Molly (1/10)

Chapter 13

"Do we wait, or..."

Raelon clutched her hands tightly. "I think it's important that we go now."

He'd miss the green, but now he had something like purpose, and this in a way was pleasant for him.

When they came to the first street, Jannah kissed him suddenly. Raelon teetered at the precipice, wondering what he should say, so he just smiled, following after Jannah.

"It was somewhere near the factories," she said, standing on her toes so that she could look over the buildings of the city.

Raelon couldn't help himself: He watched, memorizing every part of her, wishing more than anything that things were back to normal.

"I remember driving by there with my dad," said Raelon. "He told me never to get too close. They treat people differently if they aren't already from up-top."

She stopped and came up to him. "Do you remember where it was?"

"Yeah."

He went on, and she followed. Sometimes they'd hear a gunshot. Before, Raelon would flinch. He was better about that now, having wanted to prove to Jannah that he wasn't a coward despite all of his friends and family being cowards.

A hovercar screamed overhead.

"Fucking vultures."

He'd died a long while ago. He was curled up into himself, as if he were protecting something hidden. But there was nothing there: just another corpse for the bugs.

"He was old," Jannah said, peering at the dead man's face. "Wonder why he left the apartments."

"Sometimes they think they can make it out okay," Raelon responded, watching their backs.

She got up, then nodded. "Sorry. Keep going. We shouldn't give a shit about this anymore."

Raelon didn't know why, but that was the saddest thing he had ever heard.

The blocks became flat plains of nothing, the good earth smothered by metal. Yellow lines against black.

A set of gunshots, then the barking of dogs. Raelon fled by instinct; by now they had both been tempered by the constant vigil of the vultures. Racing across that gray dune, Raelon looked only once to see long shadows cast against the ground.

They made it across, Jannah waving him in as she stared in-horror at the dogs racing after them, and from the mist: monsieurs, dipping into shadow.

They ran into the nearest apartment. Jannah shut the door and slammed the latch down. One of the dogs yelped, then: silence.

"That was close," Jannah managed to say, still trying to catch her breath.

Raelon leaned against the wall. The apartment was completely void. He wondered if there was anyone living inside the rooms, secretly hoping it wasn't the case.

"Maybe you were right," he said. "Maybe it's a good thing we're doing this."

"I don't want to do it anymore than you do, but they have to be taking people. They have to know what's going on."

Raelon could hear the dogs, pacing back and forth.

"I don't know. Think about how much we ignored before it all went to shit."

Jannah seemed startled by this answer. She took a step forward, then said, "Let's try and keep positive, okay?"

"Okay."

They went out the fire exit and--trying not to make any unnecessary noise--fled from the monsieurs. They managed the escape, though Raelon did not lower his guard.