W…what?’

‘Surprised?’ she said coming over to me and giving me a hug.

The last time I saw Adrian Metcalf, I was saying goodbye to him...

The Chosen
By


Susan Brown

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Chapter 15

Previously…

After the meeting I returned to my room. It was all getting a bit much, and sitting on my bed, I was rather tearful. I did not want to show my emotions in front of the others, but my hormones seemed to be doing crazy things to me at the moment. I just wondered when things would get better and then, maybe, we might have some good news for a change. Then I remembered the baby–my baby–growing slowly and surely in my womb. I had to be strong for her and the countless other babies that I hoped might follow once they had cracked the puzzle of no female children. That was good news, wasn’t it?

It was good news if I lived through all this mayhem. Only time would tell.

There was a knock on the door.

‘Come in,’ I glanced up, wiping my eyes with a tissue. I didn’t want to be seen crying.

The door opened slowly and then a girl entered. She was very pretty and immediately I recognised her as the girl from the previous day whom I thought I’d seen before–maybe at Overdean, my school? I wasn’t sure.

‘Rebecca, remember me?’

I stared at her–there was something very familiar about her–

‘Adrian––?’

And now the story continues…

‘W…what?’

‘Surprised?’ she said coming over to me and giving me a hug.

The last time I saw Adrian Metcalf, I was saying goodbye to him, because he wasn’t picked to be one of The Chosen; the reason given was that he was a diabetic. He was so upset at not being picked as he had wanted to be transformed. He or maybe I should say she, had always wanted to be a girl and had dressed in private for many years.

After a few seconds we separated. For some reason, we both were a bit tearful.

‘Adrian, is it really you. You look erm…different.’

She laughed, throwing her head back. She looked so pretty with long dark, straight hair. Her face, as was her body appeared very feminine.

‘It’s Adrienne now. I know, it’s silly having such a similar name, but my parents named me Adrian and it’s not that bad for a boy’s name so I went for a female equivalent that sounded quite exotic to me. Yes I am different. Look, shall we sit down and then I can tell you all about things and you can tell me how you have been doing. I can’t believe that I’m in the same room as The Special One.’

‘Drop the Special One rubbish.’

‘Well it’s true. You are the only one to be having a baby girl. I don’t envy you.’

‘Never mind that,’ I said wanting to get off the subject, ‘tell me what happened to you.’

We sat down, each with a cold Zinga, and she proceeded to tell me her story.

‘Well, you know that I wasn’t chosen because of my diabetes?’

‘Yes, you were terribly upset.’

‘I was, but shortly after you were taken over to the girls’ school with the others; I was approached again by one of the doctors on the selection panels. She sat me down and told me that a mistake had been made and I could be one of The Chosen too. My diabetes was only borderline and easily treatable and it would not affect me when I was being transformed. She said that the quota for the school had been filled, but if I chose, I could be transferred to another school and be in The Chosen programme there.

‘You had left and a couple of other friends also. As you know, I don’t make friends very easily so I felt a bit isolated after that. Anyway, I didn’t think I’d see you again so I had nothing to lose. I was transferred to St Clare’s and probably transitioned not long after you did. Later I found out that the reason for not being chosen in the first place was that they had a policy of spitting up close friends–to help destabilise each individual. This was probably one of their weird and wonderful ideas that was supposed to help ‘assimilation’ but was more likely to do with politics.

‘So you could have stayed at our school then?’ I said.

‘That’s what I am trying to say. The diabetes was only a ruse really. My parents–like yours–worked for the state. They thought that we would be more of a security risk if we stayed close, so they moved me.’

‘Well,’ I said, hugging her again, ‘it’s great to see you.’

‘Yes, I was rescued from the school by one of the plants–Hannah Smith, a five-petal who was one of us. I had no idea what was going on really. I think I was pretty well brainwashed and a good little girl. I was so pleased when I was told I was pregnant––’

‘–You too?’ I exclaimed.

‘Yes–although they say that it’s a boy. I am about two months gone. Mind you I hate the sickness.’

‘Me too, it’s horrible.’

‘The pills help.’

‘Mmm; so you were saying how you escaped.’

‘Oh yes, there was some sort of diversion and the lights went out. I was by the perimeter with several other girls and was suddenly grabbed and pulled through a door. I fought it, thinking I was being abducted. Then as I was struggling so much, I think I was pressure injected and didn’t know any more until I woke up in hospital. I had been detoxed and had the mind control drugs washed out of my system. It was like waking up from a dream. My head was sore too, where the surgeon had taken the tracking device out. I hadn’t realised how far gone I had been. I’m okay now, though I do have nightmares occasionally. I was pleased to discover that five other girls escaped as well as me; I really wonder though what has been happening to the others who are still at St Clare’s.

