Chapter 2
March 16, 2159
Adelina Morgan
Location: County 4/ County 3
Damn it. I’ve been caught. I rush to the nearest exit, as army officers rush into the room. Three minutes. They’re all going to die. Confused, the officers look around the room one more time. Hurry the hell up. Finally, the officers give up and leave, their footsteps loud and echoing in the hallway. One minute and thirty seconds. I grab the bomb in the corner. How did the officers not notice it?
It must be the fiftieth time I’ve dismantled a bomb. Fortunately, the one in front of me is one I’m extremely familiar with: an atomic bomb. Fetching my knife in my pants, I cut both wires, red and blue (I don’t ever know which one to cut) and look around for the neuron trigger. When I spot the small disc, I remove it and start looking for the conventional explosive. Carefully, I pull it out and eliminate it from the rest of the bomb. Sighing in relief, I realize that the first part to explode isn’t in the bomb anymore. Finally, I separate the U-235 masses. Hoping that I don’t die of radiation, I place one in a metal box and the other in the other metal box. I feel my nerves calm down, now that I’ve successfully prevented a bomb explosion.
“There she is!” I hear, causing my eyes to widen and my head to whip around me. There is a general standing in the doorway, wearing the conspicuous white uniform. I smirk, pushing the metal boxes away from each other, and look for the nearest exit. It just so happens that in this army building, there are many windows, so I pull myself up to the window and jump out, which goes unnoticed by the general because he’s too busy calling for backup. When my feet reach the opening to the window, the general finally realizes that I’m escaping. “Hey! Stop her! It’s Morgan!”
Before I jump out, I give a little two-finger wave over my shoulder. I’m glad that I changed my cloak; my old one was getting too torn. Hurrying before they catch me, I keep running to the nearest bar in the area.
“Violet!” The bartender exclaims. Surprised, I understand that I’ve been there before. The bartender motions me over. She’s been calling me ‘Violet’ ever since I’ve been here, because of my purple eyes. It’s extremely rare. No one here knows who I really am, because I don’t tell anyone. Everyone has heard of Adelina Morgan, and knows that she always wears cloaks and has violet eyes, but when I’m out of my cloak, it’s like I’m a different person.
“Yes?” I ask, my eyebrow raised.
“Here,” she says, handing me a glass, “drink up.”
I narrow my eyes at her, questioning, “You know that I’m only twelve, right?”
That’s another thing that people don’t know. It’s been forgotten that Adelina is actually the daughter of that famous criminal, Winston. So most think that she’s at least eighteen, old enough to be taking care of herself. That’s another reason why no one suspects me.
I exit the bar and notice all of the graffiti and artwork placed on all the dark, dirty walls. Pictures of two violet eyes under a cloak crowd the entire area. Hero. That’s what everyone in counties four and five think about Adelina Morgan. Everyone thinks that she’s actually rebelling against the nation. Every time she’s been spotted, something unfortunate has been discovered at that location.
If only they knew.
“Hello there, little man,” I say in the underground area we’ve set shelter up in for the night. Out comes a little boy. His hair is chocolate-brown, his eyes shiny gold, just like his father. He is really skinny, since food is scarce around the area. He’s quite tall for his age of five years, at nearly four feet. “I brought you a piece of bread.” I hand him a small piece, on the verge of growing mold.
“Thanks, sis,” Jon smiles, one of his front teeth missing. He devours it hungrily, a sad tint in his eyes when he’s finished. He sits back down in the partly underground clearing.
“You can have my piece too,” I give him my piece of bread, though I can feel my stomach grumbling; anything to see a bit of happiness on him. Excited, he grabs my piece and starts immediately chewing.
“So what did you do today? I heard you almost set off a bomb in county four’s second army base,” Jon says, with his mouth full. Surprised that news traveled so quickly, I turn to him and look him in the eye.
“Where did you hear that?” I ask, curious.
Jon looks like he’s been caught by the government for being an orphan (which, by the way, I wouldn’t let happen). “I-I hear things,” he murmurs quietly. A few seconds pass before I speak up.
“You’re not supposed to show yourself. It’s dangerous,” I sigh, lecturing.
“Yeah, I know,” he finally admits, “I just got bored sitting here all day.”
Jon is very smart, almost as much as our father. He’s probably more of a genius than I am, even though I learned everything directly from Dad. I pull him close to my body, feeling the crisp, cool air of near spring.
