Cathedral of Dreams (24 page)

Keith asked the others to tell Harold and his friends what they thought about Newcity. He hoped they'd discuss Bradley as well, but left them alone.

Once they began their discussion, he wandered toward the other end of the alley, out of hearing range. As he closed in on the angel, he stopped and waited. As much as he wanted to reach out and touch her, he didn't do it. He stayed a respectable distance from her. He didn't say a word, but he did examine her features. She looked totally unfamiliar, young and old at the same time. Her arms and hands were smooth, yet muscled. Her torso appeared to be thin, but not skinny. The bulge on her back pushed against her clothing, causing her breasts to protrude against the tight blouse. It was sensual and forbidden. He sensed that the trapped wing was uncomfortable, and imagined the freedom she'd feel by letting her wing stretch in the open air.

She turned her eyes away from his inspection.

“There is no reason for any of this, is there?” he asked. “Why have you led me out of Newcity only to return again a few days later?”

“It is not always for you,” she said. “But, for now, you must come with me.” She spoke so clearly that Keith turned around to see if the others had heard. But they were in deep conversations of their own, their faces smiling like they were old friends. How could they have resolved their differences so quickly, when a moment ago Harold and the others appeared to have their hopes crushed?

He turned back to the angel ready to voice the question. She appeared nervous as she waited for his advance. He nodded and followed as the angel led him into the darkened streets. The pedestrians had nearly abandoned the sidewalks by now. Few cars drove by. Keith felt totally invisible following her, although glances from some of the people proved that he wasn't.

The angel picked up speed and he did the same. She rounded a corner and began to run. Her movements were smooth and lightweight, as though she could actually fly at one time and was remembering the feeling as she ran. The single wing bounced as she led him on. They crossed a street and to his left he saw the boy with the bullet hole in his forehead wave to him. He stumbled over the curb and fell onto the sidewalk. His hands and knees met the damp cement. When he looked up the angel was gone, but the boy continued to wave to him. He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the boy.

He shook his head while he ran, trying to understand what just happened and why the images shifted from the angel to the boy.

While he followed, Newcity appeared and disappeared as he crossed one open street then rejoined the buildings on the block. The boy paralleled the complex until Keith emerged near the unloading docks. Trucks were backed up to Newcity for what appeared to be a mile or more. The scent of fresh produce permeated the air. He advanced slowly.

The boy was gone.

Chapter 17

K
eith crouched low as he maneuvered among and around the multitude of vehicles. The sound of machines running and people talking echoed through the area from the open doors that accessed the warehouse. Trucks that had been emptied started with a hiss and a squeal, then pulled out from the dock. Many of the doors were closed as soon as the vehicles were out of the way. Some of the trucks drove onto the street leading away from Newcity, while others pulled into what appeared to be some sort of holding area a few hundred yards away.

He worried that the trucks would thin out as the city streets did at night, leaving him exposed, so he advanced toward the holding area only to find that there was a gas station and restaurant located inside the circle of parked rigs. In the dark, he could see one of the drivers sitting in a sleeping area located behind the driver's seat. The dim light exposed the small compartment and the man who lay in the bunk, propped on an elbow, was writing in a notebook.

Keith surmised that these particular vehicles would stay the night, and decided to find a place to rest until he could fashion a plan. There was no reason to hide. The people here had no reason to suspect him of anything. Besides, the truck drivers would be transients from the outlying farms, bringing their loads into Newcity and then returning home.

Keith surveyed the area by taking a long walk around the combination restaurant and gas station. He held his shirt close to his nose to subdue the strong scents of exhaust, sweat, and litter. His vision blurred, tearing up from the odors, making him wipe his eyes occasionally. He needed to rest, but everywhere he looked were trucks that could drive over him if he were to lie under them to sleep. At the back of the station, the smell of cooked food poured through steam-ridden vents, replacing the nasty odors permeating much of the parking lot.

A small stand of bushes lay between the rear of the station and the highway leading from the city. Streetlights along the road reached bleakly into the brush as Keith pushed his way in. There would be rats, he knew, but they wouldn't bother him as long as he didn't try to harm them. He brushed over the ground with his hand and sat to consider his predicament.

The angel had said that it wasn't always about him. So his purpose might include the others who traveled with him, or those yet to escape, possibly even Newcity itself. Could it be that he was there only to lead the others into Newcity? It was their choice to attempt a warning, not his. Little of it made any sense to him. All the plans, Bradley's and the escapees', were vague at best. But then, he had only been a part of the outside world for a few days. And now, his return to Newcity had been forced, while his escape had been a choice.

He had to face the truth that he didn't fully understand what had happened, but that he had created the way out and then followed the boy, his younger self, to the outside world. Was it a subconscious choice that manifested through him? A shiver ran down his spine. He felt the truth of his discovery, but highly questioned its reasoning. Perhaps there was no reason for what happened to him beyond wanting something different in his life.

Keith shook his head. He had been thinking deeply and had to pull himself back into the real world, the night. He coughed and the sound echoed around him. He heard someone say, “Over there,” and pushed his senses into high alert. He ducked as though he could hide better if closer to the ground. He turned to scan the area behind him, only to see someone else looking back at him.

