Zack tossed left and right, a scream bubbling just underneath the surface like the growl of a lion. Was there was no drowning it out? He would have found the eighty credits, damn it, even the one hundred and twenty if paying it would stop the adverts. He always felt like this after one of Ronson’s concoctions. Why did he never learn? He shot up from the bed like one of the old springs of the mattress had finally broken free, his head pounding.
“I haven’t got it!” he yelled at nobody. “I haven’t got scabies. I haven’t got…..” He was interrupted by the knocking of his door. He opened it to see Leonard standing on the other side in the same clothes he was in the night before, just like Zack was wearing, and just like every other citizen of Delta Tower. There was a small group of children playing musical rags in the corridor, only it was without the music because none of the children were old enough to know what real music sounded like. In its place they sang the perma-happy jingles from the adverts as if they too were conspiring with Omega Tower to get you to work harder for extra credits. Brainwashing, Zack thought.
“So, you haven’t got scabies. I think the whole of level thirty knows that now.” Leonard was smiling, an impulse of anticipation running through him. “But you do look terrible,” he said as he began inspecting Zack’s face, even raising a thumb up to his cheek and pulling down on it so that he could see the inside of his eye socket. “Didn’t you sleep last…..” He stopped talking as his eyes fell on the pillow that Zack had discarded by the door. “Is that it? Is that for me?” Leonard didn’t wait for a reply and instead crouched down, one hand on his knee for support, and scooped up the cushion as if he was picking up a newborn baby.
“Yeah, that’s it,” said Zack, calming down thanks to the distraction of conversation. “Told you I would get it. You were asleep when I got back. I could hear you snoring.” This was a lie, but it could have been true. The dust in Delta irritated Leonard’s nose and not many sleeps passed without Zack being disturbed by Leonard’s breathing.
Leonard caressed and squeezed the pillow with his crooked fingers, oblivious to the marks and stains on the cover which no doubt penetrated all the way through. He folded it over double and with both hands brought it up to his ear, tipping his head lopsided to meet it. Without another word Leonard began hobbling out of Zack’s room and into his own, where he placed the pillow on top of another one, equally thin and stained, and he swung his feet up onto the bed. Zack followed him to the door. It was hard not to feel sad that such a small and pathetic offering could instil such contentment, but Leonard’s feelings were genuine. Contentedness was a hard emotion to evoke in Delta Tower. He imagined, in any of the towers. Perhaps with the exception of Omega, where no doubt everybody always felt like their Omega-self.
“Are you sure you didn’t get in trouble for this?” Zack shook his head. “It’s wonderful. Tonight I’ll be able to sleep and tomorrow I’ll be able to meet my quota, save up my credits.”
“It was no problem,” Zack said, feeling pleased at the positivity that his actions had created. He had made somebody happy. He had made somebody’s life easier. If only he had learnt to do that before the bombs came. “Plus, I got a little something for my efforts.” Leonard sat up, looked at Zack as if he were looking over an invisible pair of glasses perched on the tip of his nose.
“You ought to stay away from that stuff they concoct down there. Go down, do your business, and get out. You don’t know what they’re cooking up.”
“An escape, my friend,” said Zack as he pushed Leonard aside and tested out the pillows. He pursed his lips in experimental appreciation. “Not bad. Not bad.” He sat back up, both of them on the edge of the bed like a couple of nervous teenagers. “Don’t worry about me, Leo. I’m alright.”
“You won’t be if you take that junk.” Leonard shook his head left to right, disappointed that it was his request that had sent him down there. “At least I know why you look so rough today.”
“I always look this rough,” Zack said standing up. “Shall we?” Zack pulled Leonard’s ration card from the wall-mounted box and handed it to him as they left the room.
After Zack had retrieved his own card, he and Leonard walked along the corridors to the Food Hall. There were three Food Halls in Delta tower. One on fifth, which was only for the Guardians. They were the people who worked for the Department for Behavioural Regulation and Order, and they supposedly protected the tower and kept order. There were stories of improved rations, better food, and you only had to look one of the Guardians to know it was true. Fifth floor was like their epicentre, as legendary and elusive as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. There was no other place in Delta Tower where you would find a higher concentration of Guardians all in one place, or so he had heard. You couldn’t even get through the doors of fifth floor, and the lift needed a key in order to select that destination. There was another on the upper floors, forty seventh Zack thought, where nobody bothered to go if they didn’t have to. The other was on twenty fifth, the place that Zack and Leonard ate.
“You do know they have announced another lottery, don’t you?” Leonard said, breaking the silence as they pushed open the doors to the Food Hall. The noise hit Zack like a mallet right between the eyes. His head was throbbing and he needed water. Stat.
“No,” Zack said, his head shooting round, his eyes following shortly afterwards. His brain felt like it was grating against his skull. Whatever was in that tablet, or the Moonshine, had left him feeling like utter shit. He had obviously missed the news about the lottery in the same way he had missed the first bell. But with the thought of another lottery it was impossible not to allow the mind to wander into the realm of fantasy. Just imagine the outcome if his number, eight thousand six hundred and fifty two, was the number drawn. Without thinking, the thumb from his right hand reached over and worked its way over the black numbers and triangle tattooed onto his left wrist.
“Yeah. It was announced last night. I’m surprised that you didn’t hear anything about it on your way back upstairs.”
“I was pretty wasted,” Zack admitted. Leonard shook his head again. “When will it be?” He looked around the Food Hall at the people waiting in line. At first he had thought his headache responsible for his intolerance of the noise, but on second glance he could see that there was a buzz about the place. A new Omega Lottery always did this to people. It stirred them up, gave them a new topic, a new hope. It was the Cinderella tale that everybody hoped would be theirs.
“They just announced soon.” The excitement on Leonard’s face had been replaced by a hint of something from the past. Disappointment. Zack could detect it well. It was the last emotion he took with him from the old world. “You know, that stuff has really started messing with your brain, Zachary. What am I going to tell you? Next Saturday? What day do you think it is today? Neither of us have a clue what day it is so how would they be able to announce when it will be?” Zack couldn’t bring himself to agree, even though he knew Leonard was right. He reached over and picked up a food tray, hoping that eating would help his hangover.
The time between now and the lottery would be different to normal. People would be talkative, interested in their neighbour all of a sudden. There would be sporadic outbreaks of fighting and arguments over items like water, food, or clothing. People no longer knew how to manage how they felt, because they had got so used to not feeling anything positive that when you threw excitement and hope into the mix it disrupted the balance. With the lottery happening, people would be bombarded by emotions which they had buried. The realisation of what their lives had become would surface. Like oil on water. A new lottery disturbs their ability for acceptance. They realise for one person there will be another future. That it could be them. That there might be something left worth fighting for, even if the battle is out of their hands. Zack wondered if Leonard knew that he wasn’t eligible on account of his age. Perhaps he was just playing along, like with a television game show at home with no chance at the cash prize.