"I hope you know what you're doing, Will," Ellen whispers to me as we step out the door.

"Yeah. I do, too, princess." I wink at her and she finally relaxes enough to smile.

"Are you kids hungry?" Juanita asks. Unlike Bradford, she sounds like she genuinely cares about our comfort, and I begin to warm to her already. Perhaps it's also because she reminds me a little bit of my mom. They even have the same dark shade of shoulder-length, wavy hair.

"Absolutely. As long as it's not vegetable stew day. That didn't agree with me the first time." I pat my stomach.

She laughs. "No, I think it's corn chowder and tofu meatloaf."

"As long as it doesn't have the word fish in it, I'm in," Ellen joins the conversation.

"You don't have to worry about that. I wish we had seafood more often. It's fairly challenging for us to fish and when we do catch something, it's rather limited. Being almost completely a vegetarian for two decades has been quite an experience for this steak lover," she laments while leading us down the hallway.

"So, what's his deal? Bradford, I mean," Ellen asks after a few seconds, swiftly changing the subject and going into reconnaissance mode. "How did he become your leader? What sort of setup do you have in terms of government?"

"Oh, Jim? He's a former Navy Seal who used to work security at this facility even before we got holed up here. When we initially got locked down, he played a big part in keeping things organized. Once the Autonomous Omega Republic was established—"

"Fancy," I blurt out and Ellen smacks my arm with the back of her hand.

Juanita doesn't seem to mind the interruption and she just laughs. "Yes, it's quite fancy. That's probably why most people just refer to it as O-town."

"So by picking a name like Omega, you must think you're the last place like this left," Ellen hypothesizes.

"Unfortunately, we're almost sure of it. For a long time, we were able to stay connected to a network of radio transmission stations across the country to get periodic updates about what was happening on the outside. Quite a few of these sites have dropped out of the loop mostly due to their loss of power, but even those that are still online haven't reported back in years." Juanita sighs as we walk before continuing. "Anyway, after the first few governors passed away, Jim became a natural choice for the position. He's not a dictator, of course. There's also a small council that works with him to resolve any issues that may arise."

She opens the door to a stairwell and we go up one flight.

I feel like we've stepped into a whole new building because the environment is completely different from the stark, administrative setup of the level below. Colorful, hand-drawn pictures line almost every available surface on the walls and similarly crafted projects hang from the ceiling. There's also a lot more noise on this floor, but it's not confined to just talking. There's music coming from someplace and it's mixed with a clattering of silverware, as well as the bouncing of multiple balls.

"Apart from when you're sleeping and when you're working, you'll spend almost all of your time on this level," Juanita explains.

Although I don't want to delay getting to the source of the pleasant smells permeating through the air, I can't help asking a question. "What kind of work?"

"Oh, it could be almost anything. We have teachers and custodians, cooks and doctors, or farmers and librarians. We'll help determine what you're good at, along with what skills we need filled. Everyone needs to do their part." She smiles again, but the gesture doesn't lighten the seriousness of what she conveyed, and I'm already starting to worry that I'll be tasked with something that I can't manage. Having reached out destination, however, temporarily postpones my musings.

"Here we are." Juanita stops in front of an open set of double doors. "This is our cafeteria. Everything's a la carte, so you just grab a tray and pick whatever you'd like from the line. You can sit wherever you find an empty spot." She gestures toward the twenty or so rectangular tables squeezed into the space. "While you eat, I'm going to go and make sure we have some beds available for you. I'd encourage you to mingle with as many people as you can because it will get very lonely for you very quickly if you isolate yourselves," she finishes before leaving.

"Don't get too friendly with anyone," Ellen whispers to me as we get in line for food.

She's probably right. I'm not intent on us staying long-term, plus there's no reason for me to trust these people. I nod and then turn my attention to the food. I grab one of everything that's offered, although I see that Ellen only takes a bowl of the soup.

"You're going to regret that." She nods toward my crowded tray, but I brush her off by popping a small, red vegetable into my mouth. A tart liquid fills my mouth as I bite through the firm flesh, and I quickly swallow.

"Oh my God, Ellen. You have to try this." I shove a similar piece into her mouth against her objections.

She does her best to hiss at me through the obstruction. "Can you just stop? People are staring!"

Finally looking up, I see that there are numerous eyes watching us. "Uhm, sorry. Let's just sit down," I suggest, but the first table we approach that seemed to have a few extra spots suddenly becomes full as its occupants shift themselves on the benches.

