The Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

rules,’ Seton interjected, ‘designed to keep everyone safe. There are only two hundred and thirty-three residents in the Project. At any one time we need at least forty guarding the wall. Our schedules here are twelve hours a day with one day off every second week. Otherwise we’d be unable to produce what we need to survive. As you can imagine, if anyone who wanted to went out and came back on a free day, it would attract attention, weaken the group, and make it harder to ensure the safety of our members.’
    Ana leaned into Cole so that only he could hear her. ‘Have you listened to the disc?’ she asked. ‘Is it what we think it is?’
    ‘I’m still on the Wardens’ list,’ he answered quietly. ‘I can’t go wandering around the City. Besides,’ he shrugged, ‘I haven’t wanted to leave.’
    The way he flicked his shoulders, she knew there was something he wasn’t telling her. She studied him for a moment longer, then opened her palm and gave the wooden star to the boy. After locking it away in a storage room beside the passage leading out to the City, the boy asked Ana to sign a pledge, vowing she would never use her knowledge of the Project to harm any of its residents, and that in the future she would not leave or enter without official authorisation. He gave her a small, printed map of the heathland, which she was told to memorise and bring back the following day. As she studied the faded paths, fields and woods around the central village, Cole filled out a request to leave with her.
    Seton started back with them towards the settlement, but overtook, soon becoming a matchstick figure on the path ahead. Ana waited, bracing herself for whatever it was Cole wanted to say to her.
    ‘You should take the necklace off.’
    ‘Why?’ she asked.
    ‘It would just be better like that. Hide it away with anything else you’ve brought.’ He cleared his throat. She watched him for a moment, and then stopped walking.
    ‘Could you undo it?’ she asked, spinning around so her back faced his chest. He reached for the clasp. The pads of his fingers grazed her skin. Tiny hairs on her neck stood up. ‘Will they persuade me to donate it to the cause?’
    ‘It’s complicated.’
    The sides of the necklace dropped and Ana caught the moon. She unzipped the little pocket at the back of Clemence’s trousers and slipped it in next to her joining ring. She turned slowly so that she and Cole were almost touching. At six foot, he was five inches taller than her. She could sense the weight of his body: square shoulders, broad chest, athletic and strong. She tilted her head to look at him.
    ‘What Rachel said in front of the representatives bothered you, didn’t it?’
    ‘I’m fine.’
    She shook her head. ‘No. Something’s wrong.’
    His eyes narrowed.
    ‘When you told everyone about the minister’s disc,’ she continued, ‘you made it sound like I brought it here.’
    ‘If the representatives knew I’d had it all this time, they would have thrown me out of the Project. Holding onto anything electronic is against the rules.’
    ‘So why didn’t you hand it in?’
    ‘I didn’t want to take any chances. Once the public hears this recording, your father will know it’s the disc you stole from him. If it had come out while you were still in the Community, he’d have realised that you’d already given it to me. I was worried about what he might do to you. I was worried once he knew, he wouldn’t take his eyes off you for a second and that you would never get away.’
    The hardness in her chest began to soften. He had a point. ‘Weren’t you curious, though? Didn’t you want to go out to listen to it, and then come back?’
    ‘Of course. But I couldn’t just leave for a day.’
    ‘Because you needed permission?’
    ‘No. Because of you. I had to be here in case you came.’
    ‘Oh.’ He hadn’t wanted to leave the Project in case she’d arrived while he was gone.
    He tentatively took her hand and