The Steam | ✔️

Chapter Five

As soon as I could escape Control Center, I ran to the dining area. I quickly went through the breakfast line and scarfed down my food. If I wanted to get to the Keepers, the least suspicious time is in the morning.

The night before Logan and I had attempted to leave, he showed me how to get to the Keepers secret meeting place in case we ever got separated.

Following the directions I had in my head, I jogged out the doors and to the trail. In Ora, nobody is allowed into the woods unless you stay on the trail. It's this really boring loop that has been protected, so there's watch stations and cameras, as well as no animals. The only good part is that nobody would think of a secret hideout in that area.

As I get to the rocks, I lean down and shimmy through an unnoticeable crack behind a huge bush. From there, I have to belly crawl for a few hundred feet until the cave widens out. I've only been to see the Keeper once, but as I go up and knock on an ancient picture painted on to the crumbling stone wall it immediately opens.

"Mackenzie. Welcome." A voice solemnly says. I recognize it to be Guchi, the head Keeper. He is old and very respected, so I am surprised that he is on guard duty. Usually Guchi only welcomes the most honored guests.

"Guchi, why on earth are you welcoming me?" I question.

"We have been expecting you Mackenzie. You are in grave danger."

"GRAVE DANGER?!?" I scream. "Why on earth would I be in danger?"

"The Leaders are planning an ambush on the Steam. They're taking people from the Steam Infiltrators department and having them break into their shack. The Hypnos, who are the poor people that the society has decided to punish by turning them crazy, wear masks and are even more violent. Furthermore, the Leaders have provided them with guns."

"I still don't get how I'm in danger," I slowly state.

"Mackenzie, you are a part of the Steam Infiltration Department! You will have to shoot down and try to kill Logan and all of the others in the Steam, and from what our spies have gathered, they know about the attack and are planning to fight back."

"Ohh. That's terrible." I'm seriously shocked. Logan was going to be trying to kill me, and in my Leader Uniform, he wouldn't recognize me. And it sounds exactly like something Chillwit would plan.

Hastily, I add a sentence to my letter explaining my new position, but in case it got into the wrong hands, I couldn't be too specific. Now all there was left to do was hope and pray that the Keepers delivered the letter before it was too late.