Specimen 54559

Chapter 15

  They city was absolutely breathtaking and we haven't even left the marble plaza that's in between the two towers. To our left were the massive buildings and to our right were where the much smaller buildings were with all the trees. Lyon started to turn left toward the city when I ran up and caught his arm and turned him to face me. I could feel his large bicep flex under my grip as he stared down on me.

  "I have a question," I said releasing his arm and standing as straight as I could, opening my wings a bit to seem bigger.

  He rubbed his forehead looking annoyed, "What is it?"

  "What are those small buildings for in the trees?" I point to said place.

  Lyon gives me a surprised look which consisted of his nostrils flaring a bit, his brow scrunching together, his eyes widening as much as they could, and his head tilting to the left. "Seriously?" he asked.

  I nod, planting my feet where I stand, showing I wasn't about to leave without an answer first. Lyon heaves a heavy sigh and rubs is eyes and continues to pinch his nose bridge.

  "That's where the neighborhood is. Ya know, where the families live in a house? Have you guys never heard of them?" his eyes go between the four us as we each shake our heads.

  "We didn't have such things. Every person was assigned a place to live and those were normally in tall buildings with many rooms so the Government could keep an eye on them," Doc explained to a flabbergasted Lyon.

  He shakes his head and stares at each of us in turn. "Well I guess I'll have to give you all a tour of the neighborhood at some point," said Lyon before turning to walk towards the city once again.

  The four of us follow in suit, Doc and Quinn together behind Lyon and Jason and I behind the three.as we exit the marble plaza I see that the marble creates a large circle around the two towers, all of the roads and sidewalks curving around the circle. Many people were walking about the sidewalks, which were thankfully large enough for, like, four people to walk side by side. The surge of people part as they come in the wake of Lyon and go around us, most giving us odd looks but offered smiles nonetheless.

  Vehicles of different shapes and sizes passed along on the black asphalt. I recognized some as cars, trucks with their 'beds' in the back, vans that can hold many people, and, I think, motorcycles? Then a large yellow vehicle passed. It was bigger than all the others and it seemed to carry what looked like children of varying ages.

  "Uh, hey, Lyon," I say with a raised voice so he could hear me. He rotates his head slightly to the side.

  "Yeah?" he shouts back.

  "What is that big yellow vehicle with all the children on it called?"

  His shoulders drop and you could practically hear him roll his eyes. "It's a school bus," he answered. "They transport the kids to school in the city from their homes in the neighborhood."

  "Oh," I say and fall back in pace with Jason who is on my right.

  We didn't have schools in the West. All the children were taught the basics of everything and then were categorized into which places they would live and what jobs they would have. The so-called 'lucky ones' worked in or for the Government and received and extensive learning. It was considered an honor to work for them because you received higher privileges than the less fortunate.

  Lyon talked as we walked around the city. I hardly paid any attention, I knew that Doc and Quinn were listening and retaining just about everything he said. We passed several shops and places what Lyon called, restaurants. They were places where people would go in and eat food when they didn't want to cook at home. It seemed reasonable enough to me, though, Jason didn't like the fact that people were 'too lazy to enjoy a home-cooked meal'.