Chapter 5—Illuminated Girls

As Micaela put on a cute white dress with a short ruffled skirt, she made a decision. The Enclave was not so bad, and she thought she'd enjoy her time here. The room she was given was surprisingly spacious, with a fully equipped living room and kitchen, and a bedroom that came with a king-sized bed. She was even given a catalog in case she wanted to change anything out, but the walk-in closet filled with a variety of outfits made that slip from her mind. Did she care that they somehow fit her perfectly? Yes, but after going toe-to-toe with a god, she decided she'd allow herself some pleasant surprises. That's part of why she called Keke Darling, in fact, and enjoyed the lap of luxury as a limo took her from one unit to the other.

Unit Two was much the same as the ones she had seen already, except for the studio that took up miles in the back. This was the starlet unit, she supposed, and the part of her that still thought like Cerulean wondered if each unit had that kind of purpose. Were the people in this one better fit for the stage? Were the people in three better meant to lead? The Adale part of her seemed to be thinking the same, trying to deduce the reason behind the structures and how she could use it to her advantage. That was somewhat alarming, but rather than dwell on it, Micaela made her way to Keke’s apartment.

She gasped loudly when she was let inside.

The size was pretty much the same as hers, but Keke had certainly made this place her own; so much of it reflecting who she was. Pictures new and old welcomed you on the walls. A massive screen was drawn down from the ceiling. A guitar sat beside a crescent of a couch, and in the kitchen, there sat a well-stocked bar. Keke sat there now, wearing a particularly short black dress that bore her back and a healthy bit of cleavage. Micaela gasped loudly again when she saw her, and Keke laughed as she shook a bottle of wine.

“Not the subtle type, are you?” Keke said as Micaela joined her. She poured a glass and Micaela took it and sipped.

"No," She said with abundant pride. "Can you imagine being subtle when you want to kiss other girls? How do you subtly say makeout with me?"

Keke laughed again and gestured at her dress. "This is as subtle as I get." Micaela took it in again and caught herself nodding.

“Then we’re on the same page.”

Keke laughed for the third time and Micaela realized it had a strong effect on her. She settled in at the bar, preparing to hear that laugh all night.

“I gotta say, I like you Micaela. Last girl I invited wasn’t nearly as funny.”

“I like you too. The last four girls I met didn’t give me a chance to be funny.” Not Fang, Celine, the woman with Corrosion, and especially not Adale.

“Busy night?” Keke gave her a coy smile.

“You have no idea!” Micaela exclaimed.

“I would if you told me.”

She cocked an eyebrow. "Don't know if I can, the boss might be mad." She meant Fang but thought of the administrator too.

“The short dark-skinned girl with the braids?”

“Yeah, her.”

Keke sipped and swirled her drink, clearly thinking.

“What if I promise it’ll stay in this room?”

Micaela’s eyes drifted to an unlit corner. She wondered if the darkness was alive, or if something lurking in it would get her in trouble.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ve had some real convos before, I know the city gets crazy.” Keke said after another sip.

“But like, how crazy?”

“Well, promise me this won’t get back to your boss.”

Micaela’s eyes drifted to the darkness again, then back. “She won’t hear it from me.”

Keke looked at her glass, and some of the warmth left her smile.

“One of my exes was a Grade B. We used to sit at this bar and talk all the time.” She laughed suddenly then. “God, I’m talking about an ex! What a faux pas, Keke.”

Micaela laughed, “ I bet talking about mine would be worse.”

“Yeah?”

“I cried about her.”

Keke laughed something between shocked and apologetic. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you!”

"Micaela smiled, "You're laughing at my honesty, right?"

Keke smiled. "Yeah. It's refreshing." Seeing the warmth come back made Micaela feel good. However, it was short-lived. "So, she was a Grade B and she went out into the city a lot. People used to obsess over how we were dating and let me tell you, she was vain in the right way. She loved making our dates performances. The starlet and the grade ate at this new shop in Unit One today, and Keke was wearing the prettiest little necklace. Was this a gift from the city? Find out later. Yada yada. It was a lot but it was fun. Times with her were always fun until she came back from one mission that just…changed her.”

