I hated him. 

Hamilton McKenna could go die topside for all I care. 

But it's not Ham I'm meeting today, thank god. I'm on my way to meet Tom in the library with a skip in my step and a grin plastered on my face. He told me this morning he would be on break at noon and the clock had just ticked over to the correct hour. 

In the Colony, we all still have jobs. The world would fall apart if we didn't. Not that it didn't already do that 100 years ago, but the Tunnel and its occupants would for sure.

The Tunnel is just an exceptionally long bunker. It holds 12,000 people at capacity although the population sits more at 9,000 right now. We are known collectively as the Colony. 

The Tunnel is structured into three levels. The first contains a series of hallways connected to the Council offices, quarters and radio room as well as the guards quarters. Its off bounds and heavily guarded. That's because the entrance to the outside, radioactive world is somewhere up there. Only those sentenced to death are ever lead to the entrance and released into the radioactive atmosphere to die a slow and painful death. 

On the second level is the main living quarters where the rest of the Colony lives. It contains a series of units in a maze of labyrinth and several large communal areas which includes a large dining hall that stretches for a kilometer and a hospital where Tom works. Each unit is self contained containing only a private bathroom and a single bed. Some people like Tom are lucky to have a table and couch with their unit. 

The third floor contains all the grow labs for our food and medical biotechnology. There is also hundreds of rooms filled with storage where discarded items we no longer need are kept. The whole thing is like a maze and would take a lifetime to explore.

Tom's training to be a doctor. We're going to need him when everyone older than us dies and can't treat our ailments. He's the most useful best friend I have. Tom doesn't want to cure the fertility drought but at the moment he's being pushed into it. They've tried everything from using stem cells to cloning but nothing works. They're desperate at the moment because all the frozen samples they had left are long gone now.

We were the last generation to be born using the frozen eggs from people that lived 100 years ago. The radiation still managed to fuck up our reproductive systems even locked away in a radioactive proof bunker. And so now, 100 years later we've run out of new humans.

I, on the other hand, am more fascinated by ancient civilizations. The humans of 2100 were an interesting bunch.

Like did you know they kept four legged animals called dogs? 

Or that they could see something they called the moon? A bright white, round circle that only appeared at night?

It's fascinating stuff. 

I finally reach the library, opening the door with my pass card.

I spot Tom's mop of yellow hair sticking out through the crowd and walk towards him. There's a slight skip in my step. I'm happy I still have him after everything that happened three weeks ago. 

The library is packed full of people and Tom is forced to share a table with somebody else.

"Hey Beth!" Tom smiles and waves from the table.

"Sup," I say back as I slide into the seat next to him. "What did you need to talk about?"

He looks across the table at who is sitting next to us.

I freeze.

Sharing the table is Hamilton McKenna. The collar of his red shirt doesn't sit flat, but instead points up to the ceiling, giving him an edgy look. He's glaring at us, unsure of what to do with himself now that I'm sitting across from him. His dark hair falls into his eyes as he stares across the table at the two of us. It creates shadows over his icy blue eyes, giving the impression that he has dark circles beneath his eyes. It looks like he hasn't slept in days. Serves him right.

I slowly turn back to Tom. His brown eyes are warm. There's no malicious intent behind them. Has he told him what we did after they killed my mother? Is that why he's here now? To fight for me?

"Why's he here?" I ask.

"He wanted to talk and he knew you'd only come if I lied."

I stand up to go. I don't have time for this nonsense. "I'm not doing this with you two. Go find some other sorry soul to torture."

"Beth!" Tom complains, grabbing my hand to stop me from fully leaving.

"Just hear me out," Hamilton jumps in.

"Hear you out for what? I hate you! Have you just forgotten what you did?"

"You don't mean that." He looks genuinely hurt as he retracts his body like he's writhing in pain.

I put my hands on the table and lean over to glare at him.

"I hate you more than you will ever know! My mother is dead because of you! I trusted you and now she's dead."

"It wasn't my intention for her to die, Beth! I was trying to save you! I had to hold you back!"

"I didn't need saving! My mother needed saving!"

He's agitated now. "Really!? Because from where I was standing it looked like you needed to be stopped from making a stupid mistake and getting yourself hurt or killed!"

"I'm done with you," I scoff. "And for what it's worth I hate you!"

I begin to walk out of the room, tears pricking at my eyes.

Screw him! Screw them both!

"Beth!" I hear Tom call out from behind me.

I don't stop. Whatever he had to say, ambushing me like this was not that way to do it.

He catches up to me and grabs my shoulder.

"Beth," he says gently, forcing my body to turn around and look at him. "I need you to hear him out. It's about your mom."

I look him in the eyes. "What more do I need to know? I was there, I saw it happen."

He shakes his head, his blonde locks swishing about. "No, it's about before then. About the," he leans in close and whispers. "R.E.S.I.S.T.A.N.C.E. She was involved."

He says every letter slow and low so that only I can hear him. I stare at him in disbelief. My mother would never join such an insidious group. She was smart and well liked. She worked as a nurse too and nurses were good people. 

"I thought you were on my side?" I hiss. 

"Beth, I am but he needs to talk to you. This is important."

"Whatever she was involved with killed her and it will kill you too if you don't stay away from him!"

"Beth, what happened three weeks ago-"

"He held me back!" I snap cutting him off. "Whatever he's involved with now, he's made his bed. I'm not helping him."

He looks briefly across his shoulder at the very sorry looking Hamilton. "He's not the one who needs helping."

I search Tom's eyes for a meaning to the riddle he spews. "What are you talking about?"

He leans in whispering. "I don't know the full story, but it concerns your life and I very much like the idea of you being alive."

I snarl. "Is that what he told you to fool you into coming and tricking me?"

He shakes his head. "Yes, but somehow I believe him."

I growl at him. I don't have time for this. "I have nothing to do with any of that. Any of this!" I wave my hands around, angry at the waste of time.

His grip tightens on my shoulder as he shushes me. He leans in further. "There's a rumor going around the R according to Ham, that a girl has gotten a period. Do you know anything?"

I certainly did. My face fell. Was he talking about me without realizing it? No one's had a period in a hundred years.

"Ham's in the resistance!?" is all I manage to say.

"Shush!" Tom hushes covering my mother.

I'd slept with the man. I trusted him wholeheartedly and he was in the Resistance!? How could he!? What did he do to my mother? 

"I don't want to be a part of this," I hiss as Tom releases his hand from mouth. I break free from his grip and march on out of the library.

I keep in the tears until I'm half way down the hall. I keep walking but they don't stop. The tears come out hot and heavy and fast. Hamilton was a part of the Resistance? Is he the reason my mother got dobbed in in the first place? What on god's earth had the Colony come too if there was an uprising at foot?

I know Tom didn't say it directly, but somehow I knew Hamilton was wrapped deeper into this plot than I had anticipated.

My mother is dead and Hamilton is to blame for it. 

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