Grandfather (11 page)

I was back in the forest.
This time, the sun was going down and the forest was much darker.
It would definitely be pitch black by the time we got back. I
wasn’t looking forward to walking at night. Hopefully I didn’t go
tripping on more roots.

“
We’ll get to the road . .
. driver will be waiting,” Edgar said. He and Robert started
walking. Ashton and I followed.

We passed more arrows, and
each time, we followed them. Each time we passed one, I looked at
the other side of the tree to see another arrow. I finally got it.
Two sets of arrows.

Good thing, because I
would’ve never found the road again.

“
Be sure to keep the suits
clean,” Robert told us once we could see the road up ahead. I made
sure I hadn’t gotten my suit dirty or anything. I was good . . . so
far. That probably wouldn’t last long. Knowing me, I’d get
something all over it.

As soon as we reached the
road, a car sped by. I lost grip of the briefcase and dropped
it

“
Don’t be
a dropping it,” Edgar shouted. “Do
that
with the vials in it . . .
you’ll kill us all!”

“
Okay, okay,” I griped,
making a mental note to be more careful.

Giving me a worried look,
Edgar headed toward the familiar white car sitting on the side of
the road just a few yards ahead.

“
Aren’t you guys afraid
somebody driving by will get suspicious?” I asked.

“
Nah,” Robert said. “People
rarely leave the city. No reason to. And when they do, they’re more
focused on getting to the next city. They don’t care what’s going
on here.”

“
Mostly cab drivers,” Edgar
said.

Robert took the front
seat, not even acknowledging the driver. I was stuck in the back,
squished between Edgar and Ashton. “Corner of Luther and Cabella,”
Robert said, more to himself than the driver. Immediately, the
familiar 3D image floating up front zoomed out, revealing more of
the mountain we were in. Finally, the screen passed over the
landmarks, flying across the city wall before stopping and zooming
back in on an intersection. The words ‘Luther’ and ‘Cabella’ were
listed.

The GPS was, by far, one
of the coolest things I had seen. I just had to look at the others’
reaction, and of course Edgar and Robert didn’t seem surprised.
Neither did Ashton, which made sense. He had been out a few times
with the doctor.

The car sped off, and just
as expected, the driver didn’t say a word. None of us spoke that
much. I wondered if all car rides were silent.

It didn’t really bother me
because it gave me a chance to enjoy the scenery. It was beautiful,
though scary at times when the road got too close to a drop-off.
The occasional vehicle would pass by, which I was used to. Soon, as
we moved downhill, the forest grew sparse, and the familiar road
leading straight to the orphanage came into view. The car passed up
the street and eventually took a left. I looked over my shoulder at
the road, wondering if people at the orphanage were searching for
me. They probably wondered where I’d gone, but there was no way
they would go out of their way to actually find me. Actually, the
houseladies probably hadn’t even noticed.

Up ahead, the street led
straight to the tall wall. Man, it was huge. Probably twenty or
thirty stories high. To our left, there was nothing but a flat,
green field where cows grazed. It stretched until bordering the
forest: the same forest we were just in. To our right, there were
several trees blocking whatever was on the other side.

The closer we got to the
wall, the taller it became. I got even more excited. I was finally
going to be able to see what was on the other side. I looked up
ahead to see how far we were. Not even a mile ahead, there was a
tunnel going through the wall. It was the first time I had ever
seen the entrance. It was probably one of many. Ashton kept his
cheeks against the window, looking straight up at the wall. Edgar
and Robert looked straight ahead. I caught a glimpse of the
driver’s eyes through the mirror. They stayed on the
road.

The tunnel grew closer and
closer. My excitement grew more and more. What was it going to be
like? What were the people like? Then, I remembered how most people
didn’t like the rich people. I had to be prepared to hate what I
saw.

I didn’t have to wait much
longer. The car finally entered the brightly lit tunnel. There were
four lanes going one way, and four going the other. Hardly any
vehicles entered or left. I knew it was because people usually
stayed inside the city. They didn’t leave. A shiny red car drove
beside us.
It was curvy and beautiful. I
imagined myself driving. Of course I didn’t know how to, but I
could maybe learn.

The wall was pretty thick.
I’d say it took us ten seconds just to get through. And when we did
leave the tunnel, I got my first look at the city. It was
absolutely amazing. I’m gonna try to explain it as best as I can,
but it’s just something you’d have to see with your own
eyes.

First of all, as soon as
we exited the tunnel, there were tons of roads going in every
direction. Some were several feet in the air while others
disappeared into tunnels going underground. These roads were
crowded with tons of cars, all perfect and clean. The driver took a
specific exit that was smaller than the others. The skyscrapers
towered the city, gazing at the vast amount of people. Other
buildings reflected off of the skyscrapers’ shiny surfaces. The
reflection of the sun bounced off the tallest. As I remembered, it
was in the very middle. I may have seen the city from far off with
Marley, but these buildings were much bigger than what I’d thought.
They could hold thousands of people! And they looked brand new too.
They were all silver and slick-looking.

The driver took a few more
turns until we entered a much busier street located directly among
the skyscrapers. People filled the sidewalks, rushing in and out of
different stores, in all different directions. They moved at a much
quicker pace than the people around the orphanage. Many of them
also carried large bags. I wondered what they had in
them.

Some of the people talked
and laughed with others. Many held a clear rectangle device to
their ear and talked. It looked like a piece of glass with smooth
edges. I assumed they were cell phones. I had heard of them, but I
had never actually seen one.