If it could rain in the Enclave, Micaela thought she might have imagined the soaked Grade appearing at Keke's door. Instead, it was just a tired woman with too-tired eyes. Keke's story went that Lauren came knocking hard, and almost collapsed into her arms.

"What's wrong, babe?" She carried her to the couch.

“It’s not just grays out there.” Lauren almost whimpered, holding her head.

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s not just grays!” Lauren said more forcefully; more panicky as if she suddenly saw something that made its way inside her.

“Babe, pull it back, I don’t get what you mean.”

Lauren took a moment to calm herself, level her mind, and become a fraction of what a Grade was supposed to be.

“When we go out there, we’re never just dealing with the same stuff as scouts. They deal with grays, maybe push them back, maybe find survivors. We Grades though? Our only job is to look for survivors, and that always means dealing with some kind of monster in some kind of nest.” Lauren was still clearly shaken.

Presently, Micaela wondered if Grades always fought demons.

The story went that the battles were never easy, but always worth it. Despite the pain, despite the threat to their lives, a party of any Grade could face what they were dealing with, so long as it wasn’t a grade above. It wasn’t even that circumstances were different that time, at least not as far as the battle went. The same struggles, the same celebrations. It should have been easy to take that monster down. It was easy to take that monster down, but they didn’t do so fast enough. Lauren didn’t know why this instance went so far downhill but…

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“It killed all the survivors.” That was what was haunting her. “I don’t know why! They never attacked survivors before. It always seemed like they needed them! But it killed all of them. Every last one. Man, woman, child. It was so fuckin horrible, Keke, and I couldn’t do anything! Was it being spiteful? Did it do that just so we couldn’t save them?” Lauren was on the verge of tears, and Keke had no answers. She hugged her ex instead, and that night, there were only tears.

Keke took a deep sip. “Way to bring the mood down, right?”

Micaela shook her head. Between Adale and her mind, she knew exactly what happened.

“It thought it could get stronger by taking their light.” She said it matter-of-factly, answering a question that was haunting the woman. She watched it leave her eyes.

“The monster?”

“Yeah. It probably got the wrong idea about the survivors and figured that, if it killed them, it’d gain power to survive.”

But it was just a demon, not something like Adale or the Arbiter. It didn’t offer sanctuary away from hell, just promised hell was worse. It was just a fool playing a poor performance. Micaela didn’t say any of that, though, choosing something far simpler, less haunting.

“All it could see was how their lives took something from it.” It still left a bad taste.

Keke sighed hard. “I wish Lauren could hear that. She blamed herself and became more…intense… When grading started again, she rose to Grade A. I haven’t seen her since.”

“That’s a helluva way to get ghosted.”

“I know, right? Like, girl, can I get a text or something? Can we try to figure it out together?”

The two laughed, letting the tension evaporate. After a moment, the warmth returned to Keke’s smile, and she refilled their glasses.

“So, you’ve dealt with stuff like that?”

“A lot! Even before the boss came around. It was so normal that it wasn’t until I was on the front line that I thought about it. Now, I haven’t stopped thinking about it! The world sucks! And I don’t just get to be a normal girl on a date with a hottie, I gotta think about how tomorrow it’s back to the lab again, because I would never be all right looking away.”

“Gonna throw your name away and become a number?” Keke smirked.

“No!” Micaela shrieked. “I’m already pass that part. If Fang and the others graduated, I did too.”

Keke guffawed. “You said you ain’t doing any retests.”

“I’m not! You can’t make me.”

Keke kept laughing until tears fell from her eyes. Micaela joined her, certain they were both feeling the drink. When they stopped, their faces were flushed and there was an intense look in Keke’s eyes.

"I guess my type is driven girls." The smile she gave made Micaela shudder and brushed hair behind her ear.

