A soft cry escapes Piper’s lips. The door closes completely, leaving us with no view to see what is happening. Maybe it’s better that way.
A scream, distinctly Miranda’s, rips through the walls. Piper tenses, shutting her eyes tightly together. Tessa’s hysterical voice says, “Wait. Stop. I did nothing wrong. They kidnapped me. It was their fault. I’m loyal. I never did anything against the Heads.”
The worst part is the absence of Miranda’s voice. Did they enter in the green shot? Did they kill her?
Tessa says, “What are you doing? Get that shot away from me. Why don’t you understand?”
An Official says, “I injected her with the green. Why isn’t she going out? The other one did.”
Miranda has the green coursing through her veins. At least she’s not already dead.
“You don’t think she’s…”
A different voice, the other Official, says, “We have to get her to Ellen right away. Think of the promotions we could get.”
Tessa continues her shouts, “No, just let me go back to the Complex.You’ll never even hear of me again, I promise. Just please, let me go.”
The Officials don’t respond. Her shouts fade as they drag her away.
I can’t keep the arrogant thoughts out of my head. Maybe she got what she deserved.
Have I failed again, just like with Tooth and Charlotte? Could I have done or said something, to stop Tessa’s screaming? If I had tried, could I have convinced Tessa to escape with us?
Piper snaps from her trance. She whispers, “We need to leave. Now. Officials will be swarming these halls, looking for any other suspicious activity.”
I pretend not to notice the tear she wipes away from her cheek.
She pulls up a hologram on her Notice. I glance over her shoulder, trying to see what’s so important, that she is repeatedly checking.
It’s a diagram or a map of some type. Red dots scatter it, inside little boxes or long rectangles. Certain areas are swamped with red, while others are bare. There are blue circles as well, scattered thinly among the red. In the center is one green dot with barely any of the other colored dots near.
It must be a map of the Complex, most likely the part we are in now. The dots must be Officials. As to what each color means, I don’t know.
She presses a button and the hologram snaps from view. She hesitantly pushes in the button at the side of the door. As it opens, she stands to the side, her body presses to the wall. She peers out into the hall, searching for any oncoming Officials.
The hall is clear. She grabs the handles of my wheelchair and breaks into a sprint. Her feet soundless as they push, one after another, on the floor. Theo keeps up easily. He must been in shape from chasing after children in the Unknown. I doubt I could stay close if I wasn’t in a wheelchair.
Piper wipes out her Notice while continuing to run at full speed. She glances at the hologram and veers quickly to the left. She adheres her Notice to the scanner. I don’t know what’s wrong but I can feel the urgency pouring off of Piper. She pulls me and Theo inside and closes the door.
A minute later, voices fill the halls. Their words are nothing but low murmurs.
Once they fade, we continue sprinting through halls. Piper stops at a plain, gray door without checking her Notice. Instead of a scanner for a Notice strap, it’s a code pad. Piper’s fingers fly over the buttons, punching in number after number. I don’t know how long the code is, but I count at least ten digits. I don’t know how she can have it something so elaborate perfectly memorized, not to mention being able to put it into the system so quickly.
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. ...
