Ash (17 page)

I felt a buzz in my palm, indicating it was time to turn right. I could barely make out the “D” and “WN” and final “G” of Downing Way. The rest of the sign had faded, or fallen off out of disrepair. I’d known the Ash ring was poor, but really, clear signage was the cornerstone of civilization. When I joined the ministry, I’d see that the streets were clearly marked.

I turned and paused. It appeared the streetlights were unique to Park Street. In front of me was only moonlit darkness. And more endless concrete buildings. Everything in this zone was made of hard angles. I sniffed the air. Hard angles, and pockets of bad smells, one of which I was now standing in. The rot of garbage filled the air and I hazarded a glance at my palm, instinctually not wanting anyone to see my map. I considered calling Sol’s house, but something stopped me. I didn’t want anyone to know how lost I was beginning to feel. Show no weakness. That was another early lesson. And anyway, I was so close there was really little point. A left turn at Ashton, and a right onto Avenue D and I would be there. Still, I looked back over my shoulder. In a place like this, I could almost believe that Revenants existed.

The stories always had them emerging from the Tombs to steal from New City. Now that I was surrounded by the shadows of the Ash zone, it didn’t seem so farfetched. Of course, everyone knew that Revenants were just old wives tales told to keep children in line. Even the name was ridiculous. The definition of Revenants was animated corpses that returned from the grave to terrorize the living.

But there was a kernel of truth to the tale, like all myths, I supposed. The Tombs had received their name following the Event, when the old underground subway had been used to carry the dead away. Afterward, the Tombs had been sealed to keep us safe from any toxins that might have remained there from the decomposition and rot. Anything beyond that was just a silly story.

Still, thoughts of the walking dead were enough to spook me, and I made my way even more carefully, walking as quickly as I dared. Across the street I noticed a lump on a bench and I stared at it, trying to imagine what it might be. I stifled a scream as it moved. Someone was sleeping there. I swallowed, hurrying even faster. The Ash zone was poor, I reminded myself. And no one would hurt me. I was a Purple. Except, what if Aldan’s death had stirred something up? The thought bloomed in my mind, and I considered my options as I slid through the darkness. It was a short walk back to the train. But I was so close to Sol’s house.

My palm buzzed as if responding, and I turned left, crossing the street to put more distance between myself and the sleeping Ash. I walked through the gloom, taking comfort in the occasional dim light within the buildings surrounding me. These looked exactly the same as the storefronts, but were missing the business signs. Residences, I assumed.

There was a man on the sidewalk ahead of me, and I stopped myself from crossing to the other side. I’d just passed what I assumed was Avenue C, and in half a block I’d be turning to the right. I couldn’t cross to one side and then back again. I marched on, raising my head even higher. The man stopped as I approached, staring at me. I chided myself. I really should have changed out of my dress. What was I thinking coming out here in a gown? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I realized for the first time that no one knew where I was. Bastin thought I was at work. My father thought I was with Bastin. And my geolocator was off.

Keep moving
, I urged myself. I kept my eyes carefully forward, noting how tall the man in front of me was. He was a giant. At least a head taller than Bastin. I wanted to scream. As I walked past his eyes followed me. I took a full five steps past before I remembered to exhale.

I ignored the need to look over my shoulder. And I ignored the voice shrieking in my head to run. While it was extremely rare, there had been cases of Ashes striking out against the upper rings. Two years ago, Edium Grale, a member of the PAE, vanished in the Ash Zone. The only thing that was ever found of him was his wrist tracker and the sleeve of his purple shirt. Link had known him. Edium had been a senior at Spectrum when Link was a sophomore.

I pressed my lips together hard enough that I could feel the ridges of my teeth. I was being silly. There was nothing to be afraid of in the Ash ring. Link was wrong. There was no crime here. The Edium disappearance was an exception. It was like I told him. This ring was an important part of our society—it was perfectly safe and livable. Still, I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned onto Avenue D. I was almost at Sol’s. And that’s when I heard the footsteps behind me.

M
y mind raced as I took off from my house. I had no idea where I was going, I just needed to get away from my mother. The city curfew would sound in a little while. It didn’t matter. There was no way I was going back home.

I tried to clear my head as I ran down the deserted streets. I didn’t want to think about anything. Not Aldan. Not Link. Not my mother. Instead I focused on my feet hitting the ground, the wind rushing past me. Before I knew it I had run miles. I was back in the Purple Zone. Back to the Loop Arena. Back to where Aldan was shot.

The arena was locked. I considered scaling the wall, but I knew I’d only get a couple of jabs from a stun stick and a fine for my troubles. The truth was I didn’t really want to go back in there anyway. The thought made me feel hollow. Besides the arena didn’t represent Aldan, not the way I wanted to remember him—smiling, happy, goofing around. I wanted to be someplace he loved.

My feet knew where I was going before I did—Aldan’s loop practice area. It was a quick jog away, in a quiet patch of land located off of the park. Halfway there I noticed a pregnant Crimson woman kneeling on the ground.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I rushed over.

She looked at me like I was from another planet. “Of course. I’m making a wish.”

