I rubbed the welt on my wrist. What the hell was going to happen next?

The door opened.

“Time’s up,” Officer Hill said. “Move it.”

I gave a nod to Jim and followed Officer Hill back to my cell.

I sat there for the rest of the day, my whole body numb. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I had no idea what was going to happen, but at least I wasn’t going to have to wait long. Tomorrow was going to come soon enough.

My stomach was killing me by the time Officer Perez brought me dinner. She stepped inside instead of sliding the tray through the slot in the door. “You gotta eat this time, kid.” A nasty stink filled my tiny cell. I was on the company dime until the trial. Which meant the “food” wasn’t really food. It was genetically modified and grown in a lab by SpaceTech. The nutrition levels were there, but it was cheap to make and smelled like warmed-up ass. I was sure the taste would be worse.

“How positively delightful.”

Officer Perez laughed. “You know you made the news?”

Now that caught me by surprise. “No shit?” Why would Jason ever release that footage if he wasn’t planning on sending me to the execution arena?

“Yup.” She relaxed her stance. “The footage from the diner went viral for a minute before the authorities could pull it down, but you can’t unsee something. You know?”

“Yeah.” I couldn’t unfeel his hand groping me either. And knowing it went viral? That meant that Jason hadn’t leaked it. I wondered if Declan had. But why would he do that? It didn’t make any sense.

“According to the story, you’ve got Jim Waterson as your lawyer.”

I didn’t know anything about lawyers, but I was sure Officer Perez would have information. “What do you know about him?”

“He’s the best. If anyone can help you, it’s Mr. Waterson.”

I took the plate from her. “The thing is, I’m not sure anyone can help me.”

“What he did…” She touched my shoulder. “I’m rooting for you.”

“Thanks.”

She left, sliding the locks home as I stared down at the plate of food. “Dinner” consisted of green mush and a slice of crumbly bread. I poked the unknown substance, and it jiggled. It seemed to have a life of its own, and for a second I actually thought it might roll itself off the plate. Nasty. I grabbed the bread and shoved the plate back out through the slot in the door. I wiped the gunk off my finger, and it left a clashing stripe of green against my orange pants. I nearly inhaled the bread even though it was stale.

I pulled up my jumpsuit collar a little bit, so that my hair wouldn’t touch the mattress, and lay down. Not much for me to do but wait.