I arrive at the first floor before I know it. I walk calmly through the door, entering another vacant corridor. I move down the hallway, hoping that it will lead me to an exit.
The passageway dead ends in a lobby area with white walls and frosted glass doors bearing the BioLife logo. A receptionist sits behind a desk in the corner, observing me as I enter. "Doctor," she greets me, my disguise working.
I nod in her direction and notices that she has hair as orange as . . . well, the fruit. I don't know how she gets away with hair that color when Emma changed hers from purple to red, but she does. Maybe everyone is stupid and considers this woman's hair color to be blond or something.
She stares at me the entire time I exit the lobby and enter a new hallway where all around me, I can see into the laboratories here. Scientists with blue coats work hard on all sorts of crazy stuff. It's almost interesting enough for me to slow my stride but I continue on as quickly as I can. I won't slow down until I'm out of this place.
The entire time I'm thinking, where are the guards? Surely, they're not still pursuing Emma and her friends. Dr. Prescott mentioned that the cops and White Agents are gone too and I haven't heard the faint rumbling noise in a while.
I spoke too soon. Standing up ahead between me and what I believe is an exit, are two guards.
Crap. I almost stop. In fact, I want to stop and maybe try another way out but no matter which exit I choose, I'm sure there will be guards posted there. This is BioLife after all. So, against my better judgment, I keep walking. The guards are engaged in conversation. Perhaps I can slip past them without them paying me a lick of attention.
I can see daylight through the doors up ahead. This is it. I'm almost out of this place. And—
The guards look right at me as I sweep past. One of them nods and I tilt my head slightly. I'm almost there. My anticipation mounts. They continue to talk to each other. Ironically enough, they're actually discussing me. I push open one of the doors and taste freedom like I've never tasted it before. I've made it.
Outside, I don't encounter anyone really, except for a few stray pedestrians. The White Agents and cops have truly gone. It doesn't mean that they're not hanging around somewhere, so, I retreat underground and back into the passageway where Liam and I exited earlier by the river.
I find the flashlight and map we stashed there. My mind is on Liam and my father, and even Abigail, but I try to focus on the map. I'm in the sewers now, a place I know like the back of my hand. I just need to figure out where I am and then find a route that will lead me as close to Lilly's house as I can. By then, it should be nightfall and I can exit the tunnels. Using the cover of darkness, I can travel the rest of the way to Lilly's with ease.
I spend the rest of the day navigating the underground after I locate a suitable path. I return to my hidey hole to retrieve the Hippocampus, where I stored it while Liam was out cold at the Rosenthal's place, which happens to be the only time I wasn't sitting by his bed. Then, I continue on my way. The trip is mostly uneventful, except that I encounter a few vagabonds scavenging from food that I hide from and of course a couple of SAFE patrols. I feel sorry for the homeless people. Most people avoid them because of their reputation for being insane, but all of them can't be that bad. I'm actually homeless right now myself and I'm not crazy.
I miss Liam. I miss my father. I miss Abigail. I miss Emma. I miss Aidan. If fact, I miss everyone I've lost. It hits me like a sack of bricks to the head. I regret leaving my father in BioLife and I regret leaving Liam behind. But it's too late to reverse those actions. I will have to live with whatever consequences come my way from those two events.
I try to be optimistic. I just need to get to Lilly's and everything will be okay. But optimism seems overrated, especially now that I know the truth about Paradise.
When I emerge out of the tunnels, darkness has indeed spread across the island as anticipated. I wander the winding, mountainous roads towards the eastern coast. Not even the breath-taking view of moonlight shining down upon the ocean is enough to make me feel better. Maybe Lilly can help. She's my friend and she has a knack for making me feel a lot calmer whenever she's around me. Whenever she touches me . . . .
Oh my God. Lilly. She's a Trickster, one of the classes of Empaths Dr. Cato mentioned in her vid. Lilly has faced the Catalyst before and her vector field is active. Does that mean that she was a member of the Amber Army too like Aidan? Maybe that's how they know each other.
