"The City itself is a technological miracle. It is fashioned to be self sufficient and economically stable, even in complete isolation. This was the first step in ensuring that all the citizens of Cilyber had equal chances to be successful and comfortable."

~Notes from The Engineer's "Integrum"

Jade

She sat up like an undead rising from an endless slumber.

Her heart beat against her rib cage, as if trying to break free from the prison of bones.

Keith was by her bedside in an instant. She saw concern in his brown eyes, his soft, warm, brown eyes.

'Stop it,' she thought. 'This man kidnapped you and is keeping you here against your will! What's wrong with you?'

'He saved our life,' another part of her argued. 'If he wanted to hurt us, he would've done so already.'

"Jade. What is it? Are you okay?"

She rubbed her head. It hurt her, and she felt tired, like the rest of sleep had been sucked right out of her.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "Just a nightmare."

"What did you see? It is very important that you tell me EXACTLY what you saw."

She recounted the events of the horrible dream, and his face darkened.

"That's bad. Real bad."

"It's just a dream, Keith. Calm down."

"You know better than that. The city is calling out to you. To all of you."

"You weren't sleeping?"

"Someone needs to keep watch. We won't be caught off guard."

"I thought this place was safe."

"Relatively. Still, the risk of being tracked or followed remains."

Jade felt a chill slither down her spine.

"M-my PortaZone-"

"Don't worry. I took care of that. As long as you're near me, my jammer will keep working. No one can track you through that."

"Then what would they track us through? You don't seem to have a PortaZone."

He licked his lips, which Jade had already begun to associate with nervousness.

"... Other means."

"I'm guessing you're not going to tell me."

He stood up abruptly. "Get ready. We're moving again. This time we're going to my place."

He marched out of the small room.

Jade sighed, rubbing her eyes. She noted, without surprise, that her headache was almost entirely gone.

As were most of her memories of the dream.

°°°°°°°°

"And I really dreamed that."

"Yes, Jade, you did."

"What do you think caused it? The dream."

"Could've been anything. A message from the City? A vision of the future? Perhaps a flashback from the past? Maybe even your subconscious speaking. I can't really tell."

"But... I don't remember anything," she muttered, raising her hand to catch a can tossed by Keith.

"That also could've been caused by a lot of factors," Keith replied, reaching over to grab another can from a shelf above Jade. For a moment, they were uncomfortably close in the tiny kitchen. Although Keith was taller, they were still face to face and their bodies almost touched.

Jade froze, and Keith tilted his head, giving her a confused smile. He grabbed the can and turned away, continuing his work on breakfast. She allowed herself to breathe. Why did he make her so uncomfortable? Not in a bad way, either.

Possibly the thing that bothered Jade the most was that despite the fact that she had vigorous training in body language and detecting change in tone or lies, she could not get a read on Keith.

She shook her head, only to receive another confused look from Keith. She gave him a small smile.

"Nerves," she said.

"Understandable," he nodded.

Jade took a deep breath and headed back to the small living room.

°°°°°°°°

"Ready? You're not going to fight this time, are you?"

"Not if you let me walk."

"But we could make more takes if you just let me carry you? Jade, come on."

She lifted her chin. "No. I will not be carried away like some kidnapped bride. Now, are you going to let me walk, or am I going to be forced to punch and kick and try everything I have to slow you down?"

"You're impossible," he said, shaking his head.

Jade smiled sweetly at him. "I know."

He smirked back. "Don't be begging me to carry you once your legs begin to hurt."

"Oh, you wish."

Keith shrugged innocently. "Okay. As you wish. Try to keep up."

He opened the door and exited.

"Just like that?" She yelled after him.

"Just like that," he replied, and when he turned around, he was smiling.

°°°°°°°°

He led her over closely linked rooftops, separated by narrow alleyways. They had decided to travel in the dark, reducing both their visibility (fortunately) and the ledges' visibility (highly unfortunately).

Sometimes she had to leap, barely making it across. Every single time, Keith would watch her from the other side, waiting. As if she needed something to remind her that the slightest misstep meant a long fall and a hard landing.

They were approximately forty floors high, and from up here Jade could see far and wide. Well, until her sight was blocked by another taller skyscraper. From up here, Jade could marvel at the beautiful bright colors of the CyberScreens, advertising FlexaWear, HoverDiscs, PortaZones, and other supplies for sale. Up here, Jade felt free of the chaos of the City. She found herself believing that Cilyber could be fixed.

'It cannot.'

Jade froze, shocked. The voice spoke from within her mind, crystal clear, cold and solemn. She couldn't identify it, male or female; old or young; human or artificial.

'Who are you?' she thought, feeling stupid immediately afterwards. How did she even know if the voice would answer? She might've imagined it.

'I am sure you want answers. For now, look at the large CyberScreen to your left.'

She blinked. Keith was saying something, perhaps asking her what was taking her so long, but she was staring directly at the building across the street to her left. It was an especially wide and tall building, meaning it would have the largest CyberScreen in the vicinity.

The screen was playing some news report. It was the same dark skinned woman Jade saw before on the news, she was sure of it. However, something about her looked terribly wrong.

Her spit got stuck in her throat as she noticed the woman's face. The entire left side was heavily scarred and burnt, as if by some powerful chemical fire or flame. Of course, soon enough, she would get some fake skin to cover it, but right now it flared like a beacon.

The screen was too far away to make out what the woman was saying. Then Jade read the caption, and she stumbled backwards, almost off the rooftop.

The caption read: Three murdered in factory, CCPC in shock and mourning

Keith was already by her side, holding her tight, his metal hand on her mouth. She realized that he was stifling her scream. He held her close, and she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Jade," he said calmly. "It doesn't have to be them. It could've been anyone."

Then the scene changed, and there was a pale man speaking to the sheriff. Jade's boss was wide eyed and shaky.

The caption now read: Sheriff promises to catch rogue policewoman accused of murdering team

Jade sat down on the floor. Unbelievable. The CCPC had struggled so hard to gain the City's support and trust. In one night, the work of Jade's four years had been undone. The work of the entire CCPC had been undone.

"Jade," Keith whispered fiercely. "This changes everything. We have to keep moving, and we can't trust anyone."

"This changes everything," Jade whispered back.

"We can't trust anyone," she echoed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there! Wattpad was freaking out, I couldn't publish this chapter for some reason. Don't worry, got it all fixed and under control!

I was thinking of changing the book cover. This one is decent, but I feel like we could get something better going. If you have any suggestion or idea, I'm all ears :)

Again, thanks for reading. Leave a vote or a comment if you enjoyed.

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