Seeking The Truth

Chapter 21

The next day Marcus tells us it is our first day off. We will have two more, before the conclusion of each trial. We can do what we want to, but under a set of rules. We can't go further than the airfield, they don't want us near the Hub where new obstacles will be arranged. We can't go to the airport, nor the hangar. There are people working.

Liam and Abbs have changed their clothes after they wake up. Abbs plops on her bed, ruffles her hair, and delivers a sigh. Her hand hovers over the slightly purple nose, and she winces. Liam is sprawled on his rumpled bed, with eyes narrowed, and thinking. I push myself to my feet and do my bed, then change my clothes and sit again.

"Where's Willow?" says Abbs, after a long moment of silence.

The rest of the group of teenagers has gone to have breakfast at the dome. We are the only three people left in the quiet, yet desolate, room.

When I crane my neck to see through bunks her bed, I only find piles of drawings and scribbled papers on her quilt. Once more, I get the strange feeling she's up for something, but doesn't want to tell anyone. Her bed isn't made yet. She's gone somewhere surely.

"Maybe she's at the dome," suggests Liam, rubbing his eyes with exhaustion, "like everyone else." He lifts a shoulder idly.

Abbs taps her chin with her fingers and says, "Probably. Well, could one of you two come with me? I think I left my bracelet in the airport yesterday."

I had completely forgotten about the bracelets the school had given us before. I wear mine all the time, even when I shower. Sometimes I forget I wear it.

"But we're not supposed to leave this area," I recall.

"Oh, please!" claims Abbs, "We're literally locked in this room, then. Just ... come on." She beckons to us to follow her out of the barrack. We do.

The morning wind is icy and goose bumps rise up in my arms. I shiver and the sensation disappears.

We jog through the first few alleys we encounter, ducking our heads and looking around to be sure no one catches us. Then we arrive at the back of the hangar. Garbage bags and dirt drape the ground here.

Pebbles crunch beneath our shoes as we cross it. We turn around the corner, where the alley alongside the hangar is, and trot across it. I distinguish the dozens of painted lines and symbols the airfield has, at the very end of the alley.

On my left, tall grass grows all around the military compound. It veils the twenty-foot-high electric fence from visual contact in the farness. On my right, the hangar's gigantic side wall and the ladder Abbs and I climbed once, when she showed me what the night sky looked like. The ladder rests against the wall.

"Hey, why don't we go up there after we come back?" says Abbs, her chest moving fast, provoked by our brisk pace. She has referenced the roof.

"To that roof? Are you sure?" says Liam, his mouth falls open. He wasn't with us when we were here in previous nights. "Wouldn't we get in trouble too?"

My eyebrows furrow. "Yeah, he's right."

Abbs shrugs. "We're already breaking a rule from the instructor, you know."

"Hmm," hums Liam, then he adds with a beam, "I'm up for it, then."

I reply vaguely, "Fine."

After we meet the end of the alley, we run along the airfield and the wind gets stronger as we draw near to the airport. The wind presses back against my face but I continue jogging.

I spot the Building sector on the other side of the airfield, and the long gate I once went through in order to arrive to the military compound. My lungs exhale with the fresh memory of home beyond the gate and fence, and we go into the airport through the main doors.