The night of his departure was probably the most painful time in Matt's life. Unlike his sister he had only been granted a couple of months before he was sent a confirmation letter calling him to the Council Assembly. The instructions were vague, and sent a chill down his spine.
‘As a member of the Travelers Clique, you are to pack a singular bag with all essential items needed. Objects such as clothes, food packages, matches, and rope are permitted. Any sharp objects will be confiscated upon baggage search. We highly advise you leave all personal belongings holding value at home. You won’t be needing them.’
He donned his father's old denim jacket and some jeans, packing a few more pairs of the pants and a couple of shirts. He didn’t have a lot of room in his bag but he figured he would pack a few extra things. Matches, canned fruit, etc.
He was barely done packing his knapsack when his father appeared in his doorway, letter in his hand, tear drops staining spots on his shirt.
“I could hide you. We have a warehouse at the market, you could stay there-” He stepped into the room, placing his hands on Matt’s shoulders. Matt shook him off, his voice barely made it over his tongue.
“Dad, you know it wouldn’t work...they’d send search parties.”
“Well what about a fake death-”
Matt whipped around, scowling at his father.
“Dad!”
“What!” His dad began to cry again, his voice shaking with every other syllable.
“What M-Matt...What do y-you want m-me to d-do...I can’t...I can’t l-lose y-you too.”
Matt hadn’t even realised he had pulled his father into his arms until he felt something warm and wet soak through the denim of his jacket. He squeezed him gently, his father shaking uncontrollably.
“Shhh, Dad, it’s gonna be okay-” His father shook his head.
“I know I’m gonna lo-”
“Dad, Dad. Listen to me.” He pulled away to look down at his dad. “I’m going to be alright. I’m going to find Katy and I’m going to come home. Just trust me okay?”
His father was at a loss for words, so he simply nodded his head before wrapping his son in one last embrace before he let go to leave.
“Well. I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” It didn’t take a lot for Matt to tell his father wasn’t going to be okay after this, but there wasn’t anything he could do. He didn’t have a choice.
“Goodbye Matthew.”
“Goodbye Dad.”
With that his father left his room, quietly shutting the door behind him with a gentle click of the lock, leaving Matt to himself for the remaining hour before he was to set out to the Council Room.
The night air was no different than the day, a solid 70 degrees. That didn’t stop the chill from creeping down his spine. At ten at night you never saw anyone outside of their houses, and him being an inside kid didn’t help the eerie lonely feeling he felt as he walked down the dark roads. Street lights provided a light yellow glow every hundred feet or so, but nothing more. Every step seemed to echo throughout the square.
The trip wasn’t long, fortunately. Only a half hours leisurely walk from his apartment. From a block away it was easy to distinguish the arcs and towers of the Council Assembly. Torches illuminated the doors to the building, the first Society Standards list engraved above them. Below, he watched as kids his age funneled into the building, silhouettes distinguishing nothing more than height and hair.
A few moments later he found himself by the doors. A man with dark robes draping over his arms and body stood on the inside, a list held in his hands.
“Name please?” He must have been part of the Catalog Clique because Matt had never seen him before. His short blonde hair was rare among the people of the dome, so he definitely would have remembered seeing this guy. However his body structure was not so unique. He was a tad on the shorter side, a good inch shorter than Matt, but what he lacked in height he more than made up in attitude. Before he could think any further on the man’s identity his thoughts were interrupted.
“Name. Please.” 
“Oh, uh, Matt.” The man did not looked intrigued. 
“Full name?” He c***ed his brow, as if it had been obvious. Had the situation been any different it probably would have been, but right now Matt’s mind was a racing mess.
“Oh right, uh, Matthew. Matthew Harris.”
The man looked down at his list before scratching something onto the paper. He looked back up at Matt with a smile that seemed off.
“Happy to have you here Matt, please, if you’ll go find your seat we can get this squared away. Head left, last room of the corridore. The meeting will begin soon.”
The man stepped aside to let Matt in. This is it. He stepped in and took no time in trying to find his way around. Heading to the right he watched as deep stained wooden doors lined the corridor, marble arches accenting their tops. He took a few moments to look at them. No one could really afford wooden doors like these. No wonder they cost a lot. They’re beautiful. It wasn’t long until he came to the last door in the corridor, slightly propped open for the incoming Travelers. Hesitantly he stepped inside, looking around at the different faces seated in the semicircle balchany style of the room. Familiar faces lined the seats as he found his own space towards the back marked with a singular piece of paper with his name on it. He found himself a few seats away from Monica, his mathmatics classmate. He didn’t have time to focus on her though, he had to focus on what was going on right here, right now, because for all he knew, this would be the last he ever sat within the Dome.

