“What do you mean?” Cole and Zach walked side-by-side through the tunnels. They weren’t in a hurry, but they were attentive. After having incapacitated 2 enforcers, lying their way out of having to do it to a 3rd, and working to bring down the town from the inside, Cole felt like they had oversized targets on their backs. Every person that saw them would likely be a bit more suspicious.
“Ollie’s news. It’s not great for us.” Zach sighed. “There’s not a lot of leeway. Prison is really just that; prison. The only people that get released are explicitly released because the elders requested it.”
Cole’s feet slid across the dirt as he stopped. “The elders?”
Zach nodded. “It’s what Ollie said.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. I was released, but the elders didn’t want anything to do with me, remember? I practically rescued them in town hall, but they didn’t say anything. I was literally gassed and woke up with you.”
“Hrm… They must have wanted you out.” Zach shrugged. “Who’d you talk with?
“One and Two.”
“I mean, there are 3 other elders, maybe it was one of them?”
Cole sighed. “I guess.” It didn’t make sense, but lately, nothing had. “So what, the elders just decide who is worthy and who isn’t?”
“Sounds that way.”
“Did he say anything else?”
“I asked how he knew.”
“And?” Cole pried.
“Well I told you his parents were in security, right?”
Cole nodded.
“They would talk about it growing up, and he’d hear some things. A lot of whispering about the elders, and secrets, and keeping people in line. They wouldn’t talk to him directly, but he picked up on a lot.”
“Well that’s good for us.”
“I guess,” Zach said. “But when he was assigned, he was kicked out. Hasn’t seen his parents since. Doesn’t even know what happened to them.”
“Why was he kicked out?” Cole pressed on.
“Didn’t really have time to dig into it, you know, with the enforcer literally feet away from us.”
Cole shrugged it off. He supposed it didn’t matter, which it didn’t, but it was odd. There weren’t many demotions, and usually people were assigned wherever their parents were. It got him thinking though, if people could be demoted, as Oliver had, he wondered if people could jump up a class. It wasn’t worth bringing up with Zach, whose parents and grandparents had been shovelers, so he filed it away in the back of his memory for a later time.
“So unless we convince the elders, we’re just shit out of luck?” Cole asked the obvious question.
“I mean, technically, yeah, but based on what we’ve done lately, I don’t think we have to constrain ourselves to what the rules are, you know?”
“What are we going to do? Knock everyone out until we get there? I don’t think that’s going to go over very well.”
“What happened when you were released?”
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
“I mean, like, how’d it happen? Did they just walk up to you and say you no longer needed to be there, or something?”
Cole reached back in his memory. It wasn’t even that long ago, but with everything that had gone down, it seemed like it. “It was a security guard. He just walked in and said I was free to go. He cuffed me and led me out.”
“Impenetrable system, for sure.” Zach laughed.
“I really don’t think we can lie our way through that.”
“No, but something Ollie said gives me a different idea.”