“It’s so funny hearing that. I wasn’t that driven before tonight.”

“Sometimes it takes a rough night, you know? Like, I wasn’t Keke Darling after the Overcast. I felt like just another helpless girl.”

“What was that like for you?” For a survivor, as opposed to a radiant acolyte like herself. Micaela cursed her mind for the curiosity.

“Sad.” Keke answered with a sigh. “I got here early. Someone who knew someone evacuated me and my people before it got too bad. A bunch of injured people started pouring in though, and it didn’t feel like we had enough resources for all of them. A lot of the adults around me argued about that a lot.” She took a sip. “And nobody cared about Keke Darling anymore. We didn’t need child stars.”

“What changed?”

“Things got better. More survivors came, but we had more stuff, not less. Then I started hearing stories, you know? Like, “Y’all heard about what Slasher did?” or, “Y’all hear about that boy, Savior? He got people praying again.” There were stories about this intimidating woman they called Shogun. Scouts were following her like she had her own platoon and everything. Then there were these epic as hell stories about this guy we called Legend. Don’t even get me started about him!”

Legend…? Wasn’t that the nickname Khalaf claimed? No, Micaela wouldn’t get her started.

“People changed,” Keke smiled. “And then we got Grades, and people stopped worrying about the world ending. When things got even better, they wanted soaps, talk shows, and sports back.”

Micaela laughed, “So much different from Cerulean.”

“That where you came from?”

“Yeah,” Micaela scoffed. “Cerulean was not about letting you forget the city, even if you never went out there. We were at war with it. All we knew was war, and that the royal family would save us.” But they couldn’t even save themselves.

Keke nodded, “I’ve interviewed survivors who talked about places like that and how they were happy the enclave was different.”

“I wish I could meet some. I want to know what surviving was like for them.”

“Talk to most Numbers. So many of them are survivors.”

“Why are they Numbers? I don’t wanna deal with this.”

“You totally do though, just not out there.” Keke nudged her and laughed. Micaela laid her head on the counter.

“You’re so right.” She moaned and Keke nudged her again.

“Just say you wanna be a hero, girl.”

“No! I just wanna lay down and smooch girls.”

The two laughed together again and Keke took Micaela’s arm, pulling her over to the couch.

"All right, let's get to smooching then, but we're watching something too."

Make it lesbian!”

“Sapphic romcom!”

They cheered and the room darkened as the screen lit up. Micaela scooted closer to Keke, ready to settle in, but in the back of her mind, Adale asked a question.

“What do you think made you a survivor?”

“Like, instead of a Gray?”

Micaela nodded, and Keke stroked her chin.

“I got too much wine in me to think right now. Maybe we should have ate first. You feeling pizza?”

Micaela was feeling pizza, but Adale was a persistent spec.

“Yeah, but I’m real curious!”

“I always thought about it, real talk. Being where I was, with the people I was with, and you know what? I think it was that we really didn’t know what was going on. Like, we didn’t try to lie to ourselves or anything. We were just in the dark, and we accepted it… or something…”

“That makes sense.” From what Micaela knew about the dark disciples, it made perfect sense.

“Right? Like, who hears a heartbeat and think they know what’s up?”

“You heard a heartbeat?” Micaela’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t?”

She didn’t. She remembered a voice that soothed and inspired, that sounded like a welcome.

“I heard someone call out to me, saying, my child.” Micaela closed her eyes. When she opened them, Keke was looking at her curiously.

The look went on until she seemed to realize she was staring

“Sorry, I just realized I never thought much about the end of the world.”

“Yeah…let’s not do that. Movie?” Micaela silenced Adale’s stirring. “The end of the world is out there. I’m in here. It’s me and you.”

Keke threw an arm around her. “Yeah, let’s leave out there to the things out there!” She clicked on a movie, and snuggled Micaela close…

Meanwhile, as the movie began and went on, things out there made moves…

[Chapter 5 ends...]