984 (Complex Series, #2)

Chapter Thirty-Six

I lie on the cot, numb, staring blankly at the screen of my Notice.  Thoughts slowly stumble through the blankness of my mind.

Miranda and Martin will have seen the message.  Will Miranda let me escape with Officials or will she force me to stay here, to my possible execution?

Someone leaked information.  But who? Is there a real spy in the Unknown? Did the Officials question the dead Eekes before sending them here? Did someone give away information? Are they interrogating Sienna right now? Did she give away secrets?  Was it one of the rogue Officials? If it was one of the rebellious Officials, did they do it on purpose or on accident? Do the other rogue Officials know who leaked information?

How many rogue Officials are dead? How many more are going to die?

I could die. 

An Official or even the Heads could question me. Would I be strong enough to not say anything? Would I be too weak and give away more people to their deaths?

They didn’t say anything about Brinn. Nothing. Has she already been executed? Is she being questioned right now? Is she dying right now? Is she still alive and will be executed tomorrow night? Will the rogue Officials that are left be able to sneak her out of the Complex? Will she escape with us? 

I might be able to see Brinn again. If I do see her again though, there’s a chance she could be dead.

Where will we escape to? How do you escape the Heads? There are cameras everywhere, in the Unknown and the Complex. Would I be escaping my possible execution to a more likely death?

The door glides open to the room. I squint as light pours into the room. I can make out a dark figure against the bright light.

The lights in my room blink on and I peer into the glow to make out the figure.

My eyes slowly adjust and I see Miranda standing inside my room, the door now closed.  I peek at my Notice, it’s half past the third hour.

She strides forward and gracefully bends down to take a seat on the floor in front of my bed.

She says, “I’m not going to waste time, Piper. I’m going to be blunt. Marcus and I were monitoring your messaging with the Officials.  We saw what it said.”

She glances sideways at me before continuing, “Marcus doesn’t know what to believe. I know it’s hard for you to understand Piper, since you are still a Rivie, but here in the Unknown, we have a very poor view on Officials.  So, the fact that some of them could be rebellious…most people here can’t even imagine that. It’s just too…unrealistic.”

The way she describes it, it’s going to be even more difficult than I thought to convince the Councils at the Examination to believe my story.

But, if I’m escaping with Officials, does the Examination even matter? Why does it matter what privileges I have here, when I’m not even going to be here? There is no point in having the people of the Unknown on my side.  I needed them on my side so they could join with the rebellious Officials, but there aren’t going to be very many, if any, rebellious Officials left.

Miranda continues, “At the Examination, you can’t let anyone know that you are escaping tomorrow night. No one…they wouldn’t…it just wouldn’t go over well at all.”

“So you are going to…let me escape with the rebellious Officials?”

“My Pros as the Leader of the Unknown is to keep as many people safe as possible. If I can keep you alive by sending you and all the others with the rebellious Officials, I won’t hesitate for a second.”