I chuckled. ‘No. Would take me a few days without clear blue to die.’ Still, who knew how long I would be there. I needed to stock upnow.
She relaxed, stepping back a little.‘Kit looksunwell.’
Yeah, I probably looked like total panicked shit. ‘I’m okay. Just nervous about the situation,’ Iexplained.
She nodded. ‘Dawn will take Kit to clear blue, and tiny colored food packetroom.’
I frowned. What was this place she spoke of? It almost sounded like a grocery store, but I knew that wasn’t possiblethere.
I stood, changed into my now-dry jumpsuit, and placed my weapons into their holsters. I had one samurai sword, one gun, and one knife. Oh, and my amazing hat. That wasit.
I looked up at my pink-feathered friend. I had Dawntoo.
Mounting Dawn’s back, I held on as she quickly took to the skies. Resting my chest on her back, I kept my head low so the wind wouldn’t cut into me too much. We must’ve flown for almost an hour when she began to slow her pace. The sky above me was green and black, back to the way it was before, and I could see a giant off in the distance, far enough away that we were okay, but close enough to be nervousabout.
Looking directly down I noticed a building, a brand-new brick building with steel roll-up doors similar to a loading dock at a grocerystore.
‘What is this place?’It was new, that was forsure.
‘Humans meet sentries here. Meeting place,’she said, and my entire body broke out inchills.
Meeting place? Is this where the government made a deal with the sentries?My conversation with Kevin drifted back tome.
‘How often do they meet?’I askedher.
Dawn was quiet for some time as she descended to the surface. There was a sentry at the entrance of the roll-up door, but we were landing behind the building, and Dawn’s wings were quieter than air. He didn’t see or hear us, thankGod.
Did I have the energy to fight a sentry right then? I swallowed hard, my tongue big and dry in my mouth. I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be there, so I needed to stock up on supplies if possible. Might as well fight the sentry while I had the energy, because the longer I went without food or water, the weaker I wouldget.
‘Our government has made a deal with the ghouls. They let some humans live, and we get the green stuff,’I toldDawn.
Dawn nodded as her talons landed softly on the ground. ‘Dawn has seen breeders open the worlds and transport green food toearth.’
My eyes widened.‘When?’Open the worlds? She actually said open theworlds….
‘Roger saw it first. Showed Dawn. Happens every mooncycle.’
Holy shit. So it was true. The government was totally selling us for fuel.Monthly.
‘The females open the worlds?’ I askedher.
Dawn nodded.‘Use powers to open hole between worlds. Dawn saw Earth. Earth is beautiful. Lots of the clearblue.’
What the hell?The breeders must’ve opened it near an ocean, or a lake if she saw the big clear blue. My mind wasreeling.
‘Why don’t the breeders invade Earth? Go through the opening?’I was transfixed by the conversation. I was always under the impression that Dawn was withholding things from me and couldn’t tell me much, but now it was like she’d been given permission to fullyunload.
‘Because they would die. Something on Earth hurts them. I don’t know what,’she statedplainly.
Weird. Very, very freaking weird. Andamazing.
I eyed the back of the building and saw a single entrance, but it had a keycode padlock. ‘So the clear blue is inside the building? You’re sure?’I askedher.
Talking about water was making me so damn thirsty. Dawn nodded.‘When metal doors are rolled up, you can seeit.’
Okay. I trusted her.‘All right, I’m going to shoot the padlock. That’s going to alert the sentry. I’ll run inside to grab the water and food, while you hold off the sentry with your fire. Then I’ll jump on your back and we fly away.Cool?’
Dawn nodded.‘Cool.’
