Free Compliance by Maureen McGowan

it. We all know it.”
    Cal’s jaw flexes at the mention of my name. “Ansel got into the program, same as the rest of us.”
    “Yeah, but…” Thor runs the back of his hand under his nose to clear some blood. “But someone must have pulled strings. He sucks. No way did he get through the Entrance Trials.” Thor looks around the group. “He wasn’t there on my day. Did anyone see him on theirs?”
    A few boys shake their heads.
    Cal shifts again, staying between the two boys. “Even if you’re right, and I’m not saying you are, Ansel’s got to pass COT just like the rest of us.”
    Thor narrows his eyes. “He’s using Deviant tricks to get by. It’s not fair.”
    “What tricks?” Cal asks him. “Tell me what tricks he uses.”
    “That’s what I was trying to figure out, you idiot.” Thor shoves Cal.
    Cal straightens and widens his stance. “That doesn’t make sense.” His hands flex at his sides. “We were all carefully screened before getting into the program. No way is anyone in COT a Deviant. If one of those monsters even tried to get near the program, they’d be expunged.”
    “One might get through.” Thor’s voice is calmer. “They have special powers.”
    Cal claps him on the arm. “Listen. You prove that one of us is a Deviant”—he gestures around the room—“and I’ll
help
you kill him.”
    I press my palm against my stomach to quell its churning.
    Cal reaches for the game controllers. “Work out your differences on the SIM.” He passes the controllers to Thor and Ansel. “Let’s see a fair fight. After that, we’ll sit down and talk this out.”
    “I’ll cream him,” Thor says. “No matter which avatar I get stuck with.”
    “Bring it on.” Ansel takes a set of controllers and strides in front of the screen.
    Thor wipes the blood from beneath his nose onto the back of his forearm. “Let’s go.”
    Cal stands to the side, arms folded over his chest, as the match begins. He’s a born leader. I’ve always known this but it’s never been clearer, and I’ve never felt more grateful to have him as a friend—as a dating partner too. Pride swells inside me, pushing out some of the dread. If it weren’t for Burn, I could fall for Cal again—hard.
    But this fight proved my love would be doomed. If he finds out the truth, Cal won’t just hate me. He’ll want me dead.

CHAPTER NINE
    R ELEASING THE LADDER’S last rung, I drop twenty feet to land in a crouch. Keeping still, I listen and observe to make sure I’m alone in the dark alley. The moon light has been bouncing off the sky for six hours already and its pale gray-blue tint casts a pallor on my skin. Deciding it’s safe, I run down the alley to the nearly hidden metal door of the room where I have my briefings with Clay.
    Instead of taking rescued Deviants all the way to the Settlement, like Burn did with Drake and me, Clay hands off the kids to a transport team waiting outside the wall.
    After checking again for observers or newly repaired surveillance cameras, I tap on the metal door twice, pause, then three times. The door swings open but wherever Clayton’s standing, he’s shrouded in darkness.
    I slip in, shut the door, and a dim light comes on.
    My breath catches. It’s not Clayton.
    It’s Burn.
    My stomach flips at the sight of his heavy, dark eyebrows, his chin-length brown hair, and his broad body under that long, swinging coat. My pounding heart pushes all my blood to my face and ears. Poised on my toes, my body wants to spring forward, to race into his arms, but my brain holds me back. I feel turned inside out, every nerve ending exposed and firing at once.
    Should I hug him? Shake his hand? Nothing feels right.
    “What are you gaping at?” he asks, his voice flat and cold.
    My throat clenches. “I—this is a surprise.” My tongue feels coated in dust. I glance around the ten-by-ten room with its piles of plastic containers sorted by size. “Where’s Clay?”
    “Like you don’t know.”