Defect - By Ryann Kerekes Page 0,13
minutes longer, and she shifts uneasily. I can tell she won’t risk keeping me here, not wanting to get in trouble with Will. And I don’t blame her.
We go back to the bunker, and Sam calls Will over the intercom while I sink down into the sofa to wait. She goes back to join the game of cards she left. A few minutes later, Will enters the door to the bunker again. Being off my feet for the first time in hours has made me realize how tired I am. I blink slowly, taking in the sight of him. He’s looking straight at me, watching me like I’m a real person and not a criminal. He walks closer.
“I have to take you back now.”
I nod and stand up – the height difference between us is exaggerated with him this close. My head doesn’t even clear his chin. He steps back, as if realizing for the first time how close we’re standing. He nods once toward Sam, thanking her silently. He turns for the door, confident that I’ll follow him back to the hospital wing. Which, of course I do.
Chapter 5
When I wake in the morning, my jaw is sore. I remember the violent hit from Kane and shudder. I‘d never been struck before, and I was more shocked than anything at the time. But now my body is feeling its effects. When I got back to the hospital last night, the nurse on duty gave me a quick dose of medicine, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
The sun is high in the sky, so I know it’s late morning. My daily cup of broth sits cold on the table beside my bed, and my feet have been unshackled. I’ve never slept through the morning visit from the nurse before, so it’s a testament to how exhausting yesterday’s testing proved to be. The one bright spot was Sam. Though I knew it’d be difficult, I hoped I could be given a chance to become a soldier. Surely anything was better than living in a drugged stupor. I would just need to find a way to avoid becoming Kane’s target.
I drink the cold broth and feel Willow watching me.
“Where were you?” She eyes me accusingly.
I can still smell the chlorine on my skin and know it would be no use lying to her. “They took me for testing.” I leave out the parts where they tried to drown me and about seeing how the soldiers lived. Meeting Will and Sam had started to change my mind ever so slightly about this place – but Willow couldn’t know that. She has no chance of getting out.
The cat I’ve seen wandering, Tuesday, she’s called, hops up onto my lap, kneading my stomach with her paws. I never understood why cats did this. I watch her work with a smirk on my face. Willow clears her throat and when I look over at her, I swear I catch a bit of jealousy on her face.
Before I have time to process what it means, the door swings open. It’s time for the next dosage. A nurse I haven’t seen before begins making her rounds, going from bed to bed with a tray of syringes. When she reaches my bed, she grabs my wrist to verify. “5491, you’re to report to the lab for testing.”
I nod and pull the blankets from my legs. I breathe a sigh of relief at not being stuck with a needle again, but begin to worry that I’ll have to spend the day with Kane.
“I’ll walk you there as soon as I’m through.”
She goes to Willow’s bed next. I feel bad that Willow didn’t have the opportunity to pretend she was still sleeping, since we’d been sitting up talking. She presses the needle to Willow’s arm, and I wince. I carry Tuesday to Willow’s bed and tuck her in safely by her side. I stand there, smoothing my hand over Tuesday’s fur and Willow’s hair, until the nurse is ready to escort me down the hall, and Willow’s eyes begin falling closed.
Just before I turn to follow the nurse from the room, Willow grabs my hand. “Be careful, Eve.” Her voice is thick and groggy.
I nod and squeeze her hand.
***
The nurse brings me to the lab I was in yesterday, disappearing as soon as I’m in front of the door. I enter to a confused looking Dr. Nolan and stand beside the data terminal I was stationed at