The System

“Oh, poor puppy,” Lucy said and she shot to her feet and stared up at the dog. “Why didn’t Blair go back for him? He’s all alone out there?”

“Punishment,” Cass said and shrugged. She stood and stretched upward as if waking from a long nap. “Going out is against the rules. She broke the rules. She loses her companion.”

“But he’ll die,” Lucy said and she looked to Cass as if she held the keys to fix this.

“Yes,” Cass replied and nodded. “Why does Huck care? He is immune to death. A necessary cost. That is what he says…those we lost were a necessary cost for forging a new life, a better life, free of the path of our world’s blindness and evil. What is one dog?”

One dog meant everything in a dogless world, Lucy thought. Frank was not something to be tossed aside, but to be cherished. But she knew that arguing with Cass was pointless; this was not her new friend’s logic. Lucy had not heard the Huck rhetoric before spoken so plainly. Cass was educating her on what her parents had been afraid to say: Why, really, were they here, underground, as the lone survivors? What was the point?

“He thought he was doing a good thing?”

“Not a scholar of history, I see,” Cass replied with a wink.

Lucy shrugged. “Hey, I did my homework. Solid B student.”

“Huck felt death was a necessary action. Imperative to change. He’s not so difficult to understand…he follows in the footsteps of many powerful men who believed radical change was our only chance. The difference, I suppose, is he succeeded where they failed. And now the only history that matters is the one he is writing. He is the hero of a broken world.” Cass crossed her arms over her body and took a step forward.

“Sounds like you could write the history books if you wanted,” Lucy replied. Charming and smart. Brimming with sophisticated, ca

“Someone who has had more time to live in this world. We lived in Cambridge. Woke up in the middle of the night with my father standing over me with a suitcase. Pack what you need. Leave everything else. And say goodbye. Moved here…after Huck’s army a

The word caught her attention. “I thought that variables were people outside who could threaten the world inside,” Lucy clarified, thinking back to when her mother uttered that word in the Sky Room.

“Or people inside who want out.” Cass smiled.

“Then not everyone wants to stay here?” Finally someone was telling her the truth. The plastered smiles of the men and women in the Sky Room were a facade. They were people born from fear, from irrationality.

“Sadly, not enough. They will understand someday, but by then it will be too late.”

“I want out too.”

Cass smiled. Her lips caught a bit on her bright teeth. She nodded once—a commanding action. They had known each other for an hour, but they were united in rebellion.

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully, “I know you know that already…but…I wanted to say it. Out loud. This is not a life. I can’t stay like this and I don’t feel like I should have to.”

“Of course. Agreed. But if you think it’s easy to just walk out and leave, then you don’t understand the System or the man in charge of it.”

Her shoulders dropped and she closed her eyes. “I see. It was too good to be true.”

When she opened her eyes, Cass was standing closer to her face, her hands outstretched, and she placed her hands on Lucy’s shoulders. “An escape would involve conspiracy, espionage, detailed pla

“What if I just wanted to save my friend?”

“Unless you act fast, you have a better chance of escape.”

Lucy sighed. “You’re a really crappy motivational speaker. I thought you didn’t want this life either. You got my hopes up that it doesn’t have to be like this.”

“The difference,” Cass replied, pulling away, “is that I know this isn’t the life I want after years of careful thought. You think this isn’t the life for you because you’re comparing it to a life that doesn’t exist.”

Her honesty stung.

“Then just tell me what to do,” Lucy said, defeated.

“No.” Cass shook her head firmly, her braids waving against her back like two black pendulums. “Never. I brought you up here because you needed something special today…to remind you that even though this place is dark and confusing, you are not alone.”

Lucy’s heart pounded. She could feel the blood rush in her ears. “I’m leaving this place. And I’m leaving with Grant. If you don’t believe I can do it, then I am alone,” Lucy said and she took a backward step back toward the elevator. She felt flustered; she blushed. For every ounce of Cass’s charm, Lucy felt inadequate and blundering. “And…and…I want to get the dog back inside,” she added stammering, grasping. “He shouldn’t be punished for Blair’s mistake. I’ll do that first.” She punctuated her last request by pointing to poor Frank, who still sat against the glass, now barking—although the glass obscured the sound and she couldn’t hear him, only see his mouth open and close, his head turning to follow some unknown sound.

Then Lucy began to cry; she felt the sharp pang of emotion creeping up, pushing its way out. If Cass said anything to her, anything at all, she knew she would burst into sobs. Being underestimated always made her cry harder than anything else.

But if Cass was going to reply, she didn’t have a chance.

Startling them both, an alarm began to ring—loud and clear in the tiny space—an incessant beeping of warning.

“Is there a fire?” Lucy asked, covering her ears. “Is that a fire alarm?”

Cass shook her head. She walked over to the wall and flipped a switch. The beeping stopped. Still, Lucy thought she could hear it ringing upward from deep within the belly of the System. She looked frantically to Cass for answers.

“It’s the alarm for a meeting. If that goes off, we have to gather, by pod, in the Center. As fast as possible.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Only once. On Release Day.”

“What could it mean?”

Cass walked over and opened her faux wall; she pushed the elevator button and the doors swung open on command. Then she rushed into the tiny space and motioned for Lucy to follow.

“Huck is summoning. Missing it is not an option. It means we better hurry and sneak back in…before we’re missed…or before we’re caught.” Her eyes sca

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dean moved in. After helping restock the patio with their supplies, he climbed back into his truck, sat for a few minutes, and then came back to the house with an offer: he’ll move closer and they could pool their resources. The agreements outweighed the dissent.

Ethan, who missed the entire journey to the Trotter farm and the bonding that ensued, met the new houseguest with blatant contempt. In private, they tried to pass it off as a tactical measure: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But after time it became apparent that no one thought of Dean as an enemy. While they were enjoying his company, Ethan inwardly seethed about the implications of adding one more person to their group.