I  drank all afternoon while I was talking to Tala, which was a bad idea.  The cider wasn't strong enough to do any damage but I feel drunk. Out of  it.

I  am standing next to a man hole that leads down to the sewers, waiting  for my partner. I don't know who it is yet. My schedule didn't say. I'd  find out soon enough.

If  I was lucky, it would be someone I liked, such as Autumn, the woman I  met a few days before I went into hospital. That would be nice. Or it  could be someone I hated, like-

My train of thought is interrupted as, almost like they're on cue, someone clears their throat behind me.

I  turn and try to contain a groan. Standing there with a gun slung over  his shoulder and a smirk on his face is none other than Tyran.

"Why are you here?" I ask, and to my surprise, my voice holds steady, with no slur. I must not be as drunk as I feel.

"Sewerage duty. I'm guessing you're patrolling with me?" He asks.

I nod silently, not sure of what to say. The last time I was with Tyran, I told him his girlfriend was dead.

"Let's  go down, I guess." He says and I nod. He looks kind of sheepish. His  hair shines in the fading sunlight and his eyes glint with an emotion I can't match. It's almost like mischief.

I decide I'm imagining it.

Tyran  slips into the hole first and disappears into the darkness. I follow  soon after and close the metal opening above me, so the only light we  have is the torches in our hands. They're expensive ones that have  really bright, wide beams and can be clipped to our belts if we can't  hold then.

The  ladder is not as long as the ones that go down to the CD, but this one  is slightly wet and I struggle to keep my grip as it descend. When I'm  almost to the bottom, I grin and push off the ladder, jumping down the  last few rungs. It's fun but when I land I stumble into Tyran, almost  sending us falling into the river of human waste beside the patrollers  path. He grabs my arms and steadies us both.

"Sorry." I giggle and his eyebrows scrunch up.

"Are you hurt at all?" He asks, clearly worried about having to drag me around for the rest of the patrol.

"No." I say, still fighting back giggles. I feel like a little girl. It must be the alcohol.

Tyran frowns, suddenly holding me tighter. "Maedana, are you drunk?"

I wriggle away from his grip. "No." I try telling, but the grin I can't contain gives me away.

He  rolls his eyes. "Oh my gosh. My day can't get any worse. The girl I  hate is drunk and I have to patrol the sewers with her tonight!"

I sigh. "I'm not that drunk. Just a little bit." I hold up my thumb and a finger to demonstrate how much alcohol I have had.

Tyran rolls his eyes. "Forget it Maedana, let's just go. But if you need to throw up, do it in the river beside us, not on me."

I  compress my giggle and try to calm down. Tyran pulls a small black  tablet from his large cargo-pant pockets. The devices hold the maps and  information for our patrol. My own tablet was in the small flat backpack  on my back. Each black gets a tab of their own when they go on patrol,  but for some strange reason I really wish we could just share one. I  shake the thought off, realising it's just the alcohol, and pull mine  out as well.

"We're going on the outskirts of the sewers, where the current is strongest." I say and Tyran nods.

"No wonder the entrance we were given was so close to the dome." He says and I nod.

He was right. The entrance was right next to the signs that warned you not to go further towards the wall.

"We get out near black point 9 and report anything strange to the independent there." I say and Tyran scoffs.

"As  if we would find anything interesting down here. It's just a sewers  patrol. A big black tunnel that reeks, beside a river of human waste. No  one would come down here, let alone do anything interesting."

I nod, but don't trust myself to say anything. I'm drunk and I'll probably just make a fool of myself.

I  can feel myself swing between emotions. My thoughts are loose and I  don't feel in control of my actions. My legs and arms still move the way  I want them too but slower, not responding straight away. I also sway a  little bit when we start walking. I consider turning around and going  back to the black block to sleep it off, but I decide to just suck it  up.

The  tunnel we walk through is dark and damp. Tyran was right when he said  it stinks. The river of human waste pulsates beside us, creating a kind  of background noise. The walls of the tunnel are made of stone and every  few metres there is a neat cove in case of a flood warning. I'm pretty  sure there has never been any instance in which they've been used but  they're there for precaution anyway.

