheelchairs, an item Noah recognised from his ma's medical books as a blood pressure monitor, and several machines he could not even begin to identify.

The ever-present siren meant everyone had to shout to be heard.

"Sending home non-urgent cases." "Multiple casualties expected." "Have to get them out of here."

Noah took a deep breath. None of his training had prepared him for this. He found himself wishing he was with Liam, the drudge who had helped him with his quest to free Sophia. He would know what to do.

But Liam would be with the other drudges, presumably already engaged in whatever drudges were supposed to do in an emergency.

Steeling himself, he pushed Ella from his mind. He couldn't afford to let his guard down now, no matter who might have been hurt. He'd be useless to his friends if he was caught. He shrank down even lower than usual, hoping that the patients and staff had better things to think about than an errant drudge. He had to get somewhere quieter, somewhere he could use his comms device to contact the Resistance and ask what he should do next.

He continued through the reception area, his eyes searching the ground for other drudge feet. There were none. Numerous shoes hurried past, but none of them wore the plain grey shoes of the drudge.

At least the alarm was still blaring. He stood a chance of passing through unnoticed when everything was so hectic.

He had almost reached the door which led to the wards when the siren stopped. Noah froze. The sudden silence shocked everyone for a second. And then a tech to Noah's left took charge.

"As you've no doubt heard, we have a major emergency on our hands. Any outpatient and non-urgent appointments will need to be rearranged for a later date." He could feel the woman gesturing towards the main exit, her hands drawing a broad semi-circle in the air. "Please accept our apologies. The hospital will be in touch as soon as we've dealt with the current situation."

Grumbling and muttering, the patients began shuffling towards the main doors. Some seemed fearful of leaving, but the tech was determined, herding the citizens outside with ruthless efficiency. Within seconds, she had cleared the lobby, and Noah no longer had the luxury of hiding in plain sight. Sensing the lost advantage, he began moving towards his intended exit again.

He had barely taken three steps when one of the technicians blocked his way.

"What are you doing?" Her tone was accusatory. "Shouldn't you be in the Emergency Resource Centre right now?"

Noah froze. This was what he'd been most afraid of. In Eremus, when he was in a sticky situation, he'd have attempted to talk his way out of it. But a drudge speaking was tantamount to a crime. Bowing his head low, he hoped the gesture conveyed some sense of apology.

But the tech tapped her foot. "There shouldn't be any drudges here right now. You should be stocking up the operating rooms. Or waiting with trolleys for the incoming patients."

Noah said nothing. He was trying to decide whether to step around the woman and move away like he knew where he was going, or stay and receive a sanction, when she sighed.

"Are you…? Let's see." She studied the datadev she held. There was a pause as she tapped the screen several times. Eventually, she took a step back. "Come with me."

His legs like jelly beneath him, Noah shadowed the tech out of the lobby and into one of the quieter hallways. They hadn't gone far when she stopped. Noah braced himself for more harsh words or a physical punishment. Remembering Liam's swollen eye, he braced himself.

But the woman seemed to simply want rid of him.

"You!" Her voice rang out down the empty corridor.

Noah knew from the sharpness of her tone that she was speaking to another drudge. It was only a matter of seconds before a pair of shoes identical to his own approached.

"This one must be new." The woman was dismissive. "Show him what he's supposed to be doing."

The woman spun on her heel and was gone. The drudge who stood to his left moved off in the opposite direction, his silent footfalls contrasting sharply with the tapping of the technician's shoes on the polished floor.

Noah followed the drudge across the hospital, where he led Noah to a familiar thoroughfare which housed the main equipment and storage rooms. Once there, the drudge headed for the largest of the supply rooms, which was housed in a separate building. Though he didn't dare glance at the sky, Noah could smell the smoke in the air. In the distance, numerous sirens were wailing. As they passed through the doorway into the space beyond, he prayed that Ella had not been inside the building when the bomb had gone off.

"This becomes the Emergency Resource Centre during times of crisis." The drudge's voice was low. Noah had to strain to hear him. "That's where we get our assigned jobs. Different than the usual ones."

The drudge led Noah to a small door at the back of the room which he hadn't noticed on any of his previous visits. It was standing open, revealing a small anteroom.

The drudge led him inside. "Wait here."

Curious, Noah obeyed. All around him, the bustling sounds of the drudges paired with their frantic footsteps as they hurried in and out of the room. Their urgent movements contrasted with their usual calm invisibility. Apparently, some of the drudge rules were relaxed during emergencies.

Noah sighed. The Resistance had not been in touch since Robyn had left with Sophia. But the explosion had happened not long after the team had left him. Clearly those left in the library would be busy dealing with the fallout. They would check in with him eventually, but he wouldn't be a priority.

Not like Ella.

He considered contacting headquarters himself. He'd done it before. But he didn't want to take their attention away from Resistance members who might be in immediate danger. And he was in the middle of a busy drudge thoroughfare. He could hardly whip out his hidden comms device without attracting attention. He had no idea which of the drudges he could trust.

No. He'd wait until later, when he could snatch a moment alone.

But what would they want him to do? His mission was complete. But would the Resistance prefer to keep someone on the inside at the hospital as the emergency progressed? Or should he use the chaos in the city as a cover to sneak back to the library?

A pair of drudge shoes with a familiar teardrop-shaped stain on them appeared by his side.

