987 (Complex Series, #3)

Chapter Eighteen

I ask, “Do you know where the river is supposed to lead us?”

Canton stares at me, “Did Nathan tell you anything? I figured since you missed the first day, he’d tell you at least the basics.”

“Uh…no. I guess not.” I mutter. Does the ‘don’t tell anyone about Derek’ rule still apply? Can they still kill us if we are outside the Complex?

“The first day the rogue Officials spent informing us of…basically the whole history of the Complex. There are three Complexes total. The other two, not ruled by the Windsors, are where the babies and children are raised, and where things are manufactured.”

I already knew this part from Derek, but I don’t say anything.

Canton continues, “The Disease is extinct by now. That’s the only reason it’s safe for us to be out here. Ellen and Derek were supposed to release us a long time ago, but they kept us here in the Complex because the Windsors wanted to continue their experiments. The Heads of the other Complexes don’t know about Ellen and Derek’s experiments. If they did know, someone else would be in power.”

I can’t imagine someone else in power instead of Derek and Ellen.

I scan the area around us as we keep on walking. There are no signs of a river anywhere.

Canton starts again, “Apparently, life in the Complex wasn’t as horror-filled as it was today. There were twelve or maybe thirteen other sets of Heads before Ellen and Derek. Anyway, they were supposed to release us, along with the other people in the different Complexes, out into the outside world twenty years or so ago. The system was built so that one Complex couldn’t survive without the other. Since the Windsors refuse to let us leave, the other Complexes can’t let their children leave either. The Heads of the other Complexes know how psychotic Ellen and Derek are and don’t want to risk peoples’ lives by doing anything too rash.”

Bridget picks up, “Before the government of the older world died through the Disease, they set up a…ville…villo…village? They set up a type of village for all the people to live in until they could spread out and repopulate the earth. The three Complexes are arranged in a triangle, with the village in the middle. We are going to go there by following the river, and wait. The rogue Officials are going to try to contact someone at a different Complex. If things are better at that Complex, they’ll get someone to come to meet us. From there…we don’t know.”

What will the other Complexes be like? Are they any better? Derek said that the people at the manufacturing Complex, Complex C, often died of exhaustion before they were thirty years. If they did reach thirty years, they were killed, but more as a mercy killing.

All the people of the Unknown, once they reach twenty, are sent to the Complex C. That means that most of the people in Complex C are probably disloyal to the Windsors.

Would we go to live at Complex C? It would certainly be better than living out here.

Working everyday is better than having a paranoia and fear-filled life.

I would rather be exhausted and tired every day, than have this terror gripping at my skin every second.

What about Complex A? All I know is that Complex A is where the babies are born and cared for until they are six years.  That wouldn’t be so bad. When I was in the Unknown, one of the Pros I was considering was a Teacher, so four or five years can’t be that different.

Brinn freezes right in front of me. Since I wasn’t focused on where I was going, I run straight into her. I let out a startled gasp.

I open my mouth to ask why she stopped, but freeze as well.