Hinterland (The Aftermath #2)

Chapter Four

One of the guards pulled the elevator's door open, revealing the surface of the Asylum. Already my lungs filled with cleaner and thicker air because of the small plants that were used to create oxygen. Definitely not as many plants as my home city, but a lot compared to the Cells.

"Why did you leave Erin and Shane down there?" Zenon asked, a little annoyed.

"I'll answer questions later. I'd just like to get to my apartment now," I said. I took a sideways glance at him and raised my eyebrows, confirming that the information wasn't something to be shared with guards present. He nodded slightly and turned to look back at the Asylum. Six guards followed us out, three in front and three behind. I wasn't surprised that Leanne had this much security assigned to us because of the stunt we pulled earlier. It had failed, Zenon told me, since I wasn't there to witness it. They were all shoved back into the cell.

We walked down a dim street for a couple minutes, and then turned up a smaller one, where a three-storey building stood. It was slightly dingy, especially with the brown shadow cast on it by the not-so-perfectly clear dome that stretched above it. The edge of the dome was fairly close to the building, the dusty landscape separated by only a couple-inch-thick barrier.

"This is the apartment building," one of the guards said.

"Beautiful," Zenon muttered sarcastically, taking in the utter dullness of the building. It was made out of brick, and that was just about it. A big cube of copper-coloured brick, either originally coloured that way or discoloured.

All eight of us entered the building. Nobody stood watching on the bottom floor. I took note of that.

There was a skinny hallway that lead somewhere, but I couldn't see where. There was a lack of lights in the building, just a fluorescent light that stretched across the roof.

We started down the hallway. I watched as doors upon doors streaked past, until we stopped at one. It was marked A-96.

"Here you go, Zenon," a guard said. He handed him a key with the room number on it. I remembered when Colton gave Erin a key that said 12 on it. Our room number.

Zenon took the key and shoved it into the lock. He pushed the door inward and it popped open. Before he went inside and closed it, I caught a glimpse of the room. Small, but not as small as the cell. One bed. I couldn't see anything else.

"Bye, April," Zenon said. He leaned forward out of the door.

"I'll see you soon," I mouthed without sound. Zenon tilted his head and then his eyes lit up. Of course.

"Get going." One of the guards shoved me a little with something. A weapon. I shot a look behind me and saw the gun he was holding. I recognized it as not a real gun, but a tranquilizer. There was a only a silver strip of metal along the barrel that made me notice. The other guns, I noticed, didn't have the silver piece.

"Here," a guard said, pushing a set of keys into my palm. I didn't read which room it belonged to, but I assumed it was the one we had stopped in front of. I flew into the room, looking at all my surroundings. The room was nearly identical to Zenon's. I noticed a couple more things: a door, a table and a window. The door was open, showing what was inside. A bathroom. Of course. The window showed the outside of the dome-Hinterland.

"You can go to any shops or services whenever you wish," one of the guards said. "But remember: you are always under control of the government." The dim light from the hallway faded away as the door closed. I walked over to the table, clicking on the lamp that sat on it. Nothing special, just a silver stand with a dusty, grey lampshade. The light, however, illuminated the room with an orangey light.

I sat myself down on the bed, recollecting and placing my thoughts from the past day or so. One thing, though, stayed in my mind. "The city's a little different," Leanne had said. Different... how? I knew how to find out.

I clicked my COM watch on, then opened the Call app. Crap, I thought. I also remembered Leanne saying that she'd deleted some contacts. Sure enough, the contacts I were looking for were gone. Three of them remained, and I'd never seen them before. Leanne Adair, one of them said. The other two: Jamison Adair and Hospital. I didn't see anything else on the list.

I exited out of the app, opening the one labelled Settings. Scrolling down, I found the settings for my Call app. Aha. Leanne had been a little facile. All of the contacts were there, under my recents.

Colton.

Andrea.

Heuglin.

I stared blankly at the three contacts, wondering in my head. It was time to figure out what had happened in the city. I tapped Andrea's contact. It beeped once. Twice. Three times. After a minute, words popped up on the screen, telling me that the call went unanswered. I tried calling one more time with the same result. Odd, but not exceedingly strange. I called Heuglin, instead. She didn't pick up either. Even though I knew it was useless, I called a second time.

"Who... who is this?"

I was surprised that there was an answer. A whispered one.

"Executive Heuglin?" I said.

"Who is this?" Heuglin repeated, whispering again.

"April Goldwyn!" I said. "Why..."

"Oh my god," she said.

"What?"

"You're alive..."

"Yeah, I escaped! I'm in this place. With the government." The picture on my watch was pixelated, but not impossible to make out the picture. Heuglin was there, for sure. But what was behind her made me shudder.

A wall, covered in dark marks. Even with the low-resolution video feed, I knew that only one thing made that kind of mark.

Fire.

A low platform was extended over Heuglin's head. It looked a lot like a desk. The room she was in was dark, too. Like she was hiding.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"A place is a little more familiar than it looks. I'm hiding. In the Training Centre."