“What…I thought she…?” My mind fails to from a coherent sentence.
How can Piper still be alive?
Derek releases me from his grip. “It wasn’t really the clear. It was an injection similar to the green, simply making them pass out.”
It was all a trick. Piper never died. Christopher never died. “Miranda?” I ask.
Derek shakes her head, “That really was the clear. I wasn’t able to swap them before Ellen injected her.”
“How long will they be unconscious?”
“An hour or so. Just in time, too. We need to meet with the other immunes to prepare them.”
“For what?”
Derek stares at me, something unreadable in his eyes. “I’ll explain soon enough.”
I clench my teeth together, not wanting to wait.
Derek and Jonathan leave the room, out the door that goes to the Unknown. I lag behind, unsure of what to do. I don’t want to leave Piper and Christopher alone and unconscious in the Rivie Drop-off room. What if Ellen comes after us and discovers their bodies? If she realizes they aren’t dead, she’ll kill them in an instant.
I don’t necessarily want to follow behind Derek either. I have no idea what he plans to do and why he’s in the Unknown in the first place. How many people know that he’s working for us? I’m not entirely convinced I can trust him, not after all the events of today.
Doesn’t he realize that almost everyone in the Unknown hates the Heads? Does he think it’ll look good when they discover Piper and their previous Leader, Christopher, unconscious in a room? We’re supposed to be rebelling against him, not with him.
The trail of collapsed bodies that Ellen left behind has disappeared. They must have moved them elsewhere, most likely to the Nurses.
What about Theo? He saw us dragged away by Ellen. Did he tell someone? Did they try to stop us, only to realize that it was too late? Did they find Josh and assume the same happened to the rest of us?
What about the second group from the village?
Derek strolls confidently through the halls. I can hear distant, panicked voices from up ahead. As we walk, they slowly grow louder. Soon the doors to the Eating Hall come into view. They are open and people are crammed inside. They are facing away, watching something inside.
Derek nonchalantly strides up to the nearest person, a girl. He nonchalantly taps her on the shoulder. She turns around, her eyebrows pressed together in anger. “Good luck getting in there, Reb. It’s an offie mess. I…”
She trails off as she seems to realize who she’s talking to. Her scream rips through the room, plunging it into silence. Heads crane backwards, trying to find the source of the scream.
The girl backs away, pressing against the nearest people. The others close by turn and see Derek. Their own shouts of horror ring aloud.
Derek calmly raises his hands, the same little smile twitching at the edges of his lips. “Well, hello. I suppose you are all the rebels that have ever disobeyed me.”
Everyone stares silently back at him, too terrified to say a word. Their worst nightmares have come true. There is a Head in the Unknown, the one place they thought was Head-free.
Jonathan stands impassively, his arms crossed over his chest, at Derek’s side. I cower several paces behind them. I can only hope that the people of the Unknown think that I’m not working with them.
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. ...
