“Wait, you mean there are human survivors on land?” Max gawked at us, his jaw dropping and eyes bulging. It was the first time I’d ever seen his smile disappear.
“Max, we don’t have time to explain further, but yes, it’s true. Allie and billions of other people survived the plague and there was never a second Great Plague—we were all lied to.” Dylan restlessly tapped his foot.
Max’s face was so stoic I couldn’t tell whether he thought we were crazy, or if he had suspected something all along. Reaching his right hand up, he tussled his own curly, dark brown hair and squinted one eye. “I don’t know, man. How would I get into the aquatics department? That place is only a few levels away from Zeta clearance.”
Dylan pursed his lips, grabbing Max’s arm and dragging him to the corner of the room next to a big potted plant. The gigantic living room masking their voices so they were barely audible to me.
“Max, I knew you liked Samantha once. For squid’s sake, I know you guys used to date.”
Max’s stare of disbelief was so comical I almost laughed.
“It doesn’t matter now.” Dylan’s eyes grew sad but urgent. “Max, they electrified her. I don’t know if she’s okay. It looked like she was really hurt. The only way to make her suffering worth anything is to get us out of here.”
Even at a distance, I could still see the pain on Max’s face when Dylan mentioned what happened to Samantha. I also saw when his eyes turned from pain to determination.
“What do you need?”
“Come on, most of the workers have gone home for the day, but there’s always the occasional straggler. So keep sharp,” advised Max as he led us through the double doors to the Aquatics Headquarters. He told us he would have to steal his dad’s passcode in order to gain access to the equipment room. There was supposed to be a small utility closet in the back of the room in which there was no surveillance. There we could obtain the dive suits necessary to mask our identities when we passed the few security camera locations.
The entire facility was fairly dark, illuminated only here and there by white lights tinged with blue. We immediately passed by a vacant front desk, taking the passageway branching off to the right. Winding through the dimly lit hall, it opened up to a cavernous area filled with a few scattered desks in the front and a section of cubicle-like office in the back.
“This is the spot where most of the cameras are…so follow my movements precisely,” instructed Max.
Max must have spent a lot of time with his dad in the Aquatics Department because he knew exactly where every hidden camera was. He had us snaking through the room like spies, dashing from one corner to the next to utilize the one small spot the cameras didn’t have in their sights. We continued into the next room, which was filled with a deep pool of water, but many large pieces of equipment in which to hide behind. Sneaking from place to place, we entered yet another hallway with various doors connecting to it. Opening one, he led us down a stairwell and through the door at the bottom. Eventually, we made it to the utility closet, which was pretty big for a closet if you ask me.
“Okay, each of you needs to put on a drysuit. I know the perfect place for you all to hide. There’s a training room with no external observations. They have a camera system, but it’s for the Aquatic Department’s eyes only. According to my dad, everyone here has recently gone through training so there’s no need for them to do it again for at least a week or more. You’ll be safe down there. Even Mayor Aldridge’s reach doesn’t go down that far.”
“Why is that?” I wondered, finding a drysuit in my size.
“It’s because this is the Maintenance Department. Everyone who works here holds the lives of every citizen in their hands. They want the best of the best, no one with political ties or influence is allowed. Nobody is allowed to have any outside agendas—their one and only focus has to be to keep the people of Oceania safe.” Max shrugged. “At least that’s what my dad always says.”
“Oh, I see,” I responded, trying to figure out how I was supposed to stretch the drysuit over my Oceania clothes.
“You guys stay here. For us to get into the training room I need to get my dad’s access code.” Max flashed a white smile that contrasted to his slightly dark skin. “Be back in a flash. Wish me luck.”
He disappeared before anyone could do so and we were all stuck waiting in the room while we changed. I started to regret not choosing a larger size drysuit to put on over my clothes. I should have realized the drysuit wasn’t like the SCUBAPS and wouldn’t expand or contract to size. Oh well, lesson learned.
Sitting on the ground, we waited in silence. Our lives depending on one person, who may or may not be able to steal the code. I hung my head and thought of Gran. Surely, it was nighttime now. I was supposed to be back by sundown each day. Today, I would be late…if I made it at all.
