CODES

T W E N T Y - N I N E

I followed Xerses to the elevators taking us back to the upper levels of Provincial Hall. The slippers I'd put on squeaked with each step I made as I tried not to seem anxious as we walked, but I was. Everything hit and I couldn't process it.

I was on the lower medical floors; not above with the normal Codes or Malfunctioners.

He'd said it'd been a month. A month of what?

When the elevator doors opened, I found the lobby which was usually filled with happy Codes... empty. No one walked around for work. No one sat at the receptionist's desk.

"What's..." I stepped forward as pressure gripped my chest. "What's happened?"

"You know when you said Polk was planning something?" Xerses slowly stepped out of the elevator and glanced back at me. "Well, whatever it is, is in motion."

"What?" My eyes widened

He nodded, letting out a big sigh. "A lot of the Codes are reacting to whatever he's done, especially malfunctioners. They're—" Xerses paused before we hit the lobby. The emptiness really hit, then. Laura wasn't there, like she was every morning, chatting on the phone or greeting people who walked by; no one walked by. Without her cheery laughter, I felt like I could hear the silence. Eerie painful silence. I stopped by a pillar and leaned against it. The cool metal seeped through the sweater and onto my skin, chilling me.

Because it was more than the lobby, more than the Hall. The city outside the main entrance doors was empty. Flyers and signs were littered around the sidewalk. It looked like many protests happened, but when? Why? And how?

Xerses glanced back at me. "They've gathered together and are trying to take over the city, Roger."

"Everyone?" The word left me in a breath.

Xerses shook his head. "Not everyone. There are some Codes who don't agree with what Polk's putting in their heads, and they've willingly taken isolation in the Domes to prove they don't mean anyone any harm."

No. That wasn't right. The Domes weren't built to be a prison and shouldn't have been used that way! They were our homes, our peace.

As I shook my head, I pressed my hand against the side of my face. "No. Why?" I looked at Xerses. "How could Prime even agree to that? It's, it's—"

"Unfair and ridiculous?" Xerses clicked his teeth and nodded, before turning to the opposite elevator that took us up to the other end of Provincial Hall. He tapped the button as he cleared his throat. "I know. I tried to fight it but without you—" He lowered his head as the elevator doors opened. "—I was just one voice."

We stepped inside in silence. Xerses pressed the button to the seventh floor, the one I rarely stepped into. It was the place for the Malfunctioners with horrible traits; unable to even walk within the Lobby. It hadn't been used in months. But with another month added and Codes causing an uproar, was it in use again?

I looked down at the slippers on my feet as the elevator dinged, going up in floors. "You said it's been a month. What's been a month?" I asked.

"Since you woke up," Xerses cleared his throat, "since you opened your eyes."

And that was why he fought and argued with Prime on his own. I'd been out cold for a month. Was this what Matthews meant by déjà vu? He sat at Clara's bedside when she was in a coma. Now me.

The elevator doors opened. Xerses stepped out into the middle of the hall before me, then pointed at the first door to the left. "You wanted to know where Clara was. She's in there," he said.