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Reached

Reached

Titel: Reached Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Ally Condie
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the new mutation.”
    “How could that be?” Lei asks.
    “The virus changes,” I say. “Like those fish you were talking about. It was one thing, now it’s different.”
    She shakes her head.
    I try again. “People who had the immunizations had been exposed to one form of the virus, a dead one. Then the first round of the Plague came along. Some of us might have contracted the virus, but we didn’t get really sick because we’d already been exposed to it in its weakened form. The immunization did its job and our bodies fought off the illness. Still, we had exposure to the live virus itself, which means we might be safe from this mutation. The dead virus wasn’t close enough to the mutation to protect us, but our exposure to the original live version of the Plague might be, as long as we actually contracted it.”
    “I still don’t understand,” she says.
    I try again. “According to his theory, those who have the red mark are lucky,” I say. “They’ve been exposed to the right versions of the virus at the right times. And that means they’re safe from this mutation.”
    “Like stones in the river,” she says, understanding crossing her face. “Going across. You need to step on them in the right order to get safely to the other side.”
    “I guess so,” I say. “Or like the fish you were talking about. They change.”
    “No,” she says, “The fish remain themselves. They adapt; they look completely different, but they’re not fundamentally altered or gone.”
    “All right,” I say, though now I’m the one who’s confused.
    She can tell. “I suppose,” she says, “that you have to see them.”
    “Do you have the mark?” I ask Lei.
    “I don’t know,” she says. “Do you?”
    I shake my head. “I’m not sure either,” I say. “It’s not exactly in an easy place to see.”
    “I’ll look for you,” she tells me, and before I can say anything else, she steps around behind me, slides her finger under my collar, and pulls it down. I feel her breath on my neck.
    “If the virologist is right, then you’re safe,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “You have the mark.”
    “Are you sure?” I ask.
    “Yes,” she says. “I am. It’s right there.” After she takes her hand away I can still feel the spot where her finger pressed against my skin.
    She knows what I’m about to ask.
    “No,” she says. “Don’t look. I don’t want it to change what I do.”

    Later, as we leave the courtyard, Lei stops and looks at me. As she does, I realize that not very many people have eyes that are the color of hers: true black. “I changed my mind,” she says.
    At first I’m not sure what she means but then she sweeps her long hair to the side and says, “I think I want to know.” There’s a faint tremor in her voice.
    The mark. She wants to know if she has it.
    “All right,” I say, and suddenly I feel awkward. Which is ridiculous, because I’ve looked at plenty of bodies that are just bodies. I know they’re people, and I want to help them, but to some extent they’re anonymous all the same.
    But her body—will be
hers.
    She turns her back to me and unbuttons her uniform, waiting. For a moment I hesitate, my fingers hovering. Then I take a deep breath and pull her collar down. I’m careful not to brush her skin.
    The mark isn’t there.
    And then without thinking I do touch her. I put my hand on her with my palm flat against the bone at the base of her neck and my fingers curving up into her hair. Like I can hide this from her.
    Then I draw in my breath and pull my hand back.
Stupid.
Just because I’m fully immune doesn’t mean I can’t still carry some form of the mutated Plague. “I’m sorry—” I begin.
    “I know,” she says. She reaches over and takes my hand down without looking at me, and for a brief moment our fingers lock and hold on.
    Then she lets go and pushes open the door, walking inside the building without looking back. And out of nowhere, I think:
So this is how it feels to stand at the edge of a canyon.

PART FOUR
    PLAGUE

CHAPTER 19
    KY
    T he City of Oria looks like it got its teeth kicked out. The barricade here is no longer a neat circle. Instead, it’s riddled with gaps. The Rising must have run out of white walls to enclose the stillzone, so they’ve had to use metal fencing instead. I see the hot glint of it in the spring sun as we fly over. I try not to look in the direction of the Hill.
    Others, Rising officers in

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