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My mouth fell open, but she wasn’t done.
“Before I came along and convinced the camp director that he’d have an easier time meeting his quotas with more order, this place was an all-you-can-eat buffet for the guards. A slaughterhouse.” She sat on the cot next to me. I scooted as far away as I could get, still unconvinced she didn’t deserve a beating for her collusion with the guards. “I know what you saw was upsetting, but I assure you it’s ten times more humane than what would have occurred a few years ago.”
“You expect me to thank you for that?”
“No, I expect you to work with me to make sure no children ever have to be drained again.”
“What?”
She grabbed my hand and squeezed it until I stopped struggling to pull it back. “Did you wonder why I had you assigned to help me?”
I shrugged. “I gave up trying to understand your motivations around the time I saw you watching innocent children get drained.”
Her hand contracted painfully on mine. “Watch yourself. You’ve been in this camp for a few days. I’ve been here for ten years. You don’t know what I’ve seen. What I and the others have had to do to survive.”
The ferocity in her tone gave me pause. I’d had to do some unsavory things, too, but if what she said about the state of life in the camp was true, then I couldn’t begin to imagine what sort of terrible choices she’d had to make.
Once she saw that I got it, she continued. “When you arrived, you seemed convinced that someone was coming to save you.”
I nodded. “Zed. He’s coming.”
“You’re the first new arrival in years. Most of the rebel groups that get raided now are small groups of high bloods that band together. If they’re caught, they’re sent directly to the blood camps or to the Troika headquarters. We haven’t had anyone with allies on the outside come in a long time.”
She stopped and sighed. “I guess what I’m saying is, we haven’t had a reason to hope for a long time. Not since Icarus escaped.”
“Who?”
“He was one of us. A leader in the camp. He made a plan to escape, go get help, and come rescue the rest of us.”
“So what happened to him?”
“He escaped all right, but he never came back for us.” The pain in her voice was palpable, like acid on the ears.
We were silent for a long, heavy mom
ent. Matri seemed lost in bitter memories, but I was busy worrying about the future. Zed would come, right? He had to.
Finally, she cleared her throat. “After Icarus left, I waited for a long time for him to come rescue us. At that point, I still had faith in him, and my goal was just to keep as many of us alive as possible until he came back. But the longer it took, the more my goal became to just stay alive, period. I knew eventually something would happen that would give us new hope. That’s why I finagled my way into being in charge of the children. I figured if I could train them to be survivors then at least a few of us might be alive once hope arrived.” She looked up and squeezed my hand. “And now it has.”
I blew out a long, slow breath. “Look, I want nothing more than to have Zed bust down those gates and free all of us. But I have no idea how long it will take him to rally the help he’ll need.”
She frowned. “You mean this Zed doesn’t have his own army?”
I froze. “Of course not. It was just him and me and the children.”
Matri withdrew her hand and made a disgusted sound. “You’re putting all your faith in your boyfriend?” She spat the words out like venom.
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my friend. And yes, I have every faith he will come rescue us.”
She crossed her arms over her flat chest. “How can you be so sure he’ll come?”
“Because we’re his family,” I said simply. “Besides, Zed is the most pig-headed person in history. If he decides he’s going to save us, he will fight until his dying breath to make it happen.”
The anger in her eyes dissipated and was replaced by a small spark. “Oh, to be young and dumb again.”
“Hey!”
She patted my hand. “Sorry, dear, but it’s true. It’s nice you have so much faith in your friend, but it’s going to take a lot more than wishes to free you from this hell.”