Sitting in the conference room Monica couldn’t help but wonder what got here here. She found herself sitting amongst a group of troublemakers from her school. She scanned the room with a critical eye, trying to piece everything together.
The first kid she can identify is Jake Hoffman. Market major. Spent most of his thursday afternoons lounging in the public square while on produce count duty. Fun loving guy who did, whatever it is he did, for no one but himself. 6’3” with a knack for hitting peoples funny bone he was attractive to most, which is probably how he managed to get friends.
Next she found herself looking at Rebecca. Short and stout, Becca as she was called by friends, looked very out of place in the large conference room. She was a very quiet student who only really opened up to only a select few. Not much was know about her except her fascination with machinery. Being quiet is okay, but being this quiet was a perfect storm for rumors. Some believe she stole food rations, others believed she cheated off of other students in exchange for fake friendship. Nonetheless she was not the type of girl Monica would really be interested with forming a bond with.
She moved on to the next kid.
Adam Lambert. Medic enthusiast. Didn’t show up to classes half the time due to being busy with his personal research, much of which had gotten him into Young Persons Refinement quite a few times. He seemed to think he was going to be the next greatest Elder. Pff, if he lives that long.
She was about to go onto the girl who appeared to be biting her nails when a seat two away from her own was filled. She risked a glance over to see Matthew Harris situating himself.
Matthew. What are you doing here, nerd boy.
She began to try to remember anything she knew about him.
A smart student ever since First School, he was often admired by teachers for his brains. In Fourth School he lost his sister to the Outside. Ever since he has been found pestering towns people over their knowledge of the Dome. Not that it mattered, no one could answer his questions anyways. All of them learned the same stuff from school as he had. Come to think of it he hasn’t been in class as of recent.
“Uh, is everything alright?”
The sudden voice had brought her out of her head and into the present.
“Huh?” She c***ed her brow, utterly confused.
She had been unaware of how intensely she had been staring at Matthew until now. She blinked quickly before realising how awkward he must feel.
“Oh Uh, sorry about that. Trust me I didn’t mean to stare, just lost myself in thought, ya know?” She readjusted herself so she could face him easier.
“Oh, yeah I understand. Sorry for thinking you were some kinda creepy stalker for a moment. I’m not used to people looking at me like- well, Like that. “ He seemed to shift uncomfortably in his chair, shuffling his feet against the ground.
Great, now he thinks you like him. Way to go me, now fix it.
She sat back in her seat, stretching back and propping dirty combat boots against the top of the seat before her.
“I wasn’t looking at you like anything. I was off in my own little world. Jeaze you always so self conceited?” She glanced over at him, big mistake, he looked offended. “It was a joke.” She chuckled.
“You really are an antisocial kid nowadays.” She turned away from him again.
He huffed before turning away from her in his own seat.
“I’d rather be in my own company than in the company of delinquents like these. “ He gestured vaguely towards the people below them. She silently nodded in agreement before realising she was technically one of “those delinquents.”
“Hey! Don’t go getting so high and mighty, you’re here too so obviously you’re not the sugar cube you claim to be.” She huffed, crossing her arms.
He looked back at her offended.
“I never said I was!”
“You sure were suggesting it a moment ago.” She looked back at him, a glare making its way to her features.
“Well maybe if-” He was cut off by a loud voice finding its way around the room via multiple speakers.
“ The council asks that you please find your seat and face the front of the room. The debriefing is about to begin. “

The bag of supplies on his back did nothing to curb his nerves as he stood upon the crest of the Elder Assembly’s highest peak. Looking out at the darkness that enveloped his home, he couldn’t help the sense of loss that began to form in the corners of his mind. Lights glimmered in the streets far below him, houses twinkling like sparks in a fire as life slowly began to seep back into the people below. Trees rippled in the makeshift breeze that barely made it into the town center. Home.
“It’s beautiful..isn’t it?”
For a moment he seemed to forget what he was doing or who he was with. His senses went on high alert as he snapped his head in the direction of the disembodied voice. It didn’t take long for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and recognise the form resting against the railing next to him. Curly brown hair seemed to frame Monica’s face as she leaned ever so slightly over the edge, seemingly oblivious to the 6 stories of empty space below her. He turned his attention back to the cityscape below him.
