Emma: Part Two (Outpost Nine Book 2) Read online

  Guilt clawed at Jack. Emma had been raised to fear the government and all cyborgs. This must have been horrifying for her. “Emma, please, don’t make this worse than it has to be. It’s just temporary.”

  “Jack.” Max’s strained voice came from the open doorway behind them. “The med team is here for Emma.”

  Emma took a few steps back and looked as if she might try to bolt out the opposite door. That would only make things worse. Jack snatched her by the waist and lifted her, kicking and screaming, from the helicopter’s floor and carted her out of the aircraft. She put up such a fight that he feared they would sedate her. “Emma, stop! Just calm down. It’s only three days.”

  “You promised,” she wailed pitifully. “You promised you’d protect me.”

  “We are,” Jack said, his gut wrenching at the betrayal etched on her face

  “Please, Jack,” she sobbed. “Don’t make me go with them.”

  Jack wanted nothing more than to run her straight to the home he shared with Max but it wasn’t possible. There were rules and regulations. He wouldn’t break them. “I’m sorry, Emma.”

  Jaw steeled, he handed her over to one of the medics decked out in full biohazard gear. Emma’s shocked face broke his heart. She screamed as they tried to tie her down to a gurney. “Max! Max! Please, Max!”

  Beside him, Max stood rigidly, his face emotionless. Emma was finally strapped onto the gurney and lifted into the back of the ambulance. The slamming doors cut of her terrified shrieks but Jack doubted they would ever stop echoing in his head. Feeling lower than low, he watched the ambulance speed away from the tarmac. Jack’s heart sunk as he realized they had probably just lost her completely.

  This was a betrayal Emma would never forget.

  3 Chapter Three

  Shivering with terror and cold, Emma clutched the crinkly paper gown tighter to her naked body and glanced nervously around the exam room. Her wet hair clung to her cheeks and made the chill in the room almost unbearable. The stinging scent of antiseptics made her stomach pitch. Her eyes still burned from the awful antibacterial fluids they had sprayed her with in that small stall.

  Trying not to cry, Emma hugged her arms and tried to convince herself the horror would end soon. After she had been taken away from Jack and Max, the two scary cyborg medics had threatened to jab with her with needles loaded up with sedatives if she didn’t shut up. She had clamped her lips together immediately, terrified they would kill her if they gave her a normal cyborg dose of those meds.

  When they had reached the hospital, she had been wheeled into a quarantine sector and pushed into a shower stall where she had been ordered to strip. Humiliated, she had complied out of fear. Only two men in the world had ever seen her like that—and they’d betrayed her.

  Emma’s chest ached with the realization Max and Jack hadn’t told her the truth. They had made it sound like the Outpost was some heavenly place where she would have plenty of food, medical care and safety. Instead, she had been treated like some kind of criminal, degraded and scrubbed with brushes that left her skin burning and raw.

  Avery was right. The Outposts were worse than prisons. The first chance she got, Emma was leaving. To hell with this place and Max and Jack too.

  The door to the exam room opened and the tallest woman Emma had ever seen strolled into the room. She wore light blue scrubs, similar to the ones Avery’s parents sometimes wore when they could get their hands on them. Emma guessed she was six-two or six-three and looked to be mostly muscle. Emma was surprised by her kind face and gentle smile.

  Seemingly aware of Emma’s fear, the woman sat on the low stool in front of the exam table to lessen the disparity in their heights. Even sitting, the woman was so tall she looked Emma right in the eye. “I’m Dr. Freedmore.”

  “Emma,” she replied, her voice broken. Clearing her throat, she clarified, “Emma Ramirez.”

  It felt so odd to use her last name. In the Outlands, people were typically identified by the farm they lived on or the road near their settlement or as so-and-so’s daughter.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Emma.” The doctor frowned with concern. “You’re freezing, aren’t you?” She set the small electronic tablet on the nearby metal rolling table and stood. She retrieved a thin blanket from a cabinet. “Here,” she said and draped it around Emma’s shoulders. “This will help.”

