Mallory
I’m dreaming. I must be. I can hear Constance’s voice, smell the expensive scent she likes to use, feel the soft sheets under my fingertips. I groan as I struggle to open my eyes just enough so I can peer through my lashes.
Soft light washes everything with an oddly green tinge, casting shadows under Constance’s blue eyes.
She’s wearing a frown, just like she did in the new city, every time she had to correct my Irrelevant behaviour.
I blink and close my eyes again so her face will dissolve back into the dream. “Cristan?” I croak.
“Wake up.”
I squeeze my eyes even tighter and clench the bed sheets in my hands. Everything feels wrong. Sterile. Cold. Relevant.
My eyes pop open as I fling myself forwards and nearly collide with a figure dressed in grey who is sitting on my bed.
Constance yelps as she jumps to her feet. Her eyes are wide as she backs away from me.
My brain can’t process what I’m looking at. Grey walls. Whitewashed borders. Watery light coming in through the single window. My sister.
“No,” I breathe.
Constance edges closer. Apprehension on her face as she approaches me. I look at her, still not sure what I’m seeing is real.
Her clothing is different. Grey trousers and a loose-fitting shirt. Just like a nurse would wear. “Don’t you recognise me?”
I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my fists into balls. Hoping this will all fade away and I’ll wake up in the Unit, with Cristan beside me, telling me I just fainted.
“Where am I?” I manage as I dare to look at her again.
Constance’s eyes dart to the door. “You’re in a secure ward. Away from the other rebel Irrelevant.”
She creeps forwards as though she’s afraid of me. “What did they do to you? Did they hurt you? Why are you in this ward of all places?”
I shake my head and tug at the gown I’ve been dressed in. “Where are my clothes? And where is Cristan?”
Constance looks puzzled. “Who is Cristan?”
I stammer over an explanation I’m not sure I want to give. “H, h, he’s my—how did I get here?”
Constance looks at the door again, as though she’s waiting for someone to arrive. “I don’t know all the details. All I know is that a couple of the girls downstairs said rebels were being brought in and she asked if I wanted to see them.”
She half smiles as she edges even closer. “I had no idea my baby sister was a rebel! What did you do out there to get in so much trouble? What’s it like? Where do you live? Are they all as good looking like the one that I saw?”
My stomach starts to churn with the number of questions. Mouth filling with moisture as the room starts to spin. “Which hospital am I in?”
Constance’s brow knots as she slides another look to the door. “You’re in a lower Relevance one. I transferred to temporarily take over administration here. I’m not supposed to be in this ward. Only nurses have permission. I’ll try to come see you again. But I could lose a years’ credits if they catch me in here.”
She stares at me and a flickering of annoyance appears. “Why didn’t you try harder? It was so embarrassing. Father was distraught. I can’t even say how horrified mother was.”
My throat starts to constrict. What can I say to that? Now that I’m face to face with her, I have nothing I want to say. Does she think I did something wrong and deserve to be here?
Everything I thought I’d say is swept away at the disappointment written on her face. “I can’t stay here, they do terrible things to Irrelevants,” I force out.
She swallows and rises to her feet. “Mallory, if the government made rules for Irrelevants living outside the wall, then maybe you should have followed them?”
While I gape at her, she takes a moment to smooth her clothing and hair before giving me the saddest smile I think I’ve ever seen on her. “I hope you weren’t too friendly with the other Irrelevant? He’s scheduled for extraction tomorrow morning. But don’t worry, you aren’t. I think they plan to send you back.”
My stomach drops to my toes. Her words sink in like knives into my pounding heart. Extraction? What does that mean?
Without another backwards look, she swipes her wrist and leaves me gaping at the words I caught written on the wall before the door closes shut.
Viral Weaponry Research.
Cristan.
They stripped me naked this time I entered the ward. I’ve been jabbed so many times in the last hour, my arm has gone numb. But Mallory is safe.
With Derek’s permission in exchange for my continued compliance, the doctor worked around the clock until I was positive the anti-virus they gave her was working.
But that was a day ago. And I haven’t seen her since.
Derek hasn’t left my side since he brought me back to the hero’s welcome he planned on receiving.
He’s still here sitting on a chair, tapping away on a tablet, doing feck knows what. He should be at home, celebrating, instead he’s here, watching me like a hawk, in case I change my mind and decide to go berserker on his arse.
I’m clenching my jaw so hard, I’m sure I’ve ground my back teeth down a little.
As I sit against the wall, dressed in hospital scrubs, I let my mind wander. Jed is safe. So is everyone inside 2B.
I wasn’t there to see the bombs hit. I didn’t see Gina or Tyler again, I did have enough time to get Geoff clear before Derek frogmarched me off to the waiting vehicle. But I know Drew will have done everything in his power to get his people to safety.
