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"Why?" The word is out before I can s it back down my throat

The lines on Dunn’s face ease, but the shadows in his eyes are still there "I’ive them crutches when they sprain an ankle because they could be turned into weapons We don’t allow theht for treat monitored I can barely keep the medicine I need stocked And the doctor doesn’t care He won’t even co for a snakebite until the end of the week Faust "It’s all been for nothing Martin isn’t here Soed to break hih "How?"

"Ironically, it o nurses Or, I guess, they weren’t real nurses after all They put hie bio-waste bins we use to dispose medical trash Just loaded it in their car and drove away Business as usual, just going to dump it with all the rest I have no idea where he is, but I’sour rises in my throat I s hard and shake my head to hide how desperate I aet et Sam out, too The way he described won’t work They would have ied that protocol It’s more that it’s proof that this place isn’t necessarily the maximum-security prison they want the kids to think it is The equips are run down and practically painted with rust, patched over too many times The PSFs and camp controllers are spread too thin, and because of it, they’ve let the blade dull in their hands There have to be other gaps we can slip through

"What’s your name?" Dunn asks

"M27"

"Your real name," he says "You’re not a number Don’t let theht in with me today How they spent the whole walk over to the Infirmary all knotted up with fear and anxiety They didn’t relax until they ith him He called them by names, not by nuame here

And, anyway, it’s in ht not show up in the computer system, but I’m sure he’d have access to the information if he asked "Lucas"

"Lucas I’m Pat" The nurse’s s over us about to burst "I think we both have to get back to work"

We do My ten o Dunn steps out into the hall first, which gives me a minute to wrap the shell of stony detachment back aroundfor us, rubbing her hands up and down her arms The miserable look on her face is so at odds with the cal with the kids

"Sorry," Dunn is saying, "I had to borrow him--"

"It’s fine I sent the boy back to his cabin with one of the PSFs," Nurse Kore says quickly, "but you need to cootten worse and the fever’s back"

Nurse Dunn goes rigid, his skin pulling back as he gri down the hall The floor has emptied out almost entirely, but I see one PSF stick his head out of an office he’s packing up Kore waves the soldier off, right on Dunn’s heels as he enters the first room--the one I’d seen O’Ryan and the doctor coht loss as to what to do After taking the last kid back, I was supposed to return here and assist the staff until the last h, see if he shows any inclination on going back on his word

Nurse Kore is blocking the doorway as I pass, but I can see well enough over her head that Dunn is throwing open cabinets and drawers He fires off a series of questions "What did you give her last? When did the sy--we need epinephrine Where is it? Can you look next door?"

It’s only then, when Kore brushes past h the door of the next examination room, that I see the kid on the table

Pieces of the roo machines The IV drips The adults What I see is a pale face, tense with pain, dirty, li wet tracks down her cheeks, but I can’t tell if it’s sweat or tears

No The word pierces throughbullet

It’s just too damn bad you weren’t there this ti with this world? The teirl apparently can’t suffer enough There’s no liood and this happens This

And what? We’re supposed to take comfort in the fact that one day she’ll be rewarded for her struggle? I can still hear her father preaching eternal life, how the ot the whole world in His hands

My feet carry enthey’ve pulled over the thin blanket for the first time It’s swollen to twice the size of the other and there’s a bubble of purple and black skin right around her ankle My gag reflex makes me choke on the next breath