“Yeah, it kinda is beautiful isn’t it.”
“It’s too bad we’ll never see it again.” Monica seemed to shrug as she kept her gaze locked on a building in the distance.
Matt's face contorted into a scowl as he shot a glare in her direction.
“Don’t say that.” A hint of bitterness pierced his sentence with poison. With the face Monica proceeded to give him it was clear that she had heard it. He sighed.
“What I mean is don’t give up hope. I’ll get us back. I don’t care how many times no ones come back from this, I’m going to, whether you believe it or not.” With that he stepped away from the ledge and headed to the staircase, leaving Monica to ponder the truth in his words.
The rest of the group had managed to squeeze themselves around the beginnings of a staircase that seemed to stretch into the abyss. Lightly rusted metal curled and spiralled upwards towards the metal plating on the Dome. Matt grabbed hold of the railing and gave it a shake. Nothing moved. With a satisfied nod the other Travelers began to relax, their conscious deciding everything was alright.
Matt sighed and sat down, reclining back onto the stairs for support. His new bag was strapped to his back and filled with supplies and everything he packed in his own knapsack, yet it made for a comfortable cushion.
To his right a clock hung above the doorway they used to get onto the roof. While old and covered in dust, a small light illuminated it for the Travelers’ sake. Squinting at it Matt tried to figure out how much longer he had. They were supposed to head up and out at 3:00 sharp. The clock read 2:50.
The door below the clock swang open to relieve a stout man in dark green robes. Glasses made his eyes look bigger and hair barely covered his head. Grey hairs sprouted from his chin in what looked like an attempt to made a beard for the poor man. A dark wooden cane supported his left side as he walked towards the group of children.
“Hello everyone. I hope the height hasn’t gotten to you?”
No one spoke.
“Good. Now, I will escort you to the top of the Dome, once outside, you will carefully begin your descent towards the ground via a metal wire. Once there you will have one week to explore, then, you are to come back. The rope will be ready for you whenever so that you may return in case of emergency. You are to collect data on the conditions of the outside world. Got it?” He c***ed a brow at the group of students who seemed to be shaking. Matt couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or from the thought of having to go down to the ground for a week.
With a satisfied nod, the Elder made his way to a switch. With a simple click, small lights began to light up patches of the ladder, one by one, until their light reflected across the surface of the Dome itself.
“Now,” the elder began to waddle back towards the group. “ Who wants to go first?” WIth a swift move of his cane, eyes traced it’s length until they settled on the door hundreds of feet above.
With a steady hand, Matt stepped forward, his arm raised above his head.
“I’ll go.”
The Elder looked at Matt with a questioning eye before he smiled. Almost like he was mocking him.
“Step right ahead.”
Matt swallowed shakily as he grabbed hold of the railing. The rest of the group was behind him but he couldn’t tell. The sound of his heartbeat pulsing against his eardrum blocked them out. Rust flaked off the railing as shaking fingers glided along its edge before clamping down on the cool metal. Looking up at the spiraling staircase above him he took the first step.

The sound of wind rushed past her ears as bitter air pushed her hair into her face. She’d have to deal with it in a moment, her hands were busy holding on tight to the railing as her head began to peak out of the human sized hole in the Dome.
It took a good minute but her feet finally found their place on the smooth metal of the Dome’s top. Brushing her hair out of her face she finally got to see her surroundings.
Pale blue and purple sky stretched as far as the eye could see. White cotton looking objects floated in it, drifting with the wind. Below, the metal of the Dome curved downwards towards a seemingly endless forest of trees big and small. Strange noises seemed to float with the wind as small creatures bounded through the air with a grace she had never seen. A bright light seemed to grow and consume a spot in the sky as the minutes passed by.
“Wow.” She didn’t notice the tears dripping down her cheek until a cold gust of wind stole their heat.
“Hey, over here! I found the rope.” One of the boys in the group she didn’t recognise shouted from a good ten feet away.
Following everyone else she headed over to the spot where the boy stood. In his hands he held a metal wire, the rest of which seemed coiled up on a spool. There looked to be a good few stories worth of the metal.
The boy began speaking again.
“I’ve been over here for a bit so I got a chance to read the instructions. So just listen carefully. First, we gotta unravel this wire until there is only about a foot left, that means it's reached the ground. Then, we gotta use these metal things,” he held a weird metal clasp in his hands, the yellow paint had begun to chip in the elements,” and put them on the wire. We old onto them as we go down, and we press them really tight to slow our descent. And lastly, we have these harnesses that attach to the metal thing to hold us up. Everyone got it?” He looked around the group.
