Variant

Page 39

 

  Why would an android have blood?

  I raised my right hand, hoping to signal someone, but I couldn’t keep it up. It was too heavy.

  “Hey,” I croaked, but even I could barely hear myself.

  I watched them as they searched. It wasn’t organized, not like how Curtis had set things up yesterday—was that only yesterday?

  It would be a tough search. If they were assuming we were in the woods somewhere, they’d have a huge area to scour. Still, if they quit ogling the blood, it wouldn’t be hard to find me.

  Did I want them to find me?

  I raised my hand again and managed this time to give a little wave before dropping it. Still no looks in my direction. I was wearing my red uniform sweater. That had to stand out.

  My mind was numb now. I wasn’t angry, wasn’t sad. I was nothing. I would die in this school, today or a year from now.

  There were footsteps behind me, but I couldn’t muster the energy to turn.

  “Hey,” a voice said. “Hey, what’s that?”

  The footsteps sped up, getting louder and louder, and suddenly they were next to me.

  “Benson? Oh, wow. ”

  Someone stepped in front of me and then darted out onto the track. I tried to identify her. My brain was moving so slowly. I knew her. Gabby—one of the V’s. She was screaming for the others to come, jumping and waving her arms.

  “Oh, Bense,” a voice beside me said, and I felt arms around me in a hug. “Hang on, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “Do you know where Jane is?” the voice asked.

  I turned to look, rotating my head slowly and shakily. Brown hair, curled. Becky. I stared at her, not sure what to say.

  “Jane,” Becky said again. “Do you know what happened?” Her gaze was moving around my injured body, from my hand to my face to the bloodstains all over my clothes. Not all the blood was mine.

  “It was Dylan,” I said. “And Laura. ”

  Becky gritted her teeth and looked down at the ground for a moment, tears forming in her eyes. After a moment she spoke again. “Do you know where they took Jane?”

  I stared. Was Becky friends with Jane? I didn’t know. What would Becky think if she knew the truth? Maybe she already did. Maybe she’s one of them.

  “No. ”

  Becky bit her lip and nodded. “You’re going to be okay, Bense,” she finally said, her voice quivering, but her smile appearing. “The infirmary’s great. You’ll be okay. ”

  Others were almost to us, and Gabby came back. She asked the same thing about Jane, and Becky answered for me. A moment later Isaiah arrived, two younger Society guys in tow.

  “What happened?” he asked accusingly.

  Becky stood, stared at him, and then walked away.

  “It was your stupid goons,” Gabby said quietly. “Laura and Dylan did this. ”

  The two Society guys flinched, stepping forward like they wanted to shut her up. Curtis appeared and jumped in front of them.

  Was this real? Were they humans? Or was I watching an elaborate play designed to make me think they weren’t all in on it?

  Curtis turned on Isaiah, jabbing his fingers into Isaiah’s chest and speaking in a low growl. “I don’t care what you think happened here, but you have the medical contract, and you’d better get someone over here this minute. ”

  Isaiah opened his mouth to say something, but Curtis grabbed him by the sweater. “And if I find out that Dylan was doing this under your orders, I will break every bone in your body. One at a time. Slowly. ” With his last word he shoved Isaiah backward.

  One of the Society kids threw a punch, but Curtis easily dodged and then knocked the kid to the ground. Isaiah barked out a harsh order, and the fight was over as quickly as it started.

  A crowd was forming around us now, and almost all of the V’s were there. Mason stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, his face stoic. He’d been right. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Jane. Did that mean that he wasn’t one of them? He’d tried to get me to not fall for Jane—he was working against her.

  Or was this all an act?

  Carrie, Jane’s roommate, was on her knees at my side, tearfully pleading to know where Jane was. I told her I didn’t know.

  “Were you together?” Curtis asked. They thought she was still out there somewhere. Maybe they’d find her, like they’d found me.

  I tried to nod, but even that hurt. “Yeah,” I said. “We’d left the dance. We went around the front of the building . . . ” Everyone’s eyes were glued to me as I spoke, even the Society’s. Oakland and Mouse stood at the edge of the circle, listening to every word. “It was Laura and Dylan. He had a pipe. ”

  There were murmurs in the crowd, then raised voices, and then people began shoving each other again. Curtis bellowed at everyone to shut up.

  “Go on,” Carrie said, her face red.

  Jane’s face was like that when she cried. Then again, so was everyone’s.

  “They attacked us,” I said. “Dylan knocked me into the window well. ” I paused, wondering what I should say. How would I explain how I got over here?

  Carrie touched my hand. “And Jane?”

  I shook my head. Pain. “I don’t know. ”

  I should be crying, I thought. I should be sobbing. Why can’t I?

  A moment later Isaiah broke back through the crowd, with Anna following him. She looked terrified as she knelt beside me.

  Everyone grew quiet as Anna fumbled with her first-aid kit. She opened it uncertainly, looked at me, then looked back at her kit. She pulled out a gauze bandage and with trembling fingers tore the plastic shrink-wrapping off. But then she paused, staring back at the various items. She pulled out a little bottle of something, then set it down and chose another.

  “Come on,” Curtis snapped, motioning to Mason and Joel. “Let’s get him down to the infirmary. The rest of you get out there and find Jane. She could be anywhere. ”

  Chapter Eighteen

  I spent five days in the infirmary. Anna was out of her league. She could take X-rays, but never saw the results. Instead, she’d put the undeveloped films in a locker—an elevator, like my closet—and then get back a list of things to do. In the end, I was surprised to find that the only serious injury was a concussion. I had bruises and contusions from head to toe, a nasty cut on my forearm (Anna said it would normally have had stitches, but too much time had passed before they found me), and two dislocated fingers. My arms and hands were bandaged like a mummy’s, both my wrists in braces, and I was on a heavy dose of pain medication, but that was all. She said I probably felt worse than I was. I felt terrible.

  Some days I was the only person in the infirmary, and other days the entire gang was there with me. I heard it was different now—things had been shaken up. For a while Curtis worried about another gang war, like before the truce, but that had blown over. In the end, four people left the Society. Three had gone to Havoc, and Anna joined the V’s. Since Dylan was gone and Anna was now a V, the medical contract was automatically transferred to us, which infuriated Isaiah.

  The strangest news, however, was Iceman’s explanation of events. Jane was dead, though we got no explanation about how or where. But Dylan and Laura were sent to detention. Curtis had asked Isaiah about that, and Isaiah insisted he wasn’t involved. Someone else must have taken them.