Superior

Chapter 33

Dedicated to ForeverMalak for the cute banner on the side :D

Chapter Thirty-Three

Delaney

I woke up with a start sometime around mid-afternoon, drenched in sweat and breathing hard from some nightmare that I couldn’t remember. Abby glanced over at me, looking bored, then went back to staring mindlessly at the cartoon playing on the grainy television. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position and blearily ran a hand through my hair.

"Have a nice nap?" Abby muttered.

"Lovely," I replied dryly. "What time is it?"

"Why don't you check the clock? You know, the one hanging on the wall right in front of your face?"

"Well, excuse me for asking a question," I snapped, rolling my eyes. But I glanced at the digital tablet clock anyway, finding that it was nearly six PM. I'd been asleep for over three hours (not that I had anything better to do.)

Just then, I noticed a strange emptiness in the room, and realized that Trai was absent from his usual spot ten feet away from me. I opened my mouth, pointing at his bed, but Abby responded before the question was even out of my mouth.

"He's in the bathroom," she said, not moving her eyes from the television screen.

I sighed and shook my head. "Is that really so interesting?"

"It's better than sitting in silence and waiting for our inevitable doom," she said evenly.

"We won't be doomed if"—I remembered the cameras and swiftly lowered my voice—"if Nessa's plan works."

"If it works." Turning up the television until its volume was nearly blasting, Abby turned to me. "Look, I don’t trust Miracle, but I don't trust Nessa, either. Something seems kind of…off about her plan. There's a lot she isn't telling us."

I raised an eyebrow. "Of course there are things she isn't telling us," I whispered. "We don't need to know every little detail about her plan. And anyway, I'm sure she'll fill us in later."

"I guess," Abby responded airily. "But the way I see it, she got her use out of us. Or you, that is. What does she need us for now?"

"I disagree," I stated, pushing up my glasses. "Abby, we have nothing to worry about. Nessa asked for our help; don't you think we owe her our trust? She seems reliable."

"Yeah, Delaney, she seemsreliable. And the Superiors seemed like a perfect government. You of all people should know by now that nothing is as it seems."

"She's trying to protect us," I argued.

"Please. I don't think she gives a damned care about our safety. If you were cooped up in the same building for a whole lifetime, wouldn't you want to get out, if given the chance? And wouldn't you do that by any means possible?"

I had no answer to that, because she was right. Nessa had seemed sincere, but we were obviously not her priorities. We were just a group of stupid kids who happened to give her the perfect opportunity for escape.

Knowing that she had proven her point, Abby lowered the volume on the television. Closing her eyes, she leaned back and tilted her head up to the ceiling, as if basking in the light of an invisible sun.

"Think about that," she said.

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