by Ramona Finn
The EFs pulled back the curtain that hid us and we stepped forward. The applause was instant as people whistled and cheered. The hall was more packed than I’d ever seen it. Shouts of “Coders! Coders! Coders!” came from one corner of the hall. I looked over and saw that there was a whole group of coders standing together cheering. They were cheering for me.
I could barely catch my breath. I searched each of their faces for people I knew. I caught a glimpse of light-colored hair and then locked eyes with my old friend Bree. She stopped cheering then and gave me two thumbs up. I thought about those crazy conspiracy theories she spouted all the time. One of them was that there had been survivors of the Acceptance, but the Farrows wouldn’t let them live—in case the Unions rose up to fight for a spot in the Labs.
How we’d teased her about those silly ideas then. How chillingly right she actually was.
Bree pointed over her shoulder, and that’s when I saw my best friend Viv. She was in tears, laughing and jumping up and down. I waved and the coders’ cheers went up even louder.
“I want to go say hi to my friends,” I said to Ben, loudly because of the crowd. “Can I?”
Ben frowned and then turned to one of the EFs.
After a minute’s conference, he told me, “We’ll have them come to us in a back room later. It’ll be safer. Just give Killian your friends’ names.”
When the crowd quieted a little, Ben said a few words to the people. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing Tylia to me. I hope that together we’ll bring about the Cure sooner than expected. Our union is more important than just leading to the Cure. It’s a reminder that we are the same, you and us. And it makes us work harder so that one day we can live out in the open, free and together.”
“Then let us up to the Labs!” someone shouted in that moment of quiet. People whipped around to see who had spoken out, but no one knew which direction the shout had come from. Several EFs were dispatched to comb through the area of the hall that the voice had come from. There were murmurs amongst the people. I could hear some who agreed with him while others were warning such dissenters to be quiet. Those voices came out of fear. When I’d been one of them, that’s how I’d felt about speaking out… I’d been stilled by the fear of reprisal, not just for us individually, but for our friends, families, and…well, everyone really.
The crowd turned back to watch our reaction. I bit my lip and dared not look to Ben. But he just sighed, and said, “I understand your impatience. I would feel that way, too, in your shoes. If the Labs had the capacity, my father would’ve done what you asked. As it is, we are working as fast as we can to bring about our day of freedom.” Ever the diplomat, Ben had managed to calm the crowd. My heart swelled with pride. He really meant what he said; I could tell that much. He was an idealist. No wonder he was the face of the show. The people adored him. He would make a wonderful leader someday.
Ben waved at the crowd, took my hand in his, and we walked back behind the curtain. Once we were out of sight, he exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath the entire time. “That was close,” he said.
“You handled it well,” I said.
He smiled. “I’ve had a lot of practice. I don’t know how much longer they’ll believe me, though. We’ll have to move on to the next stage as soon as possible.” His dimples deepened as his cheeks flushed. It took me a moment to understand what he’d meant by ‘the next stage.’
Oh. Offspring.
I hadn’t even wrapped my head around the partnering ceremony yet.
Killian led us into a small room further behind the stage. Viv, Bree, and Rana were waiting inside to greet us. Viv screamed when I walked into the room, running up to give me a big hug. My suit crackled so loudly that she jumped back, and then we both laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Ben shook each of their hands—and even though he was taken, they still swooned at his attention. Viv was actually speechless. That was a first.
After chatting with everyone for a bit, Ben made his excuses and left. He had to oversee the distribution of the extra supplies. Secretly, I knew he was uncomfortable with the adoration of his fans, but I was glad to have a moment with my friends alone.
“So, tell us how all that happened,” Viv said as Ben walked out the back door with both EFs. “Is he as good a kisser as I imagined?” The girls giggled.
I looked at my friends. Really, Viv was my only close friend, and Bree and Rana were hers. We hung out only because Viv had dragged me along with them sometimes. Still, a strange feeling—a mixture of happiness and sadness—came over me. In the Labs, only Kev treated me as a friend. The Elites were awful, except maybe for Chen. Still, I hadn’t felt at home in the Labs the way I did here.
“Oh, screw it,” I said, unsealing the head piece of my suit. “None of you have the Cough, right?”
“What are you doing?” Bree squealed.
“I just want to see you without this face mask in the way!” I pulled it off and shook out my hair. Inhaling the stale-smelling air brought so many memories rushing back. It also made me gag a little, which I fought hard to hide. “How are all of you?”
“We don’t want to talk about us,” Viv said, pulling me to a nearby chair. The other girls sat around me. “We want all the juicy details about Ben Farrow.”
“Do you realize that you’re the first Acceptance survivor who’s actually been acknowledged?” Bree asked.
“Well, there’s Kev, too,” I said. People kept forgetting about him.
“Oh no. Rumor has it that his survival was pure luck,” Bree went on. “That he never actually went far enough into the contaminated areas to be exposed. He was just lucky to meet up with you when he did.”
I frowned. Was that what people thought of Kev? It was kind of unfair. They had no idea what he had done to save me. Nor did they know about the EFs killing the others. A shiver went through me.
