There Once Were Stars (11 page)

I eye the firearm at Roe’s side. Easy to say, when you’re an Order member and allowed to carry protection. I wish I had something more than a camera and clipboard to protect me from whatever could be out there.

“Don’t look so spooked.” Evan bumps my shoulder as we walk into the foothills.

“Is anything alive out here?”

“Seriously, Greyes? What do you think is out here?”

He laughs and I bite down on the inside of my cheek, wishing he was more sensitive about my lack of knowledge.

“Something obviously killed my parents.”

His laugh cuts off short. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of that. I was out here for weeks with Alec. We didn’t see anything, well except maybe a mouse, or the odd bird. But other than those, not a single living thing.”

“Really?” Mice and birds are alive only in storybooks, when you’ve been closed in a dome for your entire life. But it’s not living things I’m afraid of; it’s the childhood stories about the infected, monsters who come to get little children while they lie in their beds. I know one could never get in the dome, but out here, who knows what’s survived. That childhood fear still lies somewhere deep inside me.

“Have you ever seen an infected?”

“No. Of course not. They were destroyed long ago in the Cleansing war.” His face drops. “Why? Has someone in your dome seen them? Did someone tell you there are still some around?”

“No.” I feel foolish again. “I thought—you know, how my parents died and all.”

“You thought an infected killed them?” Evan is borderline smug, frowning as if I’ve just asked the stupidest question he’s heard today. “Why would you think that?”

“There’s obviously no radiation. What do you think killed them?”

“Sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face. I guess hearing they were torn apart would make you think the most obvious answer would be an infected. But sometimes man is most dangerous to himself.”

We reach the top of the hill, which has served as the horizon on the other side of the dome walls my entire life. An entire world I never knew existed spreads out before me. A large meadow stretches out between the hills, filled with tall grass and flowers—real ones. Wildflowers are present in every color imaginable, none of which I have ever seen in my life. In the far distance a thick forest of trees borders the end of the meadow.

I step forward, then look back at Evan to see if he’s going to stop me.

“Go on.” He laughs. “It’s safe, I promise.”

I run down the other side of the hill into the meadow with my hands outstretched. The grass reaches my waist, and the flowers grow freely, wherever they please. There’s no rhyme or reason out here, no structure. Everything just lives.

I spin around, letting my outstretched fingers caress the tops of the grass, as it tickles my hands. I close my eyes and suddenly, so unexpected, I hear laughter escape my lips. This is true happiness. I don’t remember the last time I felt it.

I open my eyes and see Evan watching me from the top of the hill. His smirk has been replaced by an actual smile, so I motion for him to join me. He runs at me with his arms spread out, and I squeal, running deeper into the meadow. It’s exhilarating to put all inhibitions aside and be free. Nobody is watching, judging, or reprimanding.

Evan grabs me and spins me in the air. The meadow spins by, faster and faster, until we tumble to the ground, ending up face-to-face, him on his back and me on top of him.

“If you wanted to get me on my back you didn’t have to trip me.”

His boldness brings me back to reality. I jump off him and brush myself off, as he scrambles to get up.

“Nat,” he speaks up, “that was a j—”

“It’s okay,” I cut him off. The heat emanates from my face, and it’s not from running around. “It’s time we report back, don’t you think?”

“The perimeter is safe.” Evan nods. He gives me a little push, breaking the tension, and races me to the top of the hill. I’m glad he can joke around, because I’m not used to not being in control of my feelings.

Back at camp, everyone is already packing up their cameras and small soil samples. Waldorf frowns, as he reaches over and pulls a leaf from my hair. He shoots a look at Evan, before slipping the greenery into a small bag and sealing it up. I quickly run my hands through my locks, to check for other debris.

“Did you find anything out there?” Roe asks.

“No,” Evan says, a little too quickly.

“A meadow,” I say. “It was beautiful.”

I’m grilled about the meadow. What types of flowers were there? Were there any signs of microorganisms? I have no idea how to answer any of their questions, and Evan leans against the truck, letting me take the brunt of it all. I’m starting to think the people on my team are more than just expedition scientists. The one thing they all agree on is that our next visit must include a trip to the meadow.

