The Cipher

Chapter four

  I had made this journey one too many times, it seemed. Not to the Society necessarily, but the journey to uncertainty.

  The first time it was my initial Journey, the second time, it was leaving to the Society (even though I had been unconscious), then escaping the Society, and now it was returning to the Society to sneak back in as wanted felons.

  Oh, how times change.

  Since the first journey, I felt like I had become a new person altogether. I had undergone so much emotional trauma, and I was catapulting myself headfirst into more, surely. But I had come out on the other side with a new outlook. 

  We were further from the Society than the cottage had been, so it took us roughly two to three days to arrive. Due to being used to long duration trips in the wilderness, the trip went very smoothly. Camp setup was flawless, we hunted the perfect amount of food, and not to mention that we checked our game for illnesses.

  With our precautions and our experience, time seemed to fly. Along with our headstrong attitudes, and our woodland handiwork, we were at the Society in no time. But as soon as we saw the looming walls, we finally realized that we hadn’t the slightest idea of how to get in without detection.

  “We didn’t exactly think this through.” Cyrus stated obviously.

  “I bet Axel knew how to get us through.” I said halfheartedly.

  “I bet he did too, but he isn’t here now, and we have to deal with that.” Cyrus replied abruptly. “We have to deal with this situation without him.”

  I nodded, seeing his reasoning and began to scale the sides of the huge, cement gray walls, searching for some sort of brink that I knew I wouldn’t find.

  “What are you gonna do? Walk around the whole city?” he joked.

  His joke gave me an idea though, and I said, “What other choice do we have?”

  His eyebrows rose, and something about his electric blue eyes made him look more surprised than someone with darker eyes would look. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” I snapped at him. “We can’t just walk through the wall.”

  “Since when do you use sarcasm?”

  “Since now.” I teased.

  And then we walked around the entire city. It was a pain in the butt, ultimately. The effort had been useless, for there were no brinks, and no secret passageways. After a few hours, we found ourselves back where we had begun.

  Cyrus let out an exasperated sigh.

  “This sucks.” he complained.

  Suddenly, he was jerked backwards by some unknown force. And before I could scream, so was I. The moment my shriek was about to leave my mouth, a hand had clapped over it. I was being carried and moving very fast.

  “Shh, you’re safe.” the person said.

  Whoever it was, couldn’t possibly be against me. For they spoke with contractions, and any Landie would not speak in such a way.

  “Who are you?” I asked through the person’s hand.

  “Onyx.” the voice, that I now realized was a males spoke. He took his hand from my mouth

  “I meant who are you with, though?”

  “The rebels, of course.”

  He then set me down gently.