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My fingers relax, as do the muscles in my shoulder and arm Sam always quiets me; she finds me and leads me out of these dark places The tic is still there, but less noticeable if I slide my hand into the pocket of my uniform trousers The Trainers would have told the PSFs and camp controllers the tic--that involuntary spas card, and when it co, drea fire Fine if it comes hand in hand with an order to attack, not so fine if it appears out of the blue Mine has always been less pronounced than so as I’et "treated" by a month’s worth of daily, repeated ice-water sub ed open, and a dripping, dark figure jogs inside He brings the frigid air in with hi me at my core He’s in what almost looks like civilian clothes--a black poncho, black slacks, boots Under the heavy, rain-slick fabric, I see the luun The man wipes the rain off his face as he pushes his hood back The dark, graying stubble on his face gives it shadows that aren’t really there He strides toward us, every , brisk, efficient He isn’t military, but like the Trainers, he probably used to be

I reave us our "orientation" the night before, ere brought in He assessed us as we passed by, the way rocery store, then waved us on to collect our uniforms and our red vests

ca sticks insideit off from the air I need to think

Tildon shoots to his side, his face covered in grime and blood Next to O’Ryan, who is as steady and silent as a mountain, he looks like an idiot as he flails and moves into the next phase of his tantru but not listening, his eyes glancing between Sa hoas the one to finally restrain her, that I acted quickly and behaved exactly as I should have

O’Ryan’s pleased expression turns ive him a salute when he says, "Well done, M27" And every second his eyes are on ain I have to think of Mia’s face when ainst each other, ready to snap a flaetto help Sa to set the assle on fire I want so badly for all of them to experience the kind of hurt they’ve inflicted on us

But more than that, I want to cover Sam I want to cover her so none of these people can see her like this, too weak to even lift her head The other kids are only just cohtht to assuh--face down on the floor, hands on the back of their heads Drip, drip, drip goes the rain through the holes in the roof, splattering over them, into their plastic bins The rooarette shts flicker as the wind picks up

"Fine, then put her in isolation Teeks," O’Ryan finally interrupts

"Isolation," Tildon sneers "She attacked me! The little bitch deserves at least twenty-five strikes! And I want her in the cages, not the Infirmary"

It’s the first time Sam shows any reaction since the Cales Where the hell is that? The blood is draining out of my head They said they sometimes tie them to the fences outside of the Garden, but isolation is the upper level of the Infirhtless cells The kids there are broken, or need to be broken Every hair on ht in the cages and ten strikes" I don’t know if he saw Tildon’s face light up, but O’Ryan quickly adds, "Delivered by Olsen"

Her posture relaxes as she swings around, away fro

One last look froood "Go clean yourself up," he says quietly, layering his voice with just enough of a threat to hten, "and report to et the best of him--there’ll be some kind of disciplinary action, at least He deserves to be sround like the shit stain he is It won’t be enough to balance out what he did to Sa

Olsen flicks her hand toward Sa at me These PSFs are all the saht us in to fill in the gaps in their security, but they love the power they wield in outranking us We aren’t human to theet eye contact or words Ita coe I don’t understand

It takes me a moment to translate what she wants, and, just as quickly, the horror slaht here--they’re going to hit her right here, and they want me to hold her up while they do it

Fuck

Them

Olsen stares at me expectantly Theinside of me strain to its ultimate limit I want to cry--I want to sob like a baby, Don’t make me do this, not to her, not to Sammy Why did I have to volunteer for this place? Why did I have to come here and find her? I wanted Thurmond because that’s where they were supposed to take Mia All I want is to find her Moone now I’et out I can’t blow this and show them I’m not what I’m supposed to be But I can’t do this to Sammy I would rather cut out my own heart