90 DEADLY DAYS (WEEKLY UPDATES RETURNING THIS DECEMBER)

Chapter 3.1

In front of us, a square of earth lifts, rising to almost seven feet with the help of flexible bars.

I'm the first one to take a step toward the opening. Talon follows. My legs move until I'm close enough to the gap to spot the gleam of metal down below. Further examination reveals the metal to be steps.

Now at the edge, I stare down in the darkness warily. Talon takes a deep breath and together we step onto the first stair. My chest squeezes with alarm as I take the next step, but Talon's presence next to me keeps me rooted.

When we make it to the fifteenth step lights flicker on and I spot two Protectorates standing at the bottom of the staircase.

"Welcome," one says. "You are now in the training facility for Xaron Graduates." One of them pushes two clothing items into my arms, along with a pair of sports shoes.

"Girls to the right, boys to the left."

Talon and I spin to stare at the other. His brandy eyes dim and the ever ready smirk on his face fades.

"I guess this is goodbye," he says softly. "Goodbye, Phoenix."

"Goodbye, Talon," I say, wondering why my toes curl as I speak the words.

He's directed down the left hall while I'm sent in the opposite direction. Before he's completely gone I allow myself one glance back. When I turn around I discover him staring too. His lips lift into a small smile, revealing a faint dimple I never noticed before.

I smile back and give a slight wave as the Protectorate turns the corner and points me down a long corridor with a steel door at the end.

"Go through there." I nod my head. My slippers slap against the thick glass floor and my fingers twitch nervously. Eventually the coldness of the door's knob fills my palm. I twist it and hesitant to find what waits behind.

I certainly wasn't expecting this. A massive gym proudly shows itself, taking up more space than three of Helion's football fields. Exercise equipment furnishes the room, some of it more complex than I could ever understand. I stand in awe until the door opens again and two other girls from the truck enter.

My attention moves to the disappear girl. That's what I've secretly named her. Her short brown hair falls softly into a bob, complimenting her oval face. I stop staring when her almond eyes flick to me, a question swirling in her brown irises.

Why are you looking, they seem to ask.

"Over here girls." Protectorate boots stomp in our direction. I swivel to the left and find myself gazing at a tall, muscular woman dressed in a skintight suit. She would be downright gorgeous, but her haunted green eyes and the lack of emotion in her face makes my fists clench. Even as she motions for us to follow her my bones shiver.

As we walk to an adjacent door she asks for our names.

"May Hilton."

"Phoenix Ethridge."

"Kite Shuffward," disappear girl says.

Opening the door, the Protectorate turns her head to us. "I'm Paradox, an official trainer for female Graduates."

We walk into a wide room.

"There are about five thousand of you girls in this training facility due to the ejection, so things are a bit tight. Please change." She gestures for us to throw our clothes in a nearby trash incinerator. Immediately, my eyes cast down to my lilac slippers. The only thing left of home.

"Are...we allowed to keep a souvenir?" I ask.

"You hate Helion so why would you want to keep anything from it," Paradox replies swiftly. My eyes enlarge.

"How did you-"

"It's called reading people—though it wasn't that difficult to pick out with the way you're scowling at everything," she replies. "All of you need to learn the skill as soon as possible, it's sometimes the key between life or death."

"I don't want to keep these because of Helion," I reply. "They remind me of my brother and home."

"Your brother won't remember you in...five days," Paradox says, glancing at her watch. "Keeping anything is pointless."

"I disagree. I've lost everything. Now I can't keep my memories?"

"You can't. Mores the pity." Paradox purses her lips and raises a combed eyebrow.

"You can't-"

"You're a chatty one," Paradox interrupts. "But I didn't say chat, I said change. So please, do as I ask."

Her green eyes flash with a cold warning I can't identify. It sucks the breath from my lungs. Hastily, I pull off the clothes I've been given and hand them over, but not without slipping the business card from the shirt pocket and jamming it into my new bra. Thankfully, Paradox's sharp eyes don't catch me.

The smell of designer jeans burning tickles my nose as I dress in my new uniform. It's the same skintight suit as Paradox's and grips like it's piece of me. May marvels at hers while Kite stares unflinchingly at the incinerator.

Did she also have a souvenir she wanted to keep?

From the changing room, Paradox shows us to our living quarters, or as she says, the barracks. The room ends up being along a corridor filled with other rooms exactly like it, except the other barrack rooms brim with other occupants.

Fifty to a room.

Kite, May, and I are assigned to Barrack 100. The very last one. In it are several other girls making pickings for the few remaining beds. I choose the one in the far corner, away from the activity in the middle. Kite picks the bed next to me.

The bedding lacks soft goose down and the sheet leaves a rug burn on the back of my hand. I brush lint off the pale yellow covers, my heart heavy with cares. Then I curl in the center and close my eyes, whisking myself into a memories untainted by the lies of the Protectorates.

Facts only churn up bile right now. For now I tell myself that Adonis will always remember me no matter what the Protectorates scientists do. It's easy to say but hard to put faith in. Talon's convulsions and my technology induced dream have shown how much power they wield.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I open my eyes when I feel a presence at the end of my bed. I look up thinking I'll see Paradox, but instead I see sky blue eyes.

"Jewel?" I scramble up in shock.

Her face breaks into a watery smile.

"You're alive."

"Yes," I breathe, almost not able to speak. "You are too." She swiftly moves to the side of the bed and we embrace. Burying my face in her shoulder, I squeeze my eyes shut so I won't cry. Jewel doesn't hold back, her sobs shaking her frail frame.

"Adonis is okay," she manages to say.

"I know," I reply. "I saw him."

"You did?"

"On the way here." She nods and pulls away, using her hand to swipe away her tears.

"They found us two days after the building crashed," Jewel explains, tears still coursing from her eyes. "You looked like you were dead but I told Adonis you were dreaming." She pauses and her hands tremble. "I didn't sleep at all in case you woke up or someone passed by. Eventually someone came because they saw my hand waving from beneath everything. They bundled you up and took you away before I could blink and I..." her voice breaks and I hug her again.

"I'm fine now...and everything's going to be okay," I say. It will be.

It will be.