Travis

I swallow the lump in my throat as I gaze up at the towering wall in front of me. It’s taller than the walls around Hope Creek, and I have a feeling it’s thicker, too.

City Q might not have a dome, but it’s a fortress.

An impenetrable fortress.

I let out a whistle. “City Q must have a lot of enemies.”

“Why is it called City Q again?” Grace asks.

“The zones were numbered. The cities are named after the letters of the alphabet, which is fitting considering most of humanity went back to basics. It only reaches up to R, though.”

“R?”

“Some of the pods in the Vessel didn’t come back to Earth,” I explain. “Some stayed in space and some malfunctioned.”

Grace gasps.

“Those that returned became the cores of cities all over what’s left of the world.”

“I see.”

I glance at her as she stares at the wall in awe, as if seeing a doll in the window of a toy shop for the first time.

Is it just my imagination, or has she grown more beautiful? It’s almost as if her skin is glowing.

It must be the sex.

“What?” Grace turns to me with creased eyebrows.

“Nothing.” I stare back at the wall. “I know it’s amazing, but we didn’t come here to admire the wall.”

“No, we didn’t,” Grace agrees. “So do you have any ideas about how we’re getting in?”

“A few,” I answer. “Climbing over doesn’t seem to be an option, so I guess we’ll try digging.”

She shakes her head.

“What?” I throw her a puzzled look. “Are you suddenly scared to get your hands dirty after all we’ve been though?”

Grace points to the gate. “I say we go in the usual way.”

I frown. “You know, the usual way can sometimes be the hardest. I did tell you that they only let in those who are worthy, right?”

She shrugs. “Maybe we’re worthy. I mean we don’t look like trash.”

“And what will you say your special skill is, hmm?”

“Dressmaking.”

I sigh. “Let’s hope that works.”

We approach the gate and Grace goes first. To my surprise, the machine beeps and the guard lets her through.

Ha. She is from City Q, after all.

She glances back at me with a grin and mouths the words “good luck”.

I draw a deep breath. Yup, I’ll need it.

I go through the gate and the machine doesn’t beep. The guard, who reminds me of my drill sergeant, narrows his eyes at me.

My eyebrows go up. Wait a minute. He was my drill sergeant!

“Hey, Sarge,” I whisper in his ear. “It’s me, Travis F… Gerwin.”

He looks at me curiously, then his eyes grow wide. “Why, I’ll be…”

He glances at the other guard, who seems occupied.

“Where have you been?” he asks me in a whisper.

I shrug. “Nowhere.”

“Should I let your parents know you’re here?”

My eyebrows furrow. My parents are here? They’re alive?

“No, thanks.” I pat his shoulder. “I’ll find them myself. I’d like to surprise them.”

“Boy, will they be surprised,” Sarge chuckles. Then he puts on a stern expression as he lets me through. “In you go.”

I give him a salute and he salutes back.

Grace comes up to me with a smile. “How did you do that?”

“I knew him from the Marines,” I tell her.

She gives me a thumbs up. “Lucky.”

I don’t tell her about the other thing Sarge said.

So my parents survived. So what? I’ve been long dead to them anyway.

“Travis?” Grace looks at me curiously.

I put my arm around her. “Let’s look for a place where we can rest and clean up, okay? Then you go and find your answer and I’ll find my parts.”

Grace nods. “Okay.”

~

I stare at the pile of machine parts in front of me and scratch my chin.

I know I said I’d steal the parts for the dome, but I’m already having second thoughts about that. And first, I’ll have to find them. And so far, I haven’t found any.

I take the piece of paper out of my pocket and look at the sketch and description of the parts I need. Then I look at the pile again.

Nope. No match.

And this is already the tenth scrap garage I’ve been to.

I’m beginning to worry. What if I don’t find those parts here? Do Grace and I go to another city? I don’t even know where the next closest city is.

“Is that Phil Baker’s handwriting?” a voice breaks into my thoughts just seconds before a man leans over me and peers at the note I’m holding.

I return the piece of paper to my pocket and look at him. “You know Phil Baker?”

“Of course,” the short man with a thick mustache says. “I used to work with him.”

My eyebrows go up. “Really?”

“Oliver Scott,” he introduces himself as he offers me his hand. “Dr. Oliver Scott.”

“Travis G… Freeman,” I say. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Scott.”

“How do you know Phil?” he asks me. “Is he well?”

“Well as can be,” I say. “He’s a good friend.”

“And a mentor, it seems, as he was mine. What are you helping him build? Some new invention?”

I hesitate for a moment. Can I really trust a man I just met? The future of Hope Creek is at stake here.

Still, I could use the help.

“Oh, I’m no apprentice,” I say. “More of an errand boy. Phil sent me to get some things.”

I show Dr. Scott the piece of paper.

His lips curve into a wide smile. “My, my, he hasn’t changed. Still a genius. He must have come up with something amazing if he needs these parts!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.” I take the note back. “Do you know where I might find them?”

“Not here.” Dr. Scott looks around, then lowers his voice to a whisper. “Between you and me, most of the stuff they sell here is rubbish. And at such steep prices, too. But the parts you need are—how do I put it?—first class? Top caliber?”

“Where can I get them, then?” I ask.

“At the Lab.” He points at the badge on the front pocket of his shirt.

