Cristan
My veins are pulsing as we leave Kit’s hut and make our way over to Trey’s. I glance at Kit, wondering how she can possibly have a vehicle we can use stored out here, when I can’t see anything but the two huts and barren land, but she’s yawning and rubbing at her temple like she has a headache.
She points to the ground and stops. “The huts don’t show up on imaging, but this does, so we hid it underground.”
My confusion lasts a few seconds when she leans down and runs her hand over the dirt.
She finds a rope and grasps it tightly. With a look up at me, she gestures for me to help. “Too heavy for one person,” she explains.
I smile at a puzzled-looking Mallory and drop into the dusty ground and grab a hold of the rope.
My muscles strain with the weight of the dirt on top of what must be a door, I grunt as I pull upwards.
Dirt slides off, causing dust to billow around us, but when I pull the rope back, a small cellar about two meters in height and length, dug into the ground is visible.
The door is made of a heavy timber I’m not familiar with, before I ask where they sourced it, Kit spins on her heel and starts to head back to her hut. “Knock yourself out. I need to check on my patient.”
I frown at her back, then at the drop to the floor, I can just make out something metallic in the bottom, it looks like one of the solar powered scooters from the new city, but if they are from the new city, how’d they get them all the way out here?
Another thought strikes me as Mallory leans over to see what’s inside. “How are we supposed to get it up?”
Kit’s voice carries and I’m pretty sure she’s laughing at me. “There’s a pulley system. I’m sure you’ll figure it all out.”
I shake off her taunt and send a look in Mallory’s direction. She’s pulling the skin from around her nails and chewing her lip as she looks inside what amounts to a cellar.
With a sigh, I ready myself to climb down, not relishing the way my body is screaming at me not to risk aggravating my injuries, but before I can move, Mallory drops her hand and pulls her shoulders back a little. “Let me go.”
My stomach tightens at the concern growing on her face. When was someone worried for me like she is? Never. That’s when.
She doesn’t back away when I step towards her, though I know I must stink to high heaven. I take her hand and soak in the way her fingers fit perfectly into mine. “Are you sure about that?”
She nods and finds her own grin to match mine. “I have a plan.”
I chuckle low as she tugs her hand from mine and releases a long breath like she’s working her way up to whatever it is she plans to do.
I stand beside the open hole in the ground and try not to wince when she drops to her knees then flattens herself so she’s lying belly down in the dirt. “What are you doing?”
She ignores me, too focused on the task at hand. She twists her head to look at me, sweeping her hair behind her ear as she leans over, then abruptly drags her body so her feet are dangling.
I open my mouth to say there is an easier way to climb down, when her head and shoulders disappear in a flash of blonde hair and dust.
I curse and rush to the side, only to find her clinging to a ladder, and slowly making her way down. “You alright?”
She doesn’t reply and I clam my mouth shut in case I distract her. A shadow falls over me causing me to pivot. Kit raises an eyebrow and gestures to the hole. “Told you she’s capable.”
A frown returns as I wait impatiently for Mallory to give me assurance she’s okay. “I never said she wasn’t.”
Kit only shrugs at me. “You know they sent dozens of these out to the Units, Trey and I intercepted one of the drones carrying the pieces.”
I didn’t know. But then I don’t know a lot of what the other Units have. I always assumed their tech was as limited as ours. Apparently, it isn’t.
Her face falls and her voice gets tight as her eyes mist. “Took us two days to put it together and to destroy the G tracking.”
She stares at the ground carrying so much sadness in her posture, it’s hard to know how to respond.
I jam my hands into my pockets and try to say something positive when I feel anything but. “So, are you and Trey a, um paired up now?”
Her head snaps upwards, her eyes wide. “What? Why would you say that?”
It’s my turn to shrug when my cheeks burn. “I saw you together. The night I shot Jackson,” I mumble.
Kit blows out a sigh and runs a hand over her short red hair. “Oh, well, that’s humiliating.”
She swallows hard and looks in the direction of her hut. “I like Trey, I really do. But, he’s not…”
Her eyes linger on the hut and everything clicks rapidly into place. “He’s not Jackson?” I guess.
Kit’s jaw clenches before she nods. She sounds almost desperate when she frowns at me. “Pathetic aren’t I?”
I’m ready to tell her it’s none of my business or my concern when Mallory’s muffled call draws us both away. “Are you okay?” I call down to her.
I’m met with a cheery grin as she grasps the ladder and peers up at us. “I found a bike, lots of food and water, and lots of books.”
She seems so excited, I manage to sound as cheerful as she does when I answer. “Great. Let’s get it up here. We need to get moving.”
