The City Center (The New Agenda Series Book 1)

by Simone Pond

  Morray’s hologram cleared out. Another commercial boosting Ret-Hav displayed, followed by highlights from previous Graduation Day ceremonies. The audience sat back, mesmerized by the footage while arena workers doled out refreshers and snacks.

  Morray returned to Dickson. “I still can’t figure out how the bastard pulled this whole thing off,” he said.

  “They’ve advanced. Their technology is catching up.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Deny it all you want, sir, but this situation proves they’ve advanced. They pose an even bigger threat now. Though you might disagree, I think this has been helpful. Now we have more information. We know their capabilities and we can take the appropriate measures.”

  “I’d love to take out every last one of them, but Miss Rhodes is out there, Dickson. I won’t allow any attacks until I have ensured her safety.” Morray paused. “For the people. We need to get her back for them.”

  “Chief, have you considered that she might be working with the Outsider?”

  “Inconceivable.”

  “How can you know for certain? This wouldn’t be the first time you were swayed by a woman.” Dickson looked at Morray.

  “That was long ago. In the days before. You’ve done a lot of work on me since then.”

  “And I’d like to remind you, human behaviors can be manipulated, but they can’t be entirely obliterated.”

  “Just get me the surveillance feed from the hallway. Then I’ll tell you what I know for certain. Until then, hold off.”

  “I should at least start tracking her.”

  “No, not yet. I want to see the surveillance first so I can develop a strategy.”

  “The strategy is simple: capture her and bring her back.”

  “Just get me the footage.”

  “As you wish, sir.”

  Morray wanted to do a thorough investigation of the hallway footage. He needed time to think and figure out next steps. First, he wanted to prove Ava’s innocence—for himself. He refused to think she had betrayed him. He felt a deep connection with her and didn’t want to risk losing it by rushing into anything.

  “Dickson, if you or your men jump ahead and start tracking or attacking without my command, or if Miss Rhodes is harmed in any way regardless of how this breach occurred, you can expect an early termination. And I think we both know I don’t mean from your position.”

  The Tunnel

  Joseph waited for Ava to reach the bottom of the hole. He held out his hand to guide her through the dark. She stood still, waiting for her eyes to adjust.

  “You’re gonna be okay,” he told her.

  “Be okay? I just abandoned my entire life, I have no idea what I’m walking into, and I don’t have any shoes.”

  “Don’t forget about Morray’s trackers.”

  “Are you smiling?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I wasn’t joking about being afraid of the dark.”

  “Do you have any light sources in that bag?”

  “It’s mostly cosmetic equipment. But there might be something we can use,” Ava said, dumping the contents onto the ground.

  “What this?” Joseph picked up a glass tube.

  “Shimmer. Hold onto that.”

  “And this?” He held out a bottle of fizzling liquid.

  “That’s activator.”

  “For what?”

  “To illuminate.”

  “Illuminate what?”

  “The hair, or skin. It glows when it’s mixed with certain ingredients. Watch.” Ava found a sheet of tablets and dropped a few into the activator, added the shimmer, and covered the bottle. The liquid fizzed and percolated, then began to illuminate. “We have a couple of hours before it fades.”

  “You put this on your face?”

  “Only on special occasions.”

  Joseph helped Ava to her feet and held the bottle. The soft light wasn’t strong enough to illuminate the path, but she could see Joseph and she felt safe again.

  “It’s a long trek. Fifteen miles to Malibu,” Joseph said.

  “The real Malibu?”

  “Opposed to some fake one I don’t know about?”

  “Oh, in my unit I use Malibu for my accent walls. I love the sunset.”

  “I have a feeling you’ll like the real thing better.”

  “Are you going to tell me the rest of the story?” Ava asked.

  “I wanna make sure you’re ready.”

  “I’m walking barefoot in a cold, dark underground tunnel with a known terrorist who I helped escape. I think I’m ready.”

  “Let’s get some tunnel behind us first. Don’t wanna overwhelm you in the first mile.”

  The deeper into the tunnel they walked, the damper and colder the air grew. Ava wasn’t used to such harsh conditions. Temperatures in the City Center never dropped below 72 degrees. She rubbed her hands together.

  “Do you want your jacket back?” Joseph asked.

  “You mean the one without sleeves?”

  “You can wrap up your hands.”

  “I’m okay. I wish I would’ve grabbed my sandals.”

  “It’s hard to think of everything when you’re making a last-minute escape.”

  “Not bad for my first one,” Ava laughed. Joseph stopped and reached out to touch her shoulder. Once again, the fluttering returned to her stomach.

  “I didn’t get a chance to thank you. That took guts.”

  “You keep saying guts. It sounds funny.”

  “Courage. You know, bravery.” Joseph continued walking.

  “I was so worried I’d mess something up. My partner James says I screw up everything.”

  “Partner?”

  “Oh, no, it’s not like that. Not like in the movies. He’s not a love interest or anything. We were partnered at inception. To compete together.”

  “Ah, that’s right. For Royal Court.”