“The Lab?”

“That’s where all the important research and all the inventing and testing goes on. All the best stuff is there.”

“Isn’t the Lab tightly guarded?”

“Not at all. There are cameras in the testing rooms for documentation purposes, but not in the offices or the storage room.”

I narrow my eyes. “So the parts I need are in the storage room?”

“Yes.”

Perfect.

“Can you get me in?”

His eyes grow wide. “What?”

I place my arm around him and lean closer. “Can you get me into the Lab?”

Dr. Scott strokes his mustache. “I suppose I could, but why would I do that?”

“To help an old friend?” I supply. “I’ll tell Phil you said hi.”

The scientist doesn’t look convinced.

“And I’ll give you one of his inventions.”

I take out the small pair of lenses from the pocket of my backpack—one of Phil’s old inventions which allows one to see the amount of moisture in the air. It’s not very useful, but I thought it might come in handy.

“One of Dr. Baker’s inventions,” Dr. Scott gasps. “What does it do?”

He tries to swipe it from my hand, but I slip it inside my pocket.

“Will you take me to the Lab?”

He pauses to think. “Oh, fine. My work starts at six, so you have to see me before then.”

“Where?” I ask him.

He asks for a piece of paper and I hand him Phil’s note so he can write on the back.

He draws a map and gives the note back to me.

“Be at my apartment at five exactly.”

I nod and slip the map inside my pocket.

“But I’m warning you,” Dr. Scott goes on. “I’ll get you in, but that’s all I’ll do. The rest—stealing the parts, which I assume is what you’re planning, and getting out—is all up to you.”

“Of course,” I tell him. “I’ll just need one more thing from you.”

“What?”

“A map of the Lab.”

The scientist nods. “I’ll have it ready. You better give me the invention before we enter the Lab.”

“I’ll give it to you when I’m inside the Lab.”

He frowns. “Fine.”

“I’ll see you at five.”

I walk away from him and make my way to the place where I’m supposed to be meeting Grace.

I wasted too much time, but I finally found something to make it worthwhile. I wonder if Grace has, too.

~

“I haven’t found anything,” Grace complains as we walk through the streets of City Q. “Anything at all.”

“And you don’t remember anything?” I ask.

She frowns and shakes her head. “Nothing.”

I suppress the relief that swells in my chest. I was afraid that Grace would remember who she was and then change her mind about returning to Hope Creek with me, but it seems there’s nothing to keep her here in City Q.

“I know I was allowed entry to this city,” Grace goes on. “But I’m really not sure if I lived here. The more I see of the city, the more I think I couldn’t have lived here. It’s so…”

“Unbearable?” I suggest. “Stifling?”

“It’s too busy,” Grace says.

“Well, it’s a city.”

“And the people here don’t seem to care about each other. All they care about is business and getting better food.”

“Well, it is a city,” I repeat.

She shakes her head. “I can’t have lived here. If I had, I would have hated every minute of it.”

“So you’re sure you’re returning to Hope Creek with me?” I ask her.

“Of course. There was never any doubt of that.”

I throw her a puzzled look. “But you wanted to come to the city.”

“To try to find out who I was,” Grace says. “And more importantly, to be with you.”

I smile.

“Wasn’t the trip better with me by your side?” she asks.

“Not at first, since you wouldn’t talk to me,” I tell her. “But yes, it was better.”

“What about you? Did you find any of the parts?”

“No, but now I know where they are. I…”

I stop as I notice someone in a guard’s uniform headed in our direction. Then I grab Grace’s hand and run.

“Wait!” the guard calls.

I ignore him and run faster.

“Do you think we’ve been discovered?” Grace asks in between shallow breaths. “I don’t understand. I thought we were cleared. I thought I went through just fine.”

Her words make me think.

She’s right. We got through and we’ve done no wrong. So why is a guard chasing after us?

“Ms. Dawson, please stop!” the guard calls out. “There’s no need to run, and there’s no point in it.”

Ms. Dawson?

“The guard’s after you,” I tell Grace as we keep running.

“I heard.”

But why? And why did he say there’s no point in running?

I glance at Grace. “That thing that made the machine at the gates beep, was that a chip?”

“I don’t know,” she answers. “Maybe. There was something glowing in my arm.”

“Where?”

She points at the skin above the inside of her right elbow. Come to think of it, I did see someone try to point that area at the machine.

“It must be a chip,” I tell Grace. “To identify you as a resident of City Q. And it must double as a tracker.”

“What?”

I glance behind me. “We have to remove it, Grace, or we’ll never shake this guy off.”

“Okay.”

I look at her. “Are you sure? You may never be able to return to City Q again without it.”

She shrugs. “Like I said, I don’t like this place. In fact, I’d rather not come back ever again.”

I nod and grab her arm. “Come.”

I lead her down some winding alleys, and when I’m sure we’ve put some distance between us and the guard, I stop and remove my belt. I hand it to her and then take out my knife, which I wash with water.

Then I hold her arm.

“I’m sorry Grace,” I tell her. “This is going to hurt, but please bear with it. Just close your eyes and bite on the belt.”

She stares at the knife.

“Ms. Dawson?” I hear the guard shout.

“And fast.”

She puts the leather between her teeth and groans as I press the tip of the blade against her skin.