4522 {The Number Series}

25

I had silently cried until my eyes were puffy and red. Archer had been breathing deeply for nearly an hour as if he were trying to control himself. I kept fighting my internal feelings that I had done what I had too and the thought that Jericho's opinion of us as monsters was correct. She had been my least favorite person since the day I had met her and, yet, she had been the only one to try to do the right thing. I could not grasp as to why Macallister would have forced us into a situation like that until early in the morning it finally crossed my mind in a sleep deprived thought. 

"You know why he did that, right?" I jumped off the bed with realization. 

"Who did what?" Archer was pulled out of the trance he had worked so hard to put himself into.

"Why Macallister made us do those horrible things." My face was red with anger. I understood.

"Please, tell me, because the only thing I have come up with is that he is twisted and he secretly wanted to be apart of that serial killing."

"See that's not it at all. It makes perfect sense now." I paced along the cold floor. I began to laugh with madness. "Don't you see? How did I not know until now?"

I sat down on the bed with a thud. Archer just shook his head. He looked frightened as if my loss of sanity were scaring him.

"He wanted us to feel trapped like those scientists did. That we had no choice but to complete such horrible acts. He wanted us to make the decision to fight for those babies but we failed. We fell into the societies trap that we are trying to tear apart. Jericho never experienced what we had. She could not understand the fear of what would happen if we did not comply."

"So he wanted us to fight them?"

"And if we didn't, he wanted us to feel this way about ourselves. He wanted to make sure we never followed what the system wanted again because we would have no other option then to feel this way or to choose to rise above. It was all a way to push us towards the goals of the Third Party. Jericho is the only one who passed the test."

"She said we were monsters."

"Exactly. She has all of the emotion that the city has been taught to ignore. The right and wrong for her is different from ours."

"If it is so different then why do we feel this way?" Archer groaned.

"We have experienced life in two different environments. It was not until they forced this experience on us would we be able to let go of the cities hold on us entirely." I could see he was beginning to understand.

"They do not want us to just want to fix the city, they want us to destroy it." His hands finally rested in his lap.

"And what better way then to make us hate them and the society they built."

A knock on the door made us both jump. Macallister pushed the door in roughly. He did not have his signature smile.

"Jericho. She's missing."

*

*

Sage sat with us in at the tables we found ourselves always holding meetings at. It seemed he was in Jericho's position. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest as he squinted from the lights above. Macallister had woken the boy from his deep sleep as if he were to know where she had disappeared to. 

"She will probably come back," Sage said as he yawned. He did not understand the risk we were all at with her missing. "Maybe she just needed some time alone. I would try to get away from everyone as much as I could without being caught back at school."

"No." Archer shook his head. "She isn't thinking straight right now. Yesterday was too much."

Archer was blaming Macallister but he was too much in thought to notice. He had his hands tightly clasping the other until his pale skin was turning red.

"If she is captured they will recognize her. She will not just be put to death," he said. 

"She will be tortured," I sighed. 

"They are going to do things to her until she gives them everything she knows."

"She has been trained for torture," Archer snapped. "It's something we planned to happen to us if we ever found ourselves fighting against the city."

Macallister gripped his hands tighter. "There is a difference between training for it and the actual thing. They are going to do horrible things until she tells them anything they want to hear. Of course, they will push her past that point just to make sure she keeps nothing hidden. Then they will kill her." He slammed his hands on the table in anger. "The Third Party risks its secrets being told. None of us are safe here."

"There isn't anything we can do but hope she knows how to handle herself against the Officers, even if she is outnumbered, and will be able to find her way back here." I shrugged. I wished I could run away from it all too. But, unlike what I had thought on choosing day, I had a choice and I had made that choice into a promise to a little baby girl I had held in my arms. This society would not stand long enough to effect or hurt her. 

"We have to find a new place for us to stay," Macallister gestured for us to rise and follow him.

"Where will we go?" Archer demanded.

"There are more of us and other places. This isn't even our headquarters." He swept his arms around the grey concrete room. There where no windows and the florescent lights from above were beginning to hurt my eyes. It felt like we had never left the tunnels, just brightened them. "Do you think I would have brought you here if we did not have more options?"

"This one was just close the science building," I muttered. "You planned where we would end up around the Choosing Day."

"Exactly," he said. "We have to go. Now."

"I don't think so," Archer stood up quickly, his chair toppling over from his force. His hazel eyes were narrowed tightly. "You should have told us what to do there. Instead, you let us murder children!"

"It was a test," Macallister said plainly. "Do not blame me for your failure. If you truly are going to be what we need you to be, I am sure you will learn from it and not make the same mistake again."

He turned his back to us and began walking away. Sage looked at us with his worried and confused expression. He was too young to be in this situation but he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He followed Macallister. 

"Are you going to go too?" The pain in Archer's voice made me hesitate. I could not look him in the eyes. I was not happy with Macallister but I understood what he had done was with the best intentions. 

"I made a promise to that little girl," my voice shook. "And I know that I have to help stop the city. I can do it. If you would rather go with Jericho and find your own way, that is none of my business."

His shoulders slumped. I tried my best not to notice that this was not the answer he was hoping for. I had a mission since I was thirteen and I intended on completing it until my last breath. "I am not just going to leave you to do this on your own."

"So you will come with me?" He nodded. A sigh of relief came flooded over me. I did not want to lose him. Two people entered the room. They began flipping over chairs and tables. The Third Party was purposely destroying their safe house. I watched as one of them set the cushions of a couch on fire in the corner. "We should probably hurry then."

Archer grabbed my hand, and I gladly held his back, before we raced through the door we had watched Macallister disappear behind.