Chapter Seven Faith

The following morning, Faith woke with a start, a sheen of sweat covering her entire body.

Leaving Sophia to rest the previous night, she and Diane had holed up in the hub with Ella. Arming themselves with steaming cups of coffee, they had listened with growing horror to her story.

By complete chance, Ella had been outside the building when the explosion had gone off. Many of the canteen staff spent their breaks in the canteen itself, grabbing some food and chatting. Usually, Ella joined them. Part of her mission was to infiltrate the normal Bellator citizens, and break-time chatter was a perfect way to do this.

But yesterday, Ella had been anxious about the mission. She had chosen to go for a walk during her break, rather than join her colleagues, fearing they might sense her nerves and ask awkward questions. Leaving the admittedly-pretty grounds of the government headquarters, she had opted instead to pace the streets nearby, wanting to avoid contact with any of Danforth's staff and let off some steam away from prying eyes.

She had been on her way back when Matriarch House had exploded. Though the surrounding streets had been mostly free of flying debris, the force with which the ground had shaken told her how powerful the blast had been. Horrified, she had raced towards the building. When she'd arrived, she discovered that half of it was gone.

"It took me a while to get my bearings." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "There was so much damage. I couldn't even work out where the front entrance had been."

A circuit of the building had told her that the canteen lay in ruins. In deciding to take her break away from the building, she had escaped death. The main reception area had been decimated, as well as numerous offices and meeting rooms. The rear of the building was still standing, the Control Room included, but she suspected there would be a lot of smoke and water damage to the equipment.

In the short time that she'd been in the job, Ella had made numerous friends. When the emergency services arrived, she had volunteered her support, hoping she could help them. Though she hadn't been permitted close to the building after that, she had been able to assist with comforting the survivors who had been brought out, administering some basic first aid, and communicating with the medics in the ambulances when they arrived.

"I made a list of survivors, and attempted to catalogue their injuries. Tried to triage them, until a medic turned up to take over." She had sniffed loudly. "Later, I tried to help identify the deceased. With some of them…" her voice dropped to a whisper, "it wasn't even possible."

Though it had crossed her mind early on that she should check in with headquarters, Ella's wristclip had been out of action. Later, she had been too busy to check if it was working again.

"In all the time I was there, they only brought two of the canteen staff out alive." Ella had choked up. "It could so easily have been me. I… I stayed as long as they would let me. In the end, one of the medics told me to go home and get some rest." She had blinked several times. "At that point, all I could do was put one foot in front of the other until I got here."

She had swayed in her seat, her eyes fluttering closed. Between them, she and Diane had escorted Ella to one of the dorms. Before she succumbed to sleep, Ella had grasped Faith's hand.

"It was terrible." Her eyes were haunted. "All those innocent women…"

Remembering her words, Faith gritted her teeth. Yes, Ella was safe. But so many others were not.

In an attempt to work out the true damage inflicted by the bomb, Resistance operatives had been asked to check out various key locations all over the city on their way back to headquarters.

Olivia had been assigned to check out the situation at the hospital, but hadn't been able to get past the main lobby, let alone make contact with Noah. Slipping around the side of the building, she had witnessed the arrival of numerous emergency vehicles, filled with dead or severely injured citizens. Danforth's claims on the news channels had not been exaggerated. It made Faith even more concerned for Noah's safety.

How was he doing? After Olivia's failure to get inside, they had repeatedly tried his comms device, but it wasn't working. Had he even gotten any rest last night, with all the casualties from the bombing? And had he found out about Flynn's arrest yet?

He had to know, she reasoned. There were too many television screens around the hospital's public areas for him to be oblivious. She hoped he wouldn't plan anything rash.

Flynn's arrest, in addition to the deaths of so many Bellator citizens, had been devastating for the Resistance. Danforth's damning words had put the nail in his coffin, destroying any hope that the women of Bellator might believe Faith's claims about the Eremus people.

The other person no one had managed to track down yet was Helen. Despite several Resistance operatives poking around in likely places, nothing had been seen of the academy student. No one was certain what had happened to her after Flynn's arrest. The one thing in her favour was that she had appeared in Bellator very publicly. It meant, unlike Sophia, that the Bellator citizens knew of her existence. Hopefully, it would offer her some level of protection from suffering the same treatment as Sophia. But that was cold comfort to Ella, who had already lost so much.

