Inexplicable

8. Aiden

I have only ever worked alone. Traveling with Sadie is definitely a set back from my revenge, but she saved my life. For once, I don't have a plan. I used all my stolen points on the plane ticket, Dr. Elias knows I'm alive, and if he tells the government, they will hunt me down and kill me for what I know about their human experiments. According to the United Provinces Citizen Records, Aiden Houlten does not exist. Sadie shouldn't be here, but I can't help myself. She is annoyingly unlike anyone I've ever met, but her just walking with me, puts her in danger. There is something about her that seems so familiar yet new.

Sadie and I walk to the nearest Transportation Center. It'll take at least two hours on foot. The buildings around us touch the sky but are almost all vacant. The only jobs that are needed now are all hands on. So, there's no need to stay in a cubicle all day. Some people stroll the quiet streets. Two teenage girls walk past us. The cute brunette smiles and winks at me. I reply with a grin, but the girl's smile immediately vanishes when she looks at Sadie. I raise my eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?" I say jokingly. Her blue arm sling is gone, so her wrist is bandaged up. Somehow, it makes her tan skin tone look even more perfect.
"Life must be pretty great for you." She doesn't say with sarcasm; it's as if she really believes it. The irony physically hurts me. If only she knew what I have been through.
"Can't help that my face is this gorgeous." She rolls her eyes.
"So your grandparents funeral, huh?" Like many other seniors, they probably died from the cold. They were the oldest generation still living.
She swallows, "Yeah. It's tomorrow actually. I don't think we'll make it in time."
"We will." I say with certainty. She looks at me with an questioning innocence that makes me forget that there is such a thing as evil.
"Are your grandparents still alive?"
"I've never met them, but probably not." She deflates. "Oh."
Her brown eyes narrow.
"Where is your ID?" My ID. I pretend to pat down my pockets.
"Damn. I think I lost it in the crash."
She looks at me as if she's trying to figure out a puzzle. She shrugs. "I guess you can give them a finger print or blood sample." I just nod along.

The Transportation Center is crowded. It is one large, circular white tiled building that has fifteen workers on fifteen screens. The electronic screens are used now, so people can be even more lazy. Instead of actually going somewhere, the employees can stream from wherever. I recognize some of the people in line from the plane. We wait to get a seat on a plane headed for Northern California. The United Provinces' Airline is giving the passengers from flight 777 a free ride, for the ones that survived at least. Sometimes the employees check for IDs, but I pray they don't. The only reason they even check IDs is to find people like me and take them to labs. There is no one here that looks anything like me, so I can't steal one. The discoloration of my eyes don't help. A lady in a tight, red uniform mumbles, "Next." Sadie and I stop in front of her screen. The screen is leveled to my height, but Sadie has to look up. She seems nervous, while twisting her delicate, silver ring. I smile. I quickly look away and clear my throat. "Two tickets to Northern California, from flight 777." The middle aged woman taps some buttons. "IDs please." Crap. I should have never come. I pretend to not hear her while Sadie happily hands hers to the lady. Her eyes dart to my finger, telling me to give the lady a print. I tighten my jaw and nod no. "Just for her, actually." This was a mistake. I've come too close to being dragged back to the labs. I can't throw away everything I did to get out to be caught so easily. I can't drag Sadie into my life; she should keep on believing in the good, not knowing of the evil that hides behind the face of the government. I turn to her for a last time. "Bye, Sadie." She looks at me, confused. It's time to go back to reality. The reality where I escaped. The reality where I killed.