“Little man,” I start. Jon looks up at me, with his innocent face and happy expression. Only he would be happy and optimistic in our situation. “Are you sure you don’t want to take the test?” He looks down after rolling his eyes, because I’ve been asking him the same question so many times before.
“No, sis. I don’t want to.”
“Jon...” I trail off, “You could get in there, become a really prominent person in the nation, like a general, or something.”
He shrugs his shoulders, rubbing up against my stomach. “I don’t want to be owned by the government. They’re not doing anything right. Besides, if I go, what’ll happen to you?”
I could disappear a lot easier. I internally gasp, scolding myself for thinking so negatively. “Nothing will happen to me, honey,” I ruffle his hair.
“But I wouldn’t ever see you,” he continues to protest, defending his decision.
“You wouldn’t need to. You’ll know I’ll be out there.”
He giggles, “Yeah, always ‘setting off bombs’, you,” he puts air quotes around ‘setting off bombs’, indicating sarcasm. So smart, this one.
“Of course, little man. You can always count on me,” I whisper, trying to lull him to sleep, “Now go to sleep, we have to get out of here tomorrow.”
I know that he knows that it would be coming. He knew it immediately after he set out to explore. I should be a lot angrier, but I can’t set my emotions out like that.
I am determined, however, to register him for the test. I’m planning it right now. I can’t sign him up for the test in counties four or five, though. The government always declares those tests incomplete, for some reason. I have to sneak him in to county three. It’s time to enter the inside counties. I’m just glad that my father taught me the weak points of the wall. I haven’t tried to get in yet, alone, but it should be easy, based on what he told me.
Quietly, making sure that Jon’s asleep, I hide him in the underground clearing and shrug into my brown cloak that I tied to a nearby tree. We’re not far from the wall, so it shouldn’t take more than three hours to sneak in and out.
Dad’s right. There are exactly eight weak spots on the wall, something that any normal person wouldn’t be able to recognize without studying. The posts are placed at equal distances from each other. The wall is made from iron, steel, concrete, and sand. The silver gate is lit up eight miles from my location, but I’m not heading near there. I run from post to post, eyeing the lights that move across the border. Finally, I spot it. Eighteen posts down from the gate, the light moves slower across the border. Jackpot. Before the light sweeps over, I dart through the darkness to the wall, sticking to the metal.
I pop off one of the screws that connects the wall piece to the next and squeeze my knife through the iron brick. Pulling it open, I shimmy through the extremely small opening, grateful for once that I’m extremely skinny. According to one of the signs on the inside, the testing center is twelve miles from my location. Luckily, I can clear a mile in five minutes. I take off into a run.
Fifteen miles later, I gather that the sign I encountered earlier was actually wrong. Now, though, the testing center is finally in front of me. I have to figure out how to grab a registration form without being seen, without a parent, and with all the people currently in there at the moment. The testing center is a lot more crowded than the ones in the outer counties, probably because they actually care about children here.
I need a distraction. Behind the building, I shed off my cloak, and mix in with the rest of the adults. Sliding into the line, I quickly grab a registration form, hiding my face from the evaluators. I use a pen to scratch in the right information. I just hope that they’ll be able to read it.
I fill in the parent information, according the information of the man next to me. Discreetly, I copy everything exactly the same. In the next section, I carefully record all the information of Jon, using the last name I copied:
NAME: Jon Hinckley
GENDER: M
DATE OF BIRTH: Feb 21 2154
LOCATION OF BIRTH: County 3
TEST DATE: Dec 21 2163
I’m being selfish. I sign him up for when he is nine, because I want to keep him with me for a while longer. I like not being alone with him. I’ll give him up later. I’ll be ready...I hope. Besides, he still has a lot of things to learn. I need to make sure that he passes by a large margin. I’m not going to let him live in the outer counties for the rest of his life.
That life is not very desirable.
I stuff the form into the pile next to me before inconspicuously exiting the building. Once outside, I pull my hair back into a ponytail and find my cloak, slipping it on. I feel a grin creeping on as I start walking back to the outside. Jon will be free.
Beep, beep! My head whips to the side. I discover a man in the middle of the road, and a car driving fast toward him. Move! I yell internally, my legs already running to the area before my brain can process it. I’m relieved when the car stops an inch before hitting the man. My legs stop moving and I dive behind a bush. The mysterious guy is wearing a black suit, much like a ninja. His face is covered, but he looks well groomed, so he’s probably from the inside counties. What the hell is he doing?
The couple in the car get out, and start talking to the man. My eyes widen when I spot a gun in his belt. My legs start moving again. Something bad is going to happen. They’re going to get shot.
