Sirens by Braden Cawthon

Author:Braden Cawthon [Cawthon, Braden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2023-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

I walked through those empty halls, following her voice.

It seemed to be only an echo—an echo of a memory.

But it was there. She was here, somewhere.

I heard other things, things I should have questioned,

But her voice made everything else fade away.

The halls were full of that blinding moonlight.

Emily took a deep breath as she exited the room, mentally preparing for the conversation ahead of her. Did Matthias find out that I stole the map? What does he want from me? She weaved back through the building, stopping by her room.

She took the folded map from her back pocket and stashed it far down in her bag before she turned and made her way to the elevator. After a quick ride, she exited into the lobby on the top floor.

Moments later, she found herself apprehensively knocking on the door to Matthias’s office. From inside the room, she heard his quiet voice call out, “Come in!”

She steeled herself for a moment before entering the room, attempting to look casual. Matthias was already seated at the desk, all the papers on top perfectly arranged into stacks. That’s not a good sign.

“Please come in, sit.”

Emily slowly walked into the room and sat in one of the chairs, remaining tense. Matthias was regarding her with tired eyes; despite the circumstances, his silvery-gray hair was still perfectly combed, in stark contrast to the unkempt appearances of all the other survivors.

Matthias shuffled through some of the papers on his desk and grabbed one, setting it gently in front of him, before picking up a pen and saying, “There are a few matters I wish to discuss with you, to clear the air. I believe you have something of mine.”

Emily met his eyes confidently, tilting her head. She opened her mouth to respond, but Matthias slowly held up a hand, halting her. He continued, “There is no point in me asking why, or asking what you know. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. If you would like an explanation for anything, simply ask.”

Emily kept her mouth tightly shut, unsure of what to say. Matthias nodded, sighing. “I’m not sure what I’ve done to earn such distrust from you, but I assure you that there are reasons for everything I do. The reason for the working vehicles is quite simple—we use them to carry information between here and the residential location. It is the simplest and fastest way to get important messages from here to there.”

Emily cut in, quickly asking, “Why are you keeping it a secret, then?”

Matthias frowned as he responded, “If I told everybody we had working vehicles, they would all be stolen within the day, either to try to go to the second location and shirk their responsibilities here or, even worse, to leave the city, and you are well aware of how futile and dangerous that would be. It is in the best interest of everyone in this community—both those individuals who might do something foolish and all of us as a whole—to keep it hidden.”

Emily leaned back, thinking.

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