Fallout

In the previous chapter, friendships were made. Leda Conner, the pragmatic stockbroker and Rowan Johansson, the pessimistic farmer bonded during lunch, and Harriet was faced with Alex Valentino, the model who knows her memes, and Leila Sinclair, the socialite-firefighter. She found an ally in the always-sleepy Veira Schreave. Or something like that.

Chapter 14

»It was the Selection«

Garden of Hill Castle, Angeles
Anastasia Collins

The closer Anastasia looked, the more curious plants she found in the garden. Whoever had been in charge of planting had been very careful, the hobby gardener noted. Some of them were plants providing good tea leaves, others were just merely beautiful.

During the ice breaker, she had learned that Jaira Phillips and Minnie Whitefield worked for I-TEC as well. She wasn't sure how to take it. Minnie came from another side of the large cooperate, but Jaira was a biochemist—her work was so similar to Anastasia's bio-engineering…

"Do I feel threatened?" she wondered. "Biology will not give me the shot to change anything," she thought. Plus, as of what she had seen by now, she was glad to know that she had one advantage. Anything that happened proved that she was right.

This wasn't training. It was the Selection.

Thirty-five girls, one from each province. Absolutely the Selection. The presence of the Queen Mother (who, though, had only been present once) and Princess Sophia was just another proof of her theory. Maybe she could go and speak to them? Would that give her an advantage?

"Do you like the garden?" somebody asked.

Anastasia rose, and recognised the Queen Mother. Unlike some of the 'rich girls', Anastasia had no problem with forcing herself to pay attention. She had done that before, and aced school—there was no reason not to do so. She curtsied to the woman. "Yes, I do," she added.

"They've fallen apart more and more," Helena remarked, looking over the large piece of beautifully kept nature, with the setting sun in the distance. Amazing, Anastasia agreed. "Do you know their background?"

"No, ma'am." Anastasia knew how to deal with superiors. Even top uni grades hadn't helped her to stand up to superiors at I-TEC, but her answer wasn't the answer of a quiet little girl. She wanted Helena to know that she could do things.

"My mother-in-law build them, after Hill Castle had become unused in favour of the Illéa Palace. It once used to be the residence of Gregory Illéa, even before the foundation of our country."

"It's gigantic," Anastasia pointed out.

"Stupid display of wealth," Helena replied coldly. "Me and Skyla—my mother-in-law—both agreed that it should be used for other things, but I must admit it is a nice place for retirement."

Anastasia nodded politely. The Queen Mother was old, and evidently remembering of the past. King Henry had passed away in Anastasia's childhood. The job probably wasn't good on one's body. The human body wasn't her speciality, but Anastasia knew one or two things.

"She was the one to change the garden here, and then, when she had proven herself to the Queen, was allowed to change the whole of the Illéa Palace's garden. She did an incredible job."

Anastasia nodded. History wasn't her strength (science was) and honestly, she couldn't remember said Queen's name. She had read a bit about the previous two Selections during her time here, but that was all. Nonetheless, she appreciated this.

"I agree," Anastasia nodded, "although they must have been more beautiful during her lifetime."

"Yes," the Queen Mother nodded. "It was. I do prefer where the money spent on gardeners went, though."

"Huh…?"

Helena turned to Anastasia. "Don't worry," she replied. "I am sure you'll want to eat so—I won't stop you of that."

Yes, Anastasia was somewhat hungry, but she could have asked for food if she had wanted so much. "Pardon my question, but while I do see why communication is limited, would it be possible for me to use my laptop without internet connection? For music, mainly," Anastasia replied.

"I did not make the rules," Helena laughed, "but if you ask Sophia, I am sure she won't mind." She smiled—for the first time in their conversation with Anastasia—but hesitated. "Do tell me, what do you see as reason? For the limited connection?"

"Well," Anastasia hesitated, "I presume that this is actually the Selection. The numbers, past occurrences and what I have been told fit up. Besides that, security, I assume."

"Oh," Helena laughed, "you're an intelligent one, then." Helena nodded. "Yes, you're completely right. Please do not tell anyone else, though."

"Why not?"

"I'll be honest," Helena turned to Anastasia. "This is a test. It'd be bad for your chances, and it would cause us trouble in judging."

So, this was a test, Anastasia repeated to herself. Good to know. If she wanted to get far, then she needed to use any knowledge she had. "In that case, I will do so," Anastasia replied with a polite smile.

The Queen Mother walked away from her, leaving Anastasia alone in the garden and the new knowledge. She didn't stay there for much longer, but instead headed back to her room. She didn't intend to change or anything, but she did ask for the maid to contact the princess, so she could ask about her computer. Anastasia needed to think, and for that, she needed music.