‘I know. I worry too about the others at my school, I mean. I don’t really know how many escaped; it was all confusion, noises, screams and shouting.’

We were quiet for a moment and then I turned to her. ‘Did you know that David got killed?’

She nodded. ‘I heard, and he wasn’t the only one. I know for a fact that some of the kids at St Clare’s disappeared suddenly, to be “transferred”, which I think is a euphemism for being murdered.’

‘I hate everything like that,’ I said as tears began to flow again. We hugged once more, too upset to speak for some time.

~ §~

Eventually we began chatting again and carried on until we were called to a meeting. We left arm in arm to find out what it was all about.

It was delightful having Adrienne around. We had been great friends in the past and it was pleasantly reassuring to be together again. Thinking back, I suppose Adrian had always been rather effeminate and now that she had been transformed, she was like a caterpillar that had morphed into a beautiful butterfly.

We met up with Bethany on our way to the meeting and after the obligatory hugs and squeals of joy, we carried on. I still marvelled at how touchy-feely I had been getting since my transition. As a boy, I sort of held back a bit about showing my feelings, but now it was all as natural as breathing.

Bethany and Adrienne chattered incessantly about fashion and makeup while we made our way to meeting and to be honest, although I enjoyed being a girl, I couldn’t feel quite as enthusiastic as my two friends, so felt a bit left out.

Upon our arrival at conference room, we found everyone else was there. Mummy and Dada were at the front so we all found seats and settled down.

Mummy rose to her feet and gazed at her audience.

‘Thanks for coming, everybody. This is just to give you a quick update as to recent developments. As far as we know, there were no fatalities when the mini nukes hit Headquarters. Alternative locations have been found across the island and we are all in touch via scrambled communicators. For security, the exact location of each site has been shielded. I have spoken to Mariah who has told me that the situation is close to critical. Several ships of the USA & C are now close to UK waters and an ultimatum has been given to the UK government. That ultimatum is that all hostilities against this island are to stop with immediate effect, otherwise a state of war will be declared. A vote of no confidence in Alysia Wellgood’s government is being debated in parliament as we speak. She will win the vote because she’s enough seats to ensure that the vote goes her way. However, a deputation of high level military personnel had two meetings with the government and made it clear that they were not prepared to see the UK go to war with what is a much larger coalition of countries which includes–in addition to the US of A&C–Australia, Germany, France and a number of others.

‘Apparently, the UK is unstable–even more unstable than other countries bearing in mind the current world situation–which is why such a hard line is being taken. The fact that Alysia Wellgood sanctioned nuclear force against the island was one step too many.’

She paused for a moment and looked about the room, her eyes resting on me for a moment before continuing.

My heart had started pounding and the tension in my head was mounting. The stress of everything was beginning to get me down and it looked like I was going to have to visit Doctor Eccles later on. My mind returned to the present as Mummy continued.

‘Mariah has informed me that all the heads of the armed forces have been relieved of their command and the army and other armed services have been ordered back to their bases until a new tier of leadership is in place. Martial law has been implemented all across the UK and a curfew is in operation. The police and other civil forces have taken to the streets to maintain order.’

Everybody present gasped at this. It was all happening very fast. There was a lot of noise as we all started speaking at once.

‘Quiet…please!’

After a few moments, silence returned and she was able to continue.

‘I know that all of this is a shock, but you all need to be aware of the situation. As I say, martial law is in place throughout the UK. This hasn’t stopped rioting in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Glasgow. We believe that other areas are affected but communications are limited.’

‘As far as we are concerned, we stay put. We are under the protection of the US of A&C and to be frank, I think that Alysia Wellgood has more to worry about at the moment than us. As soon as we hear anything further, we will let you know.’

~ §~

The meeting broke up and Bethany, Adrienne and I went to the cafeteria for something to eat. It was mid afternoon now and we had all missed lunch for some reason.

The replicators were as good as anywhere and we had a choice of food on offer. I had a seafood salad, Beth a lasagne and Adrienne a pepperoni pizza and French fries.

‘I’m eating for two,’ she said smiling.

‘So am I,’ I retorted, ‘but at least I’m not poisoning her!’

She poked her tongue out and I replied in like fashion–not exactly ladylike, but it made us laugh anyway. My humour didn’t last, and while the other two were deciding what to do, I began to feel quite tired. I would have been happy just to go and have a lie down, but I had only just found Adrienne and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her.

