The most profound silence I’d ever experienced in my life was the complete and total lack of sound- besides my own bodily functions- that had been the environment of the hellish nightmare called the Box.The second? That was the silence that blanketed the dining hall when I arrived from the medical ward.I looked around, keeping my gaze casual, and spotted the rest of my squad at the back of the hall. Forty-Five actively avoided looking at me, but the rest started whistling and clapping when they saw me.As did a lot of others. I guess the warden at the door to the Box hadn’t been kidding when he said that survivors of level four were legendary. Granted, I’d been sent to the infirmary to thaw out… but I’d survived the entire punishment just the same. I figured I’d earned the noto

General Case called Forty up and asked her a few questions about her treatment by Captain Beta since her promotion. She said that she generally felt that he was accepting of her presence, but she didn’t feel respected. By him or anyone else.Except for me. I’d saved her life.“Were you aware of the fact that Forty-Two lied to his superior officer about what happened during the raid?” General Case asked sternly.“I was aware that he gave an account that was not in line with the facts, but it sounded like it was his interpretation of the situation,” she clarified hotly. “It was a perfectly understandable interpretation. I asked him later if he’d lied and he admitted that he had, but at the time we were speaking with the captain, I didn’t know that he was lying.&rdq

“Well? Have you heard anything?” Forty-Five whispered to me.I shook my head, shoveling my breakfast in as fast as I could. Scavenging today… and Forty was already cracking the whip.“Nothing,” I said. “If he was sentenced, they didn’t say anything to us about it.”Forty-Five nodded with a frown. “Odd… usually if they execute someone, they make it pretty public.”We finished eating and headed for the door to meet Forty. I was stopped there by General Case himself. “Beta Forty-Two… come with me. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”I nodded, avoiding looking at anyone on the squad. If they were going to pull off our little sh

We both managed to scrape together a respectable number of items before heading back into the Underground. We were exhausted and overheated, but I was at least hopeful. I had a decent shortlist of ideas as to what the tablet passcode might be, but there was no way I was going to attempt to get into it until I was alone.After dinner, as promised- or threatened, really- Forty put us through sprints until we were ready to puke. Fortunately, she let us go after that, telling us that we needed to get some rest. “Everyone meets in the dining hall at oh-six-hundred for instructions on the raid,” she told us. “At this point, we still don’t have the final plan… Command is still waiting for some last-second data before settling on a strategy. Last I heard, the general idea is that we keep the guards at the entrance busy while another team actually goes into the building.”

Bright and early- about an hour before we were usually yanked out of bed, Forty came to my room and unceremoniously flopped on my bed, startling me out of a sound sleep. “Hey… wake up,” she said, her voice sounding cross.I rolled over and looked up at her. “Oh… hi. Did they tell you the plan?”She sighed. “The plan… it’s what we thought. Grandpa hoped you would be able to activate your tablet so we could just waltz in there, massacre the guards, and waltz back out with everything they’ve got. Obviously, that’s not going to happen now, and he’s pretty pissed. He told me that if I survive this raid without taking an injury, I can keep my rank. If I’m injured, he’ll bounce me back to Delta foot soldier.”“If you die, obv