The Sector

Chapter Fifteen

Three minutes later, Bobby and Addison were walking through the Hall balancing plates and bowls piled high with food. They sat down in their usual seats, ate as if everything were normal, then, once the rest of the crowd was starting to retreat back out onto the streets, they slipped as many fruits and packaged snacks as they could into their empty bags—the contents of which had been left with Seth and Darbee to free up as much space as possible—and took four full bottles of water each.

They met Seth and Darbee behind the building, where they'd left them. As soon as they returned, the four of them were off again in search of an unattended vehicle.

Seth reluctantly gave Bobby and Addison the responsibility of actually carrying out the theft—it was too much of a risk for Darbee or himself to do it. If they were seen, that would be the end for them and for his friends as well if anyone found out they were accomplices.

They'd been searching for twenty minutes when they heard the sirens again.

Seth and Darbee dropped to the ground. Bobby and Addison gaped open-mouthed like two deer caught in the headlights.

"What's going on?" Addison breathed as cars and trucks alike came to screeching halts around the Hall. Officers piled out and began canvassing the area, shouting orders back and forth, guns raised and ready to fire.

"Oh God," Bobby said. "We have to go! Now!"

He and Addison made for one of the now vacant cars as the Officers began searching buildings, tearing the place apart.

"Wait!" Seth called to them. "If they see one car driving away alone, they'll know something's wrong! We should hide and wait it out. When they leave, we steal one of the cars and then peel away from the rest of the group once we're back on the road. It's the only way we can do it without drawing too much attention."

And so they lay in the shrubs for what must have been at least an hour. The Officers searched every building twice, but neglected to go much further than that. They must have assumed Seth would be taking refuge in his old Residence perhaps.

Finally, they started piling into their cars and trucks and speeding off again.

When only two cars remained, Seth and the others made their move.

Rushing forward, they came up behind a small group of Officers heading for the vehicle further ahead. As those Officers stepped into their vehicle, Seth, Darbee, Bobby, and Addison climbed into the other one. In unison, the engines started up and, seated behind the wheel again, Seth followed them away.

For a brief second in his rear view mirror, he saw the Officers this car belonged to chasing after them, arms waving frantically in the air and screaming for them to stop the car. 

A moment later they were lost in the clouds of dust and dirt the cars kicked up in their wake.

Seth breathed a sigh of relief and turned his eyes back to the road ahead. 

The convoy of vehicles gained speed quickly. Seth kept their car at the rear of the group, gradually falling further and further behind the others.

As the group turned a corner behind a dense cluster of trees, Seth broke away.

Thinking only about getting as far away from the Officers as quickly as possible, he jammed the brake into the floor, swung the car around, and accelerated off down the empty dirt road, now heading in the opposite direction.

"How do we get out of here?" he said, looking to Darbee.

"We drive until we find the Boundary."

"What?" Bobby piped up from the backseat. "You mean you don't actually know the way out?"

"Not exactly..." Darbee murmured.

"And you didn't think that was something you maybe should have told us before?" Bobby's face was red and panic roiled in his eyes.

"It's not like we could just hang around here, Bobby," Seth interjected. "We didn't have a choice; it was either go and live, or stay and die."

"Not for us," Bobby snapped. "We had a choice. We weren't in any danger until you came back."

"Bobby..." Addison whispered, placing her hand on his arm.

"No, Addison. We could have stayed and everything would still be fine. Now that's out of the question."

"It's not their fault. You saw what was in that journal. If we stayed behind and let them go alone, would you be able to just act like everything was fine? Because I know I wouldn't."

"That's not the point. The point is—"

Addison cut him off. "That we've put ourselves in danger and, without knowing how to get out of here quickly, there's no guarantee we'll get out at all. I know. But what other choice did we have? We can't just let ourselves be a part of what's going on here."

Bobby stared at her for a moment and then fell back in his seat with a resigned huff. He was still visibly agitated, but she took it as a victory.

For a long while, they just drove in silence. Darbee flipped through the pages of the journal and Bobby and Addison stared out their windows, watching the landscape pass them by. Seth tried to focus on driving. He didn't think he could afford to stop and think about what he was attempting.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty, then thirty, then an hour. They didn't run into any more trouble. 

Eventually Seth pulled over to the side of the road and turned the car off.

"What's wrong?" Darbee questioned.

"I need to rest. I'm exhausted."

"Here, I'll take over. Get some sleep." Darbee opened his door and climbed out, circling the car to take Seth's place in the driver's seat.

As Darbee took off and they left another cloud of dirt in their wake, Seth finally let his eyelids droop and succumbed to sleep.

When he awoke, Addison was shaking his arm. Hard.

"Seth!" she was saying, her voice laced with panic. "Seth, wake up! Seth! They found us!"