After our meal, Bethany and Adrienne were a bit bored. We had covered what had happened and caught up with each others' stories; furthermore we had exhausted any speculation as to what might happen next.

It was decided by Bethany that we needed to check what clothes Adrienne had brought and then, of course, we had to compare hers with ours. I wasn’t much interested, feeling a bit sick and rather tired, but I went along for the ride. Anyway, there wasn’t anything else to do.

Soon Bethany and Adrienne were deep into the intricacies of female fashion. I marvelled at how enthusiastic they both were. I suppose I was feeling a bit left out and sorry for myself as I sat on Adrienne’s bed and watched their antics.

I felt a slow tension build up in me. I wasn’t due another sick pill until tea time and I had a throbbing headache. I really ought to have just told them that I wanted to go for a rest, but didn’t.

They kept going on and on and on––

While Adrienne was slipping on a skirt, Bethany, trying on a blouse, turned to me. ‘What do you think, Becky?’

I looked at her, toying with half-filled glass of Zinga as I felt the tension rise in me. She was so pleased with herself and couldn’t have been more feminine if she tried and for some reason it was upsetting me.

‘Oh, that really looks nice on you,’ Adrienne piped up.

‘Becky?’ Bethany repeated.

I felt as if I was coming to the boil. I felt sick, my head was pounding, I was fed up with all this girl stuff and to cap it all, I was pregnant and that was what was causing all this–this–stuff!

‘You look wonderful, Bethany, you always do and you too Adrienne, you are girls through and through, but I’m not. I’m fed up with this. I didn’t ask for it. I don’t want it. I hate everything, the bloody clothes and the pains; the fact that I have to go to the bloody loo every five minutes. I do not want this. Why should I? I didn’t ask to become pregnant. I didn’t ask to feel sick every single day. I don’t want this stonking great headache neither I do not want to be the saviour of the world, just because I have a girl growing in me. I don’t want it!’

I threw the glass at the wall and it smashed into smithereens. The noise made the others jump, but I was beyond caring now.

I saw them staring at me open-mouthed and couldn’t take any more. With a sob of despair, I ran out of the room along the corridor, up some steps, pushing people out of the way and crying my eyes out as I went. My head was pounding and I needed some air. It was claustrophobic in the house. I wanted some fresh air. I had to get out!

Somehow, I found myself at a side door and wrenched it open, breaking a nail in the process, not that I cared.

There was a small gravel path in front of me and beyond that a manicured lawn. In the distance was the glitter of reflected sunlight on water, a small lake in fact–in the centre of the grounds.

I crossed the path and ran down the gentle slope of the lawn that led to the lake, my steps noiseless as my feet sank into the short grass. I was breathing heavily, my heart pounding away. I had no idea what I was doing and just ran towards the water. My thoughts were jumbled and I started hearing voices.

‘Becky Dear, what are you doing?’

That was Helena.

‘You are very special,’ said Mariah.

‘You have been Chosen and are assimilated,’ said Amanda Jones, the school principal.

‘You are Chosen,’

‘The Chosen One’.

‘You have a baby girl.’

‘You are special.’

‘I AM JOHN!’ I screeched.

I could hear my tortured voice above the noise of the wind in the trees and the fountains of the lake as I went ever closer to the water. I stopped at the edge, my mind confused the voices were growing louder and I had to make them go away.

I stepped forward and shivered slightly as my hot, sandal-clad feet came into contact with the water.

It was cold but not icy. I felt compelled to carry on and I waded in, up to my knees, then waist and chest. The voices wouldn’t go away. It was all too much I couldn’t understand. I felt sick, disorientated and just wanted to sleep.

‘You are the Chosen One–’

‘Protect the unborn child.’

‘You are special, unique,’

‘The fate of the world rests with you…’

‘I–AM–JOHN––’

My head went under and as the water rushed over me, filling my ears and nose...

...I felt a tugging. I was being pulled back. Someone had me under the arm pits and was pulling me back. I was spluttering and breathing in some water as the person tried to keep my head above the water.

‘Just relax and let me help you,’ said a breathless voice, one I knew so well–it was Dada… Dada had come for me.

I was wanted, I was needed. I was loved. My Dada had come for me.

I stopped struggling, pleased that the voices had vanished and the only one I could hear now was that of the man I loved most in all the world–Dada.

I was tired; too tired to do anything to help him, so I just fell asleep––

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To be continued…

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My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing, help with the plot-lines and pulling the story into shape.