The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  Travis grabbed Poly’s and Julie’s hands. “Come on,” he said, pulling them down the street and making a left turn.

  Poly glanced back at the men on the ground, still holding themselves as she rounded the corner. “I could have taken care of myself, you know.”

  “I know, but they’d all be dead if you did it,” Travis said. “It’s very hard to kill anyone and get away with it anymore.”

  Before Poly could ask him what he meant, he stopped and walked to a door marked 632. He placed his hand on the door and it slid open. Poly followed him in. Behind the door was a small landing before a staircase going up. They followed Travis to the top of the stairs where there was another door. He placed his hand on it and it opened.

  Poly stood at the door, looking over the furnished apartment. Nothing like their apartment back in the city, this one was decorated with cloth couches, dingy looking shag carpet, and thick drapery covering the one window. The kitchen was about the same size as the city one, but this one was stained with grease marks above the stove, and had finish peeling off the cabinet doors.

  She stepped in with Julie and closed the door.

  “Bathrooms back here,” Travis said, pointing to a door next to the kitchen. “Sorry, only one bedroom, so you’ll have to share. Oh and the TV is on the wall, you can use your Pana to operate it.”

  Poly let out a long breath. She felt like she could relax a little bit with doors behind her, those guys and Max in the distance. She felt the soft fabric on the back of the couch. She could sleep on it if needed.

  Julie inspected the drapes.

  “Don’t stand around the windows,” Travis warned. “This place isn’t used much and we don’t want anyone looking at it twice.”

  Poly pulled the cloak off and let it fall on the couch. “What are we supposed to do now?”

  Travis paced and looked at Poly. “I’ll figure out something, but in the meantime, you two need to stay in here. Max will have this city on lockdown soon.”

  “Get us out on one of those ships,” Julie said.

  “It’s not so simple. Everything is weighed, categorized. They would notice two girls, especially when they’re looking for you.”

  Great, trapped in a dingy apartment. “Its fine, we can hang here for the time being,” Poly said.

  Travis stared at her. “Good. I’ll be back in a day or two.” He walked toward her and gathered her in a tight hug. He inhaled deeply, smelling the nape of her neck. “Be safe,” he exhaled in her ear, pulling back to look at her with worried eyes.

  She didn’t know what to think. It felt nice to feel his concern. Her mouth parted to say they would be safe, and he took that as an invitation to move in for a kiss.

  Their lips pressed together. Poly’s arms dropped to her sides in astonishment, but she didn’t pull away. He moved his hands up to the back of her neck, pulling her in as he swiped his tongue along her lips, looking for entrance.

  Julie cleared her throat. “So. . . .”

  He pulled back at the interruption, looked Poly up and down, like he wanted to consume her, and then turned to leave.

  Hearing the door click, Poly sighed and plopped herself on the couch. Bits of dust stirred around her and the smell of an old person wafted up from the couch.

  Julie gaped, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

  Poly turned to her. “What? It’s not like I went in for it. It shocked the crap out of me, too. But, I have to say . . . I think my job is complete. He’s definitely hooked now,” she tried to look serious, but failed and busted into giggles.

  Julie joined in and laughed as she shook her head, staring at Poly. She then walked around the apartment, inspecting it and frowning, as if everything was wrong. “I think we’re in the ghetto,” she said, peeking through the drapes.

  “You think?” Poly said and laughed. “What gave it away? The urine smell, the drunken men, boarded-up windows, trash in the street—”

  “I don’t need that, not from you,” Julie said and stepped back from the window, holding her hand over her face.

  Poly felt like Julie punched her in the stomach. Seeing her upset made her feel terrible. She stood from the couch and walked closer to Julie.

  Julie lowered her hand. “I’m not some warrior woman like you. I don’t have knives hidden in my butt crack. If you or Travis weren’t around, what do you think would have happened back there with those guys? What would have happened a hundred times since we left Preston?”

