“So, you know?” I ask. “About Happy? About how it took over the government, the world? About how it’s uploading itself into human hosts?”

“We know a lot of things,” Igby replies. “Can’t say too much now with your Panoptic working—the cameras might be covered, but the mics still work. I’ll tell you everything we’ve found out later. For now, we need to keep moving.”

“Where the hell are we?” I ask.

“Can’t say,” Pander replies, touching her finger against her forehead.

Pander takes off her jacket and wraps it around Wren, who is shaking from the cold. Clearly she had not intended on saving her, as she did not bring a third jumpsuit for her to wear. She does, however, pull out a hat from her pocket and places it low over Wren’s head, hiding the Panoptic camera.

“We have to keep moving,” Pod says once Wren is ready to go.

We take off again, following the path alongside the lake or reservoir or whatever it is. Pod carries Wren in his arms; her breathing is fast and shallow, and her eyes are still as wide and terrified as before.

We walk, moving quickly and quietly, until we reach a boarded-up old building that looks as though it used to be a place of business once upon a time. Igby walks up to the wooden slats that board the old doorway and knocks three times slow and twice fast.

The boards begin to fall away and Akimi’s face appears in the gap. Her sharp, beautiful features break into a smile and she ushers us inside.

I follow Kina in and look around. The place is a perfectly preserved coffee shop that looks as though it closed for business eighty or ninety years ago. The prices above the counter are still in old-fashioned dollars and cents instead of Coin.

Suddenly, Akimi’s arms are wrapped around me, hugging me tightly.

“Luka, thank the Final Gods,” she whispers, her Region 70 accent turning thank into think. “We thought we’d be too late, we thought they’d take you away like Malachai and Woods.”

“It’s great to see you too, Akimi,” I say, feeling my heart swell as my old friend holds me close.

She releases her grip and then hugs Kina.

“Come on,” she says, letting go and wiping tears from her eyes, “we have to move.”

She walks behind the counter of the old café and lifts open a trapdoor that leads to a basement level. There is no ladder or staircase, so she lowers herself down until she is hanging by the arms and then drops into the darkness.

A few seconds later a flashlight comes on and Igby follows her down. Pod lowers Wren into the basement; Akimi and Igby guide her to the floor and then help Pod down.

Kina and I are alone now in this dark and dusty old place.