“Close the door!” Sarah points.
I push it shut and lean against it. The small bathroom is crowded with four bodies in it.
“What are you doing?” I try to keep my voice low, but an edge of hysteria creeps into my whisper. The punishment if we get caught—I can’t even think about it without my stomach flipping.
“We need to talk.” Sarah perches on the side of my tub, and the others sit. Hannah and another Maiden I think is named Susannah.
I shake my head. “Talk? The Spinner is going to catch us!”
“That one goes to take a piss every half hour. Like Old Faithful. That’s why we picked tonight.”
“Picked it for what?”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “To come see you.”
I freeze when I hear the floor creak. We all hold our breaths, but the sound doesn’t come again.
“Okay, we don’t have much time, so here it is.” Sarah leans forward, her gaze intent. “We’re getting out of this dystopian nightmare.”
I shake my head. “There is no ‘out’.”
“There is.”
I pull the sleeve up on my night dress. “Did you forget about these?” I point to where the tracker is embedded under my skin. “Or the cameras? Or the locked doors? Or the barb wire fence? Or the fact that every policeman within miles of this place works for the Prophet? No one will help you. Everyone you meet will turn you in to the Prophet.”
“We just have to get to Birmingham.”
“You think he doesn’t have people there, too?”
She shrugs. “Maybe, but not everyone is on his payroll. Birmingham’s a big place, not like here. If we could just make it to the city, we could disappear.”
“How do you expect to get fifty miles from here before they realize you’re gone?” I clutch my elbows. “And when they catch you…” I shudder.
“We won’t get caught.” Sarah puts a bite into her tone. “We can sneak out when that Spinner—” she cocks her head toward the hallway “—is on duty. We’ll get out of the dorms. Susannah knows how to pick locks and—”
“It’s Piper.” She speaks up. “Not Susannah. That’s not my name.”
“Piper, yes.” Sarah continues, “So she can get us onto the grounds. Maybe we can roll up our blankets and carry them with us so that when we get to the fence, we can lay them over the top to get past the barbed wire.”
“How do you expect to get past the guards? You do realize they patrol the place?” My drone had shown me a few men keeping watch over the main areas of campus during the days and nights. There was no way to know when or where they’d be.
“I know, but we’ll have to take our chances. Maybe that night will be cloudy or raining or something.” Sarah shrugs. “I don’t know, but we have to try. I can’t do this anymore! I thought it would be different. I thought—”
“That the Prophet was a man of God?” Cynicism, ugly and prickling, creeps into my voice. “That you’d be safe here? That joining a cult was a great life choice?”
Sarah brushes her dark hair back from her face and glares at me. “You’re here, too. You know that, right? You’re trapped right along with the rest of us. You fell for it, too.”
I can’t tell her I’m different, that I have my reasons. So I simply say nothing.
“Are you in or out?” She stands.
“Who else is involved?”
“Just us. We can’t trust anyone else. Some of them are—I don’t know—it’s like they still believe. Even after everything that’s happened since that first night. They still think the Prophet is preparing them for something special.” She steps in front of me, her gaze hard. “And you can’t say a word. I told the girls we could trust you.”
“You can.”
“If you rat us out and we’re stuck here…” Hannah moves to stand behind Sarah.
The bathroom feels even smaller. I clutch the door handle. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Are you in then?” Sarah asks.
Do I want to escape this hell? Yes. Can I? No. I shake my head.
Sarah’s face falls. “Why?”
“I have to see this through.” For Georgia.
“What?” Susannah hisses.
“Shh.” Sarah holds up a hand. “Are you scared of getting caught? Is that why?”
“No.”
“Then what? Don’t tell me you believe this shit? That you’re chosen? That the Prophet wants to use you for anything other than a whore or a pawn?”
“No.” I can’t give her what she wants. An explanation. My truth. “I just can’t.”
“She’s going to rat us out.” Hannah glowers.
“I won’t.” I meet Sarah’s gaze, putting every bit of conviction I still have into my words.
A tense few seconds pass, all three of them peering at me.
“She won’t.” Sarah’s shoulders relax. “I trust her. But we should go.”
“Come on.” I turn the handle, then walk to the hallway door.
I press my ear to it and hear a faint shuffle. Holding up my hand, I bid the Maidens to wait. After what feels like an eternity, a faint, rusty squeak breaks the monotony.