  Fear hadn’t entered Poly’s mind much when the men stopped to bother them. All Poly thought about was slice points and how she could get the cloak off. “Who’s the warrior that saved us back in the box seats? Besides, you’ll always have me.”

  “Lucas said that, and now look. We’re separated. We’re all separated. You and I are stuck up in some crappy apartment, in some foreign world, with a maniac trying to kill us, and our only real chance of survival is to trust some four-hundred-year-old man who has the need to stick his tongue down your throat. Lucas and Hank are out with Harris, doing who knows what. And Samantha and Joey are prisoners, having their life drained from them to save a man whom this whole world bows to.”

  Poly never felt as if she was good at comforting people. She wished Samantha was there. She would know exactly the right thing to say. “Maybe you can find out what they’re up to on your device.” Poly pointed at Julie’s hip.

  Julie pulled off her cloak and flung it to the floor. Her hair frizzed and stuck out, making her concentrating face all the funnier as she poured over the digital screen. Poly held back any hint of a smile.

  “I don’t see anything on the news wire.”

  “Well, that’s good.”

  Julie plopped on the couch. Poly went to the window and pulled back the white curtain an inch, revealing a sliver of the street below.

  “Harris,” Julie said looking at her Panavice. “He just sent me a message. ‘Max is with the MM troops.’” She let out a chuckle.

  “No kidding,” Poly said and sat next to Julie on the couch. She picked up the remote off the end table and pressed the power symbol. The wall in front of the couch illuminated into a TV. “Uh oh.”

  Julie looked up from her Panavice. “Is that you?”

  Poly’s face displayed on the screen, a picture from the Capital’s museum escape. A reporter on the screen looked into the camera. “These people are extremely dangerous and are at large in Sanct. If you have any information regarding their location, please contact your nearest MM guard. We will leave their pictures up as we continue our coverage of Dead Day.”

  The camera changed to a street view of cheering people dressed in costumes, before panning in on the reporter’s face. The smiling reporter tried to talk, but the people around her clambered around the camera. At the bottom right of the screen, two pictures were displayed. One with Julie’s picture and the other was Poly.

  “Sorry, I’m getting camera bombed here,” the street reporter getting mobbed said.

  The camera switched back to the anchorman behind the desk. “Damn you, people. Can’t we get one street shot?” His face was red with anger. Then, his eyes lit up as he looked away from the camera. “Is that right? Are they for real?”

  The anchorman looked shocked and stared into the camera. “Well, here is some motivation to find those terrorists, MM just announced a ten million dollar reward for info leading to their capture. Ten million!” He spun in his chair with a big smile.

  “If you are watching, terrorists, you can contact me directly.” The anchorman winked as a link popped up on the bottom of the screen. “I will personally help you turn yourselves in.”

  Julie leaned forward and hid her face. “Every person in the city will be looking for us,” she muffled through her hands.

  POLY’S HEART RACED AND HER breathing came out in rapid bursts. She leaned back on the dusty couch and stared at the aerial view of the Dead Day festival. She glanced at Julie, glad she wasn’t looking at her. She didn’t want Juli
e seeing her freak out. She was a criminal now, wanted by the law—a bounty on both their heads. Seeing her face on the screen and hearing the reporter talk about her like she was a terrorist, made her chest burn and her stomach churn.

  She reached into her pocket and found the pill she wanted. She crushed it in her hand, instantly feeling a warm wave over her body. Closing her eyes, she let out a long breath. The crumbs fell into her pocket, and then she took her hand out and looked at her palm. Gazing at the hint of white residue, she wondered if it was from the pill, or if it was her skin. She brushed off the thought and stared at the amazing costumes displayed on the TV.

  Maybe there’s a nearby store I can get a costume like that. She smiled thinking of the perfect costume. A zombie dressed in her Gianni dress. That dress was still in the bunker. Maybe she could go get it. She loved that dress, but the thing she loved the most was when Joey saw her in it for the first time in the mall. She turned her head to face Julie, she had her chin in her hands as she stared at the screen. Tears welling in her eyes. What could she be crying about?

