"YOU MISSED OUR RUN THIS MORNING. IT'S TOO BAD, BECAUSE I was pretty awesome."
Callum grinned at me as I walked across the gym and stopped in front of him. That big, sparkling
smile had returned.
"I'm sorry," I said, my eyes darting around the gym. A couple Reboots stared at me. "I overslept." I
focused on Callum again, my cheeks warming at the sight of that smile. "Thank you for going anyway.
That's really good."
He shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
I caught Hugo staring at me from across the gym and I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the
shiny wooden floor. I wanted to crawl into the corner and hide my face and never look at any of these
people again.
"You gonna hit me, or what?" Callum asked.
A surprised laugh escaped my mouth and I quickly cleared my throat to hide it. But it was too late;
he'd heard it, and utter delight danced across his face. "Um, yes," I said, blushing when I looked into his
eyes again.
Callum put his fists up in front of his face and I threw a light punch that he easily blocked. I threw a
harder one, pulling back just before I made contact with his jaw.
"Faster," I said. "I almost hit you."
"You may have to accept that I'll never be good at this," he said, ducking as my fist flew toward him.
"No."
"No?" He jumped as I tried to kick his legs out from under him.
"Good."
"Thank you. No? You don't accept it?"
"No. All my newbies are good. I've never lost one during training. Only two after."
"Out of how many?" he asked, throwing a weak punch I easily dodged.
"Were you even trying there?" I asked, unable to keep a corner of my mouth from turning up.
"A little." He bounced on his feet.
"Try a lot."
He threw a harder punch but I still easily sidestepped it. At least it was better.
"How many?" he asked again.
"Twenty? Twenty-five? Something like that." We swung at each other harder now, my fist clipping his
chin. I caught his arm as it came for me, yanking it so hard he fell on his butt. He immediately tried to take
my legs out from under me, like I had taught him, and a smile spread across my face.
"Is this funny?" Callum asked, giving up after I jumped out of the way.
"No, it was good," I said, dipping my head so he couldn't see the bigger grin spreading across my
face.
His fingers grasped my wrist suddenly and I stumbled, my knees smashing into his stomach as I landed
on top of him. He let out a moan mixed with laughter.
"I win," he wheezed.
"You call that winning?"
He grabbed my hand as I started to climb off him, rising up on his elbows so his face was closer to
mine. "Yes."
I looked at our intertwined hands instead of his dark, happy eyes, trying to fight the warmth spreading
across my body. A full-body blush. Wonderful.
"I'm sorry about what I said," he said quietly, and I looked up at him. "I didn't mean it."
I slipped my hand out of his and slid off him onto the cold floor. He might be sorry, but he'd certainly
meant it. "It's fine."
"It's not," he said, sitting up and leaning in close to me to talk privately. "I shouldn't have said you
enjoy hunting people just because you're good at it—"
"I do enjoy it," I interrupted. "In a way. The chase, especially. But . . ." I didn't see how he could
possibly understand—not at this point.
"But what?"
"But it's not like I have a choice," I said softly. "I barely remember my human life, and what I do
remember is really bad. This is all I know. This is all I'm good at. So, yes, sometimes I enjoy it."
"That makes sense." He even sounded like he meant it.
"And I don't feel things. Not the same way. I'm a One-seventy-eight. It's true I don't really have any
emotions."
"That's a lie," he said, amusement in his voice.
"No, it's not."
Callum leaned in closer, until I could smell the fresh scent of his skin. He smelled clean and alive and
like a Twenty-two, and I wanted to wrap myself in something to hide my death stench. "Yes, it is. You
beat the guts out of me the other day. That was anger. And that look in your eyes, when you talked about
your human life, that's sadness." I could sense the heat of his breath against my face as he tilted his head
closer to mine. A smile crossed his lips as I sucked in a tiny gasp of air in surprise. "You feel plenty."
"One-seventy-eight! Twenty-two! Back to work!" I snapped my head up to see a guard glaring at us. I
quickly stood, holding my hand out to Callum. He took it and hopped to his feet.
"Forgive me?" he asked as he put his fists in position. His eyes were big and round, like a puppy
begging for a treat.
"Yes," I said with a laugh.
