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  Asher extended his neck to see past the metal door jamb.

  “Execution day,” Asher said as if that was supposed to answer any and all of my questions.

  “Execution... who’s being executed?” My stomach plummeted.

  “Three dissidents. One hails from a Lesser village, though. Unusual for him to be in the city at all. Villagers usually don’t find their way to Vesuvius.”

  Thank goodness for that.

  “Which village?” I asked, craning my neck to get a better view.

  “Orchard. Used to be in Olympus’s district.”

  “Who is it?” I sucked in a breath. My eyes locked with Gray’s.

  “Zander Prester, or Preston? That’s it. Zander Preston. He was found to be working with a band of rebels, plotting against our great city.” Asher smiled as he worked out the puzzle his mind had made for him.

  Zander Preston had been working with rebels?

  “Are there many?”

  “Executions? No, just a few each month, on average.”

  I shook my head and tried to see through the crowd. “Not executions. Are there many rebels?”

  Asher smiled. “Not anymore. Our queen has eradicated them like the rodents they are.”

  Vivian gave an approving smile and squeezed my hand. “All is well in the city. Please, don’t trouble yourself. Remember to remain as calm as possible, for your child, Abig—Abby.”

  I tried to return her smile. “Of course.” The fact that the woman would never remember to call me Abby was overshadowed by the creepy feeling brought on by executions and the color red. Blood red.

  Asher turned down another street. “The medical facility is just ahead.”

  A mechanized voice sounded. “Clearance requested.”

  “Requesting entrance. Asher Folland. Transporting Abigail Kelley.”

  The vehicle slowed to a stop as we awaited further mechanized instruction.

  Instruction received. “Proceed. Clearance approved.”

  The breath of relief was short-lived. A mountainous building loomed ahead, but the worst part was when Asher steered our tiny vehicle beneath it, into a dark, cavernous room.

  “I apologize the transport took longer than it should have. What with execution day, the traffic was much more heavy than normal,” Asher explained.

  “It’s no worry, transporter,” Vivian replied in turn.

  “Please enroll your patient while I remove her gurney from the vehicle.”

  Vivian looked uneasy.

  Asher chuckled. “I’ll be right behind you, clinician Cordell.”

  “Of course. I’ll see you in a moment, Abig... Abby. Please, stay with her, guard.”

  Gray stiffened, clutching his weapon, playing his part. “She’s my assignment. I can’t leave her until my shift ends.”

  She eased past Gray and exited the vehicle, hurrying through the building’s illuminated doors.

  Asher turned to Gray. “No time to explain, but I’m working with Adam.” He threw Gray a set of keys and pointed out the window. “Move Abby into that van as quickly as possible.”

  A similar vehicle sat just outside. It was unmarked, black, and cold looking.

  “Hurry!” Asher snapped.

  Before I knew it, my bed was on the ground, wheeled across the asphalt, and loaded in the unblemished vehicle.

  Gray and I waited inside as Asher rifled through the med transport, grabbing various items and shoving them into a large duffle.

  The door slid open, and my father’s face appeared in amber dome light. “Dad!”

  He smiled and climbed in, offering his hand to someone else. Kaia. She climbed in and then helped Julia climb in the back. Gray smiled, shaking his head.

  Asher ran to the driver’s seat and threw the duffle at Gray, who caught it easily.

  “We have to move,” Asher said.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked my parents.

  “Getting you out of here.” Adam replied.

  “Where are we going?” All of a sudden a sharp pain tore through my stomach on the right side. I gasped for air, holding myself so I didn’t bust open.

  “What’s wrong?” Gray screamed.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  “We need Vivian! She needs a healer!”

  Adam barked. “Vivian’s a clinician. She’s no healer!”

  Asher interrupted. “She’s the closest thing we have to one, Adam.”

  Adam nodded. “I’ll grab her.”

  The pain was slicing me open. But, even then, I knew what they were saying. They were going to kidnap Vivian.