Her smile lessens as she holds a dusty book up to the light, a pensive expression on her face as she looks up at Kit and shades her eyes. “Kit can I bring this? I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Kit barks a short laugh. “Sure. But if it’s down here and not in the huts, it’s probably not worth reading.”
Mallory doesn’t seem bothered as she tucks the small book under her arm and starts to climb.
It takes me exactly two seconds to see why Kit probably thinks it’s worthless. The title is familiar, though I only glanced at the electronic version I found.
Why the government must take back control before it’s too late.
It’s propaganda from before the testing began, and I doubt Mallory will like what they had to say back then.
I make sure her attention is on me, when I gesture back down the hole. “We need the bike?”
She looks confused for a moment before red caresses her filthy cheeks. “Oh, sorry. I’ll go back down.”
Kit looks amused and moves to stop Mallory. “I’ll do it. Go read that, it’s important you understand how everything went so wrong so fast.”
Mallory nods slowly, but her eyes are already on the book. And I know she’s going to be consumed with it until she’s read it cover to cover.
My smile returns as she walks away, nose in the book, barely looking as she heads back to Trey’s hut.
Mallory
My shoulder nudges the door frame as I stumble into the hut again. My stomach twists into knots as I read about the origin of the system that separates citizens into categories.
I sink into Trey’s bed, trying to take in as much information as I can. My head starts to feel light as I read the closing statement written five decades ago by who must be Cristan’s grandfather.
It is with the deepest sorrow, that I as leader of this once great city, am forced to such desperate measures to keep order.
As a society, we have lost our way. There are too many among us who have become consumed with greed and selfishness.
We can no longer support those minorities who refuse to adhere to government policy of population control.
Our focus must and rightly should be on the wider communities need rather than individual desire, which only serves to slowly undermine the integrity of our once great city.
A final solution to the disordered behaviour can be found within a scientifically approved testing system our top medical staff has formulated to be as fair and as accurate as possible.
Every citizen over the age of eighteen years of age will undergo rigorous testing to determine where in society they can be of most value and of most benefit to the city.
Testing will become mandatory on solar month November 2071.
We expect your cooperation as we work together to build a new age and create a lasting solution to ensure a strong and prosperous city that you, our law-abiding, voting citizens deserve.
Prime Minister Elect.
I read on, finding nothing that settles the queasy feeling growing in my stomach. If anything, anger starts to build the more I read about the first testing.
There is nothing in the small book to say what happened to the citizens who were deemed too Irrelevant to stay, but I know from meeting the ghosts about some of the secrets the government tried to hide.
Disgust mixes in with my anger as I throw the book aside. I feel Cristan’s presence before his outline fills the doorway.
His smile seems forced as he leans against the door frame and crosses his arms. “We got the bike out. We can leave any time now.”
I know he wants to go, but I can’t go back, not until he explains himself. I lift my chin and make sure I sound strong and confident. “I need to know about your brother.”
Cristan’s eyebrows knot together before he seems to understand I don’t mean Jed. He drops his gaze and mutters. “There’s not a lot to tell. We lived separate lives. He had all the privilege, the chances, he passed his Relevance test with flying colours, while I was raised mostly in the wards as a living science experiment.”
He doesn’t look at me but I’m desperate to understand, so I push as gently as I know how. “Why did they tell you who your father was?”
He does look at me then. With so much hatred I have to hide my flinch. His shoulders go rigid, fists curling at his sides. His voice is almost a growl. “I don’t know. I can only imagine it was to screw with my head and make me even more messed up than I am.”
It seems wrong to nod, so I keep quiet and try to keep my face impassive though I’m sick to my stomach. “Did you know your mother?”
He snorts a bitter laugh. “My biological mother was a surrogate. But yes, I occasionally saw the woman who was supposed to be the donor of my DNA. They came on testing days, don’t really know why that was important.”
Cristan frowns at me. “It doesn’t matter what happened. All that matters is that I get Jed safe and I find a way to let parents know that’s it’s the system that’s broken and not their kids.”
His hair falls into his eyes, and he brushes it away. I can’t look at him. He’s talking about parents like my own, who were desperate to find a cure before my test day.
I rise slowly to my feet and cross the dirt floor to stand before him. I keep my voice as soft as I place my hand on his muscled forearm. “I wish I could help. I wish I could do something that will make a difference.”
He stares at my hand before nodding weakly. “You are.”
I don’t know if I am helping, but when he smiles and takes my hand, I choose to believe I can.
Kit is waiting, and Jackson has managed to pull himself out of bed, and is leaning in the doorway, squinting at Kit as she fusses with the bike.
