She watched him leave, not noticing she was holding her breath until all the air suddenly burst from her lungs. She braced herself against the wall and tried to breathe normally.
“What a thing to say,” she whispered through a tight throat.
Miya slid down the wall. It seemed strange that Oren, a member of the Leadership, had practically just given her a free pass to break the rules. Was he encouraging her to escape? Was that why he’d been passing her at inspection all this time? Then why wouldn’t he just defy the scanner’s results now and declare her still in the system?
Miya’s head spun. The walls seemed to close in on her. A soft mewing sound escaped her parted lips right before she collapsed in a crumpled heap. Vaguely, she heard the sound of someone running down the corridor towards her before everything went black.
CHAPTER 16
Miya
The room was stifling. Hot and sticky with a hint of a familiar, sweet scent that lingered in the air. Miya’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of low, muttering voices.
“She’s awake.” Large green eyes peered into hers and Miya blinked in shock. A beautiful young woman with long shiny black hair mopped Miya’s brow with a damp cloth. She seemed familiar.
“What…where am I?” Miya leaned up on one elbow. The room spun. She slumped back against her pillow and closed her eyes.
Cool fingers touched her cheek, then gently stroked back her hair. “You’ve been really sick, Miss Thorne. For quite a while.”
Miya’s eyes snapped open. She searched the faces swimming in front of her for the one who’d just spoken. Oren. Her eyes met his and her heart stuttered. His features appeared gentle in the early morning lighting that flooded her private room. But the familiar hardness around his mouth was still there.
He was standing over her with one hand on her forehead.
“Easy. Take it easy.” Oren’s perfect skin wrinkled a little between his eyebrows when he frowned.
Her head pounded and a dull ache thrummed in the right side of her neck. She licked her dry lips and glanced around the room.
Ava stood behind Oren, a hand resting on his shoulder. “We were all worried. You’ve been very sick. Your blood is full of toxins right now from your implant infection, but the medication will help.”
What’s she doing here? The question stuck in her rusty throat. She hoped Oren could read the pleading look in her eyes and send Ava away, but all he did was help Miya into a sitting position, then arrange a few pillows behind her back for support.
“I called Ava when I found you passed out on the floor in Quad One, delirious with fever. I just found out she’s also a medtech.”
Miya avoided Ava’s eyes. Like hell she is. She didn’t trust the green-eyed young woman.
“We’ll let you rest some more. Your injections are on the table here.”
“I feel awful.” She leaned back against the pillows.
“Of course you do. Maybe in a little while Ava will take you to the Sun Room for a change of scenery. Having a good dose of vitamin D will help too, I’m sure.” He looked over his shoulder at Ava, who frowned at first, then nodded and smiled.
Oren poured a glass of water from a tall silver tumbler on the table between the two beds. When he handed the glass to her, their fingers brushed and she flinched out of habit.
He sat on the edge of her bed while she sipped the cool water. When she finished, he took the cup from her, then leaned towards her. She stiffened.
“Do you remember what happened?” he whispered into her hair.
She had a feeling that it was better not to remember, so she shook her head.
“Everything will be just fine, Miya.”
Miya scrunched the bedsheets in her fists. She would’ve believed it if Raine had said it, but this was Oren. Even though his voice was soft. And the fact that he was using her first name was comforting. But he was still part of the Leadership, and his behavior was confusing.
Ava cleared her throat and Miya looked up, startled. She’d forgotten they weren’t alone in the room.
“I’ll get some in vitro meat for you. You must be starved. Is there anything else you’d like?”
Miya shook her head. “I hate shmeat. It’s disgusting.”
Ava pursed her lips. “You should appreciate what you have.”
The woman turned and touched Oren’s shoulder before exiting the room. After a quick glance at Miya, Oren followed. The soft hiss of the closing door was deafening. Relief flooded Miya when they left. Ava’s presence stirred something painful in Miya that seemed better left alone.
