City Center, The (10 page)

The Checkpoint

Light flooded into
the tunnel. They were coming to the end. Ava cupped her hands over her burning eyes—the direct sun was now a bigger concern than her feet. Her stomach knotted up and any hope she had earlier vanished. She didn’t know what would be waiting for her or what she would find on the other side, but she knew leaving the tunnel would change everything.

“Are you sure I’ll be okay in the sunlight?” she asked, turning away from the opening.

“We need to cover your skin.” Joseph found some body wraps in the bag and covered up Ava’s face. “You look like a mummy.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I’m sure it can’t be good. Something smells strange.”

“That’s the Pacific Ocean. Salty air.” Joseph started walking again. “We need to get to the first checkpoint before sunset. It’s tougher to navigate the woods in the dark.”

“I’m not sure I can do this. I thought I could, but now that we’re here…”

“You made it this far. It’s just a short walk to the cabin.”

“What if Morray’s men are out there waiting?”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on.”

They stood at the end of the tunnel. Ava closed her eyes to stave off the stinging. Were the tears a result of being blinded, or the overwhelming fear bubbling up into her throat? She leaned against the wall, watching his shadow on the cement as he scanned the area. One time Helena had programmed an afternoon of simulated obstacle courses that began with being dropped off with James in the middle of a labyrinth made of forty-foot slabs of cement. As soon as the program started, James darted off, leaving Ava alone. She couldn’t scale the concrete walls—the only way out was winding her way through the narrow passages. But how would she know which turns she had already taken? What if she was walking in circles? Or worse, going deeper into the labyrinth? She sat on the cold floor of the maze and listened for James, knowing he’d find his way out by sheer will. Finding him would be her best chance of getting out. But she never heard James. Instead she used the shadows to determine the direction and worked her way out, beating James by ten minutes. As she stood watching Joseph’s shadow she thought about the great distance she had just traveled—not only in the tunnel, but all the years leading up to this moment.

“It looks safe out there, but you’re gonna be overwhelmed at first. Not just the direct sunlight, but a whole bunch of other stuff. Just take slow breaths. You’ll acclimate. And I’ll be right here with you.”

“I’m mostly worried about the sun.”

“The worst that’ll happen is sunburn.”

“Burn? That sounds painful.”

“Your skin’ll get a little red and tender, but you’ll be fine. If you can handle your feet, a little sunburn is nothing.”

“You didn’t say ‘I promise.’”

“Come on, we’re running out of time.”

Joseph jumped down and landed on the dirt a few feet below. He held out his arms to help Ava. She closed her eyes and dropped into his arms. He held her, adjusting the cloth around her face. “See, you’re okay. Just keep your face wrapped. Even if you want to take it off to see everything better, keep it on.”

Ava leaned against Joseph, letting the sunlight warm her chilled body. It felt nice after the dampness of the tunnel. She inhaled the salty sea air and coughed. Holding onto Joseph’s arm for balance, she blinked her eyes open. Flashes of white light flickered in and out; she swayed and gripped Joseph tighter.

“Slow breaths, Ava. Just breathe in and out. Stay calm.”

“Stay calm,” she whispered.

After a few deep breaths, her muscles loosened up and she felt stable enough to step away from Joseph. She turned in slow circles taking all of it in—the field of tall yellow grass surrounded by brown mountains and the trees reaching toward the blue sky. In the distance the sun radiated above the ocean’s surface. Everything shimmered and vibrated.

“The sun,” Ava sang out.

“Don’t look right at it.” Joseph turned her around to face him.

“The virtual programs have it completely wrong, Joseph. Oh, they could never replicate this beauty.”

“See, it’s not dangerous on the Outside the way the reports say. There is danger—from Morray’s men patrolling the roads. And there are wild animals.”

“Wild animals?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be safe.” Joseph took Ava’s hand. “Let’s go, mummy.”

They walked down a dirt path through the trees. Ava thought about Lillian escaping through the woods. Was this the same path? Her feet throbbed, but the soft ground felt better than the hard cement in the tunnel. Moving slower than Joseph, she took her time maneuvering over the fallen branches. She had walked along trees in the greenhouse many times, but being outside in nature was different. Snaps and cracks came from hidden places in the bushes. Scents, some sweet and others foul, swept through the air. These trees reached higher than her field of vision could grasp. She started to feel overwhelmed again.

