The City Of Death

Chapter Six- Macy

It's been three days and I haven't found anything.

The farther away I get from the City, the more wild things get. I can hear the sounds of nature again; birdsong and the calls of small animals are distracting me. Perhaps that's why I haven't covered as much distance as I'd like to have. Just a few hours ago I could have sworn I heard the sound of a river. I thought about following the sound, but I still have enough water for a few more days. I can't afford to get distracted now.

But as the sun falls lower in the sky, I wonder if maybe the river isn't the right way to go. One of the things I remember from my time in the Outside was Atlas bringing me food and water. If I knew where he got them from, I don't remember it. All I remember was the water he brought me was in a strange bottle. A canteen, I think was what he called it. It was made of some material that doesn't exist inside the City.

I never saw where he got the water from, but their camp had to be somewhere near a source of water. Maybe if I follow the river, I can find their camp. But heading in the direction of the river would steer me off course, and I need to keep heading north. That's what I remember. True north. But maybe "true north" doesn't mean what I think it means. I look back, looking south, and realize with a start that I can't see the walls of the City anymore. How many miles have I traveled? How far will my journey take me?

"Huh. I guess he was right, after all." I jump when I hear the voice, only barely managing to bite down my scream. I look around, and about twenty feet from me, I see three people dressed mostly in green standing on a hill. Each of them has random stripes sewn into their clothes. The one on the left only has one yellow stripe around his left thigh. The one in the middle has three pink stripes, one on each bicep and around her right calf. The one on the right, though, is practically covered in stripes of all colors. So many that I can barely see the green of his clothes.

"And you thought he was being paranoid," the woman in the middle says.

"Well, I never thought we'd actually get something to do!" the one on the left says. He was the one who spoke first.

"Seems you need to have a little more trust, Cory," the one on the left says.

"Shut your mouth, Kyran."

"Aw, look at you two, fighting like an old married couple. Oh, wait," the woman says, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Lee?" Cory starts. Kyran, the one covered in stripes, is all smiles as the woman, Lee, begins to laugh. "You shut your mouth."

"Alright, enough!" I exclaim, and all three heads turn to me. "What is going on?"

"Oh, right, you're probably a bit confused. Grumpy one is Cory, the rainbow one over here is Kyran, and my name is Alesia, but everyone calls me Lee. And you," Lee says, pointing at me. "Are heading in the wrong direction."

"What?" I ask, completely shocked. I can't be going the wrong way. True north, that's the way I remember having to go. And these three are obviously Renegades. Nobody in the City, except for Invalids, would wear such colors. They wouldn't wear colors at all, actually. Outside of Invalids, all Citizens wear some shade of gray. So what the hell is going on here?

"I assume you're looking for the Renegades?" Kyran asks, and I nod. "Well, you're going the wrong way. You aren't going to find them if you keep going."

"What? What are you talking about?" I wonder, growing exasperated. Have I really spent three days going in the wrong direction? But if I was going in the wrong direction, then why were these three out here? And more importantly, what direction am I supposed to be going in?

"The camp isn't towards the north. If you want to get there, you actually have to go east. Who told you to head north?" Cory asks.

"Well, I heard some rumors inside the City. Some Citizens were talking. They said something about 'true north'. So when I escaped, I went north," I explain. It's strange how easily the lie slips off my tongue. But stealth is part of my mission. Nobody can know the real nature of my "escape." They can't know that I was actually let out and that I'm trying to bring the Renegades down from the inside. Even if these three figure it out, I can't risk them sending a message somehow and warning Atlas.