I drove the car up the street, trying not to hit any of the pedestrian traffic. This was why I didn't like driving my car.

Maryam's face when I stopped the tank in front of her stall was almost worth it.

"What are we doing here?" Omari asked, his eyes glued to the window as he looked around.

"Getting supplies," I said.

"Can I come?" he asked in a small voice, fastening hopeful eyes on me.

Sighing, I nodded. I was probably setting a bad precedent.

"Come out this way." I didn't want him exiting the car on the traffic side. He scrambled over to the driver's side, and I helped him down to the ground.

"Nice car," Maryam commented as we walked up to her stall, Omari's hand in mine.

"Thanks. It's on loan for the job."

"Maybe you can have them throw it in at the end," she suggested with a wink as she gestured to a couple of her assistants to carry the water out to the car. "And who is this little guy?" she asked, her eyes falling on Omari.

"I'm Omari," he said in a confident voice, looking around at all the interesting things she had on view. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at something.

I followed the line of his small finger to a stylized knife scabbard. One with naked figures going at it, arms and limbs entwined. Yeesh.

"That's just a knife," I said quickly, moving him over to my other side, out of view of it. "Don't worry about it." I turned back to Maryam who looked like she was suppressing a smile. Glad someone was enjoying this. "I'm going to need more rations. Suitable for a child."

Maryam's eyebrows went up at that. "You're taking him out of the dome?" she asked.

"Yes. Reasons."

She looked doubtful, but she moved to the back and came out with some other boxes.

"The stuff I gave you is fine for kids, but here's some that might taste better to him. Here, let me throw you some snacks too. They might not last too long in this heat, but that thing you just pulled up in should keep them fine for a while."

I took everything she gave me and then we were good to go.

"Come on, Omari," I said, taking his hand. "Time to get going."

He didn't argue with me. He just clambered back into his seat and put his seat belt on. Fast learner.

I put the car back into gear and slowly crept through traffic to get to one of the two exterior gates. I'd gone through it a lot, at least twice a week for the entirety of my life. But it was different this time. I knew I wasn't just going out for an hour or so in a nearby area. I knew I'd be spending at least two weeks out there.

And now I had more than just myself to worry about.

Omari had his face plastered against the window again, watching the other cars. I shook my head, smiling despite myself as I faced forward. He didn't act like a kid who'd just lost his mother. Then again, I hadn't cried much either when I'd gone through the same thing. Everyone dealt differently. Though he seemed fine, I would definitely suggest a counselor to his family when I saw them.

If I saw them.

I needed to be optimistic.

The line to the gate inched forward as cars moved through the two rooms on the way out. The atmosphere of the first chamber was controlled and the second one was not, though the airflow was adjusted so that it didn't mix with the air from the first room. Everything was set up to make sure the controlled environment of the dome remained controlled.

The caustic chemicals in the air outside the dome weren't just bad for general health, but also for wear and tear of everyday things like plastics and metals. The pollution humanity created was what caused the ozone to deplete to such a state that they needed to build these city domes to survive. A full human couldn't stand out in those rays without some kind of physical protection for more than five minutes at a time if he or she didn't want to risk radiation burns.

Even now, everyone wore head-to-toe sun-protective clothing if they needed to leave the dome. I had a set, for appearances, though I never wore it.

Phoenixes and dragons remained outside the domes. Their hardier natures let them breathe the air without fear, and their need for the sun kept them outside. No one knows where they came from, they were just a part of life nowadays, but people say they didn't exist before the radiation.

I brought the car to a stop in front of the security station right before the gate.

"Retinal scan," the guard intoned, his tone and demeanor bored.

I obligingly put my window down and set my face in front of the scanner. It flashed my identity across the screen.

The guard checked it and nodded. "Proceed."

"Thank you."

I'd done the same a million times before, but every time I went through security, adrenaline flooded my body with heat.