"Do it again," he said, bouncing up and down in happiness.
"Do what?"
"Laugh."
"Make you a deal. If you're able to punch me, I'll laugh."
"You're so weird."
I released Callum for dinner after the gym started to empty that evening. I was just starting to follow him
to the gym doors when I saw Ever walk in and march across to the knife-practice area. She picked up one
of the dull blades and took several steps back, her body stilling as she prepared to throw.
She tossed the knife. It bounced off the wall and hit the floor.
Callum looked at me expectantly as he held the gym door open, and I waved him away.
"Go ahead. I'll be there in a minute." I strode over and stopped next to Ever.
She glanced up at me as she reached for the knife with shaky fingers. "Hey. You doing all right?"
"I came to ask you the same thing."
She stepped back and threw the knife. It hit the wall a good six inches from the target. "Just fabulous."
I watched as she took several more tries, missing every shot. Most of them didn't even stick. She was
pale and unsteady and whatever they had given her last night didn't seem like it had lasted long.
"Gee, I wonder why I'm no good today." Ever's voice dripped with sarcasm as she bent down to pick
up the knife after another unsuccessful throw. "Isn't that strange?"
I crossed my arms over my chest as I tried my best to give her a sympathetic look. I wasn't sure how it
came out. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn't think of words that wouldn't sound
suspicious to a HARC officer listening in.
"I would think"—she grunted as she threw the knife again—"that this is the exact opposite of what
they want." The knife lodged in the paper man's belly. She cocked her head. "Huh. Well I guess that'll
slow him down."
"Ever—"
"One-seventy-eight!" I turned at the sound of the officer's voice. "Officer Mayer would like to see
you in his office."
I nodded, keeping a straight face as my stomach twisted into knots. That didn't sound good.
I shot an apologetic look at Ever before walking out of the gym and up the stairwell. The cold, white
hallway on the ninth floor was freezing, and I pulled my sleeves down my arm as I stopped in front of
Officer Mayer's door.
The door slid open and the commanding officer peered up at me from his massive glass desk. His fat
fingers flicked across the screen, and he jerked his head toward a chair. "Sit."
I did, my back rigid. Did he know about my conversation with Ever? Or worse, did he know I'd lied
about Leb and Milo?
"Interesting choice of newbie," he said, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his thighs.
I tried not to visibly sigh with relief.
"Care to explain?" he asked.
"I wanted to see if I could make a lower number better."
He nodded, swinging back and forth in his chair. "Not going well?"
"We've just started."
"He doesn't take orders well. He talked back to the officers in the shuttle yesterday."
"He's new."
"He ignores you." Officer Mayer squished up his red face. "Or jokes around like you're
entertainment. I've seen you two in the gym."
I focused my eyes on his desk, nervously rubbing my palms together. I'd never been chastised for my
newbie training.
"The lower numbers are often . . . difficult, but he's a whopper. I'm surprised you only pummeled him
the once." He leaned forward, banging the chair on the floor. "And I hear you were trouble in the shuttle
yesterday, too."
I cleared my throat. "I—"
"It's fine." He waved his hand. "I don't agree with you disobeying orders, but I have told the officers
not to make the girls remove their undershirts. We're not animals, for Tex's sake."
I nodded. "Thank you," I said softly. I even meant it, a little.
"I told them you were probably just frustrated with your newbie, which I understand. You should be
frustrated. I'm frustrated."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and met his eyes. Frustrated was not a good word in Mayer
language.
"We're not eliminating him yet. I already had to eliminate Forty-three for trying to kill an officer.
Thank you for that, by the way. Leb was very complimentary."
I nodded again, twisting my fingers together. Not eliminating him yet.
"But he needs to shape up. You get him following orders or I'll have no choice. You feel free to tell
him I said so."
My chest had tightened to the point where the edges of my vision were beginning to darken from lack
of oxygen. They couldn't eliminate him. I couldn't let that happen. I had to make him better.
Officer Mayer focused his attention on his desk again, pressing his fingers to the glass. "That's all.
You can go."
I stood up, ready to escape, but I paused when he said my number.
"I'm serious about the elimination. I don't like to see you wasting your time. Immediate improvement
or he's out."