Verde

Chapter 14: The Other Side of the Ocean

Night fell again.

Everyone was in their rooms, hearts beating fast in anticipation.

They could see the United States. Well, kind of. They had been able to see it, a thin sliver of land taking up the horizon, but, once night had fallen, the mainland had disappeared.

The GPS in the controls room was showing an arrival time of eleven that night. It was eight.

"What's the plan?" Shennan asked. She was sitting on her bed, leaning against the bedpost and looking out of the tiny porthole above her. Any sky was a lot of sky, after years underground.

"We'll reach land somewhere in mid California," Cassidy held up a map of the United States she had been studying, "and hopefully no one will notice the boat until morning, at which point we should all be off. We're going to stay at a place Alison knows about. She says it's a few miles inland, so we have to take a few buses." She tried not to sound too excited.

This was not a sight-seeing trip - it was serious. They were on an assigned task, for heaven's sake. Alison had, after all, charged them with the mission of - well, whatever the mission actually was.

How could they be expected not to gape a little, though? They hadn't seen the United States for eleven years - and they were only sixteen now. There would be technology they had never seen before, and the country would look so different from the scenery they were accustomed to on Quarantine.

"How many people do you think there'll be?" Kiera asked from her top bunk.

"It'll be night." Shennan said. "Everyone will probably be asleep. We'll be alone."

Cassidy nodded in agreement. There was barely an aspect of the experience that she hadn't speculated about yet.

The streets would be dark, and she wouldn't be able to see a thing. It was better off that way, really. Otherwise, she would be left gaping at the world she had been torn from so long ago, wondering how a place just one two-day trip away could be so different from Quarantine.

She was about to go home.

The boat rocked, and Cassidy fell into Chase.

She righted herself quickly, hands gripping the gunwale.

Sand gritted under the bow, the stern still bobbing as the tide went out. They had arrived.

"Welcome to Santa Monica Beach, boys and girls." Alison said softly. She was leaning over the railing a bit, surveying the beach in front of them. The look on her face left no doubt that she had been here many times before. Or that she had missed it.

The beach sloped up, continuing for a hundred yards or so, before the street cut through it. To the right, huge shapes loomed in the darkness.

"Roller coasters." Alison clarified. "And that big one? The circle? That's a ferris wheel. You sit in a seat attached to it, and the whole wheel turns, taking you up to the top. It's a great view."

"This is a historical site, isn't it?" Dan asked suddenly. "Santa Monica Pier and Beaches - right?"

Alison looked at him strangely. "Yes," she said, "it's been here for over a hundred years."

"The ferris wheel changed again," was all Dan murmured, still looking at the hulking shadows.

"Okay," Cassidy heard someone whisper under their breaths.