A letter from Gordon Trey, sent on April 9th 2032

Dear Fillipe,

I did not want to do this and you know it. But you gave me no choice. Only one country can ever truly come out of a war, and it will be mine. But we will be smaller. And I will have to wait for the earth to heal. It needs to heal from the disease of mankind for a while.

I have attached to this letter a plane ticket for you to print. The plane ticket is for you to use. It can take you anywhere. If you want it to take you to me, use it to fly to Washington. I will know if you have. If not, fly away. Go to Greenland. It would be safe there. Just whatever you do, don't fly to New York. We are bombing there first, the moment we seal this dome.

Please stay safe. Our daughter is already safe inside the dome, and so is my wife. Let me talk to you Fillipe, face to face and not for the last time. Join the complex. It will be safe.

With love always,
Gordon Trey

-*-*-

A sister.

He has a sister. It all makes sense. Elyria. No wonder he cares about her. She's his sister.

I feel so ridiculous. But at the same time, I feel sorry for her. She was looking for him.

But she would never really find him.

"How did you know he became a black?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She shrugs.

"Anyone vaguely interesting ends up a black at some point." She looks at me and her eyes shows so much emotion that I can't figure out.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Depends on who wants to know." She replies, raising an eyebrow. She was starting to get to me.

"I do. How old are you kid." I ask forcefully.

"Hey, calm down. I'm eleven. Almost twelve."

I frown, not bothering to apologize. I was tense and probably being a little rash but this girl just told me she was Calix's sister. My emotions were kind of out of whack. "You're only eleven?"

She nods and I lift a hand to my head. It was pounding.

"Are you okay?" Elyria asks and the way she creases her eyebrows as she asks it reminds my so much of Calix, my heart aches. Shivers rush over my body and suddenly I start hurting. and I don't mean I ache at the thought of Calix is hospital, I mean my whole body is on fire.

I can get out a sound and my mind goes blank. I can't take in what is going on around me, all I can take in is this pain. This uncontrollable pain.

And then the pain fades and it is replaced by a vision. A memory.

I am standing in the clearing of a forest. Beside me is a row of three green camouflage trucks. The memory is so clear I can hear the birds above me and feel the uneven ground beneath my shoes.

"I'm so excited." I say, and I'm surprised by the words. I don't mean to say them, but this is a memory. I can't change it. I just experience it.

My voice is high pitched and like a ten year old. I'm clearly outside of the complex and men and women in grey track suits with freckles of colour mill around the trucks. Some get in but most just walk around and check the trucks over.

"I am too." Says a girls voice and I recognize it but can't match a name. She also sounds about ten but her voice is louder than mine. And smoother.

I wish desperately that I could turn around and look at her but I can't so instead I try to count how many people are walking around. Then I do turn and I see her.

She has dusty blonde hair, almost ginger, that has been chopped short, but unevenly, so some of it is past her neck and some barely goes down to her cheek. Her face is tanned and covered in freckles, a weird combination but somehow possible. Her eyes have no contacts and hazel beams out at me, reminding me of fire.

I remember her. Electra.

"What do you think it will be like?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I don't know. Probably amazing."

I nod and grin. "P told me the air up there is so clean and fresh, if you stay too long you'll never survive in other air again."

She shrugs. "I don't know about that. P doesn't always tell the truth. Plus, I heard of a man who lived in the mountains for over ten years and hated it."

I shrug. "Well I don't care. It will still be awesome. I just wish Sorrel could come too."

Electra nods. "Yeah, same. But it's okay. We'll see him again on Wednesday."

"Hey, insiders! Get in or you'll be left behind." Yells someone from the front of the truck fiercely and Electra and I quickly scurry to a truck and slip in.

"Hey kiddo's." Says a mans voice in a light tone.

"P!" I exclaim, turning. In the truck with us are two women and two men, all in the same grey suit speckled with colour. They all look about 20 or 30 and smile and laugh happily. The man who said hi smiles at us.

