Chapter 6: True

"China…" Kit didn't seem nervous, but there was a sense of inferiority in his voice. Like she had some kind of power over him.

"How does it feel to be the person who revealed all our secrets? You don't seem to feel guilty." China spoke as she took a sip from a bottle.

"Hey, that's my…" I glanced at the bottle she was drinking from and recognized it right away. It was the Bacardi Adrienne who gave me.

"Yeah, sorry I went through your things." The girl spoke nonchalantly.

"China, she just wanted to know what she was getting into. I wanted to scare her away." Kit tried his best to conciliate China.

"Scare her away? She's chosen. She won't be running away and soon she'll meet The Cardinal." China stated.

Kit didn't respond and only returned her remark with a scoff. He turned around and walked off leaving me and China alone. We stood for a moment in silence. The sound of pitter-pattering came to my ears and made me jump a little.

"It��s rain. Completely Harmless." China's face remained jaded, but a gleam in her eyes showed she was amused.

"Right…" Unsure of what rain was, I decided to ignore it and focus on China. "Why...why do you and Kit not trust us? Is it something we said or did..?"

"Listen...Macel is it? I just don't want to get involved with this war and you people from The Dome. Just because some Cardinal thing told me I was chosen to fight a war doesn't mean I'm going to let alone want to." China let out a sigh and took another sip of my Bacardi.

"...I was told you're from inside The Dome. You may not want to get involved with us...low lives, but you're already one." I started to raise my voice, getting annoyed by this girl's morals.

"That's not the point. I'm no longer from there…" She said trailing off.

"Neither are we. And from what I heard we might not have even been born there." I got excited from the thought, but also sick knowing my past parents might not have been my real ones. And that Arti might not have been my true brother.

"How did you even know there was something off. People are brainwashed inside that thing there's no way-"

"How did you know," I ask, interrupting her. "how did you know that something wasn't right?"

"Because I was in a family of white people while I was Asian. It was almost like they wanted me to find out. They thought it was normal, but of course, I looked into it and realized soon enough that they weren't my parents. After that like dominoes, things weren't adding up. Then I met The Panthers and they helped me escape. I was their first and only...well not anymore, subject you could say." China brushed it off with a casual shrug.

"Makes sense...did you meet Adrienne? He helped me and Kota out." I asked eagerly.

"Yes and he too supplied me with Bacardi. Unfortunately, Dennis confiscated it and told me I was too young to be drinking. I'm glad he gave you a bottle. He probably gave it to you so you could give it to me." China laughed to herself.

Annoyed with how self-righteous this girl was I got up off the seat I had claimed and grabbed the bottle from her hands. Without thinking anything through I took a large swig of its continents. For a second everything was fine, but after that second a burning sensation took its place in my throat causing me to wince.

"What is this stuff?" I asked looking at the bottle scornfully.

"That's alcohol," China answered, grabbing the bottle out of my hand. "You're a virgin huh?"

"That's what Adrienne said. Is it some kind of slang?" I asked sarcastically.

"Sure call it what you want." China didn't seem to care at all and returned to the subject at hand, "I want to know truthfully why you're here. Do you think you'll be safe? Because that's only a fantasy. No one is safe here. Especially you. You're a weakness added to The Southern League. We already have one, no one here wants three." Her voice was hostile and her body language danced with her words.

"I…" I was at a loss for words. In all honesty, I didn't have a plan. When we reached the end of the tunnel the unknown terrain outside The Dome scared me. I'm afraid of what I want to know. My own curiosity is what's going to get me killed. "Before we left The Dome. The very day the earthquake happened, I told my little brother that I'd play with him after I returned from my studies. I promised him that we'd play football at the park in our complex. He was ecstatic." I took in a deep breath feeling a lump form in my throat. "The second I turned onto my street, the minute I saw my house, I actually felt happy. My insides grew warm and I was excited to play with my little brother. Of course, at the time I had no clue we weren't even related. The joy inside me quickly faded when the earthquake and explosions started."

"The east," China spoke softly.

I nodded in response. "My parents were yelling at me from our porch, telling me to cover myself while they were protecting Arti with their own bodies. Next thing I knew...they were crushed by the porch cover. It happened quickly so I know they didn't suffer. They may not have been my true family in blood, but they were selfless and loved me until the end." I covered my mouth holding in a sob.

