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Forty's Revelation
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The most profound silence I’d ever experienced in my life was the complete and total lack of sound- besides my own bodily functions- that had been the environment of the hellish nightmare called the Box.
The second? That was the silence that blanketed the dining hall when I arrived from the medical ward.
I looked around, keeping my gaze casual, and spotted the rest of my squad at the back of the hall. Forty-Five actively avoided looking at me, but the rest started whistling and clapping when they saw me.
As did a lot of others. I guess the warden at the door to the Box hadn’t been kidding when he said that survivors of level four were legendary. Granted, I’d been sent to the infirmary to thaw out… but I’d survived the entire punishment just the same. I figured I’d earned the noto
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Forty shrugged as my voice seemed to echo around the cupboard. “I know it could, that’s what I was going to suggest! The problem is that getting into Command isn’t easy.”“You can’t just go visit your grandfather?” I asked.“None of the underlings are supposed to know about that,” she informed me. “He’s harder on me than most to hide our relationship.”“Oh.” I leaned against the wall and thought. “We’ll have to come up with something. Maybe during the mission… or even before…”A light dawned, but before I could tell her my idea, we heard steps growing closer in the hallway. She looked sharply that way, then stood and put her arms around me. “Time to f
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After the others had left, Forty and I stayed and worked on plans for the diversion. It all depended on one or the other of us getting called in to meet with General Case… and finding the tablet.“What do we do if this doesn’t happen?” Forty asked.“Well… I guess we just try not to die during the raid,” I answered tiredly, my head spinning with all the plans we’d discussed.She pulled close again, putting her arm around me. “You need to get some rest. Though, if I’m honest, there are other things I’d love to do with you.”I looked at her. “I wondered. Have you ever had a boyfriend? Is there someone out there that I have to worry about wanting to kill me?”
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“Well? Have you heard anything?” Forty-Five whispered to me.I shook my head, shoveling my breakfast in as fast as I could. Scavenging today… and Forty was already cracking the whip.“Nothing,” I said. “If he was sentenced, they didn’t say anything to us about it.”Forty-Five nodded with a frown. “Odd… usually if they execute someone, they make it pretty public.”We finished eating and headed for the door to meet Forty. I was stopped there by General Case himself. “Beta Forty-Two… come with me. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”I nodded, avoiding looking at anyone on the squad. If they were going to pull off our little sh
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Forty stood in the corridor, getting a report from the rest of the squad. “Is Forty-Five okay?” I asked as I hurried to join them.She shot me a scathing look. “He just got his ass dragged off to the infirmary, what do you think? We’ll do without him today. Everyone get upstairs right now, the last one up gets extra springs tonight.”I was stunned… then I figured it out. She was acting harshly again, but only to a point. I was pretty sure she would follow through on her threat of sprints, even with me. I bolted up the stairs, arriving only a second ahead of Forty-Four, who gave me a dirty look when Forty pronounced his sentence of extra sprints.I shrugged and grinned. “You snooze, you lose, man,” I muttered to him, forgetting how sharp Forty’s hea
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