While Monica was partially sure no one quite got any of that through their head, a number of people gave a subtle nod.
In a matter of minutes everyone seemed to find a harness and a clasp and get in a line. Monica was still clasping her harness to her waist when Matt drifted towards her.
“You think it’s safe down there?” He looked down at her. She shrugged.
“Looks safe doesn’t it? They told us to look for life and greenery. I think I saw plenty of that. Don’t you?” She tilted her head upwards so she could look at him. He seemed to stare off into the distance for a solid minute before looking back down at her.
“It could be safe, but if that’s the case, then why hasn’t anyone ever managed to come back?” With that he left her to her thoughts as he joined the group of other Travelers who had already got their harnesses on. Not that he seemed to be talking to any of them. He just seemed eager to get down from the Dome. She couldn't blame him, she wanted to see what was down there as bad as the next guy. 
Once she finally managed to buckle her harness she headed over to the rest of the group. Five had already begun their descent towards the forest floor. It wouldn’t belong before it became her turn.

It was a surprise to all of campers  when they heard the wire clang against the sturdy metal of the Dome. With swift hands Ava began to pack her sack. Knives, rope, blankets, matches. Anything she would need to help protect herself and the newcomers.
Next was her cloak. Covered in leaves and twigs stitched onto dark green wool she would blend into the dark environment of the summer woods very well. Being morning the shadows of the forest would help in their escape.
A knock caught her attention, but she kept her hands busy, tying up the laces of her boots.
“I’m almost ready!”
“Good, we leave in three, got that?” The voice didn’t bother with going into her tent, they knew she could hear him. They wouldn’t see it but she nodded, finishing the last loop before grabbing her bag and dashing out the doorway.
In front of a dirt pathway stood five other rescuers like herself. This year, Alister had been left in charge of the group. He stood in the front, giving directions as to where the Domes people were going to land.
“...Alex, you’ll take the left path do set off any of the trap holes we didn’t manage to fill. Ruu, you take top left, our scouters have theorized that that is the path they are most likely to run. You have good social skills so you should be able to calm them down.” He was nearly down the list by the time he turned to Ava.
“Ava, you shall be in the front, take the middle path, you will help me in getting the Domes People to try to believe us. You up for the task?” She nodded.
“Yes sir.” She saluted him with a smile. She was more than ready. This would be her fifth rescuing.
“Good, then lets head off.” In one swift movement he managed to pull his hood over his eyes and begin sprinting down the pathway. She wasn’t far behind. Knowing the ground beneath her feet more than the freckles on her body she was comfortable with running with her hood down as well. It may have prevented her from properly seeing, but when she had to choose between sight and survival, she’d take the ladder.
It was only a few minutes but the Domes People had already seemed to find themselves at a loss. Facing the dark crevasse of the forest they stood like deer. Still and quiet. Any noise seemed to put them on high alert. Alister seemed to notice this as he motioned for Ava to crouch low as soon as she came into sight.
Ducking behind a nearby raspberry bush she turned her ears towards the distant murmurings of the group.
“....dark….how long do you think….do we have enough...what if we..”
A frown fell upon her face. Poor things, don’t even know what’s going to happen to them. She looked up towards Alister who wore a similar expression. Being a former Domes Person himself he knew more than anyone what these young people were thinking as they stood in that opening.
He looked back at her and with a single sturdy nod, began to stand up.
“Hel-” Before he could even properly finish his sentence, he was beaten down again by an explosion far too close for comfort.  Ava groaned as she held her ears, dirt and leaves that were in front of her moments ago found themselves falling onto her cloak as her ears rang from the noise. Her legs were shaky as she attempted to stand, the pain of the rubble finally setting in and mixing with her headache to create a disoriented mess.
It was a good two minutes of finding her balance before she could finally hear the screams.
All around her, chaos reigned. Teens flung themselves left and right as they tried to find a way out of the mess. Explosions went off one after the other, darts shot out from the trees as they ran past motion sensors, trap nets nearly caught a young girl as she ran for another clearing to the left. A young boy lay unconscious in the middle of the clearing, a large gash on his head suggesting he got hit with rubble.