I noticed that almost
everybody walking was smiling. Nobody looked like they were having
a bad time . . . not one single person. To no surprise, they stood
up straighter than anybody I had seen. They dressed in elegant
clothing ranging from suits like ours to the nicest shirts and
sweaters with all sorts of unique designs. Most of the women wore
extravagant dresses and skirts and jewelry. Their hair was fixed in
very complicated ways. I even saw a few people with hair colors
like blue, green, and purple. Very different.

Ashton looked just as
amazed as I did. Of course he did. This was his first time in the
city also. He and Dr. Mac may have seen the technology in vehicles,
but from what Marley said, they picked up the medicine outside the
wall.

I caught Edgar looking
back at us. He seemed entertained by our reactions.

Traffic grew denser as we
got closer to the center of the city, forcing our driver to slow
down. I continued watching the rich people interact with the city,
fascinated by them. Everything they did was completely different
from what I was used to seeing. It was as if the rich and poor were
two completely different breeds. Interesting but scary.

There’s something else I
should mention. It was really cool. Almost every skyscraper had a
huge green logo at the top: a green infinity sign. It looked pretty
cool.

The car made a turn onto a
small street with less traffic. The buildings were less tall so I
assumed we were driving away from the city center. Then, the driver
came to a stop at an intersection. I looked at the electronic signs
with the road names on them. One read Cabella. The other read
Luther. We had arrived.

The GPS announced our
arrival, and we exited as Robert told the driver to wait. I took
the time to observe the people. They didn’t pay any attention to
us.

“
The new one comes out next
week,” a girl around my age was casually telling an older woman. I
imagined it was her mom. “Can I get it?”

“
We’re all getting it,” the
woman replied as they walked away.

“
We’ll get a steak dinner,”
an older man said onto his phone as he passed by. I tried getting a
better look at his phone since I had never seen one before, but it
just looked like a thin piece of glass. When the man took the phone
away from his ear, the piece of glass lit up, revealing several
numbers. Amazing.

“Should be dark soon,”
Edgar said.

“
We need to wait until it’s
completely dark,” Robert said. “Safer then.”

Edgar agreed. “Been here
many times. There’s a coffee shop around the corner.”

We all followed Edgar, not
saying a word. Ashton and I were still using our time to take in
the city life. I wondered if others could easily notice we were
from outside the wall. Our facial expressions probably gave
it
away . . .
if
they were paying attention to us. I had a feeling the city life was
something I’d never get used to. But apparently it was possible
since Edgar and Robert didn’t pay much attention to everything
going on around us.

We rounded the corner, and
the crowd became denser. It must’ve been a popular area. The noise
of people talking and laughing filled the air. Edgar and Robert
snaked their way through the crowd pretty easily while Ashton and I
were pushed and shoved in every direction. People may have looked
nice, but they sure didn’t act it toward strangers.

Finally, we reached the
coffee shop Edgar was talking about. I read the
sign
. Starbucks
.
Never heard of it. Some fast-paced song I had never heard of was
playing when we entered. There were several people sitting at
different tables focused on different types of electronic devices.
Most of them were just small boxes in which a light jet out of a
small hole, projecting a hologramic screen into the air in front of
them.
People used their fingers to
navigate. We may have never seen much technology around the
orphanage, but most of us had read about it. I remembered reading
about computers, which were described much similar to what I saw in
that coffee shop. Awesome.

We walked up front to
where a short blond-headed woman in a green uniform stood, smiling
at us. In a friendly and confident voice, she asked, “How may I
help you?”

“
I’ll take a cappuccino,
grande,” Robert said.

“
Make
that four,” Edgar said. He turned around to look at me and Ashton.
“I
know
you two
don’t know what ya want,” he said, smiling.

Yeah, he was
right.

I watched the order appear
on a transparent screen next to the woman. She didn’t even do
anything. “Names?” the woman asked.

“
Robert.”

“
Edgar,”

“
Uh . . . Carsyn,” I said
slowly.

“
Ashton.” He also spoke
slowly.

Each time we spoke, our
name appeared on the screen.

Edgar laughed at us, and
the tone of his voice was even happier. It was as if the city
changed him. I bet he missed the city life. I wanted to learn more
about his previous life but didn’t think it would be a good idea to
ask.

Me, Ashton, and Robert
took a seat while Edgar paid. When I heard the woman say it was
nearly twenty bitcoin, my eyes widened. Edgar didn’t even seem to
mind. How much bitcoin did this guy have anyways?

After a few minutes of
waiting in silence, the woman called our names, and we each grabbed
our green cups filled with whatever cappuccino was.

“
Watch out now,” Edgar
started to say as we reclaimed our table, but I took a drink before
letting him finish. Ashton did the same thing.

Big mistake.

We both jumped, spitting
back up what we didn’t swallow. My tongue and throat felt like they
were on fire.

“
Hot,” I said in
pain.

Edgar and Robert just
laughed at us.

“
It’s hot,” Edgar finished.
I guessed I should have let him finish.

I wiped the cappuccino off
of my chin and looked down to see I had spit some onto my
suit.

“
Dammit,” Robert said. “Not
the suit. Both of you.” Ashton apparently did the exact same
thing.

Then Edgar said casually
as he took a small sip. “Doesn’t matter.”

I tried again, this time
going much slower. I allowed the cappuccino to come out of the cup
and gently touch my tongue. I slowly swallowed the small amount. My
chest warmed up immediately. I had never had a drink like it, and
it was pretty amazing.

“
Good, isn’t it?” Robert
asked.

“
Yeah,” I said. Ashton
loved it too.