I was the only one who looked up as we passed through the thick, wrought iron gates that encompassed the complex. I studied the seemingly far off, white structure that lied ahead of the gravel path winding up toward it. It was protected by a second gate that looked more ornate, but no less imposing than the one that had closed behind us.The other two girls, whose names I did not know, kept their heads hung, shuffled their feet forward. Seeing the backs of their heads, I couldn’t tell if they were sobbing gently or simply resigned. 

    The one directly in front of me, a small girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen with dirty blonde locks plated down her back whimpered a little. Her wrists were more slender than mine, it almost looked as if she would be able to slip out of the heavy cuffs if she tried. Behind me there was a slow, shrill screech of metal and then a hollow clank that resonated through my body. I glanced back to see the uniformed men resume their positions, rifles slung casually over their backs. The woman who was leading us raised one eyebrow at me and I quickly faced forward again. Her uniform was different from the men who kept watch at the gates, it was a deep blue suit with gray trim. Her hair was pulled back and tucked beneath a matching cap. In the van that led us here I watched her remove her cap and toy with wisps of dark hair thoughtlessly. 

    No one said a word until we reached a one level brick structure tucked far away from the main house. There stood a young woman with a face like a cat in long, black robes. She smiled as we got closer. I could see that her face was well creased, especially around the eyes. She was older than she looked. 

    “Thank you my dear, I will take them now.” She opened a door and motioned for us to enter. I heard the fading crunch of footsteps on gravel but didn’t turn to see the woman leave. 

    We moved silently through the entrance. The building smelled faintly of apples. My mouth watered. She led us down a narrow hallway of doors, pausing occasionally to peer into a peephole on the doors. She finally turned around when we reached a door about halfway down the hall and reached into her robes. She pulled out a set of keys and mumbled as she sorted through them. 

    “Who among you is Abigail?” She asked while turning a key in the lock. 

    “I am.” 

    “Alright, have a seat just there my girl. I will be back soon to speak with you.” She patted of the tall, dark haired girl as she passed through the doorway and then locked the door again. “And Emily?”

    “Here.” 

    “I’ll have you here, girl.” She motioned to an adjacent door and the slight, blonde girl followed like a ghost. “Just seat yourself on the bed there.”

    “Then you must be Lilly.” She said, without looking at me. “This way.” We walked a little further down the hall before she found my door. There was a 26 carved into the wood at the top. She had the key ready this time, it slid into the lock easily. 

    “Let me take a look at you and then I’ll go see about the others. Sit yourself down.” She reached into her deep pockets and drew out a pair of glasses. 

    The walls of the room were stark white. There was a small bed, even smaller than the one I had back home, pushed into a corner. An wooden chair was placed in the other corner and on top of it was a worn, black leather bible. The room’s window was caged with thin black bars. She must have seen me staring at the bars. 

    “I told them that those weren’t necessary but they insisted.” She pulled the chair up to the bed and sat down in front of me. First she had me had me turn around, then she removed the cuffs from my wrists. The sudden lightness felt odd. “Barbaric. Now, let me look at you.” Her hands were cold as she took my face in them, feeling her fingers around my face, pressing my cheeks gently. She lifted the skin above and below my eyes and peered into them. Then she made me open my mouth and looked around, titling my chin up to catch light from the window. Then she placed her fingers under my jaw, massaging small circles into my neck. She pressed down firmly on my collarbone, ribs, and flexed my wrists with her hands. “You look healthy, girl. But I still have to keep you here until I know for sure.”

    “How long?” There was so much I wanted to ask, but I held my tongue. 

    “Not long, dear.” She smiled. It felt real. “A week, perhaps. It will go by quickly and then you’ll be able to meet the other girls.” She stood up. “I’ll come by with some water and clean clothes in a little while. Then I’ll bring your dinner.”

    “What’s your name?” I asked. 

    “Sister Mara.” She answered sweetly and locked the door behind her. 

    The next morning Sister Mara came in with a lancet and  and some gauze on a metal tray that was beginning to rust. I had spent much of the night listening, laying in wait for someone at the door, or outside the window. But the only sound i heard that night was the Sister’s soft footsteps creak the floorboards past my door. I couldn’t tell if there were others in the rooms around mine. Occasionally I heard the squeaks of bed springs, but couldn’t tell which direction they came from. 

    She appeared as the first gray light of morning softened into a brighter glow. Sister Mara took my hand gingerly and offered some soothing words while she drew a few drops of blood from my finger. I winced a little as she squeezed the blood into a vial etched with the number 26. When she was done she gave me a piece of gauze for my finger. She stood up and felt around in her pockets. She handed me a apple with a wink and left quickly. 

