The Imperfect's Journal: 2

September 6th, 2066

Always assume the worst.

If you hear a rumor or a bit of gossip that sounds too terrible to be true... Just assume that it's true. That's just another lesson I've learned, this year.

For example, if there are rumors in your city that suggest Perfectionists followed a group of fleeing Crutch soldiers back to your base of operations... Assume that it's true. Prepare accordingly. Don't send out six of your soldiers on a small operation and half of your remaining troops on a reconnaissance assignment. Keep them all in your walls so they can fight when the enemy arrives.

Tanks rolled across broken, dust-covered roads while I and the rest of Sting headed away from the city. Gunshots. Screaming. Rockets. Explosions. Over and over these sounds filled my ears. It was overwhelming, but Mateo said we couldn't go back. We'd have been useless, anyway.

I saw two helicopters try to take off, likely carrying citizens destined for Sanctum. Two tanks shot them down. The carnage was impossible to look away from, so I stared through the rear window of the van until all I could see was black smoke and all I could hear was the distant popping of gunfire.

An hour or two later, there was only the sound of a churning motor and tires on a rough road. Lorraine Williams, a soldier roughly my age, is driving us from here to El Paso--about a day's drive. Mateo was in the passenger seat for a while, but he decided he wanted to sleep in the back, so I swapped places with him.

Lorraine and I spoke for a while--softly, so we wouldn't awaken anyone in the back seat. We mostly talked about our lives before the Bill of Perfection (though I lied about mine, since I'm still trying to keep my imperfection as a secret).

Prior to the Bill of Perfection's enactment, Lorraine was a call center employee by day and a driver by night. It was a lot of work, she said, but it supported her and her son, Lawrence. Her son was autistic--an imperfection--and she was unable to protect him when police officers came knocking on her door. After her child was beaten and murdered in front of her, Lorraine was on the verge of taking her own life. She didn't, though, because she heard about an organization that was seeking to rebel against the Perfectionists. She's been with Crutch since June, it turns out. She says her only regret is that she doesn't feel she has yet avenged her son, but she expects to be somewhat satiated after this mission.

After she opened up to me, I felt I needed to be at least a little honest with her, so I told her about Sara. I told her that Sara never escaped Australia, but that I still believed her to be alive. Lorraine called me a romantic, but it didn't feel like a compliment.