Kirby had brought Joyce back to their apartment. She talked the whole way home about Juno. She had planned to redo the nursery and wanted the two of them to go out shopping for her. Kirby said he had to go back to the hospital to do some research.

Kirby dug his fingers into the case of his tablet. A few doctors and technicians were hustling down the hall with their eyes locked on the screen in their hands. Cendrowski's office was at the end of the hallway, and the door was wide open. He knew that Cendrowski liked to keep it open to survey everyone walking down the hallway. He saw Kirby walking toward his office, and leaned over his desk.

"How is everything going, Derek?" he asked him. Cendrowski was the only one who referred to Kirby by his first name in the hospital. It was like a slap in the face to Kirby. If he ever called Cendrowski Leon, he would be fired in an instant.

"It is going great," he said taking a seat. "All the subjects have seemed to survive the AQ57 virus. I'm about to assess the males and take a few samples to see if they are free of infection."

"You have not got them yet? Then why are you in my office?"

"I have a question about the baby that the two Rats had."

"Little Juno? What about her?"

Kirby could feel his stomach twist. If he had to go home and tell Joyce that they weren't allowed to have Juno, she would never speak to him again. He finally has her happy again, and he doesn't want to lose that.

He knew that Cendrowski wouldn't give him Juno just because he wanted her. Cendrowski would want to put her into some kind of experiment. Kirby knew he had to make up an experiment so that he could bring Juno home with him.

"I want her," Kirby said. "I want to analyze something, but it is more of a psychological type of thing."

Cendrowski leaned back in his chair.

"What is your idea?" he asked.

"You know about Joyce's pregnancy," Kirby started to say.

"We all know about it," he said. "The first baby to be lost in this hospital in the last fifty-seven years. We all feel bad for poor Joyce."

"Yes, well I know Joyce is very upset about not being a mother. I want to bring Juno home and see if she will transfer her feelings to Juno.It would also be an experiment on Juno. Both of her parents are Rats, but if she was raised in Bright she may not act like a Rat."

Cendrowski was a hard person to read. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and seemed to be staring out into space. Kirby knew that he was deep in thought.

"It's an interesting idea," he said. "Lynch asked me today if he could use her in an electrical shock therapy procedure. I told him I'd think about it, but I like your idea a lot better. This could be revolutionary to increasing the population of Bright. If we're able to assimilate at children into the city we could increase the population."

"So I have Juno?" Kirby asked.

"Yes, you can have her for the analysis," he said. "You can take her tomorrow morning."

"Thank you so much." Kirby's lips lifted into a smile. "Just, don't tell Joyce about me analyzing them. I don't want there to be any kind of bias."

"Of course, I'm excited to see your results."

"Me too."

--

Lynn couldn't stay in the bed. She was pacing around the room and banging on the glass wall. She wanted it to shatter so that she could run and find her baby, but it was useless. Eden stayed on her bed with her knees curled up to her chest.

Lynn hadn't faced any symptoms from the Virus yet, and Eden told her that she was feeling okay, but her chest tightened when she thought about Brodhi. They had infected him with the Virus before giving him the vaccine. If it didn't work he was going to die, and it was going to be a painful death.

If he did survive, the doctor said that he would give Juno back to them. They'd leave this hospital, and never go back to Bright again. Lynn didn't care if she had to run Brodhi's mother's daycare, she just wanted out of Bright.

"I don't know where to go if Sawyer dies," Eden said.

Lynn looked over her shoulder to see Eden was staring out into space.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I live with Sawyer," she said. "Our Dad was sent to a camp when we were younger, and my family got sent to live on the edge of Bright. He's all I have."

"If something happens to him," Lynn said, "you could always live with me and Brodhi."

Lynn didn't mind Eden. She was much more enjoyable than Shai. The thought of Jasper coming back to the house with Shai after their failed attempt to find Todd made her skin crawl.

"No." Eden shook her head. "I can't live in the Slums."