Everything’s wrapped up in a nice neat little bow.
Except for me. Except for Mallory.
We’re not neat. Or tidy. But I can’t do anything. It’s out of my hands.
So, I keep sitting, passing the time, with the brother who says nothing but continues to tap away at the tablet with such a dire expression on his face, I can’t help but wonder what he finds so fascinating.
I’m so bored, I actually find myself asking him. He looks up, and blinks. “Your brain scans,” he says.
I sit up a little straighter. “Why are you looking at them?”
His finger starts tapping on his leg. “You never took the Relevance test?”
I’m not sure if it’s a statement or a question, so I just frown at him. He looks down at the tablet. “They still want you to take it.”
I scoff and shake my head. “What’s the point?”
Derek to his credit he looks as bemused as I feel. “I do not understand their reasoning.”
He says it so formally, like he’s been practising saying it in front of the mirror. “I’m not taking the test. I know what the answers are supposed to be. I could fake Relevance if I wanted to,” I say blandly.
His head snaps up and his eyes widen like I said something truly unthinkable. Which I guess to a stiff-necked rule follower like he is, it probably is.
I think he’ll move on, but he isn’t letting go of it. The expression on his face is part horror, part disbelief. “Are you saying that after fifty years of rigorous testing that you of all people can manipulate the results to the outcome you require?”
I shift a little to ease the pressure on my tail bone and nod. “It’s not rocket science,” I mumble.
Derek looks so indignant, he actually rises to his feet, making me crane my neck to look up at him. For the second time in as many days I see a flash of fear on his face.
Since I’m pretty calm sitting here, and he’s gotten what he wanted, I can’t think why he’s getting so hot and bothered.
“But—” he doesn’t even finish his protest. The very idea is so preposterous to him, that he’s actually looking stunned.
I wave a hand at his tablet. “Give me that thing, and I’ll prove it to you.”
His cheeks colour. “I will not.”
He returns to his seat and straightens the trouser seam on his pristine uniform. He starts tapping away again, sending me surreptitious glances my way as he keeps working.
I count the seconds to pass the time, accompanied by the tap-tap of his quick typing. I lean my head on the wall and let my head relax a bit.
I close my eyes and think about something pleasant to take the sting out of knowing that two floors below me, Mallory is still recovering, completely unaware that I’m probably not going to survive the day.
“I will ask you the questions. You will answer them and prove to me the system is flawed,” Derek says suddenly.
I open my eyes and roll my head so I’m looking his way. I fight to keep my smile from showing at his eagerness to prove me wrong. “Do I get a prize if I beat it?”
I exhale slowly when he doesn’t recognise my attempt at humour. I stare straight ahead so I’m not even looking at him. “Go ahead. Test me.”
He starts to rattle off a question and I decide I may as well clue him in. “A is the Relevant answer. D is the Irrelevant answer.”
When he doesn’t say anything, I know he’s trying to find a rational explanation. “Next,” I say.
He clears his throat and asks me a question. “C Irrelevant. A Relevant. The entire system is just a pile of gobbledygook. It’s the perfect invention really. No one can prove it’s wrong. No one can prove it’s right.”
I know I have his attention when he starts to breathe heavier. “But what you’re saying—”
“What I’m saying is that the system was broken right from the beginning. The test wasn’t created to be fair like all Upper Relevants think. It was created to keep control of the minorities who demanded freedom of expression.”
I cover a yawn as Derek wrestles with a truth he’s probably never going to be to accept.
His voice is a wheeze like the news has sucked all the life from him. “But this means anyone could manipulate the results?”
“You can cheat at any test. Even this one,” I say.
I look at him, how ruffled he seems and feel a ridiculous amount of sympathy for him as he sits there like a lemon, his jaw slackening. “But that would mean there are Irrelevants inside the new city.”
My sympathy is smothered as he glowers in my direction then stands abruptly. He doesn’t acknowledge me, just stalks through the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts as I try to think of anything apart from where I am, and who I’ll never see again.
Mallory
I pace the room. Trying to think of what to do next. I’ve already tried the door, but it must be programmed to unlock only for government issue wrist bands.
I swipe my hands down my hospital gown and frown at the flimsy material they left me in.
My skin feels greasy, hair even worse. I have no way of knowing how long I’ve been in here.
With nothing else to do, I keep pacing, wondering how I ended up here of all places. My thoughts scramble together as I try to remember the order of what happened.
I recall the lights going out. Then the heating seemed to be faulty. But past those two things all I can remember is Drew and Cristan being there in the hallway, and no one is awake enough to come to the door.
I slump into the bed and slide back so my bare feet are off the floor. Tears bite at me, as I stare at the door.
