Free Vigo's Lament: A Dystopian Thriller (Age of End Book 3) by Chris Yee

do you think those two are going? They mentioned a ceremony?”
    “They said it was to honor the ones they’ve lost,” Vince said.
    “We should go,” Charlotte said.
    Vince and Alan both glanced at her as if they had misheard what she said.
    “Are you crazy?” Alan asked. “I thought we were trying to avoid people. That ceremony is guaranteed to be swarming with people. People who think we’re traitors. As far as they know, we’re the reason all of those people are dead in the first place.”
    “Which is true, I suppose,” Vince added. “My plan was to rescue you and take down Greene, but I put other people’s lives in danger without realizing it.”
    “They were going to break through anyway,” Charlotte said. “Your arrival may have sped up the process, but Simon was determined, and Greene wasn’t equipped to handle his methods. They broke through the first wall before your group even showed up.”
    “That won’t make any difference to these people,” Alan said. “Directly or indirectly, those people died because of us. It’s a slap in the face to show up to their funeral.”
    “Remember,” Charlotte said, “the Spire was my home. I knew a lot of people who died that day. Some of them were close friends. I know the ceremony will be crowded. I know there will be some risk, but it’s very small. We can stay in the back and keep our faces covered. I promise, no one will recognize us.” She sighed. “You got your chance to mourn, now it’s my turn.”
    Alan glanced down at his feet. “Damn it! When you put it like that, now I feel bad. I guess we’re going to the ceremony.”
    Vince nodded. “We don’t stay long, we don’t talk to anyone, and we don’t show our faces. If it is Izzy’s face on these wanted posters, we will need to cover her face as well.”
    “Here,” Charlotte said, pulling out a spare cloth. She gently wrapped it around Izzy’s face. “Is that comfortable?”
    Izzy nodded. “Yup,” she said in a muffled voice.
    “Good. Come on. We’ll follow them, but let’s keep our distance.”
    Alan peered down at the two people down the street, walking away as they turned the corner. “We’ don’t want to lose them either. Hurry up.”
    They jogged to the corner and peeked their heads around. The man and woman were halfway up the block. They waited a bit longer and swung around the bend, walking casually down the street and keeping a close eye on their two guides.
    Vince pointed to a wall on their right. “Look,” he said. The others turned to see a wall littered with posters. “There’s the wanted poster.”
    Charlotte trotted over and grabbed a copy. She ran back, holding it up to examine. “Well, this is definitely Izzy.”
    Alan leaned over to see. “I don’t get it. Why would Simon want Izzy?”
    “Maybe he knows something we don’t,” Vince said.
    “Like what? We’re the ones that know she’s Greene’s daughter. I thought we were the ones with the secret.”
    Vince shrugged. “I don’t know, but he knows something.”
    “I don’t like it,” Alan said. “This whole thing makes me uncomfortable.”
    “No one said coming back would be easy,” Charlotte said. “But someone has to stop Simon.”
    Vince shook his head. “Simon said he would give up his power once Greene was gone. I’m beginning to think that won’t happen.”
    “Of course it won’t,” Alan said. “A nut like that can’t resist power, even if he thinks he can. I didn’t believe it for a second when those words left his mouth.”
    “I had my doubts, but some of the things he said before the attack, he almost sounded sane.”
    Alan laughed. “There is no way that man is sane. Not in the slightest. A sane man doesn’t use children as weapons or sacrifice thousands of people just to send a message. A sane man would not shoot his own troops for absolutely no reason at all. I’ve said it a hundred times, but that guy is nuts. He has anger issues. He throws tantrums, and if you get