"How  have you been Maedana?" Tyran asks, trying to fill the emptiness around  is with small talk. It isn't like he cares, but the black tunnel must  nerve him a bit too.

"I was in hospital." I state, shivering. Then I smile. "But I'm better now. See?" I do a spin and laugh.

Tyran raises his eyebrows and I stop. His cynical look makes me realise how ridiculous and stupid I must seem.

He sighs. "Why were you even drinking, F? That's not safe."

"It was fine. I was just talking with Tala." I mutter.

"About what?" He asks.

I  do a big dramatic shrug. "Stuff. Her and a friend are fighting. We  talked about that for a  bit. Then  we just had a chat about  everything."

"Oh  yeah, I heard about that. All the CD gossip is focused I them." He  says. "I don't mind too much. It's a break off of you and Reese. They  haven't shut up about that since it all happened."

I purse my lips, thinking about how much talking must have gone on over the past few weeks without me knowing.

Tyran and I are both silent for a bit, and then I hear a loud squelch sound.

I  point my torch at Tyran's shoe where the sound came from to see that a  large collection of human faeces had washed up onto the walkway. Now  it's all over Tyran's boot.

"Shit." He curses and I grin.

"Correct." I say smugly. He throws me a death glare but it just makes me erupt in giggles.

He groans, trying to scape it off onto the floor. "Man, that's disgusting."

I place a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We'll just have to keep moving."

He sighs and nods. We continue walking.

"I  take back what I said earlier about my day not being able to get any  worse." Tyran says and I smile, then think better of it, realising how  uncharacteristically sad he had been.

"Are you alright? Did something happen today?" I ask.

He sighs. "It's nothing. Just something with Elyria."

"What happened?" I ask, looking at him with a frown. He shrugs.

"It doesn't matter." He says.

"If  it doesn't matter, why did you bring it up?" I give him a skeptical  look. "Tell me!" I say, dragging out the two words dramatically.

"Well,  we've been trying to get her sprint speed up. She runs really slowly.  But I can't figure out why, or how to help her." He sighs. "She started  getting angry and I retaliated, which I shouldn't have. Then she yelled  at me and stormed off."

"What did she say?" I ask and he lets out a puff of hot air.

"Just something cruel but true." He answers vaguely, obviously avoiding telling me the truth.

I frown. "What did she tell you?"

He starts to grow annoyed. "Nothing, F. You don't need to know!"

I  halt, feeling a bit annoyed myself. "Just talk to me Tyran." I say  angrily. He stops too and we stare each other down for a moment, neither  of us speaking.

Then finally he rolls his eyes and looks away. "This is stupid Maedana. It wasn't even that important."

"Tyran." I say, my voice soft.

He  sighs. "She told me that she has the worst trainers ever and she will  never get to her devotion. She said I can't teach because I didn't know  anything and that you are no help because you aren't even around."

I have to admit that the words sting a bit, but Tyran was right when he said that she was telling the truth.

"I didn't want to tell  you because you can't help it. You've been in hospital, so Elyria can't  really be angry at you because she's been failing." He says quietly.

I shake my head. "Yes  she can. She's probably really scared about what will happen if she  doesn't make it through. Almost everyone makes it to devotion, and she  must be terrified because she might not."

I almost cry,  remembering the same feelings back when I was going through training. I was the worst student there. It was only when my trainer started  pushing me harder that I improved, and Elyria doesn't even have a  trainer that can do that. Tyran doesn't say anything, confused by the  emotion in my voice. I suddenly shake my head to clear it.

"She'll be fine though. I  go back to training tomorrow and together we can get her going again.  Okay, Tyran?" I say and he nods. I conceal my thoughts and frown. When I  speak again, my words come out bitter. "Why were you even so worried  about telling me? Why the sudden concern?"

His soft look turns back  to the same hard hatred Tyran and I have always felt towards each  other. "You are drunk, and can get upset easily, as we just saw. I  didn't want to have to drag a blubbering mess for the rest of the  patrol."

