The Arrival by CM Doporto

loud.”
    After she finished, she collapsed to the
floor and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
    “Wow!” I gave her a round of applause,
hoping that made her feel better. Letting things out like that always did for
me.
    Gaby appeared shocked that I was
supporting her versus yelling at her.
    “Don’t worry about it,” I said,
reassuring her things were cool with me. Her outburst struck a chord. The
phrase my dad taught me played, over and over, in my head. The more I repeated
it, the madder I got. If Dad believed that Mays were strong leaders, then why
didn’t he follow his own beliefs? If Mays didn’t show weakness, then why was he
so willing to let his daughter go? Why didn’t he fight for me? Bryce was
willing to fight for me, or at least he was when I had to leave. Yet, my father
took a back seat and did nothing. He owed it to me, that one time. And if not
for me then for the millions of females that would eventually process through
the facility, and for the salvation of the human race.
    “All right, Gaby, I’ll do it. I’ll do it
for you, for Kate, for me, and for every girl locked in this hellhole. And I’ll
do it for every female that’s alive and has yet to be born. I’ll do it to save
our human race. And if anything, I’ll do it for love. Because I’d love to get
us the hell out of here!”
    “Rock on, Miranda.”  Gaby pumped a fist
in the air. “Thank you for being a Mays.”
    I immediately turned to Kate. “Don’t
worry. I don’t expect you to come along with me, but I do expect you to help me
as much as you can.”
    “Of course, I will.”  Kate nodded. “And
Gaby’s right, Miranda.  I’m not gonna let you go alone.” She appeared
determined. “Yea, I’m scared, but I’ll take the stuff, too.  Besides, he’s my
uncle, so he should listen to us. I may not be as brave as you, but I’ll do
whatever I can to help you and every female in this world. I have a question,
though.” She glanced at Gaby. “What the heck is cojones ?”
    θ

Chapter 6
     
    The next morning I woke up early and
packed. I wanted to be ready for my six o’clock or my eighteen-hundred hours
departure. I still couldn’t get used to military time, even though I had been
there nine months. I spent all night thinking of a way to steal one of the body
trackers the Eslites used to locate girls outside of Nidus. Gaby insisted that
I have one. She said I’d need it to check our blood levels to be sure the
nanocytes were inactive. We had to know before Kate and I left for Columbia to
talk to Kate’s uncle, Senator Wesley Bosch. Otherwise, the mission would fail.
Since I didn’t have to work, I had to come up with an excuse as to why I needed
to go to the Technology Lab.
    I opted to eat a bowl of cereal in my
room and suggested that Kate do the same. After yesterday’s episode in the
dining room, I thought it would be best to keep a low profile until we departed
Nidus. I didn’t want Dimas changing his mind about allowing us to go, or worse,
sending the guards to ransack our room for the letters and trinkets. If he
found out about our plan, it was over. He’d never let us leave and might even
kill Kate or me.
    The minute I stepped out of my room, all
eyes navigated to me. Girls that I had never seen before stalked the hallways,
as though waiting for us to make our appearance like the paparazzi does a movie
star. I knew they didn’t stay on that floor and figured they either wanted to
speak to us or give us something. And although I wanted to talk to them and
take their notes, I had to remain inconspicuous.
    As I waited for the elevator, a few girls
surrounded me. I held the straps of my backpack and stared at the floor,
wishing they would go away so I could concentrate on my next tasks. But like
the girls in the dining room, these girls also had something to share. Each of
them whispered words of encouragement in my ear and slipped me letters. They
did it fast and sly, as if they knew what I was thinking. Those girls