"I've had all the drudges on the lookout for you." Noah's heart leapt at the sound of Liam's voice. "Knew you'd show up in the end. You can raise your head." The man nudged his shoulder. "It's permitted in here. Has to be, so we can access the Jobs' Board."

Noah looked up. The most commanding feature of the room they stood in was a large screen fixed to the wall. Instead of broadcasting the news, it displayed a list of tasks.

"I hear you almost got yourself into trouble back there. Let me show you what to do." Liam led Noah closer to the board on the wall. "Protocol for an emergency takes precedence over your usual role. Jobs are displayed here." The drudge pointed to a column on the left of the screen. "With a location here." His finger moved to a second column. "And an individual code at the end. Makes sure everything gets done in order of priority. Today, it will mostly be about making sure the medics don't run out of emergency supplies. Oh, and ferrying the new patients about."

He gestured to a number of datadevs fixed to the wall beneath the screen. They were all currently occupied by other drudges, so they waited until one came free. Stepping forward, Liam glanced up at the board.

"Enter the next code on the board." He demonstrated. "Take note of what the job is and where you need to be. Then key in your ID number."

He modelled what to do, typing in his ID, then gestured at the board again. The job had disappeared.

"Got it?"

Noah nodded, then, remembering that he could probably speak here, said, "Yes."

The drudge pointed at the datadev. "Show me."

Figuring he needed to keep up the pretence until he'd managed to contact the Resistance, Noah took a note of the next job on the board: a delivery of bandages to the Emergency Department. Appreciating that Liam had stayed to make sure he knew what he was doing, he hurried to type in the code.

Liam leaned closer. "You got that girl out? The keycard… it worked?"

Noah considered the question. Had Robyn's team managed to get her back to the library through all the chaos? The idea of the mission failing in its final stages was devastating.

Realising Liam was still waiting for an answer, Noah nodded. "It did. The Resistance came and collected her. Thank you for your help getting the keycard." He paused, aware of the other drudges waiting behind them. "With everything that's happened since they left though, I'm not sure that…"

"You did your part." Liam nudged his shoulder. "Stay strong. Trust that the others will do theirs."

He gestured for them to move away from the datadev. "Heads down again now. Follow me." Liam led Noah back into the main supply room. "Today… that girls' speech… the disruption in the square…" He kept his voice low. "Was that also…?"

"The Resistance?" Noah followed his lead, speaking at whisper-level. "Yeah."

The drudge gave a low whistle. "Impressive. And that man from Eremus. I heard him speak. Brave move."

Pride surged through Noah. From the moment Flynn had laid down his weapon and ascended the steps to the stage, Noah had been terrified for him. But he'd had to admire his father's courage.

Flynn had been unprotected. Surrounded by heavily-armed guards. Yet when he had opened his mouth to speak, both his voice and his facial expression had been calm. Noah knew the image he would want to project was one of peace. To convince the women standing in front of him that he wasn't the type of male they'd been brought up to fear.

The women's expressions had ignited a small flame of hope in Noah. Whilst many were still hostile, as Flynn continued to speak their expressions softened, became curious, began to trust what he was saying.

Following Faith's speech, Flynn had been totally believable. What he'd said tied in with and supported what had come before, and with Helen's help, it would have gone a long way towards showing the Bellator citizens that he meant what he said. But Helen had never gotten the chance to speak.

"Did the Resistance honestly blow up Matriarch House?" Liam's incredulous voice brought Noah back to the moment.

"Well, no." Noah hesitated. That, he was pretty certain, hadn't been the work of the Resistance. "I don't know who that was."

"Forces outside the city then? Are they…?" Liam hesitated. "Are they on our side?"

Noah shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm sorry."

"No matter. Anything that brings Danforth down is good by me." The drudge gestured to a shelf of boxes. "The bandages are at the top."

Noah fetched the ladder from where it rested further along the shelving. Placing it in position, he climbed the rungs until he could reach the relevant shelf. Aware that Liam was waiting for him, he tried to hurry. The box was a large one, and it was difficult to balance and still keep hold of the ladder rungs with his free hand.

On the way back down, his foot slipped. Fighting to stay upright, he tumbled down the last few rungs and landed awkwardly on his left arm at the bottom.

"Are you alright?" Liam took a step closer. "Your arm… is it?"

Noah scrambled to his feet, aware of the spectacle he had caused. "I'm fine."

He rubbed his arm. It would no doubt be bruised, but there seemed to be no permanent damage.

"Alright then." Liam gestured to the box Noah had abandoned. "Take the bandages to the Emergency Room, then hurry back. Repeat the process with another task from the list." He stepped away. "Try not to kill yourself next time."

Before Noah could work out if he was joking or not, Liam turned and hurried away.

Noah made his way to the Emergency Room, rolling his sore shoulder. He'd been careless. More than once, now. He had to focus on keeping up the drudge act, at least until he was back at the library and out of harm's way.

He was in a safer place than many of the people he cared about. His thoughts spun from one person to another: Sophia, on her way to the library; Ella, potentially trapped in a burning building; Helen, perhaps even now on her way back to the academy.

And, finally, Flynn.

Had his father managed to escape during the chaos following the explosion? Or had Danforth's guards captured him? He'd been so daring, so selfless, coming to Bellator to speak to the women. Noah closed his eyes.

Was Flynn going to pay the ultimate price for his bravery?