Deprived

Chapter 35

Maize heard muffled voices coming from every direction as she lay flat on her back.

A stinging pain lived in her chest. She couldn't remember how it got there. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were glued shut. With a gentle tugging on her right hand, someone had lifted her hand and placed it into theirs. Their huge hand gently swallowed up hers.

When she tried to take a deep breath, her chest hurt the most.

"Maize honey, it's Mr. Roman. Open your eyes for me."

She smiled when she heard that voice. A person once the target of her despair was becoming one of her closest and most trusted friends.

"You mean President Roman," She said.

"Ah, there she is."

When she finally opened her eyes, she looked through a cloudy veil. Images like a mirage stood before her. She blinked a few more times and parted through the veil. She saw two faces she had grown to care deeply about: President Roman and Nelly stood on either side of her.

There was nothing like having close family and friends. Fresh tears rolled down her face as she thought of her little brother Liam and her mother.

At the foot of the bed was the pink-eyed couple. She started to groan.

"It's okay, honey, they won't hurt you, they are the best physicians in the city, and I know them personally. They are twins, Lloyd and Laurel. I believe you met them before, a while back in that quarantine den?"

They both fluttered their pink eyes as they nodded at her, their hair the whitest white, each strand straight as a needle. They bowed their heads and looked down at devices the size of a book in their hands.

Two men in green with considerably sized guns in their hands stood at the door.

"Protection, just in case of angry city residence." President Roman said.

"Where am I?"

"In the President's mansion."

Her heart skipped a beat. She opened her eyes wide. President Roman patted her shoulders.

"It's okay. Eric is in prison. He will be executed for high treason tomorrow at dawn."

"Why tomorrow?"

"It will be hotter then." President Roman smiled.

Maize nodded her head.

"There is a room behind Jack Belfont's office. Full of kids mutilated." Tears ran out of the corners of Maize's eyes.

"Yes, we're doing everything we can to help the ones that are still alive."

Maize raised her hand to touch the wound on her chest and remembered Eric Aberdeen shot her.

"The bullet didn't hit any vital organs." President Roman said, "If it had gone through your heart or your brain, it would have been fatal. Even with one thousand AllPill in your system, we would have lost you, kiddo." He exhaled and squeezed her hand.

She turned to look at Nelly. Her eyes were red, and tears were rolling down her face.

"I should have done more to help you," Nelly said.

"You've helped me more than you'll ever know. You were there when I needed a friend."

Nelly giggled and wiped the tears from her eyes and face.

"Are you hungry, little bird?"

"She's always trying to feed me." Maize told President Roman.

"She's healing but slowly." Lloyd and Laurel said in unison.

Laurel added, "But she should stay away from solids—"

"For the next three days." Lloyd finished the sentence.

She was in a room with milk-white walls, sheets, and pillows.

"Do you want to rest a little more, or are you ready?" Benji Roman asked.

"For what?"

"For your dreams to come true."