I'm surprised by the deliberate snub, but Ellen has spotted a table in the back that only has a few people. We sit across from each other on the end.

"Hi there," I automatically smile at the pre-teen girl next to me, but my sister kicks me under the table. "Oww! What was that for?"

"Stop it," she instructs through gritted teeth, widening her eyes for emphasis.

"You stop it," I reply, mimicking her look. Sometimes Ellen's pragmatism overshadows her ability to strategize. "I'm just trying to be nice here. They just see us as strangers. I'm sure they'd be friendlier if they knew who we were."

The young girl laughs, drawing my focus back on her. "What did I say?"

She hesitates, looking at the others at the table who are now all watching and listening. Not getting any objections, she explains. "Actually, everyone here knows who ya'll are. We don't get many newcomers, and you're kind of a big deal."

"Then why is everyone acting so weird?" I ask in a lowered voice.

A guy about our age abruptly stands and picks up his tray. Before he leaves, he addresses me directly. "Think about it, dude. You're from Vanguard. You got survival handed to you. We have to fight every day to stay alive. You're lucky we don't throw you out and see how you'd manage."

"Come on, Tony. You don't mean that," the girl calls after him, but he has already turned away. Two others join him, and they leave despite her protest.

"Ignore my brother," she smiles at us, but Ellen and I look at each other in disbelief at the revelation of their relationship.

"Your brother? Are there other families with multiple children?" Ellen asks.

"Sure. All of my friends have at least one brother or sister. Why? Is that weird?" She looks at us suspiciously.

"No, not at all," Ellen quickly drops the subject, and I think she's realized that this girl who can't be more than eleven or twelve is probably too young to understand our surprise. We turn to our food, but I'm still pondering the situation.

Due to our limited space, population control was a big deal on Vanguard and we had been told from childhood that we could only expect to have one kid per family. There were a few cases of twins or even the rare triplet, but otherwise everyone was an only child. People seemed to readily accept those limitations because they made sense for the community, but life up here is different. The only thing that makes sense in allowing for multiple children is that they're driven by the desire to eventually repopulate the . . ..

The what? This building? The country? The Earth? No, it doesn't make sense, actually.

"So, I was able to find you some bunks," a voice from behind me suddenly interjects. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't even notice Juanita return. "Lola, sweetie, when you're all done eating, can you show Will and Ellen to the sleeping quarters, please? She's in room five and he's in seventeen."

"Sure, mom," the girl next to me happily chirps.

We finish our meals in silence and Lola leads us two levels up, stopping in front of a door marked with a "5".

"All the girls are on this level. I'm next door in four, so if you have any questions or just want to talk, pop on over." She opens the door, smiling as my sister walks past her into the room.

No sooner does Ellen get two steps inside when she stops dead in her tracks. "What is this place? I thought you'd be taking me to my room?"

"We don't have individual rooms. This is one of the girls' dorms, but you do get your own bed and locker," Lola says with a slightly confused expression, pointing to the single empty bunk among the six lined up against the right wall, mirroring the other six on the opposite one. Not getting a response from the still shocked Ellen, she looks to me for an explanation. "Is something wrong with her?"

"Don't mind her. Ellen just hasn't had to share a room since she was ten and even before then it was just with me." I put my hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "I'm sure she'll get along great with these ladies. So, I'm in seventeen, huh?" I usher the girls out of the room before Ellen further embarrasses me.

The three of us climb the stairs once more, and we take a peek into my own dorm room. It looks exactly like the one Ellen will be in, except that it's filled with men of varying ages. I also get to meet my bunkmate, a nice enough guy in his twenties called Casey Chan. He's much more welcoming than any of the others I've met, so after thanking Lola for her help and sending her on her way, I ask Casey what is obviously on both Ellen's and my minds.

"What do you do for privacy around here? I mean is Bradford some type of chastity freak or something?" They'll probably think I'm a perv for asking this as the first thing, but I don't care. I need to find out how and where I can talk to Ellen – or anyone else for that matter – without anyone else finding out.

He laughs. "Naw, man. At least, I don't think so. He has a couple of kids of his own, so he had to make those somehow."

I lean against the bunk bed and cross my arms. "Then what's with the dorms?"

"Purely logistics," another man who I thought was napping one bunk over chimes in. An African-American man who reminds me of Ray's dad, he introduces himself as Baker before continuing. "There isn't enough space to give every family their own room. But it's not as bad as you'd think. It sure as hell cuts down on the nagging time from my wife, let me tell you."

