Resist Read Online Free

class
today. I imagined the color to be similar to the factory walls
where my dad worked, but I had never been there and hadn’t seen him
for years, so I couldn’t say for sure.
    People don’t return from the
Badlands.
    “ Vi, I’m glad you finally answered
my e-comm,” Zenn said, his voice smooth, just like his skin and the
perfectly fluid way he walked.
    “ You know my mom.” I didn’t have
to elaborate. Not with Zenn. “I told her I was coming whether she
said yes or not.” I tried to hide how desperate I’d been to see
him, how happy his e-comm invitation had made me. He could’ve asked
me to the moon and I would’ve gladly gone. And taken whatever
punishment followed.
    I’d left school during the
afternoon break. The Special Forces compound is a two-hour walk
south of the City of Water. I’d crossed the border and trekked for
half a mile in the Fire Region just to see him. Crossing borders is
also against the rules, but Zenn was worth every step.
    I watched the hovercopters circle
closer, comfortable in the silence with Zenn. Sometimes it said
more than we did.
    The sidewalks had stopped
functioning thirty minutes ago, clearly curfew for this park. As
one hovercopter dipped nearer, it took every ounce of courage I had
to keep from reaching out, grabbing Zenn’s hand, and
running.
    Before, I might have done it. But
there was something different about him. Something that made me
think he wouldn’t run with me this time.
    Another quick glance confirmed it.
His eyes. They held no sparkle. No life. Maybe the Forces worked
him too hard.
    My sweet, wonderful Zenn. I hoped
he was okay here. His eyes worried me.
    “ Well, now that you’re here, I’ve
got something for you,” he said, smiling.
    I angled my body toward him.
Zenn’s e-comm had said he had a surprise for me—surely something
he’d tinkered with until it was absolutely perfect. Like he
was.
    “ The Forces have
kept me busy,” Zenn continued, reach ing into his pocket. He didn’t seem
concerned about the cir cling hovercopters, but he wasn’t
always living one breath away from getting arrested. “But we might
not get to see each other again for a while. Your birthday is in a
couple weeks, and you’re my—”
    “ You down there!” An electronic
voice cut through Zenn’s throaty tone. I flinched and took a half
step behind Zenn. A one-manned tech-craft, the hovercopter was
invented especially for ruining lives. No one ever escapes from
one. Not even me.
    On the bottom rudder, a red rose
winked through the twilight. My breath shuddered through my
chest—I’d been caught by this hovercopter before. Maybe since Zenn
was a Forces recruit and had invited me here, I wouldn’t get in
trouble.
    Yeah, right. Fairness isn’t
something the Director cares about.
    “ Cards!” the mechanical voice
shouted. Zenn pulled out his lime green activity card and held it
straight up. An electric arm grew from the side of the police
vehicle and flew down to scan the bar code on the back of Zenn’s
card.
    I slowly retrieved my own ID. No
one in the Goodgrounds can so much as step onto the sidewalk
without an electronic record of their activity.
    My card was blue for the City of
Water. I raised it halfway as the arm jangled at me, trying to get
a better angle to scan the bar code. Then I’d be busted for being
out of bounds—after dark.
    Zenn watched me with a wary eye.
“Vi. Don’t give them a real reason to lock you up.” He stepped
close enough for his body heat to permeate
my senses. Touching was against the rules, but he’d broken that one
lots of times.
    I smiled, even though he was
right. Lock Up is not a fun place. The stench alone is enough to
set rule-breakers straight. Still, I almost threw my activity card
into the brambles where no one would ever find it.
    Zenn’s face stopped me, his mouth
drawn into a fine line. My bar code would be attached to his—we
were in the park after dark ( gasp! )—and if I got into serious
trouble, he