  I was beside myself, warring between pain and conscience. Despite the pain, my conscience won. “She won’t understand. She’s been nice to me. Don’t take her from her home.”

  Kaia looked at me. My mother. “It’s the only way, sweetheart. We don’t know what’s causing your pain, or how to alleviate it.”

  Before I could scream, Vivian wandered outside, looking for Asher and my bed. Adam grabbed her and held a cloth over her mouth to muffle her cries. She was pulled backward into the van, and Asher pushed the accelerator. He wasn’t gentle or quiet.

  “Adam! Send the exit comm!”

  “On it!”

  The mechanical voice requested our exit approval information.

  Adam typed away, and a few seconds later, the exit gates swung open wide. We were out. I glanced out the back glass, watching the... “Aaah!” My right side. My baby.

  Vivian looked horrified. She shook as she took in the scene in front of her. “Kaia?”

  Kaia pleaded with her friend. “Please. Please, Vivian. Abigail’s in trouble. My daughter is in trouble.”

  Vivian snapped out of whatever fog she’d been in, her eyes assessing me. “Very well, but you have plenty of explaining to do, Kaia Kelley.”

  She looked at Gray. “What do you have in the duffle?”

  Asher hollered from the front, “All the Med supplies I could grab in two minutes.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  She shuffled between my mom and Gray, causing the line of people to shift down the bench.

  Julia seemed shaken. She kept quietly glancing over at me and then out the window.

  “Wait. Julia?”

  She looked at me, dark eyes flaring.

  “Did Ky come?”

  She paused and then nodded once.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  No answer came from her mouth. She looked out the tiny square windows, back toward the medical facility.

  Ignoring Vivian’s poking and prodding, my mother, father, and Gray, even ignoring the racing vehicle we were in... I asked her again. “Where’s Ky?”

  Julia whimpered.

  “Aaah!” I gripped my side. “Where is he?” I slammed my free hand on the mattress. The plastic lining made a loud noise, and all commotion in the cramped compartment stopped abruptly.

  Gray grabbed my hand.

  “No! Go back for him!”

  It was Asher who responded. “We can’t risk it. He’ll meet us at the station if he makes it.”

  If he...

  About that time, Vivian instructed Gray to hold up a plastic bag filled with water. Then she plunged a large needle into my arm on the inside of my elbow. Instead of easing it back out, she taped it down. Talk about uncomfortable. She was making it worse.

  “I need a scanner,” she yelled, looking through the contents of the bag, her controlled façade slipping.

  “It’s in there somewhere.” Asher had packed it. I guessed he would know.

  Soon, she found it and was gooping my skin up, running the device over my stomach.

  Is my baby okay? Is Kyan okay? I wanted to scream, so I did.

  Everyone went still again. Everyone except Vivian. She must’ve been used to chaos because she continued her scan, unfazed. “Your child is fine, Abigail. You’ve pulled a ligament, it seems. It’s an extreme pull, but you aren’t in labor, and your child isn’t in jeopardy.”

  I bre
athed a sigh of relief and then another when she pushed medicine into the port in my arm. “What about my friend?”

  Vivian couldn’t answer, so I looked at the faces surrounding me. Some looked away, some looked down. No one looked me in the eye because no one had an answer to that question.

  “YOU’LL GET ME IN, RIGHT?”

  Phoenix just eyeballed me. Right.

  I pulled the jumpsuit on over my jeans and tee. It wasn’t red and tight. It was brown, loose, and butt-ugly. In bold print, the word “REFUSE” was emblazoned on the back across the shoulders. That’s all we are to them. Garbage. Trash. How fitting, I thought.

  And then I thought about how we’d refuse to be the crap on their shoes any longer. It was all coming together. I just hope it held.

  I’d play the role of Lower-Lesser. Garbage collector at the Medical Facility. But the thin, plastic rectangle in my pocket would give me access to more than trash.