  “Thank you,” Emma replied, still a bit suspicious of the cyborg doctor’s motives.

  “We have hotter than normal body temperatures so we tend to keep our homes and offices and hospitals colder than you’re used to,” Dr. Freedmore explained. “You’ll have to let your males know that you need a slightly warmer home environment.”

  “My males?” Emma asked, teeth no longer chattering.

  The doctor nodded. “You chose well. Max and Jack are very high ranking officers and have access to benefits you’ll find appealing. Your standard of living is going to skyrocket.”

  “I was happy with my standard of living,” Emma replied tersely. “I had a nice home, a small farm, and adequate food.” And freedom, she thought glumly. I was free.

  “I didn’t mean to insult you, Emma. I only meant that life inside the wire is much more comfortable than life in the Outlands.” She consulted her tablet and smiled. “You’re the most fascinating Original female I’ve ever come across.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I’ve never met a human who survived so long on her own. And so well,” she added. “We tend to think of humans as fragile and weak.”

  Emma didn’t know what to say to that. Obviously, cyborgs were much stronger and healthier. They had been bioengineered that way and had advantages the dwindling human populace would never enjoy. “You’re a human. Just, you know, with added stuff in your brain and DNA.”

  “True,” the doctor said as she reached for a pair of gloves, “but we tend to think of ourselves as a separate species.”

  “Well la-tee-da,” Emma replied with a roll of her eyes.

  To her surprise, Dr. Freedmore laughed. “I’m sure I’d feel the same way if a newer, more improved type of cyborg popped up and took over my usual place in society.” The doctor pushed off the floor with her boots and scooted her stool closer to the exam table. “Let’s get the basics out of the way.”

  Emma answered questions for nearly half an hour. She had her blood pressure and pulse taken, was weighed and measured for height. The doctor poked around in her mouth and remarked on her exceptional dental health. She was quizzed on her history of illness and whether she had experienced any of the diseases on a long list.

  “We’ll have to vaccinate you for the diseases you haven’t experienced.” Dr. Freedmore walked toward the end of the exam table. “You’ll be safer if you’re properly immunized against the diseases you’re going to come into contact with now that you live here. Out on your farm, you were isolated and safe. Here, you won’t have that buffer.”

  Emma’s inner conspiracy theorist freaked. “No, I don’t think I want to be immunized.”

  Dr. Freedmore smiled knowingly. “I suppose you were raised on the horror stories of the forced immunization campaigns before and during the Last War.”

  “They aren’t stories! They’re true.” Emma wasn’t about to let this cyborg tell her that her family’s history was a lie. “My grandparents escaped the vaccination campaigns that killed tens of thousands of people. The damn shots didn’t even stop the transmission of the Zed virus!”

  “The government thought the vaccines would work. Everyone was panicking back then. The first wave of cyborgs hadn’t even been born yet. The governments believed the vaccine would stop the spread of the Zed virus. They couldn’t have known what would happen.”

  “But it did happen,” Emma insisted. “So you are not jabbing any damn needles in my body.”

  “If you don’t take the vaccines for the winter viruses, you’ll be locked away in quarantine until spring.” Dr. Freedmore wasn’t trying to threaten. She was just being
honest. “The vaccines you need to gain clearance are based on the same old, safe vaccines humans have been taking for generations. The old Zed vaccines were destroyed and are no longer in use.” Hand on her heart, she swore, “I promise these vaccines are safe, Emma. If I could have children, I would give them to my babies.”

  Emma frowned. “You can’t have children?”

  The doctor shook her head. “We were created without a working reproductive system. The scientists who made us believed menstrual cycles would impair our ability to fight. They also didn’t want us to breed.”

  Emma’s jaw dropped. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

  Dr. Freedmore’s face softened. “Thank you, Emma.”

  “I’d heard rumors that cyborgs were infertile, but I just figured it was the same thing we experience. You know, from all the chemicals and radiation that our ancestors were exposed to during the war.”