I expected no less from  him, but his comment still stings a bit. We start walking again, this  time in silence. The tunnel is filled with the sound of running water  and our black boots hitting the path as we walk. There are lots of turns  and curves, and at one point on the route, we walk downhill for a bit,  further underground. The water remains constantly moving beside us, and  we keep our torches on the ground to ensure we don't step in any more  washed up excrement. In our silence, it seems that the rest of the  patrol will be non-eventful and uninteresting. Then, as we are turning a  corner, my foot catches on a crack in the floor and I trip.

I push my arms out in  front of me to try break my fall, but end up hearing a crack as pain  shoots through my wrist. I shout out in pain and Tyran jumps to my side  in an instant.

"Are you hurt?" He asks,  and although tears rise to my eyes and I can't move my hand, I shake my  head, unable to let myself seem vulnerable in front of him. I feel  ridiculous, crying because I tripped over a crack in the concrete.

Wait.

I lift my flashlight  with my uninjured hand and point it behind me to where I fell. Sure  enough, like I expected, a massive lump of rock has been pushed up to  form an obvious trip hazard. But how did it crack? With my torch, I  follow the line along to where it dissapears by the wall. I go the other  way and it gets bigger at the edge where the sewerage passes along  beside us. Slowly, without putting weight on my injured hand, I stand  and walk to the edge, careful not to fall in the ditch of human waste.  I'm shocked to see a giant tree root, twisting into the water.

"How on earth did that get there?" I ponder, shocked. Tyran comes up beside me to look at it.

"It's from a tree above  ground. My guess is that it needed water and found it's way down here."  He pauses for a moment. "It looks like it's been here for a while, so  the complex must know about it. Let's just keep moving if you aren't  injured."

I bite my lip and nod,  not letting him see the pain shooting through my hand. I can't move my  wrist at all and my fingers ache when I try to wriggle them. I slip my  injured hand into my vest pocket, blinking back the tears. If Tyran saw  me crying, he would just call me a wimp or make some comment about me  being drunk.

When we start walking  again, my mind fills with questions. "Wait, how is there a tree above  that spot? There's no trees in the complex."

Tyran shrugs. "It must  be from outside the dome. We were close to the wall when we came down  the ladder, and we've moved even further out."

My eyes widen, shocked. "Are you suggesting that the sewers might have cross under the wall?"

He nods. "It's totally  plausible, and would explain where the tree root came from. There's  tree's all around the complex, the soil is so well fertilised with,  well," he gestures to the sewerage, "that. You wonder why they don't  just do the farming around here."

I frown. "Where do they do the farming?"

"At a huge assigned area outside, hours away from the dome." He says.

I look at him and he  looks back at me. His chin is really nice. After a moment, I tear my  gaze away and back to the ground. "You seem to know a lot about that  stuff."

He nods. "I've been hanging around the CD recently, trying to come up with an escape plan."

I almost tell him not to  try but decide against it. Instead, I just end up saying something I've  said so many times before. "Freedom isn't real."

He lets out a scoff. "I  know that, F. But neither is peace. Any place you go there will be  oppression and there will be conflict. But that doesn't change the fact I  want to get out of here. You of all people must understand that."

"I of all people  understand that you can't stay outside. The complex doesn't let you. No  one can escape the dome, Tyran, not even you, so it's pointless to try!"  I practically shout, but the moments the words leave my lips I feel  like crying. I don't want to let Tyran see me weak so I shut my eyes and  take a deep breath. When I open them again, he's in front of me. While  we were talking about outside, we stopped walking, and now Tyran is  close enough to see me in the darkness, without shining his flashlight  on my face. He brushes a loose strand of hair away from my face so he's  looking in me in the eyes, his eyebrows creased. He did it to confirm  the tears in my eyes and I pull away from him, taking another deep  breath.

"It's not worth it.  Escaping, I mean." I say, hesitating and thinking of all the memories  I've remembered recently. "They'll just bring you back and make your  life a misery. Or even worse, they'll kill you while you're out there."

Images of Electra's bright face fill my mind, then images of her dead.

Tyran doesn't debate, just mutters a cautious response. "Alright."

I rid the pictures from my head and blink. "Lets go. How far away are we from the end of patrol?"

Tyran pulls his tablet  out and taps something, looking annoyed. "We're almost there. Another 5  or so minutes until we get to the ladder where we get out, then its a 2  minute walk to the black point we're signing out at."

