The Surface's End by David Joel Stevenson

Author:David Joel Stevenson [Stevenson, David Joel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2015-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Jonah stood in the creek near the Deathlands at dawn, spending far more time bathing than he ever had before. He had taken a small cube of soap from the Coomy's Sanitation Unit, hoping that the next time he interacted with the citizens underground, he would not raise so many eyebrows – or noses. He had felt bad about taking the soap, but he would figure out a way to pay them back for it later.

He had almost made it up the ladder to the surface the previous evening, his mind wandering, before he remembered that he'd left his things in the Sanitation Center. He debated retrieving it, for fear that there might be Control Officers guarding it, but decided that it would be far worse if they found all of his belongings.

He planned on simply ducking into the room of buttons were there any trouble, but he found it to be completely empty. For all the sense of urgency from Gabet's relay of the Facility alert, there was no visual change, except that there were fewer people in the halls.

Letting his underground uniform dry draped over a branch, he quickly finished his breakfast of a squirrel from one of his traps.

Removing most of the contents, he placed a few pears and a handful of pecans from nearby trees into his satchel, which he hid under the extra folds of fabric of the uniform when he dressed.

He pondered not only the interactions he had with the people below the surface – mainly Talitha – but also something incredibly curious that he found when he crossed the threshold between the Deathlands and grass.

He was almost positive that when he placed the flags marking the trail to the entrance, he had started with a flag right at the threshold. However, when he exited the Deathlands the night before, the last flag was at least eight feet from the edge. There was obviously no trouble in navigating back to the grass, but he was racking his brains, trying to visualize himself placing this flag so far into the Deathlands.

In addition to that, there was a thick line of dead grass edging the threshold. Did he simply overlook that before? Had he overlooked that all the years of staring out into the expanse? He could not once remember a gradual change from Deathlands to pasture.

He reminded himself, however, it had been less than a week ago that he chased the buck into the cracked plain. Before that, even if he had approached it, he had never crossed the line. Perhaps the dead grass had always been there? he thought.

It didn't matter, though. It was secondary to the thoughts surrounding Talitha.

He quickly made his way back down the shaft. After glancing through the slits into Talitha's empty room, he strolled out of Maintenance Duct Entrance 37C (13), passed the door to the Coomys' Family Unit, and ended up back in the room of blinking lights.

He wasn't concerned about actually standing in for Aile's assignment

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