Lost Atoms

Chapter 3

Ezra pulls the truck to the side of the road and kills the engine. "Keep quiet back there. They're flagging me down."

The driver's side door opens, and he steps out. The deep drawl of a zoner's voice is close, signifying he's directly beside the vehicle. I make sure the three of us are well below the window.

"Identification?" The zoner asks.

"Adstrum. ID code: E-A-0-4-0-2-2," Ezra says.

As the zoner busies himself with verifying the credentials, the buzz of another drone breaks the silence, speeding by overhead. All drones in the dome are identifiable, stamped with a logo. I try to remember if the one I saw earlier had the same one the zoners have stitched on their chest: A lower-case 'z', extending to the sides of the square surrounding it. The base of the 'z' curves down and meets the right-most corner of the square. I always thought the curve made their logo look like hills, which is ironic since they only exist outside of the dome.

If the drones that are out tonight belong to them, they're looking for people like me. But there's been too much to take in recently, and I can't remember the details of the drone.

"A'right," the zoner growls. "This one refused to let us search 'er 'ome. You can take 'er straight to Novaport and dump 'er in for all I care. At this rate, we'll have more than enough dead bodies 'ere for a parade tomorrow, won't we?"

Zenith and Cail look as frozen as me while we listen attentively. There's a crunch of boots on gravel as another set of footsteps approaches the side of the truck. "Bridges, did you check his credentials?"

"'Course I did, sir. 'E's legit."

"Good. Can't be too careful right now, though, I'll have you know, the tides are turning."

He must have said the last part to Ezra, because it's his voice that responds asking, "What do you mean?"

"The scavengers are finished. We just got the green light from Council to shoot on sight. No more of this fancy-pantsy arrest and trial trash." He sounds as if rain day came early. "Will you need help lifting?"

"Sorry?"

"Lifting the body into the truck. Bridges can help."

"No," Ezra replies, his tone quickening. "I'll be fine. I do it all the time, and I'm, uh, particular about how the bodies are lifted."

"Particular?" The zoner scoffs. "It's a body. Besides, it'll be faster this way. Bridges?"

One of the nearby blankets smacks against my head as Cail tosses them our way. "Get under and act dead," they command Zenith and me, as they unfold an army green fleece of their own. While ours look unused, Cail's has noticeable dark stains, but they don't complain, pulling it tightly over themselves.

The cab door rattles, and I quickly hide under my own blanket. A slight exhale communicates Ezra's relief as we come into view. He jumps into the cab.

"You 'ave three more?" Bridges asks incredulously.

"I do." Ezra's footsteps are next to my ear now as he grabs another blanket for the woman's body.

"What did they do?"

"Scavengers," Ezra replies. "A zoner shot them just before they could escape."

"Which tunnel did they use?" Bridge's tone is skeptical now, and my heart is racing. Something Ezra said must have tipped him off.

"There's one by the pond."

I clench my fists. Ezra just gave away one of our few remaining spots, but I know he's trying anything to keep Bridges from growing more suspicious.