“Slow breaths, Ava,” Joseph reminded her.

“I can’t believe how everything is so… I don’t know what to say, alive?”

By the time they reached the first checkpoint—a small cabin nestled up against a mountain, hidden by trees and overgrown bushes—the blue sky had shifted to a silvery gray. They stood at the front door. Ava shivered from the cold and the shooting pain in her feet. She couldn’t wait to sit down. Joseph knocked on the wooden door. A small hatch opened and a man’s face appeared. His eyes widened when he recognized Joseph, he flung open the door and pulled him inside. Ava limped behind and stood close to Joseph. Other men in the cabin came over to greet Joseph. They noticed Ava.

“I’m sure this looks strange. Me standing next to an Insider, but if it weren’t for her bravery I wouldn’t be alive. She helped me escape. Gentlemen, this is Ava Rhodes,” Joseph explained to the four rugged men outfitted in camouflage. They remained still. Maybe they’d never seen someone from the Inside, Ava thought. She didn’t know their customs so she stepped forward and curtsied. Pain shot through her legs and she fumbled forward. A man with pale blue eyes and messy blond hair reached out and helped her.

“I know I’m not alone when I say we’re incredibly grateful for your help, Miss Rhodes. Joseph is my second in charge. It would’ve been a great loss. I’m David.” He smiled and held Ava’s hand, shaking it up and down. She didn’t understand why he was moving her hand up and down, but she went along with it, not wanting to appear impolite. The other men gathered around Joseph and patted his back. Ava checked out the room. Archaic technology covered the desks—circuit boards and wires, radios and phones—like in some of the old war movies.

“Welcome back, Major.”

“Good to have you back, sir.”

“Thought we lost you for good.”

“I don’t like you going behind my back. You’re lucky to be alive.” David looked at Ava. “And while I do appreciate what Miss Rhodes has done for you, don’t you think it’s risky bringing an Insider to our checkpoint? Isn’t she being tracked?”

The men stared at Ava. She looked at her index finger, feeling ashamed. She got the same feeling around James—like she couldn’t do anything right. She wanted to bolt out the door and run to the forest, but her feet were too sore.

“I’ll take care of it in a minute.” Joseph pulled Ava closer to him.

“You need to take care of it immediately,” David said.

“I know you’re pissed, David. But I had to make one last attempt before Graduation Day. I apologize for my insubordination, but look, my plan worked. I got through to someone. And she’s not just an ordinary resident. She’s a Successor. With her help, we might actually get through to the others. This could be our last chance to save them.”

“Or Morray’s chance to wipe us out. You don’t honestly think Morray will let us get away with taking one of his Successors? Especially not when…”

“Sir, she doesn’t know. I haven’t told her yet.”

Ava looked at Joseph. She wondered when he would tell her the truth. Why was he holding back? What was it about Graduation Day? David kept his focus on Ava as if searching for something. But she didn’t know anything. They knew more than she did. She began to feel nauseous. Her throat tightened and tears blurred her vision. Too exhausted to hold back, tears rolled down her cheeks. David handed her a handkerchief.

“Anything on the wires?” Joseph asked one of the men.

“Not a peep. You’d think your stunt would’ve caused a war. But Morray and his men have been offline. Radio silence.”

“He’s up to something. I want you to deactivate her chip immediately,” David said. “Take her to the bunkers. She’s not looking so good.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ava said.

“Don’t worry, Miss Rhodes. We’ll take good care of you. It’s not every day we have royalty out here.” He smiled and touched her shoulder. A chill coiled up her spine. She didn’t have a good feeling about David. What did Joseph call it, a gut instinct? A young man led Ava and Joseph to a large metal door at the far end of the room. She glanced back to see David and the others looking at a large paper map.

“Take the first shelter on the right,” the man told Joseph.