Something bad is going to happen.
“Get out of the way!” Somebody yells, loudly. I realize that it’s me. Before I can think it through, I continue, “He has a gun!”
The couple looks more alert at the man now, and before I can reach the victims, the mysterious man has already shot the husband. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the national symbol embedded in his jacket: a flag with a ribbon and star among it. He’s a commander. The killer is about to shoot the woman when I throw one of my knives accurately at his gun, knocking it out of his hand. He turns his head to me, the lady just standing there, shocked. Blood is gushing out from the husband’s wound.
The mysterious man is not aiming his attacks at me. He quickly pulls out a second - probably backup - gun and shoots me. I move to the side, inaccurately, since I can’t see much in the darkness. The bullet grazes my shoulder.
“Mph!” I groan, before yelling at the lady, “Go get help!”
She’s pulled out of her daze and holds up her luxurious dress to run into the testing center building. Meanwhile, the man is still fighting with me.
“You stupid girl,” he growls at me, “You don’t want to mess with me.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing. You just shot a commander,” I reply, grasping onto the gun that I knocked out of his hand, earlier. We’re about eight meters apart, holding the guns pointing at each other. If I move first, he’ll shoot me. But if he’ll move, I’ll shoot him. We seem to understand each other’s similar tactics. Before either of us can move, though, the lady returns with officers.
She points over to us and yells, “That’s the killer!” before falling down in grief. A second passes before the mysterious man shoots the lady in the chest and disappears. Just like that. And I’m left alone, holding a gun.
“Where have you been, sis?” Jon yells out when he sees me approaching, “I’ve been waiting for hours, and...”
I’m trying to get there in one piece, without too much giving away my injury. I tore off part of my cloak to tie over the wound, but it doesn’t escape my brother’s eyes.
“Shit, sis, what did you do?” He panics.
“Calm down, Jon. I might have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes pierce into mine.
“I might be accused of killing a commander tomorrow morning,” I reply, trying to be nonchalant and calm.
His kid voice raises several decibels. “You what?!”
“Shut up, little man, and help me get up.”
He pulls me up, assisting me to the underground clearing. He must have been stocking up on things, because there are berries in a pile on one side of the area and a container filled with water not far from it. He helps me clean the wound and wraps it up with another piece of my cloak. Damn. I really thought this cloak would last at least three years.
After he’s finished, he lies down next to me, on my uninjured side. “Did you do it?”
“Not a chance, little man.”
The conversation ends there. I would never lie to him, and even if I did, he would probably see right through it. I hope he doesn’t ask what my initial goal was for this night.
He’s as old as I am. Why is he already in charge of a mission? I can hear the drum of two armies marching while I’m taking my test. I hope I can finish before they arrive. But they probably did their research thoroughly. I complete the writing portion for the mental part of the placement test and hand it in to the evaluator.
I step up to the mat to perform my physical portion of the test. Many different weapons lay on a table. There are bows and arrows, guns, knives, and wires. The evaluators are supposed to look for overall diversity and experience with weapons, but great specialization in one weapon is still impressing. The object of my physical test is to “kill” five “people”, which are actually targets. I have seven tries to hit the targets in the right places. I hit the first one with the bow and arrow. I narrowly miss the heart, and that is something that won’t go unnoticed. I’ve always hated using the bow and arrow, anyway. I shoot at the next one with a gun. The bullet flies straight through the middle of the target, perfectly. I hit the third one with knives, which I throw in a perfect curve. I shoot the fourth one with a gun again, since the bow and arrow didn’t go very well. And as I pick up my knife, I hear the drumbeat of the marching army cease. Damn. They’ve found us.
I know that Dad is very near, because he told me to use a signal if I get into trouble. Behind one of the generals, there is a security alarm. I throw my knife straight at the bell, carefully making it skim over the general’s head. I don’t really want any casualties today. When he takes his gun out instantly, I sigh internally. He shoots at me, and I move over to the right a bit. You’d think the government would hire generals with a better shot. Before he can shoot at me again, Dad shows up, expertly shooting a bullet straight through the general’s heart. Well. My attempt to avoid casualties was futile.
Dad throws himself in front of me, a sign that I should escape. And I do just that. But I don’t go very far. I exit the testing center, but I am still watching the inside.
I watch as the boy lowers his gun to look for me.
I watch as he orders the execution of my father.
I watch as he isn’t able to bring himself to shoot him.
The next day, I find out that the famous “hero” is named Jacob Grey.