The next day, the sun was still shrouded in mist, as if ashamed to look at the Sixth District. The air was heavy, and the gray buildings screamed their silence, while the potholes swallowed the children's steps as they slowly made their way toward the local market.
Cairn walked beside Nero, carrying a small bag of stale bread on his shoulder and a few empty cans he had picked up to sell for a small price. Alicia followed behind them, clutching an old notebook hidden inside her coat. Her eyes were more serious than usual, scanning the passersby and the walls alike.
"Cairn…" she murmured softly as she hurried to catch up, "we need a map."
"A map? For a city that traps us inside?" he said, smiling with light sarcasm.
"No, a map of what's beyond the wall."
He stopped for a moment, raised an eyebrow, and asked:
"Since when did you get this serious?"
"Since last night. I… I don't want to wait any longer. I don't want to stay here until the district swallows us like it did hundreds of others."
He looked at her, then at Nero, who was busy with a simple toy made from an old rope, before saying:
"Alicia, it's just a dream. We tell ourselves these things so we don't break down."
"But it's the only dream we have," she replied quickly, then added: "And we have more than nothing."
Cairn fell silent, staring into her eyes for a long moment. He wasn't used to such fervor in her voice. Then he said quietly:
"And what do you suggest?"
"We explore the wall. Tonight. We get as close as possible and watch… maybe we find a gap, a passage, something… anything."
"Isn't that what rats do? They approach walls searching for a way out?"
"If the rats find an escape, perhaps we should learn from them."
Cairn chuckled softly and said:
"Good, clever little rat. Tonight. But only to observe. No risks."
She nodded in agreement, her eyes shining. For the first time, she felt something like real determination… and there was no turning back now.
---
At night…
The alleys became far more terrifying once darkness fell, as faces vanished behind shadows, crates turned into eyes, and the air into a dagger. But Cairn, Nero, and Alicia moved lightly, hiding between walls, circling around rusty beams, climbing broken iron staircases.
Finally, they reached the wall.
It was closer to a fortress than a concrete barrier, gray in color, topped with four-meter-high barbed wire, and distant floodlights flickered intermittently.
Alicia whispered:
"Do you see that pillar over there?"
"Yes… seems older than the rest."
"I think it's a weak point."
"A weak point for an adventurous girl only. I don't think I can drag Nero there if someone chases us."
Nero exclaimed:
"I'm strong! I'll run faster than you!"
The two laughed, then sat behind piles of scrap, observing the guards above.
Half an hour passed in silence. Cairn turned to Alicia and whispered:
"Maybe we can actually climb… we just need a strong rope."
"And a plan to escape if we're spotted."
"Are you ready for that?"
"I'm scared…" she murmured, looking toward the wall, then smiled: "But I'm tired of being afraid."
Cairn wanted to say something, but a sudden sound echoed through the area.
The screech of an iron gate opening tens of meters away.
The three immediately hid, their breaths shallow. There were footsteps, more than one person, and the intermittent beep of a radio transmitter.
Cairn whispered:
"The police? No… they're not wall guards. Their uniforms are different."
Alicia brought out a small old lens and looked through it:
"They're not from this district… look at their badges."
"Strangers?!"
"Or maybe part of a special force."
One of them carried a heavy metal box and placed it near the wall. Then, suddenly, a small hole appeared in the wall, as if it had opened from within.
Cairn stared in astonishment and muttered:
"The wall… opens?"
The men quickly closed the hole and returned to a black vehicle that vanished into the shadows.
Alicia said in disbelief:
"Did you see what I saw?"
"That means someone crosses… from inside and outside. From the wall that trapped us."
Cairn suddenly stood, looking up at the sky.
He said slowly:
"They're not protecting themselves from us… they're protecting themselves from something else."
---
The next morning, nothing seemed different in the Sixth District. The potholes still bled mud, the vendors still shouted their monotonous words, and the sky remained as gray as the heart of the city. But something in Cairn's gaze had changed.
The three sat in their usual corner behind the closed blacksmith shop, under a withered tree that had borne no leaves for years. Nero dug in the dirt with a stick, scattering dust across his worn pants.
Alicia whispered:
"We saw it with our own eyes. The wall opens. There's a way."
"And people cross. They carry things… and hide them," said Cairn, observing the street across from them.
"We need to know who they are. Why they entered. And why those beyond the wall come to us, while we are imprisoned within it."
Nero asked suddenly, without lifting his head:
"Are they bad?"
Cairn smiled, patting his brother's head:
"We don't know yet. But one thing's certain—they're not from here."
Alicia said:
"If we know who they are, maybe we'll find an exit… or at least a reason to cross."
"You mean spy on them?"
"Watch them… there's a difference."
Cairn laughed:
"In either case, if they catch us, we'll at least get beaten."
Alicia raised an eyebrow:
"Are you scared?"
"No, just realistic," he added. "But I'm with you."
Alicia opened her old notebook, flipped to a new page, and sketched the gate they had seen open, marking its approximate location. Then she pointed to a nearby alley:
"This place is always dark… we can hide here tonight. If they enter again, we'll know when and where the wall opens."
Cairn nodded, then turned to Nero:
"But Nero won't come with us this time."
"What?!" the little boy shouted.
"You'll stay with our neighbor Rosa. Just one night. We promise."
"But I want to see them too!"
"You'll tell the neighborhood kids about our adventure when we survive. Isn't that better?"
Nero hesitated, then reluctantly agreed, planting his stick into the ground angrily.
---
Night fell again…
The alley was narrower than they had expected, exuding a stale smell of rust and stagnant water. They sat on overturned wooden crates, hiding in the shadows, waiting.
Time crawled. As midnight approached, they heard the familiar creak.
"They're here," Alicia murmured.
They peered from behind the crate and saw the same black vehicle, the same group, with another box.
But what made Cairn's blood run cold… was that this time, one of them wore civilian clothes… a young man no older than twenty, dark hair, with a small emblem on his jacket.
Cairn whispered:
"That's not one of them… not from the district either. But… he looks familiar."
Alicia looked through her lens carefully.
"He's from the Upper City… I see the ruling family's emblem on his jacket."
They exchanged glances, then noticed something new:
One of the guards handed the civilian a brown envelope, whispered a few words, and returned to the vehicle.
The young man opened the wall hole the same way and passed through.
Alicia said slowly:
"He's not one of them… he's a middleman. A third party."
"The Upper City sends negotiators here?!" Cairn muttered.
Then, rising slowly, he added:
"We need to find out who he is."
"But how?"
"I'll follow him."
"Cairn, wait!"
But he had already moved, slipping through the alley, following the shadows along the wall.
---
The next morning…
Cairn did not return until dawn. When he reached Rosa's house, where Alicia was anxiously waiting, his eyes were ablaze with something like fire.
"I've found his name… and his name alone opens many doors."
"Who?"
"Rainor, the son of the Vice Governor."
Alicia fell silent, understanding everything.
What lay beyond the wall was far more dangerous than they had imagined…
but perhaps, and perhaps only, it was the path to salvation.