Page 1 of Dodging Bullets

One

Paloma

“Paloma, where are you?”

Sister Roberta’s voice sounded exasperated, but when wasn’t she at her wit’s end with me? Sometimes I felt like I’d crawled out of the womb as a disappointment.

I quickly pushed the magazine I was reading back into the secret pocket sewn into one of my traditional ceremonial skirts that hung in the closet. Luckily, the skirt was long and heavy, so the magazine didn’t even weigh it down. I rarely got the opportunity to wear the skirt, because if there was a ceremony going on, I was normally kept in my room, in case I embarrassed Leader Malakai. I didn’t mind. I didn’t like the ceremonies anyway.

Hurrying from the closet, I took a moment to ensure all the clothes hanging in there were perfectly inconspicuous before stepping in front of the small chest that held my everyday clothing. I quickly dragged on the long black skirt I’d draped over it, and when Sister Roberta appeared in my doorway, she just saw a vain child fussing with her clothes.

Despite the fact I was twenty and no longer a child. On the Homestead, we were all children until we were married.

Sucking her teeth in irritation, Sister Roberta grabbed the long veil of black lace from the stand in the corner. “The guests are arriving, yet you are nowhere to be found.” She didn’t say I was an embarrassment out loud, but she really didn’t need to. “And you are not even properly prepared.”

I still didn’t understand why I had to attend this ceremony, when normally, I was confined to my room. Or why I wasn’t in the same ceremonial skirt as Sister Roberta. Instead, I was in a plain black skirt, long and voluminous, with a long-sleeved lace shirt that clung uncomfortably to my upper body and itched at my armpits. I looked like a curtain.

“Sorry, Sister Roberta. I couldn’t get my skirt to sit right.”

A lie. Leader Malakai had spoken to me about my lies, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be right. I didn’t want to steal the small box of forbidden magazines I’d found in Leader Malakai’s office. But sometimes, the little voice in the back of my head that had bad ideas took control.

Sister Roberta looked at me for a long time, her eyes appraising, until I was squirming in my skin. It was her superpower; I was sure. Something flashed in her gaze, but it was gone before I could analyze it.

“Never mind that,” she snapped as she threw the lace veil over my face. It hung down to my wrists, making me completely unrecognizable beneath it.

The veil was the only part of this outfit that was familiar to me. Omegas were given the veil when our designation came in. It was another reason why I was a disappointment to the Homestead. I’d been born an Omega—the Betrayers, that was what our teachings told us. When our god, Izuny, rose from beneath the earth, he created the perfect environment for his love, the goddess Melize. However, when he returned below the earth, he found that Melize had betrayed him with his brother, Basric. Enraged, Izuny cast out Melize, cursing her and all herprogeny to be base, animalistic creatures who couldn’t control their own urges. Omegas.

That was how the designations were born. Alphas were made in the image of Izuny, and were the supreme leaders in all things. All of our Leaders were Alphas, but Alphas were dying out. We hadn’t had an Alpha designated in decades. Betas became Brothers and Sisters. Some community members didn’t designate at all, and they were just Homesteaders—below the Brothers and Sisters, but still above the Omegas with the taint. If one of the community designated with the taint of Melize—an Omega—they were forced to wear the veil of mourning, so their temptation couldn’t sway any more brothers to betrayal.

Sister Roberta was pushing me towards the door. “Hurry now, Paloma. They’re waiting.”

I frowned back at the elderly Sister, but she was staring purposefully ahead, a determined tilt to her chin. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Who’s waiting?”

Huffing at me, she didn’t answer, just shoved me down the hall toward the main meeting room. There were people loitering around in the halls, and when I saw Nim, I tried to ask her with our own hand language what was going on, but she just shrugged, her eyes wide and concerned. Nim was a good, obedient Beta, but was somehow still my friend.

Despite my non-ceremonial dress, we ended up in the ceremony room. Leader Malakai was sitting at the head of a long table, a pleasant smile on his face, though I was an expert at reading the tightness around his eyes now. He was annoyed at being kept waiting, and I’d pay for it later on.

The other Leaders were there. Leader Victor, Leader Yahn, Leader Thomas. It was odd to see them all in one room together, unless it was a large gathering. But the Leaders were the only people in this room, except Sister Roberta, a couple of the other Brothers and Sisters, myself, and three men I didn’t know.

It was the men I didn’t know that gave me pause. It was odd. I knew everyone.

We’d learned in our lessons that we were the last people left after Izuny destroyed the world for our sins. It was why we had to be good. Had to be obedient to the Leaders’ teachings. Had to do… other things. Because we were the last of the humans, and it was our god-given mission to heal the world. It was why I was so addicted to those magazines—they were time capsules of the creatures and civilizations that existed before the Great Smiting.

We lived behind high walls that kept out monsters, in four separate houses, run by four separate leaders who made decisions that would keep us safe. It was the way it had to be.

It was why the appearance of three unknown faces was a shock to me.

Leader Malakai waved a hand. “Ah, here she is. Please, come closer.”

Fear tingled down my spine, though I wasn’t sure why. Something about the men in front of me had me on high alert. Still, Leader Malakai had always stood between us and the monsters outside, and if he wanted me to come closer, that was what I should do.

Stepping closer to the table and the strangers, I clasped my hands in front of me, the perfect show of obedience. I allowed my eyes to watch Leader Malakai, and happiness flushed through me at his approving look.

“Lift your veil, Paloma. Show these men your face.”

Shock had me freezing on the spot. Lift my veil? Show these men my face? That went against everything I’d been taught. Everything we’dallbeen taught.

“Leader?” I questioned, and the approving look on his face disappeared in an instant, to be replaced with one I knew intimately. Abject disappointment.

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