“Perhaps we could bring someone from Biological Research with us,” Roe adds.

“I know one who would be ecstatic,” I say, thinking of Tassie.

The drive back is bumpy. Roe advises us to put our helmets back on. It is best to not divulge too much information about the outside world before we run tests, she explains. It makes sense to me. After decontamination, we scan one another with handheld scanners that are able to pick up the infection. Everyone is clear. We enter the dome, park the trucks, and take an elevator ride back to the lab where we unload all the boxes, Roe sends us off for personal time. I look around for Evan, and see him disappear behind the elevator doors. He must have someone to see.

I’m not sure how I feel about Evan hanging around someone else. It’s not that I’m possessive over him, or have any right to be, it’s just—what if it’s a girl? But who would be interested in an Outsider?
Why do I care, anyway?

I go back to my room and find Tassie lying on her bed reading a book,
Plants, Then and Now
. She’s oblivious to my presence concentrating deep in her book, but the second our door slides shut, she tosses the book aside and sits upright on her bed.

“You’re back! Tell me everything!”

I tell her about the ride out and how the sun and wind felt. I tell her how the dirt changed from sandy to dark soil, as these are points I know she’s professionally interested in. But I save the best for last, the one part I know she’ll love the most.

“I wish you could have seen it. A green meadow, filled with wildflowers, as far as the eye could see.”

She’s on her knees bouncing on her bed, squealing. “What kind of flowers? Did you smell them? Did you notice any other vegetation? Oh my goodness, I’m so jealous!”

I fall back onto my bed, unable to wipe the smile from my face. My cheeks are still flushed from the fresh air and freedom.

“And, Roe said she might take a Biological Research scientist with us next time—” I don’t get to finish my sentence; Tassie is screaming at the top of her lungs.

“WHAAAAAAAT!” she cries out. “Are you serious? I have to go find her right now.”

She jumps off her bed and bolts out of our bedroom, nearly knocking Evan over, who’s standing in our doorway. He freezes, with Tassie pressed against him for a little longer than necessary.

“Hey, I’m in a hurry,” she faintly slaps her palm against his chest with a playful tone in her voice. If it wasn’t for the confused look on Evan’s face, I’d think he likes it. But he steps back and lets her run past him.

“What was that all about?” He points his thumb after her.

“I told her Roe might take a Bio Scientist on the next expedition.”

“Roe is going to kill you.” Evan laughs. “Tassie will ask her every day until next week. I don’t think that girl understands ‘no’. But she’ll definitely add something to the scenery.”

A twinge of jealousy stabs me in the chest. “I don’t care.” I wish I could change the subject. Tassie didn’t strike me as Evan’s type, but what do I really know about him?

“I have a surprise for you,” Evan says. “That is, if you’re not busy?”

“A surprise? You don’t have other plans?”

“Who else would hang out with me? Come on.” He flashes me a playful smile, his eyes squinting with a flicker of mischief, then pulls me up from my bed out into the hallway.

“Where are we going?” I ask at the elevator. He slips an ID card into my hand as we step inside and the doors slide shut.

“What’s this?” I ask looking at the card. There’s no photo or name, it simply reads
B2
. I gasp and shove the card into my pocket out of the view of the cameras. My excitement is replaced by a hot burning sensation in the pit of my stomach.

“You know what it is,” Evan whispers. “Go ahead. Try it out.”

I look at the keypad on the elevator. There is a slit underneath the B2 button. The sharp outline of the card pushes into my skin as I clutch it tight in my palm. I look back at Evan.

“Don’t you want to check on your grandfather?” he asks. “We need to hurry. We only have twenty minutes until the cameras are reset.”

“Where did you get this card from?”

“I took it off one of the guards when they moved me off that floor.” He shrugs. “Figured it might come in handy.”

“Why would you ever want to return there?”

Evan laughs. “Are we going to waste the little time we have chatting with each other?”

I turn back to the keypad. Evan is right. I can grab this opportunity or keep wondering how Grandfather is. Is it so wrong to check on him? It’s not like we can break him out or anything. But breaking into B2 is a pretty big act of breaking the rules; am I ready to take my indiscretions to the next level?

