Born 01 - Born

burst from me.
    Serge is standing at the back of the truck. He gives me a look and grabs my ankle.
    "Let's go." He drags me from the truck. I drag the little girl with me. She won't let go.
    I see something I haven’t seen in along time. A huge shiny white building stands surrounded by a parking lot with cars parked in between the lines. There are no vines or grass growing up the sides of the building. It's clean and sparkly like before. The pavement is flat and new. There are no cracks or weeds growing up through it. There are no cars burned out or missing all the parts. The cars are real and whole. They even shine.
    My feet hit the ground with a thud. His fingers dig into my shoulders. "Don’t move."
    The little blonde is standing next to me holding my hand. She is hiding in the curves of my body.
    Serge digs his gun into my ribs. "Move."
    The men are jumping into the truck and hauling screaming and sobbing women from the back, where they’ve watched me be dragged. I walk toward the huge building. It's five stories high and looks very long.
    The little girl curls into me as Serge jabs me again with the barrel of the gun.
    I shoot him a dirty look. He winks at me.
    I hear screaming in the truck behind me. I look back to see several women walking with us, mostly the young ones. Few guards are with us. The rest are jumping into the back of the truck. My stomach curdles.
    Serge shakes his head. "Don’t watch," he whispers and hits me with the gun again. I can see the regret in his eyes. Shame crosses his face. He knows I know. He would have been in the back of the truck with the screaming women chosen to stay behind. I can hear the tearing and screaming. It always sounds the same.
    I shake my head and squeeze the blonde into me. She clutches me tightly. I look around and make sure the other little girls are with us. I think I see them all. I want to take Serge's gun and kill the guards and save the women in the truck.
    Instead, we walk through a door and a blast of frigid air hits me.
    Serge has the gun in my ribs again. I remember the feeling of the cold air. It brings a memory with it. My dad and me at the mall. He hated all the people, but he needed to get some things. I smile and remember the carousel. I'd never seen anything like it. He put a dollar in the machine and I climbed on. The horse had dark golden hair like mine. I gripped it and the machine started. The joy that hangs in the cold air fills me with bravery and courage for a minute.
    A doctor walks toward me with a white spaceman suit on. He grabs my arm and tries to separate me and the blonde. She screams and I grip her arms. I wish she could have ridden the carousel. She would have liked it.
    "She stays with me."
    The doctor rolls his eyes behind the plastic and nods. "Fine. In you go." He points to a hallway. I walk down it and am pushed through a door.
    Serge is against me and whispering in my ears, "I will come for you. Be ready. I will send you a message. I won't let you die in here."
    "Get off her, soldier." The doctor sounds funny behind his mask. Serge pushes me one more time.
    I'm gripping the little girl and standing in front of a door. It opens suddenly. A lady in a space suit peers out. She smiles at me with bright pink lipstick behind the plastic. "Come this way, my dear."
    Her voice is sweet.
    I glance back at Serge and the other girls being led to the hallway where I stand.
    Serge turns the corner but steals another glance at me before he vanishes.
    My arm is taken and we are led into a huge room.
    The lady bends on a knee to the little blonde hiding in my armpit. "What's your name, sweetie?"
    The blonde shakes her head and nuzzles into me further.
    I look at the woman and frown. "She has never seen a space suit."
    The lady looks up at me confused. "What?"
    I point to her white suite. "She hasn’t ever seen one of these. She probably doesn’t think you're human."
    The lady laughs, "You know, in ten years of doing this job, I never thought about that." She looks back down at the little girl, "Am I scaring you?"
    The blonde holds me tighter. The lady is a moron.
    "You are," I say.She stands and points to the huge white tubes. "Well, we have something for you two to do, and then you can be cleared to be around people without the decontamination suits."
    I hold the shaking child to me and walk to the tube.
    I try to step away from her, but silent tears are pouring from her bright blue eyes. I look at her. "Want to get something to