17 Who you gonna call?

Sia is sitting in the back of the truck in "clean" clothing she had been given by one of the women of the camp. She is sitting with her back to the wall and her knees up; hiding the object in her hands from view. She has kept her phone off for the entire journey, and finally has some time to check over it again.

She turns the device on and is surprised to see it at 80%. She goes to her photo storage app and opens it to view her pictures and videos. Scrolling through the memories, she stops at one of her and her cousin hiking in the desert. They were looking down into a large hole. She scrolls to the next video and smiles as it plays.

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Sia had set the camera down and positioned it so both Alexis and she could be seen at once. They are in battle positions and holding up sticks like swords.

"Action!" Sia yelled.

When the sticks contacted each other, they made clashing metal sounds with their mouths. Alexis swirled in a circle and kicked at Sia's leg. Sia jumped back and wobbled along the edge of the raised rock platform. Alexis swung out toward Sia's chest, and Sia dramatically stepped off the rock and crashed to the ground.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah."

"Ho, ho, ho. All bow to your Queen," Alexis haughtily declared while looking down at her fallen opponent.

"Now turn to the camera and raise your arms triumphantly," Sia directed before she crawled out of the frame.

"Huh? Like this?" Alexis raised her arms at the sky, bent at the elbows.

"Yeah, yeah. I can cut out me crawling and our sounds. I'll send you the copy after I get home." Sia said before she stopped the video.

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A palm is the last image on the screen before the video replays again. Sia closes the app and lays the phone against her chest. She stares out at the darkness out the back of the truck.

'Back when life wasn't so hard, and I didn't get people killed.'

Sia opens the music app and puts on a soft melody.

'Crying was my best shot in getting out of that situation, but now they must think I'm such a wimp. Which is in my favor, but how many times can I burst into tears before they catch on to my plan. Oh gawd. How long was he standing there? He didn't even ask me anything. Doesn't he want to know why I was hiding? What I'm hiding?'

Vanessa climbs into the truck and hears a sound coming from the back of the compartment. Sia has her head laid back against the wall and seems to be humming to a melody playing off her phone.

"Hey, does that work?" Vanessa blurts out.

Sia winces and tries to hide the phone in her pants, but it's too late.

"This?"

She shakes the object in her hand and starts to turn it off.

"Yes, that. Can you get any calls out of that?"

"No. It's just for music."

"Let me see."

"No."

Sia starts to put the cellphone into her backpack. Vanessa grabs Sia's hand with one hand and the backpack with the other. She squeezes Sia's hand until she releases her grip on the device.

"Ow. Stop. I'm serious! It's got no service."

"Then what are you hiding?"

"Nothing! If the battery dies here, then I'll have no way to charge it! Really! Give it back!"

"Shut up! Or I'll show the others."

Sia quiets down and watches Vanessa tap at the many applications on the phone. If she knocks the phone from her hands it might damage the screen.

Vanessa obsessively looks through the phone. When she gets to the pictures and video images she scrolls through them for clues. She stops when she sees a video showing a luscious green park and clear water falling out of a fountain. Playing the video, her face is in awe at how clean the environment in the video looks. Also, the people in the background are all healthy looking and focused on their own activities. Some are having a picnic. Some are throwing objects with each other. Lastly, the video focuses on the large fountain with beautiful figures etched into the stone. Vanessa scrolls to another video, and it's of Sia in the ExplorerTech Industries uniform in a locker room.

"I'm not supposed to be filming in here, but I just want to give you an idea of the place your big sister works," Sia's voice says within the video.

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Sia walked down the long white hallways and showed off the many doorways until she got into a larger area. The hallway connected to an indoor balcony area and an escalator is going down into the lobby. The camera view shifted to the glass ceiling and giant chandelier that hung above the lobby area. Plants decorate the lobby. From the ceiling to the ground floor, an artificial waterfall could be seen gushing water out onto colorful stones at the base into a small artificial pond.

"It's really incredible how beautiful this place is. Your big sis and her coworkers keep it looking spic and span, so the scientists and visitors can enjoy their time here. Hey, and it's usually just as quiet as the library was. Not much of a change for me. Reply back to this as soon as possible. I know homework has been killing you, but I really wanna talk about some stuff. Love you, bye."

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Vanessa stops watching and tosses the phone at Sia. Sia scrambles, catches it, and holds the device to her chest.

"You have a younger sibling," Vanessa says.

"Mm. I had a sister. That's from before everything happened."

"…"

Sia goes over to her bag and puts away the phone. After zipping it up, she puts the bag under a seat and sits down on the hard metal seat. She leans to the side and ignores the clammy cold temperature of the dark green wall.

"Sorry. We've all lost people we love. I wouldn't take away the chance to view happy memories from you."

'I wish I had a way to remember them, or the way things were before,' Vanessa thinks to herself.

"Do you think your people might have spares to trade?"

"Huh?"

"Cellphones."

"Uhh…yeah sure. Loads."

Vanessa nods, exits the back of the truck, and sits in the driver compartment to sleep against a door.

The next morning, Raymond gets into the passenger seat before its time to drive off. Vanessa squeezes the keys in her hand and taps her fist against the steering wheel. Raymond glances over at her.

"You want me to drive?"

"Maybe you're right," Vanessa mutters.

"About what?" Raymond rolls down the window and adjusts the chair to become more comfortable.

"She's definitely hiding something."

Raymond stops adjusting the seat to turn attentively to Vanessa.

"Hmm. So, you see the inconsistencies in her whole story? Finally joining my side?"

"She's not a friggin spy, you idiot, but there's definitely something up. She's a janitor, but she is a fighter? Why would they send a janitor with a team to Coldstone? They must be up to something big."

"What, you still think she's a janitor?"

"I saw video proof that she definitely was apart of a cleaning crew."

Raymond crosses his arms and purses his lips while looking out the windshield at the thin trees. Bright light burns through the crowns of the trees and casts shadows through the window onto the dashboard. The shadows ripple as the wind blows leaves around to dance among the dust.

"We're probably missing something obvious, but if we can get her away from these mercenaries, we might be able to get some truths from her. The closer we get to Coldstone, the more I'm worried they're waiting for us to slip up."

"Or, for you to lose your cool."

Vanessa snorts at that.

"Unless we strike way before they do, but I can't imagine what they might think of next," Raymond mutters while thinking on plans.

Vanessa's face brightens up as she thinks of an idea.

"That's it. That's how we'll do it. I'll--"

Vanessa starts the vehicle after everyone piles into the truck. Raymond and her figure out their plan along the way.