Miya adjusted the sheets across her lap and settled deeper into the pillows. It seemed like she’d just woken up from one of her dreams. Everything had been so strange, including Raine. That had to be it. She sighed, prepared to relax.
Movement on the opposite wall caught her eye. She squinted as a dark speck moved through the air and crossed in front of her. She watched the speck land on her little side table.
Her heart beat faster.
A small fly sat lazily rubbing its legs together on the edge of her water glass.
CHAPTER 17
Miya
Miya trailed a hand along the cool steel wall.
Ever since she’d woken up to find Oren and Ava in her room, she’d felt as though she were in a dream. Everything looked the same, but nothing felt the same. Every movement felt thick and heavy like she was walking in a lake of congealed, engineered milk.
She watched her feet stumble their way down the Camp’s corridor like they weren’t her own. Her slippers made a whisper-soft sound on the slick white floors.
She looked up in time to dodge the crush of people swarming towards her. Several people stared at her as they passed. Everyone moved in synchronicity. Either mealtime had just ended or the next group of workers were just starting. The automaton way the people moved from corridor to corridor had always irritated her, but today it frightened her. It was as though her senses had been altered. Her perception skewed just a little off her usual center.
She shuffled slowly, realizing with a prickling sense of dread that she was the only one going in the opposite direction. She could be trampled easily. She didn’t want to be the reason someone got shocked for breaking Rule #5.
She managed to make her way through the crowd and wrinkled her nose at the pungent odor of in vitro meat as she neared the Food Bar. She’d been right. Mealtime had just ended. Her stomach rumbled, but more from anxiety than hunger.
She glanced into the nearly empty Food Bar just as a young boy careened into her. She stumbled and fell, landing on all fours. Sprawled out. Kissing the slick white tile.
“Hey! Watch out!” the boy yelled over his shoulder. As he ran past, his shoe crushed the side of her hand.
She cried out and blinked back tears. The pulsing pain in her head increased.
Suddenly, a strong hand gripped her upper arm and hauled her off the floor. In spite of the warning flashing through her entire body, she allowed herself to be led around the corner and into a hard plastic chair in the now-empty Food Bar.
“Is it okay if I have a look?”
She studied her rescuer. He was young. A year or two older than her at most. He took a seat opposite her, took her hand in his, and inspected each of her fingers then, finally, her palm with gentle scrutiny. With his head bent, all Miya could see was a mop of thick, dark hair. Her eyes trailed down. Broad shoulders beneath a white cotton shirt. She glanced at his long fingers and strong-looking hands.
She shivered. Her traitorous body reacted to his touch, sending the red dot on her infected implant bouncing. She shoved her hand between her knees to hide it.
Out of curiosity, she glanced at his left wrist and raised her eyebrows. A white bandage was wrapped around his entire wrist and hand, hiding his implant.
She winced as he prodded the side of the hand he was holding.
“Everything’s still looks perfect.” He lifted his head and dropped her
hand. “Are you okay?”
Miya sucked in an involuntary breath when his dark green eyes held hers.
“Hey, it’s just a bad bruise. You’ll recover.”
He leaned back in his chair and sat with her legs between his, their knees touching. He made no move to correct his position like anyone else would have. Like he should have. Even medtechs obeyed Rule #5 outside of their medical capacity. And after he’d inspected her hand, he had no reason to keep touching her.
Miya managed a thin smile to veil her discomfort. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She tried to stand, but the room swam, forcing her to sit back down. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was still looking at her. He was ordinarily gorgeous with perfect features just like everyone else in the Camp. Except for his eyes. They seemed raw somehow. Sad. Like he’d seen things he would’ve rather left unseen.
“I should go. But here, this is yours.” He stood, shoved a hand into his pants pocket, and withdrew a slender tube. “If your hand hadn’t been there, that kid would’ve crushed this instead. It’s lucky for you, I guess. Looks like you need it.”
He held her injector out to her. When she didn’t reach for it, he placed it on the table near her. His face was serious. His dark green eyes gave away nothing.
