Authors: Abigail Collins
“Cyrus knew about you before he even met you. He knows about your mother, too,” Dori explains. “I don’t understand the whole story behind your mother’s death, but I
do
know that Cyrus is the reason she stayed safe for so long. He kept her –
all
of your family – hidden.”
“Then… why was he the one who came to get me after she died? He helped Tesla interrogate me and never once tried to stop her from taking me away.”
“Tesla found out about you on her own. Cyrus has an image to keep up; he can’t let her find out that he’s not on her side.”
“Then whose side is he on?”
“His own. Well,
yours
, technically.”
I frown and wrack my brain, trying to make sense of it all. If Cyrus was really on my side this whole time, he did a great job of hiding it. And why would a Digit side with a human, anyway? I’m the sort of creature they use as cheap labor and dispensable militia, not as allies. I’m still not convinced that the Digits don’t share the common goal of wanting to eliminate the human race entirely, because from what I’ve seen, that seems to be what Rin and the rest of Division 4 are trying to achieve.
Dori sees my confused expression and continues without waiting for me to say anything. “The day after you left the camp, Cyrus came looking for you under the pretense that he wanted to observe your training and check in on the other new recruits. He scanned me, and he must have seen you in my brain somewhere, because the next thing I remember is him disabling my chip and telling me to go after you.”
“So Cyrus is…” My head aches and I feel a wave of nausea rolling through my stomach. I almost wish that all of the Digits were my enemies, if only so I would know who to trust. Dori nods as if he knows what I’m going to ask, and I change my question without finishing it. “So… there are other Digits like Cyrus? Like, underground human protection services? What’s in it for them?”
Dori rubs at his eyes, and I think that if he was still human, he would be wiping away tears by now. I wonder if he realizes what he’s doing, or if he still remembers enough of his human self that things like this are just reflexive to him.
“You know what Division 6 has been trying to accomplish with their ‘training,’ don’t you? They want to build an army of Digits so that they can take over every other Division as their own. They want
their
Council to rule the world, and they plan to convert every single human to their side after they’ve done it.” I nod silently; none of this is new information to me, but it sounds even more terrifying when it’s all pieced together and said aloud. “But Division 4 is no better. Just because they’re trying to help out as many humans as they can doesn’t mean they aren’t doing it for their own selfish reasons. Cyrus told me about your brain.”
I open and close my mouth mutely several times before I am finally able to conjure up enough words to ask him
why
, but by then he’s already begun answering me.
“Division 4 plans on using whatever biological miracle is keeping you alive right now to repeat the process completely artificially. Have they told you yet what that means?”
Yes
, I think, shuddering, but I choose to say nothing. “Their technology will expand, and those using it will live forever while everyone else dies or rots around them. The human race will become extinct. There are a number of Digits out there like Cyrus who don’t want either of these ideals to become reality. For whatever reason, they support humanity and want to help preserve it.”
“And what’s
your
reason? Didn’t you go to that camp knowing what would eventually happen to you? You didn’t really want to be human.”
“No, I… I did.” His voice is strained. I wonder how many of his human emotions they let him keep, and what he’s feeling with them right now. “I wanted my human life, and if I could take it back, I would. But I wanted to be with Holden more. I cared so much about him that I just went along with whatever the Digits wanted me to do, and I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late. But it’s not too late for
you
.”
There are so many questions I want to ask him, but none of them really matter after all of the things he’s already told me. I know we’re running out of time, but neither of us makes a move to leave. I don’t even know if Dori has a plan for how to get us out of here, or where to go if we actually make it past the gates.
“So, then, how did you know I was here? Even Cyrus can’t have known where Rin was taking me.”
Dori shakes his head and sighs. I can tell from his expression that he’s trying to keep from thinking about Holden, but what he did is still haunting him. I don’t think he’ll ever be able to completely forgive himself, no matter how many people he saves.
“There’s a Digit named Flynn who came here with you,” he says. “She’s posing as one of Rin’s allies, but the truth is that Cyrus sent her here to keep watch over you. I assume you met her on the train to Division 4?”
My head hurts. I wonder how I can get headaches if my brain technically can’t hurt, but I suppose the rest of my body can still feel pain just the same as any other human’s.
“Yes,” I answer him, trying to remember as much of my first encounter with Flynn as possible. “She took the tracking device out of my neck. She told me that she can’t be controlled by anyone because she made her own chip.”
Dori inclines his head slightly and doesn’t seem at all surprised by what I’m telling him. Again, I feel like the only person in this place who doesn’t know my own secrets – my mother kept them from me, my father hid while I found to find them, and now I’m discovering that Cyrus and Flynn were supposed to be protecting me this entire time. I don’t think they’ve been doing a very good job of it.
As if he’s somehow reading my thoughts, Dori says, “They couldn’t have told you anything; they had to play their parts to avoid suspicion. But we’ve been planning a way to help you escape since they first brought you here. Flynn and I have been communicating through the very same device she removed from your neck. That’s how I knew where to find you.”
We sit still for a few minutes while he explains the smaller details, but I let my mind wander more than I listen to what he’s saying. I already know everything I need to, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me to understand it. If there are other Digits like Flynn and Cyrus – Digits who genuinely care about the preservation of the human race – then why can’t they step up and try to save more people? My mother died because Cyrus failed to protect her.
