The Renegade

Chapter 14

Luk freezes beside me at the sight of my old home. "Strafe," he murmurs under his breath. I would recognize the destroyed Civilization Center everywhere--one entire wing is a smoking ruin with who knows how many corpses rotting inside.

"Change that screen at once!" Audra barks from beside me, her face turning red.

We certainly weren't supposed to see this footage much less enter the technology center, but I'm glad we did even though my stomach revolts at the images. Someone listens to Audra's command and the screen goes black, but they can't erase what we saw. I've been wondering what happened to the Civilization; now I know. At least one wing has been completely destroyed, and no doubt the rest is in chaos.

Audra stands in front of us with a nervous smile on her face. "I apologize for that. Are you ready to continue the tour? I still need to show you the energy do-"

"I need to talk to someone," Luk interrupts, leaving Audra frazzled and all of us confused.

Most of the men and women, primarily men, in the technology building watch us, especially since we stick out in our orange outfits, but Luk ignores them. He scans the crowd of blue-clothed workers and his eyes fasten on someone in the far right corner. He pushes through the crowd, creating a rift as they allow Luk Adrian, Father Paul's son, to separate them. I follow him, limping as quickly as I can on my crutches. I don't know what he's doing, but I'm not keen on being left out of the loop any longer so I'm going with him.

The rest of the group follows us as we weave through the parting crowd to a man sitting on a rolling chair in the back corner of the room. He's a dark skinned man with long braids who types furiously on a keyboard, his eyes scanning the computer. He sticks out among Domus with his long hair, like someone who could belong in the Civilization. Most of the Doman men I've seen have had short hair like Luk's, and most of the women have had long hair, meaning I stick out too.

The man looks up just as Luk approaches, a half grin on his face. "Luk Adrian, I heard you were back."

The man doesn't look at Luk with any of the careful fear of most of the other Domans; in fact, his lazy smile is almost friendly. I study Luk to see his reaction, and for the first time since we got to Domus, an easy smile breaks onto his face. The man with the braids rises from his seat and throws his arms around Luk, pulling him in for a tight embrace that attracts quite a few curious looks.

"Who is he?" Orrick whispers from behind me, and I just shrug. Luk has another secret--I'm not even surprised anymore.

Standing up, the man is tall and broad-shouldered, not what I expected from someone who sits behind a computer all day.

"Ior," Luk says, the smile still on his face. "It's good to see you."

"You too, considering I never thought you'd show your face here again even if you did survive," Ior returns with the same lazy smile. The smile fades from his face however, and he bunches his dark eyebrows. "How is she?"
Luk sighs and looks down at the ground, scuffing his toe on the concrete floor. "She's...she might not know who you are. She thought Addi was still alive."

They're talking about Ila. I don't know who Ior is, but by the way he takes a step back, I know that he must be close to Luk and Ila since before Addi died. Despite the two years Luk spent in the Civilization, he and Ior seem close. Really close. I'd wonder why I haven't heard about him, but I know almost nothing about Luk's time in Domus.

"Can I see her?" Ior asks, his husky voice dropped an octave lower.

Luk shrugs. "I don't know. Our wonderful Father barely lets me see her."