The Sleeper Cells: A Terrorism Story

Chapter 25: More

The apartment is layered in wood. Not just the dark stained floors, but also designs in every nook and cranny of the room. Some walls are blue. Some walls are gray. They complement each other... almost the way Kennedy complements me. Luke knows his stuff when it comes to interior design. Bulky camera equipment hides in the corners. The main room has a stainless steel kitchen, a light green living room, and a wooden dining room. A hallway shoots out of the back room. Stairs spiral up from the living room and into the second floor, where the bedrooms are. Two bedrooms are upstairs and one is downstairs. The layout, even though it's not the same, reminds me of the log cabin in the woods. When we still had Titus, when we still had Lindsey and Rose.

"It's so nice," Kennedy says.

It's obvious Luke doesn't necessarily know how to respond. He's walking on eggshells because he doesn't know anything about us, or what we've been through. Our new title is 'refuges from the sleeper zone'. That's what they're calling us now. I don't really like that term; I like 'Vista citizens' better because that's what we are. Nonetheless, I'm here. I'm safe. Everything seems peaceful here.

Owen and Mika take a seat in the living room and we follow their lead. The couch is just like the pillow I felt in the medical examination tent.

"Is everything okay?" Luke timidly asks.

"Everything is... splendid," Mika says with a different accent.

Luke nervously laughs and I think it would be best to tell him about us.

"Let's tell him our stories. What happened," I tell them.

"Oh, no, you don't have to!" Luke insist.

"It's fine. We're all strong people here. We've been through it all just about," Owen tells him.

"Well let's first tell him our names at least," Kennedy laughs.

We tell him our names, where we're from, and what we've done. We spill it all out to him. Kennedy tells him about her family party, Owen talks about his sleeper camp, Mika about her first group with Sage and Caspian that they had to turn on. Then I told him about my journey. How I went from that scared kid running through the woods, never wanting to be the leader, to stepping up and making choices that I couldn't take back. Confidence took over me. From all the stories, it's crazy to tell who we've all lost and how it happened. The list of names is longer than I would like. And the list of missing loved ones is even longer.

"It's dark out there. It truly is. Not dark like you think, it's dark souls, dark minds stomping around with guns after you," I tell Luke.

"That's...wow. You guys really are strong. There is no way I could do it. I'd give up like that..." Luke points at me looking for the name of the girl we left behind.

"Lindsey," I say.

I don't think Luke understands the entire situation or knows what to say, but it doesn't offend me. It doesn't offend any of us. He is trying, and that's all that matters.

We're all doing the same thing. We're trying to adjust to this apartment. I've been so used to the soggy woods and 'empty' houses. I have my own room and no one has to be on watch! I almost called people over to talk about the watch schedule. I giggle to myself at the fact that I'm safe. I'm safe.

__________

The next morning, we decided to head out to the Kellersville information center at the square. An old business has willingly closed their shop and filled it with all types of information for people living here. They're in partnership with The Vista government. Owen uses a touchscreen and taps Kris Easley into the search bar. His name and picture pops up. There is more information under his name that's grayed out with a lock symbol over it.

Mika goes to the front desk, "excuse me," she smiles, "how do you see where your friends are. His name and picture came up but his information is like... locked."

"Oh, you just have to put your hand on the scanner next to it. It takes who you are and an algorithm decides if you have the authority to see that information." The teenaged girl behind the desk is sweet and kind to Mika.

Mika tells Owen how to get in, and he uses the hand scanner. The grayed out information turns white and readable.

"He's not in the hospital anymore! He's in the neighboring city living with someone. I want to see him!" Owen tells us.

"Let's bring him flowers" Mika excitingly claps her hands.

"Who's at the high school?" I ask as I walk with Kennedy to another touch screen like Owen's. Kellersville Downtown High School is housing several people in the classrooms.

Titus Lee, I type into the search bar. Nothing. I search for my other friends' names that were at my house that day. Noah Yates. Nasom Mullins. Both pictures came up. Both locations. They're at the high school.

"Let's go," Kennedy says as she grabs my hand. "Introduce me."

"Let's do it," I nod.