A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

possible.”
    “Why would you help us?” Squid asked.
    Lynn shot Squid a look, a look meant to ask him whether he was serious, whether he actually believed this nutcase, but Squid wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were fixed on Archibald.
    “If what you’re saying is true, if you are really searching for a way to defeat the ghouls forever, then why wouldn’t I help you?” Archibald turned his attention back to Lynn. “We’re all in danger. What possible reason would I have for lying to you?”
    “Have you been there?” Squid asked. “Have you been to Big Smoke?”
    “No.”
    “See,” Lynn said, “how do you know it exists if you’ve never been there?”
    “Like I said, I met people beyond the fence. People who have been there.”
    “Come on, Squid,” Lynn said. “This is no better than the fairy tales we already know.”
    “How are you going to make your way east?” Archibald said as Lynn made to walk away yet again.
    Lynn turned back, fixing the man with a razor-sharp stare. “You think because we’re young we don’t know what we’re doing? Or is it because I’m a girl? I’m perfectly capable of finding my way in this world without any help from you. I’ve done it before. We’ll pay our way onto a bio-truck and catch a ride as far as we can.”
    “And then?”
    “We’ll keep going east,” Lynn said. “I can navigate.”
    “The east is a big place.”
    “That’s what I said,” Squid added.
    Lynn turned to him. “That’s not helpful, Squid.”
    Archibald stepped closer. Lynn’s hand moved to pull her sword.
    “Listen,” Archibald said, lowering his voice, apparently so his words wouldn’t carry too far into the slums around them, “if you won’t let me help you at least listen to what I have to say.” When this was not met with any objection from Lynn he continued. “Go to the fence and climb over. Once you’re beyond the Black Stump continue traveling east until you reach a river. Follow the path of the river south and eventually you’ll reach an underground town. Go there first. They will know the way from there.”
    “An underground town?” Lynn said, not even trying to hide the disbelief in her voice.
    “That’s right,” Archibald said. “You can see towers and smoke stacks above ground on the eastern side of the river. You can’t miss them. That’s where the town is.”
    Lynn stared at the man. It had taken until that moment to be certain but now she was sure: Archibald the Explorer was completely insane.
    “Right,” Lynn said. “Got it. River, smoke stacks, underground town. Can we go now?”
    “If what you say about searching for a weapon is true then you’re not just going east for yourself. You’re doing it for everybody in the Central Territory. If you wander randomly into the east you will die and then what will you have accomplished?”
    Lynn didn’t reply. She turned, and when Archibald spoke this time she didn’t turn back.
    “Follow the river,” she heard him say.
    Lynn headed off through the slums, telling herself they wouldn’t stop again until they reached the bio-fuel delivery station. It was there that the bio-trucks would be bringing in Alice’s constant supply of fuel from the bio-fuel plants further out in the Territory. That’s where they would find their ride east.
    *
    Alice’s supply of bio-fuel was kept in storage tanks inside the walls, but the bio-fuel delivery station was on the outside of the city, allowing trucks to come and go without needing to use one of the main city gates. The delivery station itself was protected within a square section of fence that jutted out from the main wall. A large gate sealed the station off from the outside world. As they emerged from the slums Lynn saw that the delivery station was far busier than she remembered. There were four bio-trucks lined up on the road waiting to approach the station, the drivers and crews standing around, leaning against their vehicles, impatient looks on their