Ava managed to jog out to the clearing unscathed, quickly shrouding the young boy in her cloak. Lifting his head off the ground she pressed her fingers to his throat, looking for any sign of life.
Bdum...Bdum..
Good, a pulse. She picked the young boy up and slung him over her shoulder, the weight of his body causing her to sink towards the ground, her from now more accurately shaped like a hunchback as she trudged back towards the woods. Her cloak lay covering his body to prevent further injury, however it wouldn’t prevent the bruises that were bound to form from her bony shoulder blade digging into his chest.
Taking a quick glance around horror struck her as she realised how many they had already lost.
A young boy, about 17, lay face first against a tree, three poisoned needles shot into his upper arm. His face was torn by branches and tree bark, it was hard to distinguish his expression under the red. To his left, the young girl who avoided the net found herself ensnared in a barb wire bush. Only from her feet to her knees found itself unscathed as her torso and arms found themselves entangled and mangled within the barb wire laced branches. She lay there unconscious, most likely from blood loss and stress. She would not last much longer. A look to Ava’s left revealed a trap hole opened and filled with the muddied corpse of a young boy.  A small spike emerging from this left upper back assured her his pain did not suffer long.
As tears welled up in her eyes she trudged on, the weight of the unconscious boy making ever step agonisingly longer. After what felt like half an hour of being crushed, Ava finally made it back to base camp.
All around her scared teens huddled in circles, some crying, some asleep from shock, some receiving medical attention. One girl in particular showed great strength as her left arm and upper torso  were stitched back together as best as possible. She must have felt Ava’s eyes on her because it didn’t take long before empty eyes stared her down.
Watching the girl as she approached she placed the body of the boy onto one of the available medical beds. Undoing her coa from his body she finally got a good look at him.
Brown hair was filled with dirt that seemed to cake a gash that led from his upper left temple to his cheek bone. Pale skin looked dark with splattered mud. His denim jacket had a few tares and dirt but nothing more. All in all he was in good condition compared to some of the others.
“How is he?”
Turning back around she found the girl from earlier staring down at the boy. Fear found its ways to the corners of her lips and eyes, drawing back as if preparing to cry. Ava smiled and spoke lightly, her headache still only wearing off.
“He a friend of yours?” The girl seemed to blush and grow frustrated before her features relaxed a moment later.
“Yeah..I..I guess he is.” Ava nodded before c***ing her head back to look at him once again.
“He should be fine, he just needs some rest, that’s all. Looking back at the girl she watched as an invisible weight seemed to lift itself from her shoulders. With a quiet nod she turned away, preparing for another does of peroxide.
“Good.”
“Yes,” Ava hummed, “very good. Hopefully he’ll be up again in a few, but we won’t know until later. Once everyone’s fixed up we’ll explain everything, okay?”
The girl only nodded. It was good enough.

“Did you see something?”
“Did you?”
“I think there’s something in the bushes over there.”
Matt glanced over a the bushes, seeing nothing out of the ordinary about them.
“I don’t think there’s anything to be scared of, but if you think it’s going to try to hurt us, scare it away.” He shrugged. He could care less. He was more focused on rummaging through his backpack. So far he had only found his things, and barely any of the food he had packed.
He heard the explosion before he felt it. A gust of warm air pushed him over as rocks and dirt fell from the sky. He shook his head free of what dirt had managed to accumulate on top of him before finally getting up. It wasn’t long until Monica was dragging him along with her towards an opening.
The sounds of shrieking teens filled the quiet morning air as everyone ran ramoed around them. They didn't get far before another explosion was set off, this time right in front of them. Monica was thrown back by the force and Matt twisted in the air as he tried to turn away from the blast.
As he landed, he felt a sharp pain in his head. His sight became fuzzy and his ears rang. A few feet away lay Monica’s body. He tried to move but his body lacked the energy.
“Monica!”
He couldn’t even hear his own voice, only feel the sensation of his lips moving. It was the only thing he could remember before his sight became black and his pain seemed to subside as sleep took hold of him.

Pain was what woke Matt from his nightmare. A throbbing sensation seemed to engulf his skull as light pierced through his eyelids. His stomach rumbled and ached as if it had been completely empty for a week.
With shaky hands he rubbed his face, in an attempt to wake himself up more. His eyes fluttered open as he took in the surroundings he found himself in.
From the light in the sky he guessed it was around midday. Sitting up he found himself in a makeshift camp. Tents lined the outskirts of a fairly wide opening as people in nature laden cloaks rushed around, wrapping things into bundles and helping people in more modern clothing.
