Chapter 15

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OOH! I like the upgrade to wattpad online. NICE!!! Work has been crazy lately so I haven't been able to write as often. It looks like it might be calming down though. I hope this chapter gives you an idea where I'm headed with this story.

Special thanks to everyone commenting and reading. I love feedback of any kind and if you're confused about something let me know. I'll try to answer. I don't reedit on wattpad unless it's a truly heinous error, (That reminds me I have to change the timing on May's Birthday.) but I do edit on my original. So if you see anything let me know.

I love you guys and hope you have fun reading this. : )

Chapter 15

One would think five months in a drug-induced sleep would leave Peyton feeling rested and relaxed. The reality was exhaustion. Her sleep was deep and dreamless. A testament to how much her body needed to recover. She could see the glow of light behind her lids, but didn’t care anymore. The feeling of someone watching her had roused her from sleep, but if they didn’t bother her, she wouldn’t react to them.

“I know you’re awake now Parker. It’s time for you and me to have a talk.” Peyton barely managed to keep her groan in check, but managed. She remembered the General’s voice clearly. The calm Southern notes of his gravely voice grated against her raw nerves.

Opening her eyes and getting up in the morning was usually the best part of her day but it took a great deal of determination to peel back her eyelids, only to be greeted by the hard wrinkled face of the man sitting next to her. He frowned at her, “Sit up.” He ordered.

She didn’t bother to bite back the groan that escaped her mouth as she lifted herself into a sitting position. A wave of nausea rolled through her as the fluttering in her stomach came back. A mug appeared before her and she looked up in surprise, “Arsenic?” She asked with a raised brow.

The General didn’t bother to change expressions. His face remained stony, “Peppermint tea. I don’t need you loosing your dinner during our talk.”

Peyton took the warm mug from him and smelt the contents. It smelled like peppermint tea. She brought it to her mouth and took a small sip. It tasted like peppermint tea too. She decided if he wanted to drug her he could easily do it without tricking her so she took a drink before replying, “So talk.”

The General was silent, his eyes narrowing in a look that told her he was in charge, “I believe I mentioned before that you’ve caused me a great deal of trouble.” He said it as a statement but Peyton nodded anyway. “Good, you are going to rectify the situation we now find ourselves in.”

“What situation would that be?” Peyton asked quietly, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

General Bouffant’s jaw tightened. Peyton noticed a muscle under his left eye start to twitch, “Men all over the country are rioting. Some have even stormed two of the smaller Safe Zones. We’ve had to evacuate Our Eastern Oregon Safe Zone as well as the one in Vancouver.” His steel grey eyes narrowed in on her face and Peyton barely managed to suppress a flinch. “We are nearing capacity and the President is breathing down my neck. Thanks to your little broadcast, the women in the Safe Zones are growing restless and some are refusing to go to the Meet and Greets.”

“Good,” Peyton said clearly, her face stony.

The General sat quiet for a moment, studying her. He shifted in his seat and sat back with a smile that twisted Peyton’s gut into a giant ball of nerves, “I believe you turned twenty while we had you under sedation. Do you know who else had a Birthday?”

Peyton’s mind instantly turned to May. May must have turned sixteen by now and they would make her go to Meet and Greets this year before choosing the father of her first child. She must have said her name aloud because the General continued. His voice grew softer as he spoke, but it terrified her more than his normal direct tone, “Yes, May Moore. Your little cousin’s daughter, too bad she’s so much like her mother. Killing herself, when her baby was barely a year old was tragic. Then there are your parents. They are in their sixties now aren’t they?”

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