984 (Complex Series, #2)

Chapter Eighteen

My mind races. I can't tell her about the rebellious Officials. I'm supposed to be meet with the rebellious Unknown group first. If I tell Miranda about the Officials, she might not trust me. I don't remember my Profession Test, my memory was wiped. But, the rebellious Officials showed me the footage from the test. 

"No," I say, "I don't remember it."

Miranda crosses her arms, "Then how did you know about Brinn killing the Official?"

I wish I could leave the room. I wish I could just walk away. How do I get myself stuck in these situations? Too bad, being a Rivie, I don't even know how to get the door open. I'm trapped under Miranda's glare. 

"I..." It's either give away Sienna's secret of being resistant to the shots or it's give away the rouge Officials' secret.

"Sienna." I finally say. 

Bridget and Miranda wear matching expressions of confusion. 

Bridget questions, "Sienna? What does she have to do with it? I know she snuck out with you, but..."

My voice comes out in barely a whisper, "None of the shots ever worked on Sienna. The green doesn't, the red doesn't. She didn't get shot with the blue, so that might work on her.  She told us what happened. She told us how Brinn accidentally killed the Official."

Miranda frowns, "Why didn't you mention this?" 

I meet her eyes, "Sienna wanted it to be kept a secret. I only told you because I had to."

Miranda doesn't seem to completely believe me, but she drops the questions. Miranda checks her notice. "I'm going to go check on Marcus. I'll be right back."

She presses a button on the side of the wall, causing the door to slide open. She slips through and vanishes from sight. 

Bridget says "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you hadn't told her yet. It was bothering me so much. I couldn't think about anything else, just about how we have ended someone's life. I helped. Yeah, it was an Official and Officials do lots of horrible things, but that doesn't mean they deserve to die. I didn't even know what she was like. Maybe she was a good person, just like you and me, stuck beneath Ellen and Derek..."

I swallow, but don't say something. Bridget has no idea how close to the truth she actually is. Dawn, the Official Brinn killed, was the leader of the rouge Officials group. She saved Brinn from the Unknown countless times. 

Bridget sighs, "I just wish I could get healthy so I could actually do something. Doing something would probably take my mind off these horrible questions, but I can barely walk. Consider yourself lucky that you didn't get sent to the Ecru, they are horrible. Absolutely, horrible. I wish I could see Canton too, the real Canton, not the Eeke, insane version of Canton. He never met you, did he? He only knew that Dana was bringing someone named Piper with her the next time she came. Then Dana got sent here and..."

She seems to have the habit of trailing off in the middle of thoughts. I wonder how much Canton told her. Bridget may know more about the Complex than I do. Canton and Josh knew more about the Complex than I would have thought possible.

I hear a noise and turn. It's Miranda with Marcus right behind her. Marcus' eyes are red, his jaw clenched tight. Miranda motions for me to leave the room. I turn to Bridget, "Bye. Hopefully I'll see you again. There's a lot to talk about."

She only smiles sadly at me and gives a half-hearted wave. 

I step out into the hall and the opaque glass door closes behind me. Miranda leads us down the hall, "Now, we are going to give Canton a visit. Hopefully he will recognize Marcus and that will jolt him back to sanity."

We reach the end of the hall. Miranda presses another button on the wall and the door slides open. We step through. Canton is lying on his bed. He struggles, trying to sit up when we walk in. He must be too weak because his head falls back against the pillow. He turns his head to face us as we walk closer. His eyes glance over Miranda and I, landing on Marcus.

He makes a growling sound in the back of his throat. 

Marcus tries for a smile, "Canton. It's me, Marcus. Remember me? We were roommates for ten years in the Complex. We snuck out all the time, finding out all sorts of Complex secrets, hiding from Officials. Remember how we used to joke around? You said that one day, you were going to do something crazy, just to mess with the Officials. You said you would just start screaming during Free Hour. Or, you said you would throw oatmeal everywhere." Marcus' voice gets softer. "You said you would go running through the girls' Complex. And look at you, you did. You finally did it.  You're here in the Unknown."

The growling noise stops. Canton eyes seem to almost clear.  He blinks rapidly.  But then his eyes harden again.

Marcus continues, “You’re here in the Unknown because you rebelled against the Heads. You made a difference. You ran through the girls’ Complex. Do you remember?”

Canton’s tightened muscles relax and his eyes clear again.  He cranes his neck, "I ran through the girls' Complex?"

"Yeah, you  ran through Piper’s Complex halls.”

I wait for the clearness to fade from Canton’s eyes, but he stays with us. Canton mutters, "They wiped my memory. I just woke up with those...those things. My last memory was in the morning. I remember planning to do something, but I couldn't remember what it was that I planned to do. It drove me crazy when I was with the monsters...I didn't know what happened to Josh or Dana or Brinn or anyone.  I didn't know what I did to deserve to be there."

Marcus continues, "Yeah, you ran right through the girls' Complex. You shouted about men being safe and trustworthy. The Officials had to give all those girls a dose of the red, memory wipe shot."

Canton smiles slowly, "Man, I'm awesome."

Miranda opens her mouth to say something, but glances at her Notice first. Her brow creases together the more she reads. After she finishes, she starts pacing. Her face shows absolute anger. She storms up to the wall and kicks it. 

Marcus opens his mouth, "What's offie wrong now, Miranda?"

Miranda purses her lips, shaking her head. "Another dead Eeke has been delivered to us."