2. Emery
Emery jogged up to her front door, "I'm coming! Hold on!" she called to whoever was pounding on the door. She had an idea who it was, and her suspicions were confirmed when she swung it open and was met by three military-type men in full uniform and a tall man in a suit.
"How can I help you, officers?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
The man in the suit stepped forward, "Ms. Whitehill, we would like you to come with us for questioning."
Two other guards stepped forward, into her home, and restrained her hand behind her back. She didn't fight them when they put the cuffs on her hands, and led her to their vehicle. This was her Saturday morning routine.
They drove in silence, until they reached a compound, set up beside the Sector. When they took her out of the car, she didn't hear anything. The Sector, that was always loud and full of life, was always so quiet now. Like no Atrians actually lived there anymore. Which could be true, and no one would even know. Nobody knew what happened in the Sector, not since the Suvek.
They led her into the compound, into the interrogation suit, where a government official waited for her. It was the same man every time, tall and burly, but he never told her his name.
She sat in the chair, and the guards uncuffed her and left, locking the door behind them. She rubbed her wrists, "No. I have not had any contact with anyone from the Atrian Sector since the Suvek detonated and you put them on permanent lockdown," Emery sighed, exasperated.
The government official sitting across from her looked unimpressed with her. He always did.
"You come to my home, sweep me away and ask me the same questions every week. Why do you expect me to suddenly change my answers," she narrowed her eyes at him, coming to realization, "Unless you're worried that the lockdown isn't as tight as you thought it was and Atrians are disappearing?"
His expression remained the same, "I beg your pardon Ms. Whitehill, but you are at the top of our list of Atrian sympathizers. As long as you remain there we will continue to have these checkups, until you've convinced us that you are not a danger to this town or country. And may I note, you are doing a terrible job."
Emery sighed, "I have not seen or heard from anyone with any relation to-"
"Were you aware that guards have caught an Atrian extremist by the name of Roman, and his accomplice Drake, attempting to sneak out of the Sector on multiple attempts over the last three months?"
Emery stopped dead.
Giving her head a sharp shake she looked him in the eyes and replied, "No."
The man tapped the screen in the middle of the table, bringing up security footage. He pressed play and Emery saw Roman, clear as day, and Drake, weaving through the Sector block, hiding in the shadows, until they reached a sewage drain. As soon as they reached down to pull the cover off of the drain, a series of green dots lined up on each of their backs. Slowly, they turned around, met by a dozen guards with temblor guns trained on them. They raised their hands in surrender, and were cuffed. They didn't put up a fight. Emery realized they looked older, weaker; like they hadn't had any water lately.
The screen blacked out and she looked up at the man across the table from her. She said nothing.
"As you can see Ms. Whitehill, these Atrians are trying to escape, breaking strict rules. They're lucky we haven't shipped them off to the Crate, or worse."
Emery forced back tears, "They aren't trying to hurt anyone! They just want to be free, to live! We're they're friends. You can't keep them away from us forever, it's cruel."
"You all said goodbye to freedom when we found you in the building after the shockwave that nearly killed everyone at your Mardis Gras celebration. After not reporting what ou knew to the authorities as soon as you learned of the device."
With that he stood up, "I'll see you again next week, Ms. Whitehill." And he left her, alone, in the interrogation room.
Emery sat in the back corner of the coffee shop, waiting for her friends. It wasn't the same as the Bug, which had been destroyed after the shockwave blast, but it was an unpopular destination for anybody who would eavesdrop on their conversations.
Julia was the first to arrive, Eric in tow. Neither had changed much in the months since the blast. Julia seemed distant at times, like she was zoned into another world or something, but she'd pop back in as concerned and involved as ever. Both had been blacklisted as Atrian sympathizers.
Soon after sitting down with their coffee, Taylor walked in. She'd changed the most. The previous Queen B fashionista was dressed in sweats with her hair tied up in a messy bun. After losing her baby in a car accident and not being able to see Drake, she'd struggled to bounce back into her daily life. Especially when it got out that she'd been carrying an Atrian baby and she was placed just below Emery on the Blacklist.
"Decaf vanilla chai latte, right here," Emery held out a cup to Taylor.
"Thanks Em, you know me well," Taylor gave her a warm smile.
Julia studied Emery's face, "What's wrong Em? You look like you're going to cry."