After a quick shower, Faith made her way to Madeleine's office. Today, Professor Kemp was visiting the Resistance for the first time since her return to the city. She'd insisted that she wanted to see Faith and Diane during her visit. The curfew which Danforth had implemented was making movement around the city far more of a challenge, since the streets were supposed to be empty at night. As a result, the professor was having to visit them during the day, which had an additional element of risk to the journey.

When Faith entered the office, Kemp was already there.

"…forced to take an extremely circuitous route to reach the library," she was saying to Robyn as Faith entered. Turning towards the door, she beamed. "Good to see you, Faith. Great job on your speech." Her eyes flicked back to Robyn before Faith could respond, taking up seamlessly where she had left off. "I was certain that at least one Bellator guard was following me." She sighed heavily. "Now, I'll have to return before dark to ensure I don't get caught out by the curfew."

It was odd to see the professor seated here in the office. Her expression was calm, even after her difficult journey. She appeared unflappable under the most stressful of circumstances, which, Faith presumed, was what made her so good undercover. She could see why the Resistance had wanted her back.

A noise behind Faith made her turn.

"Ah, you're already here." Madeleine swept past Faith with Diane in tow. "Come in, come in. Let's get started."

Faith and Diane closed the door behind them and took the last available seats as Madeleine sat down in her usual chair and turned to Professor Kemp. "Tell me you have something positive for us."

Kemp frowned. "I'm afraid not."

The mood in the room took another nosedive. Madeleine let out a hiss of annoyance and Robyn leaned forward, her face tense.

"The second she realised Sophia was missing from the hospital, Danforth got in touch with Anderson. I'm afraid things at the academy are about to get even worse."

For several hours after the explosion, there had been no word on Danforth's reaction to her most promising subject's disappearance. But Robyn had listened to a conversation in Anderson's office late the previous night which had left no doubt as to the level of the chancellor's panic over the loss. Danforth had been furious, speaking several times of dramatic measures now being necessary.

She hadn't been specific about the measures, but, clearly, they were being implemented fast. Tighter security at the hospital was only the first step. Now, it seemed, the academy would also be affected.

"As you know, Anderson already has every single senior girl on femgazipane." Kemp's tone was even as she delivered the facts, but there was a stiffness in her shoulders which conveyed her concern. "But none of them have been delivering results like Sophia's. As you know, despite the lack of success with the femgazipane, Danforth attempted to trial some of the girls on metraxilone, with catastrophic results."

Faith shuddered as she remembered the two girls who had died. Across from her, Madeleine shifted in her seat and Robyn stiffened. The guilt they felt at failing to make the drug switch earlier weighed heavy on them.

"The placebos you provided have prevented any similar occurrences," Kemp rubbed a hand across her chin, "but we have no idea how much longer we'll get away with using them."

"No one's questioned why they're not working yet?" Robyn cocked her head to the side, concern etched on her face.

Kemp shook her head. "Not so far. But they'll work it out soon, when nothing happens to the girls who are being given it. And now Danforth's lost her prime subject, she's getting desperate. I'm afraid we'll have more deaths on our hands, unless something is done."

Beside Faith, Diane went rigid, no doubt thinking of her friend Serene, who had also died as a result of the chancellor's experiment. Faith fought the urge to take her hand, knowing the tough older girl would not appreciate the gesture.

"What's Danforth's latest plan, then?" Madeleine asked.

"She's had Anderson raise the quantity of femgazipane being given to all senior students," Kemp continued, "and reduced the number of days in between doses."

"Damn her!" Madeleine slammed a hand on the desk, making them all jump.

Unfazed, Kemp continued. "She's also instructed that all the seniors be given metraxilone. Anderson has just put in an order for another five boxes of the stuff. We were running out of placebos with the limited number of students on the metraxilone. With all the seniors taking it, we'll run out in a matter of days. Which means…"

"Unless we get a new delivery of placebos to the school pretty damn quickly," Robyn was almost whispering, "we'll be looking at a lot more fatalities."

The reaction in the room was palpable. Momentarily, Kemp glanced down at her hands, folded in her lap. Her fingers were almost white. Robyn buried her face in her hands.

"Anderson told you this?" Madeleine narrowed her eyes. "I thought you'd said they were being careful what they said in front of you."

"They are. But I overheard a conversation between two of the other professors. And I've managed to sneak a look at a couple of the documents lying around the academy." Kemp shrugged. "It hasn't been too difficult to piece it all together."