  The doctor shook her head. “No, ours is deliberate. We’ve lost the ability to birth more lab-created cyborgs, but our males are fully fertile. This is the reason we are encouraging our men to find human mates.”

  Emma felt weird all of a sudden. “Doesn’t that make you and the other cyborg women feel bad?”

  “We’ve come to terms with the reality of the situation. We want our species to survive. We have the technology to improve our mixed children with implants, if both parents agree. Our altered DNA seems to dominate your weaker human DNA too.” Dr. Freedmore shrugged. “There are no laws or incentives for taking a human mate. Some of our men choose cyborg wives knowing full well they’ll never have children. I’m actually married to a human male, if you can believe that.”

  Emma couldn’t actually but didn’t dare say it. She wondered about the safety of mixing human and cyborg DNA. “Are the babies healthy?”

  “Perfectly healthy,” Dr. Freedmore assured her as she pulled a tray of medical supplies from a cabinet. They were covered in a blue towel and marked sterile. She put them down on the rolling table and then grabbed a piece of equipment with a small screen from the corner. “We have very low rates of labor and delivery complications. I’ve heard the rates outside the wire are very high.”

  Emma nodded, sadness blooming in her chest. “They are. My mother died in childbirth. My brother died too.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Emma.”

  “That’s life out there,” Emma replied matter-of-factly. “It’s better now. We have access to a medical convoy.”

  “Yes. I’ve heard good things about the Alvarez doctors.” She lowered her voice. “We try to slip supplies to them whenever possible.” She touched Emma’s knee. “Can you lie back, Emma?”

  “Why?”

  “I need to perform a pelvic exam.”

  “A what?”

  “I need to examine your vagina and cervix. I’ll also do a quick ultrasound of your ovaries.”

  Emma’s eyes widened, and she squeezed her knees together. “No way!”

  “Emma,” Dr. Freedmore said carefully, “are you sexually active? If you’re not, we can skip the internal exam.”

  Emma’s face flamed. “I’m active,” she admitted reluctantly, “but I don’t want you poking around down there.”

  “It will be very quick, and it’s necessary as part of the intake procedure. It’s also a good for you to find out if you’re healthy. If there’s a problem, we can help you.”

  Chewing her lip, Emma considered the doctor’s suggestion and finally complied. “All right.”

  “Scoot down here toward the edge and put your feet against these stirrups.”

  Emma did as instructed. She gripped her gown in her fists and stared at the ceiling. Dr. Freemore draped a sheet over Emma’s lap before moving her stool into place. She put her hands on Emma’s knees and gently opened them. “Just relax, Emma. It won’t take long.”

  Easy for you to say, she thought crossly. She tried to ignore what was going on beneath the sheet but it was too hard.

  “Emma,” Dr. Freedmore said gently, “were you forced last night?”

  Emma hadn’t expected that. “No.”

  “You have some bruising and—”

  “Last night was my first time,” Emma admitted with embarrassment. “It was consensual.”

  “I see. I just saw the bruising and worried. I’ve always known Jack and Max to be honorable men but one never really knows what men are like behind closed doors.”

  “They were honorable.” Emma could have easily gotten them in trouble to punish them for the way they had lied to her but that would have been wrong on so many levels.

  When she felt something cold and metal touch her skin, Emma hissed. The internal exam started, and Emma clamped her eyes shut. Dr. Freedmore was quick and thorough. The part where she pressed on Emma’s abdomen wasn’t much fun but Emma survived. The internal ultrasound probe made Emma want to jump off the table, but she was fascinated by the sight of her ovaries and uterus on the small screen.

  “Everything looks great, Emma,” Dr. Freedmore said as she put away the equipment and helped Emma sit up. “Are you regular?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I’m not too worried about that. You’re a little underweight and you seem to have low body fat too. Once your diet improves, your body will probably start producing reproductive hormones more efficiently. You should regain normal ovulation in a few months.”

  Panic pierced her belly. “But that means I could get pregnant.”

  “Yes.”

