Ward of the State
(pilot episode)
Copyright 2021 by Heather Rose Brown

In a near-future world not too different from our own, homelessness has become a hot topic. Citizens are demanding *something* has to be done about it. This is the start of a story about what happens when drastic plans created by poorly informed but enthusiastic committees are put into action.

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My shoulder was being shaken as someone whispered, "El, wake up."

I opened a sleep-crusted eye. A familiar silhouette was framed by the grey light peeking through the crack between the boards covering the nearest window. The icy morning air turned her breath into a foggy halo while she wriggled into a jacket.

"What's going on, Cyn?" I asked as I pried open my other eye.

"We gotta hide," Cyndie said as she flung the matted covers off me.

I shivered as I sat up, then winced when the ancient springs of the mattress under me groaned. We both froze, barely daring to breathe as we listened. There was a faint noise outside. It could have just been a gust of wind blowing around a bit of debris. It could have been something else.

After a minute of silence, I moved my feet to the floor, then inched my backside off the mattress, until I was crouched beside Cyn. Once I found and pulled on my clothes, I gave her a nod, and we tip-toed over to the closet. I pulled the door open, then froze again when it creaked.

There was another noise outside. It almost sounded like feet shuffling. We didn't wait to listen this time, and just skittered into the closet. After closing the door, I reached around until my hand bumped into a wall. I ignored the grime sliding under my fingers as I searched, then gasped when I found the entrance to the crawlspace.

I was trying to push open the board covering the entrance, when a ground-shaking bang made the closet door rattle. This was followed by tinkle of shattered glass and clatter of wood shards, as a booming voice shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"

Cyndie shoved my arms aside and said, "No, not like that." Her nails scraped and scrabbled against something wooden. A few nerve-wracking seconds later, there was a whiff of dry, dusty air. "Come on," she said while grabbing my hand.

I crawled behind her, then yelped when my head cracked against the edge of the crawlspace entrance.

While I was shaking my head to clear away the stars I was seeing, a mechanical hum started, then grew closer. A voice too perfect to be natural said, "Life readings detected."

"Hey!" a more normal voice shouted. "Think there's somebody in here!"

The door swung open, and a bright light flooded the closet. I lowered my head and sprinted as quickly as possible while on my hands and knees. I was halfway into the crawlspace when thick fingers wrapped around my ankle and dragged me back out.

"Where you think you're going, missy?" asked the man who had shouted earlier.

I was tempted to try pulling my foot free, but I wasn't sure what I'd do after that. Trying to get back into the crawlspace, where Cyn was hiding, could lead to her getting dragged out as well. Instead, I flipped onto my back, squinted into the light, then said in a voice as deep and growly as I could manage, "I *ain't* no missy."

The man holding onto my foot chuckled. I swung my free foot in the general direction his voice came from, then grinned when it smacked into something solid.

"You little..." he muttered, then said something under his breath. I ignored the comment, yanked my foot free, then started rolling onto my feet. When I took a step towards the doorway, a high-pitched whirring started. My whole body began vibrating.

Pain flowed through me, until every nerve was on fire. I tried to scream, but it came out as more of a whimper. My legs stopped working, and I tumbled to the ground. I tried to get up again, but my numb limbs refused to move.

As my eyes closed I noticed someone new standing in the doorway.

"Why'd you stun her?" the new person asked.

I never heard the answer.

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A strong, bitter stench drifting from one nostril to the other made me want to cough. I didn't have the strength for that, so I let out a strangled wheeze instead. When that didn't seem to help, I tried to sit up, but my body wasn't in a very cooperative mood.

"I think she's coming around, Doctor," said a light, feminine voice.

A warbling hum started above my head, then moved at a steady pace towards where I assumed my numb feet must be. A deeper, though still femine voice said, "Scans indicates he's conscious, but hasn't fully recovered."

"He?" asked the lighter voice.

"That's correct," said the deeper voice, which I assumed to be the doctor.

"But she ... I mean he looks so--".

"Nurse," said the doctor in a firm voice.

"I'm sorry," said the woman I decided must be the nurse. "Should I administer the stimpack?"

"Yes. Set it for ten cc's."

There was a short hiss somewhere below my chin. A couple of seconds later, my body began to tingle. The first thing I was able to move was my eyelids. Although they felt heavy, my lids eventually slid open.

I glanced from side to side. To my left was an array of unfamiliar devices. To my right were two women. One of them was in pink hospital scrubs, and had her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. The other woman was wearing a white labcoat, and had short, curly, brunette hair that was sprinkled with strands of silver.

The blonde haired woman smiled brightly as she said, "I'm Nurse Jenson. Could you tell me your name?"

I tried to answer, but the only sound I could make was a dry croak.

"Would you like something to drink?"

When I nodded, the nurse turned to something set into the wall, pressed a button, then said, "Water. Point two liters. Cold."

The scent of ozone filled the air when a glass of water phased into existence. Nurse Jenson picked up the glass, then reached for a spot above my head. The upper half of my bed began lifting, until I was almost sitting upright.

"Take slow sips," the nurse said as she held the glass to my lips. The cool fluid slipping across my tongue and down my throat was nothing like the filtered sludge I'd gotten used to while living rough. "Is that better?" she asked as she drew a half empty glass away.

I nodded, then said in a hoarse whisper, "Thank you." I swallowed, then said in a more normal voice, "To answer your question, my name's Ellis."

The corners of the older woman's mouth turned up, and her eyes crinkled as she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ellis. I'm Dr Arems."

I smiled and asked, "What's up, Doc?" From the blank look I got from her, I guessed she may not have seen any of the ancient flicks they showed at one of the shelters I'd bunked in briefly, so I shrugged as well as my recovering shoulders could manage, then asked, "I mean, what's going on, Dr Arems?"

The doctor looked down at the data pad she was holding, tapped it a few times, then looked back up and said, "At the moment, we're working on helping you recover from the unauthorized use of an instrument which induced both paralytic and somniferous conditions."

"Recover from ... what?"

My arm only had a slight tingle when Nurse Jenson patted it, then said, "She means, we're helping you recover from being stunned by an overzealous Housing Enforcement Taskforce officer."

My chest tightened and my pulse raced. "We'd been raided by HET?"

Dr Arems tapped her device again, then frowned at me as she asked, "There was more than one of you?"

"Oh ... no, it was just me," I said while thinking of Cyndie. Even though we'd only been squatting in the same abandoned house for a little over a month, she'd been the closest I'd had to a friend for a long time. Something hot and damp slid down my cheek when I wondered if I'd ever see her again.

If this looks interesting to you, please let me know, and thank you for giving my pilot episode a read through.