I found Harper on a bench outside the cafeteria. The sky glowed burnt umber, the sun lingering behind a bank of clouds. No one else was in sight. The day was just beginning.

  “You couldn’t sleep either?” she greeted me.

  “Not particularly.” I slumped down beside her and shoved my hands into my pockets against the cold. She gave me a crooked half smile and sniffed from the frigid air.

  “I don’t have a plan—yet.”

  “Well, you only proposed mutiny twelve hours ago. Give yourself some grace.”

  Her smile widened, softening her deadly look of determination. After a pause she whispered, “We need proof. Dr. Everly said Ryan was ‘discharged,’ right? Even if his treatment failed, there has to be a record.”

  “Well… if I were running a morally gray, legally questionable, top-secret clinical trial, I’d probably want those records well secured. And there’s only one building on this campus that’s been updated with all the bells and whistles.”

  “E Building?”

  I shrugged with my bottom lip turned up. “Just a guess.”

  We sat quiet for a while, turning over the possibilities. The village began to wake. Cafeteria staff waved on their way inside, and we politely nodded back. Soon after, Elijah and Abe appeared from their condos and the four of us went in for breakfast.

  Over bland, printed food, it didn’t take long to notice Kel’s absence. Harper, Abe, and I kept glancing at the doors while Elijah shoveled egg substitute in his mouth, talking around the large chunks floating between his cheeks, recounting his dreams.

  “Yeah, and the Hounds hated the silent whistle—”

  Alice’s voice interrupted his monologue, mercifully dismissing us to our separate schedules. Harper went for her follow-up in E Building. I was assigned aquatics. I waved goodbye to the guys and made my way to A Building, listening to the satisfying crunch of fresh snow beneath my boots.

  At the pool I signed in, then remembered how Dr. Everly often takes a shortcut through A Building to the back path leading to E Building. Instead of changing into my swimsuit, I pulled a cleaner’s uniform from the staff locker room, pushed a linen cart onto the pool deck, and began unstacking and restacking towels on the shelves by the exit.

  He came through on schedule. I followed at a distance, keeping trees and planters between us. He never glanced back. At the rear of E Building, he keyed in a code at the door. Four distinct notes. The keypad lit green and let out a moan as it unlocked the door.

  Old hardware? The lock’s mechanics looked deliberately low-tech.

  I stepped from behind a tree but froze at the sight of the cameras that dotted the roofline, small black domes tucked under the eaves.

  Alice has eyes everywhere. I huffed, frustrated.

  I traced the perimeter and then returned to the path where I crouched beneath a pine to think. Just as I got up and turned to leave, the door opened again. Dr. Everly and Dr. Stevens emerged, walking quickly toward the trees. I ducked down again behind a tall pine, needles scratching me as I crouched on its roots. They stopped barely five feet from my hiding spot.

  “I don’t know how much longer we can do this, Jacob,” Dr. Stevens muttered, shaking her head, shoulders tense and hunched as she crossed her arms.

  Dr. Everly set his hands on her shoulders and coaxed them to relax. She let him draw her in. She collapsed under his palms, her body easing, reluctant at first, then willing.

  “I told you I would tell Amy as soon as we get back—”

  “I’m not talking about your wife. I’m talking about this!” She snapped, gesturing at the building. His worry disappeared, replaced by a grin, as though this problem was easier to solve.

  “It’s working. At least 13 and 15 haven’t shown any signs of decline,” he said softly.

  “But 14—”

  “May still rebound. We’ve started him on autoimmune suppressants. He’s stable now.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I want to stop, Jake.” Her voice cracked. “Gina was right. We weren’t ready. How many more have to die to prove it?”

  She wiped her eyes, though I couldn’t tell if there were actually any tears.

  “No, no, no.” Dr. Everly pulled back to look her in the eyes. “You’re discouraged. That’s understandable. But we’re this close, Ray. We can’t give up. This precision medicine will save millions of lives around the world. Those kids were going to die anyway, right? We only accelerated the inevitable. It’s a mercy if you really think about it. And it’s not like they’ll be missed. That’s why they were chosen.”

  She scoffed. “What about Mia?”

  “We’re her only hope! Gina probably begged Julius to include her. You know how close those two were before she left.”

  “Convenient, isn’t it? Gina’s daughter enrolled in the very trial she so vehemently opposed.”

  My mouth fell open. They were talking about Mom. I knew she had worked for ViraRx for almost twenty years, but I was surprised to learn she was involved in this project, and even more shocking was Dr. Steven’s accusation. As far as I knew, Mom didn’t even know I was sick. None of this was making sense.