And that's why Lilly will be able to help me. She'll be able to use her talent to charm the minds of people we might need charming. As happy as I am to know that she has such an ability, she still has a lot of explaining to do. I'm her friend so I'll forgive her in due time but I can't believe she never told me any of this. Especially that she was a part of the Coalition.
Lilly's not that much older than me so she must have been recruited by Project Lightning as soon as the Catalyst was figured out ten years ago. Who knows how long she's been a soldier or working for the Coalition? What was done to her probably fueled her desires to join SAFE.
But I should stop speculating. I can ask her everything once we talk. Her house looms into view. I'm tired and my feet hurt but I should be able to rest soon.
Lilly's car is in the driveway. Black like shadow, it sits there barely visible in the gloom. I walk along the side of the house and enter through my usual entrance.
I step into the pitch-black kitchen and flip the light switch. Nothing. The lights are dead, which automatically confuses me. Why is the Grid silenced here? They can't know that I would have come here. I didn't see any squad cars or anything. Maybe they found out somehow that Lilly was my friend and they came looking for me.
Oh Lilly . . . .
I drop the blueprint and Hippocampus down onto the kitchen counter. Then, I click on the flashlight that gratefully I brought along with me. The house is quiet. Where is Lilly? She might be asleep so I head upstairs to check, my heart racing. What's going on here? I'm compelled to investigate but at the same time I'm scared senseless. If something has happened to Lilly, I don't think I can ever forgive myself.
But upstairs is empty. I search all of the rooms and bathrooms but there's no sign of Lilly anywhere.
I want to call out her name but I know better. If something is going on here, I need to remain silent. I listen intently but I don't hear any Zeppelins outside. I don't hear anything out of the ordinary in fact. An owl hoots and breaks the silence but that's all.
I'm trying not to panic but it's overwhelming me at the moment. I creep back down the stairs, searching behind every piece of furniture hoping not to find Lilly in worse condition than I did on the night we were both attacked.
I return to the kitchen. I can't fight the urges to leave any longer. I'll get out of here and get to someplace safe where I can watch the house. I won't emerge from my hiding spot until I see Lilly and know that she's okay. Her car might be here but she's not. I walk over to the counter, resolute in my decision, and I nearly drop the flashlight due to sudden shock.
The Hippocampus. It's gone.
The map remains but the storage drive has disappeared. I'm petrified now. Someone's in this house and they're messing with me.
A sudden knocking sound makes me jump and I wheel around expecting to see a shadow darting past. However, there's no one in sight. But I know what I heard and I think it came from the dining room, the only place in the house I haven't checked yet.
Bravely, I inch my way forward and out of the kitchen. Who took the drive? Is the attacker back? What has he or she done with Lilly?
The dining room is as empty as the rest of the house. I look around, splashing the flashlight's beam over the table and against the walls. The table is cluttered with junk yet again. There's movement suddenly but when I turn I realize that's it's only the huge painting that changes images. I see the Wanderer's profile and that's when I notice that the painting is crooked.
I move closer to scrutinize the work of art. Examining
it, I find that it's hanging aslant on its hook. This could have been the banging noise I heard earlier. The intruder who stole the device must have bumped into the painting. But why would he or she come in here after leaving the kitchen? That's the puzzling part. And where is that person now?
I step out on a limb here. I'm not much a detective but I'm inclined to pull the digital painting down. The flashing images are a bit distracting, causing shadows behind me that aren't really there. Not to mention that the painting is heavy since it's so big. I heave and manage to tug it free. The moment I remove it from the wall it cuts off. No more shadows now. I lean the portrait up against the wall and look up. To my surprise, I find a hidden door.
Lilly has never shown me this door before, but yet here it is. Clutching the flashlight tightly, I open the door. I have to see what's behind it. I have to be sure before I can leave, despite the fear radiating off of me like the sweat dripping from my skin. I have to find out what happened to the Hippocampus. I have to find out what happened to Lilly.
