The travel back to Cordova went much quicker then the initial escape. Of course,the complete lack of food was a bit of a spirit crusher, but we managed to stay on our feet. We had taken a pack and a half of food, and it lasted us just over a day. After that we were on our own. We would get up and pack before the sun rose, and search for edible berries and plants. Occasionally we would hunt for birds with stones, but it was time consuming, and we never really got more the one out of it.

It had been five days since we left, and we were starting to look for landmarks that could tell us how far from Cordova we were. We'd been keeping track of our direction the whole way, and were certain we hadn't gotten lost. The quantity of artificial trees had been steadily increasing, which indicated we were heading in the right directions, but there was really no way of telling for sure at this point.

"Should we just go farther and see what happens?" Peter asked.

I bit my lip, trying to make a decision. We could either keep going straight, like Peter suggested, or we could head a little more west, in the general direction of Cordova. The only problem with that was that if we did it too soon we could go right past it, and then we'd really be lost. Of course, if we kept going straight we could also miss the turn off. Neither was a winning situation. I searched the ground, as if something might give me a clue. I found myself picking up a strangely coloured leaf, red on one side and green on the other.

"Should we flip for it?" I asked, holding it up for him to see. "Red for straight, green for turning?"

Peter looked at the leaf for a moment, as if questioning my sanity. But then a couple seconds later...

"I call flipping." He said, reaching out and grabbing the leaf. He found a small tree, and climbed up to a low branch. Then he held the leaf out by the stem, and dropped it.

It fluttered to the ground gracefully, but incredibly slowly. When it finally rested, Peter called out that it was green. I shrugged. I suppose that was the best answer we were going to get. We set out once more, angling to what we hoped would be Cordova. After an hour or so, we were about to turn back, when Peter stopped abruptly.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

I pulled up beside him and listened intently. Over the rustle of dry leaves being picked up by the wind, I could make out a soft buzzing noise. As I listened more I recognized it as the sound of the hoverpass. Peter recognized it too, and we started heading towards the sound. Soon we could see the looming metal channel, stretching through the tree line.

We slowed our pace as we approached, but not so much as to let cameras pick up our faces. It took me longer then it should have to realize where in the city we were, but when I did, it hit me like a wave.

We were in the city center.

This was the most dangerous place for us to be. I looked around, overwhelmed by the risk of this adventure. There were people all over the place, carrying briefcases, coffees, picking their kids up from the preschool, leaving work for the day... There wasn't a square foot were something wasn't happening. My eyes started to dart around, as if planning an escape, when they caught on something.

The large screens out side the Society Building did not have the long list of laws like they usually did. Instead, they had missing persons reports.

Of us.
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Hey, thanks again for reading!
I was wondering if you guys want me to start posting my other book, which I've already written? Either I'll finish this book, and then start on the other one, or have both going on at the same time. If I do start on the other one, I won't be able to update this as often. I'd most likely alternate between them every week or so.

Which would you prefer?