Chapter 230
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On Tuesday Febuary 27th Eve woke up early for her breakfast shift. She was becoming used to walking in the cold pre-dawn moments to the kitchen one day, working in the coal mine the next. Spring was coming soon, better weather but also closer to impact. 509 days as it was. When Eve got to the kitchen she heard voices. More than the kitchen usually had, maybe she had more help today. It was dark, the voices seemed startled. Eve became alarmed at this, she tried to run, but she couldn't get away in time.
Eve woke up in the clinic. Her doctor was a woman Eve knew only as "Miranda." Miranda was on the prisoner's council, but apparently still worked here. Then again, two days until the election, this wasn't a bad way to campaign for votes. Miranda asked Eve her name, what day it was. Eve got all the questions right, a good sign. Eve hadn't seen who hit her, or maybe she did lose some short-term memory. At any rate it was ovious what happenned. Some prisoners stole food from the kitchen, They'd knocked Eve out, almost killed her, to shut her up. Eve had little treats from her care packages stolen. She could handle that, but these prisoners were putting everyone in danger by taking so much communal food. What was worse, the guards were suspicious of Eve now. They seemed to believe that Eve's friends gave her a convincing bruise, then split the stolen food with her later. She knew these guards were her enemy, ofcourse they thought the worst of her. But if her fellow prisoners thought Eve was stealing food from everyone, her life might be cut short. These thieves were called "vultures." Eve hated these vultures.
Ever since 2/4 Eve had heard many theories about George Mason. Some even believed he was the anti-christ. Eve was well aware what evil he was capable of, she'd seen enough of it at St Patrick's. She didn't feel the need to exxagerate his evil. On this day, in the infirmary, Eve heard another theory about the plague. Most thought the plague was a way for Mason and Gardner to kill their enemies without damaging the Arks. Some believed Mason and Douglas were secretly working together, reducing the overall population to make any desperate attempts to storm the Arks less successful. One theory claimed that the Arks would be very sterile environmets, no disease could survive in the Arks. No sick people sounded good, but it also meant that people wouldn't develop anti-bodies. Thus when humans finally emerged they wouldn't be able to handle diseases. The plague would help with that. Those who survived this would develop anti-bodies, and pass them along to future geerations. Those who dies from the plague, would've been unfit for breeding anyway.
While Eve was recovering in the hospital Tara visited her. She was grateful for the company. Eve would be released Thursday, able to vote in the actual booth. There were other people i this clinic, some sick with disease, frostbite, incessat coughing, some eve starving. Tara blamed colonel Sadler, said his guards were stealing food and medicine. Eve figured some guards were vultures, so were some prisoners. With food and medicine low each just valued their own lives over others. And some were making a profit on the black-market. Most likely colonel Sadler looked the other way when his guards did this. He mostly seemed to keep the prisoners alive to trade the wolves for eagles. Eve realied that, like many others these days, her own life had become more expedable.