  “How do you know about Royal Court?”

  “I wouldn’t be much of a terrorist if I didn’t.”

  “So you are a terrorist?” Ava stopped.

  “No. Well, to Morray I am, but not to you. I promise. I’m the good guy.”

  “I certainly hope so, since I just ran away with you.” She wanted to hold his hand like couples did in the movies. They made it look so easy, but she felt like there was a glass barrier she couldn’t break through. She liked Joseph. Not the way she liked Delilah, or sunsets. She liked him in a way she had never experienced.

  “What’s your partner gonna say about you running away?”

  “Oh, he isn’t very fond of me.”

  “He must be an idiot.”

  “He says they messed up my DNA. That I have a glitch.”

  “Yeah, you have a glitch. You’re real.”

  “What do you mean?” Ava asked.

  “Think of something you really like. Not something the City Center told you to like.”

  “Old movies.”

  “What do you like about them?”

  “I love in Roman Holiday when Princess Anne eats ice cream for the first time and laughs at the simplicity of the experience. I love when she dances on the dock. She’s so happy.”

  “That’s what I mean by real. Well, it’s still a movie, but she’s experiencing real life instead of a simulated program.”

  “When I walk barefoot in the greenhouse, I like the way the grass feels between my toes.”

  “That’s real.”

  “I’d like to have more real experiences.”

  “You will. On the Outside everything is real. No virtual simulations or holograms.”

  “But will I survive out there? What about the toxic air and viruses?” Ava asked.

  “It’s not like that. It’s beautiful.”

  The glow from the bottle flickered and faded out. They stood in the dark. Ava grabbed Joseph’s arm.

  “Sorry,” she said, jumping back.

  “You’re allowed to touch me, Ava.” Joseph laughed, pulling her closer to him. He smelled stra
nge—sharp and earthy like the greenhouse. “Anything else in that bag of yours?”

  Ava sat down on the cold cement, relieved to stop for a few minutes. The bottoms of her feet were raw. She had dancer’s feet, but walking barefoot on the rough cement for miles was taking a toll. She took her time digging through the bag, afraid to tell Joseph about the pain.

  “Better hurry up,” Joseph said. “Morray can’t track your chip down here under all this cement. But he knows about the tunnels. He’ll assume we took them.”

  “How does he know about the tunnels?”

  “He knows everything about the infrastructure of the L.A. City Center. He watched his father build it from the ground up.”

  “How is that possible? It’s been around over two hundred years.”

  “We gotta hurry up, Ava. We’re not safe until we get to the checkpoint.”

  “Are you saying Morray is centuries old?”

  “I’m saying I’ll tell you everything, but we gotta keep moving. Even if that means in the dark.”

  Ava didn’t want to be in the dark. She threw together some cosmetics into a jar until the concoction created a soft glow. It wasn’t as bright as the previous light, but better than nothing. She handed the jar to Joseph and stood up. Pain shot up her legs. She tried to play it off, but Joseph noticed.

  “Your feet?”

  “I’m okay. For now.” Ava feigned composure.

  “We need to move faster. Can you manage?”

  “Let’s just go.” Ava picked up the bag and walked ahead, fighting through the fiery throbbing of her feet.

  “You let me know when it’s too much.” Joseph took the bag from Ava’s shoulder.

  “I’ll be fine. But I’m getting suspicious why you’re withholding information. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

  Joseph stopped and looked at Ava. “You’re here because you knew something wasn’t right on the Inside.” He took her hand and they walked on. “Just trust me, I’ll prove it to you.”

  “I have always sensed something was off, but I thought it was my glitch.”

  “The fact that you sense anything proves you’re different. We might actually have a chance with you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Let’s focus on getting to the first checkpoint. I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

  “You say ‘I promise’ quite a bit.”

  They moved through the tunnel in silence to conserve energy. The sharp rocks and pebbles started embedding into the soles of Ava’s feet and she began trailing behind, limping along until the pain grew too intense. She sat on the ground to rest.

  “I’m in excellent health, but I’m not used to the rocks.”

  “Let me see.” Joseph squatted down and held the light up to her feet—they were cut up and bloody. He brushed away some of the pebbles. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed down a sob.

  “They’re bad, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to wrap them.”

  “With what?”

  Joseph removed his jacket—Ava’s torn-up tracksuit—and ripped it into long pieces. He wrapped the cloth around her feet and helped her stand back up.

  “We’re close. Can you hold out another mile?”

  “Since I’d rather not die in this tunnel, yes, I can make it to the end.”

  “I hope so. Otherwise I just ruined a perfectly good jacket.”

  Ava started walking again. “This is helping a bit.”

  “I have faith in you.” Joseph wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her along.

  “What’s faith?” she asked

  “That’s another long story.”

  “We have another long mile.”

  Joseph laughed. She liked being close to him and feeling his warm body. She rested her head against his shoulder.

  “It’s simple, but hard to explain. Okay, you know how we needed a light source?”

  “Yes.”

  “What made you search through the bag?”

