Chapter Ten

The next hour went by silently. We didn't talk much. People saw us with our backpacks but they ignored us. At least for now. When we are not yet on the wanted list. I was very curious as to where are we going. My dad was a security guard. So it seemed logical that he knows the secret exits all around the city. But he worked only at the mall. But I didn't ask him. I was too busy worrying about getting caught and the punishments that await.

Warhem has a total of sixteen neighborhoods and a central. Our neighborhood is near the west. Closer to Yula. Our neighborhood is second from the edge of the city. And our estate is third from the edge of the neighborhood. The blocks are arranged like a square, thus one estate is mostly shaped like a square. From the direction we're heading, I can say our block is second from the edge of the estate. So that's about ten blocks and a bridge we have to go through.

We passed by Norman's block.

'Dad, are they not coming?' I asked.

'Son, anything we say just don't make it obvious, the cameras are monitoring'

I looked around slowly, so that I won't attract attention. Now that my dad has mentioned, I realised how watchful the government is. Very much. Don't expect to have even a little privacy outside your homes.

'They're not coming for us yet?' I asked.

'Let's hope not. I guess Jayden hasn't told anyone yet'

We just kept walking. My mom was holding Zayne's hand. I knew anytime soon, the government would find us suspicious. But at least we still have hopeful time. Until Jayden told them, they could suspect anything. Because one of the exits for whoever who wants to visit another city is also in the direction we are going. I just keep up the pace, I was very nervous and frightened. I saw my dad look at me from the corner of my eye.

'Norman and his family are following us. Only they took a different route. Don't want to cause bigger suspicions' dad answered my previous question. He must have read how frightened I was from my expression because after that, he asked me to try and hide my fear as I was making it obvious.

'Let me rephrase, anything we do, don't make it obvious' he added.

We were finally reaching the end, currently passing by the third last block from the edge. That was when everything went chaotic. Well for me and my family. And Norman and Orion's family too I guess. On the screens on the streets, parks and commercial buildings, there was suddenly my face and a wanted sign on it. I'm dead, I thought. This was very alarming. Loud sirens echoed throughout the city. Wow, they want me very badly.

'Anyone seen this boy, his family and anyone associating with them, alert the officials immediately' the usual female voice that gives announcements, echoed throughout the city along with the sirens. There was a family of four, they have two small kids. I could see my parents look pleadingly at them. The father took out his tabloid and started dialling. No mercy from them. We took off immediately. The father shouted after us as we ran passed the second last block. My dad carried Zayne in his arms and we ran faster. Upon reaching the last block, my dad made a sharp turn to the left and headed towards the next block, which is part of another neighborhood. But we have to cross another bridge first. That was when we saw techbots running towards us. They're chasing us from behind like some crazy robot killers. My nightmares could not have gotten worse. Techbots are only supposed to operate after curfew time. I guess they released them early today. And they definitely modified the system, asking them to focus only on me. And most probably kill me. We ran onto the bridge, heading for the other end. The bridge goes over the rushing stream that leads out of the city. But don't know exactly to where. They said that it was man-made. But I was focusing on something else. Since the stream leads out of the city, there is obviously an opening for illegal people like us who wants to leave. But the question is, oxygen should have escape through those openings. But we still have plenty of oxygen. I mean, I'm confused. We do pack our spacesuits in our bags but we are not wearing them yet. What if we have to make an emergency exit and we have not put them on. I think our fate now is just death either way.

So we were confidently running to the other side when that side was blocked by the techbots as well. We're trapped.

'This is not the way I had planned' my dad murmured. He did not wait any longer, he turned to face the stream and jumped through one of the bridge holes into the water, asking us to follow. What just happened? Jump into the water to our death? My mom told me to go. I did. I jumped through the hole. A few seconds later, the cold water rise up my skin as I went all the way in. It was dark. There wasn't any light in the stream. Another splashing sound. I rose up to the surface in time to breathe in. That was my mom and Zayne. Dad was nearing the exit already. We pushed ourselves forward easily, letting the stream to guide us. I looked back, the techbots were staring at us blindly. It's like they're confused. Their system is not designed for water. We escaped! We escaped for now.