  “So where do I get contraception? In the Outlands, we have to rely on charting cycles and abstaining or the old pull-and-pray method, but I was told by a friend’s mother that there are different choices on the Outposts and inside the cyborg-controlled territories.”

  “There are,” Dr. Freedmore said carefully, “but we don’t typically prescribe birth control to Original women who are part of civil unions. Our population concerns govern the way we prescribe contraceptives. We give them to mates who have produced one child or to those women who have underlying medical issues that would make pregnancy dangerous.”

  “Wait,” Emma held up a hand as she tried to reconcile all the information she’d just heard. “What do you mean civil union?”

  Dr. Freedmore frowned. “When you agreed to come onto the Outpost, you signaled that you were entering into a civil union with Major Cardwell and Captain Stillwater.”

  “What!” Fury ignited in her belly. “No one told me that!”

  “Outposts and other cyborg-controlled territories are restricted spaces, Emma. You must be a citizen to set foot on them. Original males who qualify for service can gain citizenship. We don’t allow women into the ranks so—”

  “So you force us into unions with your men so you can make us have lots of little cyborg babies?” Anger filled her voice. “This is complete and total bullshit!”

  “Emma, I understand your anger, but I’m not the one who made the rules. Your men should have given you the facts before loading you onto that helicopter.”

  “You’re damn right they should have,” Emma snapped back. “I’m going to kick their asses when I see them.”

  Dr. Freedmore frowned. “Be careful, Emma. You’re a human, and although you have rights, they’re not nearly as broad as those enjoyed by my kind. If you strike your partners, you could find yourself in a great deal of trouble.”

  Emma shrank back at the realization she was in a whole new world where she didn’t know the laws. Mouth dry and stomach aching, she asked, “Can I get a copy of the rules and laws governing life here?”

  “Sure,” Dr. Freedmore said softly. “I’ll have one of the manuals given to human recruits sent to your room. I’m going to have a medic come in and draw some blood. He’ll administer your vaccines, too. There will be seven injections, each containing two or three formulas. You’re probably going to feel under the weather for the rest of the night. I’d suggest you stay in bed, eat the food brought to you and get some rest.”

  Emma nodded, unable to make
her lips work. The shock of being told she had basically married two strangers was too much. After everything else she had endured in the last day and a half, Emma couldn’t take anymore. She felt sure she would crack if one more thing went wrong.

  She barely felt the needles jabbing into her arms a few minutes later. The medic drew so much blood Emma felt lightheaded. The vaccines that followed didn’t help. She was handed the smallest pair of scrubs they had but they swamped her tiny frame. Emma did the best she could with the pants, pulling the drawstring as tight as it would go and rolling up the bottoms so they didn’t drag on the floor. The shirt was a lost cause.

  Another medic guided her down a hall and showed her a small room with bars over the windows. The bathroom was private, at least, and the bed somewhat comfortable. A triple set of locks engaged when the door closed. Claustrophobia squeezed her chest. She tried to relax but it was so hard.

  An hour or so after she had been placed in the room, a medic brought food, a toiletry kit and the Outpost manual. There was also a small cup for a urine sample. She took care of that first and placed it in the small paper bag supplied before sliding it out the small window on the door.

  Emma devoured the soup, sandwich, fries and bottles of water on the tray while she reading the manual. Some of the information terrified her. Corporal punishment for lawbreakers existed as one of the cyborg society’s main deterrents to “bad” behavior. Emma tried to pay attention to all the different crimes that would get her tied to a post and whipped.

  Soon, though, she started to feel the effects of the vaccines. Her head pounded and stomach twisted. When the shivering started, she slid between the scratchy covers on the bed and rested her head on the pillow. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to prove she was stronger than this but her fight proved futile. The tears came quickly. Her face grew hot and wet as she wept into the pillow.

  The sensation of loneliness she experienced rivaled that of the days and nights following her father’s death. Outside that locked door was a hospital teeming with cyborgs and humans but not a single one of them cared about her.