Beth is sitting across from me in our secret room. Her brown curls fall across her shoulder as she flicks through a book, no doubt on the ancient civilisation.

"Did you know that they used to have sheep?" she says, not looking up from the books yellowed pages. "And they'd use the wool to make gorgeous garments?"

I smile at her. "No, I didn't."

"Well, they did something called knit," she says, looking up at me with a smile. "Maybe one day, I'll own some sheep and I'll make us both garments?"

"I can't wait for that day," I say, as I finally unscrew the jammed screw in the ancient topside radio I'm tinkering with.

She smiles going back to her book.

Elizabeth Raff was the prettiest girl in the whole Colony. She outranked every other girl our age and if I was going to die of old age as the last human on earth, I wanted her to be there until the very end. Her gray eyes stood out against her olive skin. The curls of her head shaped her oval face nicely. If she wasn't sitting in this room with me, I'd think she was an hallucination.

It wasn't an understatement to say that I loved her wholeheartedly. If I didn't have a job to go to as a certified engineer, I would make love to her endlessly.

Beth probably would too, in between reading her books.

"Hey, I'm hungry. Do you have any snacks?" she suddenly says, looking across at me.

"No," I say. Shit! I forgot to bring snacks. I was supposed to keep her away from what was about to happen. That was the deal, Beth wasn't supposed to see what was going to happen in the next few minutes. But surely they'd finished up already? It had been three hours since I got Beth to come down to the secret room.

Sheepishly, I say, "Shall we go find some?"

She nods. "Absolutely!"

I stand, leaving the radio on the table and walk over to her. I offer her my hand. "Ladies first."

She smiles up at me. "If you insist."

She takes my hand and I pull her up to her feet. She brushes off the dust on her pants and I lead her out of the door, making sure the hallway is clear before we exit.

The hallway is stuff with heat down on the third floor. The grow labs produce so much excess heat it makes my brow sweat. I wipe it away as we ascend the staircase to the second floor.

I can hear her stomach grumble as we get closer to her level and her room. Room 203 was hers. A magical number that housed the most magical girl if you ask me.

As we reach the top of the stairs and open the airlock door, a rush of cool air cloaks our skin. The breeze is nice after the stuffiness of our secret room. 

I lead her down the hallway towards her room. It's a long walk. We're only at room 7806. I don't mind the walk though. I get to spend it with Beth. 

I get to marvel at the way her curls bounce over her shoulders as she walks and the way she draws her lips into a thin line when she's thinking. 

We reach block 1 which contains units 1-1000. 

"Why is it so quiet down here?" she asks out of the blue.

I gulp, looking away. I can guess why. 

"Ham? Do you know something?"

"No," I say. I just hoped the guards had finished already.

But it appeared we wouldn't be that lucky today. We could hear a crowd of people shouting from further down the block. It echoes loud in my ears. I slow my pace. Beth didn't need to see what was waiting for her. 

"What's happening?" Beth asks, quickening her pace.

We round the corner and there, in front of her unit is a crowd of people. They back the hallway, climbing on each other to see the spectacle that I know has only just begun. I gulp. I've brought her back to early.

We stop a hundred units from hers at the back of the crowd. She turns to the person standing next to her.

"What's going on?"

"They've come for the lady that lives in unit 203," the lady in her mid-forties says.  

Beth's face goes pale.

"That's my Mom," she whispers.

The guards begin shouting at everyone to stand back. The crowd doesn't move but I feel Beth's hand slip out of mine.

"Beth!" I shout after her.

She begins weaving in and out of the crowd like a sardine. I follow her out of desperation, pushing horrified bodies at of the way. 

"Mom!" she shouts.

I follow her, reaching her as she breaks through the crowd.

"Mom!" she screams again, trying to rush forward. A guard pushes her back before I can reach her causing the crowd to sway backwards. I trip over my feet. I have to get her before she attempts it again.

I reach an arm out for her as she lurches forward. 

"I said, GET BACK!" the guard yells, hitting her head with the butt.  

The crowd falls silent as Beth falls to her knees clutching her head. Blood begins to drip from between her fingers. I can see the anger seething underneath her skin. She stands but before she can attack the guard, I grab her waist.

"Don't," I tell her.

 Behind the guard, Beth's mom is held by her elbows by two much taller guards. 

"Mom!" she shouts.

Beth's mom spots Beth and I. "Beth!?"

"Mom! Let her go!" She struggles against my grip.

"Beth stay there!" her mom shouts back. "It'll be alright."

"Let her go!"

The guard ignores her and instead pulls out a parchment of paper. 

"You have been found guilty of coordinating the Resistance and spreading propaganda about the Council. You are hereby sentenced to death."

"Mom!" Beth screams. She tries reaching for her mom, but the hold I have on her waist pulls her back into my chest. "Mom!"

"I love you," Beth's mom shouts to her.

Beth is screaming, kicking and scratching me. I never thought I would feel such rage come out of her. I can feel her nails scrape away at my skin, drawing blood that trickles down my arms and onto the ground. But I don't let go. I can't. She has to stay alive. 

"MOM!"

Beth's mom doesn't argue with the guards as she is pushed down onto her knees.

"What is going on?" I hear a frightened spectator shout. 

I stare in disbelief. The plan is going horribly wrong. No one is ever killed this way. There's always a trial and they're always sentenced to death topside. She's supposed to be taken topside. 

Beth is dragging her nails deeper into my skin. 

"Let go of me!" she shrieks.

No! No! No! This was all going so wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to die like this!

But don't. I don't even hear her as they inject her mom with some kind of serum. I don't let go of her as her mom slumps forward and slides to the ground.

The guard turns to everyone who is watching in shocked silence.

"From now on, anyone caught stealing, spreading Resistance propaganda or acting out of order will be killed on the spot. The order must be kept! Long live the Colony!"

Panic begins to rise amongst the crowd as the guard marks Beth's house with red tape. They leave the body on the ground and begin marching away. The crowd parts for them, not daring to make eye contact in case they too are killed. 

I finally drop Beth and she rushes forward. I never thought they'd catch Beth's mom. Beth never knew about her mom's involvement in the recent rumors but to her they were just rumors and nothing else. To her, her mom was golden and could do no wrong, but she was unaware her mom was fighting for the freedom of everyone in here.

The population was declining. Beth's mom wanted us to explore the world on top of us to find a solution. But the Council were damned if that was going to happen.

Beth could never know my involvement in this. 

I walk up to Beth who is holding her mom's head in her lap. The tears are flowing freely from her cheeks as she clutches at the lifeless body.

"Why her?" she asks me.

I gulp. "I don't know."

But she's not a fool. She sees straight through me. I touch her shoulder, she shoves it off. 

"You! You did this! I could have saved her if it wasn't for you!"

She's not wrong. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry!?" she screams. "Sorry doesn't even begin to describe it! She's dead!"

"I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"Sure you did! You knew that holding me back meant I couldn't get to her!"

I gulp. Again, she's not wrong. "I couldn't let you die too. I love you!"

"If you really loved me," she spat. "You would have let me die for her!"

"Beth..." I say.

"I hate you!" she spits.

And there it was. The words cut through my chest like a knife cutting me in two. I saved her but she didn't see it that way. She doesn't know I ratted her mom out but she does know I was the one person holding her back from saving her mom.

And I knew she hated me for it.