    The third night was unbearably warm. I tried to pry open the window through the bars with no luck. After falling asleep, a loud pounding sound woke me instantly. I sat up, clutching the thin blanket to my chest, my heart beating loudly in my ears. The pounding started again, it felt closer this time. More desperate. I heard Sister Mara’s voice and then a much deeper voice. They were arguing, I quickly jumped out of bed and pressed my ear to the wall. I couldn’t make out the words but after a few moments heavy boots were coming down the hall, towards us. I grabbed the chair in the corner and wedged it as best as I could under the handle. It felt flimsy, like it could break under the slightest pressure. There was nowhere to run. 

    The barrage of heavy boots stopped in front of my door. I couldn’t breathe. Then a clinking of dozens of keys on a ring. 

    “I can’t find the one, there are too many.” I could hear the worry in the Sister’s voice. 

    “Give me that.” Said a man’s voice. He sounded older, authoritative, and annoyed. 

    Feeling dizzy, I held my breath as a key slid into a lock, turned. But my door didn’t open. I heard the creak of the door across from mine and the man’s voice again. “Get dressed.” 

    I felt sick as the steps moved away from my room. She’s not fighting back, I thought, she’s leaving with them. I rushed to the window, but it was too dark to see what was happening. After a few moments I thought I saw some movement, but it was impossible to make out. But I could picture it, in my mind. They were leading a girl away, someone not that different from me. Someone who thought they were going to wake up tomorrow in this bed. Where were they taking her?

    The next morning, the chair I had wedged in the door kept Sister Mara from opening it. 

    “Lilly, open this door right now.” She sounded tired. 

    I was already dressed. After the incident I had put on my clothes and watched the door from my bed, knowing that there was nothing I could really do. But this was better than nothing. 

    “Yes, Sister.” I moved the chair back to its corner and sat down. 

    Sister Mara entered the room with a small metal box. Without looking at me, she sat down on the bed and placed the box with my meal down. “I know you must be frightened by what happened last night.”

    I didn’t answer. She looked at me with pity. Her face looked sallow.

    “There will be many times in your life when you will feel powerless.” 

    “What did they do to her?” I asked. 

    “He was showing signs of infection.” Her voice trailed off. 

    “But what did they do?”

    “I need to see to the others. Maybe you should try reading..” She excused herself from the room and was gone. 

    One morning I heard another pair of boots approaching the hallway. Whoever it was stopped at several doors and unlocked them, then ordered the person inside to go outside. Doors slammed shut moments later. I waited near the bed, the footsteps were approaching. Suddenly I heard the sound of the key in the lock and the door flew open. Standing there was a man with a peppery gray beard and blue fatigues. There was a deep zigzag of a scar from the right side of his forehead to his right ear. He wasn’t wearing a hat, his bald head looked newly shaven, shining even. 

    “Exit the facility and wait outside.” 

    His deep voice broke my concentration and I exited as quickly as I could. As I passed in front of him I saw a pistol in his hilt. Walking down the long, narrow hallways felt odd. I had been confined to my room except to bathe for the better part of a week. The only thing that seemed to be of some comfort was that this intrusion was not in the middle of the night.

    Out front there were 4 girls and a boy, all in the same grayish jumper given to us by Sister Mara. I recognized one of the girls, Abigail, among them. She was tall, and her dark hair hung in a loose ponytail down her back. She glanced at me for a second then quickly away. The other two girls looked younger, thin and wiry with auburn hair and looked so similar that they could have passed for sisters. They were holding hands. The boy looked like someone that I once knew from my uncle’s conclave. He was a year or two older than me with a perpetually dirty face and black hair. In my surprise I glanced at him twice. The second time he looked at me and held my gaze, I looked away in embarrassment. His eyes, green and bright, told me that this was not the boy from my youth. 

    I heard footsteps behind me and quickly joined the lineup. “I am General Spiro. As of today you will be given assignments based on various criteria. If any uniformed personnel gives you orders, you follow those orders.” 

 He took a long pause, assessing our comprehension. “You two, follow him.” He pointed to Abigail and the boy. Another guard motioned  towards them and they followed behind. 

    “You three, follow me.” He turned and started up the path that brought us all here. I turned back to look for Sister Mara but the building looked empty. 