Brent yelled, “Here he is.”

There was no use running. As soon as Brent yelled, he heard the others coming toward him from several directions. He pushed into a crouched position and moved bush branches out of his way using his arms. As he stepped out and into the open, Brent griped, “What were you thinking? You can't just leave us like that.”

“The angel came and I followed her. I didn't have time to interrupt your conversation. I was going to come back,” Keith lied.

Robert sidled up to Keith and put a hand on his shoulder. “Next time, let us know.”

“There won't be a next time,” Brent said. “We'll be inside by then.”

“The warehouse is closing down by the looks of it. The doors will be watched. We can't sneak in tonight,” Keith said.

“Not ever,” Stacy said.

“What do you mean?” Keith turned his head but not his body. He saw that Harold and his friends were there too. “Why are they here?” He turned back to Brent. “No,” he said. “This can't be.”

Brent stepped close. “You've got to show us where you came out. We're going to backtrack and get back inside.”

“And do what?” Keith said.

Will answered the question. “Stay. As long as we don't disrupt anything, we'll be cared for. It's peaceful. Newcity is enormous. They'll never find us.”

Will's thinking was accurate. Nellie and her friends had been living in Newcity without being detected. But they wanted out. “You won't like it,” Keith said. “It won't take long and you'll want back out.”

“We're not all alike,” Brent said. The others nodded in agreement.

Stacy reached and touched Keith's arm gently. “You were sent to help us return. Being outside isn't for everyone. You've got to know that.”

“It wasn't for Sam, even though he was born outside,” Molly said.

“What about Bradley? His plan?” Keith said.

Will raised his hand and lowered his eyes. “We drew straws and I lost.”

Rebecca, who stood beside him, laid her head over onto his shoulder. “I'm staying with him.”

“We're going to tell them what Bradley is up to,” Brent said. “He'll never get near Newcity. He has a few hundred people at best. His weapons are old. It'll be easy to stop him.

“Then they'll chip us and put us back in,” Will said. “It's not our first choice, but it's happened to others before.” Will raised his eyes and begged Keith, “Unless you volunteer to warn them. It would be a sacrifice.”

“Maybe that's what you're supposed to do,” Stacy said. “After all, you are the boy with the bullet hole in your forehead.”

“And the angel?” Keith said.

“We believe that she'll appear to us once we get back inside,” Stacy said. “We'll have the best of both worlds.”

Keith knew that they were trying to convince him, persuade him to go along. And at some point in the conversation he wasn't sure who was right and who was wrong. His few days outside had been unbelievably beautiful and horrible at the same time. Standing there, amongst them, he honestly couldn't decide what was best for him. How could he decide what was best for them? He prayed for the boy to whisper something. He pleaded internally to whatever power that had brought him this far, but nothing came, nothing contacted him on any level.

He was lost.

“And the others?” he said, pointing to Harold and his family.

“We're going with you,” Harold answered. “We'll get to stay with our own kids.”

The woman put an arm around Harold and Keith glanced at the other man who was with them.

“My brother-in-law,” the woman said, in answer to the unasked question.

The children stood back, shy and quiet, which made Keith wonder, once again, if they weren't right that some people aren't suited for the outside world.

The night air was still except for the breeze that came from the highway every once in a while. Brent stared into Keith's eyes waiting for him to say something more, but Keith didn't make a decision one way or the other. He was unable to. Seeing Will's face, and Rebecca's, both resolved to be dulled down by getting chipped again, to experience a false sense of peace, placed a great weight on Keith's heart. How could he deny them what they longed for?

“We'll stay here tonight. It's a good enough spot,” Brent said. He motioned for Keith to lead the way.

Parting the brush aside, Keith crouched nearly on his hands and knees and snaked through the area until he could see the highway on the other side of a long gulley. The grass was long and they had plenty of cover.

“This is good,” Brent said.

The others spread out and found a space to either sit or lie down.

Keith rested on the ground between Brent and Stacy. “How would this work?”

“What?” Brent said.

“How do I lead you back inside and then warn the Newcity police about Bradley?”

Brent smiled. “Thank you.” He turned to Will. “You're in,” he said. Then he swung back toward Keith and went into his rough plan, explaining Keith's part as guide, and how he would continue to Newcity Central where he could turn himself in. Brent also asked Keith to memorize Bradley's approximate location. “Sam had a map with him,” Brent said before providing the rough directions.

Keith memorized the information Brent told him and repeated it to be sure he had it right.

“Good,” Brent said.

“The only problem is that we won't be able to get back in the way I exited,” Keith said. “The maintenance will have been performed already. There'll be another route, but I won't know it.”

“You'll be guided,” Stacy said.

Keith wanted to believe her. “We'll see,” he said. “I'm still not convinced that I escaped merely to lead you back in.”

“Why else would you come out alone?” she said.

“Maybe I was the last.” Keith said. “After all, the boy is still with me.”

“Don't say that. We waited for you to come. The boy is still here so that you can get back in.” Stacy appeared frazzled as she rejected his theory. “Enough of this. Let's get some sleep. We'll need to be fresh in the morning.”