They stepped into a passageway where four individual shelters were burrowed into the side of the mountain. Joseph entered a code into the worn-out keypad. The door unlocked and he turned on a small lantern. The room was packed tight with four small beds and shelves stacked with food supplies, water containers, clothes, boots, blankets, and weapons. The weapons didn’t look anything like the ones the Officers and guards carried. These were black and clunky and took up a lot of space. Joseph wrapped a blanket around Ava’s shoulders. “Sit down, I gotta remove that chip before David has a heart attack.”

“His heart is that weak?”

“No,” Joseph laughed. He handed her a cup of water. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“Why are you removing the chip? I thought David said to deactivate it.”

“That was a nice way of saying get it out and destroy it.”

“Who is David?”

“He has the highest rank across all military units. So, he commands all the men who protect the villages. In official terms, he’d be General. He oversees all of the southern California coastal units. A lot of men under him.”

“He said you’re his second. So that makes you important?”

“Yeah.”

“And from what I gathered, you disobeyed orders?”

“David doesn’t want to risk causing turmoil between us and Morray. Going into battle could be devastating.”

“Why do it then, knowing your actions would start a war?”

“It was gonna happen either way. Morray is getting worse. He’s been encroaching on the villages, taking people for his programs and experiments. What he’s doing is wrong. It’s unnatural. And he has to be stopped.”

“Are you ever going to tell me the rest of the story?”

“I want you to drink your water and sit down on the cot so I can remove your chip. I gotta do something about your feet.”

Ava gulped back the cold water, not realizing how parched she was. “It’s so fresh,” she said.

“No chemicals.”

“Chemicals?”

“Your water is full of them.” Joseph sat next to her and held up her index finger.

“Is this going to hurt?”

“Yeah, it’s gonna hurt, but it’ll be quick. Our medical technology is a far cry from yours.” Joseph poured another cup of water. She drank it fast and shifted around trying to find a comfortable position against the pillows. Joseph wiped off her index finger with an astringent he called witch-hazel and pressed the scalpel against her skin. “Close your eyes. Sometimes that helps.”

“No, I want to watch.”

“Cutting in.” He sliced open the tip of her index finger down about an inch. Blood oozed out. He wrapped her hand with a white cloth. “Hold this tight around the base of your finger,” he said.

“It’s so warm.” Ava watched the blood drip down her finger, fascinated. She was grateful to divert her attention away from her feet. Joseph pressed a pair of tweezers into the gash and dug out the microchip. A blaze of heat shot through her body. “That hurt. That definitely hurt.” Ava squeezed the cloth around her finger.

Joseph dropped the microchip into a metal bowl on the table next to the bed. “You doing okay?” he asked. He held her finger and stitched it up with black thread. Ava couldn’t watch that part.

“It’s so small.” She looked at the microchip. “How could something so tiny have such power?”

“Morray has teams of people perfecting his technology.”

“What will you do with it now?”

“I’ll deactivate it.”

“How do you know how to do that?”

“We’ve been practicing.” Joseph secured some bandages around Ava’s finger.

“Where have you been getting microchips?”

“Ava, there’s so much to tell you. Tomorrow, I promise.”

“How long are we staying here?”

“Just one night. I’ll take you to my village in the morning. You need some medical attention.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to move ever again.”

“Lay back and let me see those feet.” Joseph unwrapped the bloody strands of cloth from her feet and wiped the bottoms clean with the astringent. It burned into the cuts.

“That stings!” Ava cried out.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to get any infections. We’ll take better care of this tomorrow. Right now, get some rest.”

“Aren’t you going to rest?”

“Defense strategy first. Rest later.”

“I don’t want to be alone.”

“You’re safe here.”

“I’m starting to wonder if any place is safe.”

“I’m right outside the door. I’m not going anywhere.”

“What do you think Morray is up to?” Ava sank back onto the pillow. Exhaustion had set in and she had trouble keeping her eyes open.

“Honestly, I don’t know. He’ll obviously want to get you back so he won’t start attacks until you’re safe. We might have primitive technology, but we have many brave men. And we have weapons. Morray knows we’re not afraid of him.” Joseph pulled the blanket over Ava. He stared at her a few seconds too long. Her cheeks heated up. He leaned down and kissed her. She sat up, touching her lips.

“We don’t do that in the City Center.”

“I’m sorry.” He stood back.