Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum Read Free Book Online

was getting patchy, and they often found themselves passing over roadways lined by the rubble of collapsed and burned-out buildings. They were expecting the area to be crawling with robots, but except for the rare overhead buzz of a black-winged flyer, everything was strangely quiet.
    “Do you think the City will be as bad as they say?” asked Kevin as they walked. Neither Cass nor Nick answered. They had been hearing bonfire stories about the City their whole lives. Soon enough, Cass thought, they would know the truth.
    They took turns looking at the City through a pair of binoculars taken from the tent. They had heard a bit from first gens about what cities had been like before the Revolution, even seen pictures in scavenged books, but still … this was an alien world. The buildings nearest the far side of the river were two stories high, identical concrete and glass, and perfect right angles. Off in the distance, taller buildings, built in the same gray concrete, loomed larger with rows and rows of glass windows glittering in the sunlight. “Ten rows,” said Kevin, squinting through the binoculars. “Amazing. Those far buildings are ten rows high.”
    “Stories,” said Nick. “Dad called them stories .”
    “Whatever they’re called, they’re huge,” said Kevin. “Do you think they have those things inside, that lift you from row to row? I’d like to see that tech …”
    “Elevators,” said Cass, surprising herself with the vividness of a memory—her mother, cutting vegetables for a salad, handing Cass a carrot to snack on, describing how people used to live in tall buildings without having to climb stairs. Cass had asked where she had lived, with her birth parents, when she was an infant—had she been in a building with an elevator? Her mother had set the knife down, said yes, then given her a quick tight hug before returning to the salad.
    Cass nearly dropped the binoculars as two people came out of a doorway, walking down the side of the street. They gestured to each other as they talked, climbing onto strange two-wheeled vehicles and driving off. She found this even more disorienting than the buildings. Why weren’t they trying to get away? There were no bots nearby, no fence locking them into the City …
    After another half hour of watching, Kevin stood up from his crouch. “This is boring. I’m starving, and I’m not eating any more damned grass and twigs. Let’s go in.”
    “I agree,” said Nick.
    Cass was surprised that Nick had agreed with him. “We just walk in?” she said.
    “We can’t hide in the woods forever,” said Kevin. “You’ve seen what it’s like in the City—those bots are monitors, not soldiers, and people are walking around, not even paying any attention to them.” Cass nodded; it was true. Only once had they seen a bot, and it was a floating sphere, similar to the scout they had destroyed in the forest, but larger. Kevin went on, picking up speed. “The bots must have some sort of system that tracks the people, that alerts them when someone is making a break for it. I mean, why else is there no wall, no gate? And the people aren’t even trying to leave? It’s the only explanation.” With that, he began to move up the ravine toward the City.
    “Wait,” said Nick, grabbing Kevin’s shoulder. “We stash our supplies here. We stick together. We don’t do anything stupid that would attract attention. And this is just a quick recon. It’ll be sunset soon; we get back into the woods before dark to sleep. Got it?”
    Kevin shrugged out from Nick’s hand. He set his pack down, pushed it under a bush with his foot, then reached up and broke three large branches, leaving them jutting down at a right angle to mark the location. He began walking in a slow crouch along the ravine, toward the City. Nick and Cass quickly hid their packs, Cass taking a moment to rip out a page from her notebook, fold it up, and tuck it into her back pocket.
    “In case we don’t make