Read Online The Last Girl by Joe Hart - Free Book Online Page A

The greater good depends upon all of you, and you quibble and fight like children!” His nasally voice tightens as it rises, and Zoey has to resist clamping her hands over her ears. “You should be ashamed,” Carter says, spinning away from them, his tie swinging. Lily begins to rock in her seat, and Zoey places a hand gently on her arm. “Punishment is, at times, the only language that is understood, the only . . .” He pauses, a smile curling then fleeing from his face. “. . . voice that is heard. Clerics?”
    Rita’s and Penny’s Clerics move around the row of chairs as the two women rise. Rita walks with sullen steps toward the right door, while Penny strides to the left. They turn when they reach the wall and stand looking out back at the group. Assistant Carter takes center stage between them.
    “Rita and Penny, you are sentenced to twenty-four hours in containment. No food or water shall be given during this time. You shall not speak to anyone nor have any contact with the outside. Remember, and do not fall outside the rules again.”
    Carter nods to the Clerics, who each scan their bracelets. Zoey looks at Rita, their eyes meeting, and sees her lips are moving soundlessly, repeating words over and over.
    You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead you’redeadyou’redeadyou’redead.
    The doors pop open as if pressurized. Inside, there seems to be nothing.
    It’s not simply dark within the boxes—the light from the room doesn’t penetrate the blackness. The void is like something alive, churning just out of sight past the threshold. Rita doesn’t move, struck by the sight as the rest of them are. Penny only hesitates a moment before stepping inside, disappearing as if she’s been swallowed.
    “Rita,” Carter says. She looks at him, and there is hatred etched in her face, but also fear. She shoots one last look at Zoey before walking out of sight.
    The doors clank shut, latches clacking louder than any Zoey’s ever heard before.
    “Take the punishment of others and use it to keep yourselves on the path,” Carter says. “The greater good is more important than any one life.”
    They repeat his last words in unison, knowing it’s expected. Then they are dismissed with a wave of Carter’s pale hand.
    The dinner chime rings as they move down the hallways, and Meeka shoots Zoey a look. Zoey shakes her head before hanging back behind the rest of the group.
    “I don’t want to go to dinner, Simon,” she says.
    “Zoey, you barely had anything today. You need to eat.”
    “I’m not hungry.” She doesn’t look at him, her eyes fastened on the tips of her shoes.
    “Zoey, look at me.” She does. “It is not your fault that Rita and Penny are being punished. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one that sent them there.”
    “It doesn’t matter. They blame me.”
    “That’s ridiculous. What they did was inexcusable; they could’ve truly hurt you. They could’ve—”
    “Could’ve damaged me, you mean,” Zoey says. “Could’ve made me sterile.”
    “That’s not what I was going to say.”
    “You didn’t have to.”
    A long, uncomfortable silence drifts between them. “They’ll think twice before ever attacking you again,” Simon finally says.
    “Or they’ll make sure they don’t get caught next time.”
    “I’ll protect you.”
    “You can’t protect me from everything.”
    He opens his mouth to reply but stops. She follows his gaze over her shoulder and sees the digital calendar set in the wall.
    “Take me to my room,” she says after a moment. She leads the way and hears him follow a second later.

    Zoey watches the afternoon pass into evening and then into night. The sun slides on its track below the rim of the walls, fading to a glow before it winks out completely. The exterior lights come on, flashing to life one at a time to bathe the promenade in their radiance. But it’s the walls they want seen, even at night. Always the reminder of where they are.
    She