Chapter 26

The hand of the living room clock struck nine p.m. as Stephanie walked into the house.

“Mitchell, that you?” Edwards asked from within the house.

Stephanie replied, “No, Dad.” She had concluded her training at the tech institute by four but had to go a long way home to avoid passing the driyn detection machines mounted at various parts of the city.

Despite being on the safe side, after a final breakthrough in the injections that afternoon, Mr. Edwards had given her, Michael, and Steve an extra dose of the injections. She decided to keep to the ‘better safe than sorry’ mantra. With the new chemical blend used in making the injections, the previous succeeding feeling of nausea and frequent stooling after taking the injection was now a thing of the past.

Edwards walked out of his room with a worried look etched on his face. “She’s never this late,” he said with a sigh as he lowered himself onto the couch.

“Have you tried calling her, Dad?” Stephanie asked.