I never had many opportunities to ride the solar-powered bikes in the new city. Constance always preferred the train, and I never had the desire to sit atop one, and I don’t really now.
But Cristan needs me to, and I don’t want him to regret bringing me, so I step to the bike, and try not to take too much notice of how much my chest hurts at such a familiar item being in such a foreign place.
The closer I step, the more I see the bike is sleek, but with large, thick treaded tyres, Trey and Kit must have added to deal with the terrain.
But unlike the grey and white I’ve seen all my life; this bike has been painted with colourful flames licking the paintwork.
Cristan asks my unspoken question. “Who painted it?”
Kit’s lips press together. “Trey. He’s quite the artist,” she says quietly.
No one says anything for a moment then Cristan huffs out a breath of air. “We should go.”
Jackson eases out and Kit is at his side instantly. His eyes move to me and he smiles. “Look after each other.”
I swallow, throat growing thick as Kit pats me on the arm. I don’t even react to her touching me. “We’ll check in with you soon. I don’t know where the short wave is in 2B, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have anything on Trey and the ghost’s location.”
Cristan nods, his face grim, body tense as he takes one more look at the bikes. “What else did you do to alter this?”
Jackson chuckles as he starts to walk with Kit to where Drew’s vehicle is waiting. “You’ll find out. Oh, and there are weapons inside the storage compartment.”
Cristan’s eyes widen but either he doesn’t have time to ask more questions or he doesn’t want to know. Either way, it’s making me more anxious as I watch Kit help Jackson to the passenger seat. “I’ll drive,” Jackson protests.
Kit shakes her head at him. “No, you won’t. You can barely walk. I’ll drive back to the Zoo. And don’t argue.”
Jackson looks at Cristan, and they share a look I’m not sure I can decipher. Jackson relents, and after a lot of huffing and puffing manages to get inside the vehicle.
Kit points to Trey’s hut. “Make sure you have everything you need. I’m going to lock these up till we get back.”
I nod, looking to Cristan to tell me what we might need to take, but he’s examining the bikes, crouching down to examine the swollen middle, that isn’t present on the bikes in the new city.
Kit pulls the door to her hut shut and walks with her hand out. “This is a recording of Jackson admitting he was the one who sent the drone filled with credits and programmed it to unlock only for you.”
I stare at her, then at Jackson. I scrunch up my nose as I think back to when I was handed my old tablet just after coming out of quarantine. I’d dismissed it until now, too many things had happened, and I never took the time to consider Jackson had been telling me the truth when he said he wasn’t responsible.
I look up at Kit as I accept the device. “In 2B, I received my tablet from the new city. Do you know who sent it to me?”
She winces. “Jackson didn’t put that inside the drone with the other stuff. That can only mean someone inside 2B had your tablet and planted it. Guess there might be someone who has an agenda inside the Unit? Sorry, I need to go.”
I try to thank her, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can really say right now. Someone inside the Unit received my tablet and used it to help make me look guilty. Nothing makes sense, so I push that knowledge, and unanswered questions aside.
Cristan looks ready to leave, but I’m worried about the food and drink inside the Unit, so I rush into Trey’s hut and find a bag to fill with canisters of water and the delicious bricks of food. I stuff everything inside and pick up the book I started to read and put that inside the bag too.
I hear Kit and Jackson shout a goodbye, then the engine blazes to life. My heart jumps around in recognition that we’re really going back to the place we ran from.
My hands start to shake, the back of my neck growing damp as I step outside into the unfiltered sunlight.
Cristan meets me outside the hut, his forehead creased, posture rigid. “Sorry, I should have thought of that.”
He takes the bag and hefts it over his shoulder. “You ready?”
I grit my teeth together and nod even though I’m about as far away from being ready to face my accusers as I can possibly get.
Cristan straddles his bike, places the bag on the back, secures it and fumbles with the ignition switch. The bike roars to life, sounding nothing like the solar-powered bikes in the city I no longer belong in.
I have to shout over the noise of the engine. “Do you think someone inside 2B could be working with the government?”
But he doesn’t hear me. He cups his ear and gestures to the seat behind him and pats it as if inviting me to sit. “Come on, plenty of room.”
He grins so wide, it’s hard to not return it as I copy his action and get on the bike. I wrap my arms around Cristan’s middle and feel his body tense in response.
Panic floods my body as the engine beneath me sends vibrations travelling through my body.
I lift my feet off the ground and try to balance the way I remember Constance showing me. To calm myself, I pretend I’m one of the heroic girls in the stories I wrote before everything went so wrong.
I cling tight to Cristan and press my body into his back. I have to find the answers. Someone was given my tablet and I want to know why.