“What…I thought she…?” My mind fails to from a coherent sentence.
How can Piper still be alive?
Derek releases me from his grip. “It wasn’t really the clear. It was an injection similar to the green, simply making them pass out.”
It was all a trick. Piper never died. Christopher never died. “Miranda?” I ask.
Derek shakes her head, “That really was the clear. I wasn’t able to swap them before Ellen injected her.”
“How long will they be unconscious?”
“An hour or so. Just in time, too. We need to meet with the other immunes to prepare them.”
“For what?”
Derek stares at me, something unreadable in his eyes. “I’ll explain soon enough.”
I clench my teeth together, not wanting to wait.
Derek and Jonathan leave the room, out the door that goes to the Unknown. I lag behind, unsure of what to do. I don’t want to leave Piper and Christopher alone and unconscious in the Rivie Drop-off room. What if Ellen comes after us and discovers their bodies? If she realizes they aren’t dead, she’ll kill them in an instant.
I don’t necessarily want to follow behind Derek either. I have no idea what he plans to do and why he’s in the Unknown in the first place. How many people know that he’s working for us? I’m not entirely convinced I can trust him, not after all the events of today.
Doesn’t he realize that almost everyone in the Unknown hates the Heads? Does he think it’ll look good when they discover Piper and their previous Leader, Christopher, unconscious in a room? We’re supposed to be rebelling against him, not with him.
The trail of collapsed bodies that Ellen left behind has disappeared. They must have moved them elsewhere, most likely to the Nurses.
What about Theo? He saw us dragged away by Ellen. Did he tell someone? Did they try to stop us, only to realize that it was too late? Did they find Josh and assume the same happened to the rest of us?
What about the second group from the village?
Derek strolls confidently through the halls. I can hear distant, panicked voices from up ahead. As we walk, they slowly grow louder. Soon the doors to the Eating Hall come into view. They are open and people are crammed inside. They are facing away, watching something inside.
Derek nonchalantly strides up to the nearest person, a girl. He nonchalantly taps her on the shoulder. She turns around, her eyebrows pressed together in anger. “Good luck getting in there, Reb. It’s an offie mess. I…”
She trails off as she seems to realize who she’s talking to. Her scream rips through the room, plunging it into silence. Heads crane backwards, trying to find the source of the scream.
The girl backs away, pressing against the nearest people. The others close by turn and see Derek. Their own shouts of horror ring aloud.
Derek calmly raises his hands, the same little smile twitching at the edges of his lips. “Well, hello. I suppose you are all the rebels that have ever disobeyed me.”
Everyone stares silently back at him, too terrified to say a word. Their worst nightmares have come true. There is a Head in the Unknown, the one place they thought was Head-free.
Jonathan stands impassively, his arms crossed over his chest, at Derek’s side. I cower several paces behind them. I can only hope that the people of the Unknown think that I’m not working with them.
Someone hesitantly calls out, “Jonathan?”
I try to see over the people blocking the door, but I’m too short. Derek, however, seems to have no problem.
He waves carelessly, as if this is a perfectly comfortable situation. “Ah, Canton. Good to see you again.”
The crowd parts and an Official appears. “I was talking to Jonathan, not you. What are you doing here? What happened to Piper? Why’d you lie to us?”
Derek answers quickly before Jonathan can say a word, “I see you are just as blunt as always. No problem, though. I’m here because you need me. I hate to break it to you, but you are rather unprepared.”
“Where’s Piper and Christopher?”
“They’re here, not to worry. Lucky for you, I was able to save them. They are in one of the Rivie Drop-off rooms.”
“What are they doing there? Why aren’t they out here?”
“Well…they might be unconscious, but it was necessary.”
Anger glows in Canton’s eye, but he sighs. “Fine. Could a couple Nurses go find them please?” Canton turns back to Derek. “Which room was it in?”
Derek smirks, “I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to that kind-of thing.”
Canton presses his lips together and turns back to the crowd. “Maybe three or four Nurses then.”
Four people slip out of the crowd. I only recognize two. Harry and Michelle. When they notice me in the background, I smile hesitantly back. Neither of them returns it. After Charlotte’s betrayal, I don’t blame them. After all, if they didn’t know I was immune. It looks suspicious that Piper and Christopher are unconscious and I’m not.
I want to plead my case, but I can’t find a believable way to do it without revealing that I’m immune. I still don’t know who the spies are and it’s not safe. I simply lower my eyes to the floor.
They disappear down the hall. Five more people slip out of the crowd. Brinn, Spara, Nikolas, and James, all with fear plastered across their face.
I barely recognize the fifth.
Bridget.
She smiles lightly at me. I only stare at her, unsure how to react. She’s the one who sent me to the Unknown. She’s the one who sent me down this path of tragedies. Without her, I’d probably still be in the Complex, inwardly grumbling about the Heads, but doing nothing for a change. Ellen would have eventually gone through our year, testing to see if any of us were immune.
