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“Won’t they wonder why I’m bound?”
You’ll carry this to hide the rope.” He thrust a coat over my tied hands. “I’m keeping the gag off you for now. Keep talking, and I’ll take my chances.”
We emerged from the apartment into an empty hall. We encountered no one on the way to the rooftop, where he shoved me into a vehicle that responded to his voice and touch. He seemed to have a level of organization I’d not expected. How many rebels did he work with?
Our flight in the sky took longer than expected and took us well past the city limits, coasting us over valleys thick with greenery and—
My face plastered to the window, I gasped. “There’s animals on the ground.”
“Part of their restoration efforts,” he said with a sneer. “Giving valuable land to dumb beasts. As if the world needs more deer, wolves and bears.”
“The Cabal is only trying to prevent any other animals from going extinct.”
“The Cabal is made up of greedy bastards who think they can control us.”
“And aren’t greed and jealousy motivating you?” My tongue got away from me, and the reaction proved swift, the slap bouncing my head off the glass.
“Shut up.”
I did, but only because we approached the remains of a building, part of it caved in and overgrown by shrubbery. “What is that place?”
“The old observatory,” Silas remarked. “Before the apocalypse, scientists spent all their time looking for trouble from the stars. In the end, our own planet destroyed us.”
“Not entirely true. Humanity played a large part. Knowing that, you’d think you’d understand the need for the preservation rules the Cabal put in place.”
He shot me a dark glance. “How can you defend them after what they did to you?”
“Because I can see the reasoning behind it.”
He snorted. “How can you when you’ve only just discovered the truth?”
“The truth is there’s still too many humans. If we want what remains of the world to survive and thrive, then the population either has to be contained and managed or culled.”
He whistled. “Now you’re sounding like those in charge.” He thought he’d insulted me. He didn’t know me at all.
“If I were in charge, I wouldn’t have demoted you.”
That brought a smirk to his lips. “So you are capable of being smart.”
“You didn’t let me finish. I would have eliminated you.”
That raised his brows. “Oh? On what grounds?”
“Because you obviously lack the right kind of temperament for a society that depends on its citizens all doing their part in harmony.”
His brows pulled together. “Fuck you. I’m doing my part to free us!”
Intuition hit me, and although I’d barely been on the surface, I’d immersed myself in as much of the education offered as I could, especially studying the history and culture of the color caste system. “No, you’re doing this to put yourself in charge because you want more for yourself.” Human motivations should have eluded me, and yet, here I was, arguing with a terrorist, who replied to my statements with another blow.
It only confirmed what I knew. Greed, not altruism, guided his actions.
I blinked away the pain as he landed our car and hid it under a canopy of branches. Before I could exit, Silas circled the vehicle and yanked me out, dragging me through the brush toward the ruined structure.
I had no time to admire or wonder at the life all around me, from the tiny flying insects to the scamper of something small and furry ahead of us.
How could Silas not think this worth preserving?
The door to the building hung ajar. As we entered, the fading afternoon light gave way to gloom and shadows. Leaves and other detritus littered the floor. The scents proved a mix of vegetation, mold and scat. The place had been long abandoned by humans, in other words.
