274 (Complex Series, #4)

Chapter Twelve

Tooth stumbles over his own words, “I don’t, he wasn’t, t’is morning, I…” he pauses to take a deep breath, “When I woke up t’is morning, Greg and The Distress were missing.”

Two people had their disappearance at the same time? Is that possible? What if they just abandoned Tooth?

Didn’t Christina say that The Distress was immune to disappearing? It was rumored that The Distress had been here for weeks and weeks.

Is this just some trick, some trap of his to recapture me? Why would Tooth come after me if The Distress is gone? Is Tooth trying to take over his position?

Tooth doesn’t seem threatening. After all, we’ve spent several minutes simply sitting here in the darkness. He’s allowed the stinging poison to fade from my blood without pushing me to move. By sitting still, he’s put himself in more danger to be with me.

I want to crane my head to scan the hall around me, but my neck is too stiff. The Distress or Greg could be standing only a few feet away from me and I wouldn’t be able to see them.

Should I trust Tooth? When he was with The Distress, he thanked me for standing up to The Distress for him. But, when I asked him to help me escape, he refused.

I realize that Tooth is staring at me.

I ask, “Do you know if two disappearances have ever happened at the same time?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been with The Distress the whole time I’ve been in the Unknown. Being a feared group in the Unknown, we don’t know all the rumors and talk of the Unknown.”

The pain is starting to noticeably fade. My head still pounds, piercing pain twirling across my forehead and the back of my skull. Aside from my head, only a dull ache rests across my skin.

The poison must be draining from my blood, leaving behind only the pain from my falls.

I ask, “Did you hear either of them? Wouldn’t one of them put up a fight?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering. Why didn’t I hear either of them fighting back? They are both the kind of people who wouldn’t go down quietly.”

“I was with a girl and she had disappeared too.”

“Here’s what I’m wondering, two people were taken, right? Why wasn’t I?”

We fall silent, lost in our thoughts.

Why wasn’t he taken? If they were already taking two children, why not drag off the third? It would save them the extra trip later.

Is there any logic behind all the disappearances? Is it simply to confuse us all even more?

I break the quiet, “What did you do to get yourself sent to the Unknown.”

 “It’s embarrassing.”

“Why?”

“Well, everyone has some heroically brave story of their own capture, how they defied the Heads or fought Officials. Mine’s just…eh.”

“Tell me,” I encourage.

“Promise you won’t laugh?” He asks.

I nod.

“I fell at the top of the moving stairs on the way to Free Hour. I might have been able to recover myself, except I fell backwards. I crashed into the kids behind us. It’s more difficult than you would think to straighten yourself out on those things. Your body’s falling backwards but your feet are moving forwards. I knocked the kids behind me backwards, which knocked the kids behind them backwards and…you get the idea. Basically, I caused a lot of scrapes, bruises, and over all panic. By causing random injuries, I broke the perfect sameness of the Complex.”

Before I can say anything, he quickly adds, “Remember, no laughing.”

 “Whether you did it on purpose or not, you still changed something. They had to give all those kids the red shots.”

Tooth’s brow wrinkles, “Red shot?”

“Yeah,” I explain, “We get those every once in a while. It’s normally after someone has done something major to show rebellion or something. As far as I can tell they don’t do anything, but I’ve gotten the shot multiple times.”

Tooth hesitates, “I never got any red shots from the Complex.”

 “Maybe it was something they just did in the girls’ Complex.”

 “Yeah, maybe.”

 “You could always tell when we got them because everyone had the same matching bandage in the crook of their elbow or at least a red dot that aches.”

Tooth sits up straighter, “I’ve had those bandages before. But, I could never remember what they were from…”

I say, “The Officials normally came in the middle of the night to give us the shots. Maybe you were asleep?”

Tooth shakes his head, “No, I’m a pretty light sleeper. If one of my roommates started snoring, I would usually wake up.”

Tooth asks, “You said that you normally received the shot after someone did something rebellious?”

 “Yeah, after someone screamed at the Officials or had a breakdown. Unless, of course, the Officials decide to make an example out of her to show that the Unknown is a real threat.”

 “You’ve seen someone else actually act out against the Heads?”

I frown. Hasn’t he seen someone rebel? A couple people acted out every year, the only time excitement and change came into our lives. Wouldn’t he remember at least one? Are things that different in the boys’ Complex?

I ask, “Don’t you remember at least one person acting out?”

 “No, well…a long time ago when we were just seven or eight years, I remember someone rebelling and being taken away. But, I have gotten that bandage multiple times.”

“Why would you get the bandage? They don’t give you the shot unless someone has acted out.”

“Why would they do that?”

The red shot doesn’t have any noticeable effect. Why would the Officials waste their resources on something that doesn’t work?

I frown, “I don’t know…”