Page 55 of Afflicted

But he won’t, walking closer still. Gina tries to steer me away, up the garden towards the feeders who are starting to move towards us, curious about what’s going on.

“Juliet, you have to understand,” he says, “this whole situation, I had to do what I had to do. This is important.”

“Important?” My whole body goes tense with rage. “Important. Herapedme. He nearlykilledme. That’s whatyouhad to do, huh?”

Matt runs his hands over his head. “You don’t get it, I never wanted that to happen. But I had no choice. Please, please, listen to me.”

“No.” Gina ushers me away. “No, I’m not listening to any more. She doesn’t need to listen to you,Hijo de puta.” She spits on the ground. “You don’t come near her again.”

She sweeps me up the hill back to the buildings, muttering and swearing under her breath. A feeder stops us when we reach him.

“Is there a problem?” He asks.

Gina nods, gesturing with a wave over her shoulder. “Just some asshole not taking the hint.”

“As long as there’s no trouble.” His gaze turns to me. “The doctor wanted to see you once you were done with your chores, so why don’t you go on ahead.”

“I’ll take her,” Gina says quickly, her arm still around my shoulders as she guides me towards the clinic. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

I shake my head, wishing my breathing would steady itself. “No, no, it’s fine, really. They probably just want to check my blood pressure again.” I don’t tell Gina about the emergency contraception they made me take while Silas wasn’t there, or the gynecological exam I was subjected to.Superficial scrapes, consistent with sexual assault. That’s what they’d said.

The words make me sag a little as I replay them in my head. As I relive that moment, when no one was there to hold my hand or soothe me.

No one except Silas.

Gina leaves me at the clinic doors, saying she’ll wait outside but I wave her off, promising I’ll be fine. I push inside, past the cubicles where humans are having their blood harvested. I go to the room with the blue door, which is open, the doctor sitting inside with a file open in front of her.

“Hi,” I say, and she looks up, gesturing for me to sit down.

“How are you feeling?”

I sit down, nodding. “Not terrible. I’m still getting tired easy.”

“Well, that’s normal, make sure you keep eating well and tell the guards when you need to rest.” She scribbles some things down in her file. “Any other problems? UTI or any bleeding?”

“No.” I clench my teeth together to stop my jaw chattering. I feel cold, even though the day is warm and sunlight is streaming in through the window.

“Good.” She makes a few more scribbles before looking up at me. “I thought it might be a good idea for you to do some exercise, you know, start jogging and do some weights.”

I frown at her. “What? Why?”

“Well, the thing we’re concerned about after something like this is depression obviously, and exercise is a great way to produce endorphins. Not to mention it’ll increase your appetite. You’ve lost a lot of weight, it’s not good for you.”

Lots of things aren’t good for me here.

“Sure, sounds good.” I fidget with my fingers as she writes down some more notes. I look out the window at the bright sun, at the trees waving in the breeze, and I feel like I’m stuck in some deep, dark hole.

We go through a few more basic checks of my blood pressure and temperature, and when she’s finally satisfied I’m not going to collapse into a heap anytime soon, she sends me on my way.

When I get outside, Matt is waiting for me.

I tuck my arms across my body and put my head down, determined to just storm past him.

“Juliet, please,” he says urgently, reaching out to grab my arm.

I fling his hand off me and keep walking.

“Juliet, talk to me, please.”

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