There are steps here so I take them cautiously, leaving the door open behind me in case I need to make a hasty exit. Chills race along my spine and goose bumps appear on my arms. I enter an area of Lilly's house I've never seen before. It reminds me of the tunnel beneath the Jacques restaurant.
But this is not a tunnel. When I open the door at the bottom of the stairs, I cross into a large room of sorts, like a small warehouse. I shine the flashlight to my right and see a room behind a wall of glass. At first, I think someone's in there but it's just my shadow reflected off of the glass. Then, a voice speaks quietly from behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me—
"No. No, no, no! You need to go."
Startled senseless, I spin around and nearly fall down. Regaining my balance, I direct my flashlight beam onto a boy sitting on the floor. I note the chains binding him to an air duct. I recognized that voice and as I draw nearer to him, his identity is confirmed. It's Liam!
"Charlotte, you don't need to be here."
"Liam," I ignore what he said and drop to my knees, wondering what in the hell is he doing here. This doesn't feel right at all. My heart also aches to see him like this. I want to free him and hold him tightly in my arms. I care so much about him and if he's hurt then whoever did this to him will pay.
I drop the flashlight and tug at his bonds but it's no use. He stops me from trying again by pulling his hands away.
"Charlotte, listen to me. I don't know where she is but you need to leave now. Don't worry about me, but you can't be here."
"Liam, what are you—"
But I never finished my question. Suddenly, the lights cut on. They're brighter than the sun and blinding. I stumble up to my feet, kicking the flashlight across the floor. It rolls to a stop behind Liam.
"Hello Charlotte," a voice greets me from hidden speakers. It's loud and echoing but as with Liam's voice, I recognize it instantly.
Lilly stands inside the glass room, behind a computer, and she looks out at me with a warm smile. I don't say anything. I just stare at her. How can she be smiling right now? Liam is shackled and a mysterious person is on the loose, having stole the—
Hippocampus. It's inside of the room with Lilly. What the—
Liam rams into my legs a little harder than he intended I'm sure. I don't take my eyes away from Lilly but I say to him, "What?"
"It's Lilly," he tells me.
"Of course, it's Lilly," I shoot back. "I can see her."
"No," Liam says furiously and by his tone of voice, no one would ever be able to tell that he took a dose of the Purge this morning. "It's her. It's been her all along. Everything."
And just like loading a Discharger with a fresh clip of ammunition, it all clicks.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Liam
Charlotte stands there rigidly, unmoving. She's stunned. It's a staggering blow to her to finally learn that her friend has deceived her. I suppose that losing truth in someone is distressing. I've seen it happen many times before when criminals rat out their friends in hopes of getting out of lengthy jail sentences. Charlotte looks very pitiful right now. I feel sorry for her. She didn't deserve this. Not from Lilly.
"Lilly? Why?" Charlotte chokes out sadly.
"Just doing my job," Lilly's voice fills the chamber. I look at her and even through the glass I can see the smug expression on her face, an expression of triumph. She knows she's won. Charlotte and I are in her control and she doesn't even have to touch us with the bizarre mind-controlling thing she does. "Like you were doing your job as Messenger when you tried to deliver this to Noah Emerson." She holds up a device that I believe is some type of advanced flash drive, the device that Charlotte brought to my penthouse.
I knew Charlotte was a Messenger for SAFE ever since she mentioned it to me while masquerading as Olivia Cruz. I was hoping she wasn't actually affiliated with SAFE when I thought she was a rebel before I had the chance to really know her. But she is. Not an active, everyday member screaming "All hail the revolution!" But she's a passive member, a delivery girl, which explains the source of funds her family received in addition to her father's disability checks. And I can't decide how I feel about that. I know she didn't murder Emerson but working for SAFE . . . I just don't know. SAFE remains one of my top enemies and that will never change unless my mother's information can prove something treacherous to me about the Core.
But now is not the moment I should be thinking about Charlotte's one flaw in my eyes. I should be focusing on helping her escape from Lilly's vile clutches.