  “What’s wrong, Julie?”

  Julie looked at her as if she was crazy and pointed at the screen. “We’re fugitives, with a huge bounty on our heads.” Julie lifted her Panavice. “Harris just sent us a note. ‘Ten million, use Travis’s stone and get out of the city. Max set the reward so high the whole city will be burned down looking for you.’” She slammed her face in her hands.

  Poly searched in her pocket for another pill to give to Julie. But the packet only had a dozen left in it, she better save them for herself. I should comb her hair, it’s terribly frizzy. Is my hair that frizzy? “I’m going to the bathroom.”

  Julie didn’t look up as Poly left her sitting on the couch.

  Poly stood in the doorway to the bathroom, inspecting the dust-covered mirror, countertops, and toilet. She pulled open the cabinet drawer next to the sink, empty. All the drawers, empty. She sighed and turned the handle of the sink faucet on. The water clunked out and a strange odor emanated from it, like iron. She glanced up from the sink and into the mirror as the water continued to run.

  She brushed her hand over the mirror, making a streak of clean. She froze at her reflection, her face and hair looked nice, but her eyes looked wide and the color was almost gone. She moved closer to examine them. She took her sleeve and wiped the rest of the mirror down. Her reflection didn’t seem to change, but she stared at a crease next to her eye. Was she getting crow’s feet?

  “What are you doing?” Julie asked and reached past Poly to turn the running water off.

  Poly jerked from her reflection. “Just trying to find a brush.”

  “It’s been half an hour,” Julie said. “I thought you were constipated or something.”

  Poly laughed. Constipated . . . what a funny word. Did she say half an hour? Must have heard it wrong. She walked past Julie and sat back on the couch and watched the Dead Day show.

  “I came to get you because of what’s going on,” Julie said. “Harris is right, Max created hysteria with his reward. The Dead Day celebration has turned into a massive hunt for us.”

  Poly stared at the bathroom door, was she really in that bathroom for a half hour?

  “Watch, that anchorman’s back on.”

  A man sat behind an ornate wood desk and looked into the camera. “The gates have been closed to Center City due to riots in the outer counties. I now am switching to our founder, Travis Denail.”

  The camera switched to Travis, standing behind a podium with a large MM logo on it. His face looked like stone. Max stood next to Travis with his hands held together in front of him.

  “How can he stand next to the person that killed his daughter?” Poly asked. She thought about the dust-covered burial Compry and Nathen received. Would Travis ever get to bury his daughter properly?

  “Citizens of Sanct, we ask for your help in finding two individuals.” Their pictures appeared on the screen and slid down to the corner. “Press their picture if you have a legitimate sighting. Do not try to apprehend them yourself.”

  Travis moved to his right and Max took the podium. One corner of his mouth pulled back and then he leaned forward. “I wanted to quash the heinous rumor of a ten million dollar reward.” He held his hands out to his sides, palms up. “If you can bring me, or tell me where those two girls are, MM will wire you one hundred million dollars.” Max’s smile spread across his face and he put his hands on the podium. “They’re in this city, happy hunting.”

  Travis’s eyes were the last thing on the screen, before it cut back to the newsroom. The anchorman stared into the camera for ten solid seconds.

  “I’m not sure what to say here, but with the kind of money offered, I think I have a responsibility to warn everyone not to turn this into chaos. I would stay in your home—” The TV screen went to a logo of MM and then changed to an aerial shot of the city with no audio. A plume of smoke rose near one of the Center City’s gates.

  “The freaking nets are blowing up with this,” Julie said looking at her Panavice. “There’s false sightings everywhere. Look at this lady getting mauled. She kind of looks like you.”

  Poly gazed at the video and turned an eyebrow up at the vague similarities. Poly glanced at the window, someone screamed outside.

  “Oh, and don’t go to the window,” Julie warned. “MM has drones humming around the entire city.”

