Naomi Grim: Complete Novel (Parts 1-4) (The Silver Scythe Chronicles) by Tiffany Nicole Smith Page B

brother.
         Starkin
leaned over. "What the hell did you do to get put in here?" It was
hard to hear him over the hammering and the clanking of metal parts.
         "Long
story. I told your mom you were here," I whispered back.
         A
flash of sadness crossed his face. "Thanks so much. How'd she take
it?"
         "She
took it well," I lied. No point in making him feel bad.
         "Shhhhh,"
said the man in front of me. He was an older-looking man with no hair. He
didn't look at me. His eyes stayed focused on his task.
         I
shut up and fiddled with the parts in front of me. I tried to mimic the men
sitting around me, but the parts just wouldn't fit. When my thirty minutes were
up, I had accomplished nothing. Ravi came back and took me to my cell.
         I
plopped down on my rock-hard cot. "Later on, there's exercise time. You
might be able to get out then," Ravi said.
         "Thanks,
Ravi. I appreciate it."
         I
lay on my uncomfortable cot and took a nap. There was absolutely nothing else
to do but count the cracks in the wall. Having a book to read would have made
the situation more bearable.
         I
was awakened by a guard shaking me. It wasn't Ravi, but someone else. "It's
your block's turn to use the workout room."
         Groggily,
I pulled myself up from the cot and followed the guard. He led me to a large
room with gray cement walls filled with men lifting weights and using all sorts
of exercise equipment. The room smelled awful, like nothing I'd ever smelled
before. Perspiration mixed with something else. Several guards were planted
around the room.
         Searching
the room for a treadmill or something easy, I noticed Starkin lifting weights
with DeCarlo spotting him. I weaved my way through the crowd of grunting, sweaty
men.
         When
I approached, DeCarlo took the weights from Starkin and rested them on the bar.
"All right. My turn."
         The
boys switched places. Starkin raised his eyebrows  at me. "You better get
busy. They like to keep us strong for manual labor."
         I
thought the workout room was either a really good or a really stupid idea. On
one hand, they were strengthening the prisoners so they'd be better workers, on
the other hand, they were making the ones who were about to rebel against them
stronger.
         "I'm
being executed, so it doesn't matter."
         Both
boys looked at me. DeCarlo whistled.
         Starkin
looked around and then edged closer to me. "Don't worry, there's a
rebellion being planned. We're all getting out of here soon."
         I
scanned the room. Just about everyone in Gattica was either a Forager or a
Litropolite. "But I'm being executed in less than three days."
         Starkin's
eyes widened. "Oh. What did you do?"
         "I
interfered with death," I answered simply. No need for details.
         DeCarlo
shook his head. "That was stupid. There's those of us who actually want to
be sent on assignments and then you actually get them and mess it up."
         "Shut
up, man," Starkin said to his friend, but I knew DeCarlo had a point.
"I'm sorry."
         I
appreciated his sympathy. "I made my bed so I have to lie in it. I feel sorrier
for my family than I do for myself."
         Starkin
lifted the weight off the bar so DeCarlo could take it. "Don't give up
yet," Starkin said, winking. "Trust me, anything can happen."

Chapter 35
     
    That
night proved to be another restless one. I thought about the reason I was in
Gattica to begin with—humans. I thought about Roxy and Hunter and wondered if
they appreciated what I had done for them. Of course they didn't. They didn't
even know. I had given up my life so they could have theirs, and they didn't
even know it. I wondered how Hunter felt about the fact that I had just
disappeared into thin air. I wondered if he thought of me at all.
         I
had two days left to live. I was informed that morning that my family would be
visiting that day. I had no