The steel surfaces glinting in the evening's drowsy sun rays captured her gaze obsessively as she peered out the window of the hoverbus. Even though absolutely nothing of interest lay beyond the blind glass in their city in a constant sleep.

Not one soul wandered in the streets echoing with ghosts of a memory that none recalled. Not one single ringing laugh, not a lingering smile, and not even a passing greet. All was fleeting, but loneliness stayed as their constant comfort.

It was unfortunate that ever a discomforting feeling should become a comfort, but it was a misfortune they were ready to bear after decades of tears and losing everything and all they knew to the plague that buried the old world to grave. The citizens found comfort in loneliness; to save themselves from pain of inevitable death.

Yet, Nova desired to feel something beyond loneliness. Pain, anger, fear—happiness, alike one she saw on the countenance of Wilds. Even they were not quite at peace, so she dared not hope for it. But happiness, she hoped to feel. It was unimaginable, yet she fancied hearing its gentle whispers in her mind and its touch in her heart, on the day Nova had left the city and into nature's care.

The cool glass against which she rested her head sought to lull her to sleep, as she shook herself awake, tracing unseen patterns on her dress skirt to keep her mind alert. Sighing, she crossed her ankles, and folded her hands on her lap.

All she wanted was to return to the facility and sleep. Rest without care, but her father's word she dared not defy, not when the Mayor himself was gracing their table this eve. It was strange for him to invite himself to the house of any of his loyal associates, no matter how close. Especially not for the past two months; ever since Heath, the Mayor's younger son was killed by the wilds in vengeance.

And who else but her, could know better to which extent they raged in hatred, for she had been their willing victim merely days before Shielders ventured far deep inside the jungles in search of Heath.

Nova glanced at her sleeves, covering only till her elbows, leaving her wrists bare; now clear of the cuts and bruises from the rusted shackles she was bound in by the wilds.

"I'll answer Lyall if he asks." A woman spoke, bargaining with the guards outside.

Nova pressed closer to the bars of her cell, straining to listen to the woman wanting her release.

"But, Madam Roxanne—" A guard stammered.

"I have the authority, so you must comply and release her now." She said, with finality in her tone.

One of the guards at last grumbled inside the tiny room. Snatching the key from the wall, he unlocked Nova's cell aggressively, and dragged her outside; she squinted against the sun's slanting, dying rays, and met Roxanne.

The hoverbus came to a stop, its soft whirring quieting into the unstirred thickness of the evening's silence. She swiped the card, and quickly stepped off the nearly empty bus.

The unremarkable building which Nova called her house loomed above her. Powerless and small she stood afront its judgment for her diminishing loyalty towards the steel city. She shuddered, the glinting windows of the surrounding buildings watching her steps as a million unforgiving eyes.

Rushing inside her building and past the guards checking her credentials, she typed the private-topmost floor in the elevator's keypad. One by one the floors passed by until the lift halted with a final ping, and the doors slid open.

She opened the shiny door labeled with a premium gold plate engraved ostentatiously with "Private Quarters of Mr. Michael Wrolf"; and entered.

"—the numbing drug held an unmatched consistency in all the wilds who were injected."

She heard Michael's muffled voice, and headed inside the dining hall lit impressively to a blinding splendor as usual.

"Ingenious indeed; I say—"

Nova knocked, interrupting the Mayor's praise of Michael and announcing her presence half an hour later than what was ordered by her father.

"Ah, Miss Nova." Mr. Mayor stood from the table to greet her with eyes as merciless as ever, and thin-pale lips in an upturn of festering secrets. "I have heard much about you." He said, gesturing across the table towards the seat afront him, for Nova to sit, while he reclaimed his own chair. "So, you must excuse my curiosity to meet you myself at last."

"You are too kind, Sir." Nova bowed her head respectfully, settling reluctantly in the seat which the Mayor had pointed towards; despite the fact that neither Michael nor her ever touched that chair in fear of ruining their memory of her mother, Katherine.

"You should be kind as he is, and henceforth be punctual." Michael spoke, not glancing at Nova even once, while he sat steel straight in his chair.

She turned towards Michael, sitting on her left in the head chair and avoiding looking at her. "I was delayed." His first finger tapped the stem of the glass he gripped, in response to Nova's unregretful reply.

"Not to worry; your father and I had much to discuss in the meantime as we did." Mr. Mayor said, reminding them of his presence before either could lead the other into yet another cold war of retorts.

"Indeed we did." Michael replied, pausing to wipe the corner of his mouth, before facing Nova. "Mr. Mayor has been rather understanding of my fear for you—and agreed to accept your resignation as you will file from the Society of our city's Shielders."

She repeated "Resignation!?" as utter disbelief gripped her. "If I am ever to resign from the Shielders, it would be of my free choice, and not one forced upon me."

IF she were to ever resign. But she knew that she would never. For Shielders' facility was the only place where her absence from the city would go unnoticed; as she had no intention of refraining from venturing out in nature.