After he left, she realized she never thanked him, and she never asked him his name. Not that it mattered. He was just another medtech doing his job.
She sat there for several long moments. The medication was supposed to help her, not make her feel worse. She folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them.
She stayed like that for some time until the back of her neck prickled.
She wasn’t alone. She lifted her head and looked around. A shadow moved near the Food Bar.
She called out, “Who’s there?” hating that her voice sounded wavy and unsure. No one stepped from the shadows, and there was no answer.
The only thing she heard in the silence was her stomach rumbling. Surprised that she actually felt hungry, she snatched up her injection tube and scanned the room again, with her heart slamming in her chest. She stood too quickly and had to wait for the dark spots around her vision to clear.
She eyed the metal shelves stacked with trays of leftover breakfast food. It was likely smack, but it was better than nothing. Her eyes roved the gleaming bar until she found the nearest implant scanner.
Without thinking, she turned the inside of her wrist to the scanner. Click, click. The interface flashed green, and she snatched up a spoon and shoveled a large chunk of congealed smack into her mouth. For once, the bland taste didn’t make her gag. She shoveled in another bite and realized she was still clutching her injection tube in the other hand. She started to shove it in her back pocket when she noticed a corner of the label had peeled. She popped the last bit of smack in her mouth, put down her spoon, and wiped her hand on her pants. She winced a little as she bumped her bruised palm.
The label came off the injector after a few scratches with her thumbnail. A single word embossed into the hard plastic tube beneath read Tribond.
CHAPTER 18
Miya
“Miya! What are you doing in here?” A familiar female voice rang shrilly in the empty Food Bar.
Miya turned around. Avarice strode towards her, her long black hair swishing behind her as she walked. She balanced a tray piled with food in one hand and carried a silver water canister in the other. She looked wide-eyed and flushed.
She quickly slid the tube into her back pocket then took the tray that Ava held out to her. Her eyes watered at the pungent smell of shmeat emanating from it.
“I just left my room and walked here.” She didn’t bother to mask her snarky tone.
Ava took Miya by the elbow and steered her to the same table Miya and her rescuer had previously occupied. “Oren says you shouldn’t be in here alone.”
“And you shouldn’t be touching me outside of medical reasons.” Miya sat down on the edge of the chair. The hard plastic injection tube pressed painfully against her rear end.
“Well, since I’m your medical technician, that means I have every right to touch you. Aside from the fact that I’m Lead-er-ship.” The way she enunciated every syllable in the word made Miya cringe.
Ava pushed the silver tray closer to Miya and set the water canister beside it. Miya stared at the mound of thinly sliced, pasty brown meat and swallowed hard.
“You said you were hungry, so eat.”
Miya poked at the warm pile and gave Ava a watery smile. “Mmmm, my favorite. Grown from a few muscle cells in a petri dish. Yum.” She coughed a little to disguise a gag and pushed the tray away.
Ava frowned, her green eyes flashing her disapproval. Sitting this close, Miya could see thin lines around the pretty woman’s eyes and the bronze skin and smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She remembered the strange scar on her wrist too. Things that everyone else would get the Grafter to fix.
Miya dropped her fork to the table with a clatter.
“Who are you?”
The young woman looked taken aback. “I told you, I’m Avarice.”
“I know who you say you are, but who are you really?” Miya clenched and unclenched her hands in her lap.
“What do you mean?” Ava’s hand shot out and gripped Miya’s wrist under the table. Miya could feel callouses on Ava’s palm pressing into her flesh. And the young woman’s lack of discretion in touching made Miya’s eyes narrow in a moment of boldness.
“You’re not Leadership, are you?” Miya tried to twist her arm out of the medtech’s grip.
Ava’s grip tightened and Miya gritted her teeth against the pain. She was sure her bones were grinding together between Ava’s fingers. Ava pursed her lips and stared at Miya for a long moment before she finally let go.
“You have zero authority to speak to me like that.”