"But why?" Robyn was pacing the room now. "When she knows that the metraxilone doesn't work until the femgazipane levels are right, why put the girls at additional risk?"

"Is she really that desperate to solve the fertility issue?" Diane spoke for the first time.

"Frankly, yes," Madeleine snapped. "She's hung all her hopes on managing to successfully reproduce without male seed. "And I think she's frightened by the Resistance's recent success. She's convinced the experiment will cement her power for good if it produces results. Sounds like she's willing to sacrifice anything to achieve that goal."

"You're right. Now that Sophia's gone, she doesn't have a choice but to keep trying with the other students." Kemp hesitated. "Sophia was Danforth's only success. There have been no other pregnancies. Many of the older girls' bodies are showing permanent signs of damage from the prolonged exposure to femgazipane. Add the metraxilone into the mix and… who knows how it will impact those girls."

"The femgazipane's killing them. Right?" Diane clenched her jaw. "Just more slowly than it did Serene."

"It looks that way." Kemp nodded. "I heard Anderson describe the seniors who've been badly affected as useless."

"So they're infertile." Robyn had stopped pacing. Her face was a mask of horror. "That's–"

"You mean… they can't ever–?" Faith butted in.

"Reproduce? Unlikely." Madeleine was clenching and unclenching her fists. "Which would be bad enough. But if what you're saying is correct," she turned to Kemp, "many more of the girls will end up dead, if she carries on this way."

Kemp's expression was bleak.

"We can't let her get away with this!" Diane burst out. "We have to find evidence. Show people. If the citizens knew, they'd never forgive her."

"You're wrong." Kemp's tone was harsh and Diane flinched. "If she manages to get this to work, people will forgive the methods she had to use."

"Methods?" Faith couldn't stop herself. "You mean sacrificing the lives of young girls?"

Robyn nodded. "With the right end result, she'll just spin it. Make herself the saviour. If Bellator can breed without the need for male input, the women of the city will support her."

"They'll thank her," Madeleine added. "For saving them all from the wicked, wicked men."

Faith shuddered. The lengths to which Danforth was willing to go to ensure the fertility experiment worked were terrifying. But the idea of the citizens condoning it was even more disturbing.

But Kemp wasn't finished. "Sadly, that's not all." She hung her head. "Danforth wants to start testing the juniors."

"What?" Robyn sprung to her feet. "But they're–"

"Young?" Kemp smoothed a hand over her hair. It was a habit of hers, Faith knew. A subconsciously anxious gesture. "I know. I was as horrified as you are. But it's happening. This morning, Anderson asked the professors to start selecting a number of younger students who might take the place of the seniors in the testing programme."

"Sounds like she's expecting fatalities," Diane said bitterly. "She wants to have replacements all lined up, so it doesn't slow her progress."

Madeleine shook her head. "The effect those drugs might have on the body of a pre-teen."

"How can we leave them in that situation, suffering like that?" Faith asked. "I mean… can't we get them out?"

Madeleine's face remained emotionless. "If we move them, where would we put them? Safely? Danforth would be sure to know we were behind it."

"So?" Faith had burst out. "Isn't that what the Resistance is for? To protect people? Isn't there somewhere we could take them?"

"Moving that many girls?" Madeleine had raised her eyebrows. "Without detection?"

"Could you at least think about it?" Kemp's tone was softer. "I mean, Arden and I will do what we can to protect them from the inside. But it won't be enough. And when they realise that the metraxilone pills are placebos… which they will, in the end… they won't hesitate to replace them with the real thing."

"Those girls are in terrible danger," Robyn's face was serious, "As are you, professor, when Anderson starts asking questions about where the placebos came from."

"Alright." Madeleine gave a tight nod. "I suppose the safehouses might be an option. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." Kemp stood up. "Security's getting tight at the school. This might be the last time I can get out for a while. Could I see Sophia briefly before I leave?"

"Of course. Faith can take you to her." Madeleine also got to her feet, mirroring the professor. "Don't stay too long, though. Better you get out of here long before the curfew starts."

The Resistance leader walked around the table, surprising Faith by enveloping Kemp in a tight embrace.

"Take care of yourself." Madeleine pulled back, meeting the professor's gaze. "Keep a close eye on the girls, but don't endanger yourself unnecessarily. We'll work out a solution as soon as we possibly can."