I would have been killed.
Bridget saved my life, but made it full of complications.
I don’t know whether to thank her or hate her.
Canton asks, “So what happened? Why was Ellen here so early?”
Derek says, “You had a spy working for Ellen.”
Murmurs spill from the crowd in the Eating Hall, but everyone is too confused or scared to say anything to us.
Brinn’s voice is soft, hiding the words from the people gathered in the Unknown, “Yes, we know. Charlotte, the R.I.”
“No, she was not the problem. I intercepted all her messages, you see. I was able to keep all the important information from Ellen, giving her only enough little things to make her think she was learning something. It was…”
“Charlotte didn’t give away any useful information to Ellen?” Brinn’s face shows relief.
“No, no, of course not. She didn’t give away anyone that Ellen didn’t already suspect. But that’s…”
“But you let Ellen kill her?” Canton’s voice is laced in anger.
“I wasn’t aware that Ellen planned to murder her before it was too late. If I’d known, I would have done something. I…stop asking me questions. Let me get to the point. Your real spy was Josh, the young Tech. He’s been gathering information for Ellen since the day he arrived. I’m afraid I didn’t know he was working for Ellen. He gave away your entire plan. Ellen captured Piper, Christopher, and Claire and planned to kill them.”
The whispers grow. Someone hidden within the crowd calls out, “What is offie happening?”
The leaders of the rebellion turn around to face the crowd. Derek opens his mouth, ready to retort something back. Before Derek can say anything, Canton says, “Don’t you dare say anything. You’ve complicated things enough. Let us handle this.”
Derek’s eyes widen in outrage. He prepares to say something and then shuts his mouth, glowering silently to himself.
Canton turns back to face the crowd. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. We were planning to tell you, we just weren’t sure how.”
Another person shouts, “Oh sure, because we’ve never heard that excuse before.”
Canton winces. “It’s true. How were we to explain that a Head was fighting for a rebellion against his own self?”
Disbelief buzzes through the crowd. How will we fight Ellen’s ‘grand finale’ when nobody believes us?
I want to know what is being said in those whispers. Does anyone believe the story, if only a little bit?
Canton exchanges a hopeless glance with Brinn and Bridget. They can only stare as the crowds’ doubt grows louder.
The Nurses reappear with the two stretchers. Piper and Christopher lie motionless, still tied down with the straps.
Three Nurses push the stretchers past us, going to the Nurses wing where they can care for Piper and Christopher. Harry, however, stays behind. He doesn’t say anything, simply watching the crowd react.
A voice abruptly breaks out above the din of the voices. “I believe them.”
All conversations stop. Heads crane in the direction of the voice. A person climbs on top of a table, addressing the crowd where they can all see him. I stand on my tiptoes, trying to get a clear view. The heads bob, parting ways so I catch a glimpse.
Theo.
What does he plan to do?
He says, “We have a choice here. That’s right. A Head is actually giving us the freedom to make a choice for ourselves. Amazing, isn’t it?”
Soft murmurs of agreement slip from the crowd, but he has everyone’s attention.
“We have two choices. We can believe this Head when he says that he is here to help us rebel. He says that he saved the Leader of the Unknown and the leader of the rebellion, not to mention Claire, an unimportant person like you and me. He’s offering to help us do what we all want. Start a rebellion.”
I blush as he calls me ‘unimportant’. I understand that he is trying to make a point, but it still embarrasses me.
“We could choose not to believe him, assuming that it’s all a trap. Maybe he’ll leave us in peace, and we’ll go back to normal life. But, what if this is our one true chance at rebellion? What if we could finally be free? We all got that message on our Notice this morning from Miranda. She said she trusted this group with her life. Don’t you think we could do the same?”
Everyone is absolutely silent. Their faces are all turned away from me, making it impossible to judge their reactions.
Harry speaks from behind me, “I trust them. It’s worth the risk.”
I turn to face him, his face filled with confidence. I remember how he supported the story of Piper’s escape, even when Michelle openly denied it. Miranda said he was a Council too, so the people of the Unknown most likely respect him.
Theo smiles and climbs down from the table. He shouts, “I’m ready to fight for that rebellion we’ve been dreaming about.”
People’s voices ring out, at first hesitant and then more sure as the noise grows. Even as the words blend together, their meanings are clear.
They are willing to take the risk of trusting us.
Derek shouts over the people’s voices, “We need to prepare then.”
“For what? Ellen thinks she killed Piper and Christopher. What more does she want?” Canton asks.
Derek laughs, “Did you really think that Ellen would plan something so small?”
Nobody replies. There is more to come. Ellen didn’t just want Piper and me. We weren’t enough. She needed her ‘grand finale’.
I speak for the first time. “What is she planning to do?”
Derek turns to me, surprised that I spoke. “That’s the problem. I’m not exactly sure.”