  I had a small, crudely drawn map of the best exits to use. It burned in the pocket of my jumpsuit. Sliding the small card in next to the paper, I hoped the two wouldn’t melt after being subjected to my sweaty, hot palms.

  Phoenix straightened my collar. “This is the most I can do for you. You know when the train will leave?”

  I nodded once.

  “There won’t be another.” He warned, pinning me with a look that asked if I understood.

  I freaking did. “I get it.”

  “She’s like a sister to me. I don’t want to see her hurt, or grieve. So, be there.”

  Straightening my shoulders, I just stared at him.

  How about a taste of your own kind of weird, buddy? Staring at people all the time. Surprisingly, he smiled. He wouldn’t look so psycho if he’d cut the green mop of hair.

  “Hey, can you track Lillith?”

  Phoenix’s brows touched each other. “I’ve never tried.”

  I clapped his shoulder. “Always know where your opponents are.”

  He looked at me as if trying to work a puzzle. “That’s true. I’ll try to locate her. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I smiled. “Hey, green? See you at the train.”

  Phoenix laughed. “Are you always this sure of yourself?”

  “Hell yeah.” I walked away from his car, toward the other sanitation workers. Time to blend in with the other Lessers.

  Within an hour, I was assigned to the Med facility and given a partner. Partner? I wasn’t sure Phoenix had counted on that. He never mentioned it.

  “What’s your name, man?”

  Partner just stared at me. Did these people ever do normal?

  Partner was my age, dark hair, and dark gold-brown eyes. Shifty. I didn’t like him. But he drove, so I sucked it up. He steered a giant red truck with the words “Sanitation Department” plastered all over the front, back, and sides.

  Turns out the med facility required several teams of sani workers. Ours was one of four. Each team took three floors and would work independently—or so Partner said. Sweet.

  That definitely worked to my advantage.

  The eight of us exited our vehicles and began to divvy floors.

  “I’ll take the uppers.” I offered. No one protested. It meant more stairs to climb, hauling more waste. Lessers weren’t permitted to use the elevators, Phoenix had said, all proper like. Those were reserved for Greaters.

  Partner squinted at me before he claimed the lowest floors. Good. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to see him at all.

  He walked to our truck and grabbed two bags. He chucked mine at me. The canvas slammed into my chest, but I held it and my temper in check. “Your cart will be ready at the end of the hallway.”

  “Thanks, man,” I said with a smile.

  He stomped off toward the building.

  Whatever. Like anyone needed his brand of drama.

  The facility was abuzz with movement. People scurried from place to place, disappearing behind doors. It was what I’d imagined an anthill to be like inside. Busy little bugs frantically trying to dig tunnels. Production was the most important thing. We filed up the stairs. Every few floors, I’d lose a Lesser friend, until I was left to the upper three floors alone.

  The rectangle was about to be tested. I slid it into the door lock on the staircase and waited. A beep sounded and a green light flashed, letting me slide inside.

  I was in.

  For several minutes, while getting my bearings, I pretended to do what I thought sanitation workers did. I cleaned, using items in my bag, emptied tiny garbage bins, and collected infectious waste, placing it in safe containers for proper disposal. My cart was getting full, and I’d have to carry everything down to the truck periodically. When empty, I could resume.

  Phoenix had schooled me well in the fifteen-minute breakdown he gave me.

  The Greaters kept their noses shoved in their comms and papers, never paying attention to the brown-uniformed Lessers.

  I slipped from room to room unnoticed. Most were empty. A few contained patients. I wondered what ailed them. Weren’t Greaters immune to everything? Not injuries, they could still bleed. And I was about to test whether their immunity was as legendary as they claimed it was.

  Passing the lab of computers, I knew my target was just ahead. I went about my business, emptying garbage, tidying, and decontaminating like the best of them, working my way down the hall until I was standing in front of the door I needed to get through.

  A person in a strange white suit motioned me inside. I used my key, and thank goodness it freaking worked.

