The Line Book One: Carrier Read Online Free Page B

reception nurse had given me a brief lecture about pregnancy in the first trimester (morning sickness, what was that?), she’d handed me my new clothes and escorted me to the front door. Then there was a five-minute speech while I got dressed on how not to spend the credits, particularly on things she considered “luxury items.”
    “Like what?” I had asked.
    “Clothing, shoes, jewelry, entertainment,” she’d said.
    “What about baby clothes? Food? A place to stay?”
    “These credits are to assist you with food and shelter for up to seven months. That’s it. Each transaction will be scrutinized. If they feel you’re abusing your credits, they’ll cut you off. Completely. You understand?”
    I could tell from her face she wasn’t telling me something. Still, I nodded. “And if I get the job done before the seventh month?”
    “The credits end.”
    “I see.”
    The reception nurse gazed at the manager’s door and lowered her voice to a whisper. “But after that, the tracking chip is deactivated and you’ll be free to go wherever you want.”
    “Within Auberge, of course,” I said as I slipped on my shoes.
    The nurse eyed the manager’s door again. “Perhaps.”
    I shrugged. There was no perhaps about it.
    * * *
    Around the next corner from the women on the stoops there were some trading posts on Avenue S. Produce, grain and lumber were shipped in from West and sold in Central at a huge markup. There were electronics and such from East, textiles and the like from North. I asked a few shopkeepers if they were hiring. They took one look at me and shooed me away. I could tell from their expressions they didn’t trust me. I didn’t blame them. I didn’t trust them either.
    After the fourth or fifth post, I got lost in my frustration and didn’t realize what was happening. Three men, old, ruddy, bulky, were walking behind me. It took me a few more blocks before I noticed they were following me.
    Hell.
    I turned a sharp corner, trying to lose them, and saw my mistake. Back alley. Dead end.
    Hell!
    The back wall of the alley was a crumbling brick building with no door, and windows way up out of reach. The wall was piled high with a mountain of trash and a rusted fire escape dangling precariously upside down. On either side of the alley were doorways to other buildings, squeezed in between wooden barrels collecting run-off rainwater. I turned a couple of knobs. They were all locked. I knocked on a few doors. Nobody answered.
    I found it pretty hard to believe there wasn’t anyone home, but it didn’t matter. No one was going to help me. Why would they start now?
    I checked behind me, and the men were still there, blocking my only exit and looking around to see if we were alone. But even if there were people around, they wouldn’t do anything. That was just how things were.
    When the three men nodded to each other and turned toward me, I knew what was coming.
    Hell no.
    Twenty minutes out the door, and my life was already a disaster. I was in no condition for this. The asshole had told me that if I miscarried I’d be sent back to the Line, and I couldn’t have that. The whole reasoning behind my release was questionable at best, and the last thing I wanted to do was to test it.
    My eyes darted about the alley, searching for some means of escape, but the only things there were the giant pile of trash and the barrels. My palms slicked with panicked sweat.
    The men spread out, in case I tried to bolt.
    Desperate, I kicked one of the barrels with all my strength and cracked the side open, sending a wave of dirty water spilling into the alley. The men didn’t think much of it; in fact, the one in the middle laughed.
    I kicked the barrel again and splintered the wood into a million pieces. Cutting my hands on the scraps, I gripped two large shards and flung them straight at the closest man.
    He ducked. The first plank missed his face but grazed his shoulder, and he swayed. The second plank smacked him right