The Fringe

Chapter 7

Even with the lockdown, Ben and I had found a way around it to spend time together to discuss the journals and try to figure out exactly what kind of war happened when we were little. It was a civil war, but the extent of it was still a mystery. We didn't know how it started, or why, just that it had slowly progressed over three years and in the final year was when our parents had given us away to new families inside the Fence where we would remain safe from what was going on outside of it.

                After every journal I read, I would give it to him and start a new on and it didn't take long for him to finally catch up that we just started reading the journals together, alternating between going to each other's apartments even though it was forbidden on lockdown. Often times, one of us would wake up on the other's couch and we would just start all over again with the journals.

                I still hadn't found a way to confront Markus. Ben keeps insisting that I do it sooner rather than later and that it will only help us out further. But it was hard to be able to talk to Markus in private. I could trust Ben. That was established on our final training test. It was everyone else that made it impossible.

                Though he wasn't allowed to, Markus had confirmed that it was in fact Cherise that was chipped but they didn't have a plan of action against her. Being chipped meant she was powerful because she had the Mayor on her side and the Mayor wasn't somebody that was easily taken down. I keep waiting for something to show up in the journals about how the Mayor became so powerful, how it was her that had managed to step up and lead everyone in the middle of chaos. It was no secret she had been Mayor for over 15 years. That was about when the war had started and major cities began closing themselves in and protecting its citizens.

               

                I had walked out of the restroom and sat down next to Ben on the couch. We had grown a lot more comfortable around each other, which made him automatically raise his arms without taking his eyes off the journal so I could lay my head in his lap.

                "What's this entry say?" I asked him.

                "Another camp. They had just gotten word from Markus that we were safe and that we were being given the serums to help with the nightmares and the memories. Just as she had mentioned when she said my parents by name the first time." Ben replied and continued reading.

                "Does it say anything about the war stopping? About any sign of hope or salvation?"

                Ben shook his head. "No. In fact she comments that it's only getting worse and that the destruction is so much greater than originally anticipated. They received word that a town called Pasadena, as well as another called Dallas, among a few others have been completely destroyed to nothing."

                I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. What kind of war did we put ourselves in that could wipe out entire cities and kill everyone, leaving nothing but land? If you could even call it that at the time. I quickly sat up and shot up from the couch, grabbing my jacket from the chair next to it.

                "What are you doing?" Ben asked.

                "I need to talk to Markus. If we're going to get answers to some of the questions we have, then he is the one who has them." I slipped my jacket on.

                Ben shot up. "You can't just show up to his office during lockdown."

                "All the mentors already stated if there is an emergency that we could break the code of lockdown and go to them for help. Markus will understand, and I'm sure one of us could come up with some genius fake emergency that would subject me to breaking the code of lockdown." I sighed. "Are you with me or not?"