  “No.” He sounded certain. “Ironic? Sadly, maybe. But she’s our best candidate. She’s the first to report no adverse effects within the first two weeks of injection. Anyway, that girl is like a daughter to Julius. That should tell you how much faith he has in this trial. In us.”

  He cupped her cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss while she was still shaking her head unconvinced. She stood limp at first, then gave in, dragging him closer until the space between them vanished. Their bodies ground together like offset gears, all jagged friction and guttural sounds, with hands moving in such a desperate way I suddenly felt as though I was intruding. I swallowed the burning acid that rose in my throat and turned away to give them privacy.

  “Will I see you tonight at my place?” I heard Dr. Everly ask, and I looked back to see he had released Dr. Stevens, and they were walking hand in hand back toward the building. He appeared to have won her over. She nodded, returning his smile as he held the door open for her and they both walked back inside.

  My legs had gone numb from crouching. I rose, brushed off the snow, and stepped back onto the path. Alice’s voice in my ear reminded me it was time for group. I hurried back to A Building to change out of my disguise.

  On the walk to B Building, my mind raced. I could now be sure that other patients were dead. If Harper was patient 13 and Elijah was patient 15, did that mean that Kel was patient 14? And what was Mom’s role in all of this? None of it added up.

  Dr. Martinez was late to the session. I took my seat with the rest of our group which was now just the four of us. I wasn’t sure if it was safe to share with the group what I had just overheard. I decided it would have to wait until after lunch.

  I immediately noticed there were already only five chairs in the circle. Elijah made the same comment. Harper, Abe, and I all exchanged the same look. Kel wasn’t coming back.

  I tried to steer us away from that thought. “Hey, what’s the first thing you’ll do when you get out of here?” I asked.

  “Oh, that’s an easy one.” Abe smiled. “My girlfriend’s family is in Ghana, where my father's parents came from. Her family already built us a house in their neighborhood. I want to go there and sit outside in the sun, in air that doesn’t need to be scrubbed, picking mangoes right from the trees in our yard, and listening to the bulbul’s welcoming the day. I didn’t have the money before, but I think my grandmother would be happy with my choice, after, you know…” He trailed off. We all nodded, remembering her sacrifice.

  Elijah squirmed in his seat, freckles blooming pink. “I’d join Riccardo…a friend of mine, well, uh, not really a friend. More than a friend—maybe. I don’t know because we haven’t really talked it through.” He coughed, shifting his weight.

  “Anyway, he’s in the Float Lands, and he asked me to join his Team for Migrant Needs and Transition. They help the climate migrants set up shelters, school centers, meal trains, and get supplies. Oh! And karaoke. Apparently there’s a great karaoke scene in the Float Lands.”

  We all laughed at that, remembering his “experimental” singing, as he called it.

  “What about you, Harper—”

  “I’m going to Orphan Isle.” Harper’s voice was grim and determined. “I’m going to find Daniela. She deserves to know about what happened to Ben. Everyone does—”

  The door swung open with a loud metallic grind, interrupting our chat as Dr. Martinez hurried in. “Hello all, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. There was an emergency.”

  She collapsed into her chair, breathless, “Okay, where should we start?”

  “Were you with Kel?” I asked.

  “Uh…” She hesitated and looked around the group, reading our faces, and her expression melted into compassion, “Yes. He won’t be joining us today.”

  “How is he?” Abe asked.

  “Stable. His condition is… promising.” She forced a smile, then lowered her voice. “I know it’s hard. To be here, cut off from family. To watch friends look fine one day and disappear the next. You can feel grief and still feel relief that your treatment continues. You can hold both truths. There is hope.”

  That’s the first honest thing you’ve said. I wonder how much trouble you’ll get in for it…

  She ended the session early. We walked back to the cafeteria with heavy hearts. Dr. Martinez had all but confirmed that Ryan and Ben were probably dead and Kel could very well be next.

  At the bench outside the cafeteria, Harper pulled us into a huddle

  “We need to get into E Building,” she said. “I copied Dayna’s key. Abe and Elijah, I want you to find Kel, Ben, and Ryan if you can. At least one of them may still be alive. Mia and I will search for the records.”

  “The building is surrounded by cameras and probably other security measures,” I warned. “What about biometrics?”

  “And what about timing?” Abe asked. “Once they catch us, we’re finished.”

  “And how will we get past the Hounds?” Elijah shivered.

  “They get shipments every other week. Food, laundry, medicine. The truck comes overnight.” Harper’s voice was confident. “That’s our exit.”

  We all nodded in agreement. The choice was made. Deliverance day was coming.