"So this is what this is all about?" Charlotte demands angrily. "You wanted the drive. But why do you want it?"
Lilly laughs. "We shall get to that part in a moment," she promises. "But first, this is the moment that I will take the time to explain everything to you so that you will understand, so that you will know everything about my exploits to get my hands on this bad boy." She strokes the drive affectionately. It's sickening—her obsession with the inanimate object. "This is how the great mystery films of the past used to end right? Or the books you enjoy reading?"
Lilly is exposing all of Charlotte's dark secrets. Charlotte has been reading books, stories I'm sure that have been outlawed. Add that to Charlotte's independence to the Purge and I can't help but classify her as a criminal. To make matters worse, I care for this criminal, even when more of her crimes are coming to light.
"But this is not a movie, Lilly!" Charlotte screams. "Or a book! This is real and you've betrayed me!"
"You've betrayed yourself!" Lilly spits and for the first time in a long while, she's not smiling with success. "You've betrayed yourself if you've been duped into believing that you can make a difference around here. You can't. The Coalition controls everything. The Core, SAFE, the laws, your lives, everything. We own you, so shut up and listen to me say what I have to say. There will be time for questions later." She grins again.
"Fine," Charlotte gives in for now. "Have it your way. This is your show after all."
"Thank you," Lilly says and I don't think she meant it. She then walks from behind the computer and comes to stand directly in front of the glass. It flickers and disappears. She enters the room with us and speaks normally now that there's no need for a microphone.
Charlotte's foot twitches the moment that Lilly enters the room. I know at once that she's considering rushing Lilly. Before I can stop her, Lilly produces a Discharger pistol and trains it on Charlotte. "Don't try anything stupid, old friend," she speaks sharply. "You are going to hear me out."
Charlotte winces, more so that Lilly referred to her as "friend" than out of fear. Charlotte is no stranger to having guns aimed at her. I pointed one at her several times when I pursued her to the old bridge. I even took a shot at her and I assume she's forgiven me. She has yet to mention it.
"Now, let's begin, shall we? Let's start with the very beginning. I think that will be as good of a place as any to start. You have to understand how we made it all
the way to this point. You both have to understand."
"Whatever," Charlotte sounds very uninterested. I would say that I am too but that will be a lie. I've always been interested to learn why bad people did bad things, other than what the agency has told me over the years. I never got to hear it straight from the source before.
"I am not of product of standard birthing procedures here in Paradise," Lilly reveals. She really is starting with the beginning, going all the way back to her birth. "My parents were not selected by the system to mate at BioLife. They weren't paired together because of their superior genes. They were nobodies. They were homeless people, who had abandoned the system to live in filthy places they thought were a utopia. But how is it ideal to scrounge around for food like rats, going hungry for days at a time, and eating the trash that people tossed out because they didn't want any leftovers? My parents thought so and when they met they stuck together, consuming all of the garbage they could find while wallowing in disgusting places. They would lie together occasionally, when their urges for sex overpowered the two of them. It was their last great adventure of love-making that produced me. My mother became pregnant, a feat that no one thought was possible unless within government control. But it happened like some kind of a miracle. She was pregnant and she was overjoyed.
"When my father found out, he didn't take the news so well. In fact, he got himself arrested so that he would not have to help take care of an illegal child. I would like to believe that he might have cared about me. I mean, I wouldn't have wanted to bring a child into the world if I was like them, but he didn't have to abandon his family. Fathers are not supposed to do that but he did. I never forgave him for it and I never will."
Lilly pauses and for a second, she lets her guard down. I can see humanity behind her golden eyes, how her father abandoning her and her mother hurts her deeply. I don't think the Purge could even help suppress emotional trauma that deep. There are a lot of issues there, buried inside of her, that come out in other ways I suppose. If Charlotte had told me this story, I would have expressed sympathy towards her but as Lilly is the storyteller, I can't bring myself to feel sorry for her even though she has probably had a rough life from day one.
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