“You better put your face mask back on,” Viv said, misinterpreting my shiver. “Don’t want you to spread our sickness up there.”
The way she’d said it was strange. I was used to her caustic wit, but this was different. Was she jealous?
“Tell me about things here,” I suggested. “Are the Unions getting along better?”
The girls scrunched up their faces. “Who cares about the dumb Unions?” Rana responded. “Tell us more about the clothes they wear in the Labs. What I wouldn’t give to slip into something so soft and luxurious as what we see on The Cure!”
“The lab coats?” I laughed.
“No, silly,” Rana said. “The clothes under their lab coats. You know, when they leave the lab, or when they have parties?”
I must’ve looked puzzled because Viv chimed in. “You know Ty never paid any attention to the show.”
Everyone laughed. It was true. I barely remembered episodes where the cast wasn’t just working on the Cure.
Rana walked around the room, pretending she was an Elite on the show. She ran her hands over her old clothes, imagining the softness of Elite clothing. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she was right about how amazing they felt. Even Bree giggled at the thought of new clothes. What had happened to the angry girl who was always looking for trouble?
“The Unions are what they’ve always been,” Viv said with a disinterested sigh. “There’s some extra squabbling these days.”
“What about?” I needed to know if the Rejs had gotten in with the Unions yet. This had been one of their goals.
“The usual,” Bree butted in. “The Farm Union thinks we should push for territorial rights in the Labs, but that’s been a pipe dream for generations. They’re tired of sending all of their successful plant prototypes up to the Labs and never getting enough food back. There’s been murmuring about the possibility of us moving up to the Labs. Someone claimed there was a lot of room up there, but of course we can’t be sure about that. Besides, the Elites would never let us live with them.” Rana nudged her and Bree scowled. “What? It’s not as if this is news to her.
”
“You would know, though, wouldn’t you?” Rana asked shyly. “Whether it’s true, about how much space they have up there?”
They stared at me, and behind their eyes, I saw hope laced with fear. They were afraid they’d said too much in front of an Elite. My stomach twisted. I couldn’t say the sight of all that space in the Sky Labs hadn’t been a problem with me when I’d first seen them. I’d toyed vaguely with the idea of moving everyone up to a Lab instead of waiting for the surface to be safe. This was the second time today that I’d heard someone in the Geos mention it. Was that a possibility? I needed to explore the idea. But I couldn’t talk about it with the girls, not now. I’d get them into so much trouble if they came out of our meeting with even the slightest hope of that being a possibility.
“Tell me about work…how’s Amara doing?” I asked, changing the subject quickly.
But the girls didn’t want to talk about work.
“We want to hear about you and Ben,” Viv insisted. When our eyes met, she gave me a knowing look, as if she knew the dilemma I was in. I hoped that she could read gratitude in my face.
They continued to pry for more information about Ben and life in the Greens. I did my best to give them as much detail as I could about the latter. The more we talked, the more I realized that things weren’t the same with us anymore. To them, I was a link to the celebrities they’d had crushes on forever. They asked about the other Farrows, about Chen, and even about R.L., but they didn’t ask about me, or about my life and whether I fit in up there. The more we talked, the more I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t belong here with these girls anymore. That much was clear.
“I think I should go find Ben now,” I said, rather suddenly. The girls looked a bit offended, but I didn’t think I could keep being polite for much longer. I’d told them everything I could about the show and the cast, but I’d had enough. I didn’t like those Elites and they didn’t like me. Not that anyone in the Geos cared. “I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Yeah, of course,” Viv said. “It was good seeing you.” I gave her hand a squeeze. I knew I could always count on her, no matter how the others had changed.
As we walked to the door, she added, “How are your parents liking it up there?”
“My parents?”
“Yeah, I’ve kind of missed your dad and his grumblings about the ‘youth of today.’ ”
I fastened my helmet back on with shaky hands. It didn’t make sense. Viv believed them to be up in the Sky Labs. This meant that she hadn’t seen them. We were neighbors. What was going on? I didn’t know they’d been moved. R.L. had said he was taking care of them, but where had he moved them?
“They’re good, thanks,” I said, stopping myself from saying too much. I didn’t want to get her into trouble.
So many secrets.
I gave her a hug and went out the door Ben had left through. My head was spinning from the thought that my parents had been missing from our neighborhood all this time. Behind me, I could hear the giggles of the girls I’d just left behind.
The hallway behind the staging area was dark and empty of people. I walked as far as I could before I was faced with yet another door. Peeking through it, I saw another hallway, so I followed that one. How had I not known about these spaces? I’d grown up here. This particular hallway was also lined to the ceiling with large crates. I knocked into one or two of them, and they sounded hollow. I wondered what they were meant to contain.
Up ahead, there was still another door. I reached out a hand to turn the doorknob when a pair of hands slapped onto my shoulders from behind and pulled me backwards into the crates.
I opened my mouth to scream, but a large hand clamped over my face mask and I was knocked back onto the floor.
Chapter Nineteen
My assailant was sitting on top of me as I whipped my hands at him. He grabbed my wrists and whisper-yelled, “Stop it, Ty! It’s me!”
