Our Broken World

Chapter 30

I stop for a second to observe the child's face a little longer, making sure it's truly Mikey and I'm not just hallucinating because of the pain and grief. I'm not. It's really him. It's Mikey. It's my little brother.

I am suddenly overcome by a surge of relief, and right after that, delight, excitement and pure joy and bliss. I have never been so happy in my entire life. Mikey's alive. He's here, in front of me.

I am so overwhelmed by emotions that I burst into tears and yell out his name. ''Mikey! Mikey!''

His head snaps towards me and the expression on his face changes in an instant. A huge smile spreads over his face and he bursts into tears as well, screaming back at me: ''Taya!''

The guards behind me try to grab me, but I am stronger than ever and I am out of their grip within seconds. I run towards Mikey, drop to my knees when I'm next to him, and pull him into the tightest hug I have ever given anyone. I don't even care if I'm suffocating him. He's alive and in my arms, and that's all that matters.

''You're alive. You're okay,'' I say in tears.

He hugs me back so hard I think he might suffocate me before I do it to him. He's stronger than before. I wonder if they've been giving him the Mixed's blood and he's stronger because of that.

Unfortunately, we only get a few moments with each other, embracing, because then the guards step in and pull us apart. They put him back with the group and then they continue walking. I yell after him and he yells after me, but there's nothing we can do because the guards are stronger than us. I can't lose him again, I can't, runs through my mind.

Mikey and the other kids disappear around the corner just as the guards jam me into an old elevator at the end of the hallway. I take a deep breath to calm down and try to focus. I know I need to concentrate and keep a cool head even more now; I have to get us all out. Not just Dylan and the guys, I need to save Mikey too. All hope is not lost, I say to myself. I am determined, more than ever, to get us all out of here. All of us.

A few floors up, the elevator suddenly dings and the doors open. We step into another hallway, only this one is not plain and empty like the others. It's nice and well-adorned. There's a rug on the floor, a coffee table by the wall and two chairs next to it. There's even a small plant on the coffee table, but it looks dead. The hallway looks like some sort of a waiting room from a business building from the world before the wars. Not only is it nice, cleaned up and decorated, but it also has a working elevator as a point of entry. What is up with these places, I think to myself, not understanding how I've been to two places with electricity in the last few weeks. 

We pass through the hallway and then through the door at the other side of it. We enter an even more adorned room, which looks like an office of sorts. It's big, with pictures hanging on the walls that I have no idea where they found. There's one big window overlooking the fair and a door leading to a small balcony next to it. There's a big desk in the middle of the room, with a leather seat, which is turned away from us. Suddenly, the seat moves and turns, revealing a middle-aged man sitting in it.

''Welcome. Please take a seat,'' He says seriously, and points to a leather sofa in front of the desk. I sit down, observing the man. He's about forty or maybe fifty, I would say. He's got short, grey hair, and a short goatee. He's dressed in a long black coat, which I can see even though he's sitting.

He makes a movement with his hand and all the guards exit the room, leaving us alone.

''So, you're the girl claiming to have new information about the Mixed? About a new breed?'' He says in a stern voice and with a severe expression on his face.