“Good! You’re awake just in time.”
Matt whipped his head around in search of the voice. He soon regretted it as pain seeped back into his head. He hisses as he pressed a palm against the side of his head.
“Easy, you’re still recovering. Do you think you can walk?”
A girl now stood before him. Rather tall, her facial features retained a sort of youth that he had not seen on any woman within the Dome. He felt a sense of ease around her as she helped him sling his legs over the edge of the bed he only now realised he was sitting on.
She c***ed her brow at him with a smile before he remembered she had asked him a question.
“Oh uh, yeah I think so.” She seemed to smile at his confidence.
“Even better! Please, if you can walk, follow me. I’ll Explain everything as we go. We don’t have much time.” With that she began her journey towards a dirt path in the distance. Others had already found their way down the path, others were waving them off.
With tentative steps Matt found his balance once more, and with long legs quickly found his way by her side once more. The walk was quiet for a few moments before the woman spoke.
“Do you know, why you are you’re here?”
He looked at her with his brows knit. He was about to argue her on how much he knew about him when he realised, he really didn’t. Embarrassment washed away any signs of anger he had on his feet. Reluctantly he shook his head.
She patted his shoulder, not in a mocking sense, but in a sense of compassion. As if she understood his confusion.
“To be honest, we don’t either. We don’t know why you all are sent out here, or what you are supposed to do, but we do know one thing. The people who sent you out here, set you up to die. And you weren’t supposed to make it back. “
Matt’s mind began to race with a million questions. Why were they doing this? How long has this been the intent of the council? Did they do this frequently? He was soon to find out, as Ava as he soon learned, explained the history of the Dome from her standpoint.
The beginning of her story lined up with Matt’s, how the Great End was coming and the Elders built the Dome to protect the people of the city. Terror reigned outside of the dome for years and years. Radiation poisoned the land. Animals, countries, ethnicities, all perished. All except the ones that lay in the Dome. No one really knew what went on inside, but slowly they began to send people out.
The first few died of radiation. The next of lack of proper education on the outdoors. Then they stopped for a while. The Earth healed, becoming luxurious and green. Animals began to thrive, repopulating the newly formed forest with fresh life. As the years past, people from worse off areas began to spread around the globe in search of more habitable lands. Some came across this forest and consequently, the Dome.
It was 79 years after the Great End that a Domes person came across an Outsider. They exchanged stories of their lives in and outside of the Dome. It didn’t take much for the Domes people to fall in love with the new world. They rushed back to the Dome, promising their Outsider friends that they would return.
They never did.
A couple years later people began to come out of the Dome, but unlike the ones before them, they did not look into the land around them. Instead they worked diligently, digging holes, setting traps. To the outsiders, it looked like they were learning how to hunt again. It wasn’t until two years later that they found out the true purpose.
Slowly but surely the next set of travelers died off due to the traps placed around the outskirts of the Dome. Ever since then, the mysterious people would always come back to re-set the traps, and then the next wave of Travelers, as Ava soon learned they were called, were killed off.
Again. And again. And again.
It didn’t take long for the Outsiders to realise this pattern, and for the sake of the Domes people, try to help thim.
“And here we are now, all these years later. Still helping you people out.”
Matt stopped in his tracks. His face fell to a solemn expression as the reality of his world finally settled upon him. So everything I ever learned was a lie. Questions rattled around his head but he didn’t ask any of them, instead, with a plain face, he asked only one question.
“So what do we do now?”
She pondered the answer for a moment. As she thought they came to the end of their journey. People could be seen boarding boats with piles of luggage, many of whom were from the Dome. Monica could be seen, packing rolls of bedding onto a ship in the back. She waved at him with a smile he hadn’t seen before.
“Are you listening?”
He turned his attention back towards Ava.
“Hmm?”
“I said, I suppose it’s up to you. We can take you to the island, where you can learn more about the world out here. Or you can go back to the Dome. But know, you might get killed.”
He stood for a moment, thinking of his choices.
“if...If I go to the island with you, will I ever be able to go back to the Dome?”
She smiled at him softly.
“Yes, one day. But it won’t be for a while. In the meantime you can help us prepare to go back there when the day comes...The choice is yours.”
Looking back at the grey arch of the Dome, a sense of loss filled his heart, but as he continued to stare a new feeling welled inside of him. A feeling of hope. With a silent nod, he turned away, and stepped onto the boat.