    We were led to a small field ensconced in a wooden fence and barbed wire. It was situated next to the main fence that divided the community from the outside world. A wooden gate seemed to be the only way in. The General opened the gate and motioned us inside. “This is the turnip field. Grab a basket and fill it with turnips. When your basket is full, look for weeds and pull those.” Once we were inside he closed the gate. “Start at opposite ends, do not speak to each other.”

    The auburn girls looked at each other for a long moment then walked to other ends of the field. I grabbed a straw basket and began searching for turnips. They were easy enough to find, I pulled a few, wiped the dirt away and carefully placed them in the basket. After a few minutes I noticed that we weren’t being monitored. The General was gone and the nearest solider was yards away. I continued pulling turnips. Soon my hands were caked with earth, the dirt worked its way up under my nails. The purple bulbs stacked quickly and before long my basket was filled. 

    “Psst.”

    I whipped around. The other girls were still working, pulling and putting turnips in their baskets. Neither looked up. 

    “Hey.” 

    I looked behind me. Through the fence on the outside was an older woman in dark clothing. Her hair was wet and matted against her head. Her cheeks looked sunken and her eyes were rimmed with dark circles. She crouched down near the gate and motioned her hand for me to come closer. I spun my head around, there were no solders nearby so I crept toward her with my basket. 

    “Give me a few turnips.” She pleaded. 

    “Okay,” I said and handed her a large turnip. 

    “More!” She begged. 

    “I can’t, if they catch me…” My voice just trailed off. What if the General caught me?

    “Please, just one more,”

    I looked in the basket for a small turnip, one that wouldn’t be missed. Just then a loud shot rang out, surprised I fell backwards and my basket slipped, spilling my turnips everywhere. When I looked up, the woman was slumped forward into the fence. Her face was wedged between the black iron bars, blood oozed from a hole in her head. I couldn’t breathe. My eyes began welling up with tears when I finally realized she was dead. Soon I heard yelling, the sound of boots coming closer but I was transfixed. Hours seemed to go by and someone stood over me. 

    “Get up. Clean up this mess.” He said. 

    Still on the ground, I looked up into his face. I could tell he was older than me, but not by much. His stance was rigid but I thought I could detect pity in his eyes. 

    “Hurry.”

    I snapped out of my reverie and started gathering the spilled turnips. He didn’t move from his spot, I could feel his eyes were still fixed on me. On the other side of the fence two more men pulled up the dead woman by the arms and dragged her body along the fence. Tears from my eyes didn’t stop flowing. 

    “Stop crying.” He ordered. 

    “I’m trying.” I said, trying to wipe my eyes with my sleeves. 

    “What’s going on here?” I could feel the General’s eyes on me, but I didn’t turn. 

    “A straggler was harassing the workers, sir.” The young solider sounded poised, confident. 

    “I see.” The General paused a long moment. “Take them to the 12B barracks when they’ve finished their work.”

    “Yes, sir.”

    I finished gathering everything up and looked for the auburn girls. They were both huddled together, staring at me from the other end of the field. I looked away quickly and back up at the young soldier. He stood there in front of me, looking towards the direction that the General was in and without looking at me said “There are six sniper towers guarding the complex. Don’t ever approach anyone on the outside.”

    I nodded my head quickly. But the scene played over and over again in my mind. All I could see were he lifeless eyes and the flowing blood. I blinked hard, and felt dizzy where I stood. 

    “Alright, form a line at the gate.” He said. 

    The basket felt heavy in my arms. It felt as though my legs might buckle at any moment. I barely registered the walk to the barracks, my feet moved on their own. We passed by a tower a few minutes into our march. I wondered if the man up there was the one who took that woman’s life. I squinted my eyes up to the tower but the shadows obscured whoever might have been up there. Someone who might have their rifle trained on me right now. I shuddered and kept walking. I began to get a sense of how huge the complex really was. There were dozens of low, unmarked buildings. Each had bars on the windows and a heavy door. Off in the distance I could make out the main house, a sprawling mansion with white pillars and a circular drive. Beyond the second gate I could make out a splash of colors, flowers arranged along the building, lush white roses and green foliage. It looked like it belonged to a different time. 

    “Here we are.” The young soldier turned and smiled at us. It was the first warmth I had felt since last seeing Sister Mara. “Head upstairs first and the house matron will assign you bunks. Then bring your baskets to the kitchen.” 

    The girls went ahead of me. As I passed through the door I felt a hand grab my arm. 

    “Don’t let this place break you.” He said gently. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

    “I don’t want to get used to it.” I said angrily. “She was hungry. She didn’t deserve to die.”

    “She could have been infected. One word from the General and you would have been dragged back to quarantine.” He said. “You’re lucky, whether you realize it or not.”

