The underground is silent when we get back. The other girls are already in the training sector, probably doing more drills while Lauren and I are immediately sent to dress for another mission.
Target 106. Cayden. He was confirmed to be at another meeting, and of course we’re being sent to observe. For the amount of work we’re going through, he better be someone important.
“Normal mission attire, though wear the old training leggings,” the Overseer orders, excusing us from the office. Lauren and I immediately make our way to the assigned bunk room, changing from our bloodied clothes into a clean, long-sleeved shirt and leggings. Moving my sheath around my thigh, I make sure the straps are tight before letting my hair down for the first time today.
The Overseer ordered us to look ‘casual’, and I’m sure that having your hair down is casual to the normal world. Or at least from what I’ve seen, it is.
“Do you know where we are going?” Lauren asks, her voice shaking slightly.
I don’t respond. There were seventeen total hostiles, not including the target in the warehouse today, and Lauren didn’t kill one. She put us both in danger today. And I know if I respond right now, I’ll only say something that ends up hurting us both.
The thing is Lauren is great with a weapon. She’s never missed the target in practice, and she’s deadly with a knife. But, instead of sucking it up and doing the job the rest of us do to survive, she wallows in self-pity. No one is coming to save us. We all know it, yet Lauren clings to some miraculous hope that somebody will. Not that we need saving; The Academy saved us.
Every night I watch her write in her journal about The Academy without a clue what’s being said. But I don’t even have to see the diary to know Lauren is whining about the treatment.
One day, Lauren will realise only she can save herself. My biggest fear is she will realise too late, and The Academy will be rid of her before then. I’m doing everything I can to stop that from happening because despite our issues, Lauren is still like a sister to me.
I don’t want to ever watch her get hurt, but no matter how many times I’ve begged Lauren to get better, to just pretend to understand and want to be here, she doesn’t. I think part of me envies how naïve she is. I wish I could rely on others to get by.
Lauren will never be like me and Bella, and it’s going to be what gets her killed.
“Get dressed,” I order coldly. Lauren flinches at my tone, but I don’t have it in me to feel bad, not when she almost got us killed today.
“I’ll meet you by the office.” I don’t look up at Lauren as I leave the room, letting her stew in her own thoughts.
By the time Lauren stands by me and the Commander, we’re already in the elevator waiting to go to the surface. The metal clanks as we ride up just in time to see the sun setting, the sky a mix of pink and orange in the clouds, like a painting from the past.
There are no paintings anymore.
“It’s a known black market. Your role is to make sure nothing regarding The Academy is being sold, and to observe the target.” Commander Wolvrin sits in the back of the SUV, facing Lauren as we go towards Zone Three.
If any of the other zones had a black market, we would shut it down instantly. But Zone Three has more leniency; as long as the market doesn’t involve anything that is a direct threat to the citizens or The Academy, we allow them to stay.
When we arrive, Lauren and I step out of the SUV, immediately walking towards the old subway station at the edge of the zone. Although the trains stopped many years before the government took over, the subways in Zone Three were never destroyed since the New Order trusts the workers in Zone Three.
The windows are broken on the outside, the steps leading down to the underground are crumbling. But once we get down to the station, or at least what used to be the station, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
A string of lights hangs across from one stall to the next, lighting up the room. Wooden boards and planks cover what used to be train tracks, with market stalls on top of them in rows. There are four rows in total, with shops on the left and right side of each row. The old tiles are cracked and broken, yet it looks so alive. I’m sure Bella would know the proper word, but it looks like a painting. A design made on purpose.
Everyone is talking freely, it’s not packed with guards in uniform. In fact, the two guards I do spot are in plain clothes. Elites are also amongst the plain clothes; it’s the citizens who are in the standard dark grey jumpsuits.
If it weren’t illegal, I would almost enjoy being here. But it is, and I’m here on a mission.
Taking the final steps, I walk down to the ground level and up to the first stall, occupied by an elderly woman. Her back is hunched over and she has a thick blanket over her shoulders as she mutters to herself in a language I’ve never heard before.
Her grey hair is matted at the ends, and I feel my heart stop for just a moment. And for just a moment, I feel for her. “Oh hello, sugar,” the woman says in a kind voice.
“I haven’t seen your face around here before. New to the area?” I offer her the warmest smile I can muster, and nod.
“Well welcome, sugar. My name is Camilla. We don’t have a lot here, but what we do have, we trade. If you see anything you like, just let me know, won’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”
Going back to her incoherent mumbling, Camilla grabs two needles and some sort of fluffy string, wrapping it around the needles and moving them. I watch dumbfounded for a moment before snapping out of it. What the hell was that?
“Evening, Cami. I’ll grab two of these, please,” a familiar voice calls from behind me, holding up two items of trash, or at least what looks like trash. I turn to see Cayden standing behind me dressed in a black hoodie and dark blue jeans, his voice much softer than the first time I heard it.
“Well hello, how are things, love?” Camilla greets kindly, and Cayden…smiles at her?
