Chained

"You didn't, she's fine." Taylor spoke as easily as he would to anyone. The man was still looking at me.

"There's a broken light." He pointed to further demonstrate the obvious.

"Yes," I said, managing to keep most of the distaste out of my voice.

"Have a nice day." Taylor smiled pleasantly at the man who was desperately in need of a shave. He tightened his grip on my hand, dragged me on down the corridor and headed around a corner.

I glanced back and saw him watching us through narrowed eyes as we turned. Luckily he hadn't touched me but I wiped my palm on my trouser leg for good measure anyway.

"That was rude." Taylor frowned at me.

"I know, they shouldn't be allowed up here when we're around," I began but Taylor stopped walking and jerked me to a halt beside him. "What?" I asked.

"I meant you were rude. He was just doing his job."

"But he's a Dweller," I said, lowering my voice in case he heard us.

A small fraction of the population within the city didn't want to further themselves. They lived on the bottom floors of the housing buildings without trying to advance any higher. Generally speaking, anyone who lived below level twenty was known as a Dweller.

They were given menial jobs that basically amounted to city maintenance in various forms. They were fond of tattoos and working-out too much and had a bad reputation among the rest of the city residents. SubWar was mainly populated by Dwellers who had been caught breaking the law and I didn't doubt that plenty more of them were up to undiscovered illegal activities.

"You shouldn't be so judgmental." Taylor scowled as he started

moving down the hallway again, pulling me along behind him.

"Everyone has the opportunity to better themselves. I'm not planning on staying on forty my whole life. And there's no reason for them to stay down there; they want to be Dwellers." I tried, and failed, to stop my lip from curling as I said the word.

"Whatever. You still don't have to be rude." We arrived at the elevators and he pushed the button to call one.

I rolled my eyes while he wasn't looking.

As we waited, I noticed that Taylor still had a firm hold on my hand. He'd been doing that more and more lately. I shook my hand loose, running it through my hair to give me a reason for wanting it back. Taylor threw an annoyed look at me from the corner of his eye, which suggested I hadn't been as subtle about it as I'd hoped.

The elevator dinged and opened smoothly. For once, it was empty of passengers and the space inside echoed dully as we stepped in.

The brightly lit, silver cube welcomed us onboard as it did every day with the promise of a quick and easy journey to our destination in a monotone female voice. Taylor hit the button and we headed up to level one fifty, my ears popping from the sudden upward acceleration.

I glanced at Taylor who had adopted a sullen expression. He must have gained a good foot on me now, the planes of his face were sharpening too. The silence stretched between us and I chewed on my bottom lip.

"You need a haircut." I grinned at him as he brushed his floppy brown hair out of his grey eyes.

"So my mother keeps saying," he replied and a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth again. I felt the knot of tension in my stomach release.

"Level one fifty. Alight here for the Walkways," the smooth, feminine voice announced as the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

Chapter Two

There wasn't a time in the day when the Walkways weren't busy.

The rows of elevators gave way to a kind of crossroads where people selected a direction and took the appropriate Walkway out of the building. We wound through the crowd, heading for the south side.

A group of Wardens, dressed in sleek grey uniforms, marched through the crush of bodies and we moved aside to allow them access to their separate walking lane.

The Wardens were appointed to patrol the city and maintain the peace. The city was under their constant surveillance, they used millions of CCTV cameras and microphones to keep an eye on us. Privacy was a concept that didn't really have much meaning.

Harbour city was a rabbit warren of skyscrapers interconnected by huge glass Walkways. The long tubes jutted out of each building on the one hundred and fiftieth floor. They connected all of the buildings within the city and once you were in one, you moved fast or got knocked aside.

The Wardens were assigned their own lane to allow them quick, unrestricted travel throughout the city. Sometimes VIPs used the Warden lanes too but for the general population, it was all about leg power and elbows.