The boy who went next spoke of an accident involving his little brother, who now desperately needed an expensive operation. The boy after him had come from another starving village, but in a different area than the girl from before. The girl next to him had a horse that had gone lame, and her father was insisting that it be shot. The girl next to her had an older sister with an eating disorder.

When it was Wolf’s turn he wondered whether to lie, although he wasn’t sure why he would. It was just some sort of instinct. He ended up telling a very short version of the truth, like he had in the elevator, that he had come here because someone said they knew where his sister was. After Lucy had told everyone about her mother, the man in the silver suit cleared his throat and nodded.

“You are here to complete a program,” he said. “If you complete the program, then you will get what we’ve promised.”

Everyone sighed and looked sort of relieved.

“But there is a small catch,” said the man.

“What catch?” asked Wolf.

“Only one of you will complete the program. The rest of you will be eliminated.”

“But that’s cruel,” said Lucy. “You’ve just heard everyone’s stories. Are you saying that most of us are just going to return to our misery with nothing to show for it, having come all the way out here?”

“I said you would be eliminated, not that you would return. We begin at dawn.”

Wolf was given a key with a number on it and a blue towel.

“Boys, follow me,” said the man. “Girls, wait here. Someone will show you to your dormitory soon.”

Like so much here, this seemed very old-fashioned. Back home some people still liked splitting up boys and girls, but it didn’t always work so well now that so many people rejected these categories.

The boys’ dormitory was just like everything else in this building: stark and sterile. Each bed had been made up with a white sheet and a new-looking navy blue blanket, both of which had been very severely tucked in.

There was still most of the afternoon left, and an evening. The boys filled it playing cards and telling stupid jokes. Everyone really wanted to go outside and play soccer to let off steam, but it wasn’t clear how to get outside. Wolf kept waiting for someone to say something about the cruel competition, and what being eliminated actually meant. No one did. As the day went on, Wolf became more and more angry and confused. He’d come here because he thought he was going to find out where Natasha was—not to be part of some retro reality show. Were they going to film it all? Was that the idea? But why would they bother? No one watched reality shows anymore.