"Are you excited?" He asks and Elle and I grin and nod.

"Hey how did you get Renée to come. I thought she hated the mountains." Elle asks.

One of the girls laughs. She has brown hair that is in a plait and a fringe, falling over her eyes. "Heck no. I love the mountains. It's Lola here that is scared out of her whits at them."

She gestures to the other girl who laughs nervously, causing her ponytail to jiggle. "I'm not that scared. I just don't like them and-"

"Avoid them at all costs?" Renée jokes, causing Lola to blush crimson and light laughter escape through the back of the truck.

"Hey, stop picking on Lola." The other guy, who isn't P, says, frowning.

P laughs and nudges him with his elbow. "Ooh, does Dean like Lola. Awe, how cute."

They both blush. "No, it's not like that-" Lola starts but she is cut off as the back doors to the truck are closed and Elle and I let out excited gasps.

"We're going!" I exclaim and the elder people laugh.

"You just wait kid. Just wait until we get there."

The truck moves into motion. It is jerky and we can't see out because there are no windows, but I feel so excited it doesn't matter. I can just feel the excitement bleeding through memory, making everything bright.

We talk about everything but nothing. The 'Dean likes Lola' comment turns the whole conversation into a game of truth or dare in which I discover Renée likes pizza more than hamburgers and P can burp the alphabet, which is also quite gross.

At one point, Lola and Dean actually kiss on a dare, and I wonder exactly how old these people really were. They were like a bunch of teenagers, but they looked older. Then again, whatever if they played truth or dare. I wasn't about to stop them. Not that I could.

Throughout the conversation, I drop a few jokes an even do a truth or dare if I'm asked, but ten year old me mainly just watches. She laughs a bit and joins in going, 'ooh' when Dean and Lola kiss, but apart from that, she is silent. She just watches.

As they're talking, I grow more and more surprised. All these people were so casual, having fun even, yet they were outside. I had always thought that when you were outside you could barely think because everything was so dangerous. But no. This ride was peaceful.

That is, until the truck lurched to a stop.

The group stopped talking, caught by surprise. Dean slowly stood from his spot next to Lola and cautiously walked towards the back door. He glances around at us then pushes it open.

Outside all is silent and Dean jumps down. He is shortly followed by Renée then Lola. I go to get up but P stops me. "You two just stay here." He whispers and puts a hand on my knee. His previously carefree face has suddenly become filled with caution.

Lola closes the door and we are left in darkness, fear scratching at our sides. Voiced come from outside the truck but I can't make out what they say. Then the doors open back up again and relief floods in as Dean's face appears. In the light I can see he has grey eyes and dull pink lips. He was from the Complex.

"Everything's fine. They just stopped because they thought something was in the bushes. But they said it's just a fox so it's all okay-"

He is cut off by a gun shot echoing through the daylight and there is a sharp intake of air.

"Not just a fox." Lola whispers and that is the first I notice she was the one shot. Then she drops to her knees and that is when chaos breaks loose.

Gun shots fill the air and P reaches over and manages to pull Renée into the truck before the ground where she stood is riddled with bullets. He pulls the door shut and my ears ring. I can feel fear running through my small body and it is worse than anything Aril had ever done to me. Not even torture felt this bad.

As the ringing in my ears dies down, I realize everything is silent. Then there is the sound of doors banging and more gunshots. Tears fill my eyes, and I am trying not to sob. Even though this is a ten year old me, I don't blame her. I feel like sobbing myself.

More door slamming and more gunshots.

Renée and P sit, protecting Elle and I from the closed doors that would surely be opened soon to reveal guns. I lean into P's shoulder, trying to muffle my sobs. I can hear them as they walk to our truck. Then the doors open and I see a group of men wearing black clothes that look like armour and P grabs my hand.

"Don't shoot yet!" He exclaims. "Don't shoot!"

