I say, “Piper said she’ll help you out. I’m sure together you can live. She’s an Official, remember.”
My encouragement sounds weak, even to me. Never have I heard of someone beating the Heads at their own game. But then, who should live? Charlotte, who’s been forced to betray nearly everyone she knows with the threat of her life or Piper, an Official, who’s undoubtedly taken kids to the Ecru and to the Unknown and claims to be saving kids?
Charlotte and I spend the rest of the day touring.
She shows me the Kitchens, full of food and delicious smells I didn’t know existed. The infinite Fields bursting with colors. The hectic classrooms full of giggling, noisy kids. The Rivie Rooms where Rivies show up when delivered to the Unknown, a place where I once sat unconscious. The monotonous, hard work of Cleaners, tidying the messes of everyone else. We only visited the lobby of the Cons, and don’t get to see the Vitals.
The Vitals are small group of people trusted by the Heads who create the base for the Vita. Apparently the Heads add more to the substance, but it begins in the Unknown. We finish back at the Nurses Wing, which I’ve already obviously seen.
Charlotte explains she has a quick errand to run, but it will take only an hour or so.
Charlotte leaves me with Michelle in the Nurses Wing after giving me a tight hug goodbye and promising to come back for a slightly tardy Mid-day Meal.
Michelle pushes me through the hall. “Do you want to visit Marie? She woke up this morning and is already talking.”
“Yes, I’d love to. Is she hurt badly?”
“Not anymore than normal. She’s bruised and scratched pretty badly, but the same as everyone else. She wasn’t in the Unknown very long.”
She stops in front of a door on the left and it slides open. She wheels me inside and I see Marie lying weakly on the bed.
Her black hair is still in a partial braid, strands drooping out. Her weak grey eyes stare at me, but still hold a bit of the intimidation they did before. Her skin is decorated in dark bruises, bright red scratches and blood.
I smile shyly at her, unsure what to say now that I’m in front of her. “Hi, um, Marie.”
“Claire?” Her voice is full of incredulity.
“Yeah….how, how are you?”
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes drill into mine.
“What do you mean? I’m here to talk to you. I thought it’d be nice…”
“No, I mean, what are you doing here in the Unknown? Why aren’t you still in the Complex?”
From her disbelief, I can tell she didn’t mean for me to be sent to the Unknown. I explain, “I rebelled, just like you.”
“What made you break?”
“I was actually wondering the same about you.”
I can’t say the real reason I rebelled. I rebelled because Bridget was already sending me to the Unknown. I decided it would be better to go out remembered. But, I have the feeling that I shouldn’t give away Bridget’s identity to her, especially with Michelle listening in. I don’t truly know if Michelle and Marie are trustable.
Marie responds, “I was sick of following the Officials’ orders, you?”
I lie, “The same, except I also wanted to break the monotony.”
“Did you rebel after I did? Were you planning on doing something before I contacted you?”
I continue to avoid the truth, “I was planning it long before you contacted me. I just wasn’t sure when I wanted it to happen. I decided to do it the day after you rebelled.”
YOU ARE READING
274 (Complex Series, #4)
Science Fiction-fourth book in the Complex series- Claire, known to most people only by her Complex number as 274, has always obeyed the Official's rules. You have to, unless you want to be sent away to the Unknown. Until, she meets Marie and everything changes. ...
