by Holly Hook
"My aunt used to have a garden in a park like that before she got shipped to the colonies," the boy said. "Her name is Cecily."
"I didn't know her." Lots of people rented gardens inside the park, free from the pollution that ravaged the rest of the world. Places like Woking Park served as nature's last refuges. Like other Earthers, my family was determined to preserve what little we had left.
"Take me there," the boy said.
"I can't. Not until the Task Force clears out and not until you explain what you want with it." In the dim light, my contacts looked like dust on the floor. I couldn't believe that I was now cut off from everyone. I would never be able to speak to my friends again unless I got forced to board one of the ships. From the looks of this boy, Mars wasn't kind. "Why are you green?"
It was a rude question, but I had to know.
"It's part of surviving at the colonies," the boy said. "They inject plant cells under our skin so that we can get some energy from sunlight. I know, it's stupid and ironic--"
More footfalls filled the space below us. The vapor outside the tripod was thinning. I held my breath. The Task Force--the Grounders--were running back in the direction we had come. They hadn't found us. The Great Council's computers hadn't turned back my whereabouts.
I would never look at social media the same way again.
The Task Force didn't speak. I waited until I had the faint noise of the theater doors opening and closing again.
"Now," the green boy said. "I'm Matt, by the way."
"Tess," I said. We did a brief handshake before he scrambled down the ladder, gun in hand. So far, he showed no signs of wanting to kill me. I wondered he would change if I refused to take him to the park.
I had better do what he wanted, then.
Anyway, I'd trust Matt when he said that I didn't want to go to Mars. We had that in common.
I thought of Winnie and Lin and Blake. "What's going to happen to my friends?" I asked, landing on the red ground. The vapor was much thinner now, but I didn't feel safe taking this mask off.
"They're on their way to Mars. They'll wake up. That gas just knocks you out. Ask me how I know."
I wasn't sure whether to feel better or worse. I imagined Winnie with green skin and shrinking muscles. We were both top students in Physical Conditioning. It would be a nightmare for both of us. She reached out to me, asking why I had abandoned her. I couldn't even keep my best friend here on Earth.
Matt and I ran for the exhibit exit. I hoped that no one was out in the main part of the museum, waiting to intercept us. I pushed the doors open first, shocked that they gave way. He was right that the Grounders weren't the most intelligent things in the world--whatever they were.
The main room was empty of people and absent of vapor. I stepped in, checking the perimeter. The only movement there was the holographic Terminus, inching along the wall in its super big, super slow orbit. The other planets whizzed around the fake sun. The Task Force had already checked this room and abandoned it.
"Come on," I said. "There should be another magnet rail at any time."
"I can't go on a train. Or any form of crowded transportation."
Matt stood there, green as ever. This light brought the color out even more.
"Then what?" I asked. There would be plenty of people on the rail, especially those who were trying to duck out of school and work early. A green boy wouldn't draw any attention.
And the moon was made of cheese.
"They have gas in the rail stations," Matt said. "The Grounders will use it if they find us. We need to find another way.''
I wondered how he knew about all of this. I searched around. The City of Woking had a network of connected tunnels so that people could walk about, away from the pollution. I spotted a door on the edge of the room with the universal tube symbol--an upside-down U--above the door. "This way."
I hadn't been over in this part of the City before. My family had only moved here last year after Mom bought the park. My parents were still worried that they might be in trouble with the City of Rockville for refusing to vacate our now-razed house years ago, so we moved a lot. Last year, Rossville officials had tracked down my family and tried to hit us with a huge penalty, forcing us to relocate yet again. I was sick of it.
But now that Mars called, the City of Woking felt like a home that I didn't want to leave. I was tired of being ripped out of my life and my identity. How could I be an Earther on the Red Planet?
So I led Matt into the tunnel. As I suspected, it was made of glass and went in the direction of the city center. Woking Park was close to there, about a kilometer away. The transport belt would get us there in no time. Only one older couple rode the belt towards us, and they were too far away to notice anything strange about Matt. A single man walked a dog further down the tunnel, in the middle pedestrian section, but there was no one else. "If we're going to get away, it's now," I said. I waited for traffic delays to come up on my display until I remembered that it was no longer there.
I was blind in the world.
Matt and I got onto the belt that would take us to the City center. At least we were headed to the same place. My house stood at the far edge of Woking Park, far from the public gardens. I had to tell my parents about my summons. They would figure out a way to hide us. We had moved before. We would do it again. I also had to warn them about their contacts. We'd have to go off the grid. Dad was always paranoid about ways the government could be watching us, so he wouldn't mind taking them out. He would tell Mom that he was right, and he'd have a strange satisfaction in that, too.
But I would also have to admit that I had left my friends behind.
So Matt and I rode the belt to the City Center. There would be more people there, but he didn't seem to care. The rails were faster than the belts, but we couldn't risk the Task Force finding us there.
After ten minutes, the belt slowed. I eyed the sky above. Yellow today, with a hint of green. What was it with the color green lately? The sun was an orb trying to breathe in the smog. I hadn't seen a clear sky since our farm in Rockville.
Matt looked up as well. "I see the Great Council is still polluting full force."