The door at the back of the room slid open and the doctor walked in. He didn't have the bid suit on, like the last time she saw him. He had on a large white coat, a pair of gloves, and a mask covering his mouth and nose. He was wheeling a cart in front of him. The door slid shut behind him.

"Where's my baby?" Lynn asked.

"She's safe," Kirby said. "Don't worry about her."

"I want my daughter."

"And you'll have her. I need to take a few tests before you see her. You wouldn't want her getting sick, would you?"

Lynn bit her lip and looked over at Eden. She sat up in her bed since Kirby came in. Her blankets were pooled around her feet.

"Have a seat on the bed," Kirby told Lynn.

She sat on the edge of her bed. Kirby rolled his cart over toward her. He pulled out a tube, and popped the cap off to reveal a large needle.

"Give me your arm," he said.

Lynn pulled her arm against her body. "No."

"If you don't, you'll never get to see your daughter."

Eden's eyes grew wide. Lynn hesitated before extending her arm out toward Kirby. He tied something above her elbow and traced her skin with his thumb before sticking the needle through her flesh. Lynn gasped as she felt a sharp pinch. She watched the tube fill up with her blood. Once he was finished, he wrapped a bandage around her arm.

He went over to Eden and did the same thing. Eden squeezed her eyes shut and held her arm out. He placed her tube of blood next to Lynn's in his cart. He wheeled his cart back over to the door before turning around.

"Brodhi and Sawyer are alive," he told them. "I need to take samples from them, and then you can see them."

Lynn wanted to say something, but Kirby was already wheeling his cart out of the room.

--

Brodhi's eyes fluttered open to see a few bright lights above him. He tried to roll onto his side, but his arms were strapped on the table. His head still ached, but the pain seemed to dull. He raised his head up and could see that he was in a different room. There was only one glass wall now, instead of four, and there were cabinets along the walls. He could see that Sawyer was strapped down to the bed next to him.

"Sawyer," his dry voice croaked.

"What?" he heard him moan.

Brodhi dropped his head back onto his pillow. He heard a door slide open, and heard footsteps echo as they walked into room. He saw Kirby walk in with a mask wrapped around his face.

"How are you feeling, boys?" he asked them.

Brodhi closed his eyes and rolled his head away from Kirby.

"Fine, be that way."

Brodhi shouted when he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He heard Sawyer make the same noise a few minutes later.

He heard the footsteps walk away from him and then door slide shut again.

--

Kirby was scrubbing his skin as hard as he could in the shower. After removing his mask and gloves he had to go into the contamination shower. The samples had been sent down to the lab, and he was ready to go home. Cendrowski sent him a message, and was excited about his plan, and told him that he could take Juno home tonight. He couldn't wait to see Joyce's face when he walked through the front door with her.

Kirby put back on his clothes, a new lab coat, and pinned his identification card to the pocket. He headed over to Juno's room. He could see through the glass walls that a nurse was in there with Juno. He walked in, and she looked over her shoulder at him. He recognized her as Talia, a young nurse that was normally by Cendrowski's side.

"I got a message from Dr. Cendrowski," she said. "He told me to pack a few bags for her."

"Thank you," Kirby said. "I'll be taking her."

"I grabbed what we get the newborns from the nursery," Talia said. "I hope that is okay."

"That's perfect. I can take it from here."

She nodded her head and left the room.

Talia had already put her in a carrier, and had a bag full of clothes, diapers, and formula for her. Kirby peeked into the carrier to see Juno asleep. He threw the bag over his shoulder and picked up the carrier. He was happy to see that the hallways were empty as he left.

He told his subjects that they'd see each other again, and he wasn't lying. Sawyer and Eden would be good cheaper labour around the hospital. Brodhi and Lynn were a different story though. He'd let those two Rats see each other again. It was only fair, as he was taking their child, but they had to die. When the AQ57 Virus was released after the vaccinations had been provided to those in Bright, they wouldn't die as they were already immune. Cambrie and Zimmer wanted every Rat dead, and the Slums were a test. Every Rat had to go.

Brodhi and Lynn would die together tomorrow.