China was quite. I looked at her only to see an emotionless face. She showed little to no sympathy. I wanted to yell at her or maybe even hit her, but tears came over me like lighting.

"That may have been how you lived, but I grew up in an evil household. Every day new bruises kissed my pale skin and I could only ever cover them with clothes. The Dome was supposed to be a place of love and freedom, but there are flaws. Not everyone is perfect in there. In fact, they're all horrible people, including you and Kota. You don't even realize you left them all behind to die! If you care about them so much then why did you cower in fear of being locked up forever? Now they'll never get out because you gave it all away! The East with destroy that dome and create a new one filling it with our people only brainwashed!" China was now leaning over me yelling in my face.

I sat there speechless. Her words were like sowing needles poking at my heart. Conflicting me, making me regret my decision. Could I have saved them if I stayed? Would I have been better off a brainwashed doll for the east to manipulate? Maybe I would have been happier that way.

"That's rich coming from you. The girl who ran away from her problems." Kota walked into the moonlight scaring me and China a bit. "You yell at Macel as if she's the one to blame when you are the very person who sparked our interest in the outside world. The first-ever person to leave the fortified walls of The Dome. It was the newspaper headline last year. It said you instantly died the moment you stepped outside from radiation. Of course, I didn't believe a single word the article said. I grew interested so I started squeezing things out of my dad. I eventually uncovered a symbol of a panther killing a human in a journal my dad let me read. I dug deeper and discovered The Panthers and soon after met Adrienne. Then Macel and I became friends and, well here we are." Kota rested his hands behind his head casually.

All the boy got from China was two deathly glaring orbs. Her brown, almost black eyes could stab holes in your head if you stared for too long. She wasn't just some youngling. She was a mature mind in a girl's body. I felt ignorant standing between two knowledgable people. Kota knew an immense amount of things about the outside when I haven't even broken through the surface.

"Macey. You won't believe how terms work here. They go by years which is a little longer than a term and they call themselves by numbers, like sixteen or thirty!" Kota of course changed the conversation in an instant.

But I still couldn't stop thinking about the people inside The Dome and whether or no it was my fault they're most likely all dead. Including Adrienne.

"So you're telling me this machine can identify our age, race, and bloodline?" I glanced at the machine and back to Kit and Dennis with wonder.

"Yup. Technology since The revelation has skyrocketed." Dennis chirped.

"So you guys all The End, The Revelation?" Kota joined in.

"If the end is when everything was destroyed then yes," Dennis answered.

I walked over to the machine taking in its parts and detailed craftsmen ship. I didn't understand a thing, but I knew it was going to give me some answers. "I'll go first," I said raising my hand.

"Aw man, I wanted to…" Kota pouted.

"Here." Kit gestured for me to sit in the chair.

I carefully climbed onto the seat and put my feet in the foot locks and arms on the armrests. Kit not so carefully placed a pair of headphones over my ears and attached cords to my temples. He pushed a lever and the seat reclined a few inches to make it more comfortable.

"The machine will run multiple tests and diagnostics. It'll take your blood and read your brain waves. Make sure not to focus on anything too traumatic because it could cause a power surge, but don't worry you'll most likely be fine." Kit said nonchalantly.

"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel great." I retorted sarcastically.

I sat there for about an hour as the machine ran its tests. After a bit, Dennis and Kota left to do something more interesting, but Kit insisted on staying because could turn rogue and knock out the doctor. Oh if I had the guts to knock someone out.

When the end of the process ended I was unstrapped and carefully got off the seat. I sat n a bench in the room waiting for the results. I grew nervous as the clock ticked by. Anxiety taking it's course as I fidgeted with my fingers.

"Macel. Would you like to hear your results." The doctor asked me from the other side of the room just as Kota and Dennis returned.

I nodded hesitantly not sure if I wanted to know the things I was about to be told.

"From what we can tell you were definitely from the west. Your blood shows that much. You're fifty percent Australian, twenty-five percent British and twenty-five percent german. As for your age, we can already tell you are a teenager from your body, but your exact age is seventeen years and ten months. Your birthday is somewhere in the month of June or July. We can see the exact date unfortunately." The doctor said.

I wasn't as satisfied as I thought I would be, but there was something inside of me that felt...true.