Michael huffed, exasperated. "You will do as I say—"

"It's quite alright, Michael." Mr. Mayor chuckled. "Nova, you remind me much of my young boy, Heath; obstinate to the bone! He is—he was…"

Mr. Mayor faltered, taking a swallow from the wine glass. "Anyway." He brushed away his grief with a wave of palm, but could not evade the lines from deepening on his face. "I was complimenting your father for the numbing drug he had invented decades ago to control the wilds. It truly was inventive."

She cleaned her fingertips on the napkin spread on her lap, discomfort nauseating her at the sight of Mayor dismissing his grief. She feared if he was to bury it along with the city's secrets he bore, he might just decay into violence and acts of cruelty against the wilds.

Yet, in spite of witnessing the Mayor's anguish, Nova could not help but bitterly mutter. "So, the cure is just a sham."

"The cure was our hope—to heal us with the peace which blessed the wilds. We opined the cure was the immunity of their blood—until we realised nothing could heal any of us. The cure was, and still is, the label that sought to unite the wilds with the citizens."

"But at what cost? Earlier the cure was to heal us; but none can deny that later it was our envy which led us to drug the wilds instead, did it not?"

"Whatever the cost it bore; you would not rob hopes of healing from children, would you, Nova?" The Mayor said. "Had the wilds accepted the drug and united with us in our loneliness and misery, Heath would not have died at their hands—my boy would be as alive as you are today."

"That drug stole their ability to feel, to live. It led them to commit mass suicides." She retorted, barely able to keep her rage contained afront the figure of authority, the head of their thirteenth steel city.

"Nothing less than what they all deserve, don't they?" Her father interrupted. Shooting her a hasty glare, as he stood, offering to refill the Mayor's empty wine glass.

She blinked, unable to retain her composure of neutrality. "But it was a betrayal. They trusted us—trusted you."

The Mayor swirled the drink in his glass in a whirlpool of crimson liquid. "Building trust is the first step in the perfect betrayal."

"It was as inhumane to inject them with the drug; as it is to capture and kill them now for a cure that does not exist."

Mr. Mayor nodded, but quite remorselessly. "So it was and is, but so is the fate they dealt on my Heath…You, out of all, cannot forget their hatred for us when you have seen it."

Yes, Nova had seen their ire. She tugged her dress sleeves down to cover her wrists, the ghosts of bruises tingling her skin as a reminder stained in conflicted feelings.

Mr. Mayor observed her face and its sudden stillness. On meeting his cold stare, Nova realised that the Mayor knew exactly what she hid. "What was your purpose for joining the Shielders, Nova?"

Yet she knew that confession would be like admittance of her wavering loyalty towards the citizens and the city. And the severity of retribution for her betrayal and deceit would simply increase. "My loyalty was my purpose, Mr. Mayor."

"Loyalty to whom? Us or …?"

"To who else? My loyalty has always been towards our city and the citizens." She replied. Besides, it was no lie, Nova's loyalty had been to their city when joining the Shielders. However, for whom it stood now, she was yet to ascertain.

"Very good." The Mayor said. "I will await your resignation tomorrow."

"I will not resign." Nova said sharply. Before continuing in a voice-softer and restrained, than her earlier outburst. "I must fulfill my purpose…the oath I undertook to protect."

Mr. Mayor faced her father; "And it is what you, Michael, must do to protect and save a dear beloved." before turning towards Nova sitting directly afront him, across the table. "Nova, you will better fulfill your loyalty to your city as a pharmacist beside Michael."

"—but, Mr. Mayor—"

He held up a hand to silence her and continued, staring at her coldly. "Here you'll have few distractions to lead you astray or away, and far fewer temptations of the wilds and nature you now desire."

Desire, she did. She longed to feel that freedom, even if for the last time; but Nova was deceiving herself. She knew she would never be content to never be in nature again.

She watched Michael as he stood and handed her a wine glass that was not presented to her earlier. He avoided her absent minded gaze as he sat down in his chair, continuing his earlier conversation with the Mayor. There was utterly no doubt in Nova's mind that her father like Mr. Mayor too knew of her sneaky escapade into nature and wilds' city.

Her heart beating against her ribs released fear and anxiety into her clouded mind, while her fingers gripping the wine glass trembled, bringing it to her lips, and downed it in one backwards tilt of her head.

The liquid eagerly slid down her throat and before it could reach her stomach, Nova felt a smoky lightness seeping in her body. Her head thumped onto the chair's back, rolling to the left, gazing at Michael through her eyelids slipping shut, as the glass shattered onto the marble, spilling the wine in a scarlet abstraction.

She feared the Mayor for dealing retribution upon her for shifting loyalties, but that it would be Michael, her own father, to be the person to try and break her spirit, to be the one to betray her, never ever slithered even in her darkest and loneliest thoughts.

» 2000 Words «