Legend

June remembers how, when she was seven and Metias was 19, he missed his military induction ceremony to care for her while she was sick. He didn’t care that Commander Jameson was going to be upset—he was going to be inducted whether he went or not. As June fell asleep, he assured her that he’d take care of her “[f]orever and ever, kid, until you’re sick and tired of seeing me.” June thinks of this memory when, at 1:00 a.m., Thomas shows up at the apartment with grease on his forehead to say that Commander Jameson wants June to come with him now: Metias has been killed. She doesn’t hear anything else Thomas says and allows her dog, Ollie, to follow her out of the apartment and into the jeep. All June can think is that Metias should’ve taken her along.

Thomas drives silently and June observes the passing scenery. The JumboTrons are still on despite the power outage, warning people about floods, quarantines, and a Patriots attack on Sacramento. Finally, they reach the hospital, which is taped off. June can tell they haven’t caught the killer yet, and she tells this coldly to Thomas. She feels bad for her behavior, though. Metias helped Thomas, the son of a janitor and a cook, rise up, so Thomas must be grieving, too. Just then, Commander Jameson knocks on the window and tells June to get out and follow her.

Commander Jameson confirms that June has almost finished her studies and got a 1500 on the Trial (these are both things June knows Commander Jameson already knows). Then, she says that she’s already gotten June graduated early. Following Commander Jameson through the hospital and out the back, toward Metias’s body, June trembles—especially when the commander uncovers the body. There’s a knife in his chest. Commander Jameson asks June to tell her what happened, as a pop quiz. June identifies that the knife is one of a pair, that Metias was either stabbed or the knife was thrown by someone very strong, and that the killer escaped through the sewer and probably can’t be tracked. She then leaves June alone for a minute. Though June is supposed to be studying the crime scene, she can’t. She’s going to avenge her brother’s death.

A few hours later, June is back at home on the couch with Ollie. The coffee table is strewn with photo albums and Metias’s handwritten journals—he’d always spoken highly about paper journals, since they can’t be traced online (Metias was a skilled hacker). June is studying the only piece of evidence she has, a strange pendant necklace. Earlier, she learned that Thomas is temporarily taking Metias’s place, while June is going to become a soldier in training—and her first mission is to track Day, who killed Metias. They’ve linked his fingerprints to an earlier crime, but they know little about him. Still, June knows Day broke into the hospital and took plague suppressants, likely because someone close to him is sick. This means he won’t leave the city.

June is pretty sure Day isn’t working for the Colonies, since his weapons tend to be crude and low-tech. And the Patriots didn’t leave their symbol (a flag with 13 red and white stripes and 50 white dots on a blue field), so Day isn’t working with them, either. What’s hardest to understand is that Day doesn’t kill people. He vandalizes and disables vehicles, and he steals, but the most he does is punch people. What did Metias do to warrant his death? The pendant is also confusing, since it’s monetarily worthless but clearly important to Day. After three days, June calls Commander Jameson with a plan.