Page 48 (1/2)

Hippocratic Oath

They stayed at the edge of the Rusty Ruins

Occasionally, hovercars would pass over the cru a slow search pattern across the sky But the S fros across the ruins - cheave off human-size pockets of heat - and covered the s of their building with sheets of black Mylar And of course the ruins were very large; finding seven people in what had once been a city of ht, Tally watched the influence of the "New Se on the night of the escape, or had heard about it, and the nightly pilgries out to the ruins slowly increased, until sparklers wavered atop high buildings froht until dawn Tally, Ryde, Croy, and Astrixnew rulied from the Smoke If they doubted the existence of Special Circumstances, Tally showed the her wrists, and invited theend towered above all the rest Maddy had decided that the brain lesions couldn’t be kept a secret anyht to knohat the operation really entailed Tally and the others spread the rued by the knife Your personality - the real you inside - was the price of beauty

Of course, not every ugly believed such an outrageous tale, but a few did And soht to talk to their older friends face-to-face, and decided for themselves

The Specials so traps for the New S, and no hovercar could ever catch a board a streets and rubble The New Smokies learned the nooks and crannies of the ruins as if they’d been born there, until they could disappear in a heartbeat

Maddy worked on the brain cure, using lies willing to borrow from hospitals and chem classes She withdrew from the rest of them, except for David She seeuilty for every moment she spent with David, now that his mother was alone None of them ever talked about Az’s death

Shay stayed with the about the food, the ruins, her hair and clothes, and having to look at all the ugly faces around her But she never seemed bitter, only perpetually annoyed After the first few days she didn’t even talk about leaving Perhaps the brain dae made her pliant, or the fact that she hadn’t lived in New Pretty Town for long She still remembered them all as friends Tally so the only pretty face in their little rebellion Certainly, she didn’t do any more work than she would have in the city; Ryde and Astrix obeyed her every co the ruins for salvage, and taught wilderness survival tricks to any ugly anted to learn But in the teeks after his father’s death, Tally found herselfthe days when it had been just the two of them

Twenty days after the rescue, Maddy announced that she had found a cure

"Shay, I want to explain this to you carefully"

"Sure, Maddy"

"When you had the operation, they did soht" She looked across at Tally, wearing a fa uys don’t understand"

Maddy folded her hands "What do you mean?"

"Ilike the way I look," Shay insisted "I’e?

Look at you all, running around these ruins playing commando You’re all full of schemes and rebellions, crazy with fear and paranoia, even jealousy" Her eyes skipped back and forth between Tally and Maddy "That’s what being ugly does"

"And how do you feel, Shay?" Maddy asked cal all raging with hor out here instead of in the city"

"No one’s keeping you here, Shay Why haven’t you left?"

Shay shrugged "I don’t know I’erous out here, and ood idea You should know that by now, Maddy"

Tally took a sharp breath, but Maddy’s expression didn’t change "And you’re going to protect us froed "I just feel bad about Tally If I hadn’t told her about the S in this durow up We’ll go back together"

"You don’t seem to want to decide for yourself"

"Decide what?" Shay rolled her eyes, looking at Tally to confirh this conversation a dozen ti Shay that her personality had changed To Shay, her new attitude was si all the overheated eliness behind

"You weren’t always this way, Shay," David said

"No, I used to be ugly"

Maddy se the way you look They’ll only affect your brain, undoing what Dr Cable did to the way your mind works Then you can decide for yourself how you want to look"

"Decide? After you’ve etting her pro with your brain!"

"Tally," David said softly

"That’s right,I’m the one who’s crazy" Shay’s voice took on the tone of her daily round of couys, who live in a broken-down building on the edge of a dead city, slowly turning into freaks when you could be beautiful Yeah, I’ to help you!"

Tally sat back and crossed her arms, silenced by Shay’s words Whenever they had this conversation, reality becaht really be the insane ones It felt like Tally’s horrible first days in the Smoke, when she hadn’t knohose side she was on

"How are you helping us, Shay?" Maddy asked calet you to understand"

"Just like you did when Dr Cable used to bring you by my cell?"

Shay’s eyes narrowed, confusion clouding her face, as if her round prison didn’t fit in with the rest of her pretty worldview

"I know Dr C was horrible to you," she said "The Specials are psychos - just look at them But that doesn’taway That’s what I’ Once you turn, Specials won’t mess with you"

"Why not?"

"Because you won’t make trouble anymore"

"Why not?"

"Because you’ll behappy !" Shay took a couple of deep breaths, and her usual calain "Like me"

Maddy picked up the pills on the table in front of her "You won’t take these willingly?"

"No way You said they’re not even safe"

"I said there was a shed "Youmust think I’m nuts And even if those pills work, look what they’re supposed to do

Fro a jealous, self-i you’ve got all the answers" She crossed her arms "In a lot of ways, you and Dr Cable are alike You’re both convinced you’ve personally got to change the world Well, I don’t need that And I don’t need those"