Year 18

-Chapter 22-

A/N~ Just a quick note that there will be a part in this chapter that may look like just a block of jumbled letters and symbols/punctuation, but know that it is relevant and not an error haha :) It will be explained.

"Could you pass the salt?" Kane asks.

I'm tempted to joke, to remind him of my first night with him and his men; how talk about salt had led to a fight. But I don't suspect bringing up Felix would help anything, so I nod handing him the salt without any comments.

"Thanks," he says, but the word sounds gruff, his mouth barely moving as he says it, more a reflex than a thought. "Increase volume by five."

This comment is meant for the screen displaying the News against Kane's living room wall. All day the News has been nothing more than images of the Leader and his officials reminding the nation of what a threat the Year Movement is; that any affiliation with Kane or myself is an act of treason and terrorism.

No word has come out about my execution or lack thereof. But no one has burst through the headquarters' doors either.

"Should we get away?" I ask, not sure how Kane will respond. "Something doesn't feel right. If they aren't going to issue a nation-wide man hunt for us, why aren't they here now to try and take us back? There's no way they haven't noticed my absence."

"If nothing's happened by tonight, we'll go. I agree their silence is concerning. When would the... when was the execution scheduled for?"

I shrug, noting that it's nearing seven o'clock. "I don't recall hearing a specific time, but I got the impression it would've already happened. Prime dinner entertainment."

The comment leaves a disgusting coating in my mouth as it slips past my lips. It's the truth, and that makes it all the more sickening.

"Something's happening," Kane uses his fork to point at the screen.

He's right. Rather than official propaganda clips littering the spaces between videos of sectors burning, people rioting and paying the price, it's drone footage from the Cells. There's no voices, no music, nothing but silence coming from the footage.

The drone dips down and the camera angle shifts to a different camera entirely, this one pointed at a podium, the Leader standing behind it. He looks as though he's aged since I last saw him. I remember the man from when I was young. His hair hadn't been speckled with gray, and the harsh lines in his face at the time were nothing more than smile lines. Now he looks almost as old as Charlie's façade had, his hair graying, his smile far from present. There's a look of hatred and anger brewing in his face. It's subtle, but it's there in the way his nostrils flare and the way his jaw is so tight it looks as though it will snap.

"What..."

My question is cut off when the camera shifts to the right of the Leader. It's a cement area, the ground and walls all thick concrete. Agents are lined up in a straight line, guns being held in front of their bodies.

"Felisha," Kane's voice drops off as we both take in the next image that flashes onto the screen.

It's me.

Of course I know that I'm not there, but that's certainly me.

"We want to make it clear," the Leader's words spill out of the speakers, covering me in icy fear, "that any involvement with the Year Movement, Kane Porter, or Felisha Martins is an act of terrorism and treason."