THIRTY-TWO
“Wait here.”
Kenji tells us to lie low as he pops his head out of the exit. He’s already disappeared from sight, his figure blending into the background. He’s going to let us know if we’re clear to surface.
I’m too nervous to speak.
Too nervous to think.
I can do this we can do this we have no choice but to do this, is all I keep saying to myself.
“Let’s go.” I hear Kenji’s voice from above our heads. Adam and I follow him up the last stretch of the ladder. We’re taking one of the alternate exit routes out of Omega Point—one that only 7 people know about, according to Castle. We’re taking as many precautions as necessary.
Adam and I manage to haul our bodies aboveground and I immediately feel the cold and Kenji’s hand slip around my waist. Cold cold cold. It cuts through the air like little knives slicing across our skin. I look down at my feet and see nothing but a barely perceptible shimmer where my boots are supposed to be. I wiggle my fingers in front of my face.
Nothing.
I look around.
No Adam and no Kenji except for Kenji’s invisible hand, now resting at the small of my back.
It worked. Adam made it work. I’m so relieved I want to sing.
“Can you guys hear me?” I whisper, happy no one can see me smiling.
“Yup.”
“Yeah, I’m right here,” Adam says.
“Nice work, Kent,” Kenji says to him. “I know this can’t be easy for you.”
“It’s fine,” Adam says. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
“Done.”
We’re like a human chain.
Kenji is between me and Adam and we’re linked, holding hands as Kenji guides us through this deserted area. I have no idea where we are, and I’m starting to realize that I seldom do. This world is still so foreign to me, still so new. Spending so much time in isolation while the planet crumbled to pieces didn’t do me any favors.
The farther we go, the closer we get to the main road and the closer we get to the compounds that are settled not a mile from here. I can see the boxy shape of their steel structures from where we’re standing.
Kenji jerks to a halt.
Says nothing.
“Why aren’t we moving?” I ask.
Kenji shushes me. “Can you hear that?”
“What?”
Adam pulls in a breath. “Shit. Someone’s coming.”
“A tank,” Kenji clarifies.
“More than one,” Adam adds.
“So why are we still standing here—”
“Wait, Juliette, hold on a second—”
And then I see it. A parade of tanks coming down the main road. I count 6 of them altogether.
Kenji unleashes a series of expletives under his breath.
“What is it?” I ask. “What’s the problem?”
“There was only one reason Warner ever ordered us to take more than two tanks out at a time, on the same route,” Adam says to me.
“What—”
“They’re preparing for a fight.”
I gasp.
“He knows,” Kenji says. “Dammit! Of course he knows. Castle was right. He knows we’re bringing backup. Shit.”
“What time is it, Kenji?”
“We have about forty-five minutes.”
“Then let’s move,” I tell him. “We don’t have time to worry about what’s going to happen afterward. Castle is prepared—he’s anticipating something like this. We’ll be okay. But if we don’t get to that house on time, Winston and Brendan and everyone else might die today.”
“We might die today,” he points out.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “That, too.”
We’re moving through the streets quickly now. Swiftly. Darting through the clearing toward some semblance of civilization and that’s when I see it: the remnants of an achingly familiar universe. Little square houses with little square yards that are now nothing more than wild weeds decaying in the wind. The dead grass crunches under our feet, icy and uninviting. We count down the houses.
1542 Sycamore.
It must be this one. It’s impossible to miss.
It’s the only house on this entire street that looks fully functional. The paint is fresh, clean, a beautiful shade of robin’s-egg blue. A small set of stairs leads up to the front porch, where I notice 2 white wicker rocking chairs and a huge planter full of bright blue flowers I’ve never seen before. I see a welcome mat made of rubber, wind chimes hanging from a wooden beam, clay pots and a small shovel tucked into a corner. It’s everything we can never have anymore.
Someone lives here.
It’s impossible that this exists.
I’m pulling Kenji and Adam toward the home, overcome with emotion, almost forgetting that we’re no longer allowed to live in this old, beautiful world.
Someone is yanking me backward.
“This isn’t it,” Kenji says to me. “This is the wrong street. Shit. This is the wrong street—we’re supposed to be two streets down—”
“But this house—it’s—I mean, Kenji, someone lives here—”
“No one lives here,” he says. “Someone probably set this up to throw us off—in fact, I bet that house is lined with C4. It’s probably a trap designed to catch people wandering unregulated turf. Now come on”—he yanks at my hand again—“we have to hurry. We have seven minutes!”
And even though we’re running forward, I keep looking back, waiting to see some sign of life, waiting to see someone step outside to check the mail, waiting to see a bird fly by.
And maybe I’m imagining it.
Maybe I’m insane.
But I could’ve sworn I just saw a curtain flutter in an upstairs window.