  “I believed I could find something to make light.”

  “That’s faith.”

  “I think I understand.”

  “Where you live I’m sure the word faith is non-existent, but on the Outside it’s the most important thing. It’s what keeps us going.”

  “How so?”

  “Think about Lillian. You read her first journal, but there are many more. There are handwritten copies circulating in the coastal villages because they’ve been a source of hope for all of us. Generations have been reading the story about what she and her people went through, and how they broke free from the plantations and started over. Those early survivors were brave. They didn’t have anything, but they scraped together what they could and escaped. They built their own armies and by sticking together they fought off the elites. Eventually the plantations died off, as did most of the elite class, while our people kept growing. The remaining elites were still a powerful force, but they decided it was best to make a peace agreement with the villages. And as long as the villages didn’t interfere with the elites, or the City Center, the elites stopped attacking—for the most part.”

  “But the reports don’t show peace.”

  “I think you already know the reports are bunk. We’re peaceful people. My point is that faith got us through—even in the worst circumstances. Lillian and those who escaped from the plantations not only survived, they created a new civilization. Generations later and we’re still here. The elites didn’t win.”

  “But they still have the control.”

  “They think they do. Sure, Morray has his men on the Outside to keep an eye on us, but he doesn’t have control over us. He needs the Outsiders as an illusion of threat against your people—to keep you all living in fear. If you’re in fear, you’re easier to control. Nobody questions leaving the City Center. Did you ever think about it before today?”

  “Well, actually, I have.”

  “Of course you have, Ava. And that’s how I know you were put in my path for a reason. Not by accident or coincidence.”

  “But for what? What good does it do for one person on the Inside to know the truth? Especially if I’m running away?”

  “All it takes is one seed. You’re that seed.”

  Ava thought about Joseph’s words. She felt too weak to do anything important, or change the minds of her people. She just wanted to fix up her feet. “I don’t see how I can be the seed of change, Joseph. My own partner who I trained with for almost eighteen years didn’t even want to serve next to me. I’m defective.”

  “Look, I don’t know anything about your partner, other than he’s a fool, but I do know he says these things because he’s threatened by you. You’re different, Ava. That doesn’t make you defective.”

  Ava nodded and refocused her attention on trudging alongside Joseph. Images of the City Center flashed in her mind—she longed to be resting inside her sleep pod, or sitting across from Delilah at the café, or walking barefoot in the greenhouse. Every cold, painful step forward into the unknown moved her farther away from her comfortable life. Ava wondered how being different could make a difference.

  The Checkpoint

  Light flooded into the tunnel. They were coming to the end. Ava cupped her hands over her burning eyes—the direct sun was now a bigger concern than her feet. Her stomach knotted up and any hope she had earlier vanished. She didn’t know what would be waiting for her or what she would find on the other side, but she knew leaving the tunnel would change everything.

  “Are you sure I’ll be okay in the sunlight?” she asked, turning away from the opening.

  “We need to cover your skin.” Joseph found some body wraps in the bag and covered up Ava’s face. “You look like a mummy.”

  “I don’t know what that is, but I’m sure it can’t be good. Something smells strange.”

  “That’s the Pacific Ocean. Salty air.” Joseph started walking again. “We need to get to the first checkpoint before sunset. It’s tou
gher to navigate the woods in the dark.”

  “I’m not sure I can do this. I thought I could, but now that we’re here…”

  “You made it this far. It’s just a short walk to the cabin.”

  “What if Morray’s men are out there waiting?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Come on.”

  They stood at the end of the tunnel. Ava closed her eyes to stave off the stinging. Were the tears a result of being blinded, or the overwhelming fear bubbling up into her throat? She leaned against the wall, watching his shadow on the cement as he scanned the area. One time Helena had programmed an afternoon of simulated obstacle courses that began with being dropped off with James in the middle of a labyrinth made of forty-foot slabs of cement. As soon as the program started, James darted off, leaving Ava alone. She couldn’t scale the concrete walls—the only way out was winding her way through the narrow passages. But how would she know which turns she had already taken? What if she was walking in circles? Or worse, going deeper into the labyrinth? She sat on the cold floor of the maze and listened for James, knowing he’d find his way out by sheer will. Finding him would be her best chance of getting out. But she never heard James. Instead she used the shadows to determine the direction and worked her way out, beating James by ten minutes. As she stood watching Joseph’s shadow she thought about the great distance she had just traveled—not only in the tunnel, but all the years leading up to this moment.

  “It looks safe out there, but you’re gonna be overwhelmed at first. Not just the direct sunlight, but a whole bunch of other stuff. Just take slow breaths. You’ll acclimate. And I’ll be right here with you.”

  “I’m mostly worried about the sun.”

  “The worst that’ll happen is sunburn.”

  “Burn? That sounds painful.”

  “Your skin’ll get a little red and tender, but you’ll be fine. If you can handle your feet, a little sunburn is nothing.”

  “You didn’t say ‘I promise.’”

  “Come on, we’re running out of time.”