I stand and join Miranda in the hall. I glance around and see that she’s alone. Where are Dana, Canton, and Bridget?
Miranda seems to read my mind and responds, “They’re waiting in the Rivie Drop-Off room.”
We walk quickly and silently through the empty halls. We don’t pass a single person on the way. Everyone else must be asleep. I can’t imagine sleeping right now. Adrenaline pumps through me.
Miranda stops in front of a door. She presses her Notice to the door. It slides open, revealing Dana, Canton, and Bridget in quiet conversation.
Dana’s face breaks out in a big smile when she sees me, “Piper.”
She comes to hug me, “Can you imagine? We might get to see Brinn again. I’ve missed her so offie much…”
I press my lips together, thinking how Brinn could already be dead. I think the Officials would have at least mentioned her in the last message, saying whether she would be staying in the Complex or coming with us. That would seem useless, though, if she had already been executed by the Heads.
I check my Notice. It’s only twenty minutes past the 23rd hour. We still have forty minutes to wait.
Bridget and Canton, still not completely recovered, have to take a seat. Dana and I soon join them. Miranda stays in the room with us, checking her Notice nervously every few minutes.
I ask Miranda, “What…what are you going to tell the people here when they ask what happened to us?”
Miranda shrugs, “Most of the Nurses know since I had to get Bridget and Canton out of the Nurses’ Wing. Whether they believed me, I’m not sure. I’ll tell everyone the truth, I think. Even if people don’t believe me, the story will always be in their minds, making them wonder, what if? Little thoughts of a possible rebellion will always be in their minds. ”
“Another thing,” Miranda adds, “you need to take off all your Notices. They have a tracking system embedded in them that the Officials could use once they realize you’re missing.”
Dana presses a button, and her strap quickly releases. She hands it over to Miranda.
Heat rises to my cheeks when I realize I’ve completely forgot which button to push to take off the Notice. Dana sees this quickly presses a button on the strap of my Notice to release it.
The Notice pops off and I hand it to Miranda.
Neither Canton nor Bridget have Notices, since they were still in the Nurses’ Wing.
We wait in silence, all of us too nervous to speak. I’m sure the same questions are going through everyone’s mind. The same never-ending what ifs?
I wish I still had my Notice so that I could know what time it is, how much time was left to the agonizing wait.
Miranda checks her Notice and whispers, “Ten minutes.”
Bridget is the one who breaks the silence afterwards, “I just want all of you to know that…if for some reason I get caught by Officials, I don’t blame any of you. I’m making the choice to leave and none of you should have any guilt. I’d rather die trying to stay alive, than live with only the anticipation for my possible death.”
Dana nods, “And, if you have the choice between saving yourself, or hopelessly trying to defend me, choose to save yourself. Then, just make someone’s life a little better for me, okay?”
Canton responds, “Be the change that I would want to be, if I don’t make it.”
I interrupt, “But, it won’t matter because the rogue Officials will get us out of there safely. We’ll be the first people to safely escape the Unknown, the Complex, and the Heads.”
Miranda speaks in a hush tone, “Five minutes.”
We all stand, shifting back and forth anxiously in absolute silence. All I can I hear is the quick breathing of Dana next to me and the thumping of my own heart.
We face the door that the Officials will come through, waiting for it slide open and terrified at what it might reveal.
Last minute doubts fly through my head. What if the rogue Officials can’t come? What if they aren’t rogue Officials, but loyal, and we are going to be killed? What if one of us gets caught? What if I get caught?
The door moves, and we all flinch. It continues to open until it reveals five male Officials and a stretcher.
The Officials quickly wheel the stretcher, with someone on it, inside the room and the door closes behind them.
I stare at the girl on the stretcher. Straight brown hair lies tangled around her head. Her skin is a sickly pale white.
If her eyes were able to open, I’m sure they would be a light, soft green.
I’m finally seeing Brinn, but not at all how I wanted to.
Her chest doesn’t seem to be moving at all and she is completely and utterly still.
Dana runs forward, shattering the horrible silence. She cries out, “Brinn.”
She grabs the side of the stretcher, a tear running down her face.
The Officials quickly push Dana to the side and say, “It’s okay. We are at a safe spot.”
Confusion is clear on Dana’s face. What does ‘safe spot’ mean? Why would it be okay? Brinn is dead. Nothing is okay.
Brinn sits up and gives us one of her soft smiles, her eyes alight, “It’s okay, I’m okay. It was just a test. I’m sorry, I didn’t really want to do it, but they made me.”
She hops down from the stretcher. Dana doesn’t hesitate for a second, she wraps Brinn in a tight hug.
Dana, tears still running down her face, says, “I thought you were dead, Brinn, I thought you were offie dead. I, don’t you ever offie do that again!”
