The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

our way out of the first cavern into another set of rooms. The mist was continuous and thick, making it difficult to see, but I held my flashlight up, trying to illuminate the area. This chamber was quieter, and I heard the familiar trickle of water.

There’s another stream in here, I announced. Be careful not to fall in—that stuff is concentrated.

According to this map, there are several other doors ahead, Thomas reported through the comms. I’m trying to look for the right one now. It was hard to make out which dark form was his, but I thought he was standing next to the Owen-shaped blob, a few blobs down. This was beginning to grow ridiculous—but I had to wonder if the tainted water was the reason why the mist was so thick.

All right, fellow non-scientists, I said as I pushed forward. Does this effectively confirm that the environment of The Green is caused by the river?

It does and it doesn’t, Owen said. Because The Green is wide, and runs for miles in either direction on both sides of the river… but then we have Matrus and Patrus. Why would it be concentrated in one area but not affect things farther downstream?

Two potential reasons, replied Thomas. The first is that the area The Green encompasses is actually a lower elevation than where we built our city. That creates a pocket just outside of the extreme cold of the mountains, and after years and years of being there, it has created its own thermal pocket to thrive within.

What’s the second? Amber asked.

That the area of The Green sits atop a water reservoir that has been contaminated so badly, that everything around the area is affected by it.

Does that mean our water supplies will eventually be contaminated? I asked, mentally wondering if that was one more thing we needed to deal with in our countries’ futures.

Well… maybe, but probably not. I, uh, I guess you didn’t see that report I left for you and Violet in your debriefing packets, huh?

I blinked and panned my flashlight around, looking for a sign of something through all the mist. To be honest, I had focused on the overall mission, and not the various technical details Thomas had included. He tended to over-report things, and at this point, it had become second nature to skim and move on. This particular packet had been thick, jammed full of reports that had been made in our absence, and I… I was a newlywed. Still, it bothered me that I had missed something, and I wasn’t afraid to ask.

Sorry, Thomas. I guess we didn’t. What did I overlook?

That King Maxen’s grandfather basically created a way of filtering out all the toxins in the water, and had been secretly using the river to supply all of Patrus with water for drinking, bathing, swimming, and growing our food. That was the real purpose of the water treatment plant. We only discovered it after the raid, after I recovered more information from the computers in the plant itself.

Wait, so he could’ve—

I shook myself, suddenly floored. That was a big shock—just one more thing to shake the foundations of our world. The implications were stunning; we would have to put some thought and effort into that when we got back from—

I was so absorbed in what Thomas and I were talking about that I almost missed the trench that loomed out of the mist beneath me, glowing blue with the contaminated water. I would’ve stepped right into it, but Violet grabbed my arm and pulled me back before I could even contemplate how badly it was going to hurt. I stumbled back, a few steps away from the group, and my back came in contact with something hard.

Whirling around, I saw fangs and an open mouth coming right for me, and I shouted and ducked down, raising my gun and freezing with my finger on the trigger as I comprehended the glass in front of me. I had run into a tank, and as I watched, the massive silver python hit the glass, its open mouth smashing into it with a thump. It reared back, black tongue flicking out to taste the air, and the huge head turned, its beady eyes spearing me with a look. It nudged the glass again with its nose, thumping against it, and I slowly straightened as Violet came out of the mist, looking concerned.

I’m okay, I said. My new friend here gave me quite a scare, though.

Guys, this room has tanks with silver pythons in them, Violet reported on the subvocalizer, and I turned my back on the snake—as much as it made my skin crawl—heading back toward the manmade river.

Viggo, this mist is making it impossible to stick together, Ms. Dale said, just as I almost slammed into her as I moved. My hands went up to catch her shoulders, and I grunted.

Sorry, I muttered, taking a step back. Point taken. Everyone link up. We’re forming a human chain. I held my arm out to Violet, and she slipped her arm through it, locking us together at the elbows, and then followed suit with Ms. Dale.

Everyone call it out, I said, and after a moment, everyone checked in that we were linked to someone in our long line. When Tim called in, his voice coming strangely through the mist now that I was used to hearing things in the comms, I regretted for a moment that he would have to be touching somebody—and that the similarly afflicted Morgan would have to do it, too, for that matter—but I knew this discomfort for him was infinitely preferable to his being lost in the damn mist.

I began to move again, stepping over the small channel of water, alerting everyone to its location. We walked for several minutes in silence, more thumps sounding in the room from other tanks containing more giant snakes, which were knocking their noses against the glass in attempts to strike at us as we