06. Surveillance

"This is Lieutenant Sage reminding you: WCKED is good."

Juliet sat in front of her family's radio, one of the few pieces of technology that survived the end of the world. There was only one frequency, which played WCKED propoganda all hours of the day. Yet, she never got bored of it. Of course, anything was better than life outside of home.

If you could even call it that.

She looked up at the sound of fabric rustling, only to find her mother staring down at her.

"How many times have I told you not to listen to that? WCKED is a scam. They're not doing anything for the people out here surviving and suffering. Turn it off."

Juliet turned the knob with a sigh and placed the old device in a corner where it could soak up all the sunlight it needed to keep working. She walked over to the little mat she slept on and pulled the book from under the pillow. Another thing that survived the end of the world.

It was old and worn. Some of the words had faded beyond recognition, but the girl managed to fill in the gaps. It's a fairytale, one of the old ladies in the camp had told her. A story about places far away and people that always got their happy ending. It was an escape.

"Where's your dad?"

"He went with Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Lucas. They didn't say where."

Juliet watched her mother's forehead wrinkle. It did that a lot now. Her mother always seemed to be stressed about something, even if it was nothing. When her mother didn't say anything else, Juliet went back to her book.

Once upon a time a girl named Cinderella lived with her stepmother and two stepsisters. Cinderella had to work hard while the others slept well into the day-

Her reading was interrupted by yelling from outside. Not a moment after, Juliet's dad came barreling in. He hurriedly grabbed a backpack and started stuffing a blanket and the little bit of food they had in there.

"We have to hurry! They're coming."

"What-"

"There's no time to explain. Juliet come here." He waved her forward.

Juliet put her book down and walked to him. He pulled the straps over her shoulders. With a quick work of his fingers, he managed to unclasp his necklace and place it around hers.

She stared up at her father with wide eyes. His teary gaze told her everything she needed to know. Her arms wrapped around his waist. Juliet could feel the top of her head become wet with his tears.

Before Juliet could drop her first tear, her father was ripped away. An echoing pop ripped through her ears, and her father laid still on the ground. Everything seemed to fade. Her mother screamed, wailed, then two more pops. Silence, but Juliet's ears still rang.

She looked up, only for her eyes to meet the barrel of a gun.

Pop!

Seph shot up from her sleeping bag, gasping. It was only a nightmare.

So, why did it feel so real?

Regardless, Seph decided there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. She stood up after a moment, rubbing at her shoulders and forehead and doing a small stretch. It wasn't long before Seph had cleaned up her spot and started scouting in the direction the runaways had went. They would find them soon, she could feel it.

Something big was getting ready to happen, and no one would stop it.

It had been a day or two since the lightening storm. The group had been keeping a close eye on the runaways. Right after they'd escaped into one of the towers, Janson came with soldiers and raided the place.

If there was someone that Seph hated more than Lieutenant Sage, it was A.D. (which stands for Assistant Director, but will usually be replaced by Seph with Asshole Dipshit) Janson. He'd never liked ARCH and voted against it in the early days. He often suggested for them to just get more soldiers and send the lot of them into the maze with the rest.

The 12 hours Seph spent in isolation for punching him was definitely worth it.

The group had recently split up. Georgie, Osamu, and Julia followed Thomas and Brenda, while Joan and Eddie went with Seph after the others.

"How big is the desert? We've been here for ages." Seph let out a small laugh at Eddie's complaining.

"And we'll stay here until we can go home. We have a duty to the good people of this world that we complete our mission. Unless you want the runaways to disappear forever?"

He shook his head quickly. "No, of course not," he lowered his voice, "I still wanna go home, though."

Seph looked back at Eddie. She pursed her lips for a moment but continued walking without another word.

"Hey, I've got something!" Joan had stopped up on a hill.

There was a tent up ahead.

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A surprise chapter! 🫢 Two
updates in one week.
Who knew I had it in me?

A bit of a filler and some
Seph lore 🫣. Next chapter will
focus on the other half of the
group. Some ships start sailing. . .

QOTC question of the chapter :

What was your favorite fairytale as a kid (or now)?