"Yep," I said. "We hate the government."
"I'm glad we met, then."
I thought of telling Matt that I had hated them all my life. The more he was on my side, the better. He still carried that gun on his belt. Dad would want to see it--if Matt managed to walk through the city center without getting stopped by the Enforcers. The Great Council had banned guns a hundred years ago, except for vintage ones like my dad collected. I wondered if there were any scanners for weapons still embedded in the city.
If yes, we weren't going to get very far.
"You might want to tuck that into your pocket," I said. "You still haven't told me why you need the park."
"It's part of the plan."
"What plan?" I figured that after what we had been through, he wasn't going to kill me. He didn't have the eyes of a psychopath--just someone who had gone through a lot. We had studied psychopaths in school, and so far, Matt wasn't showing the signs of one.
"Taking Earth back," he said with pride. He smiled at me. "That's why I was hoping to meet an Earther. You guys will want to work with us."
The belt slowed further. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel, but we were getting closer to the City. We passed a bathroom facility and a few potted plants that marked a vending machine. A dog barked. A woman looked up at us. We passed in a blur, but I didn't miss her mouth falling open when she caught sight of Matt.
"Happy Halloween!" I shouted, waving.
It was March. Matt would need another excuse for his hue.
Matt sighed. "You're not going to hide me very well. It won't matter, anyway."
We passed under a holographic sign that told us that the Center was two kilometers ahead. The smog continued to float hundreds of feet above our heads. Choking red weeds grew against the glass outside. They were mutants, caused by the
chemicals in the air, and they were taking over the world, choking out healthy vegetation. Had the Great Council been polluting on purpose? And what were Grounders, anyway? Were they those things on the backs of the Task Force's necks?
"Why won't it matter?" I asked, but Matt turned away. He was dodging my question.
I urged the belt to move faster. It picked up speed. A crowd must have moved aside, letting it adjust itself. Two minutes later, I spotted the pink letters hanging above the belt that marked the City limits. Beyond it, the City stretched out, right along with the smog of the outside. I took the gas mask off and put on my pollution one.
Matt did the same. His mask appeared old like it must have aged a couple of years. It was fraying right around the straps.
"You know," I said. "You have to replace those every six months."
"Couldn't," Matt said. The belt slowed. Fans blasted at as if urging us into the City center. The blowers were there to make sure the pollution didn't enter the tunnel. I just wished someone would install them over all of Woking.
The park would be busy right now.
And so was the Center.
Matt stuffed the gun into his pocket.
The round plaza was bigger than that of the Solar System museum, now two dozen kilometers behind us. Vendors peddled tablets and frozen food. Bright lights made the smog take on rainbow hues. One shopkeeper had a cart with pots of daises. From the looks of the flowers, they were struggling.
"Poor things," Matt said.
"You can't linger here," I said. The light in the Center was dim. Hundreds of people gathered in the plaza every day to shop and do business. This market kept peoples' bills paid. At least there was so much smog and neon light that my skin appeared purplish in the glow that came from a nearby tablet stand. Matt now fit in better than he did at the museum. So far, no one was staring at him, but he still had a gun.
"I know I can't," he said, now speaking through his mask. At least it hid the bottom half of his face, and he was wearing long sleeves. To be safe, he tucked his hands inside his sleeves. "I forget that not everyone is green here."
"Come on," I said, taking his arm.
I blushed a little bit, but there was no time for that. I led Matt through the market and towards the twenty-story buildings that towered into the sky. We walked through the financial district. I wished there were transport belts here. A few people rode bikes down the narrow streets, barely missing us. So far, Matt was doing okay.
"How long were you on Mars?" I asked.
"The Council drew my number and my father's number two years ago and sent us to Mars. My dad's a geologist. They chose him first so that he could help with the terraforming."
The present colonies had been there for the past eight decades, but the government hadn't stepped up the draft until recently. "I moved here last year," I said. The smog was a bit clearer here, but not enough to take off the mask. The last thing I needed right now was to develop asthma.
The financial district wasn't huge, but people walked out of buildings in business clothes, heading either in the direction of the transport belts or the magnet rail station. Matt kept his gaze down at the sidewalk. I held his arm, hoping that no one from my school would notice this.
The Task Force was after us both, and I was walking with an armed boy, and I was worried about what my peers would think. Great.
We emerged from the financial district, leaving the tall, gray buildings behind. Matt and I stepped onto another transport belt, a shorter one that led to Woking's outskirts. We sped through an unfiltered tunnel for the next thirty seconds, right behind a man with a briefcase. The glass here was covered in grime the color of old cheese. I didn't dare speak. Matt checked behind him. I followed his gaze to make sure that no one was coming behind us, especially anyone in blue-gray uniforms with high collars and blank expressions. I still had to ask Matt what a Grounder was. Why wouldn't he just explain it all to me?
The belt curved. The buildings around us got shorter, hugging the ground like they were trying to avoid the pollution. The Great Council had opened yet another mine and refining plant a couple of miles from here. Mom said they had opened it about five years ago. Through the grime-covered glass, I could see towers pointing into the sky, spewing more smog. It was sad that the people of the past had done a better job filtering pollution than we did now.
