The DollHouse

Chapter One

I have never seen a gun before, particularly not one that is pointed at my face.

“Don’t make me tell you again, girl,” the Guard barks at me. “Move out of the way.”

I freeze. My brain kicks in a little and I step to the side.

The gun follows me.

“Off the street, girl, are you deaf?” His face contorts in anger.

I back away, my eyes stupidly fixated on the gun.

“Forward, not back!” The Guard is yelling now. “Move forward!”

The malice in his expression sends a small spark of anger through me, but I force it down. I step forward, toward the gun, and walk past him, into the City and away from the gates leading to the jungle, where I have just been.

“That’s it, keep walking.” I can feel the gun still trained on me.

I hear him snicker and something inside me snaps. Without thinking, I reach for the knife that I keep in my pocket to clear vines in the jungle.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, soldier?” A new voice barks from in front of me. Shocked out of my daze, I look up to see the squad leader bearing down on us.

“Giving directions,” the Guard behind me says smartly.

I take a deep breath and move my hand away from the knife that neither of the Guards have seen yet. I turn slightly to watch the squad leader march up to the Guard. The Guard with the gun waves it at me, indicating for me to keep walking.

“That is a civilian you are assaulting, soldier,” the squad leader barks, coming to a stop in front of the Guard. He isn’t impressed. A brief look of panic crosses the Guard’s face. I stop walking and turn completely to watch.

“The uniform indicates that is a Lesser, Sir,” he says, regaining his composure. “A Lesser in obstruction of unit training, Sir.”

I look down at my overalls. Now it makes sense.

“You goddamn idiot,” the squad leader snaps. “There is no identifying leg-band on that young woman. That is a civilian. Drop your weapon.”

The Guard drops the gun to his side, his face white.

“Get back in line,” the squad leader orders before walking off.

The Guard shoots me a murderous look before marching back to the other troops who are filing toward the gate in formation.

I slowly force my tense muscles to relax. I’ve been getting close lately, but this is the first time I’ve nearly cracked entirely. Maybe I should stop carrying a knife. If they had realised that I was so much as thinking of pulling out a weapon, it would have all been over.

The two Guards at the end of the line stop at the gates to erect a barrier that reads No Access, before following their troop into the jungle.

I have never seen a training exercise before. Since the Final War, there has been no need for any of the Cities to train for battle, so the only exercises the Guards conduct are for controlling the Lessers - not hard to do when you have the capability of sending several thousand volts through them at the touch of a button - or patrolling against jungle predators.

Since I spend a lot of time in the jungle, it could be valuable to see how they plan to do that, but unfortunately I won’t be able to try sneaking out to this one. As it is, I am already nearly late for school.

My school is several blocks down from the City Centre. Toward the bad end. Whenever I talk about the perks of my prestigious mother, who is able to request limited input into how the State chooses to foster my growth, I do not refer to my education. For some reason, she has it in her head that I’ll be better rounded if I go to an average - almost below average - school. One that makes me work a bit harder to get anywhere. Given my mother's superb Committee record, where she has been involved in a decade's worth of Motherhood project decisions, the Committee agreed. So Valley High it was, and is, and will be for another two blessed years.