A soft cry escapes Piper’s lips. The door closes completely, leaving us with no view to see what is happening. Maybe it’s better that way.
A scream, distinctly Miranda’s, rips through the walls. Piper tenses, shutting her eyes tightly together. Tessa’s hysterical voice says, “Wait. Stop. I did nothing wrong. They kidnapped me. It was their fault. I’m loyal. I never did anything against the Heads.”
The worst part is the absence of Miranda’s voice. Did they enter in the green shot? Did they kill her?
Tessa says, “What are you doing? Get that shot away from me. Why don’t you understand?”
An Official says, “I injected her with the green. Why isn’t she going out? The other one did.”
Miranda has the green coursing through her veins. At least she’s not already dead.
“You don’t think she’s…”
A different voice, the other Official, says, “We have to get her to Ellen right away. Think of the promotions we could get.”
Tessa continues her shouts, “No, just let me go back to the Complex.You’ll never even hear of me again, I promise. Just please, let me go.”
The Officials don’t respond. Her shouts fade as they drag her away.
I can’t keep the arrogant thoughts out of my head. Maybe she got what she deserved.
Have I failed again, just like with Tooth and Charlotte? Could I have done or said something, to stop Tessa’s screaming? If I had tried, could I have convinced Tessa to escape with us?
Piper snaps from her trance. She whispers, “We need to leave. Now. Officials will be swarming these halls, looking for any other suspicious activity.”
I pretend not to notice the tear she wipes away from her cheek.
She pulls up a hologram on her Notice. I glance over her shoulder, trying to see what’s so important, that she is repeatedly checking.
It’s a diagram or a map of some type. Red dots scatter it, inside little boxes or long rectangles. Certain areas are swamped with red, while others are bare. There are blue circles as well, scattered thinly among the red. In the center is one green dot with barely any of the other colored dots near.
It must be a map of the Complex, most likely the part we are in now. The dots must be Officials. As to what each color means, I don’t know.
She presses a button and the hologram snaps from view. She hesitantly pushes in the button at the side of the door. As it opens, she stands to the side, her body presses to the wall. She peers out into the hall, searching for any oncoming Officials.
The hall is clear. She grabs the handles of my wheelchair and breaks into a sprint. Her feet soundless as they push, one after another, on the floor. Theo keeps up easily. He must been in shape from chasing after children in the Unknown. I doubt I could stay close if I wasn’t in a wheelchair.
Piper wipes out her Notice while continuing to run at full speed. She glances at the hologram and veers quickly to the left. She adheres her Notice to the scanner. I don’t know what’s wrong but I can feel the urgency pouring off of Piper. She pulls me and Theo inside and closes the door.
A minute later, voices fill the halls. Their words are nothing but low murmurs.
Once they fade, we continue sprinting through halls. Piper stops at a plain, gray door without checking her Notice. Instead of a scanner for a Notice strap, it’s a code pad. Piper’s fingers fly over the buttons, punching in number after number. I don’t know how long the code is, but I count at least ten digits. I don’t know how she can have it something so elaborate perfectly memorized, not to mention being able to put it into the system so quickly.
The door glides open and Piper hustles us inside. On the other side of the door, Piper slams her fingers into the code pad, entering another extensive list of numbers.
Once she finishes, she leans against the door and lets out a deep breath. She says, “That was the hardest escape I’ve done yet. I suppose my final one couldn’t go smoothly.”
I ask, “You mean we’ve escaped? We’re free?”
“Not exactly. We are still in the Complex and could potentially still be found. But, there aren’t any Officials in this next part. This section has been shut down by the Heads. Officials aren’t allowed to go down here.”
Theo asks, “If it’s shut down, why are all the lights on? Wouldn’t they try to save energy or something?”
“Normally, they are off. Another Official turned them on for us. After we leave this hallway though, we are going to have to use flash lights. If we had the lights on the whole way, someone would definitely notice.”
