Free The Outcast Ones by Maya Shepherd Page A

learn something from the nutrition here. It’s delicious.
    Once Paul wanted to give me something called “soup”, but Finn wouldn’t let him. He said it was too valuable for someone like me. I don’t care how much he hates me. I’ll be gone soon. Today’s the day. Today I’ll dare to take the leap and escape. I hope Jep and Pep will make music again first, because besides the bread, that’s what I’ll miss most in the safety zone
    Carefully I look up to the hole in the ceiling. It’s so dark already that I can hardly differentiate the sky from the cave roof. Heavy clouds cover the stars, robbing me of light. Actually I find the clouds just as fascinating as the sun, the moon or the stars, because I never saw any of these things from inside the safety zone. I like watching the clouds move across the sky, or small ones joining up with bigger ones. Sometimes they’re white like the Legion commanders’ suits, sometimes they’re grey like the hallways in the safety zone.
    Sometimes the whole sky is full of clouds and other times there are only a few little ones. I could watch them for hours. But today they are an irritation. Without starlight I’ll see even less of the strange surroundings. It might be crazy, but it’s my only chance to get back to the safety zone, back to my home. Well, if I can’t see anything, maybe the outcasts won’t see me either.
    Quickly I look out one of the small holes in the wall to observe the situation. Tonight Finn is there, which makes it even more necessary for me to escape.
    Without thinking, I look through the hole and freeze as the lively blue of Finn’s eyes looks into mine. Instantly I cower back and start concocting an explanation, although no one told me I can’t look through the holes.
    I expect the door to be shoved open, but it remains quiet. He must have seen me—he looked right into the cell. Why did he do that? Does he want to watch me? Does he know what I’m planning?
    Carefully I step to the wall again and look through a different hole. This time I see a wave of Finn’s blond hair. He’s standing with his back to the cell, so that I can see his profile from the side. Through his hair I can see his reddened cheeks in the light of his torch. He looks uncertain, just as embarrassed as me.
    Both of us stop breathing without knowing it. The only sound is the wind whistling through the holes in the cave.
    Suddenly Finn clears his throat and breaks the silence. “Why did you look at the sky?”
    It’s the first time his voice hasn’t sounded rough and mean. He actually seems interested.
    “I wanted to see the stars.”
    At first he’s quiet but I can see by his expression that he wants to know more. He starts to speak a few times but always stops himself. Eventually he makes himself do it. “Was it here that you saw stars for the first time?”
    “Yes,” I whisper back. “They’re beautiful.” I don’t know why I’m telling him this, but it feels right. The stars are something neither of us can influence. They have always been there and will always be there. It would be wrong to say that I don’t like them just because it was in this place that I saw them for the first time. The projected stars in the Atrium can’t be compared with the real thing at all. They don’t sparkle and they don’t move.
    Finn is silent, but his face doesn’t seem quite so dismissive as it usually is. There’s a question I’ve always wanted too ask him but I’ve never had the chance.
    “How do you know D523?”
    In an instant his body goes stiff and his lips press together until there’s only a narrow line to see. I know immediately it was a mistake to ask him. I move back just in case, because I expect him to get mad any second now, but he only straightens his shoulders and calls out, “Paul, you take over here.”
    Paul comes loping along and Finn disappears from view.
    When I’m back in the safety zone, I’ll ask D523 about Finn. I’m sure she won’t make such a