3) The Wrong Side of the River
It was like Daniel didn’t exist. No one else in the City seemed upset or even aware that the world had just ended. They were all bent over their phones, smiling at some message or listening to music, blissfully ignoring the name that had just been wiped off the Grid forever.
Violet kept running until she reached the hill that led to her neighborhood. A thought had occurred to her. In some cases, the Council Head could pardon transgressors. If she could reach her father before Daniel left the City walls, she might be able to save him.
“Dad!” Violet yelled as she wrenched her front door open. The smell of cooking wafted through the hallway to meet her. She stopped short. Her parents never cooked.
“Dad?” she tried again, but still there was no answer. She walked tentatively into the kitchen. Her mother was standing over a large pot of something, her usually sleek hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head.
“Where’s Dad?” Violet asked. Her mother looked up like she’d only just noticed Violet standing there.
“Oh, hi sweetie. How was your day?”
Violet folded her arms and glared. “I need to talk to Dad,” she said, “Now.”
Something broke inside Leona’s eyes. She swooped across the kitchen and caught Violet in a tight hug.
“Mom,” Violet said, not moving, “Where’s Dad. This is urgent.”
Her mother pulled back and surveyed her, a sad smile playing across her face.
“He’s still at the office, dear,” she said, “He has to make a speech.”
Violet stalked out of the room with a snort of frustration. It would take her another half hour to walk to her father’s office from here.
“Violet!” her mother called. Violet ignored her. She stormed down the hallway and pulled the front door open. The flickering orange light of a street lamp cast a harsh shadow over her stoop. Someone was standing on the bottom step, leaning against the low brick wall. Someone tall and dressed all in black.
The guard looked up at her in the doorway and gave her a cold smile. Violet recognized him instantly. He was the same guard who had been outside Daniel’s building.
“What, so now you’re following me?” She spat. The guard’s face was impassive.
“I wanted to see to it that you got home safely,” he said.
“I did. So you can go now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” the guard said with another false smile.
“And why is that?”
Someone put a hand on her shoulder from behind, and Violet spun around to see her mother standing in the hallway.
“Good evening, ma’am,” the guard nodded. Leona smiled back.
“Come back inside, honey,” she said, tugging at Violet’s arm. The guard leaned back against the wall and picked at a fingernail.
“You should listen to your mother, Miss Ward,” he said, “She knows what’s best."
Violet shook her head. This was all so ridiculous. If they were trying to imprison her here, they could at least be honest about it.
YOU ARE READING
The Exiles
AdventureA hundred years after a disastrous war destroyed the entire world, only one city has survived under the iron fist of its leader, Russell Ward. His plan has always been simple: to remove anyone who threatens his power and exile them to the wasteland...
