Unplugged: The Beautiful World (#3, Unplugged Trilogy)

Chapter Thirteen

Enna

I wake suddenly, lifting my head from the car window. I'm the only one awake. A red, itchy blotch covers the side of my forehead, tender to the touch. We should be close to the city now. The last time I was awake, our driver--the bearded man who we first saw upon our arrival--gave us an update as to our location. The Midwest. Victoria snores lightly from her strategic location between Matthew and I in the back seat. Gale lounges in the passenger seat beside our bearded driver, Dwayne.
    "Where are we now?" I ask him, voice ringing louder than I thought it would. Our escort vehicle glides smoothly and silently across the road, despite its many potholes and imperfections. Endless stretches of clay and ruins greet us on either side, and the sun dips lower and lower in the sky, casting awkward, elongated shadows over the road.
    "Morning, Ms. Price! Or should I say evening." He chuckles good-naturedly and wipes his brow.
    "You can just call me Enna," I mutter quietly. "I'm not much into that 'title' thing."
    "No problem. I don't necessarily have an affinity with the practice either." Dwayne adjusts his back and glances in the rear view mirror, smiling with his eyes. "You've got a motley crew, eh?"
    Slightly taken aback, I glance at each of my travel mates. Gale's head rolls over a shoulder as she sleeps, her brown hair sticking up oddly. Matthew sleeps slumped over, head in his hands. Victoria dozes with a head on her shoulder, snoring gently. A surge of gratefulness enters the pit of my stomach: if the world were falling apart around me--which it is--I couldn't ask for a better team.
    "Yeah." I find myself smiling a little, and then I remember that my former question hadn't been answered yet. "Where are we?"
    "About an hour from the city." He rubs his neck. I notice how much younger Dwayne looks than President Burbank and the rest of the former United States government administration. How could that be?
    "Everyone underground was so old... Were you born there?" Dwayne nods somewhat grimly.
    "This is my first time above ground. Ever." The thought momentarily strips me of breath.
    "Are you serious?"
    "Well, I've seen pictures and looked at maps and whatnot. I must say, it's a lot grimmer than I'd hoped..." That's for sure. A sudden picture of a young Burbank lounging on a patch of startlingly green grass interrupts my previous thoughts. Is it possible that the world looked so beautiful once? I find it hard to believe.
    "What do you think about the President?" I ask carefully.
    "What do you mean?"
    "I don't know. What's your impression of him?"
    "Hmm..." He exhales heavily. "I don't know him too well, but from what I can tell he is a very tired man. I think he over-exerted himself during his Presidency, and now he's a prisoner within his own system."
    "He asked me to take over for him," I mutter, a twinge of guilt pinching my stomach. "He wanted to assure a sound future for his people." Dwayne can sense the regret hidden behind my words, and he shakes his head a little.
    "Don't be hard on yourself. You would have made a mistake if you accepted his offer."
    "What? Why?" Sweat breaks out on Dwayne's forehead and he licks his lips. When he replies, I struggle to hear his lowered voice.
    "Our supplies are running out. All of us know it but none dare to say it out loud." My mouth falls open. "President Burbank is scared, but he's much too afraid of failure to admit it. Sooner or later we'll have to come back to the surface, and then the Hidden Allies will attack us for good."
    "Come with us," I whisper. My hands tremble and I clutch the door handle. "I'm sure you could help us somehow."
    "Not a chance." Dwayne shakes his head. "I can't desert Burbank like that. Or my family." I bite my tongue, embarrassed for making the offer. I guess I really did make a good call when I refused the President's proposition. Well, good for me, anyways.

