Z 2134

are you doing this? You put my dad and sister in jail. Why are you being so nice to me?”
    “Because, son, I don’t hold the sins of your father or sister against you. Plus, you remind me a lot of my own son.”
    Adam’s next words fell out in a whisper. “You have a son?”
    “I did, but he died in a bombing by The Underground several years ago. I see much of him in you — a quiet intelligence and kindness that stupid people mistake for weakness. The City should look up to kids like you, helping them grow into tomorrow’s leaders, rather than turning them into tomorrow’s troubled prisoners and Quarters scum. Now,” he gave Adam one final smile, “get out of here and make me proud. We’ll be talking soon.”
    “Thank you,” Adam said, then left the schoolmaster’s office feeling a foot and a half taller.

    Adam held the mini-stunner in his pocket. Like Keller’s warm smile and promises, the tiny weapon filled him with confidence.
    He waited all day for one of the trio to mess with him, almost eager, though he’d never sought confrontation before.
    After a late afternoon snack, with his tray cleared and the Chimney Rock gruel swirling in the pit of his stomach, he nearly bumped into Jayla. She smiled, but only for a second, hanging on the top of another look Adam couldn’t place — sort of afraid, but mostly confused.
    Her friend — a girl Adam had never seen before, and not one of the original three who had been with them in the kitchen — had kept walking and called back for Jayla as they headed to the classrooms. The half-smile fell from her face, and she ran after her friend without a word to Adam.
    He felt an odd sort of empty inside, all shell and no meat.
    The day’s remainder passed without incident. Adam ate his rations at dinner, as alone as he’d eaten his breakfast and lunch, feeling a fresh and horrible sort of invisible. Sick to his stomach, he barely picked at his rations, chewing without tasting, and swallowing without chewing. He dumped his tray, still half full, into the trashcan. He may have been the only one in the orphanage to do that. Even terrible, it was still food, and the only choice they had.
    Adam set his empty tray on the stack, then headed for the bathroom.
    He stepped inside, glad it was empty. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in the bathroom alone with another boy — always so awkward, even when he was only going number one.
    Adam opened the empty stall, then sat to pee like always, feeling the usual flutter of guilt for not standing like his father taught him. His heart fell to his belly as he heard the door swung open and bang into the wall, followed by the unmistakable voice of Morgan.
    “So, Freak, I heard you were called to the office today. What was that all about?”
    “Nothing,” Adam said, his voice quivering from nerves. He still had the mini-stunner in his pocket but was suddenly afraid to use it, especially once he heard Tommy and Daniel were outside the stall beside Morgan.
    Tommy said, “I can smell your shit,” even though Adam was only going piss.
    “Hurry the fuck up,” Morgan said. “We’d like to kill you before it’s time for pudding.”
    He couldn’t use his mini-stunner if all three attacked at the same time. Adam thought of a hundred questions he wished he’d thought to ask Keller, starting with how many charges the stunner was good for.
    Morgan’s fist was on the stall door as his voice echoed off the bathroom walls.
    Adam prayed for someone to come in.
    “Bullshit,” Morgan said. “You ratted us out again, didn’t you?”
    Adam said nothing until Morgan’s fist beat on the stall hard enough to scare him into an answer. “No,” he squeaked, hating himself for feeling so small, especially with the stunner in his pocket. “I didn’t rat you out to anyone. They took me to the schoolmaster’s office, but I didn’t say a word!”
    “Bullshit!” Morgan yelled.
    Suddenly the stall door burst open, breaking the latch, the piece of metal flying straight at Adam’s chest before falling to the ground.
    Adam jumped, yanking his pants up as the three boys laughed and rushed at him, pulling him from the stall and throwing him to the ground.
    Before he knew what was happening, Morgan’s hand was deep in Adam’s hair, fingers curling into a clump and dragging him back to the toilet by the root. “Admit you ratted us out, freaktard!” Morgan screamed.
    Adam said nothing as Morgan shoved his head into the toilet. His