The men lower their guns and Renée clears her throat. "Don't kill the kids." She says, her voice shaking.

"Sorry ma'am, we are on strict instructions to kill all rebel outsiders." Says one of the men.

P stands up, still shielding me. "They're only young. They don't even know what they're doing. Don't kill them. Kill me."

Renée stands up next to him and grabs his hand. "Kill us. But don't kill them. Please. Have mercy."

The man at the front of the group pauses for a moment, thinking. Then he nods and makes a hand movement. Renée and P don't even have the chance to move before two of the men lift their guns and shoot.

I feel like I can't breathe as P's body collapses in front of me. I can't even understand what is going on in front of me.

"Alright children. Stay exactly where you are while I see what to do with you." The man says and I realize that he is actually considering not killing us. I lift my arms up and wrap my arms around myself.

I feel like an outsider on the scene. Like I never really witnessed it, I was just watching someone else's memories. But I did witness it. This was my memory. This happened to me and only now I was remembering it. Only now.

The man pulls out a phone-like object and presses something on it and a cracklings sound comes through. Then it clears up and the man speaks into it. "Command, come in. Come in Command."

There is crackling again.

"Come in Command."

No answer. Just as the man is opening his mouth to call again, Electra moves into motion beside me. She grabs my hand and jumps out of the truck and starts running towards the cover of the trees. I try to keep up with her but trip and just as I do the gunshot rips through the air.

It is louder than any of the others and I see it all in slow motion. I shout but she is already falling. She falls on her back and I can't breathe as I scramble towards her through the dirt. Tears blur my vision but I can clearly see the blossom of read spreading across the grey jumpsuit she wears. Her eyes are open and her mouth is agape in shock. She is still alive though because she lifts a hand towards me.

"Elle." I hear myself sob. "Electra don't leave me. You can't leave me."

Her mouth moves but no sound comes out but I can make out the words she is trying to say.

"I won't."

I grip her hand and it is so cold I almost let go. But I don't.

The ten year old me just sobs and grips her hand but I wonder about what the black men are doing.

I stay there, clutching her hand until long after she is gone. Then eventually I am pulled away, sobbing, by one of the black men.

"Hey. It's okay. We're burying them. So they can sleep peacefully." He tells me and his voice is so kind, even though he has a gun slung over his shoulder and it is so familiar to me but I can't put a name to it. I keep sobbing though. A group of men lift her up and carry her. I watch as they take her to a large hole and slowly lower her in.

I clearly didn't realize at the time the hole was a grave in which they were burying her, but looking back I can see. She is the first of many. Before they fill in the hole, the man that had told me it was okay throws in a white flower and I can't helm but wonder who he is. Why was he being so respectful?

He then turns and walks back towards me and drops down on his knees so he is my height. Up close, he is so familiar I would be kicking myself if I could.

"Hey. I know you're sad and scared right now but it will be okay. I promise." He tells me and I nod through my tears. My head filled with a hurricane of thoughts and my chest still numb with fear, I was thankful for this man. He seemed human.

"We are going to take you back. To safety. The complex. Okay? There you'll be safe. Just do as your told and they won't kill you. Trust me. I know."

I let out another sob and nod. Then I open my mouth and choke out, "What's your name?"

He smiles softly at me, but it is the kind that is so filled with pain it is hard to comprehend. "My name is Curtisl. And I'm going to do my best to protect you. Okay?"

I nod yet again and sniff. "My name is Mae."

He nods and grabs my hand. "Nice to meet you Mae. Come on. Let's get you out of here."

He stands back up and grabs my hand, then leads me away from the bloody bodies and my dead best friend. And although I am filled with a sick hopeless feeling, when he holds my hand I feel like at least one person is same. At least one humane person is left in the world.

And as the memory fades back into reality, I remember. I remember him.

Curtis. Curtis, the man so torn apart by grief, he became it.