Chronicles of the Unknowns: Control

Chapter 9

When the man left, I lingered behind. I'd noted about 3 cameras in the room. I wasn't sure if there were any more that I couldn't see, but there was a small desk I could shift back to human under and remain concealed. The lizard and I swung our legs about wildly and we ran over there coming to a sudden halt.

Taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I absorbed my surroundings further. The point of this mission was surveillance. My lizard eyes and and mobility were good enough for the time being. Right now there was no need to shift again, but if I needed to this was the safest spot to do so.

I climbed up the side of the desk to see what was on top. There was a touch screen in the center and some papers and writing utensils next to it. My tongue flashed in and out. After scanning over top sheet of paper, I realized it was a schedule. It confirmed that Leona was arriving in three days. Giovanna's name was there too, but it had a question mark. That meant it was a possibility that she would show, but not a certainty. I supposed she was intentionally hard to track down. Made sense. She knew we were out here and couldn't chance the security risk.

The lizard and I pushed the top sheet off the stack. The next paper had a list of cities. I saw Tuscon and L.A. and several other western U.S. cities, but there also names of cities in foreign countries as well. Tuscon had a little arrow next to it and there was a word written next to it.

Assimilation.

There were a few cities with that word next to it. Other cities had different words. For example, Dalles, Oregon had the word "Preparation". L.A. had the word "Retribution".

It looked like some of the states had one of each. San Bernadino, was an "Assimilation" city. San Diego was a "Preparation" city.

Assimilate. Prepare. Retribute.

Reading those three words over and over again made me nervous. That feeling combined with a lizard's tendency to bolt almost sent me over the edge. Had I been human, I'd have broken out into a cold sweat and felt my breathing catch in my breath, probably on the verge of hyperventilating.

It wasn't hard to figure out a general idea of Giovanna's plan. The humans had already been defeated. That war was over. And it looked like she was systematically taking Unknowns into cities she claimed as her own - sanctuary cities I gues you could call them - and turning them against the last of us that didn't side with her.

I had a feeling that people who entered a city, didn't leave. At least, not without direct express orders from up above. Lili had been stopped, probably asked for her information once they documented she wasn't a human. She couldn't slip in and out unseen like I could. We had to get back in touch with each other. Soon.

There were still papers in front of me that I hadn't read though. I pushed the list of cities over and read the next page.

Ah.

A schedule for Tuscon. I could see Leona's name written in large print on the date that was three days from now. Next week looked quiet. The week after that it had a gathering scribbled on saturday and sunday. A rally. It looked like it was going to be in L.A. All of the sanctuary cities in California, Arizona and Nevada would be traveling there. The cities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho would be meeting in Dalles, Oregon.

Three huge gatherings on the same day? Giovanna had to be going to one of them. It was odd because her name was written on both. Maybe it was a way to confuse people who managed to infiltrate, like I had done. Maybe she could be in two places at once. Maybe she wasn't going to either...slim chance on that one.

I pushed the papers back into a pile. Next, I needed to find Lili so that we could confer with Jason about the plan. We had to head back today if we wanted to discuss Leona's arrival before outright attacking.