The belt slowed, and we stepped off, right behind the suited man. Short homes lined streets. The glass dome that housed Woking Park arched over the residences.
"That's it," I said. "Come on. The gatekeepers will let you in if you're with me."
The employees knew that I was Cabby Scopelli's daughter. Sasha would open the gate.
Matt might take some explaining.
"That wasn't bad," Matt said. "If you hadn't removed your contacts, the Task Force would be on us right now. Most people don't realize that the Great Council uses them to track everyone's movements. My father told me that."
I thought of Dad, who suspected it. "By the way, you still have a lot of explaining to do." I tightened my grip on his arm and thought of Winnie again. Matt had chosen me out of the four of us to save.
Matt's pocket bulged. Dad might notice, but the rest of the people inside the dome might not think much of it. People took vegetables and fruits in and out all the time like that. We jogged down the street, passing bicycles and a driveway that held a rare car, shined to perfection. The old man who owned it was out, waxing the vehicle that he would never drive.
The gate to Woking Park was closed, and Sasha manned the booth, checking out a man with an armload of squashes. I ran up, hating the fact that Sasha had the bright entrance lights on today. Matt kept his gaze down.
"Hello, Tess," Sasha said, tapping the side of her head to turn off her contact display. "How was the field trip?"
"Interesting," I said. "My friend and I need to get some homework finished."
Sasha pressed the button to open the gate. "I don't think I've seen him before," she said. "Where are Winnie and Lin?"
I couldn't bear to tell her. The guilt pressed on my chest, constricting it. I wanted to scream. Emotionally, I was the worst person in the world. My rational brain tried to tell me that I hadn't had a choice but to leave Winnie and the others, but there was no way it was going to win.
"They went home," I lied. "Winnie wasn't feeling well. Lin walked with her." My friends usually came to hang out in the garden with me after school hours ended. Already, I could smell the fresh air from inside. The fans blew a bit of it out. The dome rose above us, a hundred meters high and as wide as the neighborhood. Matt stared at it like he couldn't wait to get inside. Homesickness filled his eyes.
I stood in front of him, blocking Sasha's view. She smiled. I'd let Sasha roll with the theory that I'd brought my first boyfriend home. Her happiness was about to get shattered when she learned about the draft.
The double doors came open, revealing the greenery within. I led Matt into one of the final refuges of nature. Trees towered over us, bathing in the artificial sunlight. Voices echoed. We ran along the worn grass and through a row of greenhouses, each one marked with a family's name. The artificial sun blazed on the glass above. It had moved to the three o' clock position. Shadows stretched across the park. Somewhere, young children shouted at each other. I loved it in here. Inside Woking Park, the sky was always blue.
A woman was inside a greenhouse, picking a basket of strawberries. She waved to me. I waved back, the ache in my chest worsening. I didn't know all of the families in this park yet, but I was getting there.
Even if I escaped the Task Force, I'd never see them again.
I had been--
Our house was inside the park, on the far side. Our hill rose above everything else, with my home wedged against the glass. Inside Woking Park, everyone walked. There were no transport belts. It was Mom's policy to keep things as natural as possible.
"I miss this," Matt said.
"You've been here?"
"I u
sed to come to another park like this to draw."
"As in, on paper?" I asked. "You should join that guy who has a car."
"Yes. On paper," Matt said. "I draw plants and other things. There aren't many on Mars."
That was odd, coming from him. I tried not to stare at his green skin. Wasn't there a food mascot once that had green skin? He used to be on packages of vegetables.
"Tess!" Oliver Chang greeted from the doorway of his family's greenhouse. He gave me a warm smile and waved.
I returned it. "Later," I called. Then I lowered my voice and spoke to Matt. "I'm not going to stay away from the Task Force for long, am I?" A horrible thought filled me. Maybe I shouldn't have come home, but I had to warn Mom and Dad about the draft. So far, I didn't see any Task Force people--or Grounders--here. We passed the playgrounds and the nature trails in silence. Matt still didn't open up.
The house was quiet when I reached it. Without my contacts, the door wouldn't unlock for me, so I had to knock. It was embarrassing. How was I supposed to function?
Mom opened the door, dressed in her best suit. She had her hair combed back and in a ponytail. "Tess?" she asked, stiff and formal. Then her gaze landed on Matt, who dared to face her. "Who is this?"
"Are you the manager of Woking Park?" Matt asked.
"Yes," Mom said. "May I help you?" Confusion stole over her face as she took him in.
"You have to let me in," he said. "The Task Force is after your daughter and me."
I felt kind of hurt that Matt hadn't gotten official with me first. But, Mom was the manager, and he needed this park for something. She stepped aside to let Matt in, not noticing his pocket.
"Mom," I said. "I don't know what's going on, but I got drafted."
Silence fell over her. Mom wasn't the type to cry. Earthers didn't show weakness. She fingered her patch on the front of her suit and backed into the house. "You got...drafted?" Tears formed in her eyes, but she blinked, not daring to let them spill.
"Let us in," I said, hoping that I was making the right decision. "I'm just as confused as you, so I--"