When she had done so, the remark of Helena made sense. She was reminded to head to dinner, and, briefly checking the notes she had been writing over the day (primarily in class), she headed towards the dining hall, as one of thirty-five Selected. As the only one who had an idea of why they were here.

Proudly, Anastasia smiled.

The dining room was filled with a few girls already present, where as others arrived past their meant arrival time. Unlike at lunch, their seating had been pre-decided. Too bad, Anastasia wouldn't have minded to sit among the organisation team.

Her neighbours had been named as Jaira Phillips and Sawyer Roth. They sat at multiple tables, and the one Anastasia had been seated at, was nearest to the ceiling-high windows. She smiled towards Jaira who was already sitting and quietly reading a book.

Jaira smiled back, and dropped the book. The girls next to her where in a middle of a discussion about the sloth girl (would she pop up as sloth again? No one knew…), but Jaira's interests weren't there either.

"Hello," Jaira replied. "What have you been up to?"

"I went to the garden," Anastasia replied. "You?"

"Reading," Jaira replied with a quiet laugh. "I would like to learn more about whenever we can just go into Angeles though."

"Huh?"

"Los Angeles isn't too far off—I haven't been there, and I'd love to do sightseeing."

"Then," another girl dropped onto Anastasia's other side—Sawyer Roth, "you aren't the only one. Count me in on your sight-seeing trip."

"Sure," Jaira nodded (slightly less interested, Anastasia believed, but hey, Sawyer wasn't a scientist unlike them…) and looked to Sawyer. "What have you been up to?"

"They pulled me into a dentist appointment. Apparently one tooth wasn't too well off," Sawyer shrugged. "You?"

"Nothing for me, fortunately."

"… Not even a 'we need to discuss the fact that your high school education isn't finished'?" Sawyer joked.

"We graduated from university…?"

"Oh welp." Sawyer leaned back. "I'm working on high school…?"

"Are you from a red province?" Jaira inquired.

"A red province? Uh, yeah, Fennley. My hometown was occupied."

Jaira nodded. "That makes sense. I'm sorry for that."

"I'm gonna hope you weren't a rebel," Sawyer laughed. "What about you two?"

"Dakota," Anastasia replied.

"Whites," Jaira added. "Looking back, I don't even know why I was worried… The rebels never got close to my hometown…"

"Well, who'd want to dig through snow, huh?" Sawyer shrugged.

"We just had economic things going on," Anastasia replied, hiding the shaking hands of hers beneath the table. "We were fortunate." She looked down.

"Yeah," Sawyer deadpanned.

"The evacuation should have been better organised," Anastasia remarked. "I understand that the Air Force wasn't used in combat, but planes surely would have been the easiest way to relocate civilians."

"There was a lot of strange occurrences with the air traffic in general. The whole of Illéa was a no flight zone—even for foreign planes. Tourists couldn't escape," Jaira remembered. "They had to go by ship."

Sawyer rose an eyebrow. "Really?"

Anastasia nodded. "I heard about that too. My parents wanted to escape to England, but they couldn't."

"Well, you evidently survived," Sawyer muttered. "No reason to complain, huh?"

"Tell that to my sister," Anastasia laughed. "I love her, but sometimes…"

"What is your sister doing?" Jaira asked curious.

"She's a college student," Anastasia replied. "But more occupied with finding a guy to date, really."

"Ouch," Sawyer cringed. "I got two brothers, and neither of them are trying to find a guy to date, as far as I know."

"What do they do?" Anastasia asked curious.

"High school student and military nurse. My older brother is still working," Sawyer explained. "He's in some military hospital dealing with the post war stuff. Like people hurt on long term and so on."

Anastasia hid another cringe of worry, while Jaira briefly talked about her sister, someone who aimed to become a teacher. Topic change. They definitely needed a topic change.

"So, what do you like to do? As hobbies?"

"Wait, what do you two do again? University graduates, sure, but?"

"I'm a biochemist," Jaira replied. "I develop medicine. As for hobbies… Yoga, reading, ice skating, chess and generally environment? I did some environment stuff in high school, but the war made charity work more difficult."

"Oh, that's cool!" Anastasia pointed out. "That's what I do for work—I'm a bio-engineer. I research elemental deposit levels in the Sioux Falls, right now."

"… What?"

"The Sioux Falls are—"

"Waterfalls, I guess." Sawyer shook her head. "Elemental deposit levels? That sounds like a mix of Avatar and video games."

"Well, they are—"

"I also don't need a biology lesson."

