Reboot by Amy Tintera Read Free Book Online

Ever turned to see who he was gesturing to, her eyes skipping down the One-twenties table. She laughed, and I turned to see the trainers all watching me, matching confused expressions on their faces.
    Lissy opened her mouth and I stood, picking up my tray. I didn’t want more questions or more weird looks. There was no rule that I had to sit with them. I could sit wherever I wanted.
    I strode across the cafeteria, dropping my tray on the table next to Ever. Twenty-two looked up at me, dark eyes sparkling.
    “Oh, how nice to see you, Wren.”
    Ever stared at me in amazement as I plopped down in the chair. I glanced over at Twenty-two’s tray to see nothing but an untouched piece of bread and a brownie.
    “What is that?” I asked. “Did you already eat a real dinner?”
    He looked down at the food. “No. I’m not very hungry. At least, I don’t think I am. It’s hard to tell.”
    “You’ll be able to tell if you starve yourself too long,” I said. “It’s not fun.” Hunger signals for Reboots didn’t come as quickly as they did with humans, but when they did come, they were intense. Our bodies could survive without food indefinitely, but it was not appreciated. I’d barely eaten a thing my first few days at the facility and had woken up one day so weak and starving I’d practically had to crawl to the cafeteria.
    “Clearly you’re hungry,” Twenty-two said to Ever with a laugh, pointing to her massive cheeks. It looked as though she’d tried to stuff every piece of meat on her plate in her mouth at once. She managed a weak smile as she swallowed.
    I must have looked concerned, because she glanced down at her empty tray and then to me.
    “I feel weird,” she said quietly, the distress coming through in her voice.
    “Weird how?” I asked.
    “Like really hungry. And sort of fuzzy.” She frowned. “I can’t be sick, right?”
    She looked at me expectantly and I said nothing. She returned her gaze to her plate in disappointment.
    “The food makes me feel a little better, though. Less shaky,” she added.
    I felt a pang of something, perhaps that guilt again, and I quickly slid my meat onto her plate. She looked up and smiled at me gratefully.
    “You can have my food, too,” Twenty-two said, beginning to slide his tray over.
    I grabbed the edge of the tray and pushed it back, giving him a warning look. “At least eat a little. You need your strength for training.”
    “Why do you get to do it?” he asked, pointing to where my meat used to be.
    “Because I tell you what to do, not the other way around.”
    Ever giggled as she popped a giant hunk of beef into her mouth. “I prefer the meat, anyway.”
    “Do I ever get to tell you what to do?” he asked me.
    “I doubt it.” I grabbed my tray and got to my feet.
    “No, please don’t go.” It was Ever who spoke, her eyes wide and pleading. She looked like the thirteen-year-old girl I met years ago, sitting on the bed, absolutely terrified to be rooming with One-seventy-eight. She didn’t speak a word to me for a month. One day she had simply piped up with, “I’m from New Dallas. You?” and continued talking like we’d been friends all along. She’d had four sisters back home and I think she eventually decided she had to adopt me as a sort of replacement or she would lose her mind.
    Still, I never would have guessed I was any sort of comfort to her. I wanted to sit back down and enjoy the sense of being needed, the feeling of someone who liked things about me other than my number and criminal-catching skills.
    I sat. It felt like the right decision as soon as I did it. Ever smiled gratefully and I smiled back. Twenty-two looked so delighted suddenly that I dropped my eyes to my plate and concentrated on eating my beans.
    A low growl woke me in the middle of the night. I rolled over on my mattress, blinking in the darkness. Ever stood over my bed.
    I bolted up to a sitting position, my heart pounding furiously. Her growling stopped and her