“I mean, we already went through the sewers,” said Max. “How’s that any different from climbing a pile of garbage?”

“I guess the grossness was monotonous in the sewer,” said Casey. “Whereas now I have to face a new gross thing every ten seconds. Like look at that—it’s a maggot filled teddy bear.”

Ugh, thought Max.

He tried to pay as little attention to the garbage as possible and stay focused on just climbing it. They were high enough that he could see the route the garbage truck had taken through the different mounds of garbage that made up the outer-rim dump.

Eventually, they climbed so high they were over the barbed wire fence and could descend out of sight of the security gate.

They rolled down the hill and were now on the streets of the dump.

They spotted the garbage truck and hurried after it.

They ran down the gravelly road of the garbage dump, tailing the truck.

The truck eventually stopped.

Max and Casey hid behind a discarded bathtub, using it as cover.

For a brief second, Max wondered why the truck had stopped, but when it started to dump out all the tower-zone’s garbage, he remembered the explicit reason the truck was here in the first place.

But why did they need climbers to escort them on a trash delivery?

Max expected the garbage truck to turn around and start heading back towards the gate, but once it was finished dumping all its garbage, it continued forward deeper into the refuse facility.

“Why are they going further?” asked Casey.

“I’m not sure,” said Max. “Let’s find out.”

Perhaps it was wherever they were going next that required the need for official city climbers.

They followed after the truck, making sure to stay a good distance away so they remained out of sight.

The truck turned a corner, then another, weaving through the gigantic mounds of trash.

Eventually, the truck stopped once more. This time in front of a large warehouse with men guarding the entrance.

Not only were the men security guards, they had copper colored badges.

They were climbers!

But what were tower-zone climbers doing all the way out here in the outer-rim?

What the heck was going on?

72

Hiding behind an old rusty washing machine, Max and Casey watched as the climbers escorting the garbage truck swapped places with the climbers who’d been guarding the large warehouse.

“What are we going to do, Max?” whispered Casey beside him.

Max didn’t understand what he was seeing.

People in the tower-zone were never allowed to enter the outer-rim. Those were the rules. That was the law.

And yet, here were climbers actively working a job here in the outer-rim.

What was inside that warehouse?

Whatever it was, it had to connect back to Samuel Archer and whatever devious plans he was cooking up.

“We have to find out what’s in that warehouse,” Max declared.