Dystopia (Dystopia Trilogy Book 1)

Chapter 19

Note: This is the 19th 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.

Once again, Dana found herself working in the incinerator. She wiped her forehead with the back of her glove, the rough fibers scratching her skin. She leaned on her rake a bit, resting from the work, her tired muscles desperate for relief.

"Get back to work!"

An officer waved his baton at her. Immediately, Dana lifted her rake and pushed more junk into the flames. Bastard. She would have loved to see one of them working for a change.

George came up beside her. "Keep working," he said. "Tonight."

"Huh?"

"It's tonight," repeated George. "Simon says that tonight is the night. Be at the media center by nine. Bring the uniforms. And take the bus."

"Will you be there?"

"Yeah, but I'm arriving another way."

A bad feeling wafted over her. "George," said Dana, covering the camera. She no longer cared if anyone watched. "I don't think you should go."

"Why not?"

"Please. I have a bad feeling."

"Now don't you worry," said George. "We've been through this. Nothing is going to happen."

"George, please"

"I suggest you worry about yourself." George tapped her chin affectionately before going back to his work.

Despair filled Dana. She wished she could tell him. Resigned that she was about to commit the most heinous of sins, Dana continued her tasks, counting the hours until 9 p.m.

When the buzzer rang, she put her rake and gloves away, filing into the eating hall with everyone else. Dana shuffled along. She picked up a tray and allowed the server to plop a bowl of orange goo on it. She sometimes wondered if they purposefully changed the color of the food just to make things more interesting.

"Orange today," said Elsie as she sat beside Dana. "At least it doesn't look like vomit. Well, not too much anyway."

Dana picked at her food. She placed spoonfuls in her mouth, not even tasting it.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Dana. "Just tired."

"I did it!" said Sanders, a bit too loud for Dana's taste.

"Did what?" asked Elsie.

"My best work ever," said Sanders, pulling out a disk the size of his thumb.

Dana covered the camera again. She may not be able to save George, but she could try to keep Sanders and Elsie out of it.

"Here," Sanders handed Dana the disk. It was attached to a chain so she could wear it around her neck. "I have successfully created the only series of logarithms and viruses that can break any decryption code and firewall. You plug that into any government computer, and in about 30 seconds, you will be in its mainframe. Booyah!"

"Keep it down," said Elsie, pulling Sanders back into his chair. "And why are you trying to break into government computers?"

"I asked him to," said Dana.

"What?"

"Please, just trust me on this." Once again, tears welled in her eyes as she thought about her parents. "I have to do something tonight. Something big. And I need you two to not ask questions, because if things go wrong-please, my parents' lives depend on this."