Daylight found me curled up on the futon, mentally begging the sun to turn around and go back down. I had been unable to sleep since I had settled there nearly four hours before, instead thinking about all the people who had died in the past forty-eight hours, our useless world leaders, and all the human beings I wished I could figure out.
I finally rolled over and went into the bathroom to change into my pastel purple dress, which law decreed was the colour for Fridays. It was a useless law, except that it was one more thing they controlled. I washed my face quickly, brushed my dark hair out, and braided it before going out to the kitchen.
Calix was still sleeping when my father left for work and my mother had gone outside to work in her garden, which was truly a mercy. I paced the living room, working myself well into a frenzy until I was well in the mood to punch through a window. The walls were closing in on me, swallowing me whole. The front door slammed, snapping me out of it and Echo's arms were crossed as she frowned at me. Then she pointed to the door.
"Take a walk," she told me. "I'll stay with Calix. Just get out and cool off."
I decided not to mention the thermometer: 89 degrees. Not planning on questioning a gift, I grabbed my knife and left, taking the road towards the town and praying there would be no attack that day. My mental stability couldn't handle it.
For nearly five minutes, my dream was a reality and everything was still, and then a shoulder nudged against mine and I snapped out of my daze, noticing that Scoutfield was walking alongside me. I stopped and turned to face him and he did the same. Then I saw the satchel crossing his chest and the bag in his hand.
"You're leaving." It wasn't a question. "Does Echo know?"
He nodded. "I spoke to her this morning... That was when I got the order."
I nodded absently and turned to continue walking, Scoutfield mirroring my actions. I attempted to ignore the officials clearing the dead bodies from the sides of the road, but all I could think was one sentence. It built under my skin, slowly working its way to the surface until I blurted out: "We're all going to die, aren't we?"
Scoutfield came to a halt.
"What did you say?"
Annoyance flooded through me. He knew perfectly well what I'd said!
"Don't worry about it," I snapped. "I spout out random facts when I'm nervous. I said: We're all going to die, aren't we?"
He rolled his eyes and then, resuming his pace, responded, "Yeah, Nova. We're all going to die."
We continued in silence for a few more minutes until I asked, "Where are you going?"
He drew in a deep breath and then released it. I saw his shoulders tense and realised that he was stressed out.
"Not entirely decided yet. My boat leaves-" he checked his watch, "way too soon. It'll take me to Vancouver where I'm to wait for news. If the laboratory in Saint George is stable, I'm to fly to China. If the lab is having problems... well... we'll see."
I looked down at my hands, then looked back at his face. "But Scoutfield…" I said quietly, "We were told that the laboratory in Saint George hasn't been used in nearly a decade."
Scoutfield was silent, then he checked his watch, dropped his arm to his side, and sighed. I wanted to believe he'd just let something slip, but I knew Scoutfield. He was perfect, and that would have been a juvenile mistake
"Miss Nova, I-we've kept a lot from you," he admitted. "A lot of secrets... and I don't have time to tell you now. The only thing I can say is, go to Echo, and tell her that you're supposed to be told everything. If I don't get in touch with her tomorrow, she's to mail this to the Union."
He passed me three envelopes, each addressed to different people.
"What's the Union?" I snapped out.
"She'll tell you that too."
I tucked the envelopes into my belt before wrapping my arms around myself.
"Will you ever come back?"
He laughed.
"Don't pretend you'll miss me. I know we've never gotten along. You were always an annoying know-it-all, and to you, I was a dumb official who was the reason for everything wrong in your life. I expect we'll both be glad to be rid of the other."
I nodded and he turned to keep walking to the dock. I paused a minute, then moved to keep up with him.
"One universe," I called ahead to him, and he glanced back at me as I went on. "Nine planets, seven seas and continents, eight-hundred and nine islands... and you got transferred here... of all places..."
He chuckled.
"And?"
"It's shocking," I finished, "How much rot luck makes us put up with!"
I was referring to him, and he knew it.
"Maybe there's no such thing as luck, Miss Nova," Scoutfield responded. "Maybe it's other people who move the pieces, and we're just a board game."
"Who plays the cards?"
He turned swiftly to face me, the move sudden.
"We play our own cards."
He glanced over his shoulder at the dock where there was a small bronze steamboat with the name: The Rising Sun written in bold, bright red letters.
"This is where we part."
I nodded and he turned to board the ship, but I grabbed his arm.
"I know we're not friends... we don't even like each other, right?" He nodded in affirmation, flashing a smirk as I finished. "But I want you to know that I will miss you."
"I'll miss you too, Nova." he replied lightly, a hint of a smile on his face. He reached up to brush a hand over my hair, his thumb gently stroking my cheek once before falling back to his side.
He turned and mounted the gangplank and I moved away from the dock. I watched from a distance as the boat slipped away across the water, and then I turned to go home.
Relief! Sweet relief!
He was gone!
I was relieved… wasn't I?
Who would I attack now? Who would I argue with?
I'd find someone.
He was just a stupid official.
I breathed out in relief and focused on the road before me. But in the distance, I could hear screams, and when my eyes grazed the horizon where my house rested, I saw the only thing that could make my blood turn to ice in under a minute.
It was a dark, deadly cloud.