* * *

    Gale wakes up thirty minutes later, when I can start to see the New York skyline in the near distance. We're still too far to make out the falling bombs or helicopters. She utters a low whistle and glances back at my seat. I smile at her tensely.
    "It's been so long," Gale whispers, eyes glazed over. "I bet nothing's the same..." She's right. Is it possible that there's anything left, any people left? Will our rescue attempt turn out to be futile? Stop thinking like that, I warn myself. I nod in agreement, turning around to facing the wide expanse of decay that we leave behind. The hotel, the base, the Mothership, the bunker... It all seems like one huge dream, now that we're coming home. Did I really lose my mother? Did Matthew actually come so close to death? Is it possible that humanoid reptiles are the ones pulling the strings? If someone adamantly denied the truth about these things, I'd almost be inclined to believe them. Almost.
    The car lurches as it dips into a dangerously deep pothole, and Matthew wakes suddenly. For a moment he looks dazed, as if he doesn't know where we are. Then his gaze settles on the New York skyline and dark realization clouds his features.
    "We're close now," Dwayne says needlessly. "If I were you I'd start making a plan." Matthew and I glance at each other, brows furrowed in thought. Where should we go? The Depot comes to mind first, but then I remember how it was taken over by the elite. Maybe my grandmother's apartment? Unless it was destroyed along with the rest of the poor sector.
    "What if we started at the Academy of Global Doctrines?" Matthew suggests.
    "Why?" Gale and I ask in unison. He scratches his neck and shrugs.
    "I just thought that it might be easier to get our bearings since we all know where that is." I'm about to argue when I realize that he's completely right.
    "Good idea."
    "I can drop you off there if you tell me where it is," Dwayne says. When I finish describing the school's location, Victoria lifts her head wearily. Her thick hair is tangled and clumped.
    "We're almost there," Matthew updates. I lean against the car window, staring as small buildings and billboards start to fly past our vehicle. How can it be possible that we made it out of the Base alive, alive enough to find our way back here? If we could be so resilient, why not the Depot members? I find it hard to believe that they couldn't find shelter anywhere in the city.
    The car rushes onwards for several more moments, eventually passing beneath the tunnel that leads directly into the city. The closer we get, the easier I can hear the small, frequent pulses of detonating bombs. The ground shakes ever-so-slightly, and I cast nervous glances at Matthew. He smiles reassuringly. It doesn't reach his eyes.
    When we reach the other side of the tunnel, a picture of utter devastation greets us. All of us catch and hold our breaths at the same time. The massive ruins of buildings and living spaces spill onto the road, blocking any space for driving. Dwayne slams on the brakes just before we crash into someone's crumbling kitchen, propelling our bodies forward. I crush my nose against the back of the seat in front of me and, groaning, I snap off my seatbelt. Everything is gone... In a horrified trance, I open the car door and let my legs rest against the crushed asphalt. A gentle, warm breeze rustles my hair.
    "Enna, don't! They'll see you!" Matthew hisses. Victoria attempts to grab my arm but I slide out of the vehicle before she can manage to restrain me. The city swims in front of my vision and I find myself gasping for breath. Dust particles rain down from the sky like hail, adorning the enormous slabs of concrete and brick that tower towards the sky like ominous monuments. A sob catches in my throat as I survey the wreckage. I never could have thought that things would get this bad. My city--my home--is practically destroyed. Matthew steps up behind me. I hadn't heard or seen him get out of the car, but I can feel his presence like a warm blanket.
    "Do you want to get back in the car, Enna?" He asks suggestively. I shake my head, swallowing the lump in my throat. I turn around and set my jaw, glancing at Victoria, Gale, and Dwayne, who watch me awkwardly from the car.
    "We need to search. Every inch of every street. There has to be someone left." I turn to start climbing up a pile of rubble, but Matthew clutches my shoulder with an unyielding hand. His eyes flash a warning for an instant.
    "You really think that's a good idea?" His gaze drifts up to the sky, and I can practically hear his mind mulling over the threat of being spotted by helicopter. His hesitation is only natural, rational even. But we made it this far, and I refuse--refuse--to admit that my city is completely gone. Because that would mean that we're the only ones left.
    And what then?
    I place a hand on Matthew's upper arm and purse my lips. "I'm going to look for survivors. Tell the others they can join me or head back with Dwayne." Before there's a chance for me to meet any opposition I turn on my heel and start to stagger up a hill of dirt and burnt pieces of furniture. Through the not-so-distant sound of falling bombs, I can hear Matthew curse under his breath. I force myself to face forward, eyes religiously scanning buried sidewalks and shadowed doorways for signs of life. Nothing.
    My legs follow a straight course, carrying me over and around wreckages larger than whole buses. It feels so, so strange: being the only person on this street that at one point was the busiest. It's like I'm the last person on Earth. I almost prefer being surrounded by RScreened Members. After a while, I hear hurrying footsteps behind me; presumably, Matthew had convinced everyone to come along. I smile to myself, comforted by the thought that my friends didn't choose to leave me.
