I knew that living in the squalor of the omega sanctuary was rough. It was why I’d avoided mentioning it to anyone or exposing myself for what I really was. To the city, all the women here had a shameful secret and to them, we needed to be controlled. City budgets were constantly cut and much needed funding for the sanctuary had been slimmed down to a trickle. The walls keeping all these women captive was guarded to security guards and from the looks of things, those men didn’t keep their hands to themselves. Omegas were a thing to be looked down upon here in Tharia. I had felt that way once and, in that moment, I hated myself for it.
One woman passed me with a black eye. Another with a nasty-looking gash on her right cheek. Yet another had bruises circling her arm, evidence of a harsh, thick grip holding her prisoner. Many of them carried with them a sense of sadness, sunken eyes, and a defeated gait hunching their shoulders. Too many of them were far too skinny.
Just by being here, I knew that life here in the sanctuary was hard.
Nikki sat down across from me, pushing a tray laden with food and two cups; one water and the other full of what appeared to be red wine. I licked my lips and my stomach growled with approval. I chuckled a bit and she smiled warmly in my direction.
On one plate was a fried noodle dish, complete with vegetables and what appeared to be chicken. Another had a steamed bun, likely also stuffed with meat. There was also a cup of sliced fruit that made my mouth water.
I dug in tentatively while Nikki began to eat some of her own.
“Eat it all. You’ll need it after what you’ve been through,” she said. Her gaze was soft and sympathetic. I wondered if she knew all of it.
I lifted a fork of noodles to my mouth and gasped as flavor burst over my tongue. Fried, buttery homemade goodness. Bite after bite disappeared into my mouth and my ravenous hunger took over me. After I ate every last morsel, I drained the water glass and Nikki refilled it from a metal jug.
“I saw what the city did to you,” Nikki eventually said, and I stilled.
“How?”
“It was broadcast in Sanctuary Square. We were all gathered and forced to watch your entire bout of estrous as a warning to what would happen to us should we disobey,” she replied softly.
I turned my head and looked away.
“Honestly, I thought it was beautiful. Natural in its purest form,” she added gently. “I had hoped they would bring you here, but they didn’t. Instead, they brought you to Genwell.”
“The people I used to work for wanted to study me. To use me as one of their little experiments like the silver-haired omega they’ve had for years. I would never have escaped on my own, even with three strong alphas. But somehow, you seemed to manage it,” I answered carefully, studying her face as I did so.
Nothing in her expression gave anything away. She was a fortress.
“What is this place?” I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.
“For as long as we can remember, omegas have been oppressed, abused, and kept prisoner simply because of their genetic code. We’re punished for what we were born to be and forced to breathe in this rancid suppressant. Forced to become something we’re not,” she began, her tone becoming decidedly more serious. “And I cannot stand for that any longer.”
“Is this some kind of resistance? Are you going to try to fight the city?” I questioned. If she was, she’d lost her mind. She’d be dead before she could even kill a guard. I knew just how many men patrolled the walls around the omega sanctuary and how many more were in reserves should the city ever need to defend itself.
If she was going to fight them head on, all these women were doomed.
She lifted her head and caught my eyes, a steel-like resolve crossing over her features.
“Do you know the city leader? Philip Savile?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Well, he’s a beta. We’ve hacked into the protected census data and found out for ourselves. It took us years to break into all those records. We know that many of us omegas remain in this prison, but there’s still so many more living in the city, so many more in hiding. There are several thousands of us amongst the hundreds of thousands of betas. It’s Philip’s mission to reveal us all. He has worked for years trying to pass laws to expose the hidden omegas and alphas in the city, but thus far he’s been terribly unsuccessful. He’s proposed plans that include the imprisonment of every omega in the city, and the banishment of every single alpha into the wilds. He’s been blocked at every turn, probably because some of his rich benefactors are either alphas or omegas, but that’s only a guess. But, because of his failures, he’s started working on something else instead. In secret,” she continued.
“I haven’t met him personally, but he’s generally well liked in the population. He has a few extremist policies regarding our genetic backgrounds, but overall he’s been a good leader for the city,” I replied carefully.
“Philip has been working on a backup plan for some time. In a government facility deep underground somewhere, he’s been working on a treatment for our omega tendencies. He calls it the omega solution,” she paused, taking a sip of red wine. I lifted my own, letting the sweet red grape flavors wash over my tongue.
“What does it do?”
“It’s a treatment based on genetic modification. With a single injection, the drug will alter alpha or omega DNA and permanently change our genetic code, thus changing our very natures. We’d become betas for the rest of our lives. We’ve received reports that it hasn’t been quite perfected yet, but it’s extremely close to full development. Should he prove successful, he’d force the entire city under mandatory vaccination, thus eliminating the alpha/omega problem,” she said next.
I didn’t know how I felt about this information. On one hand, I’d be a beta and theoretically, equal to any other person in the city. On the other, I’d lose the bond between me and my alphas. I’d never feel the pull of their hearts or the intensity of their emotions this deeply ever again.
It would be so empty. And I would know exactly what I had lost.
I swallowed, feeling the pulse of the bond. Already, the airborne suppressant that kept my instincts at bay was beginning to dull that connection. Within the walls of my prison in the depths of Genwell, I knew that air filters had kept us from breathing in the suppressant and as a result had kept us in our natural states so that they could study our behavior.
“There’s no guarantee that Philip would let us return to the city should his treatment prove successful. Omegas carry such a sinful, shameful stigma that I doubt it would disappear that quickly. He’d say it was dangerous and keep us locked up in here for the rest of our lives,” Nikki added.