0001 {The Number Series}

4

It was not long before my mother finished the server outfit and Quinn had changed. My mother had muttered to herself about what a hack job it looked like and that she should have taken more time. She also knew that taking her time was not an option in that moment. Quinn and I could not see the imperfection my mother could considering she was skilled in sewing and we were not. I assured them that no one would have that much time or care to examine a server's uniform that closely, reminding them that she would not actually be entering a restaurant.

"Be safe." My mother's eyes were tearful as she placed her hand delicately on my arm. "I can't lose the two of you either."

I wanted to give her reassurance but I could not. Quinn spoke for the both of us. "We will be as safe as we can, thank you, Lorraine."

My mother watched with glistening dark eyes as we walked down the front steps and into the street. The sun had not yet sunk beneath the buildings around us but I knew it would soon. Quinn and I needed to reach Central Pines before sundown when the transportation between the middle section of the city and East Villa, where Cora would have been taken to be sold, would shut down for the night.

The Balance. Population Control and Traders.

The name of the place made me sick as did the people allowing it to happen. The government was running it, at least that is what the man whose throat I had slit had said. Despite having seen dead bodies in before, Quinn and I were the only ones trying to solve murders in the area, looking at the body of someone I had killed with my own hands had been different.

"Are you alright?" Quinn asked, her face contorted with worry as we walked side by side down the road. I had been lost in my thoughts and I noticed we were no longer in my neighborhood. The houses townhouses were becoming large, taller, and cleaner.

"Just thinking about what the man had said," I admitted. "About how he worked for the government. How it wasn't illegal to sell kids and that they murdered families."

Quinn looked down, I assumed she was picturing her own family that had died. "Yeah, I don't know why they would do something so cruel."

"He said to prevent exposure and to control the population." I reminded her. She sighed.

"What I am saying is, I don't understand how they would willingly do it. How no one has said anything."

"Probably because everyone who knows, or has tried, is now dead." I thought back to my mother at home, alone, until my brother and father would get there. I worried that the PCT would come back for her, for all of them, while we were gone. My heart ached at the thought of my brother and father coming home to find all three of us gone and learning as to why.

Quinn had sweat running down the side of her face. I could not tell if it was from the heat of the afternoon sun or the stress of the situation. It could have been both. She pulled her black hair into a knot on top of her head with nothing other than her own hair keeping it there.

"You have the mask in the bag, don't you?"

I nodded. The red mask of the CP&T was hidden away until needed in the bag I had slung over my shoulders. I could feel the sweat soaking the uniform as the heat stayed trapped between the two fabrics. I did not know how long we would have to travel before we reached transportation. Quinn knew the way better than I. She pointed out large houses that she had seen growing up as we moved closer to the middle class. Her mother had cleaned many of them as the hired maid that had been popular for those who had money on the line between of North Hill and Central Pines. Her mother, Lue Grey, had never charged much ensuring that she would always have their business.