"Oh."

"Well, I like gardening, hiking, reading and environmental science."

"Nerds," Sawyer joked. "But for me, it's cooking, running and… uh… probably picking up fights. I work at my dad's restaurant as waitress, and as DJ. Sometimes graffiti, and dubstep."

"That's cool!" Anastasia spoke up. "I probably should have gone to more clubs and parties during university…"

"What did you do?"

"Study," Anastasia laughed. "But I tend to blast music when studying or working."

"… So, it was you who had the music on so loud yesterday evening?" Jaira concluded. "I see!"

"Uhm… I'm sorry?" Anastasia cringed. Flashbacks of college and annoyed neighbours. Oops…

Dinner was finally served as everyone arrived. Somebody in the background complained about the lack of sandwiches again, but Anastasia herself was fairly glad to find herself happy with the food. She was hungry as well, she remembered.

/ / /

Isla's room in Hill Castle, Angeles
Ami Kennedy

Annie, Isla Woodley's niece, was playing with a hot pink car that Ami's maid had brought for the little girl. Annie had become some of the staff's favourite, and a nightmare for the rest. Ami herself didn't mind. She had ended up with Zarah and Isla something (probably Annie?), and while the other two were talking about work and what not, Ami was trying to gain the little girls' attention.

"So… What are you?" Isla asked Ami. She had been watching her carefully. That girl was damn protective of her niece, but then again, if Ami's little sister wasn't such a perfect little angel, she probably would be too.

"A human," Ami replied.

Isla and Zarah couldn't facepalm quickly enough. "Your cast, duh," Zarah replied.

Oh. That's what they meant. "We're all Threes now, aren't we?" Ami asked. "Well, except the ones who were above it."

"As if that's a real thing," Zarah replied, rolling her eyes. "Our dear little Harriet evidently doesn't believe so."

"Harriet?"

"The brunette hotel heiress. Tailor hotels. They're a big thing. They used to have a hotel in my hometown. It blew up," Isla summarised.

"Oh, we don't really have hotels at home. Not enough people coming, I guess," Ami replied with a shrug. "That's fine though, I like having the mountains for myself. I love snowboarding."

"Yeah, but what's your caste?"

"Two," Ami replied. "You?"

Annie stumbled towards Ami. "Me too! Right?" she turned to Isla, looking for approval.

"Uh, yeah," Isla nodded. "You are."

"So, you two are Twos? What about you, Zarah?"

"Six," Zarah replied. "I work as driver sometimes and as secretary for my aunt." She leaned back. "But now I'm a Three, and I hope that's going to do the job."

"The job?"

"I needed a newer caste. My aunt and uncle—my parents are dead—were wary about buying me up, so I needed other ways." Zarah shrugged, and dumped her feet onto the table. Isla pushed them off. "What?"

"Manners," Isla insisted. "You're a bad role model for Annie."

Ami cringed. "Gah, please don't. Professor Umbridge was a nightmare enough today."

"Didn't you learn manners as a kid?" Zarah asked. "That's the thing with my uncle at least. He married my mum's sister, made her a Two. Lots of trouble for her, at first."

"Nah," Ami shook her head. "I'm an athlete, you don't need manners for that."

"Never saw you in the Olympics," Zarah pointed out, putting her legs onto the table again. Isla pushed them down again, and gave Zarah a pretty cold glare.

Meanwhile, Ami cringed. She wasn't going to be sad about the fact that she really didnt have any career chances unless she finally made a respected team… She pouted, and looked aside. She really could use a TV show, right now…

"Huh?" Zarah leaned forward. "Oh well, whatever. What about you, Isla?"

"Seven."

"Similar story for your niece then?"

Isla nodded without looking up to Zarah. "Yeah, kind of. Where are you two from again? Sorry—too many people. I barely know everyone's name, even with name tags."

"Yeah," Ami nodded. "Everything just blurs? Like, I know there's that girl in the wheelchair and the one with the heart condition, but if you showed me only their heads, I wouldn't be able to say who's who."

"Nereida Statten," Zarah pointed out.

"I think she managed to get everyone to remember her name," Isla replied with a chuckle. "My city was given up on, and even I know how the royal family looks like. Why did you two sign up? For the Selection, I mean. I guess you didn't know about the program?"

"Caste upgrade, really," Zarah replied with a shrug. "I mean, it's cool that the Crown Prince signed up for the war, but yeah, otherwise? Sophia's a perfect pretty princess, and Louis' one big dick. Who even knows about Victoria?"

"They need to do better on restorations though."

"What do you mean?" Ami asked Isla.

