Code: Silence

11 - Fractures in the Dome

Avery’s POV

“Cody wants to see you. Come on.”

Hunter’s voice came out of nowhere.

I flinched, even though I recognized it instantly — that calm, low voice that somehow always carried a trace of command, no matter what he said.

I was sitting on a fallen log near the fire pit. The embers were still glowing faintly, thin trails of smoke curling into the cool morning air. Everything was quiet — only the rustling of leaves and the distant clatter of metal from the camp broke the silence.

The air was still fresh, almost pleasant. But I knew it wouldn’t last. Once the sun climbed over the stone wall, the heat would come — the suffocating kind that made the air shimmer and the dome itself feel like it wanted to crush you.

“What does Cody want with me?” I asked, brushing dust off my pants as I stood.

Hunter stood a few steps away, hands in his pockets, watching me with that unreadable look of his. Only the faint twitch in his jaw betrayed that something was on his mind.

“No idea. Just told me to get you.”

I nodded slowly, though unease prickled under my skin. Anything involving Cody never ended well. After last night, I knew he was the kind of man who smiled while twisting a knife into your back.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders — then stopped. I wasn’t a prisoner anymore, at least not officially.

Hunter walked ahead, and I followed him through the camp. The ground was dry and packed hard, with scraggly tufts of grass pushing through cracks in the dirt. The closer we got to Cody’s tent, the louder the noise — men laughing, cursing, cleaning weapons. Some stared openly, others tried to hide it.

I kept my head down, pretending not to care, though my pulse hammered.

Hunter stopped outside the tent and pulled the flap aside.
“Ladies first,” he said, a trace of irony in his tone.

I took a breath and stepped inside.

Cody sat behind an improvised table made from metal sheets balanced on crates. Maps, empty bottles, and a broken radio were scattered across it. He looked up when I entered, flashing that grin — the one that always sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“Avery,” he drawled. “Sleep well?”

I didn’t answer right away. I could feel Hunter’s presence just behind me.
“As well as one can in a place like this,” I said finally.

Cody chuckled, leaning back in his chair, arms folded. “Good. Then you’re ready to pull your weight around here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Plants grow along the wall — usable stuff. We harvest before the sun kills them off again.” His eyes scanned me, weighing, calculating. “Think you can handle that?”

I opened my mouth, ready with a sarcastic reply, but Hunter spoke first.
“I’ll go with her,” he said evenly. “She doesn’t know the area, and the sun’ll be brutal soon.”

Cody’s grin didn’t waver. “How chivalrous of you, Cross. Then off you go — the wall won’t wait.”

---

Outside, the sunlight hit like a blade. The stone wall shimmered, already reflecting the day’s heat. Hunter walked beside me in silence as we left the camp behind.

“What exactly grows out here?” I asked once we reached the cracked, sandy ground where thin green shoots forced their way through.

“Edible herbs, if we’re lucky,” he said, crouching to cut a few with his knife. “Or whatever Cody decides to call soup later.”