False Memory by Dan Krokos

Author:Dan Krokos [Krokos, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction - Young Adult, Fiction
ISBN: 9781423154570
Google: IyOZk7ls5WwC
Amazon: 1423149769
Barnesnoble: 1423149769
Goodreads: 10194494
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 2012-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

Choose.

The room tilts, but I hold on to the armrests.

As far as persuasion tactics go, this is pretty awful. I made it clear we won’t help them no matter what they do to us. They’ll have to erase our memories if they want any cooperation, or give us those tattoos. But if I didn’t believe Grace would really kill one of them, my heart wouldn’t pound. My mouth wouldn’t be dry and it wouldn’t feel like I’m the one with a gun to my head.

Grace said they only need seven. But that doesn’t mean they’d destroy something as valuable as a Rose. I have to believe that.

She stands up and leans forward, fingertips on the desk.

“Agree to help us. We can’t just take your word for it—you’ll have handlers. But cooperate and I’ll spare both of them.”

“Don’t agree to anything,” Peter says.

Grace ignores him. “Stand up, Miranda. Look at them.”

I hold Grace’s gaze a moment longer, as long as I dare, then push myself out of the chair and turn around. Peter and Noah kneel with assault rifles pointed at the backs of their heads. Both of them manage to smile at me. It fills me with strength, and something else…something warm. It keeps me standing.

“You should pick me to die,” Noah says. “Peter needs to lead us.” He says it blandly, like I’m choosing something to drink instead of someone to kill.

“Oh please,” Peter says, taking on the same careless tone. “You love Noah. If you pick him to die, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Noah snorts. “Are you kidding? I saw you guys holding hands. I saw that shit. She hates me for what I did to her.”

“I don’t hate you,” I say. I’m not sure what I feel, but it’s not hate. The two helmeted soldiers behind them are statues. To them I say, “I’ll remember you both, even if I can’t see your faces.” The one behind Peter tilts his head to the side, like a dog.

“You have five seconds,” Grace says.

I turn around. “I’m sure I have more. You won’t kill us.” Peter and Noah hid their fear, so I must do the same. I can smother it with reason. The creators would gain nothing by killing us. Instead, they’re about to gain four blank slates. That’s just logical. You don’t throw away a weapon this valuable to gain cooperation. They have other ways.

And yet...

Grace’s eyes hold a crazy sheen, some glimmer of madness.

I was wrong. She’s going to do it.

They don’t care who lives and who dies, as long as they have their seven Roses for the dry run.

Peter and Noah’s faces haven’t broken, but this time it does nothing to comfort me. Give me a sign, I think. Let me know I’m doing the right thing. That everything will be okay. Don’t make me pick.

“Okay, I’ll choose,” Grace says behind me. “Kill Peter.”

Peter closes his eyes. Noah lets his head hang again. I turn around, ready to leap over Grace’s desk, but she has a gun pointed at my face.

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