“Okay.” I reach out, my hand trembling as I put the card in the slot. Nothing happens.

Evan reaches across me and presses the button for B2. The elevator whirs into action.

“Don’t be scared,” he assures me. “I’ve been down there before, remember? It’s not so bad.”

I take a deep breath and exhale. Evan reaches over and intertwines his fingers with mine. I’m too nervous to think about anything but Grandfather. Will he be down there? What if he’s hurt? The doors ding and open to B2.

I peer out the doors to the darkened hallway beyond where silence stares back at me. Evan’s hand rests against the small of my back, but instead of comfort, it sends a tremor through my body.

I walk down the hallway, guided by Evan. We turn a corner where dim blue lights give off enough illumination for us to find our way, their soft glow making me feel safer that I did a moment ago. I glance at Evan, moving confidently past the cells. He was down here before. He knows what to expect. I’ve only heard the rumors, but even those seem to be wrong—where are the screams?

“What happened to you down here?” I’m not sure if I really want to know the answer, but the silence is killing my psyche.

“I was kept in an interrogation room. I never made it to a cell.”

“Did they—torture you?”

“They tried.” His body stiffens, but he doesn’t let go of me. “There was nothing I could give them but the truth, but it felt like they were looking for a different kind of truth. Something that would make them feel better about what they were doing, I guess. Eventually they took me to Floor 18.”

“I heard the Director talking about you when I was cleaning near his office. He wanted you moved because you were close to the generator.”

Evan laughs, “They asked me a lot about my intentions. Was I here to spy on them? Did I want to destroy the dome? It was all ridiculous. They found me with a backpack of food. What did they think I could do?”

“Did they ask you about my uncle?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “But isn’t that strange? They kept asking me who I was working with, and I said I came alone. Who do you know inside? No one, I said. I told them all about my dome and how we moved outside, but they didn’t care. They were much more concerned about why I came. I couldn’t tell them about your uncle; who knows what they would have done to you?”

I remember Evan’s face that day on the elevator. It was bruised and he had blood on his clothes from his interrogation.
He took all that, just to protect me?

“Are we safe down here?”

“They’re all upstairs in a meeting,”

“How do you know that?”

“I can’t give you all my secrets, Greyes.” Evan stops and turns to me with a wink. The door behind him is made of the same gray steel as the floor and ceilings. Everything blends together. A small window on the door reveals only darkness inside.

“I’ll look around while you visit,” Evan says, stepping back. Before I have a chance to respond, he disappears down the hall.

A slight shimmer of the blue light falls across the floor, into the cell. There I spot Grandfather, sitting on the floor, his head leaning back against the wall. He looks smaller than I remember, or maybe it’s the size of the room.
What has it been? Two days?
That’s since I arrived.
Only three, then?
Yes, it was the day before I left. Why does my old life seem so long ago?

He lifts his head at the sound of the door opening. We don’t make eye contact at first. I’m not even sure he can see me.

“Grandfather?” My whisper breaks the silence.

“Nat?” His voice is rough, broken. He holds his arms out in front of him, clawing at the air, evidently disoriented. “Is that you?”

“Yes, Grandfather.” I catch a sob in my throat and run over to help him up. His body feels frail in my arms, and he’s too weak to stand. Instead I sit next to him and hold him against me, as tears fill my eyes.

“I can’t believe they let you in to see me.”

“A friend brought me down.”

“Don’t get into trouble on my account.” He’s still watching out for me, even in this state. “I get out tonight. Grandmother is coming to get me.”

“You do?” Relief washes over me as tears escape onto my cheeks. “Why did they take you in the first place?”

“Something about Alec.” He chuckles in the darkness. “I mean, can you really believe it. They asked if I had contact with him. Do I know his whereabouts? Absolutely absurd. I told them I know exactly where he is, in the ground with my other son and daughter-in-law.”

I embrace him, glad he still has some spirit left. I don’t dare tell him Alec is alive. I’m not sure he could handle the news in his state, and I can’t be there to help him pick up the pieces. Best leave that to Grandmother.