I looked around and realized where I was. We were at the wishing tree at Center Park. It was the only tree left standing in New City Center after the riots and fires that followed the Event. More were grown and others transplanted in, and plenty of trees surrounded the trails, but the large oak was the only original in the park. People from every ring trekked to the tree to share their dreams. It wasn’t busy now, but during daytime hours you could find dozens of people tying their wishes to the branches, stuffing them in the trunk of the tree, burying them in the ground. The slips on the tree were pretty in their own way—if you ignored the fact that the whole concept was a sham. Most people who came here were expectant parents. Pregnant women and their husbands, hoping for ultra destinies for their kids. My family doesn’t believe in the tree. My mom says it’s a custom for fools. She says it gets people’s hopes up just to slash them down. In other words, she came here when she was pregnant with me.

The pregnant lady was making a production of breathing in the air around the tree, probably hoping it would create some extra good karma.

“Good luck,” I said.

“I don’t need luck,” she said, “I have destiny.”

I kept quiet. I wasn’t going to be the one to debate her dreams—not tonight. I nodded and walked until I passed the looming metal fence that surrounded the practice area outside of City Center. It was dark out, but the lights around the track were on. So was the one highlighting the sign at the main entrance. For the past twelve months the white backdrop read the same, “Practice track of future Loop Race Champion XXV Aldan Harris.” Underneath the words a holograph showed an almost life-sized Aldan coasting through the finish line during last year’s race. I used to love looking at the sign. The expression on my brother’s face was one of pure exhilaration, like nothing could touch him. Only now I couldn’t focus on the image, I could only see the giant words written on the backdrop in dark purple marker: DESTINY BREAKERS DESERVE TO DIE. It stopped me in my tracks. How could somebody do this? I walked toward the sign, emotion rising. I used the arm of my sleeve to scrub at the hateful words, but they wouldn’t come off.

“Crilas,” I muttered. I couldn’t just leave it there, I’d come back tomorrow with cleaning supplies I promised myself.

I headed over to the fence. No one was around and the quiet and emptiness came as a relief. The gate door wasn’t locked, but that didn’t surprise me—Aldan spent most of his time here, even getting special nighttime access to the track. He often stayed out practicing ‘til just before curfew, particularly during the weeks leading up to the championship. He was probably the last one to use the track, and he never bothered to lock anything. “If someone not authorized wants to give loop racing a try, let them,” he’d always say. Maybe I should have seen that as a clue to how he saw the system. I walked inside, the memory of Aldan giving me a slight chill. I lay down on the grass, in the shadow of one of the loops, and stared up at the steep inclines and crazy turns, remembering the way my brother flew through them, taking each loop with such skill.

If I closed my eyes I could almost hear the sound of his board against the track, the yell of adrenaline he let out after finishing the course. My memory was interrupted by a buzz on my wrist. I glanced at my tracker to see a ping from Theron.
Hope you’re doing okay, Dax. Thinking about you.

My stomach flipped to see his message. I knew he was just being nice, but I still couldn’t help think back to the last time we’d been here together.

We’d stood in our usual spot on the sidelines, both of us yelling and cheering as Aldan swished over our heads. When we sat down, Theron’s hand landed right on top of mine. At first I thought it was an accident, but then he left it there. When I glanced over at him, he was looking right back at me. For a second, I actually thought he was going to kiss me. Then Aldan came barreling down the final loop, whooping at the top of his lungs. Theron pulled back, and after that we just pretended like it never happened—but the memory kind of lingered.

I always wondered what Aldan would think if his best friend and I got together. Now I’d never know. Not that it would have mattered anyway. Theron was a Purple. I might have been fine to hang out with, but I wasn’t dateable. I was just his buddy’s little sister. After today’s race, I’d not only lost my brother, but Theron too. Upper rings hanging out with non-relative Ashes just wasn’t done.

I shook my head, disgusted with myself. How could I be thinking about this when my brother was dead? That empty, hollow feeling washed over me again.

The sound of a stick breaking, followed by a “shh” made my whole body freeze. Was the PAE already out? Curfew wasn’t for another half hour, but if they found me, they’d send me home. The Yellow ring was more than a thirty-minute run from here.

I didn’t know if I should make a bolt for the bushes or stay hidden in the grass. One was less visible, but the other quieter. I decided to stay put. I was hidden by the shadows. Unless they shined a light on me, I’d be okay.

A minute passed and no guards. Had I imagined the whole thing? I moved to sit up but froze when I heard a voice.

“I told you no one was here.” A man’s deep voice bobbed through the night, sounding ghostly without a visible owner.

“Well, we can’t take any chances. Just be quiet. And move. We don’t have all night,” a woman rasped in reply.

I squinted into the darkness until I could make out a silhouette of two people mostly obscured by the trees. I watched as they crept along a row of bushes against the surrounding fence and pushed one aside. “You first,” the larger figure said. A moment later both had disappeared.

I exhaled, racking my brain to understand what I’d just seen. Who were they? I doubted they were PAE. Not sneaking around like that.

My heartbeat picked up as a new idea popped into my head. Stories of the Tombs and Revenants were a kind of New City mythology. The details changed by storyteller, but everyone agreed on the basics—
a group of anti-destiny fanatics who’d run off to build a secret army
in the subway tunnels below the city. Except that no one in their right mind would go down there. The subway had been decommissioned after it was used to cart out the dead post-Event. Everyone knew it was still contaminated. I shuddered. More likely the two people were a couple, sneaking around to find some alone time. If so, where had they gone?