Chapter 11

Tally awoke to strange silence.

"Where am I?" she thought, blinking. The light in the room was not familiar and she threw her blanket off, sitting up. The air was charged with life and she knew she was not home. She blinked again, hard, and rubbed her face.

Surprisingly, she found pain, her flesh screaming in protest. Then, with sudden clarity, she remembered everything. She gasped and opened her eyes, looking around for the first time. Beside her, curled up in a double C were the twins, their breathing finally quiet. Turning the other way, she could see the rows and rows of bunks lining the cement walls. Yellow light bled through the waxy windowpanes, giving the room a strange, stormy color that made Tally hold her breath.

Not wanting to move, she laid back down, staring at the bunk above her. It was like being in someone else's home. She didn't know what to do. She wondered to herself if she should get up or stay down. Finally, she decided that she didn't want to make a wrong move and tried to fall back asleep.

It was impossible. The unfamiliar light kept her awake and Tally was reminded of the time she had slept over at a friend's house as a littlie. She had woken early, well before anyone else, and had experienced the same feeling of displacement, of blunt intrusion.

She sighed and turned over. She was three bunks up, about halfway up the wall, and she could see everyone in the row over. One boy in the bunk below hers turned over and let out a loud snore. The kid next to him groaned and pressed his face into his pillow. A few bunks up, a girl with long braids coughed and flipped over on her mattress. Her leg slid over the edge of the bunk and hung there, dangling, fifteen feet up. Tally watched with tense interest for a moment before the girl stretched and pulled her leg back up.

Then, quiet. Tally scanned the bunks for any signs that someone was ready to get up and relieve her of the duty of being the only one awake, but it was still very early and no one seemed inclined to leave the warmth of sleep yet. Frustrated and being to feel uncomfortable, Tally pulled the blankets back up and closed her eyes.

Then, what seemed like moments later, someone was shaking her awake.

"Come on, greenie. Get up!" It was Bren. Or maybe Torin. Tally stretched and opened one eye.

"Hmm? What time is it?"

"Almost nine. Better get up. Roll call is in, like, fifteen minutes and they don't like it when people sleep in."

"Mm." Tally groaned and curled back into the warmth her body had created, but it wasn't as comfortable. "Why do we have to get up so early?" she moaned, clearing her throat.

"We have work. Come on, I'm gonna get in trouble." The twin poked her and shimmied down the ladder to the ground.

"Work?" Tally sat up and pulled the blanket up with her, trying to keep out the cold. "What work?" But she got up nevertheless, shivering in her pajamas.

Below, the ground was teeming with people. The barrack was quite large and split into sections. On each end was a bathroom with five rows of bunks climbing the walls. Then, another five bunks running the opposite wall, then another bathroom, and so on, all the way down. Between them, on the back walls, were doors leading to the kitchens, dressing rooms, and the commons. People swarmed in and out in various states of dress and cleanliness. As Tally stepped from the ladder, a boy in pajama bottoms brushed past her with a toothbrush in his mouth. Tally stepped back in surprise, unsure where to go. She slunk against the bunks, edging towards the bathroom.

"Hey! Tally, over here!" Relieved, Tally turned to see Wyle beckoning towards her. She rushed towards him.

"Lot of people," she said unnecessarily, waving a hand.

"Yeah," Wyle agreed cheerfully. "Bit confusing at first, so let me show you how things work. Come here." He waved to Tally to follow him and she stumbled behind him into the bathroom. The room was low with toilets on one side and a row of sinks on the other.

"The showers are upstairs," Wyle explained. "You can check it out later. Here." He motioned to a small panel on the wall. "This is a requisition pad. If you want something, you just touch the panel and select what you need." He demonstrated, pressing a pudgy hand to the greasy black screen and smiling as it blinked to life.

"Good morning. Please make selection," it beeped. Wyle pressed a small icon and the panel blinked again.

"Now dispensing," the machine announced and a moment later, a slot beneath the panel opened and dropped a pair of small, pink toothpaste pills into the tray. Gratefully, Tally took the tablets and chewed them until her mouth felt clean. Then, quickly, she washed her still-tender face and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"You can shower later," Wyle said. "Here, we gotta get dressed quick. Roll call is in five minutes and they like everybody to be all ready to go when they get here. Wyle led Tally to one of the small rooms between the bunks. Inside were more panels. This time, Tally reached out and touched one.

"Good morning. Please make selection," it chirped and Tally saw icons depicting different color coveralls.

"The youth units get blue," Wyle explained, reaching over Tally and pressing the icon. "Makes us easy to see against the dirt."

"Size?" the panel asked, and Tally quickly pressed small.

"Now dispensing. Please wait." A rack of coveralls screeched by and finally extended a metal arm, the coveralls swaying. Tally took them, then noticed that Wyle was still there, getting his own clothes.

"Um," Tally said, but Wyle didn't seem to notice. He undressed and put on his coveralls right there.

"No privacy here," he said as he walked past. "See you at roll call."

Feeling a bit sick, Tally quickly stripped off her clothes and pulled on her coveralls as fast as she could. The material was heavy and rough, not at all like the smooth, seamless clothing that Pretties had. On the front was a patch that said, "E.I. Youth Unit 1407." There were two wide side pockets and no collar. Feeling strange in her new garments, Tally hurried back out the main barrack for roll call.

Again, Wyle waved her over. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Itchy."

"You get used to that."

"Hey, Wyle," she said suddenly. "What does E.I. stand for?" She gestured to the patch on her chest.

Wyle blinked, and then smiled bitterly.

"Error Isolation," he said finally, and laughed without humor.

A/N: Please review. I'm interested to really hear what you guys think of this so far and what you'd like to see happen. - Bellz