Impurities

Twelve

"I'm coming in," said a female voice.

I slowly straightened on the bed, mopping up my wet cheeks with the uniform sleeve. My eyes turned towards the door as it swung open. In its place was a girl. She was young, around my age. A long, auburn braid snaked over her shoulder. Her yellow eyes were locked with mine, widened in surprise. A few seconds passed before her face registered in my mind.

"Callie?" My voice was quiet with disbelief.

"Oh my-" Her hands clapped over her plump, pink lips. "Flora?"

Tears flooded my eyes all over again as I jumped off the bed and ran straight into her arms. Our sobs synchronized with the shudders of our bodies. All I could think was that my best friend was alive.

Alive.

Alive!

"I thought you were dead!" I gasped.

"I know! I know!" Callie released my arms to usher me back into the room. After she'd shut the door, she faced me again. "How did you get here, Flora?"

My mouth opened and closed a few times before words finally escaped. "I-I came on a truck. With the other children. Callie, they killed—"

"Yes," she whispered, stopping me. "I know."

"What about you? H-how did you get here?"

She took my hands into hers. "A lot has happened that I can't explain to you. Not right now, at least."

"What're you talking about?" I demanded. A sickening feeling was twisting up my stomach.

"I..."

Then I noticed it. The red patch sewn on the shoulder of her gray uniform. The patch that differentiated us from our enemies. A patch that not even the stolen children had.

Instinct moved my feet backwards towards the barred window. I started shaking my head. My eyes widened.

"I don't understand," I told her, each syllable a trembling squeal.

"I know."

Something was really wrong. My intuition seemed to conjure up every horrible possibility. Aside from the confusion, I felt irritated. Callie and I didn't lie to each other. We didn't hide cryptic secrets like this. And this was clearly a big secret.

"What's wrong?" I pressed.

Wrapping her arms around her waist, Callie took a deep breath. "I'm not here to be your friend, Flora. If they know..." Fury flashed through her eyes. "They don't put up with people who have soft spots. If they find out how close we are, they'll kill you to keep me from having a weakness."

"I can understand that." My thoughts had turned to Goose, the only leverage these monsters had over me. Well, and Callie. I couldn't stand to see them hurt another person I loved. Especially after I'd just gotten this one back.

"So we have to be indifferent," she continued. "We have to, Flora."

"I get that," I replied a little sharply. What did she take me for? An idiot? The point was very clear to me. "So why are you here, Callie?"

She grimaced. "I'm your inductor."

When she didn't explain, I asked, "What does that even mean?"

"Volkov chose you to be one of the Russian delegates to your people—our people." Her cheeks reddened. "But, obviously, you have to be taught how to be a soldier first."

A soldier. My heart sunk.

"How did you get in this position?" I queried, curious but mostly worried.

"Not now, Flora. We don't have time to talk about that," she told me, dodging my eyes. "We've already taken too much time. Someone will notice soon. Now, listen to me. The next few days are going to be hellish, but you have to hang in here."

Her words stirred a panic inside of me. Hellish? How? Why? I grabbed her hand when she stepped closer to the door, gripping the knob with her free fingers.

"Wait, what?" I demanded. "What's going—"

"Bye, Flora." She pulled her hand away and began slipping out of the room. The last thing she said was only a depthless sound in the background of my fear. "I love you."

***

My conversation with Callie dominated every thought in my mind during the following hours. Eventually, someone brought me food. The deliverer wasn't Callie, as I'd hoped, but, rather, a thin Russian man. No words were exchanged between us. I was left to rot in the silence evermore.

Why would the next few days be hellish? I didn't understand and that was all I wanted to know. At least, that was all for now. Once I found Callie again, I would be demanding for more answers. Like how they'd forced her into being one of them. Had they threatened her with her loved ones like they had me? Were her parents still alive? A big part of me doubted it.

The food consisted entirely of a cold bread roll, a hunk of dried beef the size of my thumb, and a carrot. The bottle of water from the food tray was emptied almost immediately. Although I was hungry, ravenous even, I ate the food less quickly. Hunger pains reminded me who I was: a human. Not the mechanical robot these people wanted me to become. Not the soldier even my best friend wanted to me to become.

I walked over to the window with my bread roll in hand, occasionally taking a bite from it. The sun was fading behind the colossal brick college buildings. My thoughts must have kept me from noticing the passing time.

One group of kids stood on the lawn just outside my dorm. They were standing in three perfectly straight lines. A minute or so passed, but they didn't move. Or do anything, for that matter. Two soldiers emerged from the floor below me, their red patches standing out against the bleak gray of the uniforms. The kids visibly stiffened. A soldier made a drastic hand gesture, and I assumed he was speaking. While the kids marched off, I was left with only their shadows for companionship.

After finishing the bread roll, I began walking back to the bed. Yet, for some reason, the task was unusually hard. My knees were weak, and my feet refused to obey my mind.

"What is goi—" I crumpled to the floor mid-sentence.

A blaze of heavy warmth washed over me, rolling up from my toes. By the time it reached the top of my head, I had already drowned in unconsciousness.