Miya wiped her palms on her pants and took a deep breath. Anxiety coiled inside Miya’s stomach until her gut ached.
“Unless you can prove to me you’re Leadership, then I will not obey you.” She forced the words through clenched teeth.
The medtech’s angry grip on her hand didn’t lessen. “I’ll prove to you who I am if you prove to me who you aren’t.”
“What? That doesn’t even make sense! If you’re Leadership, then you’ll have no trouble showing me your tattoo.” Miya swallowed hard and finally extricated her hand from Ava’s, rubbing her bruised palm.
Ava studied her for a moment, then crossed her arms across her chest. “Oren told me about your recent drop in status. I’m sure you’d like to continue to have access to your room, food, and your job?”
Miya thought of the rumors she’d heard about Invalidates scavenging for food and being relegated to live in the underground. She shivered.
“What do you want?” Her mouth was dry as she tried to swallow around a thickened tongue. She refused to drop her eyes.
Ava leaned toward Miya in a conspiratorial way. “Help me find someone.”
“Who?”
“His name is Ace. Well, his full name is Jachin Aliah Elyon.”
Miya narrowed her eyes at the medtech, who sat back in her chair, unruffled by Miya’s show of rebellion. Her fingertips played with a thin silver chain around her neck. Her lips curved in a smile that iced Miya’s blood as she waited for an answer.
“I don’t know anyone by that name.” Miya started to push her chair back and tried to keep her legs steady. But hearing that name set loose a tide of emotion she didn’t understand.
CHAPTER 19
Miya
“I wouldn’t walk away if I were you, Miss Thorne.” Ava calmly played with a tendril of dark hair.
Miya bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and sat back down.
“I forgot to mention that my friend would likely be using a different name. Perhaps you’d know him as Jacob Hamilton?”
Miya shook her head. “I…I keep to myself mostly. I don’t know who you’re
talking about.”
Ava sighed. “Let’s not be difficult. Do we have a deal? You help me, and I’ll help you.”
Miya paused for a few moments before she nodded. “What do you want him for? Is he in some kind of trouble?”
Ava stood and looked down at Miya, her green eyes darkening with the shadow that passed across her face. “He’s incredibly dangerous. He’s Leadership gone rogue.”
Miya shivered as she watched Ava walk away, her long dark hair swishing as she went. At the door, Ava turned back around.
“I warn you not to speak with him. If you see him, contact me immediately. Oren knows how to reach me.”
Only a few people remained in the hallway when Miya exited the Food Bar.
Teeth gritted, hair sticking to her sweaty face and neck, she walked the entire expanse of the first hallway on Level One before stopping at the entrance of a large room lit with artificial sunlight. The Sun Room. Normally, the cozy furnishings mixed with the vibrant color scheme of the blue and yellow walls did much to improve her mood, but in that moment, the intensity of it all increased the pressure and pain in her head.
She paused at the doorway and scanned the room. A middle-aged couple sat side by side on a couch in a far corner, talking in whispers.
She could scarcely take in enough oxygen, and her head swam. Only Raine and her parents ever knew about her imperfection. Raine, where are you?
She blew a sharp, impatient breath out. Her mind was too foggy to think very clearly. Maybe she’d hit her head when she collapsed outside the Observatory.
As she made her way towards an overstuffed brown chair on the opposite end of the room from the couple, she noticed a young man with dark hair who sat slumped in a chair with his head bent over something. The rest of the room was empty. She hadn’t realized until now that she’d been hoping she would find Raine here. When did she last see her friend? It seemed like days. She needed to tell Raine about Ava. She needed to hear Raine say everything would be okay.
As she passed the young man, she saw his hands were folded over his chest, which rose and fell in even breaths. She took a deep breath. Maybe it was the beautiful boy from the inspection.
She dropped into the opposite chair just as he woke up. He stretched his arms out in front of him with his fingers laced together. After a few knuckle cracks, he slumped back in his chair and stared straight at Miya.