Chapter 46
The car pulled to the side, allowing Esmie a view of the ending tree line, and a vast empty landscape lay beyond separated by a large piece of glass.
She didn’t wait for the mayor to excuse her and jumped out the moment the car stopped.
Jogging the distance between the car and the glass she peered around to see if her eyes were betraying her, even pulling off her ballcap to get a better view.
It was real. The glass stretched above and over her.
She craned her neck, turning back toward the trees to see it reach into the sky and disappear from view.
“It’s a dome, to answer your question. It separates Andloor from the outside world.
Our ancestors built it many years ago, slowly separating us from what they knew would be a toxic world.
” The mayor stood with his hands on his hips as he gazed up, his face filled with admiration.
“It saved us. The dome did. When the world decided to finish itself off.”
“What do you mean, ‘finish itself off’?” Esmie’s mind whirled, trying to understand what the mayor said.
“From the nuclear war. Everyone bombed each other, killing off humanity. We survived in this dome, protected from the ugliness out in the world. People knew and flocked here for refuge. We stopped taking them in after a certain point. Couldn’t afford it.
At the last minute, many tried to come inside but it was too late.
We had the foresight to protect our people.
They didn’t and paid the ultimate price. ”
“But how did you hide all of this? From everyone in Andloor?”
The mayor chuckled, but not like her Papi did.
His was cold and calculating compared to the warmth of her father’s.
“It took a while, but we slowly convinced people not to leave from the dangers of the outside. We changed the city, adding the river to create a distinct line between downtown and the suburbs, helping to separate narratives and stories then adding our own via the news and social media. Finally, we added the swamps all around, which was easy as this was swamp before Andloor was built here. Getting through the swamp to leave was challenging, so people didn’t leave.
Those who tried, either got lost, or were removed.
” Esmie didn’t like how he used the word removed, as if those people were a nuisance.
“Personally, I came up with the culture thing. The icing on the cake. Removing people’s culture removed their desire to travel back to their home. Removing culture makes them loyal to the only place they should be loyal to. Me. Well, Andloor.” The mayor smirked at his supposed cleverness.
“Where is my family?” Esmie faced him, her anger spiking at all the lies he held.
The mayor clicked his tongue, then motioned to the guards.
Another vehicle pulled up a moment later with more guards, then her parents and Leo, gagged and bound were pulled out.
They shook their heads when they saw her, screaming muffled sounds until a guard yelled at them to shut up.
“And to sweeten the pot,” the mayor pushed another button on his fob and the ground to her right opened. A platform rose up. Another three guards popped out, holding Mindy and Tessa by their biceps.
“Esmie, what’s going on?” Tessa called, her voice cracking, tears in her eyes. Mindy’s head swiveled around, her gaze lingering on the expanse behind Esmie, then on Esmie’s face, her eyes wide with fear.
“Wh-what happened to your face?” Mindy said. Esmie’s heart dropped. The mayor didn’t just take her family; he took her friends too.
“You have seen your family and friends, now it’s time for you to fulfill your end. Give me a vial of blood first, then we go back to Genetronetics to get started on running you through some tests.” The mayor ignored her friends’ pleas.
Esmie hesitated for only a moment, then walked toward the mayor, despite Leo’s animated expressions.
Jutting an arm forward, she waited as the mayor grinned, pulled out a pen like contraption, pressed it against her skin and clicked the top.
She felt a prick and pull sensation, then it was done.
He removed the pen looking device and pocketed it.
“Now release my family and friends,” Esmie demanded.
The mayor shook his head, tsking with his tongue. “I can’t do that my dear. They know too much. Guards, take them away and come get this one.” The guards pulled on her family and friends, directing them back toward the tunnel. They stumbled as the mayor turned his back on her.
Anger coursed through Esmie’s veins. She allowed her anger to fuel her powers, picking up both cars and swinging them around in the air.
The mayor dropped to the ground. Several more guards streamed from the tunnel, running toward her.
Esmie swiped the cars at them, knocking them into the surrounding trees.
Her friends screamed as the guards pulled them toward the lift again.
Esmie reached out her hand, stopping the lift from descending back into the ground.
She pulled on the gears until they broke with a crunch. The guards stumbled and fell.
Esmie ran over to her friends, hugging them fiercely. “Go. Hide. You can’t be here,” she told them when they pulled away.
“The stuff on your face, is that how you got powers?” Mindy asked, her blue eyes darting across Esmie’s face. Tessa lifted her hand to touch it but then pulled away. For a moment, Esmie was embarrassed, but she didn’t have time to be. She needed her friends to find safety.
“It happened the night we went to see Maldado,” Esmie explained as quickly as she could. Every few moments she stopped to deal with more guards, then continued rushing through her story. She needed to get to her family as soon as possible, once her friends were safe.
“Is that why you were gone from school? From us?” Tessa asked, her rounds eyes even more round.
“I’ve been in hiding from Genetronetics and Andloor Capitol.” Esmie scanned the other side of the clearing for the mayor. He must have escaped as he was not where she last left him.
“We’re sorry you didn’t feel you could trust us,” Mindy said in such a quiet voice, Esmie almost didn’t hear her. She tore her eyes from the tree line to gaze at her best friends. Grabbing one of their hands in hers, she squeezed tight.
“Please don’t be sorry. I thought keeping you out of the loop and away from me would guarantee your safety. Obviously, I was wrong and for that I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry either. We’re your friends and we are on your side no matter what. Right Mindy?” Tessa’s brown water-filled eyes glanced to Mindy who nodded, her now limp blonde hair shaking.
“Thank you. You are the bestest friends I could ever ask for. Now I need to go save my family. Hide in the trees and I’ll come get you when I take care of these guys.”
“Be careful, Esmie,” Mindy said before pulling them all into another hug. Esmie broke away before she crumpled in their arms. She shooed them away. They sent her their signature hand gesture of a heart, using their pointer finger and thumb pressed together.
When they were hidden, Esmie spun around to search for the mayor.
More guards poured out of the tunnel, guns raised, several moving toward her family.
Esmie ran toward them, but several guns clicked, aimed at her chest and at her parents and Leo.
Her chest heaved more from anger than exertion.
The mayor popped out from behind the tree line opposite her.
He stayed to the side to avoid the line of fire.
“I wouldn’t attack anymore if I were you.
These men and women are trained to hit their target.
Currently their target is anywhere on your body except your chest and head.
We can keep you alive on machines while running tests on your broken body if we have to,” the mayor said, his voice threatening.
“And if you still feel like being a martyr, you won’t reach your family in time before their precision aim kills them with a shot to the head.
Now surrender and go back to the tunnel.
We will have a car to transport you shortly. ”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the roar of an engine came to life, and headlights shone in the tunnel.
A black car barreled out of the tunnel, running over several guards.
The mayor yelped and jumped back toward the trees.
The black car swerved and stopped directly in front of her family.
Esmie’s breath caught at the familiar Camaro, looking like it had just gotten polished.