Emery did a sweep of the room to make sure no one could hear her, "I was taken in for my weekly interrogation today. And I got some… news."
"News about what?" Taylor asked.
"About… Inside the sector."
Taylor squeezed her cup, tears welling in her eyes.
"Apparently, the guards have caught… certain Atrians… Trying to sneak out of the Sector."
"Who? Who's trying to sneak out, Emery?" Taylor leaned forward and grabbed her hand.
"Roman. And Drake."
Taylor let her hand fall to her stomach, and the tears came back to her eyes. She closed them and breathed slowly.
"Oh, Em…" Julia leaned over and hugged her best friend. Emery tried to hold back her tears. Tried to be strong for the group. A silent sob racked her body.
Eric piped in, "Not meaning to sound rude or anything, but why is it sad? That's good isn't it? They're trying to get out."
Taylor wiped her eyes, "It's good but if the guards are catching them, that's bad. If they don't stop they could…" she trailed off.
"They could be labeled as Trags trying to escape. And if the rumors are true, they might not end up in the Crate as punishment…"
The door jingled as Grayson walked in and sat in the empty seat, "Sorry I'm late guys, but I think I solved our getting off the grid problem… What'd I miss?"
Eric leaned over and quietly filled him in. He cursed under his breath.
Emery straightened herself and looked to Grayson, "You said you solved our problem?"
"Right. Well not necessarily ours, but definitely yours and Taylor's. I found a cabin up in the bayou, around where you mentioned Eljida is said to be. It'd be perfect to keep you guys away from the officials and the blacklist. I can pull some strings if you're interested."
"Could we get away with that? Since we're on the list. Don't they have to know where we are to interrogate us regularly?" Taylor scoffed.
Julia piped in, cheerfully, "I actually looked into that one." She pulled out her tablet and brought up a government website, "To summarize, they don't have a court order saying you are a witness or a felon or on trial or anything, nothing saying you have to stay in the state or country or anything. You could up and leave at any time. Both of you."
Emery smiled, "So we can get out?"
"You're both eighteen. You can do whatever the Hell you want," Julia smiled.
Taylor stood up, "Well. We might as well see what kind of hole we'll be hiding away in until we find a way to fix everything. Save the world and all that jazz."
They parked Grayson's jeep just off the road, concealing it in vines and brush, just in case anyone followed them into the bayou.
The group walked through the trees, following Grayson to the safe house. He slowed for a second, pulled a bottle out of his pocket and popped a pill in his mouth. Emery frowned. When he did that, it meant he was in pain. While he'd survived Zoe's gunshot to his chest, he still felt pain when he exercised too much. She'd tried to talk about it with him, but he'd always change the subject.
"It's just up ahead," he called back to them.
Emery slowed down, waiting for Taylor to catch up to them. They fell into stride.
"I hope we don't get eaten by alligators or something. I'd hate to survive an Atrian shock wave blaster only to be brought down by a gator," Taylor sighed.
Emery wrapped an arm around her, "It's gonna be okay Taylor. We'll find a way to get them out. They're still safe."
Taylor nodded and looked ahead.
Grayson, Julia and Eric were standing in a clearing by the swamp. A small wooden cabin stood at the edge. "Welcome to the Safe House," Grayson called to them. The two girls jogged to the group in the clearing.
"Wow. This is pretty cool," Emery commented.
"I got a friend to set it up inside. Food, necessities, tech, the whole thing. And it's all encrypted too, so nobody can track your activity," Grayson went on. He showed them around the cabin. Both Taylor and Emery had a bag of their things from home. They'd kept one in everyone's car in case of emergency.
The group got Emery and Taylor settled in, and stayed around until twilight. Then, they said their goodbyes, promising to return tomorrow.
Once they were gone, Emery turned to Taylor, "Come on. We've got to get moving before it's too dark to find our way out."
Taylor looked at her, confused, "Em, hey, what are you taking about?"
After ruffling through her bag for a minute, Emery pulled out some clothes and paper. She explained to Taylor, "Atrian uniforms. I swiped them from the Compound this morning after my interrogation. These," she held up the papers, "Are temporary tattoos. We just need to rub them on."
Taylor grabbed them from Emery, "These look like- Why are we dressing like Atrians?"
Emery held out a uniform to her, "We're going to break into the Sector."
