"Yes, and this is your cue to beg."
I had to laugh at that. I was the top student in our class so if I wanted to be in the team I'd be in; no questions asked. Taylor was just lucky that his dad would be able to get him on the team too.
"When?" I asked.
"Ten minutes. I'm at your door now."
The screen next to my front door flashed up a shot of Taylor standing in the corridor outside with his phone pressed to his ear. I hung up, checked my towel was securely wrapped around me and pressed my hand to the scanner. The door slid open to reveal possibly the smuggest looking face I'd ever seen.
"I'm getting dressed, keep talking," I said, grabbing some practical clothes and heading into the square meter that I called a bathroom.
My small sofa was quickly filled by Taylor. He was so tall that his legs dangled over the end of it as he sprawled out.
"So, Dad says that the desired plot isn't far from the cable car landing zone on the south side of the city. We'll be helping scout the area which extends about five miles out from The Wall. There'll be fifteen groups, one of which will be led by him." It sounded like he was speaking around a mouthful of food.
"Sounds great." I checked the mirror, grateful that my long, dark hair looked okay since there was no time to do anything else with it.
"You haven't heard the best bit." As I reentered the room he grinned at me over a big bag of snacks that he had pilfered from my lone kitchen cupboard. "The area includes Old World housing which Dad reckons we should be able to get a look at and maybe even go inside."
"Really?" I'd always wanted to see the way people used to live before The Wall. It was so hard to get a proper idea from the films we watched in Old World classes.
My grandmother remembered the Old World but she wasn't supposed to tell the stories about how it all ended. The City Guardians said that it was too dark a time and that we shouldn't dwell on the mistakes of the past but rather strive for a brighter future for the population.
I had only managed to gain small pieces of information from her. She would talk about the lost beauty out there, of a world that's green instead of grey. No amount of pestering would get her to talk about the end of it all and the rise of the walled cities.
Taylor had switched the TV back on in my absence and, as if on cue, our daily dose of Harbour City endorsement flashed up on the screen.
"The world was once our friend," the booming voice of the narrator announced and the screen showed shots of animals running free across fields of grass. The picture changed and raced across a jungle filled with trees as far as the eye could see. Next, it panned a blue expanse of water with fish jumping above the waves.
"We lived in harmony with it," the narrator continued and the shots on screen were barely a second long, ancient buildings, mud huts, villages, towns, cities and people. As the shots continued changing, the population expanded and grew out of control until the faceless crowds stretched out into the distance without end.
"But then we took too much." Ruined land, bombs exploding, armies fighting.
"We tried to change the natural way of things." Scientists working in labs, altering plants and trying desperately to create enough food for the people who swamped the world.
"But the world had had enough." Snapshots of huge plants growing out of control and taking over cities. Terrifying creatures roaming around unchecked. People dying and screaming and running. Finally, and worst of all, were the faces of the contaminated humans. Twisted features broken in snarls of rage, filth-covered and completely lacking in humanity. The contaminated ran rampant through the world, killing without mercy and laying ruin to everything in their path.
The screen faded to black.
"Then, out of the darkness, came hope." Slowly, from a pinpoint in the centre of the screen an image grew. The Wall that surrounded our city came into focus as it towered above the vantage point of the camera. A figure, shrouded in shadow, stepped into view and stood with hands on his hips as the wind whipped dramatically at his hair and coat.
"The Guardians saved us from the devastation of the outside world and protected us from the contamination." The Guardian ushered an old woman carrying a baby towards the safety of The Wall.
"Striving forward together," the narrator finished as the screen brightened until it was blank and white. Slowly, words scrolled across it in blood red script.
"For the good of the population," Taylor and I both read out automatically. I sighed dramatically, as I flicked the TV back off.
"Are you ready then?" Taylor asked, grabbing my hand and throwing the now-empty snack bag in the general direction of the bin. He missed.
We paused for a moment at the door for me to use the retinal scanner to lock up. He towed me down the corridor towards the elevator the second we heard the lock click.
Taylor grinned at me like I was his favourite person in the whole world and I smiled back. It always amazed me that he'd stayed my friend after I was relocated to the fortieth floor. I'd been moved more than a hundred levels lower than him and his family but he never mentioned it. He didn't even seem to have a problem with visiting me. I was ashamed at first but he didn't seem to care at all and I loved him for it.
We moved through the nearly deserted hallways past rows of apartment doors and approached a figure, crouched down and concealed in a shadow beyond a broken light. Something about him sent a shiver running down my spine.
We drew level with the man and he stood up. I gasped at the sight of his dark overalls. He had a tattoo that looked like some kind of twisted knot which ran from the side of his neck and down beneath his collar.
"Didn't mean to scare you," he said with a gravelly voice and a smile that didn't reach his eyes.