Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 23 - So what?

All of us are silent for a few minutes, trying to process the puzzle we'd just put together. There are four things that we know:

1. Presdient Jaz is creating an army of LEs to use for something he needs my help to do.

2. Most of Jaz's workers, if not all, have had their memories wiped and been mutated.

3. Every kid that graduates from the basement gets turned into an BZ.

4. In a few days, maybe less than, Cale and Deen will "graduate" early.

"What do we do now?" Tammie asks the dreaded question.

"I have no idea, but I do know that we're not going to let the guards find out that we know what's going on," Cale says.

"And we can't tell anyone about this," Deen says. "Everything we talked about this morning stays between us."

"We won't have our memories long enough to tell anyone," I say bitterly. "They're going down the list, and I bet Cody wasn't the only one who 'graduated' in the past few hours."

"Jade, you don't have to worry about that," Kinnie says. "If they need you, it's going to be for your brain. And, your brain's so messed up already, wiping your memory will destroy the information they need."

"That doesn't help us," Zuke says.

I hunch forward and put my face in my hands. The way this looks, it seems the only option is for us to run away and find someway to stop this from outside a cell. My head shoots up and I look at everyone else.

"Jade, what is it?" Tressa asks.

"I think I may know a way out of this," I say slowly and quietly. They all look at me, curious. I look at the little gated slot and I see the tops of heads pass by - I'm very certain that it's an early graduate and a guard. I wait till I'm sure they're out of ear shot. I still lower my voice to a whisper. "We have to leave, find some way to get out of the basement and out of the hospital." They're all quiet for a few seconds, staring at me.

"Are you crazy?!" Tammie cries. "They won't even turn us into BZs, they'll kill us!"

"Jade, the only way out of here is by graduating," Deen says. "Tons of people have tried to escape, and they paid dearly for it."

"If they even suspect you of planning to escape, they'll make sure that you won't even be able to try." Kinnie says.

"Guys, we have to do something. We can't know all this information and not do anything about it," I plead.

"We can think of something to do, from in here." Spenzo says.

"Really, we can?" I say sarcastically. "Because, I've always thought it hard to act from behind bars."

"We are, kind of, exactly where they want us," Tressa says quietly. "If they need Jade for whatever it is they're doing, here nothing's stopping them from getting to her."

"As batty as you may be Jade, you may have a point." Zuke says. He looks at Tressa. "You have a good point, too."

I look at Cale who hasn't said anything. He looks at me.

"No," is all he says.

"Cale, I-" I start.

"No, Jade! No one who tries to get out of here gets out unscathed, alright. They'll kill every single one us, and make us into a lesson on what happens when you don't do as your told." Cale says angrily. I didn't know whether he was angry at me or the guards. "Or even worse, they'll kill us, and force you to watch. And, you'll have to live with that for the rest of your life as they make you do whatever they want, because you have that horrible guilt and you don't want it to happen to anyone else. And you'll never forget it, and you'll never fight for anything again because you know that it was your fault!" Cale is red-faced and panting, and it's scaring me. I drew back on the bed a bit.