Dystopia (Dystopia Trilogy Book 1)

Chapter 17

 Note: This is the 17th chapter out of 20. Each Friday a new chapter will be posted. However, if you wish to read it now, it can be purchased on Amazon, B&N, iBookstore, Kobo, and Smashwords. You can also follow me on Twitter (JMRUL) and facebook.

“Sanders,” said Dana approaching her friend, “may I have a word?”

“Yeah,” replied Sanders, readjusting his glasses.

Dana pulled him to the side, away from prying eyes and overcurious ears. “I need a favor.”

“What do you need?”

Dana covered the camera on her shirt with her hand, hoping that it would muffle what was said, if not eliminate it all together. “Do you know how the computers at the media center work?”

“Dana, where is this going?”

“Please, Sanders,” pleaded Dana. “I need to know.”

Sanders pulled her even further away from anyone who might be listening. “I get the feeling you are planning to do something stupid, if not dangerous.”

“I have to. My par—” Dana stopped herself before she revealed anything more. “Lives depend on this. The media center.”

Sanders leaned close. “The computers at the media center are locked with some sort of algorithm. They have firewall after firewall to keep anyone from hacking into the system. But it’s not impenetrable.”

Dana squeezed the button-sized camera even tighter, ignoring the discomfort of it digging into her skin.

“I can develop a program that will hack their system and put it on a disk for you.”

“Will you?” Dana’s relief came through in her voice.

“Dana, what is going on?” pushed Sanders.

“I can’t tell you,” the trepidation in her voice betrayed her.

“Dana.” Sanders grabbed her arm, forcing her hand away from the concealed camera.

Instantly, Dana clasped her other hand around the camera, hoping that whoever watched didn’t see Sanders’ face or hear their conversation. She did not want to get him arrested.

“Please. Sanders, don’t ask any questions. You can’t help me.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sanders.

“Just get me the decryption program by Wednesday. And don’t ask why. It’s better if you don’t know.”

Dana started to walk away. Sanders caught her arm. “I’ll do it because you asked me to, but I can’t help feeling that you’re about to do something incredibly stupid.”

“I don’t have much choice.”

Dana ran off before her emotions and guilt betrayed her. She raced to the locker room and locked herself inside. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she breathed. Why, she asked herself, why must I be in this position?

Procuring the uniforms was not as difficult as Dana had first thought. She and George had worked out the plan. With the help of Elsie, he would cause a distraction, while Dana snuck into the storage area with the uniforms.

Dana stood near the edge of the group on Outside Detail. She, George, and Elsie had managed to get on it for the same shift. Workers moved around, picking up bits of trash that blew off the trucks as they came in.

Dana spotted George. He nodded at her. That’s the signal. Dana moved away from the group as they walked past the parked dump trucks.

George and Elsie approached one of the trucks. He hopped into the driver’s seat and removed the brake. At the same instant, Elsie opened the hood and tossed in a homemade incendiary device. Quickly, they jumped away and blended in with the group.