“Won’t the Regulators know we aren’t Bea and Karl?” I ask, as I sit down across from him.
“They don’t look at faces, only the bar codes.”
The lights that had been flashing red on the encoder are now bright green. Jagger takes my left wrist, sets the mouth of the encoder against my skin, and squeezes the trigger on the handle. My flesh begins to burn and I’m forced to bite my lower lip to keep from screaming. I feel the thin metal slide under my skin, snaking its way along my wrist. Jagger removes the encoder and motions for Quin to take a seat.
I look down at my wrist as I stand; the flesh is bright red, slowly changing to pink. The bar code is just beneath the epidermis. I wonder how easy it is to pull out.
Bea and Karl hand us their uniforms, which consist of gray twill pants, matching long sleeve tops and black boots. I pull my hair up after running a brush through it. Faber and Cass each fill a sack with food, handing it to us, as we won’t be returning for a few days. Then we leave the apartment with the others. The six of us exit the housing unit and walk straight towards the Regulator’s building in the center of the square. Jagger and Quin take the lead, with Naomi and me in the middle. We line up behind several other groups of workers and walk through the thick barbed wire gate.
The building we enter is comprised of gray cinder blocks stacked two stories high, topped with a once-copper roof. We are directed down a flight of stairs to our left as soon as we walk into the structure. The air smells more and more sour the further down we go. I’m practically choking back bile as we reach the bottom, where I notice several Regulators are wearing air purifier masks over their faces. They scan each worker’s wrist before letting them pass into the ferry terminal behind them.
Jagger is right; they don’t look at my face, but only scan the code and then let me pass when the lights on their reader turn green.
We walk down the damp cement sidewalk and break off to the right after passing five ferry slots. I follow Naomi as she descends a small flight of stairs leading toward a wide metal boat. I nearly fall the moment I step on, due to a slimy film covering much of the floorboards. Faber and Cass head below deck to get the engines started while the rest of us untie the vessel from its moorings. We shove off and join the parade of boats as we make our way out into the canal.
We are seventh in line to go through the locks leading into the lake. As we wait our turn, I watch people walk along the canal’s edge and over the bridges on their way to the factories that have started jettisoning black steam into the air. Every ten feet or so along the bridges and paths stands a Regulator, more today than yesterday. I sense someone is watching me, so I turn my head around to see Jagger staring at me intently. He motions with his head towards a monitor we are about to pass under. I turn my attention back around and observe as Acheron’s emblem blazes across the screen: a large golden hawk, its wings wide open against a dark blue background.
We sail under the bridge and come out the other side to an identical screen, and I watch as the bird vanishes, replaced by large red letters: WAR. As the word spins slowly around on an invisible axis, an announcer comes on over the speakers, his voice harsh and deep.
“Laics of Acheron,” a voice begins, “our fears have come to pass. As your leader, I appeal to you to assist us in our time of need. With the violent attack several days ago, and by the proclamation made by High Ruler Vladim of Tyre our city will soon be at war. We must do whatever it takes to secure the safety and well-being of Acheron and of its people. Supply shipments from the outlying Oases will soon stop, so all food reserves will need to be moved to the city itself; rationing will begin immediately. Each household will be given enough supplies to last them for several months as winter is approaching, and this will cause supply runs from the city to the Boroughs to be slower due to the inclement weather. Be ever ready for the new challenges that are approaching.”
The word dissolves from the screen and is replaced with the emblem. I notice Quin is now standing next to me, resting his hand on top of mine as I grip the side of the boat.
“The quicker we find Kedua the better,” I whisper to him.
The boat turns into the first lock, and the metal gates close behind us as the greenish water is slowly piped out and replaced with clearer liquid. We continue through another set of locks and the same process continues until all of the green water is left behind and we sail out onto the clean clear lake.
We travel slowly for two hours, heading south along the coast before finally coming to a stop about one hundred yards from a large dune. Jagger and Quin secure the boat to an iron supply depot that stands thirty feet high, fastened to the lake floor with large mooring clamps. Faber and Cass come up from below and enter the building. We begin to load steel canisters onto the boat, stacking them ten high below deck. I notice the boat beginning to ride lower in the water due to the weight, but Naomi assures me we will be fine. We’re back underway an hour later, heading north towards Acheron.
A perimeter has been
