Bright light seeps through my eyelids. I force them open, abruptly aware of the pain piercing my body. Harry’s blurry face grins down at me. “You have no idea how you lucky you are.”
I moan, trying to sit up. Pain pierces from my stomach, causing me to collapse back down. “I don’t feel very lucky.”
Harry laughs, “You are. You are going to be in some pain for a while though. Ellen’s knife got you right in the stomach. She caused some nice damage, but nothing to serious. The fall and the loss of blood caused you to fall unconscious though. I think that, though you are immune, surviving the blue took a lot out of you. You just need to let your body heal.”
Thoughts struggle to push their way through my cloudy head. “Wait…why am I…where am I? Where’s everyone else? How are we still alive?”
“You’re alive because Ellen’s dead. She was the creator of her own death. The blue. You managed to save us all.”
I’m too focused on questions to realize what he really says, “But what about the Ecru? And the Officials?”
“Everything went into chaos when Ellen died. None of the Officials knew what to do. Most of them were only obeying Ellen because they were too terrified to do anything else. With both of the Heads gone, they didn’t have anyone to obey. The blue took out half the Ecru and we were able to kill off the rest, especially with the Officials help. Some of the more loyal Officials fought against us, but the disloyal Officials injected them with green. We did it. We actually did it.”
His words finally sink in. Ellen’s dead.
Because I killed her.
I grabbed the blue vial, even though I knew it could shatter and kill someone. Did I murder or did I save?
“So everyone made it?”
Harry’s face falls, “Almost everyone. Michelle got splattered and a couple Officials were killed by the Ecru. Brinn is in critical condition right now, too. She managed to save Kylee from a loyal Official, despite her twisted ankle, but the loyal Official stabbed Brinn. We think she might live, but it’s too early to tell.”
Harry says, obviously trying to get my thoughts away from Brinn, “We could put you in a wheelchair if you want.”
I nod, thankful that I won’t be stuck lying on the cot. He preps a wheelchair and carefully picks me up. He lowers me on to the wheelchair, untangling the cords plugged into my wrist. Pain spikes from the stomach. I force myself to take slow, deep breaths for the pain to pass.
Harry pushes me out of the hall and I realize we are back in the Nurses Wing.
We exit through those same fogged doors. Canton and Piper are deep in conversation a little ways down the hallway. When Piper sees me, she breaks away and runs towards me. She gives me a gentle hug. I pretend it doesn’t send a flash of pain through my stomach. It doesn’t matter, the action still comforts me.
Piper explains everything in detail. She tells me what happened after I passed out, and what everyone is doing right now.
Then she explains what they plan to do for the future.
It’s far from perfection, but so much better than our past world.
We have to decide who’s going to be in charge. We have to figure out how we are going to keep the Complex from turning back into the way it was. Our resources are going to run out here and we’ll have to relocate everyone at the village. We’ll have to struggle to rebuild in the wild, unpredictable outside world. We have to be sure to keep our present from turning into the past.
The other Heads of the other Complexes will be furious that our Heads are dead. The Officials are in absolute chaos as to who they should serve. We don’t know which Officials we can trust and which ones are waiting to murder us. We’ve lost almost everyone in the Unknown, the number of deaths still piling up. There are still lethal Ecru hidden in the Unknown. Corpses litter the halls and we have no way to dispose of them. We have to somehow explain to all the years still living peacefully in the Complex that everything is about to change. Everything they thought they knew is different.
The children can be themselves, not the identical perfection the Complex forced them to be. They’ll be allowed to laugh and play, just like Rose and Marrielle of the village. They’ll still have responsibilities, we need that to survive, but they’ll be able to enjoy them, like the Pros of the Unknown. They’ll all address each other by their names, not their Complex numbers.
They’ll learn to truly understand each other, no matter how flawed they are on the inside. They’ll learn that they are all strong enough to overcome whatever the future may hold. They’ll learn what it means to have the freedom of choices. They’ll learn to forgive the pain of the past.
They’ll learn what it is like to be free.
- the end -
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. ...
