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"--gency--require--immediate--transportation to--"

The world rocks and rattles, shaking gy light aroundnear ue is swollen and it tastes like bile inanymore All that’s left ofin o

It’s too hard to keepWhen I co things I can’t hear One of his careful hands is on one--I’ The cold air can’t touch me, but the smell, the smell of clean air, the last traces of rain, it lide under a sky so blue, so purple, so golden I fight as hard as anything to keep my eyes open, because I want to re that lasts

Because I know it’ll be the last thing I ever see

FOUR

LUCAS

WE WAKE UP about a half hour before the rest of the ca alar their baton along the barred barracksWhen you’ve trained your body andinto a real, deep sleep, it’s enough to send you shooting straight up out of your bunk to kick-start theroutine of wash up-pull on uniform-make bed-stand at attention-wait for instructions I seem to do all five in one quick motion

The barracks are silent save for the shuffle of feet and the running of water The building is old but well heated and decently maintained We have s and tiled floors and painted walls, whichalmost seem homey in comparison to what I saw of the cabins yesterday And where they kept Saht

Up until last week, it housed PSFs about to hit the end of their mandatory service We only had to slide neatly into their vacated place, set our uniforms and toiletries in the small chests at the end of the bunks that used to house theirs There were no decorations on the wall, but they do have a few sun-faded posters up--one with the caed in seven years, others with charts of the color classifications The angry slash of red at the top of the chart is labeled FIRE, HIGHLY DANGEROUS

My breath comes out as a harsh snort

F13 falls into place besidea braid back over her shoulder In my head, I’ve always called her Rose, because of the color of her hair I’ve iined a whole fake life for her, for all of the silly to counteract the harsh reality For Rose, I pretend that her parents are zookeepers, and growing up she had a pet ar out in her backyard I pretend her voice sounds as soft as falling petals, because I’ve only ever heard her scream The Trainers stripped these kids down to a letter and a nued to them I want to see them as humans I will drea the sheets over her bed with the pointless military precision drilled into us, and takes a hten out her uniform and make sure that her shirt is properly tucked in I do the sa with the need to move, to rock back and forth on my heels until it’s time to head out and start the day

Instead, I picture so me trapped in that sa hours to check on Sa the dinner rotations, ready to be sent to bring her food, to check on her, to be posted there overnight I tried to do theI could disappear fro before anyone would notice

But Olsen never said a word to me, neither did the caht and sent us back here I didn’t exactly expect them to, but I wanted soht a blanket or water What happens when she has to go to the bathrooet up and ht? The questions keptdown I couldn’t escape them, and a part ofI’d been able to do atch Tildon to make sure he didn’t disappear at any point, but after the dinner rotations? There was no way to know for sure He could have gone back, slipping out when he should have been returning to his own barracks

I close ainst the flood of violence and flah s open, and a cahten as a PSFthe cotton for wrinkles and untucked corners Satisfied, he nods toward her

"Your assignins I listen only long enough to hear that I’ned to Saht ata whole bunch of kids who aren’t her, and, worse, they haven’t rotated me to any of the Blue cabin blocks to confirm for myself that Mia isn’t here

We follow the ca our separate ways The world around us is still da, with the prole sheet of paper listing the names, locations, and times to pick the kids up and walk them over to the Infirmary At the end of my day, I have an allotted two hours to "assist medical staff" before dinner rotations