I nod. My head is  starting to ache, the drunkedness from the alcohol being replaced by a  hangover. That combined with my throbbing hand, I feel like passing out.  Tyran and I fall into another silence and I spend the rest of the  patrol thinking about outside. When we reach the ladder, I encounter a  problem. With my injured hand, I can't climb.

I wait and try to figure  out what to do. Tyran is above me, already a few meters up. He stops  when he notices I haven't moved from the bottom of the ladder. "Hurry up  and climb, F, I don't want to be here all night."

I shake my head and bite my lip. "I can't."

He frowns at me and starts climbing back down again so he can see me better. "What do you mean, you can't?"

I let out a huff and slip my injured hand out of my pocket. "I hurt my wrist when I tripped."

Tyran climbs down the  last few rungs then shines his flashlight on my hand and grimaces. It's  swollen and one of the bones definitely looks out of place. "Why the  heck didn't you tell me?" He asks, his anger clear on his face.

I avoid his gaze. "I didn't want you to think I was a coward."

He rolls his eyes.  "You're the F, Maedana. No one would be able to believe you are a  coward. Also, getting hurt doesn't make you a wimp. It's asking for help that takes true bravery."

He looks at the ladder  thoughtfully. "Alright. I'm going to have to go up with you to make sure  you don't fall off without the grip of your other hand." He gestures  for me to get on the ladder and I do so. He shifts behind me, his arms  going around my shoulders so he can grip the rungs. My heart beats  faster, probably from the sharp pain that is shooting through my wrist.  He smells strangely nice compared to the rest of the tunnel.

Together, we start to climb. With Tyran behind me to stop me from falling, I manage to gradually rise.

Eventually, we get to  the top and I stop to catch my breath. The climb wasn't really  physically draining but something about being so close to Tyran made me  lightheaded.

The air in the complex  usually strikes me as stuffy, but compared to the sewers it is fresh and  cool. Tyran stops and waits for me, a weird look on his face. He's  probably confused as to what just happened.

"Thank you." I say quietly.

He nods. "It's fine. But I think you might need to go to the hospital when we sign off."

I shake my head quickly. "I don't want to go back there yet." I say. "Besides, it's not that bad. I'll be alright."

He rolls his eyes.  "Whatever, Maedana. As long as it doesn't affect your training skills  tomorrow I don't care. Just-" he pauses, "be careful."

I hesitate and nod,  unsure of what. To say. In truth, Tyran is right. I should go to the  hospital but I just don't want to. He turns away and I take that as my  cue to get up so we can go.

As  we walk to the black point, I watch him, wondering what was going I  inside his head. Was he angry with me for not telling him about my wrist?   Or was he really just concerned?

I almost laugh at myself. As if. Tyran wouldn't feel worried about anyone, let alone me.

But still, I can't help wondering why he seemed so caring towards me as we climbed up the ladder.

I  turn the thoughts over and over again in my head until I come to the  conclusion that I am just drunk and imagined the concern.

After all, Tyran and I hate each other. Don't we?

We  reach the black point and hand in our tablets. The independent behind  the counter hands us the sign out sheet and I encounter yet another  problem. I can't write with my injured wrist.

Tyran  sees my struggle and quickly signs me out too. I throw him a thankful  smile and he shrugs it off as if to say don't mention it.

We  slip out of the building and start to walk back to the black block,  like there was a silent agreement to keep walking together. We walk  through the door and start heading up the stairs, still together. It's  only when we reach the girls floor that Tyran finally speaks.

"I'll see you at training tomorrow, Mae." He says, looking me in the eyes.

It's  the first time he has addressed me by my nickname all night, and  although usually the name would bug me, in his mouth it makes me feel  happy.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." I reply, but neither of us move away. His eyes are like a spell.

Then finally, he tears away his gaze and continues up the stairs to the boys dormitories without another word.

In  a daze of confusion, I turn away from the stairs and walk to my room.  Avoiding looking at Reese's bed, I get dressed into more comfortable  sleeping clothes and slip into my own bed. In a matter of minutes, I  feel myself slowly slip into a restless sleep.

I dream of rain.