    "To the right," Matthew calls out. I finally turn around to face the others. All of their faces are red with exertion but still alert. Matthew jogs to catch up with me, breathing harder than usual. I finally recognize my own exhaustion.
    "The right?" I gasp. Matthew flinches a little and presses a hand to the stitch in his side.
    "That's where the AGD is. I know the way to the Depot from there."
    "Me too." We quicken our pace, but not so much that Victoria and Gale can't keep up. A bomb falls and bursts into flame not too far to our left. I pause fearfully, heart beating against my ribs. Orange-and-gray tendrils of smoke and fire reach hungrily into the sky, devouring an old apartment building. I freeze, eyes held captive by the horrible, awe-inducing sight.
    "Come on," Matthew whispers, urging me forward. I'm broken out of my trance, and I keep jogging onwards. Gale and Victoria sprint for a short period of time, quickly closing the distance between us.
    "Thanks for leaving us in the dust," Victoria growls half-heartedly. Gale shakes her head.
    "I do not have the endurance I used to..."
    "Shh," Matthew whispers. "We don't want to be heard. Or seen."
    We shift under the cover of store awnings and pick our way through the city streets carefully and quickly, scanning over the crumbled buildings for an arm, a head, a leg... Five minutes later, my old school looms in front of us. Except it looks nothing like a school. The once towering, opaque walls of granite now lie in broken heaps over the road. Those heavy, protective walls that I once believed in: broken, destroyed. I can almost make out part of the school's motto engraved in a silver stone. Matthew whistles and kicks a small piece of brick, watching as it rolls across the sidewalk.
    "Look at that..." He says. My eyes fix at the place where I'd escaped the Graduation Ceremony, where I'd started this mess in the first place... I think of my mother's letter. I think of my brother's angry gaze. I think of my grandmother, and the way she used to scold me for thinking too close-minded. My throat tightens.
    "Wow." The dumb, little word does nothing to sum up the emotions stirring in my chest. Before I start to get too upset, I divert my attention to the road stretching ahead. The Depot's entrance isn't too far away from here. I find it ironic how now, as bombs rain upon the city, there's no real way to tell the difference between the rich and poor sectors if I didn't know their locations beforehand.
    "Let's move on." I lead Matthew, Gale, and Victoria forwards, past the school and towards the Depot. Though we all know that it isn't the same resistance that it once was, something urges me towards it. Maybe sentimentality. Maybe something more reckless.
    Our journey is uneventful until the muted sound of running footsteps drifts towards my ears. I force everyone to stop and grow silent: sure enough, they pick up on the sound too, coming from a dark alley just across the street. We each freeze and stare into the darkness, waiting, waiting...
    "Are you crazy? Follow me!" A tall, dark-skinned, athletic-looking boy of about nineteen darts out from the cover of the alley. None of us make a move, startled and confused. He wears a dirty green jacket, a baggy pair of brown cargo pants, and a bright red wristband. The boy huffs in annoyance and motions for us to follow him, not bothering to slow his steady trot. Something about the urgency in his eyes compels me to follow him--so I do, at a slightly slower pace. Matthew and the others waste no time in joining me. The boy sprints around several corners and through many dark alleyways, leaping nimbly over piles of brick and concrete. I struggle to keep up and Matthew closes his fingers around my wrist, guiding me along beside him.
    The quality of the rubble starts to lessen the farther we run, and the air thickens with a higher concentration of dirt particles. I can feel them gathering in my lungs, and I start to wheeze. My chest burns and my eyes water. Gale and Victoria cough shakily. I don't know if we can make it any farther... Just as the thought enters my brain, the boy stops and turns around. He motions us towards him before nimbly plunging into another alley. I take a quick moment to glance around: what's left of the buildings are covered in mold and graffiti. Dust gathers on windows, clouding the glass. We are almost certainly in the poor sector, not too far off from my grandmother's apartment. I wonder if it was destroyed during the attacks... I'm not eager to find out.
    "This way," Gale gasps, leading us into the dark space between two decaying buildings. The sound of dripping water mixes with that of an exploding bomb; nervous goose bumps diffuse up my arms.
    "Where did he go?" I ask, struggling to see through the darkness.
    "I don't know..." I tread farther into the alleyway, feeling the walls for any kind of impression. A thrill of trepidation courses through me when my fingertips meet the rusting handle of a door.
    "I found a door," I hiss. The others crowd around me; the combination of their nervous energy is almost unbearable.
    "Should we go in?" Victoria asks hesitantly.
    "He might be trying to lead us to more people," I reason, trying to conquer the fear that keeps me rooted in place. This door could either lead us to something really bad, or possibly save our lives.
    "We don't have anything to lose," Matthew says. We all nod in unison, then I twist the door open.