Several others who've been listening in join in the laughter, but my curiosity still hasn't been satisfied. "But you don't . . . you don't like bring her in here?"

"Of course not! I'm not going to let these boys steal my moves," he jokes, slapping me on the back before whispering into my ear. "Not that you should be worrying about this just yet, young man, but we're expected to have our – let's say – private time off-site. There are plenty of abandoned houses in the city available during the night, if you know what I mean."

I know exactly what he means, but it also looks like there may not be an easily identifiable place where my sister and I can finally speak in private. I can't count on being able to leave the facility any time soon, so we'll need to find our own place to talk. After the introductions are made, we're free to roam around.

Leading Ellen to the area I'm most familiar with, we head up one more flight of stairs to the lobby. Most of the doors here are locked again and she thinks that there's too much of a risk with someone walking in on us if we talked in the toilets. I see a door marked "Janitorial Supplies" and find it open.

It turns out that the closet isn't empty. Inside, intertwined in the darkness, is a disheveled couple as shocked to see us as we are them.

"Close it, close it!" Ellen shrieks, pointing to the door whose handle I'm still holding. For some reason though, I'm too amused by scene to shut it immediately. Instead, I find myself grinning as the man and woman tug at their clothing, trying to regain a semblance of decency. "Sorry. You may continue," I finally say to them before gently closing the door.

"You're horrid," Ellen chastises me, but having regained her own composure, she shakes her head and we both laugh at what we just witnessed. "Off-site, my ass."

We continue to wander around until we finally find a room that's open. Locking ourselves in, we have the chance to talk openly for the first time since being reunited.

"You were lying to Bradford, weren't you, Will? We can get back home, right?" Ellen asks, desperately gripping my hands for emphasis.

I give her another hug. "I'm going to get you out of here, but I don't think I should tell you how. Just in case someone gets suspicious and starts asking you questions."

"All right. As long as our objective is to eventually get home, I'll leave it up to you how that happens. I'll have to trust whatever plan Lamer sent you with," she says. Biting her lip, she pauses. "By the way, how's Ray? I bet he was bummed that he couldn't come along. But I guess you couldn't have come up with a convincing explanation on why both of you'd be here."

I take a deep breath and ignore her assumption that I not only returned with permission, but even on direct orders. "Ray? He's okay. Holding down the fort until we get back. Listen, there's something I need to tell you. I'm not sure how much you've seen or heard, but not everything is love thy neighbor up here."

"What do you mean?" she asks, tucking a strand of long, blonde hair behind her ear. It's her tell. She does it whenever she's nervous and I wonder what she herself has already witnessed.

"They're pretty ruthless, at least against anyone who's not part of this group," I say. Taking a deep breath, I get right to it. "The last time I was leaving, they shot two people right in front of me. The man was just trying to get help for his wife who was already dying. And they killed them in cold blood."

"That's awful." She shudders. "I knew we couldn't trust them. And that reminds me: we'll have to stick together, including with these work assignments we'll be getting."

"How do you figure? Aren't they supposed to decide what jobs they'll give us?" I ask.

"Well, I'm thinking that if we manage to screw up every one that doesn't suit our needs, they'll eventually put us in something that will give us the best chance for an escape. So our goal has to be to make sure we're not split up and that we get a job that lets us leave the compound," she says.

"That's brilliant, El. I knew I tolerated you for a reason." I kiss her on the cheek. "Now, let's get back downstairs before people start to notice we're missing."

We leave the room, but then I remember something. "By the way, what were you doing up here when you got caught? You weren't on a secret assignment for Lamer, were you?"

"Of course not." She grimaces as if the mere idea of it was inconceivable. "You know how opposed he is to anyone coming up here. I'm actually surprised that he let you try to rescue me. But anyway, I noticed that Ray wasn't heading toward his usual fishing area, so I followed him."

"Really? Interesting." I purse my lips and nod.

She gives me a good dose of side-eye. "What is that supposed to mean?"

I shrug. "I don't know. You tell me why you'd risk breaking the most important rule we have just to satisfy your curiosity. Or perhaps it was something more?" I wink. I've suspected for a while that she's got the hots for my buddy and teasing is half the fun.

"I have no idea what you're insinuating." She thrusts her nose in the air. "Anyway, I was stunned that he came to the surface, so when I saw that the two of you were getting out of the Skipper, I knew that you were up to no good. I had no choice but to save your butt."

I laugh. "Oh yeah? How's that working out for you?"

She punches me in the shoulder. "Shut up."