My lids flick open. They’re still here. I glance around for some indication as to how long I’ve been out. Now, I’m lying down, wet cloths on my head and neck, and Grace holding my hand.
Bill, Cole, and Bruno are actively engaged in a conversation with Roméo that sounds even more heated than before I passed out.
“You okay?” Grace smiles down at me when she sees I’m awake.
I don’t respond. Instead, I listen to the men talking.
“When the Commander first built the Hole, he funneled every cent into the lab. Now we’re seeing the results of years of that research and development. I suspect the first Commander had his reasons, mainly experimental, maybe even to gain some control over the Sinners. After all, there are far more Sinners than soldiers. But the second one, Sutton’s brother? Judging from what I’m seeing here, his reasons are far more diabolical,” Roméo says.
“One bad decision led to another,” Bruno says.
“Lunatics,” I say and slowly sit up. “But it makes sense.” I mean, I remember tidbits of conversations between Father and others about lab experiments, but I never imagined it’d look like this. My stomach knots itself into a pretzel. I recall one conversation clearly now.
“There’ve been rumors of mass rapes and beatings,” his friend had said. “Keep your children inside. It’s not safe out there anymore.”
“I know; I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse,” my father had replied. “Yet somehow, they manage to cover up most of it. I’m not sure we’ll ever know the full magnitude.”
“Have you heard anything about the lab testing—?”
“Shhh! That’s enough. We need to take this conversation somewhere else,” my father said.
I shake the memory away.
“So what prompted the United Powers to care? I mean, why now? Sutton is convincing and passionate, but there must be a reason you guys were sent here now,” Bruno says.
Anger flashes through Roméo’s eyes as he turns toward Bruno.
“About six months ago, a Sinner crossed the border into Canada. We’re not sure if he was sent by Wilson or if the man escaped. But he was deathly ill by the time he was taken to the hospital. When he died, they performed an autopsy, and it confirmed he died from an unknown virus. Medical professionals have never seen anything like it before, and the only reason they know it came from the Hole is because the man had been branded. So when they heard Sutton’s theory, it immediately caught their attention. But they’re demanding solid evidence, and until they get it, the United Powers will watch from afar.”
“Sinners don’t escape,” Bill says. “Before the rebellion, not a single person got out. So Wilson had to have sent him. Right?” It was the most intelligent thing Bill had said since I’d known him. We all stared at him in disbelief.
“It’s certainly a possibility,” Roméo says. “But we can’t know for sure.”
“Makes me wonder what the Sinners are being told when they’re injected,” Cole says.
“There’s only one way to find out,” I say. “I’ll be right back.” I stand, a bit shaky, and then steady myself before sprinting down the hall back to the room Amber’s being held in. I unlock the bolt, open the door, and shut it behind me with a click.
Amber’s curled into the fetal position at the top of her bed in the one spot not saturated with her vomit. The smell of rotten eggs, milk, and rancid meat swirls around the room, causing me to almost pass out again. I pull my shirt over my nose and move toward her.
“Wake up,” I say.
“Get out,” she replies.
“Not until you answer my questions.”
“Go to hell.”
“This is serious, Amber,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why’d you get a shot today?”
“It’s none of your business.” She sits up and looks at me with bloodshot eyes. She swings her fists, but she’s so weak it’s like being hit with a feather. I grab her wrists with ease, holding her until she’s too tired to fight me.
“Tell me.”
“Let go of me!” she screams.
“Answer me.” I grasp her wrists harder. My hands completely encircle them, she’s so thin.
“Ahhhhh! A vaccine,” she blurts out.
“For what?” I ease up just enough to let her know I’ll stop if she keeps talking.
“For what’s killing us. But you wouldn’t know about that, would you? You’re healthy. You look like you’re one bagel away from High Society.”
I don’t look nearly as malnourished as she does, but still, I don’t remember the last time I ate real food.
“You were told it was a vaccine?”
“Yes.” Tears drip down her face.
“What else did they say?”
“That it was up to us if we wanted it or not, but they only had a hundred of them.”
“Did everyone with you choose to get vaccinated?”
“Why wouldn’t they? Who wants to die from that?”
“And you didn’t know they’d force you to go get the shot either way?”