Page 84 of Black Mamba

“I’m searching for my sister.” Perhaps if everyone is gathering… it would be a good place to look for her. “Maybe you’ve heard of her? Jenna Viller?”

The woman thinks then shrugs, pulling her black shawl tightly over her shoulders. “No. But don’t worry. News travels fast around here. You should try the registrar, that’s where everyone is told to go for missing persons.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“In the center of the encampment, near where the announcement will be actually. It’ll be in the building on the right off the main path. It’s big and partially crumbling. You can’t miss it.” The woman turns around when the soldier calls her forth.

The same soldier waves to me when she’s allowed through. “Name, caste, and ID number,” he says as I approach.

I give him my information, and he finds me on his tablet. Checking the picture they took of me yesterday, he lets me through.

“We can’t be too careful,” he says. “Not after what’s happened at the other encampments.”

I frown, not sure what he means.

The gate is large, rough, and made of wood, and I quicken my pace and pass through. I dodge a few soldiers and civilians as I search for the main path. Everyone is waking up. Drones and other machines ascend into the sky or swoop in and out overhead.

As the sun rises with the machines, and dawn’s light awakens the camp, I take in the rows of small wooden buildings and large pavilion tents. Everything is uniformed inside.

Coming upon soldiers and people dressed in white lab coats, I follow them down the path everyone else is going. At the end is a series of large, crumbling ruins and buildings. Old buildings from an ancient, dead world.

“Everyone! Make your way to the center!” a man in white shouts from the tents between the paths.

Following the others, I uneasily glance behind me again. But Lukys isn’t there… and the forest is no longer in view.

At the same time, my eyes flick to every face, searching for Jenna’s among them. I find people I spoke to yesterday, I even spot Levy, but I don’t see my sister.

A loud humming fills my ears, and I soon come upon a giant, metal contraption in the middle of the camp. There are gates and tents lined around it, and a makeshift stage.

As I near it, I hear people talking about a powercell. When I try to get closer, the growing throngs stop me.

I face the machine—what I think is this powercell—and get a clear view of it when the people ahead of me move. Feeling the vibration of the machine’s energy in the ground, its hum reverberates through everything. On a large, circular platform, and behind an erected gate that wraps around the entirety of it, the powercell is like an obelisk. A round opening hollows out the cell’s middle with tendrils of electricity shooting out from the sides and colliding with others.

“Make way! Move aside!”

As an escort of soldiers and officers walk toward the powercell, splitting the crowd in two, I shift to the side and back out of the gathering people, realizing if I don’t leave now, I’m going to be swallowed and stuck.

I don’t see my sister anywhere.

Dashing to the crumbling building to the right, the one I hope is the registrar, I enter the wide-open entryway. I’m pressed for time. A twinge of guilt churns my stomach and I quicken my pace.

I don’t think Lukys would try and enter the encampment, but I also don’t know how he’s going to react if and when he discovers that I’m gone.

Inside the building is a large foyer-like space with tarps and smaller, open tents. With the ceiling half gone, many of the tents are covering long tables that are littered with tablets and documents. There’s no one around.

I walk to the first table. “Hello?”

“Hey! Hold up. You’re not supposed to be in here right now.” A soldier walks past me, grabbing one of the tablets on the table within the tent next to me. He turns as he swipes his hand over it, powering it on. The screen brightens then changes when he places his fingers directly on it. The tablet flickers. “Shouldn’t you be outside with the others?” He eyes me suspiciously.

“I’m searching for my sister—well the registrar—to see if she’s here…” When he continues to squint at me, I swallow and continue, “Or if she has been here. I’m not here to steal anything if that’s what you’re thinking. The doors were open.” I point to the entrance behind me.

The man lifts his brows but then he sighs. “This building doesn’t have doors anymore. But I guess trying to beat the crowd here while they’re busy is smart.” He looks down at his tablet. “The people manning Operations Services aren’t here yet, but I can do a quick search. Who are you looking for?”

I suck in a breath. “Jenna Viller.”

“Jenna Viller. Spelled how it sounds?”

“Yeah.”