Z 2134

“Can you get Adam out of The City? Can we bring him to the Village?”
    “We’ll see,” Duncan said. “It was tough enough getting Chelle out. Everyone in The Underground is scared right now, and nobody’s sure who to trust. The Watchers have picked up a few of our people and are looking to find who’s in charge.”
    Ana wanted to ask who was in charge, but didn’t want any information the Watchers could torture her for. Instead, she asked another question, though hesitant to do so. “What’s gonna happen to Liam when we get there? Do they know what he did? Will they let him in?”
    “We’re going to jail him,” Duncan said. “Then try him as a traitor.”
    A chill ran through Ana. “But he was protecting his girlfriend and baby!” She surprised herself by defending Liam.
    Duncan turned abruptly, his eyes locked onto Ana’s. “We all lost people for The Underground. Every one of us. The Underground is more than a single person, or even one family. It’s an entire society. Generations are dependent on our rebels being able to commit to the cause. Betray The Underground, and you put everyone at risk. Everyone .”
    Duncan turned and started to again walk the catacombs. Ana followed, with Liam now taking up the rear, all three renewing their earlier vows of silence. Liam then stepped forward and turned to Ana, his eyes soft. “I’m sorry,” he said.
    His apology seemed so heartfelt and honest it practically quivered, cutting through her anger like a hot knife.
    “It’s OK,” Ana said, though she hadn’t fully forgiven him and still had too many questions to make his “sorry” mean as much as he probably wanted.
    But her questions could wait. She didn’t want to ask them, especially not in front of Duncan.
    They kept walking for what felt like like hours, now navigating the old train tunnels, turning from one darkened passageway into another until they finally arrived at a large metal gate. Through the thin bars, Ana saw steps leading up to the world above — the Village!
    Ana slowly approached the steps, thinking of everything she’d been through in the last month — her mother’s murder, her father’s sudden arrest, her testimony, his ejection from The City, their home being taken from them and the look on Adam’s face as his books were taken by the Watchers, her father in The Games, the church massacre, and choosing to kill Charlotte instead of Liam.
    It was all too much.
    A new orb suddenly descended from the darkness above, hovering in front of the gate, watching as they approached.
    The hunter orb’s energy cannon crackled with blue light, ready to vaporize any enemy. Ana stepped back, nervous, certain they’d been caught, though neither Liam nor Duncan seemed in the least bit fazed.
    Duncan walked right up to the orb, then stared into the monitor and said, “Harbor 1228.”
    The orb acknowledged Duncan with a blip, then moved aside. Its blue cannon fizzled to dark. Ana sighed, fully relieved as Duncan pulled a key from his coat and unlocked the gate. “Welcome to West Village,” he said, ushering them through the swinging metal fence, then locking it behind them after they’d stepped to the other side.
    As they walked toward the steps, Ana noticed thick plumes of dark smoke spiraling into the sky.
    What the…?
    Duncan and Liam exchanged horrified looks, then raced ahead together, Duncan drawing a pistol from the depths of his coat.
    Before them was a large wooden wall, its gates wide open. Beyond the gates, the Village streets were littered with bloodied and burned corpses. The buildings had been reduced to smoldering, charred remains, some still on fire.
    It looked as if someone had opened the gates of hell and set forth murderous, flaming beasts that killed everything in their path, leaving nothing behind but death and destruction.
    Ana’s mouth hung agape as she struggled to hold back the tears.
    As Ana drew closer to the open gates, she saw the familiar “CW” logo of City Watch painted in what looked like blood on the right gate.
    “Oh God, it’s gone,” Duncan said in a whisper. “It’s all gone.”
    Liam cried out, racing through the gate and into the Village.
    “Chelle!” he screamed out. “Chelle!”
    Liam froze in his tracks as he looked up and screamed.
    Jutting from the ground were two dozen wooden spikes, standing roughly 20 feet high.
    And on each of them a head.
    Liam stood in front of one, a woman with dark hair hanging over her bloodied, puffy