Brinn smiles, “That’s the idea, Dana, although it was hard to continue playing dead when you started talking. I recognized that it was you, but I wasn’t sure whether it was safe or not to move.”
Brinn’s eyes land on me, “Piper.”
I move to give her a hug, but the rogue Officials hold up their hands. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk later, right now we need to get going before other loyal Officials are on schedule.”
The five Officials converse for a second before each of them grabs a jar full of a white, thick liquid.
Brinn explains, “Here’s the plan. The Officials are going to cover you with that,” she points to the jars, “to make you look paler, and…well…dead. The poison that Ellen uses causes your skin to turn almost white, like the color of your eyes.Then, they are going to put you on a stretcher, they have more hidden somewhere. We are going to split into two groups, Piper, Dana, and I in one group, then Bridget and Canton in the other. The Officials are going to deliver us to another safe spot by pushing us around on these stretchers. There are so many dead or dying kids being moved throughout this part of Ellen’s Complex right now, that we’ll blend in perfectly. These Officials also work in this part of the Complex, so they won’t seem suspicious either.”
One of the Officials commands me quietly to close my eyes. He lightly moves a brush up and down my face, then over my arms and legs. Soon, I’m as pale as Brinn.
As soon as all of us our covered, two of the Officials slip out of the room for a second, and return with four more stretchers.
I climb onto one, like the Officials say. It wobbles slightly as I try to climb up. I watch Brinn, as ungraceful as ever, struggle to get on the stretcher. In the end, an Official has to help her up. She shrugs sheepishly at me.
It almost brings tears to my eyes. Just to see Brinn again, when I thought I never would.
I anxiously review the plan in my head.
The Officials prepare to exit with us. Each Official will push a stretcher with us on it. We will split into two groups, Canton and Bridget in one, Brinn, Dana, and I in another. The two groups will go separate ways, so we don’t attract as much attention. Then we will meet in another safe spot. From there, I have no idea where we will go.
I have forgotten Miranda was even in the room, until she whispers, “I’ll continue telling your story, I promise. Good luck, everyone.”
Brinn frowns, “Who…who are you?”
“Miranda. Leader of the Unknown.”
Brinn’s eyes widen, “You’re…you’re the Leader?”
“Why do I not look the part or something?”
“I wouldn’t have thought we were important enough to attract the attention of the Leader of the Unknown.”
Miranda smiles softly, “What you are doing is incredible, and I support it wholeheartedly. When you’re successful, don’t forget about us in the Unknown. You aren’t the only ones who need saving. Good luck and good bye.”
Her gaze locks with mine and she nods respectfully. She slips from the room without another word, closing the door behind her.
The Officials enter the code into the door out of the Unknown and it slides open. I close my eyes and lie absolutely still just as the Officials instructed me.
I force myself to take slow, very small breaths. Unless someone is paying very close attention, it will seem as though I’m not breathing at all.
Then abruptly, the stretcher is moving. The wheels rattling on the stretchers are the only noise that fills the air. Some of the rattling fades after a while as the Officials splitting up.
My palms drip sweat and my heart pounds inside my chest.
My toes inside my soft, cotton shoes twitch slightly, desperately wanting to be moved. I’m not used at all to holding my muscles completely tight and still. Did an Official see the twitch?
No shouts ring out and the stretcher continues rattling forward.
I take a slow, slow breath. My lungs are screaming for more air, but I force myself to take in oxygen just how the Officials said to breathe.
More rattling fills the air and a couple voices whisper around us. What’s going on? Is this normal? Has something gone wrong?
I want nothing more than to just open my eyes and see what’s going on around me. Where are we in the Complex? Is everything going along to the plan?
The stretcher stops. I hold my breath, not even allowing the slight movement of my ribs and chest to show.
I hear a voice right behind me, probably the Official that’s pushing me, state in a monotone, “All three are going to Lab 82.”
A beeping noise rings out and air whooshes past us. The rattling of the stretcher begins again.
I allow myself to begin breathing again, but by now, my lungs are nearly empty. I want nothing more than to gasp for air, but I force myself to keep the rise and fall of my chest slow.
I have no idea how long we have been traveling. The rattling of the stretcher, the increasing need for more air, the complete immobility, it all seems to have been lasting for hours.
A voice calls out, “Official 323. Halt.”
My stretcher keeps moving. Either my Official’s number isn’t 323 or he is completely ignoring the voice.
The voice continues, “I believe I just saw your patient move. Let me take a pulse.”
The rattling of my stretcher continues. I don’t think it’s me. It must be someone else, but who? Brinn or Dana?
The voice says, “This patient is…still alive.”
My muscles tense involuntarily. The voice is fading, getting farther away. Should I do something? Do I move and sacrifice myself along with whoever just got caught? Do I fight the Official? Do I just continue to lie here, putting more distance between us?
A scream rings through the air.
Dana’s.