Exceptional by Jess Petosa Read Free Book Online Page B

away.
    “What is that?” She pointed back to the contraption hanging on the wall.     He followed her finger and let out a small laugh.  “That?  That’s a TV.  We use it to play movies.  Before the virus it played shows and programs from around the world, but the ability to do so was lost long ago.”             “Movies?”  All of these words were foreign to her, and she suddenly wished she had paid more attention to the stories her grandfather used to tell.  He would tell her and Stosh that they needed to listen close, because if no one carried the stories on, soon the old world would be completely forgotten.  But Ally didn’t see the problem in that; the old world would never be coming back.             “I’ll show you,” he said.
    She followed him over to the TV and sat on the sofa while he looked through a cabinet nearby.  He pulled a small box from within and opened it, pulling out a thin, circular object.  Several minutes later, Lukin had the movie playing on the TV.  It hadn’t taken long, and Ally was sure she could repeat the steps if she tried hard enough.
        Pictures came to life on the screen.  The people in them moved, talked, shouted, and even kissed at times.  The movie they were watching seemed to be some sort of romance, with a war thrown in the middle.  Wars were a thing of the past, something she did actually recall from her grandfather’s stories.  He had said that her great grandfather had fought in one of the country’s more extensive wars, and had been in the military when the SS-16 virus was created.               “It’s amazing, Lukin...  I mean, Mr. Lukin,” she commented, watching the movie in awe.             “Yeah, I guess.  And please, call me Luke,” he said as he cocked his head at her, something she noticed out of the corner of her eye.             “But Sabine…”             “Forget what she said.  I give you permission to call me by my first name, and by that I mean you can call me Luke .  Only my parents call me Lukin anymore.”             With that, he turned back to the movie and leaned back into the couch.  They watched the remainder of it in silence, which gave Ally a chance to take it all in.
    “Some of these things seem so unreal.  Bombs that could blow up whole towns, planes that people flew in, the clothes they wore, the animals they kept in their homes; all of it,” Ally said as the movie came to a close.
        “I’ve seen these movies several times, and have had time to grow used to the idea of old world objects, but sometimes I still have trouble believing such things existed.   This city use to be full of cars and other forms of transportation, but now we walk wherever we go.  Some Exceptionals have bikes, which I can show you later, but learning to ride them is a pain,” Luke responded.             The TV screen turned black.  White scribbles scrolled up the screen and soft music played in the background.  Luke stood and turned the TV off, returning the movie to its case.                “Do you want to leave the house for a bit?  We can go for a walk and I can show you more of the City,” he asked.             Ally jumped up. “Yes.”  
    She hadn’t realized how much she was already missing the outdoors.  She practically lived outside her home in the settlement when she wasn’t eating or sleeping, and it had been almost a full day since she had breathed fresh air in the City.   She ran to the bathroom to pull her hair back and then met Luke in the foyer, a well-missed feeling of excitement overcoming her.  Perhaps she wasn’t in shock after all.
     
    ALLY DECIDED THAT THE CITY looked more magnificent in the daylight.  There had barely been any left when she had arrived the night before.  The buildings were completely visible in the cloudless sky, and the streets were scattered with