“Amazing,” Warden Bell said.
“Yes,” Ms. Strepp said, somewhat breathless. “I wish—”
“You know what’s going to happen,” Warden Bell said sharply. “There’s a bigger plan in play here.”
“I know.”
The women turned away from the screen, and so they didn’t see Becca Greenfield scowling at her sister, then hurrying after the guy her sister had just beaten.
65
BECCA
AFTER CASSIE’S SHOW-OFFY DISPLAY IN the prison yard, I was twice as glad that she wasn’t bunking with me, Merry, Diego, and Vijay. They fell in beside me when the alarm sounded for us to go back to our rooms.
“Is your cell, like, really hostile?” Vijay asked. “You and Cassie have both kind of… taken to fighting super quick.”
“Nah,” I said, but I’d noticed the same thing. “Maybe just ’cause we’re used to hard work? So we’re strong?”
“You!” a voice boomed. “You quit talking!”
I clenched my teeth as I recognized the voice of our crazy-house traitor: Tim the Guard. I’d felt for him after our fight, when we were in the pen and he was yapping about being forced to fight, blah, blah, blah. But now, as he stood a head taller than anyone, important in his guard uniform, all I could muster up was loathing. He strode toward me and Vijay, tapping his billy club against one open palm.
“Shut up and hustle, people!” he said, pointing his billy club at me.
I narrowed my eyes and gave him a quiet sneer.
In seconds, he had yanked me out of line, slammed me against a wall, and pressed one forearm against me, right under my neck.
“You shut your trap!” he snarled, then grabbed my jumpsuit and practically hurled me back into line. Facing forward, I seethed and started swearing in my head, and then I realized my pocket felt weird—heavy. I put my hand in… and managed to keep my face blank for the rest of our march to our room. I didn’t dare look at Tim as he slammed our door open and waited for us to file inside, then slammed it shut. He marched off, locking in other prisoners, and I moved slowly to the back wall, trying to get as much out of the view of the hall camera as possible.
Then I turned my back and carefully took my hand out of my pocket. The hand that was holding an apple that Tim had sneaked to me.
A real apple. It felt like forever since I’d seen one. The tasteless mush they fed us had no recognizable real food ingredients, and here I was with a whole real apple.
“Guys,” I whispered almost soundlessly. “Circle round.”
My roommates’ eyes fastened onto the apple as if it were a unicorn.
“Where did you—” Diego began, then held up a hand. “Never mind. Don’t want to know.”
Slowly I brought it to my mouth and bit into it, feeling the skin break and tasting the sweet burst of juice. I almost moaned out loud. Then I passed it to Merry, who
se startled, ravenous look gave me all the thanks I needed. She took a bite, closing her eyes and chewing slowly, and passed the apple to Diego. Diego made the sign of the cross and muttered a prayer, and then took his bite. He did moan out loud, but squelched it pretty quickly, handing the apple to Vijay.
Vijay almost inhaled it, and I remembered that they had all been here longer than me. It had been even longer ago since they’d seen an apple.
We took turns passing it around, and each managed to have at least five bites. We ate everything, even the core, and afterward I was as happy and full as if I’d just gotten up from Thanksgiving dinner.
Then I lay on my bed, savoring each bite over and over, reimagining it, running my fingers against my lips, still tasting the apple in my mouth.
The apple that Traitor Guard Tim had given me.
What was he doing?
Was this a trap?
If so, I had just jumped right into it, headfirst.