  A hint of urgency slid into her gut, she questioned the feeling at first, but she felt curious about what it was. “What should we do?” Poly asked.

  “We can’t go outside, we can’t even look out that window. I think we’re stuck here.”

  That night, the feeling of urgency grew in Poly’s gut. The sounds of banging and screaming filled the streets. She closed her eyes tight, trying to drown them out. She felt her body getting colder as she lay on the couch, wrapped in a blanket she found in the bedroom. Julie took the bed. Late in the night, Poly reached for the red pill in her left pocket. She crushed it in her hands and all the emotions of the world crashed in on her.

  The faces of everyone she’d witnessed die, splashed across her consciousness. Then Max’s face saying, “Happy hunting.” Her heart beat rapidly as the reality of what was around her hit her over the head. She sat up on the couch and looked at the open bedroom door. Was Julie feeling the same panic she was now?

  She pulled the blankets tight around her body, and buried her face in the blanket. Poly wanted to scream. Her hand slid into her pocket and felt the plastic and foil package Travis gave her. No, never again. She pulled her hand out and squeezed the blanket. She needed to feel the pain, the worry. It made her sharper, it was real.

  The next day the power went out for an hour in the morning. Poly felt the fog lifting from her thoughts, putting together the pieces of the night before. Julie dragged her feet all the way to the couch and plopped down next to Poly. She played with her Panavice and Poly tried to see through the small crack between the window blinds. The crack allowed for a tiny view of the sidewalk across the street, occasionally a person would enter the view, but the streets looked empty.

  The power kicked back on and the TV came back to life, displaying the aerial view of the city. In the early morning hours, the city looked calmer from the sky-cam, but soon people poured into the streets. Small groups of people traveled from block to block like blobs. They were searching for them and they had organized into teams. A hundred million could be split by a few people.

  By midday, a group of men banged on the lower door. Poly went to the apartment door and a screen popped up, displaying the men’s faces below.

  “We want to come in and check your place for the terrorist,” the man holding a steel pipe said.

  Poly stepped back from the door and away from the green open button on the screen. She thought she could handle two of them, but five would be difficult.

  After a few minutes the men began to kick at the steel door. When it didn’t budge, they moved on.

 
“We’ve got to get out of the city,” Julie said.

  “Yeah.” Poly sighed. Being stuck in a hole, waiting, was frustrating. Being on the run, she was at least moving. The next group of people not satisfied with a locked door was only a matter of time.

  “We should get something to eat,” Julie said walking to the kitchen.

  Poly thought about the great restaurants Travis took them to. When was the last time she ate?

  “They have a food printer,” Julie said.

  “What’s that?”

  “You put in the mix and it prints out a meal.”

  “Like paper?”

  “No, it puts down one micro layer at a time until you have a full meal.” Julie lifted the appliance onto the kitchen island. It looked like a microwave. She pulled a few cans from the cupboards and placed them on the counter.

  “What would you like?”

  Poly shrugged. “A steak?”

  Julie opened one of the cans and poured it into the top of the food printer.

  Poly walked next to Julie as she typed into the screen.

  “Watch,” Julie said pointing at the window on the food printer.

  A light lit and an arm moved to the bottom of the plate. It moved side to side, forming a small brown layer, then thicker. She smelled the steak as steam tendrils left the top of the printer. A fully-formed steak appeared as the arm moved up. Julie opened the door and pulled the plate out. Poly’s mouth watered and her stomach growled for it, but her mind resisted.

  “Is this safe?” Poly asked.

  “I think so.”

  “You taste it.”

  Julie cut a chunk of meat off the corner and ate it. She smiled with a mouthful. Poly pulled the plate across the kitchen island and poked the steak with her knife. It seemed okay. She cut a piece and chewed on it. It had all the flavor and texture of a steak, but it had a stale taste to it. She shrugged and took another bite. Julie printed out herself a steak and they ate in silence.