As far back as I can remember, I've been surrounded by water. The salt in the air even now makes it hard to breath, forcing me to squint. Sand clings to every inch of me, caking my pants and shoes. The wind from the ocean picks my hair up, sending it blowing back towards the multi-colored houses lining the shore line.

I was born under water, surrounded by the dulled screams of my mother and the cheering of my father. I imagine that the water around me was filled with broken shards of light, glittering like dancers over a brightly lit stage.

"You sucked in too much water," Mom always says when I get sick, which is more often than normal people here in Compound 5. "When you were underwater, you just breathed it right in."

"He didn't suck in water, Catherine," Dad will interject, shaking his head as he reads on his tablet at the kitchen table. "He's just sickly."

Truthfully, they're both right.

The ocean has always been a few steps away, filling our nights with its gentle grating on the beach, breathing as the foam settles on the sand under it. Standing here now, I can hear the waves biting into the shoreline as they slowly recede from the high night tide. It stares back at me, reminding me of how small and insignificant I am.

The wood of the porch moans under me as I lean on the railing, staring out at the ocean. Cotton clouds rest along the horizon, contrasting with the pinks and oranges of a sunrise. I am listening for the door under me to open, to hear the sleepy footsteps of my neighbor.

Glancing at my watch, I take a deep breath. She's late. I probably couldn't pay Alexis to be on time somewhere.

"Hey, Q."

The hushed whisper comes from my left, at the bottom of the stairs.

Cautiously, I tiptoe over, grimacing as the floorboards creak under me.

From the top of the steps, I see Alexis, grinning up at me. She smiles with every inch of her mouth, bearing every tooth at me. Coming from anyone else, it might be creepy, but the dimples in her cheeks cancel out the creepy factor. Her fire red hair reflects the red sun, making me squint even more.

"Where have you been?" she whispers, motioning for me to come to her. I groan, descending the stairs.

"Waiting on you, Lexi," I mumble, jumping off the last step into the soft sand.

Just like I can remember always being surrounded by the overwhelming ocean, I also remember Alexis always being there. The way our houses work, every building has an upstairs and downstairs apartment. Lexi's parents lived under mine, and they had a child around the same time. My childhood memories are red and freckled, filled with her brilliant white teeth and brown eyes that remind me of tree bark.

"I've been here for hours," she whispers with a wink, turning on her heels and walking away.

Today is Sunday, the only day children under sixteen years old don't go to school. Every Sunday, I meet Lexi at the bottom of the stairs; she's always late, and I'm always early.

"Q, come on," she says, noticing I haven't moved to follow her yet. I was waiting to see where she was going this week. I heave my feet up out of the sand, jogging to catch up with her.

Every Sunday, we scale the wall.

Compound 5 exists to protect it's citizens from a long dead virus. We haven't seen any infected within miles of the compound wall in years. When the virus broke out about fifteen years ago, it wiped out a lot of people the files say, leaving the United States relocated into ten different compounds. Yet, the virus died out over time. Scientists in 5 say that the infected ran out of food, because all of the humans were safe within the walls.

Only Compounds 1 through 5 remain, though. Historical files tell us that the western compounds fell to the virus about a year after their construction, and we had to build a wall between the east and west.

"Why keep our wall up, then, if there's no more virus?" a kid named Justin had asked one day in class. We all had the same question; no one else was brave enough to ask, though.

"For protection against the other compounds," Professor Binns told us. My class of twenty-five had always been taught by Professor Binns. We were all the same age, all born the same year and all taking our Intelligence Exam the same year.

"You see," he continued, leaning on his desk, "Compound 5 was designed as a superior compound. We were designed to be better and last longer than the other compounds. Once that knowledge gets out, we become a threat to the others. The wall is still for your protection, just from a different enemy."

It just seemed so pointless. No one ever attacked Compound 5. They would have been stupid to even try.

The people here are bred, trained, and tested for perfection.

"Calling Quinn Lee Austin."

I look up at Lexi, who is standing on the sidewalk.

"Where did you go?" she asks, "I was talking."

"I never listen to you," I mumble, joining her on solid ground. In order to get to the wall, we have to walk through the Working District and the Agriculture District.

Lexi shoots me an obscene gesture with her hand, smirking.

"But seriously, were you reciting your textbook in your head or something? You had that lost look in your eyes," she says, walking backwards while holding her backpack straps.

"No, but I should be at home studying."

"Man, you're boring," she groans, swinging back around.

She hums as she walks, some cheery tune she made up, I'm sure. Most of our conversations end with her calling me boring or making fun of me. It doesn't faze me now.

"Have you been putting in extra physical education hours?" she asks, talking a little louder. As we approach the taller buildings of the Working District, the sounds of the ocean fade away, replaced by machinery. Here, we don't have to worry about waking anyone up.

"I've been scaling before, Lex," I snap, walking faster to catch up with her, "I don't need to get more exercise to scale."

"Not what I meant, grumpy," she said, "You know, tomorrow's the day." She looks at me, raising her light eyebrows. The building rising over us casts shadows on her face, dimming the sky above us.

"Can we focus on today while it is still here?" I ask, running a hand through my hair.

"Sure," she says, shrugging, "Whatever you want."

Coming out of the other end of the Working District, the sprawling fields of the Ag District come into view. Livestock litter the fields, fenced together in groups. The crop fields are mostly empty for the winter, but I can see the hunched backs of the lower workers as they begin their shift.

