Mac brushes up against the wall. We all follow his example. He glances around the corner. He doesn't seem surprised that the government was there. I am still so naive, I never thought being a rebel was so complicated. One step at a time.
I turn to Mac, "Exactly who are we up against?" I use force in my words. I need answers now. I still don't exactly understand who we are up against, let alone why we had to take them down.
"I know you have a lot of questions. Especially, who our enemy is. Let us find somewhere to hide, somewhere safe, and I swear I will tell you everything." he replies, distracted.
I tap Meghan's shoulder. "Come on, let's go." I say.
We follow Mac slowly around the corner. "We need to find Adalene." How could he be so sure she made it out of the building alive? I ask myself. We barely made it out. "Where would we find her?" I ask. "She could be anywhere."
His answer is in his smile. Great, more secrets. My hatred for this rebel is piling up fast. He holds so many secrets, yet he isn't the type to slip anything to anyone. "Are any of you good at lying? How about acting?" he asks.
Surprisingly, Meghan raises her hand. Since when did she lie? Then, I remember. That spark in her eyes when the Academy began burning. She hadn't at all been surprised. She acted her confusion. I smile. I have a lot of secrets to learn, frankly so does Claire. Was she in on the rebellion? Or was she left feeling dumbfounded?
"What do you need me to do?" she asks Mac.
"I don't need you to do anything drastic, really." he replies, "Just put on a little show and distract the security officers while we sneak by." he smiles, "I'm positive that you will do fine."
Meghan winks, "My pleasure."
With that, she amazes me further. Suddenly she puts a face of fake distress on. She picks up ash from the ground and smears more on her face and clothes.
Then, she fakes a fall. She lands on the ground with a thwack. "Help me! Guards!" she screams. Meghan begins to cry. "Please," she continues, "help me." she sobs. The two officers race over to her. She coughs ashes onto their faces.
I am astonished. I want to stay here and keep watching. Her act is in fact entertaining. Mac grabs Claire, who is silently laughing. They begin to walk, their pace quickens with each step. I donn't follow. I can't leave Meghan alone.
Mac mouthes something to me, but I ignore it. I stay planted where I am. He stomps his foot. I make a stubborn expression and wave my hands for him to move on. Meghan and I would catch up. We wouldn't be too far behind.
I stay behind the wall as Mac leads Claire away. Luckily, the guards don't see them cross the pavillion. They are still so occupied with Meghan to notice. Meghan is propped up against the wall and the guards are questioning her.
"What is your name, child?" the first guard asks.
"Meg," she replies.
"Meg, did you see how the fire happened?" the second officer asks.
"Why yes. I was strolling through the hallway to find my classroom." she replies. "A door was propped open and people were speaking in hushed voices."
"Did you hear what they were saying?" an officer asks.
"Yeah. Something like," she mocks our actual conversation, "'We are going to start a fire! This building is going to burn, and we rebels will rise to take action!'"
The guards look astounded, "Then what happened?" the other asks.
"Well, the building began to burn. Everything was fuzzy after that, almost hazed over in my memory. I did catch one final phrase though." she replied.
Both of the guard's eyes widen. "The last words I heard were," she paused for effect, "'We will go south.'"
Clever girl. I am positive that she was giving directions in the opposite direction. I remember a quote I heard an old instructor use before. He got terminated for using it in public. Meghan is leading the government on a wild goose chase. In this case, the government valued the rebels. Meghan was smarter than she looked.
The guards stand up and help her to her feet. "We thank you Meg, for the priceless information." a guard says.
"May I go home?" she bats her lashes. "My family must be very worried." she continues.
The guards glance at each other. "We can guarantee you safe passage home, but we really must get this information to the General," one guard took a breath, "will you be able to make it home all right?" he finishes.
"Yes, I believe so," Meghan replies, "allow me to collect my wits."
The officers nod and watch as she wipes her eyes and brush her shirt. She brings her hands, ash stricken, to her mouth and coughs. Creating an illusion that looks as if she were spewing ash from her lungs. That, is how she did it before.
She waves goodbye to the officers as they walk away. She waits until they are out of sight and rounds the corner I am hiding behind.
"Avery!" she exclaims quietly.
I nod and point the direction that Mac and Claire disappeared. We jog as we follow their tracks, making sure to kick ash as we go. If we can follow the tracks, so can the officers scouting the perimeter.
We near another corner and stop to take a breath. It is as gloomy as the rest of the society. Litter and broken things decorate the ground. Broken structures protrude from above. The sky, as always, is polluted and hazy gray.
I look at Meghan, "So, you knew about the rebellion act?" I ask.
She smiles, slightly, "Yes, was I that obvious?" she replies.
"No, actually you didn't give me the slightest clue."
"I wanted to, actually I had tried, but you were always lost in your little world." she says.
It was true, of course. The last few weeks I hadn't payed much attention to anyone. It was just me and my thoughts. I liked it that way. It was comforting.
"Who told you?" I push.
"No one,"
"Then how did you come across the information?" I insist.
"It was weeks ago. After our time at the Academy, Claire and I waited outside for you to walk home with us," she started. "I didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, so I told Claire to wait for me."
She continues, "I walked up to the guard and told him that I forgot my notebook inside my classroom," she took a breath, "he told me that I couldn't go in."
My eyebrows furrow. She takes the hint that I am deeply interested, so she continues.
"I quietly ran around the back of the building and found the window outside your classroom. It has always been broken." she says. I feel the seed in my pocket.
My classroom is on the first floor. It is always easy to look into the first floor classrooms. The windows are put down low. Children used to throw rocks at the building as a game. One boy, Nathan, threw a rock at the bricks above our classroom window. His aim was off and he hit the window. When the guards found out, Nathan was taken away and probably beaten. We never saw him again. Afflictions to private property was a crime. Criminals were severely punished.
"I heard voices on the inside, it wasn't hard because you were actually speaking out," she says with infliction, "I recognized something familiar in one of the voices. I figured it was you." she continues.
We start running again. She continues to talk.
"I heard everything Avery." she concludes.
"Did you tell Claire?" I ask.
"I told her something was going to happen soon. I didn't dare say anything out loud." she says.
I don't blame her. I am still frightened by the rebellion, the consequences, and everything that were parts of my worst nightmares. I wonder if she has had nightmares too. I decide not to ask. I still remember her bloody face in my dreams. That smile, as if she were embracing the pain that was implanted onto her. I shudder.
We follow the footprints to an abandoned neighborhood. The tracks end there.
"Where did they go?" I whisper to myself.
"Maybe, we aren't thinking like a rebel." she replies to my personal notes. "Don't look ahead or behind. Think outside."
I have the hankering to jump. I don't know why exactly, but I do. I am surprised as metal clangs beneath my feet. I jump several more times. Doing so, I notice a small latch hidden beneath the deceased grass. I pull it.
A circle of metal, coated in dead weeds extends upward. Stairs lead down into the darkness. I look at Meghan.
"Time for an adventure." I exclaim dully.
We began walking down the steps.