The Extinction Trials(101)

“Wait,” Maya said. “Our family members—where are they?”

“They’re waiting for you,” Will said. “We’ve prepared everything you need.”

At the airlock, there were no environmental suits, only thick coats and pants, and boots with metal teeth.

They dressed in the cold-weather gear, and when the airlock opened, Maya expected to see a submarine waiting on the other side. What she saw was open sky—an absolutely spotless, clear sky, more blue than any she had ever seen.

The ground was even more surprising. It was covered in ice and snow as far as she could see—an endless expanse of white that took her breath away. When she did breathe out, it drifted in puffs of steam.

“Where are we?”

“At the planet’s south pole,” Bryce said. He crunched forward then, across the sea of ice, Owen, Maya, and Will following.

They walked in silence, the biting cold wind whipping at them. Maya couldn’t help but notice that she felt a little heavier, her gait more labored, and she tired more quickly.

Ahead, where the ice met the sea, a boat waited. It reminded Maya of the craft they had found on the island that held Station 17, except this boat didn’t have any computerized components. It was like something from a different time.

They boarded, and Maya and Owen went belowdecks where they found Owen’s mother and Maya’s sister resting in the largest stateroom. Each had a small white device attached to their temple. Maya assumed the small devices were keeping them asleep—or in a stasis-like coma.

They returned to the main deck where Will and Bryce were waiting.

“How long will the voyage be?” Owen asked.

“Quite some time,” Will replied. “Which is good. There is much we need to tell you. This new world is different in ways you can’t imagine.”





Chapter Eighty-One





The boat sailed across the open sea, never sighting land or any other vessels.

During the day, Maya sat in the lounge with Owen, talking and playing cards, and sometimes, just holding each other as they listened to the ship’s engines and watched the waves crest and the sea life jump into the air and splash back down.

At night, they listened as Will and Bryce educated them on the world that was waiting for them—and what they had to do. When the talks were done, they retreated below decks into a stateroom where they did what she had wanted to do on the small vessel they had found outside of Station 17.

She couldn’t remember ever being happier.

She felt slightly guilty at the fact that she didn’t want the voyage to end. But she knew it must. She and Owen had a role to play here. For them, The Extinction Trials wasn’t over.

She had lost track of the days when Owen spotted land. He was standing in the cockpit, peering out with binoculars.

He handed them to her, and her jaw dropped at what she saw. To the right, a city spread out along the coast. It was situated at the edge of a peninsula, and across from it was another peninsula, one that was barren and undeveloped, with mountainous terrain covered in shrubs. But it was the sprawling creation that stretched between the two peninsulas that took her breath away. The two landmasses were joined by the largest bridge Maya had ever seen. It was red with two towers and suspension lines reaching down. Behind the boat, the sun was setting, casting a golden glow across the red bridge and lighting the fog that was drifting in from the sea.

“It’s the longest suspension bridge in the world—by main span length,” Will said. “At least for now.”

Cars crept across the massive structure as the boat floated closer and then under it.

A wide, deep bay spread out beyond the bridge. Ahead, there were three islands: a large one to the left, a small one dead ahead, and a slightly larger island to the right, connected to the mainland and the peninsula by two bridges.

Owen pointed toward the small island. “What’s that?”

“It was formerly a military base,” Will said. “It’s a prison now.”

They proceeded slowly through the bay, Maya taking it all in. It was truly a spectacular city. She marveled at this small sliver of what humanity had built while she and Owen had slept.

They docked the boat at a marina, and the four of them went belowdecks.

“Their language is different,” Will said. “But it won’t be a problem. We’ve implanted the vocabulary in your minds already, so you’ll be conversant, but I should warn you, this world is very different from the one you left. It will take some getting used to.”

“We understand,” Owen said.

“Their clothes are also different,” Will said as he set two outfits on the bed.

Maya eyed hers before picking it up. “What is this?”

“They call it a skirt.”

“It’s just… open at the bottom?”

“Yes.”

“Strange.”

When they were dressed, they loaded their supplies into a van Will and Bryce had left in the marina parking lot. It was night by the time they used a ramp and wheelchair to move Maya’s sister and Owen’s mother from the boat into the van.

They drove through the city then, Owen and Maya sitting by the windows, taking in every detail. The terrain was hilly, and the streets were crowded. What Maya saw surprised her and, at times, broke her heart. In alleyways, she saw homeless people huddling together to stay warm. On street corners, prostitutes loitered and posed and called into the night. In the shadows, drug dealers whispered and handed off small packages to people passing by.