On the other side of the fields is the wall, a solid metal sheet towering twenty feet over us. From where we stand, side by side, I can't see over it. That's why we have to scale it.

Occasionally, there is a ladder leading from the ground to the roof of the wall. That's how the guards get up to the top of the wall. Citizens are forbidden to go up, though, a rule that's strictly enforced. Lexi has it timed down to the second when shift change begins to give us enough time to get up and away from where they patrol.

I'm just along for the ride.

"Two minutes," she mumbles, staring at the watch on her wrist, "Two minutes and thirty-four seconds."

"For someone who hates math, you put a lot of effort into this," I say, watching her walk again, at a slower pace.

"This isn't math. It's rebellion. It's my passion."

I snort, adjusting my bag.

"One minute," she says, and I look up again.

We are at the wall. The tall metal ladder is just to our left. If I look to my right, I can barely see the gate, the four bodies of the guards as they exchange paperwork.

"Thirty seconds."

They pass each other keys, and then the grinding begins as they pull the heavy door open together. It shudders to a stop, and the night guards walk away, rubbing their eyes. The day guards linger on the ground, looking at their clipboards.

"Now," Lexi says, pushing me towards the ladder.

I grab the wet metal with both hands, swinging myself up onto the first rung.

Being off the ground makes me feel sick. My stomach churns as I climb, and I focus on putting each hand on the next rail and making sure my feet are stable before I move. Below me, Lexi is grumbling, probably tapping her foot. I couldn't will myself to look down and see if I tried.

When the ladders ends, I scramble off on my hands and knees, crawling away like a baby. Before I can even turn around, Lexi is up the ladder, standing behind me with her hands on her hips.

"Alright, Q?" she asks, offering me a hand.

"I hate heights," I mumble, pulling myself up.

"I know. You hate everything."

"No, I hate heights. And getting in trouble and falling and spiders and snakes..." My voice trails off as I catch Lexi staring at me, grinning broadly. Rolling my eyes, I start to walk, away from the gate to the right. The farther away we are, the less chances of a guard seeing us.

After a few minutes of walking, Lexi comes to a stop in front of me. There's a blanket balled up on the floor of the wall, signalling that this is the place. The multicolored blanket packs are spaced out all around the wall at our spots. Wrapped up in the blanket are gloves, beanies, and bottles of water. The weather sometimes gets bitter cold on the wall from the ocean wind.

I unroll the blanket as Lexi takes up her guard position, sitting facing right, towards the gate.

"Can you see it?" she asks, whispering. Standing on my knees, I strain to lean over the wall, knuckles turning white as I clutch the edge. The barbed wire curling around the outside edge is inches away from my hands, and if I lean too far, it will cut into my face. Not that I would lean any farther, because just being over the edge makes me sick.

Yet, I have to see it.

"Of course I can, Lex. It's a building. It didn't sprout legs and walk away," I whisper back, flicking her ear as she shoots me another obscene gesture.

Directly in front of us, through the thin palm trees, about a quarter of a mile away is a concrete building. Four white cylinders come out of the roof, like perfectly round chimneys, without the smoke. The building itself is very ancient, falling apart almost. I can tell because the walls have chunks broken off, littering the ground around them. Buildings in Compound 5 are mainly metal, not stone like this one.

Painted on the side of the building are four black, chunky letters. Between each letter is a space where another letter was, but the only thing that's left of the missing letters is black chips of paint.

R E P O - - - - R -

"Still sleeping?" Lexi asks, playing with her hair.

"Like death," is my quick reply.

I've searched every file in the archives, every book in the library, every textbook on our tablets for some connection to the Repor, some word that would make sense to be painted on the side of a building. So far, my research has been pointless. So, we just wait to see something come out of those smoke stacks, some sign of hidden life in the Repor.

"Guard alert," Lexi blurts out, making me jump. The blanket under me moves, and I slip forward, forced up against the short ledge in front of me. My knees press up against the ledge, the rest of me dangling over, hands meeting barbed wire.

"Lex, pull me back," I shout, panic setting in.

"Calm down, and be quiet," she says, standing behind me. She grabs my shoulders, pulling me back. When she does, the blanket slips more under me, not allowing my body to get enough traction to actually pull back. There's nothing I can hold on to where my hands are, and I'm tilting forward more by the second.

"Lex," I whisper, desperate, "Please, pull me up."

"Hey! Kids!"

Lexi swears as the guard spots us. He's patrolling a little farther than normal, a hand poised on the weapon on his belt. From my diagonal position, I can't tell if it's the taser or the gun he holds.

"Quinn, don't panic," Lexi says through gritted teeth. She holds fistfuls of my shirt now, and I hear the rubber soles of her shoes squeaking.

"Too late," I whine, grabbing the barbed wire in a last desperate effort to regain some balance. The razor sharp blades cut into my palms, making me jump again. Lexi sucks in air and loses her grip on me.

I hold my breath and close my eyes, feeling the wind cradle me from all sides as I fall at about twenty-four miles per hour, considering the height of the wall and my weight. Now, I wish I was surrounded by water.

Author's Note: Hey, guys! In an effort to be more interactive with my readers, I am going to start asking you questions at the end of every part. Today's question is simple: what do you think the Repor is? Welcome to the sequel.

xoxo,

Amy.