Chapter Two
Speculations
Bryce sat on the bus, his mind frozen in terror. Less than an hour ago he had wanted nothing more than to be away from the prison he'd lived in for the last few months. Now he wanted to be back there. Back with his mother. Or at least to have his mother here. No. Not here. Here was an uncertain place. A bus with an unknown destination.
There were rumors at the prison of older prisons in far off lands. Prisons where unwanted people were sent to die simply because of the hatred of the politicians of old. Prisons where a short trip on a bus could at best lead a gunshot and a burial in a shallow grave.
Bryce hoped he'd end up in one of these graves. There were worse terrors to think about for those who'd been shipped off on their final journey.
The bus passed the River and went on into the city. Bryce wondered why they were going into the city. What horror awaited there? Then he remembered the new body banks. Were they running low on parts? He realized that the war had meant much of the bombs had gone off near the city. That would mean many of the bodies would either be too torn apart or too contaminated to be used for spare parts.
Surely children his age would be too small for their limbs to be used. But what about other parts? Internal organs that might already be compatible? Was this some kind of morbid harvest?
After another hour, the bus came to a stop outside a large concrete building. The children were ordered to disembark and then led inside. As they shuffled through the door, Bryce saw the sign above. It was covered with soot and grime and he could barely make out the words. One of them looked like it might be Hull or Hall. Probably Hell, he thought. Where else would he end up?
Shaking but otherwise unresponsive to the events unfolding around them, they were led into a shower room.
~So this is how it ends,~ Bryce thought as he and the others were ordered to remove their garments. ~I've heard of these showers from the old man in my neighborhood before we were taken to the prison camp. They'll turn on, but it won't be water that comes from the nozzles.~
But as the showers turned on, Bryce almost sobbed with relief as jets of warm water soaked his grimey skin and he felt truly clean for the first time in weeks.
~Why are they being so nice?~ he thought, distrustfully, as he put on the fresh clothes that were handed to him after he had toweled himself off. It was clear they weren't going to be killed. They wouldn't clean them up just to murder them. Unless this was the final cruel irony. Make the incoming bodies wash themselves before preparing them for the body banks.
They were led into a large cafeteria where they were fed a meal of simple soup and crackers. It was known that they hadn't been fed a lot at the camp and that too big a meal would only come right back up. Then, they were led into rooms which held two bunk-beds each.
"You will stay here for two months for preparation," the woman at the door said as she put her hand on the light switch. "Then, those of you who are suitable will be adopted. Those who are not. Well…" she switched off the light, leaving Bryce and his four new roommates both grieving that they would now surely never see their families again, and hoping they would be suitable for adoption. They prayed they would never find out what lay in store for the unsuitable.