Pure - The Broken Society

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The alarm shuts off as people begin to come out of hiding. The five of us ran straight for the dining hall, being that that was the place most bodies were congregating. Tate and Malcolm disappear inside, slipping to the left and dissolving into the crowd like smoke. Gage stays behind me, Rebecca holding onto the hem of his jacket tightly.

Instantly, my eyes connect with the people I've been longing to see for way too long.

"Mia!" I shout, grabbing her attention immediately as I run to her with open arms.

"Maddy!" She screams, rushing away from the rest of the group as we collide in the middle of the hall.

"I was so scared for you guys, I didn't know where you were or if you got out okay or..." I rattle.

"I was more worried for you than for us," Mia chuckles nervously, "No one could find you," Mia says, her eyes jutting behind me as Gage approaches us, Becca's hand in his as he leads her to us. Mia watches him as he walks closer to us, a glint of enjoyment and pleasure flickering in her eyes.

"I know I'm so sorry," I say, breaking her away from her staring trance, "I promise I was safe," despite the fact of almost getting shot at.

I glance over to Gage, thanking him as he disappears in the same direction as the other two did moments before. Mia's eyes return to resting on his back as he swiftly walks away, carrying himself boldly through the people.

"Well I'm glad to see you, we've missed you so much," Mia says shortly, as we walk back to the others.

Immediately, I rush to hug Quinn, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

"Oh my gosh, Madelynn, where were you!"

I couldn't tell him that I didn't know, because I knew if I did, he wouldn't trust me with Becca, and I'm not about to lose her too. Though...that might be for the best.

"I was uh...I was in Sector four, by Becca's school," I lied.

"Thank god you're safe," he says, taking me back into another tight embrace, but he pulls away again.

"My god, your arm?! What happened?"

I had almost forgotten about it, the blood clotting in the wound and my shirt sleeve covering the wound. It felt numb.

"Quinn, they tracked us here," I say, quietly so only he can hear me.

"Tracked us here? How? Wh-what do you mean?" He shudders. While running, I couldn't stop thinking about it, all of it, the tracker... his touch, everything.

I stay quiet for a moment, a sudden realization jumping into my head like a rabid rabbit. "Do you remember that one time in school when they called us to the cafeteria for a 'medical shot,'" I air quote, "It wasn't a shot, they placed a tracker in us, all of us," I gesture to Sam, Logan, and Mia.

"I knew it wasn't a damn shot," I hear him whisper faintly under his breath. "What about Becca?" He asks, apprehension etched on his face as he remembers the event clearly.

"I don't know, but we have to find out...Quinn, we led them here, this," I indicate around the chamber, people walking in injured and hurt from all over, "This is our fault, Quinn."

He recoils for a moment, taking in every single person around that sits at a table with their arm or leg propped up. Some sit with large patches torn from their clothing to put pressure on wounds and lacerations.

"Oh, my god," he mutters, "What have we done?" He looks back at me, fear and shame painted on his face.

"Quinn, we gotta get that tracker outta you, outta all of us, before it's too late."

"Don't you see? There might not be a next time even with the trackers in...they might throw us out of here! Shit, they might even kill us!" Quinn shouts, grabbing the attention of the others.

"What about killing us?" Sam questions, confusion heavy with his body language as he strides to us with his arms folded over his chest.

"Noth-"

"We have trackers in us," I say cutting Quinn off and pointing to my arm, "They placed them in us this year, remember? When we had to be given that mandatory shot at school?"

"Are you sure that's what it was, Madelynn, that just sounds crazy," Mia says, appearing right next to Sam, incredulous to the whole idea.

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's totally something they would do. Just think about it, it was right in this spot too. And why would they need to give us all a mysterious shot all of a sudden?" I have more proof, but saying would risk even more fear, contemplating whether or not to tell them about the Patrolmen, saying about finding me. But I keep silent.

"She's right," Logan says, "It makes sense to me, ever since then I've gotten this weird round gray spot on my arm every once in a while. Whenever I would touch it, I get shocked...the whole thing was strange," he explains.

"Okay, so how do we get them out so that our arms don't look like that," Mia points to my bloodied sleeve.

"Yeah, how did you even manage to do that?" Sam questions, a faint look of concern and wonder in his expression, but I ignore his question. The silence between us only lasts a second as Quinn begins to speak to answer Mia.

"I don't know, maybe they got a hospital we can go to and get them removed," Quinn says, standing from his seat. "We can't keep having them in us and risking the safety of everyone here," he says.

"Wait, are you saying that we led the Patrolmen here?" Sam pipes in once deterring his gaze from me.

"Did you not just hear our conversation a second ago?" Quinn fires back, obvious that infamy has gotten to him as he points in between him and myself.

"No, actually, I was letting you have a nice conversation with your sister without us," Sam snottily replies.

"Guys," I warn as both of them stand in each other's space, Quinn with a balled fist and Sam's veins popping from his arms, "Stop," I say, and they do, slowly backing away.

"We gotta get the trackers out before anything else happens, we can't keep putting these people in danger just for housing us here," I say.

Just as Quinn is about to further the discussion, a loud announcement sounds over the chattering voices in the dining hall.

"Attention, mandatory meeting in Capital Pier in thirty minutes. Once again, this meeting is mandatory," the voice iterates, then stops the announcement, a loud squealing noise mirroring off the walls to which everyone cringes and winces.

Quinn and I look at each other immediately, fear in both of our eyes for we don't know what to expect to happen at that meeting.

"What're we gonna do?"