Chapter 38
“Emmy?”
“Marco?”
“I’m here.”
“It’s about time, Marco.”
“I did my best.”
“Now what?”
“You have to decide.”
“I’ve already decided on a transitory life with you.”
“They tracked me. I have no choice.”
“I figured that.”
“No other way for me to get in here to see you.”
“You mean to hear me.”
“It’s a start.”
“You met A.M.?”
“Yes, nice old lady.”
“She has a plan?”
“The plan is ours.”
“What is it?”
“You can’t travel with me.”
“What are you talking about? I know we can’t leave the institution together, but after we leave, can’t we meet out and go our way as a couple?”
“The Mod would never allow it. A.M. can only engineer so much. I’ll have to leave before my shift ends. Then go my way. Make it look like you rejected me. Otherwise who knows what the Mod might do to us.”
“What about me?”
“A.M. could get you out of here.”
“Could?”
“We can’t go it together.”
“What’s the point in going alone?”
“We could meet in a safe zone a few days walk from here, longer still if following a path to avoid the patrol. The Mod will be accosting all couples traveling together. We’ll never make it that far as a pair.”
“What safe zone?”
“A park.”
“The Reserve?”
“Yes.”
“Members of the Mod live outside the park.”
“They surround it, Emmy.”
“Then how will we make it into the Reserve?”
“We’ll have to figure that out individually.”
“I don’t even know what it is, the Reserve.”
“The Fed protects it. Once we're within the Reserve’s boundaries, the Mod cannot bother us. We’ll be free.”
“You know this firsthand?”
“Rumors.”
“We’re going to build a life on rumors?”
“I don’t have much else to go on.”
“Anything is better than this place.”
“And then we can be together, Emmy.”
“If we both make it.”
“Don’t lose hope.”
“I don’t even know what that word means anymore.”
“You’ve changed.”
“I heard you shaved your head?”
“That I did.”
“Has it been tough out there?”
“Hasn’t been easy.”
“Is there really violence?”
“Some. No place for a woman. I’m not sure you should follow me.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I could come back to you after you finish your studies. They won’t try to stop us then.”
“We don’t know that. Who can predict the next loophole?”
“But you’d be safe in here. Out there, I can’t protect you until we meet in the Reserve. Not many women would risk it.”
“I’m risking it. With or without you, I’m going out.”
“You have changed.”
“Is that bad?”
“No, I like it. You’re still good, just not nice. You’re fiery, and you’re going to need it.”
“What else, Marco? What else am I going to need?”
“A.M. will lead you to a pack. Things I’ve collected to help you along, things that served me. I’ll be fine without.”
“You’re going to make it to the Reserve with nothing but your clothes?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll have you.”
“How?”
“I’m keeping one thing.”
“You didn’t take a picture of me.”
“Not your picture, your voice. I found a pair of walkies in the collector’s things. You’ll have one, I’ll have the other.”
“What’s a walkie?”
“Walkie-talkie. People used to use them to talk at a distance, a technological device for communicating.”
“After all this, you’re going to compromise?”
“They’re an old technology. All things have their use.”
“Marco?”
“Plus, the batteries are dead.”
“Then how will we hear each other?”
“Some things must be taken on faith.”
“Well, you take your faith and get out of here while you still can. I’ll use the walkie and meet you in the Reserve.”
“Later, Emmy.”
“Love and all that.”
“All that."