"My hometown was just given up on. You literally see plants growing up on skyscrapers, and criminals are all around. I'm pretty sure that the person who broke into my neighbours' house was a rebel, and there are lots of homeless people."

"Aren't there refugee camps? Like, all over the country? I was cool because my fam could afford it, but…" Zarah broke off.

"Yeah, but it's still my hometown. Plus, mixing multiple cities doesn't mean you have a functioning city. Lots of people can't find jobs, and I—working as mechanic, that's pretty needed—don't get paid well."

"That might just be a bad employee," Zarah remarked. "I used to drive to make the ends meet, and that was desired during the Unrest because no one drove around alone, but my old employee was one big jerk and didn't exactly pay me like he should have and—what are you doing?"

Zarah was looking at Annie who was waving to whatever was behind Ami. Of course, the snowboarder turned around to see a brunette woman kneeing in the door frame to Isla's room and wave to the little girl.

God knew if she was one of the girls or a staff member of the organisation team—everyone looked the same. Ami's sister had supplied her with enough images of the last Selection showcasing the Selected in beautiful princess dresses, but them? They were walking around in their own clothes.

Although measurements and so on had been taken…

The woman in the door frame was wearing clothes that Ami nonetheless judged to be a tiny little bit too much for a member of the organisation. Her style looked pretty much like what Zarah wore, just a bit chicer and without beanie. Isla had grabbed Annie's hand protectively.

"Hello, miss…?"

The brunette looked up. "Tori," she finished the sentence. "Sorry to interrupt. Your niece is a little cutie," Tori remarked.

"Uh, thanks?" Isla replied. She didn't let go of her niece's hand though. "What can we do for you?"

"Nothing really," Tori stood up. "I was going to meet with Sophy, but she's somewhere talking to old friends. Nice to meet y'all."

Isla was the first to introduce herself (with her full name, she didn't just go for her surname), followed by Zarah and Ami. Silence fell onto the room.

With a sigh, Isla broke it before it could be awkward. Tori didn't seem to mind. Weird girl. "I assume you work with Her Royal Highness then?"

Wow, Isla was good. Ami hadn't thought of referring to Sophia as HRH, she probably would have said Sophia or something like that. At least Miss Tori hadn't done that either? Well, she probably was a friend of the princess, or something.

"Something like that," Tori shrugged. "I work at the Palace. Do you like Hill Castle?"

"It's big," Zarah remarked. Was that good or bad?

"I know," Tori laughed, "but the Illéa Palace is bigger."

"Are we going to go there? When?" Annie wanted to know.

"I don't know," Tori shrugged. "But yeah, I probably should go. Don't wanna have Sophy wait for me. Do soar like birds, you girls. You've got a big opportunity in front of you."

Ami froze.

Tori walked out of the room as if nothing happened. Neither Zarah nor Isla seemed to notice, and the woman didn't either. Miss Tori left them alone, but Annie insisted on walking after her. Well, she ran off, causing Isla to jump up worried and rush out to follow her niece.

"She's a bit too protective, isn't she?" Zarah asked.

Ami didn't answer.

Isla returned looking stressed with her niece who immediately went back to the pink car. "Hey, can I have a phone like Tori had?" she asked.

"Huh?" Isla looked to her niece, hiding disappointment.

"What do you mean?"

"She used one of these fancy touch phones! We found it in the doctor's room, but couldn't use it because we didn't find the key!"

"Doctor's house?" Zarah repeated, rising an eyebrow at Isla.

"Our home was destroyed long ago—we've been living in a doctor's home. He doesn't seem to want it anymore," Isla replied with a shrug. "Miss Tori probably just texted the princess or so. Whatever."

Ami relaxed. It probably was just some really random coincidence. What did she worry about?

"Hey, do you wanna go and ask if they have some games around? If they don't want us to go out into town, maybe we can play some board games? Like Uno or Monopoly?"

Zarah shrugged. "A card game they'll definitely have. We could play strip poker."

"Zarah!" Isla cried out. "Annie is a child!"

"Yeah, I'm sure her bed time is soon," Zarah replied with a shrug.

"I like her!" Annie declared, putting Isla into an even worse spot. Zarah laughed, and Annie smiled. Ami joined.

"You two are a terrible influence on her," Isla insisted.

"I didn't do anything!" Ami called out. "Don't judge me for what Zarah did!"

"You agree, didn't you?"

"Nooo! I don't wanna do strip poker, I want to play Uno."

"Oh, I love Uno!" Annie exclaimed. "Can we play Uno? Please?"

/ / /

Next Chapter: »She makes terrible tea«