We reached the first chamber, and the large metal-and-glass gate slowly slid to the side to let us through. The gate closed behind us with growling whoosh due to the seal.

Omari made a small sound. He was hunched in his chair.

"Don't worry. That's just the air," I said, trying to reassure him.

He didn't look very reassured. But we'd be through in a moment.

The rushing sound of wind hit us as powerful fans created a wall of moving air across the gate leading to the next room. The cross flow would prevent the air between the two chambers from mixing. The next gate opened, revealing the other room, with the same cement floors and glass and metal walls. I drove into it and stopped once again as the gate behind us closed.

Then the final gate opened, the almost-blinding sun shining into the comparative dimness of the room we were in.

"Here we go," I muttered to myself.

I drove out, my eyes adjusting to the brightness.

Flat, bleached desert stretched out in every direction, with hazy mountains rising in the distance. The sky above was white-blue, the sun’s heat brutal as it beat down upon the dusty and cracked earth. There wasn't any life to be seen apart from some hardy cacti and smaller bugs that could apparently survive anything.

The road that led away from the dome was straight ahead of us, but I took a fainter path moving away at an angle.

Omari needed sun now. I wanted to make sure he was in full health before we continued, and this vehicle was made to keep light out. So I took the car to the spot behind a large rock that I used when I needed to be outside. Santiago had proved to me that this place wasn't as safe as I'd thought, but he was the only one who knew about it. I hoped.

"Why are we stopping?" Omari asked, confused. He was already looking worse than when I first picked him up, the grayish cast to his skin more pronounced.

"We're stopping so you and I can both get some sun," I said, even though I was good for another couple of days.

"Oh, okay!" he said, reaching for the door.

I stepped outside and helped him down.

"Take off your shirt and your pants," I ordered as I peeled my own shirt off.

He didn't argue, taking off his clothes efficiently enough, leaving him in his cartoon-character underwear. Maximum skin exposure would mean we would need less time under the actual rays of the sun.

His warm brown skin glinted copper in sunlight, a clear indication of his phoenix heritage. My own skin shimmered in the light too. It was neither copper like a phoenix nor gold like a dragons. I attributed that to a quirk of being mixed.

This was exactly the reason why I couldn't have anyone else out here with me. The shine coming off both Omari's skin and my own was a dead giveaway. No one who saw us now would believe we were human. Or at least not fully so.

"Why don't you move onto that rock and lie down?" I suggested.

The rock would be hot from the sun, but as even half phoenix, Omari would have a high tolerance for heat.

"Okay!" he chirped.

I lifted him up and helped him get settled on the rock, on his back so that he would have the most surface area.

I climbed up and sat down next to him, opening up the map. If Jacob hadn't warned me of the other route, I would've taken it. I still might have taken it if not for my "package". The danger that awaited me out here was less about humans and more about dragons. But now I had a child to consider.

Going directly through the dragons’ territory meant that I would shorten the trip by a significant amount of time. It wasn't good for Omari to be out here like this, vulnerable, any longer than necessary. And Jacob was right. If I was careful, and drove through at night, I should be able to drive through most of the dragon territory before the sun rose once again.

Theoretically.

It wasn't a perfect plan. But I couldn't come up with a better one. And this car that wanted to be a tank was actually surprisingly quiet.

I sighed as I looked up.

I was going to have to just cross my fingers and hope for the best. We would stay on that sun-drenched rock for an hour. We couldn't spare more time than that. Then I would set out in the most direct route to the nearest phoenix territory. If my timing was right, we would hit the dragon boundary just after nightfall, giving us the whole night to get through.

I closed the map and looked over at Omari where he was lying next to me. His eyes were closed and there was a slight smile on his face as he soaked in the sun. His skin was already losing that grayish tinge, health seeping back into his face.

Relief washed through me at the clear indication he was doing better. I lay down next to him in my sports bra and boy shorts. I might as well enjoy the time in the sun, too.

Finding a moment to relax was going to become difficult soon.