Chosen Ones by Tiffany Truitt

Author:Tiffany Truitt
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: young adult, sci-fi, Speculative Fiction, entangled publishing, ya, dystopian, biopunk, chosen ones, Romance, Science Fiction, scifi, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), the lost souls, tiffany truitt
ISBN: 9781620610008
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Published: 2012-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

I was to serve thirty years at Templeton, one for every young chosen one killed. I didn’t have anyone’s sympathy. They all wondered why I’d stood up for Julia—they couldn’t understand that I didn’t approve of what she’d done. My people were still happy to go along with the whole ruse the council had created. They weren’t ready to rebel.

The more I thought over my punishment, the more I wondered about the Isolationists. What was it like in the wild, living in the destruction of the Middlelands, caught in the middle of a war between Easterners and Westerners? Had they found a way to be free?

It didn’t matter. Maybe before I could have managed at least an attempt to run off, but the council would be watching me now. I couldn’t earn another slash mark; I didn’t even know what happened when you did. I also had to protect Louisa. And somehow, I knew if I earned a third mark, I’d be leaving her alone.

I was to live at Templeton now. I would only be allowed to return to the compound on Sundays.

It didn’t really matter.

On my fist day back at work my supervisor met me. They were going to make an example out of me. “You’ve really done it now, child,” Gwen said, shaking her head.

“Be quiet,” I muttered, unable to take another minute of her damn superiority. She was nothing. Just some sad, pathetic natural who was stuck here, same as me.

“What did you say?”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Today’s assignment?

We were to get rid of the bodies.

They had been transported to deep in the woods behind Templeton, where a huge hole had been dug. My supervisor and I, along with the newly bruised and battered creator, were to pull the bodies from the transport and place them into the mass grave. There would be no words spoken over the dead. No pretense of religious ceremony.

It took hours to move all thirty bodies into their new home, their eternal resting place. While my supervisor had given me a mask to cover my nose and mouth, the stench of decay was overwhelming. The bodies were heavy. I tried to convince myself the children were simply sleeping, but they weren’t. They were death personified. I felt the softness of their skin, the vulnerability of it. They never had a shot at life, never felt a thing. They never knew what it was like to be touched. They had no mothers or fathers to weep over them.

And I had helped kill them.

I had told Henry where they were kept.

I destroyed these unlived lives.

When we finally finished, I was covered in sweat and dirt. There was a noticeable chill in the air and the sky had become cloudy and dark.

“Am I done?” I asked dully.

“Yes.”

“May I stay here for a while?” I didn’t see why it would matter if I did. My shift was over but I couldn’t really leave. Templeton was my new home.

My supervisor nodded. I could almost detect a look of understanding on her face, but it was too brief to be sure.

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