Frantic (The Omegaborn Trilogy 2)

“You lead the way, boss,” I answered lightheartedly. She giggled and gestured for me to follow, her mood much lighter than it had been before. She exited her apartment and I trailed after her, watching her as she locked the door behind us. We walked down several flights of stairs to the ground floor because there was no working elevator. The two of us exited the building and walked out onto the street. The square was empty thankfully, and no guards remained. I noticed that the top of the wall was busier though and that some of them walked around with big steel beer mugs.

I turned my head in order to hide my frown of disgust. Fucking bastards.

In the sunlight, the omega sanctuary looked even more run down that I had previously thought. Buildings were crumbing. Even Ellie’s apartment complex looked like it wasn’t far from collapsing onto the street. It appeared as though it was leaning to the right and thick cracks in the plaster from the ground up indicated some serious foundational problems. It looked dangerous and almost unconsciously, I gave the structure a wide berth as we walked away from it.

As we continued along the street, all I saw was poverty. Surprisingly though, the streets were free from garbage and human debris. The omega women took care of their home, no matter how run down it appeared to be. They were a proud people.

Ellie showed me some of the factories she worked in and I remained quiet as she explained their ridiculously long days hunched over what looked like sewing machines that may have been manufactured a hundred years ago. She told me about how they were watched over by a small, cruel group of guards and if they didn’t produce a certain number of clothing pieces a day, they would be docked from their pay. If they fought back in any way, they’d be whipped in the square while every single woman in the sanctuary was forced to watch.

The more she showed me, the more I hated this place. The more I wanted to destroy it.

We visited the market, and everything was years old and ridiculously overpriced. Much of the food was well past expired. There was no access to milk or dairy products. Additionally, there was only a limited selection of dried meats, but all of it was outrageously expensive. Much of the fruit was dried. None of it was fresh. Regulation clothing was also absurdly pricey, even though Ellie told me they made it themselves sometimes at the factory.

“Pretty much all of our pay goes into buying food and things we need to live,” she explained, and I ground my teeth, shaking my head in disbelief.

As we walked through the streets and the market, no one talked to each other out in the open. Even Ellie and I just whispered periodically to each other. She explained to me that the point wasn’t to call attention to themselves, that sometimes there were guards posted in various places throughout the sanctuary. Quiet, obedient omegas didn’t garner the attention of an overzealous guard. I growled softly at the back of my throat.

I hated everything about this place.

By the time the sun set and we returned to the Omegaborn base, I was more than ready to infiltrate the city and hijack the airborne suppressant system.

I considered myself a part of the resistance now, and I was going to help them fight back.