Cristan said I had a virus they couldn’t identify back at the Unit. Is that why I’m here? The government infected me with something? A kind of weapon? Like he’s supposed to be?
I clutch my empty stomach and wrap my arms around myself. With no reason not to, I rock slowly back and forth, humming softly as I try to sort through my limited options.
I’m still humming when the door swishes open and someone enters. I look up, and straighten, hoping to see Constance, but it’s just a plump nurse, with dark hair and cold grey eyes.
She starts to move towards me, and I shrink back as she reaches for my arm. Her fingers are icy cold as she pushes a med box towards me.
I yank my arm back from her and jump off the bed so she can’t grab me. “Leave me alone. I don’t need any meds.”
Her tone is as cold as her eyes as she snaps at me. “Shall I get the guard? Maybe he’ll be able to give this to you instead of me?”
Her threat doesn’t work at first. I’m staring at her and the med box, thinking I might be able to leave if she calls a guard and the door opens again.
Maybe I’ll gain another chance to run out and try to find Cristan before it’s too late?
As she tries to grab me, I frantically try to think of what I should do. I can’t get it wrong, or I’ll miss an opportunity I might not get again.
I skirt around her, skittering across the room as she grows angrier with me. “Will you come here! I have an entire ward of other Irrelevant criminals I’m being forced to see. I don’t have time to chase you.”
I frown at her but can’t seem to ask the question I want to. If there are other Irrelevants here, could she mean Trey and the Ghosts?
I’m still thinking of a way to find out without her getting close enough to use the med box, when my thoughts twist in an entirely different direction.
If she calls a guard in, they’ll force me to take whatever it is she’s trying to give me. I think of all the Irrelevants inside the Unit, the virus they injected me with, and anger rushes through my body.
She huffs an irritated breath my way and brings her time slide to her wrist. I panic and shove her as hard as I can. She staggers, eyes wide, but her hand is coming up to her mouth again.
Instinct takes over, and I grab her wrists and start pushing her backwards, she opens her mouth to scream, so I curl my fist the way I saw Cristan do, and swing for the largest object on her face.
My fingers connect with her angular nose in a rush of fury and bone as pain tears through my knuckles. Her hands fly to her face as she starts to shriek.
I can’t let her make any more noise, so I place my hand over her mouth and try to pull her time slide off her wrist.
She fights me, struggling as she tries to get away the wall where’s she pinned. I can’t waste any more time, so I dip my head, and use the hardest part of my skull to butt up against her.
I have no fighting ability, no muscles to speak of, but if I don’t get out the door, Cristan might die and it will be because I was too weak, too helpless to even try to get to him.
The nurse moves at precisely the wrong moment, and my forehead connects with hers.
Hot pain ignites, screaming through my skull. I grip my head and try to settle the spinning as I see the nurse slump to the floor.
As dizziness overtakes me, I drop to my knees and start to yank her time slide from her wrist.
My ears are buzzing faintly as I twist around to see the door. There is no cover. If anyone comes in and finds me, I’ll stand no chance.
The nurse is much larger than I am, but I’ll never make it out of the room, let alone the ward, if I don’t disguise myself.
I keep my eyes on the door and start to wrench off the nurse’s uniform. I’m not strong enough to lift her, but I manage to get her top off.
I’m a panting, sweaty mess by the time I pull her overlarge top over my gown. She’s wearing trousers and shoes, so I take them too muttering apologies as I leave her in her government-issued underwear.
Guilt snags my middle as I stand, and sway as the blood rushes away from my brain. I tug the time slide on my wrist and tear the blanket off my bed so I can cover her up.
I tuck my gown inside the baggy trousers then hold my shaking hand in front of the panel and wave it, trying to control my breathing.
The door swishes open at precisely the moment I realise my hair will give me away if my clothes don’t.
I step into the hall, feeling the floor sway under me as the bright lights pierce into my aching head.
The shoes are a size too big, so I shuffle along the hall and try to look much calmer than I feel.
A nurse is at the end of the hallway. He starts to look up from his tablet, so I turn abruptly to the left to avoid him and almost smack into a guard with a sling on his arm.
My heart starts to thrash in my chest as I try to step around him. He eyes me, and I try not to stare at the bruising around his face. “I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?” he asks.
I swallow, and fake annoyance like I’ve seen higher Relevants do in the hopes he’ll not question me further. “That is none of your concern,” I snap.
The guard cocks his head at me, so I flick my hair over my shoulder the way I saw Gina do and turn on my heel.
I keep walking, breathing rapid as footsteps follow me down the empty hallway. I pick up my feet, trying to coordinate speed without tripping.
I nearly sigh with relief when I see the lifts ahead. There must be a way to find Cristan there.
I’m nearly at the doors, when a hand clamps down on my arm. “I think you better come with me,” a voice growls.