“Your dad," I interrupted as my excitement spilled over. If there was one thing in the world that could break my sour mood today, it was this. The thing I’d been dreaming about since I’d even learned there was anything beyond this fortress of a city which contained us.
“Yes, and this is your cue to beg."
I barked a laugh. 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, adrenaline rushing through my blood.
“Ten minutes. I'm at your door now."
The screen next to my front door flashed a shot of Taylor standing in the corridor outside with his phone pressed to his ear and I grinned. I hung up, checked my towel was securely wrapped around me so he wouldn’t get any free tit flashes, then pressed my hand to the scanner. The door slid open to reveal possibly the smuggest looking face I'd ever seen. Taylor was taller than me by over a foot and his floppy brown hair hung into his grey eyes like always. He had the kind of face that people just liked. He could make you smile as easily as breathing. Or maybe that was just me. Whatever way, he was my favourite person in the entire world.
“I'm getting dressed, keep talking!" I demanded, 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’d pilfered from my lone kitchen cupboard. He’d grown about a foot in the last year and I swear that was entirely due to the stolen food he scoffed when he came to visit me. "The area includes old world housing and Dad reckons we should be able to get a look at it and maybe even go inside."
“Really?" I gasped. 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 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. But maybe I wanted to dwell on dark times and lean into my morbid fascination with how the world had ended. Maybe I liked learning about the wild spread of the contamination and the rabid animals which had been born of it. Wasn’t everyone in this place sick and tired of hearing about the future? The future seemed pretty black and white to me. More houses, more people, less space. But the past? That was one colourful bitch I wanted to get to know.
I’d only managed to gain small pieces of information from my grandma over the years. She would talk about the lost beauty out there, of a world that was 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 though. Sometimes I wished I could crawl into her head and get a good look at all the memories she had stashed there. She was one of the few people left who knew what it was like to live beyond The Wall. And that made me envy her in the weirdest of ways.
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 the camera swept across a jungle filled with trees as far as the eye could see. Next, it panned over a blue expanse of water with fish jumping above the waves.
"We lived in harmony with it," the narrator continued and the shots onscreen 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. My heart pounded wildly at the sight of it all. The pure chaos of it. I kn
ew it looked bad, it even frightened me on a wholly primal level. But it also set my instincts alight and filled me with an energy so pure I wished I could dive into that crazed world just for a moment.
The screen faded to black and I blew out a breath as I waited for the boring bit to roll.
"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 trash can. He missed and I scowled.
“You know, if you’re gonna steal my food you could at least work on your aim.” I raised an eyebrow at him and he smirked as we headed out the door.
“But then what would you have to do all day if you didn’t have my mess to clean up?” he taunted.
“I could teach you to throw.” I danced past him with a mocking grin, pausing at the door to use the retinal scanner to lock up. The second the lock clicked, he towed me down the corridor towards the elevator.