I didn't think we'd make it to New York as the sun shined. But we did. And as our three cars pulled into a parking lot closest to the "Now Entering Provincial New York" sign, I held my breath. I remembered what New York once looked like; it wasn't this. There was nothing against the future I lived in, but the one weekend I came up here from Georgia and visited the family with my dad—the world was alive. Maybe it was because the Codes took over. Civilians probably feared leaving their homes.

The eerie quiet reminded me of the silent New Chicago we just left.

When Matthews stirred awake in his passenger seat and opened his side door, a wind entered the car. Wind paired with a quiet buzzing. Static. I pressed one finger into my right ear and shook my head. Maybe it was me. My nervousness could've manifested itself to the surface. Matthews didn't seem bothered by the sound. Then again... maybe he couldn't hear it.

I glance back at the rearview window and see Xerses' and Erica stepping out of their car. Hugh and Zack did the same. The rest of the party walked into the parking lot, leaving their doors open. I did the same.

"Hey," leaning against my car door, I looked back at everyone, "do you guys hear that?"

Xerses slowly nodded, poking at his ear. "I do. It's like flies."

That was the perfect description. A quiet buzzing lik a hoard of insects beating against each other in the air. Only there was nothing there. The clouds were full but reddening with the light of early morning. Birds swam through the purple and orange light.

But no insects. No disturbances other than life.

Erica spun in a slow circle, pushing a look strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't hear anything," she said.

I looked at Matthews. He nodded and shrugged; Hugh and Zack did the same. If only Xerses and I heard the noise, that meant it wasn't for humans to hear. I heard it because I was a Code by creation. And Xerses? Could it have been his time locked in the void, having been "possessed" by Zara's digital code?

The sound was only for machines to hear. Was this an attack? Or a calling?

As annoying as it was, I couldn't focus on it. We were wasting time looking up at the sky. "X," I lowered my gaze back to my friend, "did Prime tell you where exactly these computers are here?"

"At the bottom of the statue," he said, looking down the street. "I think we're an hour from Liberty Island."

"Right." I closed my door and stepped out into the street. Scanning the area, I drew up the map of the city in my head. We were about an hour away and if we floored it, we could make it before shit went down. This, only assuming, the flies were negative. I couldn't see them any other way.

Xerses stood beside me. "They built it the same way the data hive was stored under the domes," he looked at me, "where every Code was stored."

I raised my brows. Wow. The Province took from the past; and took the worst part. An area where the memories and lives of every soldier who fought in WWIII were stored... and purposely forgotten. Back then, no one thought of synthetic possibilities. Awful crime and digital war aside, If it hadn't been for Zara and Polk... Codes wouldn't exist.

Polk was using that fact to his advantage,

And Zara had that entrance to control Clara.

"I understand the world changed, and the United States no longer exists," I glanced over at Xerses, "but they did construction inside of a building over one hundred years old?"

He nodded and sighed. "Looks like it."

I sighed. I wasn't sure what was worse—playing down the past or twisting it to one's advantage.

"Hey!" Behind us, Matthews slapped the hood of our car. I turned back to look at him just as he raised his hands, brows lifted just the same. "Let's do this before we turn back with our fuckin' tail between our legs. The longer we stand still, the more likely we'll get scared—or worse!"

I cleared my throat and pinched my brows together. "What's worse?" I asked.

Matthews shook his head. "Polk knows we're here and comes after us. I don't want to think anythin' worse than that."

Point taken.

*

The Statue of Liberty remained strong after the war. Broken on the sides, scratched and rusted, but still standing. My father used to tell me the stories he had in New York, visiting the statue when he was a kid; my mother had shared her own, too. But when I tried to think of them and their words, I found I couldn't. Their stories were just soundless, passing whispers. I couldn't remember their faces or their voices. It was as if only my heart knew they existed. My mind?

The number of broken files and distorted memories took over it all.

"I remember in school they told us how Province founders voted to keep this thing," Matthews approached the statue with his hands in his pockets, then looked back at us, "shit, to think, they kept it to use like a weapon. Some bullshit huh?"

"I guess it's not bullshit if its value doesn't matter anymore," I said, kicking away a rock. "The old world is long gone. This unified," I made quotes with my fingers, "nation took over and... well, you live in it."

Xerses snorted, coming to my side. "We do. We know the bullshit."

"Know it even more now that we've seen more than we should've." Matthews turned and faced us with a grin. "Don't let the kids play in the playground if you don't want them to dig in the sandbox."

I pursed my lips. Never heard that saying before—or was it even a saying? He could've just said the first thing that came to his head. And for Matthews, it'd make sense. He had a gift... when he wanted to use it.

"All right." Looking from Matthews to Xerses, I turned and looked at the others. "We need groups. I think for this, Xerses, Matthews, and myself will go in and find this computer."

The flies got louder...

"And what about us?" Erica pointed at herself, then Hugh and Zack.

"Take this." Matthews tossed her a large walkie.

"When did you get those?" I asked, eyeing the one he kept in his hand. "How did you get those?"

"I got my ways," Matthews clicked his teeth and chuckled, "thought if we were going to use malfunctioning cars to keep our location low, might as well bring along old walkies."

When he walked back to our car, he opened the backdoor and pulled out a bag of others. He tossed one to Hugh and Zack, then two others to Xerses and me. I caught it and slid my hands over the old buttons. "Are these," I looked up at him, "from Peace?"

"Probably." Matthews tossed the bag back in the car. "I tested them and made sure they worked before we left."

"How?" Erica cocked a brow.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Matthews pursed his lips.

More flies. More static.

Xerses flipped his walkie in his hand, then pointed the antenna at me. "Should we do this like before? Go in and blow it all up?"

I snorted and looked at him. I would say too soon, but it was over a year. A year since I pulled every visible wire and brought fire to Provincial Hall; then burned with the ruin. Sometimes my skin still prickled and burned. Ghost pains. "You mean how I went in and blew it all up?"

Xerses chuckled and shook his head. "Okay, maybe this time we should avoid explosions. Keep it quiet. How's that?"

That sounded perfect, but as I approached him, as he was closer to the statue, I couldn't handle the sound filling my ears. I shook my head and rubbed my ear, but tried not to make it obvious. I thought rubbing the buttons would keep me calm.

"Hey, Roger, you never said what we were going to do!" Erica called out to me as I kept walking.

I looked back at her, one finger in my ear as I tried to make the sound stop. "Stay here, keep an eye out, and watch Clara!" I said.

"Right!" She gave me a thumbs-up and then walked around to the backseat of her car.

I looked at her for a second before turning back around, shaking my head harder. It wouldn't stop. It got louder. The static traveled down the back of my neck.

Xerses' hand grabbed my shoulder. "Hey, you good man?" he whispered.

"You don't hear that?" I hissed, grimacing as the feeling slid down my spine.

"I mean," Xerses drew in a breath, "I do, but—"

"I can't believe you brought her here." A voice echoed in my ears. Polk's voice. My head snapped up immediately, and my eyes widened. "Easy to call my wife when she's right outside."

My jaw dropped. My heart pounded. That static wasn't the flies. It was fear.

Turning back around, I saw Erica just as she popped her head out of the backseat of the car. Her hand was on her mouth. She looked around until her eyes landed on me. Then she huffed and waved her fingers in the air. "Roger, where's Clara?" she shouted.