  The Greater was covered head to toe in this weird get-up, even wearing a mask over his face.

  Through the fabric, he ordered. “Empty the bins in the corner, Lesser.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  I moved carefully through the sea of glass containers. Every surface held them. Jewel-toned liquids—some boiling, some being distilled, others sitting placid—filled the jars and tubes. Some were bulbous at the base. Others were triangular but curved. Some were held by clamps or were suspended by metal contraptions, while others sat idly on the countertops.

  The bins sat just beyond them. The man was alone, as Phoenix had said. Normally, there would’ve been two scientists working in the lab together, but it was shift change, and the shifts overlapped for about an hour... leaving the guy by himself.

  Easing my hand into my pocket, I eased my comm out enough to type a brief message to Phoenix.

  I’M IN.

  The words disappeared immediately. A second later, the Greater lab technician’s comm buzzed loudly.

  I went to work, carefully emptying the hazardous waste and sharp needles into necessary containers. Walking back and forth from my cart to the bins, the Greater watched me, becoming more agitated by the second.

  “Are you new?” He demanded.

  “Yes, sir. This is a new assignment for me.”

  He rolled his eyes behind clear multi-faceted lenses. He looked like a gnat, or a fly, or something. “Figures. I need you to hurry. I have somewhere to be.”

  “Yes, sir. I should be finished in a few minutes. There’s a lot of waste. I apologize for my slow speed.”

  “Yes, well. I’ll step out to send a quick message stating that I’ll arrive a few moments late.”

  “Of course, sir. I’ll work faster.”

  He nodded and stepped into the hallway. I stopped what I was doing and ran to the sealed door in the back corner. My card slid smoothly through the reader.

  It was cold in the lab, but dang if cool sweat didn’t bead on my forehead.

  A pause.

  It was a long pause.

  Longer than any pause in the history of pauses.

  The light wasn’t coming on.

  I looked back and saw the man’s shadow passing back and forth in front of the door’s tiny windowpane.

  Come on.

  Finally, the light turned green and the lock released.

  I entered the room and frantically looked for the label Phoenix
had described. Orange with a bold, black G. It should have an X through the entire thing.

  The vials were tiny. I grabbed them all—probably five or six—and slid them gently into my pocket before easing out the door, barely making it to the bins before the door swung open and the man stepped back inside with me. I dumped the contents of the bin in my bag and smiled. “All finished, sir. Thank you for your patience.”

  He didn’t bother to acknowledge me or accept my apology, just hurried to finish his task so he could leave.

  I exited the lab and released a long, pent-up breath.

  That had been a close call.

  Julia’s face flashed through my mind. Is she safe? Have they gotten Abby out? Are they heading for the trains?

  I wheeled the cart quickly to the end of the hallway where I’d first found it and grabbed the bags of refuse. Adrenaline propelled my hind end to the bottom of the stairs in record time. I left the garbage in a heaping pile.

  The lobby area, located on the bottom floor, was full of people. It was full of Greaters. The perfect place.

  Walking by the main desk, I feigned a fall and smashed one of the small vials into the marble floor. I picked up the bulk of the smashed glass, especially the part with the label, and shoved it in my bag.

  A few people glanced my way, but most kept on about their business.

  The virus is airborne. Those affected, which will only be Greaters, will experience symptoms within two or three hours after initial infection. Symptoms will include severe confusion, vomiting, diarrhea, and swelling of the abdomen. The swelling, caused by backing up of bodily fluids, will be severe, and will basically drown the human from the inside out.

  Would the virus stay on me? I’d have to wash before making a run for the train.

  Partner came into view just then, his eyes narrowing on the broken glass beside me. “I’m sorry. I dropped something and... I’ll clean it up real quick.”

  “I’ll get it. You have the upper floors to finish.” He snapped.

  “Yeah, man. If you’re sure?” I raised my brows, and he motioned for me to leave. And did I ever tuck tail and run the hell out of there.