25

 

“I want to go home.”

My words are simple, but Keegan’s eyes widen and he stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Are you sure about that?”

“I have to talk to my dad. I need a few answers.”

He shakes his head and turns to look out the windows. The room on the eighteenth floor gets more crowded every few hours, and our cramped space isn’t great for privacy. I wish I could pull him away now and talk to him. Tell him why I want to go. I want to feel like I can tell him anything, the way I used to. Before testing or mutations. Before Fischer.

But things have been weird between us ever since he came. He’s not sure how I feel about Fischer, and I’m not sure how he feels about Lilith.

“I don’t think it’s safe to leave.” He keeps his gaze outside.

I grab his arm and draw close to him. “Please, Keegan. I need to see him.”

He narrows his eyes as he studies me, but finally he nods. “OK. If that’s what you need, we’ll give it a try.”

Relief washes over me and I close my eyes. Leaning my forehead on his arm, I say, “Thank you.”

I glance up at him again, but his face doesn’t show the adoration it used to. He’s frustrated with me. With us.

Maybe he’s as confused as I am.

“When did you want to leave? If we go now we’ll have to walk, but if you can wait, I think I can get a car. Middle City 3 is a two hour drive from here.” He would know, since he’s travelled back and forth multiple times. His gaze moves beyond my shoulder to the nothing and everything out the window.

I don’t question how getting a car is possible. He obviously has his ways, and I’m not about to complain about saving my feet a day-long walk.

He disappears sometime after everyone eats breakfast. Even without the Greaters rationing our food, no one eats much. This food has to last for who knows how long.

My mind wanders while Keegan is gone. Everything has worked out as well as we’d hoped. As well as I’d hoped.

I got out of Lesser 4. Of course, I wouldn’t have made it without Isabel’s help. She told me to have a blessed day, but she was my blessing. God put her in my path, and now I’m beginning to wonder if it wasn’t for more than just getting me out of that city.

What secrets does she hold? Whatever they are, they were enough to get her demoted.

We found Fischer and then Keegan. Not only that, but we found a place to stay, food to eat, and even weapons to defend ourselves.

It’s crazy to believe we’ve done all of this, but really I know it’s because the opposite is true. We haven’t done any of it—God has.

I stand at the windows of the eighteenth floor and stare at the ruins below. Why would God care about helping me? I can’t possibly be that important to Him. He has an entire world to care about.

A memory of Mr. Elders comes to mind. We were on the riverboat in Middle 3 when he spoke about God. He said God loves us. God loves me, specifically.

But maybe He isn’t doing all of this for only me. Maybe it’s so that all the other people can learn about His love, too. Because right now they aren’t hearing it at all.

Sadness twists in my gut, but it’s short lived. Something moves at the edge of the ruins. It is just a flash of movement behind one of the buildings, and I grip the edge of the windowsill as I lean forward for a better look.

It blurs between two buildings again. There isn’t time to see what it is, but whatever it is, it’s moving closer.

Then it bursts around a corner two blocks away, and I gasp. It’s a car! A car zips closer to the skyscraper.

Les shouts when he spots it from a few feet away, and he and his rats bolt for the stairs. It’s only a moment later I realize it’s probably Keegan.

What if they shoot him?

Not for the first time, I wish we hadn’t found the guns. Running after them, I shout as I descend the stairs. “It’s Keegan!”

But no one stops.

They’re outside long before I reach the bottom, and I brace myself for the deafening shots I heard at the prison outside of Greater City.

None come. Thank God.

I skip the steps that caved in on the second landing and reach the bottom as Keegan marches inside. His flared nostrils and set jaw tell me he’s not happy.

He stops short when he sees me, and I watch as he tries to adjust his expression. “Ready to go?”

I glance out the door at Les and the rats circling the car. “Is everything OK?”

He growls and nods. “Those goons think this car belongs to them. Let’s go.”

We hurry to the car and Les scowls but backs off. I glance up and a movement catches my eyes. It comes from the window at our floor. It’s only as we pull away I realize it’s Fischer. Who knows what’s going through his mind as we pull away, but I put it aside.

“How did you get this thing?”

“I sneaked inside the city.”

“You what?”

He laughs and glances at me. “Lilith has a car, and Lilith has almost unlimited travel allowances. She’s an often-requested performer, even if she is in training.”

Lilith. So the boy on the campus was right—Lilith is Keegan’s girl.

I shift to hide how much this bothers me. “And no one questioned you as you drove out of the city?”

