~5 years later~

"Your mom told you that story again?'"

Linnet, or Linny, as she liked to be called now, paused, hearing the voice. She looked up at the source from the cow she was milking, craning her neck to find the boy who had said these words.

It was early morning in D10, a time where most workers in the Milking Plant would rather be in bed. Needless to say, Linny wasn't in a mood to be talked to right now.

"Over here, darling."

She whipped her head around to face the milking station opposite to her, which was big enough to hold an Ayrshire cow and a boy.

The boy in question was of stocky build, and two heads higher than Linny, his black hair sticking up in all directions. To anybody in District 10, he would have just looked like an ordinary boy. But to Linny, he meant something else. Her best friend.

She sighed at Busan, running fingers through her dull brown curls. "Yeah. She does it automatically nowadays. I don't see why. I mean-"

"She's going cuckoo," Busan interrupted, adjusting the humungous black glasses on his face. "They're gonna take you to the community home any day now, deeming her to be unfit."

"Quite the optimist today, aren't you?" Linny snapped, returning to her work of wringing udders.

"No, no! I-I didn't mean to...I was just being realistic, is all. You've got to see the signs."

Linny turned slowly to him, her face wide with both curiosity and anger. "What signs?"

"GET BACK TO WORK, 42546 and 42551!" The overseer's loud voice boomed over the entire plant over the loudspeakers, referring to Linnet and Busan by employee numbers.

The pair hastily returned to the job of milking cattle, pressing a buzzer every time a bucket was full and a cow was done, signaling the plant to know to bring more cattle in.

It was a quiet job- until ten minutes later.

Busan turned to Linnet once more. "It's not safe to talk here. You and me, when shift ends."

Five hours later, Linny stood up, putting her shift card in and out as she looked around for Busan leaving as well. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Must have banked into his vacation card a little," Linnet said to herself, shrugging as she went outside. But still, she felt uneasy somehow.

"Linnet?"

She turned to face a skinny boy her age, one with brown, unkempt hair and light, cyan eyes like hers. One of Busan's friends. What was his name? Darix? Dimer?

She glanced towards his employee badge, which read DALTON DERN. EMPLOYEE 42531. That was easy enough.

"Yes?" She asked nervously.

"Did you see Busan?" He asked. "When he left? He usually gives me something when he leaves."

"Like what?"

"Never you mind," Dalton snapped back, his narrow face flushed. "Did you see him, though?"

"Yeah, I did before," Linny grinned, happy that she had touched a nerve. "He went to a different station after three hours of the shift."

"Can you track him down with me?" Dalton asked. "It's kind of important."

"Fine. But first..."

Linnet grinned evilly as she held out the pause. "You have to tell me what he gives you."

Dalton rolled his eyes. "Girls...Fine. He gives me a cigarette."

"Thought those were illegal?" I asked, cocking my head slightly.

He snickered. "Wow. Just wow. Wake up, girl. You're thirteen. You should know by now that there's more to life than the public market. Now, let's go. We're starting to attract attention. Let's start in the center and work our way from there."

With that, we broke into a run, heading for the Square.

And that's when we heard the scream.