Terranovus

Chapter XV - Confessions

We reached the Army Base quickly and as we arrived I buried myself further into the sheets and hoped Hyun wasn't going to rat on me.

"Back already?" called out one of the guards as the vehicle pulled to a stop. The doors opened and I heard the group leader's voice again.

"You wouldn't bloody believe it!" he called out. "There was a runaway out there. We tried to catch them, we think it was a girl, but they got away. We need to send the drones out asap."

"A survivor?" asked the guard.

"More likely a rogue Terranovus citizen," spat the leader. I felt my heart pumping in my chest and hoped upon all stars and planets Arnav wouldn't be sent to collect the water again.

"Oi, Arnav," called out the leader, "come and collect the water will ya? We didn't end up bloody using it." Damn it! What was I going to do?

"Nah, it's okay boss!" I heard Hyun call out, "I'm going to take her down to the loading bay for a wash anyway. I'll sign out when I'm finished." I sighed with relief, it looked as though he was protecting me. Once everyone had climbed out the vehicle it moved again and went down a steep ramp. We turned a few corners then came to a stop. I heard Hyun climb out of the vehicle then make his way around and open the trunk. He looked extremely pissed off, almost as pissed off as I was.

"What the hell did you think you were doing sneaking into an Army issued vehicle like that?" he yelled. I threw the sheets off me and looked around the loading bay, thankfully it was empty.

"What the hell do you think you're doing helping the Army cover-up that genocide back there?" I spat back.

"I don't do that stuff, I'm just their driver," Hyun argued back.

"Oh, because that makes you more innocent," I retorted, "how do you know how to drive anyway?"

"I played a lot of online stimulations back at the Sectors," Hyun mumbled then seemed to remember why he was angry at me, "don't spin this back on me! Do you realise how much trouble you could have been in? Those wastelands are radioactive, what were you thinking?"

"Radioactive? What did the Army do to those people, Hyun?"

"Take a wild guess Tilly," he said.

"I can guess thank you very much. But why did they kill them, tell me what else do you know about all of this," I demanded.

"Like I'm telling you," retorted Hyun, "you need to leave Tilly. Get out of here before they realise you were the one they saw or we're both in trouble!"

"Please Hyun, tell me what else you know!" I begged him. Hyun shook his head with disbelief and slammed the trunk door shut.

"This is your last chance," warned Hyun, "get out of here or I will call security and you'll be arrested." I stubbornly glared at him until I came to realise he was being serious. I had to let this drop, until tomorrow at school of course.

"Fine," I muttered and stormed off back up the ramp.

"Not that way!" yelled Hyun and he pointed at a fire exit door a few feet from us. I stuck my finger up at him, marched towards the door and pulled it open.

I followed the fire exit tunnel until it emerged near the Army Base entrance, out of view from the security guards. Though I really wanted to march up to Dad, who undoubtedly had to know something about wastelands, I instead turned the other way and walked down the driveway back to the tram stop. I would confront him at home.

***

"Hello sweetheart," Mum greeted me as I walked through the front door, "where have you been? You didn't message me."