Part of me softened at the memory of Mouse's words as I climbed onto the roof: "I can't really afford to have friends." I had known Mouse practically since the Uprising, and yet her traitorous parents, members of the Order that now ran Horizon, had instilled such mistrust in her that she considered even me nothing more than a business partner. It was no wonder she had left her father after her mother's death by an entirely preventable disease.

I tore my mind away from those dark thoughts and focused on the more pressing matter at hand: where was I going to get enough food for the hacker?

As I approached the campfire, still deep in thought, Nik called out, "Claire! You okay?"

I glanced up. Several people were watching me, most of them idly while others, such as Nik, had real concern written across their faces at my dour appearance. Charlie was at Nik's feet, talking quietly to himself and paying me no mind.

"Fine," I replied distractedly, walking over and scooping up Charlie. He wriggled, surprised.

"I'm gonna turn in early," I told Nik, whose arm was around Sarah. She had taken my place by the fire.

Nik nodded. "Sure." As I turned to leave, he asked, "What did Mouse say?"

I froze. Nik had been my best friend for years. During that time, I had told him no lies, aside from withholding certain information about my past. He especially deserved to know the secretary's comm address. Wouldn't he want out, too?

Not here, a little voice whispered. Not now. I could tell him in private.

"Nothing, really," I blurted, hugging Charlie closer to me and hurrying away.

*

Charlie, Nik, and I had lived in a tiny apartment for nearly seven years. It wasn't much, but the door was barricaded from whatever the rest of the building held and it had easy access to the roof.

Sometimes the power worked and sometimes it didn't. I held my breath in hope as I set down Charlie and padded across the darkened room to the light switch. I flicked it up and down a few times with no results before giving up, releasing my breath with a sigh of disappointment.

Charlie knew the drill. He silently crossed over to the kitchen, opened one of the cabinets, and pulled out a matchbox. Then, he moved around the room, lighting the permanently placed candles one by one until we were bathed in a gentle, golden glow.

I watched him, fondness and regret warring within me. Charlie had never known a life other than this sorry excuse for one. He knew how to hide from police, how to pickpocket and raid, how to render weapons both safe and deadly, and how to check food for staleness. He didn't know basic math, history, what it was like to play in the park, or what our parents' voices sounded like - to name a few.

This is what the Order has done to us, I thought bitterly.

"Claire," Charlie asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Char," I reached out and drew my little brother to my chest, crouching down to bury my face in his hair. He relaxed into me.

"What'd you have for dinner?" I asked, voice muffled. Rooftop had a sort of system when it came to little kids - all of the teenagers made sure they were taken care of when their older caretakers were busy. Most of the teenagers even went so far as to feed and clothe kids who couldn't take care of themselves. I always felt safer leaving Charlie with Nik, however, but that hadn't been an option this time.

Charlie shrugged. "Cheese."

I blinked. "Cheese?"

He nodded.

"That's it?"

He nodded again, a dimpled grin spreading over his face. I grabbed him, tickling his stomach, and he giggled madly.

"That's not a real dinner!" I exclaimed in a goofy voice. "We gotta go to the storehouse."

Charlie pressed the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn, nodding in agreement.

"Actually," I decided, smiling fondly down at him, "you stay here. Pick out three books you want me to read you tonight."

Charlie grinned and pattered over to the bookshelf next to the barricaded front door. As he knelt to grab the tablets and whisper the titles carefully to himself - he wasn't a very good reader yet - I wriggled out of the window and climbed back onto the roof.

Once, humans in big cities had kept birds in cages on rooftops. Those birds had long since been driven extinct or banned from cities - at least, the three remaining ones that I knew of - but the cages had stayed to store flying robots.

One such cage was located on the roof of a nearby building. Before delving into the food, I grabbed the electronic clipboard resting below it and printed my name and the date. Only then did I open the cage door, grab a few slices of bread, and tuck some crackers into my pockets. For myself, I took a couple of granola bars.

Tapping on an icon in the corner of the clipboard opened a food-tracking app that Mouse had set up. I decreased the numbers corresponding to the bread slices, crackers, and granola bars. Then, I returned home.

Charlie had already turned on the first book of the three he had chosen. He glanced up when I came in and grinned at the sight of the bread. "Food!"

Suddenly, it hit me - where I could get the week's worth of food for Mouse. My stomach twisted at the thought, but looking at Charlie's grinning face, I knew I had to do it.

"What stories did you pick tonight?" I asked as cheerily as I could manage while I plopped onto the couch beside him, ripping open my first granola bar.

"Evie Model 1, Benji Goes to Mars, and The Birth of Horizon," Charlie answered, carefully pronouncing each of the titles.

The first two were picture books based off of real events - Evie Model 1 had been the first doctor robot while Benji Goes to Mars starred a fictional boy visiting the very real first Martian pioneers. (Who knew what had since happened to them?) The Birth of Horizon, however, was an academic history book crammed with small print and zero pictures.

"Why did you pick this one?" I asked him, prying the thin digital screen from his hands. Tapping the bottom, my suspicions were confirmed as the screen faded to show stats: this book had close to a thousand pages. "I think it's a little too long for a bedtime story..."

Charlie's shoulders rolled in a shrug. "It seemed cool."

"You wouldn't like it, Char. Go pick out another book."

My brother's lower lip stuck out, but he took the book and crossed the room to the bookshelf without protest, rifling through the stacks of screens once more.

I was lucky that he wasn't a particularly argumentative kid. Even if he didn't like my orders, he did as he was told. For that, I was grateful.

As I began my second granola bar, Charlie returned to the couch, this time carrying Androids are People, Too!

Be that as it may, I thought, pulling Charlie onto my lap, they're all dead now.

Android batteries were on the long list of things that the Order couldn't secure. All of Horizon's androids had been dead since roughly a week after the Uprising.

I was too tired to muster the appropriate anger at this memory, however. Instead, I just handed Charlie his crackers, beginning to read Evie Model 1.