“She drove out. I hid in the trunk. Outside the city she let me take over, and I told her how to get back in the city. She’s going to report back to training and claim they must have forgotten to log her back into the city.”

“That’s a risky move, isn’t it? How often do the guards make that mistake?”

He shrugs. “She didn’t like it, but she didn’t put up a fight. She’s starting to realize the Greaters’ way of life is over. Things are slipping inside the city, and she’s seeing it.”

Silence falls over us as his words sink in. Life isn’t what we thought it was going to be.

“Want to tell me what kind of questions you need to ask your dad?” His words are soft and considerate, not probing or demanding.

I consider the question. What am I supposed to say? Mom lied to me? Maybe to Dad, too. I hadn’t considered whether or not he knows the truth. I just assumed he did, but he might be in the dark. If so, I’ll never know if Isabel tells the truth or is mistaken about who I am.

“Isabel says she knew my mom.” I pause and look at my hands. “When they lived together in Greater City.”

I chance a peek at Keegan. He stares straight ahead, a slight frown on his lips. “Do you believe her? You haven’t known her long, and she did come from Lesser 4.”

A defense rises up my throat—I came from Lesser 4, too. But I don’t speak it. He doesn’t mean anything by it. “I don’t know. She’s trustworthy. I know she is. But about this? I just want to know the truth.”

He nods and we continue on in silence. No other vehicles drive the long road between cities, but I suspect no one would give us a second glance if they did see us. No one would expect to see a car on the streets without permission.

“Will you go see your mom?”

He stares straight ahead again, his jaw firm. Finally, he gives a shake of his head. “It’s best not to put her in danger.”

He’s right, yet I feel that’s all I’ve done is put everyone in danger.

Once we’re closer to the city, Keegan hides the car and we make the rest of the trip on foot. It’s not hard to get into Middle City 3 from our location on the far side of the Mississippi River. In fact, I’m not sure why I never considered it before.

No fence wraps around the grounds at the river’s bank. The guards just take it on faith that no one is going to be stupid enough to swim across.

We’re not stupid enough, either. We dart from hiding spot to hiding spot as we look for some way across. Before long we find an old railroad bridge. We learned about railroads in school. They used them in the Early Days, but we don’t have enough gasoline or coal to run them now.

At least, that’s what we were told. I suspect the true reason is they don’t want to spend the gasoline or coal on Middles or Lessers, and the Greaters have a better means of transport.

The bridge is a mile downriver of the place we want to cross, so once we are on the other side we can backtrack. Keegan grabs my hand and we start across the bridge. It’s old, and at least half of the boards between the rails are missing. My foot slips at one point, and I go down to my shin before I stop myself. Pain burns my skin, but it’s nothing compared to falling all the way through. The broken board hits the water below with a dull thud and I can’t help looking. That’s a long drop.

Keegan helps pull me up, and we continue the rest of the way across. He glances at me once we’re on solid ground. “You OK?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I nod. “Thank you for coming with me, Keegan. I wouldn’t have ever made it this far without you.”

He grins, always easy going. “And don’t you forget it.”

The tension between us is gone, at least for now. “OK. Let’s keep moving.”

We cut a path through the tall grass on the levee as we draw closer to the area near our street. We walk until we’re at a place more familiar to both of us. The riverboat where we met Mr. Elders bobs in the water, a reminder of where Keegan’s journey started. The place he first realized the rumors he’d heard about the Greaters were real.

Once we reach the old riverboat, we cross over the levee and make a path through the trees and toward the neighborhoods.

Breathing gets harder with every step forward. We are inside Middle City 3. I am home, a place I haven’t been in months. A place I never thought I’d be again.

“I always knew I’d walk these paths with you again.” Keegan’s words are opposite of my thoughts, and I smile.

He still holds my hand, and suddenly I wonder what I’m doing here. My head is as murky as the Mississippi.

“When all this is done, maybe we can figure out our life. Together. Things will be different, you know?”

His words sadden me. When this fight is over—and a fight is definitely coming—our world will be different. Changed.

I nod, because he’s exactly right. We’re all going to have to figure it out. Except I can’t commit to the together part.

He seems to notice and falls silent.

We come from the trees after making sure no guards roam the streets. Everything looks exactly like it did when I left it. No extra guards or communities for Greaters being built. Just a simple street on a sunny day. Just home.

I freeze when my front door opens, and Dad steps out. I take a deep breath and force myself forward.

It’s now or never.