    “I don’t feel lucky.”

    “You will.” He smiled again. I could see his dimples. Before I could say anything he turned and left. 

    That night I lay in my bunk, trying to erase the image of the dead woman from my mind. I wanted to forget the vacant stare, the thunderous shot, the blood. So much blood. The bed I was assigned was far away from the two girls from earlier. The more I watched them the  more I was convinced they were related. From across the room I could see them whispering to each other and for the first time felt lonely. The girl who shared my bunk was cleaning her nails with a comb when I said hello. She glanced at me and continued preening. 

    “What’s your name?” A girl asked from the bunk next to mine.

    “Lilly. Yours?”

    “Martha. You can sit with me at dinner.” She said. 

    “Thank you.” For the first time, I felt relieved. Martha looked a little older than me. She had strawberry blonde hair and a slight overbite. In the darkness of the room I thought I saw freckles scattered across her face.

    “You don’t snore, do you?” Martha asked.

    “I don’t think so,” I said. 

    “Good.”

    “I’ve been here for two months already and haven’t received my assignment yet.” Martha began.

    “Your assignment?” I asked.

    “Yeah, they figure out what you’re good at and then you’re stuck doing that for the rest of your life. The girl who was in your bunk became a seamstress.”

    “Is that a good job?” I asked. 

    “There are worse jobs.” She replied, stirring her soup with a bent spoon. “Like being assigned to general labor or the recyclery.” 

    “I see.”

    “Don’t you like beets?” She asked. 

    “Not really,” I said, “You can have them if you want.”

    “Sure.” I spooned my vegetables onto her plate. 

    “Can we become guards?” I asked, thinking about the young soldier who grabbed my arm.

    “No. Military candidates are separated right away. You should go for cooking, it’s one of the better jobs. This one wants to be a cook.” She motioned towards the girl sitting next to her. 

    Martha’s bunkmate, Sarah, elbowed her in the ribs. Martha winced. “Quit telling people that, it’s embarrassing.” Her face looked flushed. “Don’t worry, Lilly, you’ll find something you like soon enough.”

    After our soup, the house matron, a white haired woman with a cane and a slight hunch, called everyone up for a cup of cider. To my surprise, nearly everyone leapt up from the long rows of tables and clamored for the line. I spotted the auburn haired girls across the room looking as bewildered as I was.

    “Hurry,” Sarah said grabbing my sleeve. “It’s the only sweet thing we get in autumn since there are so many apple trees.” 

    “Yeah, you don’t want to be at the end of the line.” Martha added. 

    As I stood in line listening to Martha and Sarah bicker, I noticed a girl with dark, cropped hair hanging back toward the end of the line. After a few rows of girls were seated with their cups of cider I saw her slip between them and put her head down. She seemed to fade into the background as the other girls laughed and enjoyed their sweet drink.

    “Who’s that?” I asked Martha.

    “Who?” She looked around. 

    I subtly motioned towards the girl with the short bobbed haircut. 

    “Oh,” She turned back eagerly towards the house matron serving cider with a ladle. “That’s Ari. She won’t talk to any of us so don’t bother.”

I watched Ari sitting with her head down, she wasn’t talking to any of the other girls. After a few moments Martha pushed me further up the line. I kept my eyes fixed on the girl, wondering why she she wasn’t as eager as everyone else. When I finally reached the head of the line and received my ration of cider, the scent was overpowering. The three of us headed back to our spot in the long rows of tables. Martha was nearly done with her cider and complaining about burning her tongue. Sarah was sipping hers slowly, inhaling the aroma of apples and cinnamon. I eyed mine suspiciously and took a small sip. 

    “Have you ever gotten sick from drinking the cider?” I asked. 

    “Never.” Said Martha. 

    “No.” Agreed Sarah. 

    “I’ll drink yours if you don’t want it.” Martha offered. 

    “Sure.” I pushed my cup towards her and she drank it quickly. 

    That evening, after taking my first communal shower, I put on my bed clothes and slid into my bunk. After a few moments I could hear Martha snoring softly, her chest rising exaggeratedly with each breath. I could make out Sarah’s silhouette in the darkness but she barely moved in her slumber. My bunkmate shifted around, causing the frame to squeak with every small motion. 

