Chapter 271
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When Eve returned to her apartment late Friday night Julia was home. Teri seemed to be asleep, probably for the best. Eve was a bit angry at Teri, what she'd had to do to protect her. But she was much more angry with Julia.
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Eve: You've been bribing the sector guards, right? Because I gave you my account numbers.
Julia: Yeah. I also used to give myself, but I guess they got bored with me.
Eve: So why is a sector guard saying she never got her bribes?
Julia: Maybe she got greedy, tried to extort more from you.
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Although Julia kept denying it, Eve could see from her face, her ears, that Julia was guilty. They both feared that Teri would be woken up, but they still continued their fight.
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Julia: I'm so sorry.
Eve: How could you?
Julia: I was scared, I didn't want to die. I figured they wouldn't hurt Teri, and I didn't want them thinking I was hiding something.
Eve: You did this for extra candy bars and ciggarettes.
Julia: I can still make it right.
Eve: How?
Julia: I still have a lot of what I took, food, ciggarettes, blankets. And the rest, I can pay you back over time.
Eve: Yeah? Ca you take back what I did with her? Make me feel less dirty? Erease my memories?
Julia: Oh God. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.
Eve: Get out. Find another place to live. Do us both a favor and let me just pretend that you don't exist. And if you ever, ever, tell anyone about Teri, I will kill you.
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As Much as Eve tried to sleep that night, Eve kept tossing and turning. Had she been too harsh on Julia? It was true that Julia had betrayed them, placed them in more danger. But really Julia was just trying to survive, and she had given these guards her own body, at least partly to protect Teri. Eve had informed on her friends, on Amy. he'd slept with numerous men at camp 81 to get pregnant, risking this child getting a painful death. Eve was still mad at Julia, like she was still mad at Adam, at Karen. She had reconciled with Adam, but it was too late to ever be forgiven by Karen. Eve knew she couldn't trust Julia like this again, but maybe they could reconcile later. Eventually Eve fell asleep. She wasn't sure how long she was asleep, before the screak woke her up. Teri's scream frightened Eve awake. She tried to get up, which was more difficult these days. When she got out of bed Teri had calmed down, but was still crying. Julia's door was open, but she wasn't moving. Eve and Teri saw Julia, hanging above the ground. It seemed that during the night Julia had fashioned a noose from her blanket, put it around her neck, and hung herself. Eve felt shock, pain, and guilt at seeing her friend like this. But she also knew she had to remain calm. Their neighbors were likely reporting the scream. Eve called the sector police, reported Julia,s suicide. Then she got their home-grown tomatoes out. The sector guards were less likely to ask questions about Teri, if they offerred them some food.