Piper begins pushing me forward. Theo follows a couple steps behind, silent. His expression is unreadable, just like always.
The Distress says, “Where are we exactly escaping to?”
“We are going to a village outside of the Complex. Things are going to be entirely different there, but you’ll get used to it. We have holograms and videos that will teach you everything you need to know. As long as you keep an open mind, you’ll adjust fine.”
“Are you in charge then?” His voice has a trace of a challenge, but not enough to address.
“Not really. We have it set up similarly to how the Unknown does it. With different people in charge of different sections or tasks and consulting together for major decisions. There are currently eight people who are in charge, but it changes.”
“Do you have a main leader though, like Miranda was?”
Piper flinches at the past tense. I watch Theo, unsure of whether he meant to insult her or not. His face is blank, just like always.
Piper says, “You could say that.”
“Who’s the Leader then?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
Outrage is clear across Theo’s face, the first emotion I’ve seen, “Why not?”
“I’ll tell you once we leave the Unknown. If we are captured, I don’t want that information given away. It’s safer and it has nothing to do with you.”
Theo falls silent, making his irritation clear. If his annoyance bothers Piper, she doesn’t show it.
We turn the corner and there is a pile of flashlights littering the hall. Piper instructs us of the basics on how to use them. It’s quite simple. To turn it on, press the button. To turn it off, press the same button again. There’s also a small container of crackers and a jug of water. Piper hands out the food and we quickly devour it. We leave behind the jugs and containers. Piper explains that someone else will come through to pick them up.
We reach another door. Piper drills a long code into the pad. It slides open, revealing darkness. I flip on my flashlight, Theo doing the same. It illuminates a wide path in front of us, slicing through the darkness. Piper closes the door behind us, cutting off even more light. As we move through the black hall, I try to ignore the pressing claustrophobia of the darkness.
I lose sense of time as we travel through hall after hall. What seems to be every half hour or so, we enter a different section. Each time Piper enters an intricate number code. I begin paying attention, trying to follow her fingertips as they fly over the numbers. I’m able to keep track of every number, but I realize that the code is different for each door.
After hours have past, Theo turns to me. The flashlight reveals a wry smile turning up his lips, “Just like with the Ecru, right? Darkness, no time? Nothing but our own existence.”
I say, “Except without the Ecru. And, you haven’t captured me this time.”
“Maybe you’re right, I haven’t captured you. It seems as though we both may have been captured by Piper.”
Piper says, her words short and clipped, “I haven’t captured you. I’m saving you.”
“Really?” Theo asks, “Because I don’t know the last time I made a choice for myself. You dragged me out of the Unknown and I’m pretty sure you had something to do with my being dragged out of the Complex too.”
I frown, “I thought you said you rebelled. Didn’t you throw some stuff at Officials?”
“Nope, that was just a story I made up to intimidate you. I was dragged from my bed in the middle of the night. I hadn’t even done anything.”
I ask, “Do you know Bridget? Is she part of this whole thing?”
Piper nods, “Yes, she’s working with us. She has you sent to the Unknown so that I can help you escape.”
Was I not sent to the Unknown for conversing with Marie? Was that all simply a coincidence?
Theo lets out a short, humorless laugh, “Wait. So I was sent to the Ecru because of you?”
Piper sighs, “No, well yes, but…why don’t you understand? Ellen is running searches and tests through everyone in the Complex. She would have found you eventually and you would have been killed.”
“Why? Why does she want to kill us? Why does she care so much? Why can’t she just make another injection that works for us? Why go through all the trouble of finding us only to kill us?” Theo asks.
Piper says, “That’s exactly it. She can’t. She can’t find an injection that works on you, after one and a half years. She’s tried everything she can think of. She doesn’t know why you are immune and it drives her crazy.”
Theo asks, “She hates us because we’re different? Because of something we had no control over?”
“No. She’s afraid of you because you are different. She just disguises her fear as hatred.”