I stopped struggling to look at his face. “Skylar?” It took a while for me to calm down and let it register in my brain that I was safe. Skylar Two was staring down at me, his startling blue eyes shining in the darkness. Even in my dreams about him, I’d forgotten how beautiful he really was.
“What are you doing…here?” I panted. “How did you get in?”
He released my wrists and rolled off of me, leaning against a tall tower of crates. He was panting, too. A small beam of light came through from somewhere I couldn’t see. It lit up the sleeve of tattoos on his arms. His people believed the tattoos kept them safe from the Virus, and so far, it was working for him.
“I’ve been getting good at sneaking into the Geos, but today I came to talk to you,” he said quietly, checking around the crates’ edges to make sure we were alone. “We don’t have a lot of time before they come looking for you.”
I sat up across from him. I wanted so badly to be closer, to hug him, but there was an invisible barrier between us now—not just this stupid helmet, but a whole lifetime of things that had happened since we’d last been together.
“It’s too dangerous for you to be here,” I said.
“Life is dangerous.” Skylar Two’s bright eyes went dark. “I needed to know if you were still going to help us, if you still considered yourself a Rej.”
I didn’t know, honestly. Did he even consider me a Rej at this point?
I reached behind my head and unsealed my helmet. Nothing had happened when I’d been with the girls, and I was sure nothing would happen now. This was my home, and I wasn’t going to catch anything deadly. Besides, I wanted Skylar Two to see me, not my Elite outfit, and I wanted him to see that I was still the girl he’d made an honorary Rej. Still the girl he’d kissed.
He moved in closer and looked straight into my eyes. Without the barrier of my helmet between us, I relished his earthy scent. “We heard about you and the Farrow boy.” His voice was flat, emotionless.
I sat back. Why did his words pierce me like a knife? This was not how I’d imagined our next meeting.
“You’ve certainly penetrated their ranks,” he continued. His gaze grew hard. He was all business. “It puts you in a good place to sabotage them from the inside. The question is, are you still willing to take them down, or have you become one of them?”
“I’m not one of them,” I said, my voice shaky. This was not the Skylar Two I wanted to deal with. I missed the version of him that was gentle, sweet, and passionate about me. But that was stupid. We had grown so far apart, and I was engaged to another. “I’ll never be one of them.”
“But you’re going to have kids with Ben Farrow.”
“It’s not what you think!” I blurted. “Reproduction in the Labs is all very… clinical.”
“So, you don’t have feelings for him? Are you being forced to do this?” He leaned forward, almost appearing hopeful.
I looked at my hands. “I’m not being forced. I have an immunity to the Virus that means our children would be the best chance for finding a Cure.”
He was silent for the length of a breath. “If you have immunity, why not use your blood to make the Cure? Why do you need Ben?”
I hadn’t thought to ask that question. It was so obvious, too. “Maybe I’m not enough?”
“You are to me,” he mumbled.
The space behind my eyelids burned. “I’m doing this for all our people, Skylar. For the Cure.”
Skylar Two snorted. He ran his hand through his short hair and pulled at a few strands. “When will you realize that it’s never been about finding the Cure?”
“That’s not true,” I protested. I wanted so badly to believe that my own statement was true, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I was afraid he was telling the truth.
“You can be so naïve.” He got to his feet and stretched out his hands. I took them, and even through my own gloves, I could feel his rough skin. For a moment, I was lost in the memory of his hands on my body, and I shivered. He pulled me up so suddenly, and with such force that
I lost my footing and slammed into his chest. We were so close that I could feel his heart beating through my environmental suit. Time stood still as the heat of his body penetrated my suit. Our breathing began to match up in rhythm. I wanted this moment to last forever. But then he moved back a few steps, leaving me out in the cold. He checked around the crates again, and then looked back at me. His eyes held no emotion. My heart cracked.
“Listen, we don’t have time to discuss who’s into whom. You need to know that, on the surface, the Virus is spreading. Several of our other camps that were supposed to be in safe areas have been wiped out in the last few weeks. Our camp has grown a lot because of the refugees we’ve taken in. The elders think that it could be the Farrows deliberately releasing more of the Virus into the air. My father’s theory is that the Farrows will just wait us out—waiting until we’re all dead, and then they can go about their business without the Rej pests messing with their operations.”
“So, you are responsible for the damage to our transports?” I remembered what Ben had said about the sabotage the Labs had faced.
“Our transports?” he sneered, but I could see how hurt he was. The words had just come out without me thinking. What an idiot I was. “I get it,” he commented. “You’re becoming a Farrow. But I had to let you in on what’s really happening before they sucked you in completely to their lies. Yes, we did some of it, but not all. We don’t have the resources to create that much damage—definitely not that frequently. The Farrows are bent on making us look like terrorists, but we’re just trying to survive.”
He stepped in closer, held me by the shoulders, and forced me to look him in the eye. “This is the truth,” he said firmly. “Our people are dying. The Farrows have no intention of creating a Cure. The people in the Geos are going to be allowed to live out their natural lives, but no one really cares how long they keep going because they don’t fight back like we do. This is what my father believes, and also what I believe. As long as the Unions keep swallowing the garbage the Farrows put out, they won’t fight them.”