Doves

Chapter 9

  The walk into town took a good couple of hours. There were cameras and cops everywhere; on street corners, in random places, pulling cars over. Cameras that I'd never noticed before suddenly seemed to be everywhere. I pulled up the hood on my jacket, hoping to blend into the few crowds on the street. The Surveillance officers patrolled the streets, and where they used to make me feel safe I now felt vulnerable.

 I plodded down the street, looking for a familiar landmark to get myself oriented. Auto's phone was off, so the tracker was dormant. The last time the dot had appeared on the screen he was heading into a mall. I would have to wait for him to turn it on before I would be able to find him. Hopefully the phone wasn't dead. Or ditched. I was itching to get us off the map.

 I stuck to the crowds, hiding around in small stores and coffee shops, leaving every time a cop entered the building. Eventually, I found the mall. Slipping inside, I stayed near the exits in case there was need for a quick escape. It felt like a huge game of hide and seek or cops and robbers. I was looking for Auto and trying to avoid any police, and the police were after both of us.

 It didn't take long to become paranoid. Everywhere I went it seemed like people were looking at me, and looking for too long—as if they were on the verge of recognizing me. I found myself frequently ducking in and out of stores, always looking over my shoulder.

 And the cameras. They were everywhere. I couldn't go two steps without being in range of at least three, at most ten. I was just waiting, almost wishing that someone would spot me, try to arrest me, so that I wouldn't have to bear the tension. But the cameras just kept zooming by, on their way to report a traffic incident or follow a celebrity. I had always thought they were more fine-tuned, but I guess the crime had dropped solely because of their looming presence.

 I continued to act as normal as I could. For some reason, it didn't seem all that convincing. I suddenly didn't know how to do normal. Or what it looked like. Was I walking too fast? Maybe this was a bad idea. But how else was I going to find Auto? What if he had left? No, I thought, there's got to be a chance that he's still here. But where? Of course, he would be trying to hide himself just as much as I was trying to hide.

 The phone buzzed in my pocket. Auto was active again. Inside the mall. Of course, the thing couldn't be specific and tell me where he was. All it could tell me was that he hadn't left yet. I quickly scanned the store I was currently in. No Auto. Was I going to have to check all of them? Oh wait. I'm stupid. But what if it was a trap? Why would he turn the phone on now? I stopped, stepping one way, then changing my mind to go another. This was too much. Screw it.

 I got the phone back out. Where are you? Send. I ducked across the open lobby and into another store. No Auto here either. I scoured the crowd flowing by store's window. Nope. He wasn't out there either. Diving back into the crowd I checked the phone. Still nothing, although it said he had checked it. Did he think I was a trap? That would be fantastic.

 Someone grabbed my shoulder. Oh shit. Surveillance, they've finally found me, I thought. I was about to turn around myself, when the hand whipped me around. "What the hell are you doing here?" Auto hissed at me. A grin split my face. "It's not safe here. Not for both of us. Especially not together." He added, glancing around us at the crowds.

 "Auto!" I cried triumphantly, almost pulling him into a hug. Instead, I clamped my hands on his shoulders. He shook me off, clapping a hand over my mouth. "You idiot!" His eyes shot around the crowd, making sure no one had heard.

 "You'll never believe what happened." I started.

 "I left you for a reason."

 I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, I'm not your girlfriend. Just listen to me," I tried again more seriously, glancing around at all the people sweeping around us in waves. Auto cut me off, "Not here. We've gotta go. Now. Come on."