Then I remember something Rin told me about the day my mother left Division 4; she said that she wasn’t alone. A man no one had seen before had helped her escape, and he’s been pronounced dead – but his body was never found. I wonder…
No. There’s no way. Even if Dori is telling me the truth, I still don’t trust Cyrus. He’s just as responsible as Tesla is for getting me into this mess in the first place.
“Flynn should be here any minute,” Dori says after an uncomfortable stretch of silence. “She said she would meet us here after I had enough time to explain things to you. She knows a way out of here that we think is the same route your mother took when she left. Division 5 is on the other side of the wall, and Cyrus told me there’s a safe place there for you.”
“And what about my brother? And my friend Crissy and her family? Did Cyrus tell you anything about them?”
“They’re alive,” he answers quickly, then pauses. “Cyrus couldn’t tell me much else. They’re still in Division 6, but they’re safe for now.”
The way he says ‘for now’ sends shivers down my spine. I don’t like what he’s implying, even if it isn’t intentional.
“Am I… Will I ever get to see them again? Rin said that if I went along with what she wanted from me, she would bring my brother here and keep him safe. Can you promise me the same thing?”
“No,” Dori says, and while I am grateful for his honesty, I wish that just this once he would lie if only to make me feel better. “A week ago, when Cyrus left Division 6, they were alive and well. I don’t think Tesla and the rest of the Council knows about your brain yet, so all they think is that you ran away from camp because you found out that they wanted to convert you – make you into a Digit. But if they ever find out about the truth, everyone you love will be in danger. That’s why it’s very important that we get out of here without being seen.”
“And how are we planning on doing that, exactly?” I ask him. “I’m sure there are guards all over the place. I know it’s not hard for Flynn to sneak another Digit in without much suspicion, or even a human if they’re here for an experiment, but to sneak
two
people
out
? I’m pretty sure Rin won’t let me leave that easily. And my father…”
Dori turns his head towards me and frowns. His fingers keep running along the gun holster around his waist like it’s an instinct for him now – to turn to violence when he’s not sure how else to feel.
“But… your father is dead, isn’t he? You told me that you were an orphan; that’s why they brought you to camp in the first place.”
“That’s what I thought, too. He’s not my real father – I’m not sure I’ll ever find out who that is – but he raised me like I was his. He knew the entire time that I wasn’t, but he still treated me like his
daughter
. But he’s not even the same man anymore. Now that he knows the truth about me, and the other things my mother was keeping from him, I don’t think he cares what happens to me; he’s allied himself with Division 4 now. He’s the one who locked me in here.”
Finally, I have given Dori a piece of information that surprises him. He looks confused, but also a bit angry, even though my problems really have nothing to do with him. If anything,
I
should be the one who’s mad at my father, but I can’t find it in myself to hate him – just like I still love my mother, even after all of the things she hid from me and the rift she created between our family.
The door opens before either of us can say another word, and I’m thankful for the excuse to stop talking. I don’t want to think about the things I’ve just learned, so I put them aside and focus on my goal: to get out of this prison and find my brother. Fray is all I have left now that I can no longer rely on my father, and the rest of my real family is dead. My little brother is all that matters to me anymore, and if it weren’t for him, I would probably just give up and let the Digits do whatever they want to me.
But Fray is my responsibility, and I’ve already let him down in more ways than I can count. I can’t do that to him again.
Flynn steps cautiously into the room, quietly pushing the door closed behind her. Dori looks up at her hopefully for a moment, before he sees her expression and his face falls. She smiles wanly in my direction, but her eyes are narrowed and her entire body is radiating tension. I know before she speaks that something has gone wrong, but I still pray with everything I have that she’s here to deliver some good news, too.
Not surprisingly, my hopes are meaningless.
“They’re coming,” she whispers as she approaches us, her hand already clasped around the grip of her gun. “I think they’ve been following you, Dorian. They knew where we would be.”
Suddenly, an alarm goes off in the distance – a wild shrieking sound that echoes through the building and claws at the insides of my ears. I can barely hear anything over the deafening noise, but Flynn and Dori are standing just close enough to me that I can catch most of what they’re saying to each other.
“What does the siren mean?” Dori asks. “Are they already here?”
Flynn shakes her head, but her expression is grim. “No, but they’ve reached the gates. Our soldiers should be able to hold them back for a little while, but I don’t know how we’re going to get out without being noticed now.”
“What soldiers? There were barely even a dozen guards at the gate when I came through!”
“Rin has a back-up plan, but I was hoping she would never have a chance to use it. We need to get out of here before that happens.”
Finally, I speak up, shouting over the sirens with my hands covering my ears. I can’t hear more than the echo of what I’m saying, but thankfully Dori and Flynn understand.
“What’s going on?” I ask, turning my attention back and forth between the two of them. “What does that noise mean?”
Flynn and Dori look at each other for a moment, and I know they’re trying to figure out how much they are going to tell me. If my head didn’t hurt so much, I would yell at them to stop keeping secrets from me like everyone else has been, but I’m too tired to do anything but wait and listen.
“Division 6 is here,” Flynn finally answers. “They’re just outside of the gates, but they’ve brought enough of their army that they’ll be through in no time. Rin has a last-resort plan for dealing with them, but unfortunately, that puts us right in the middle of a war that’s coming to us.”
“The… the humans,” I begin uneasily; “They’re her army?”
Flynn nods, and my heart sinks.