Page 49 of Dangerous Deviance
“Is it lunch yet? Breakfast, maybe?” I asked. “I’m starving.”
“You have to take the test first,” he smiled. “I hope you studied.”
This place made you work for everything. I had to work for sleep, and now, I had to work for food? I wanted to scoff at him, but I held it back. All I had to do was get through a few days and find Julie. Then we could leave. Until then, it was better to keep my head down.
The test seemed minimal, but the more I thought about it, the less I knew.
How many years had the Skyline Shift been open?
When was the first graduate released?
What does the motto,enjoy your flight toward the horizon, mean?
What does the Skyline Shift give its participants?
That final question was the only question I could answer.A new perspective, I wrote.
I was granted a piece of fruit: a single tangerine. It was small in my palm. I could have crushed it if I squeezed hard enough.
I looked up at Dr. Bates, pleading with my eyes.
“This is it?” I asked.
“This is part of the experimental practice,” Dr. Bates said. “It was listed in your contract. You read your contract, yes?”
I shook my head subtly, then looked up. Of course, I hadn’t read a single word. Heknewthat. Because I would agree to whatever it was, as long as I got closer to Julie. She couldn’t be far off now.
“Yes,” I lied.
“Good.”
This went on for months until I had basically memorized the videos. They didn’t have all of the answers, but every once in a while, a new clip would be added to the mix. The faces of men with dark eyes, an older man in the center with peppered gray hair, his three grown sons standing proudly beside him.Learn their faces, Dr. Bates’s voiceover said.And never trust them. They must be stopped.And with these new clips, I’d get another piece of food. A tangerine. A glass of milk. A roll of bread. I ate it all greedily. My body grew thin, my cheeks sunken in, but I learned to live with hunger, learned to listen to the video as if they were a part of me.You can’t trust anyone, Dr. Bates’s voice sounded through the room,Especially not them. Remember, you must eliminate them.
I knew that it was strange, this talk of elimination, but I remembered only one line in the contract:Behavioral Conditioning Program. I figured it was a government experiment, and though that should have unnerved me, Ihadto listen. Had to obey. Because Julie was there, wandering through the buildings too. I could feel her there, somewhere. She was a student who was more likely to cause a scene, but me? I would do what the video said:You must play by the rules. Figure out the game. Decipher the protocol. It will give you a new path to follow.A new perspective on life.
If I listened, did what it said, Dr. Bates would let me talk to Julie.
Then I would get us the hell out.
One day, Dr. Bates gestured for me to follow him like he did every morning, but this time, instead of going to the video room, he led me across the campus between the half-moon buildings.
“You’re ready for the next step,” he said. “Endurance.”
“Endurance?”
On the bottom floor of the building, there was a large empty room with a hardwood floor, and a single man with his arms crossed, wearing a white shirt and pants. I recognized him; he was one of the guards who watched us.
“This is Edward,” Dr. Bates said. “He’ll take good care of you.”
I turned back to Dr. Bates. Take care of me? “How?” I asked.
“In your endurance training, he will be your mentor.” Dr. Bates’s smile widened and my heart sank. “Julie did this too, you know. Passed it recently with flying colors.”
“Strip,” Edward barked. His teeth were smooshed together, like the mouth of a shark, but his arms were large and weighty, as if he could smother me between them. I turned to Dr. Bates, looking at him for help.
“Go on, Ellie,” Dr. Bates said. “Show him what a good student you are.”
I sucked in a breath, then slipped off my shoes and socks. Pulled the loose pants over my ankles, setting them in a pile to the side.
