Chapter Three
Pre-Adoption Blues
Bryce's roommates kept him up all night despite his exhaustion.
He couldn't blame them. All of them had been through hell during the past months.
Paul, who was the oldest boy in the room, was hugging Adam, who was missing his mother. Adam was only five and the second youngest to be removed from the camp.
It hurt Bryce to know that none of them, himself included, would see their families again. He wondered what they would have to do to be listed as suitable. How was a five-year-old supposed to understand what was expected of him, never mind how to do it? Bryce, at seven, wasn't even sure what he was expected to do.
The ten-year-old boy on the bunk below him, whose name was Cole, was whispering and it took a moment for Bryce to make out that he was praying. Not a formal prayer, just something for his own comfort. Bryce caught a few words and he could tell that the boy was asking God for his mother's safety as well as his own. Hearing that made Bryce realize that, like himself, he had no family other than his mom. He wondered who his other roommates had for family, and how many of them would get new families.
At least they weren't being executed. For now, anyhow. Time would tell what might happen to those who didn't meet the criteria for adoption. Bryce remained afraid that they would be taken to the body banks.
"They'll put us to work in sweatshops or in labor farms," Cole whispered when Bryce confided this to him after he'd been silent for a few minutes. "Our organs are too small to be harvested."
"Unless they're needed for rich kids our age," Bryce shuddered.
"Rich kids our age don't normally get those kinds of injuries. They might need a kidney from time to time. But they prefer living donors for those." Cole shuddered, nonetheless. The thought of being harvested in either case was disturbing to him.
The door opened and an adult stood there, looking very stern in the hallway light.
"Go to sleep," he ordered.
"Good night, Bryce," Cole whispered.
"Night, Cole," Bryce replied as he closed his eyes and rolled onto his side.