Sense #WeAreDystopia

CHAPTER FIVE

*Sorry for the delay on this one. I've been trying to keep up with school and stuff. I hope you understand. Thanks. *

CHAPTER FIVE

Thirty-one is standing in front of me and for a while I don't know what to say. I don't think he followed me. I guess he came in here before me. But how did I not realise? He is certainly not small enough to go unnoticed.

'How did you get here?' I ask the first thing I can think of.

'I asked a couple of guys to make some noise and while most of you were looking their way I sneaked in here. I don't want trouble, Eleven. I'm just ... curious, I guess,' he says and I believe him.

Thirty-one's trick was smart, and since everyone's forming groups, I'd like a smart guy like him on my side. 'It's cool,' I say casually. 'Let's go check out the rest of this place.

I head toward the silver door, Thirty-one on my heel. I pause to study his look, trying to understand his intentions. He is wearing square, black glasses but the kind eyes behind them force me to trust him.

I push the door buy the long, metal bar that is placed instead of a handle and it opens with a click. The room in front of me is dark but lights go on as soon as both him and I walk further inside. The door clicks back into place.

There are about fifteen long, metal tables with chairs stacked on top of the,. waiting to be occupied.

'Look,' says Thirty-one, and I stare at the direction he's pointing at. My eyes find a kitchen counter and two, big, silver refrigerators at its end. There are sinks and ovens, cupboards and drawers, all coated in metallic paint. Part of me wonders if there are any knives in there and it is the same part of me that wishes there are plenty of them, all sharp and ready. I push that thought away.

'Is this like a culinary school program or-'

'No,' I say, not sure where my sudden confidence streak stems from but I'm incredibly certain. 'I think they're trying to get us involved with the lounge, and now a place to cook and eat...'

'It's like those reality TV shows?' he asks next. He could be right.

'Yeah, something like that.'

At the far end of the dining hall is another door with the word "storage" written in golden letters. Thirty-one walks up to it and peeks inside.

'There are cans and...' he mumbles as he walks inside. I can't hear the rest so I have no choice but to find out by myself.

I follow him quickly and wander into the storage room. Shelves filled with cans of food and packed meals cover each wall and more carton boxes are stacked on top of one another.

'This must be our food for the next two months,' I say and he seems to agree.

I'm about to speak again when I hear a scream, coming from far away.

Thirty-one and I rush to the lounge and scan each monitor. There, inside the dormitory, a large crowd is gathered in a perfect circle.

'Is that a body on the ground?' he asks.

'Yes, I think it is.'

A minute later, a dead body lies in front of my feet. At least it looks dead to me.

He is lying on his back, his hands stretched wide open at his sides, his eyes rolled back into his skull. I shiver.

I can't recall ever seeing a dead body before and I'm pretty sure I never have, despite the emptiness of my head.

I hear One Hundred's voice and he soon walks up to the front of the circle. 'Roll him to his back,' he says firmly and both his loyal lackeys obey without a second of hesitation.

They touch the stiff corpse of a boy as if it is nothing more than a heavy log and they roll it over, so it's lying on its stomach. One Hundred kneels down and checks the back of the corpse's neck.

'Twenty-nine,' he bellows and I hear a gasp from far behind me but I'm too distracted to look back. Instead, I see movement in front of me. Sixteen pushes through the noisy crowd and shakes a hand at me.

Our eyes lock for an instant and she points at her lips. I think she wants o tell me something.

Sixteen gestures at the far end of the room. Whatever she wants to say, she can't confess in front of a lot of people. I wonder what that is. I nod.

I follow Sixteen far from the loud crowd and I notice another girl walking next to her. She is blonde and her shoulder blades are quivering, as if she was incredibly cold. She is terrified of something. What? Is it this place that she fears? Or is it me?

Sixteen stops and I face her, the small girl standing behind her defensively. 'It's okay,' Sixteen whispers and the girl stands straight, looking me right into the eye.

'So?' I say. I'm impatient. I've been on edge ever since I woke up in here. I bring the image of the corpse into my mind  again and try to speak, just to distract myself from it. 'What's going on?'

'Tell him what you saw. Go ahead!' Sixteen says at the frightened girl and I realise I haven't heard her voice yet. It must be high-pitched and shaky.

'I-the boy that ... died ... I saw him having seizures just before he passed out,' she says, and I'm right about her voice. 'He was shaking and only few people saw it but I think he was choking on something,' she says and the hairs in the back of my neck rise.

'What do you make of it?' Sixteen asks, her yes lingering on mine.

'What do I think? How should I know?' I ask, but the answer is obvious. She doesn't expect me to know. She just hopes that I do. 'He could be epileptic,' I suggest.

'What does that mean?' the short, blond girl asks.

'Epilepsy is a disease,' Sixteen explains calmly. 'Epileptics have seizures often. But dying ... is a whole different matter.'

Both of them look at me. Two sets of big eyes reaching deep into my head. I look away.

'Do you think the same will happen to all of us? I mean, the boy couldn't have known he had that disease,' the girl says.

'I-I don't know,' Sixteen says. 'But I doubt they went into all this trouble just to kill us. Remember what they said, about the testing? I think there's some honesty in what they told us-'

'Shh,' I interrupt her. The speakers start ringing again. The same voice as before starts speaking and I'm on edge.

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