    The room was almost entirely still. Somewhere in the rows someone coughed and the room felt silent again. Martha’s snoring had ceased and I felt myself being lulled by the silence. The air was warm and sweet, I could still smell spices wafting in the air. After a few moments, there was a sound like a door being unlocked. The door to our room was opening, I heard the creak of the wood and the frame. The light in the hallway was turned off so I could barely make out the dark figure in the doorway. It didn’t look like the shape of the house matron, it was larger and stood up straight. The person in the door hovered there for what seemed an eternity, surveying the girls asleep in their beds. After a long while the door finally closed and I heard a bolted lock slide into place once again. I exhaled loudly but no one seemed to notice. My heart was racing. 

    The next day we were divided into groups and sent off to different corners of the complex. Martha was assigned to the daycare center and Sarah and I were sent to the recyclery. Sarah was quiet for the duration of the trek. The building was off in another far flung corner of the complex, still far away from the main house. 

    There were six of us, I didn’t recognize any of the others from the dorm. We were shown to our workbenches by a portly man with a thick, dark beard and a craggy smile. He demonstrated the work for us, using wire cutters to slice and strip metal from old cords and black tubes. Sarah and I were seated apart and I began to work on my pile. After a few hours the foreman brought each of us a small bowl of celery and thin slices of raw potato and encouraged us to continue working while we ate. I looked up at Sarah but she seemed engrossed in her work. The girl at the bench across from me eyed me curiously. When I caught her staring she looked down immediately and her face flushed a deep red. 

    “I’m Lilly” I said. 

    She looked up again and held a finger to her lips to silence me. Then she looked sidelong and flicked her eyes in a slight upward motion. Without moving I slowly adjusted my gaze to the direction she was looking at. There was a camera perched in the corner of the room. I focused back on the wire cutters and the pile before me. Before long the manager stopped by my bench again with a smile and a new box of cords to harvest metal from.     

    Our group was one of the last to get back to the dorms. Once we were out of earshot of all of the adults, the girl who worked across my bench approached me at my bunk. She said her name was Kara. 

    “There are a lot of cameras in the different buildings. Who knows if they even work but I think it’s safer to act like someone is always watching.” 

    “Thanks for the warning.” I said. “Are there any in here?”

    “Not that I know of, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

    At dinner that night, I waited until I thought everyone else was out of earshot before I asked Martha about what I had seen the night before. 

    “Everyone was asleep and the door opened. There was a man, I think it was a man, just standing there. He didn’t do anything he just stared and then left. Has anything ever happened like that?”

    “I usually sleep pretty hard. It takes a lot to wake me up. Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?”

    “I was awake, I’m sure of it. Is there a man that works in the dorms?”

    “No. Just the house matron and if it were her you probably would’ve been able to tell. She limps quite a bit, you can usually hear her coming down the hall.”

    “I know I’m not crazy, Martha. I saw someone there.”

    “Well, let me know if you see anything tonight. I’m starving! Let’s go eat.” Said Martha. 

    At dinner I noticed that Ari was staring at me intensely. When I caught her gaze she didn’t look away. After a moment I put my head down in embarrassment. I couldn’t help but feel that she looked angry, although I was sure I had done nothing to incite it. I felt hungrier than usual and focused on eating slowly while I listened to Martha complain about being assigned to the daycare center.  

    “Do you know how many diapers I changed today?” Martha asked. 

    “A lot, I’m sure. The two of us got stuck stripping wires with Bramley.” Sarah said. 

    “It wasn’t so bad.” I said. 

    “Just wait. My cousin says he doesn’t turn the heat on in the winter and you can’t feel your fingers.” Added Sarah. 

    Ari was watching me again. She was sitting at the end of one of the rows, about three tables away. After a few moments she put her head down and I thought I saw the top of her head looked lighter, as if the rest of her short hair had been dyed the inky black that she now wore. 

    “I heard from one of the guards that a truck is coming in tomorrow. We’re probably all going down there to unload.” Said Martha. 

    “Works for me, salvaging metal is boring.” Sarah added. 

That night no one opened the door to our bedroom. I waited but no one came before sleep took me. 

    “This is your first rec day, isn’t is?” Kara asked me.

    “Yeah, it’s strange to see so many people.” I said. 

    “Well, I think they just put all the dorms together so that they can keep an eye on us.”

    Just then I saw the soldier that took me to the dorm that day, after I watched a woman shot right before my eyes. I had forgotten all about him. He was playing a card game with his friends but I could tell by his furrowed brow that he wasn’t doing well. At one point, he stood up and threw the cards on the table before walking away. He went over to the window and probably did something(lol). I thought about going over to say hi but felt intimidated by his friends being so nearby. I went back to playing cards with Kara. 

    “Hey, do you remember me?” He asked.

    “Yes, but