Enders(71)

At the halfway point, near the fountain, all the rest of the rooms had closed doors.

I loosened my kimono for faster access to my gun and went to the first closed room. Even with my ear to the door, I couldn’t hear any sound inside. I held up Trax’s passkey to the metal plate to the right of the door. Click. Slowly, I opened the door.

My eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting. In sharp contrast to the spa atmosphere of the rest of the place, this was clinical. No plants or pictures here. The large room was crammed with metal platforms that served as beds. Night-lights dotted the walls, illuminating the bodies. One perfect body after another, all with flawless faces, all asleep. The Metals were bound to their beds with restraints around their wrists.

My heart sank. So Brockman was as bad as Hyden had said—and worse.

One thing I didn’t understand at all—the Metals had tubes in their noses that led to small plastic pouches strapped across their chests. Why?

As I glanced around, I recognized some of the faces: Briona. Lee. Raj. I’d spent time with those bodies, but not those people. I knew them only as donor bodies occupied by Doris, Tinnenbaum, and Rodney, the horrible Enders at Prime Destinations. They’d spied on me. At least, I’d thought so at the time. Now I knew differently. Doris and Rodney had been keeping an eye on me for Hyden. To make sure I didn’t kill the senator. And then maybe to protect me.

Tinnenbaum had been keeping an eye on me for Brockman.

I stepped on a squeaky floorboard and the nearest Metal, Lee, stirred. I took another step and he opened his eyes.

The real Lee was the Asian guy with incredibly good looks. He squinted at me a moment in the dim light. “Who’re you?” he asked in a groggy voice.

Briona, nearby, was awakened by his voice. She turned her head to examine me. “She’s new,” she said slowly.

She was as beautiful as ever, with her buttery bronze skin, but now she had desperate, haunted eyes.

“How come you’re dressed like that?

“I’m here to help,” I whispered, hoping she’d keep her voice down.

“And they let you walk around?” she asked.

The nearest Metals began to wake. Raj was one, the third member of their trio. No one was able to sit up; they were all tied to their beds. I examined Lee’s restraints. They had small metal pads on them. I pulled out Trax’s key and pressed it to Lee’s right arm restraint. It unlocked, but he didn’t move.

“What’re you doing?” he said. “I’ll get in trouble.”

“What have they done to you?” I asked. “What’s that tube?”

“It’s how they feed us if we’re not working,” Lee said. “It keeps our weight steady.”

“And makes us dependent on them,” Raj said in his lilting Indian accent.

“Please undo me,” Briona said. “I have nightmares. Things they made me do … I relive them.”

More Metals started to wake up.

Raj stared at Briona. “Shut up, Briona,” he said. “She can’t help you. She’s stuck here like us now.”

He hadn’t seen what I could do. I unlocked Briona’s restraints. She sat up and rubbed her wrists.

“Says you. Look at me. I’m free,” Briona said.

“Do me!” a blond girl shouted.

“Shhh,” I said, my voice lowered. “I’ll unlock all of you. We can’t get you off the compound right away,” I said. “But we will. For now, tell me what you know about this place.”

Lee found the courage to sit up. I moved on to unlock the rest. There must have been twenty Metals in this one room. One of them looked familiar.

Blake.

He looked so pitiful and strange with a tube coming out of his nose.

He was groggy. He struggled, as if trying to sit up, but his bindings kept him down.

“Blake, it’s me, Callie.” I unlocked him.

“Callie?”

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Too long,” Blake said. “But not as long as some. Some have been here for months. Did they catch you too?”

“No, I’m here to get you out,” I said. “Are there more of you?”

He nodded.

“How many?”

“Another three dorm rooms,” Lee said.

Maybe as many as one hundred Starters here, kept captive.

“Have any of you ever seen a man, a Middle, named Ray Woodland? He has dark brown hair, tall, good-looking? He has one scar on his cheek, here.” I pointed to my face.

They shook their heads.

I refused to believe my father wasn’t there. Brockman was keeping him hidden, I was sure of it.

“Where are the guards?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Asleep? It’s late,” Briona said.