?

  "Second row, all those aged thirteen to nineteen! Don’t waste my time with pointless questions." The ground seemed to drop from my vision. My legs trembled, and I couldn’t stop myself from stepping away from the body.

  My steps were unsteady. I pushed Liora from my thoughts. There’s no way she survived with a shot that precise. My heart pounded in my ears, my breath quickened, and I hurried forward—then felt a grip on my arm. My nerves spiked even more. I didn’t want to think; it felt like my st second on earth.

  I turned my head, cold sweat dripping. If it’s a soldier, I’m dead. My eyes widened as I jerked back:

  — Wrong line, Thea. — A familiar voice. Deep and low, speaking close to me. My eyes snapped open in shock. I stared straight at that familiar face.

  Relief washed over me. He pulled me by the arm and steadied my back, guiding me through the crowd of desperate people. It felt like the gates of hell had opened. Trapped souls trampling each other to run.

  Warm breath brushed my left ear. No doubt, it was Soren, standing so close. My eyes felt so heavy:

  — Don’t get too mad ter, okay? — His voice came, and then I felt something on my lips. Touching. Must’ve been his lips. I raised my hand and shoved him, snapping out of my daze completely. A bit of air returned to my dry lungs.

  — Trying to get us killed?

  — No. Trying to keep you grounded in reality. — He shot back, his voice heavy, not pyful like usual. He meant it—at least, that’s what I could read in those blue eyes.

  — Go to hell.

  I wiped my lips and turned my eyes back to the line. They kept sorting us like cattle. And to them, that’s all we were. Just numbers. Slum rats.

  The soldiers, as if fueled by our fear, didn’t hurry to expin what they wanted with us. In front of those wooden tables with bags on top, slowly, each soldier moved behind a table. Each row was assigned to one. When the st row had a soldier behind its table, the lead soldier—or whatever he was—spoke into the amplifier:

  "You’ve received your IMBs now. If you try to remove them, they’ll alert and self-destruct." His voice was calm. No pity, no remorse, no guilt... What would they do to us? What did IMB mean? None of it mattered. In the end, it didn’t... We were destined for something far beyond what our weakness could fight.

  As the lines moved, I saw the so-called IMBs: robotic colrs. Markings. They were our gold tags—what would make a foreigner look at us and immediately know our pce. Cattle. The lowest kind, the ones who couldn’t even lick salt, much less taste grass.

  I stepped forward when it was my turn. That cold metal, those damned things that took Liora’s life in cold blood… Liora. Why? Why did she have to protect those motherless brats? Why did her end have to be so miserable?

  As my mind drowned in grief and self-pity, I felt the cold metal around my neck. A sequence of numbers fshed on the tiny screen. Then, I moved aside where other soldiers were herding the younger ones. Soren came not long after, slipping his hand behind my back with his usual audacity.

  — You upset about Liora?

  — Aren’t you?

  — That’s not what I meant… calm down. I just—haven’t processed it yet. — He rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. His eyes lowered. It still hadn’t hit him, I knew. — She was my teacher.

  — She was everyone’s teacher.

  The children being pushed in stole my attention. Little kids crying, older children, young adults. We were in a ship—more like a truck. Those petty soldiers would never put disposable cattle on a war vessel.