The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

the video hit. There were about three hundred people in there when we went in, but only ninety-seven got out. After that, with all the chaos, I came here and waited, wanting to see what the Matrians would do. When they bugged out, I got a few of the other guys who hadn’t been selected for those work programs and got in here to lock it down. Seemed like the best idea at the time, one that gave us time to think about what we could do—which turned out to be not a lot. There were only five of us, not exactly a force for change.”

“I’m sure you did the best you could under the circumstances. And it’s just great we have a place to set up shop. Thank you for that.”

“Well, I didn’t do it for you, and to be honest, we should be thanking you. You helped rescue the king and have been trying to put an end to all of this.”

I felt a frown cross my face at the mention of Maxen and let it evaporate quickly. Mark was a good man, but he was fairly simple, which meant he supported the power structure in Patrus without question. Chances were that if the vote Mags wanted was held tomorrow—the one deciding whether or not Maxen should be in charge anymore—Mark would definitely vote to keep Maxen in place. And this meant that he and I were going to have to disagree at some point.

“It’s the least we could do,” said Violet modestly from beside me, and I realized I had gotten lost in my thoughts. I looked around, trying to center myself, and saw Ms. Dale enter with Morgan and Amber right behind her.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Mark, “we’re a part of this meeting. Can we pick this up later?”

“Of course, of course! I’ll see you then.”

With that, he and the other two men departed, and Violet and I headed over to seat ourselves at the wide conference table. Morgan met my gaze, giving me a fleeting smile. She looked nervous, and I couldn’t blame her… although I was pretty certain her actions were going to speak more to the group than the fact that she was also an enhanced Matrian princess. They certainly had for Violet and me.

I had opened my mouth to reassure her, when the door leading to the server room clanged open and Thomas emerged, carrying a bundle of wires in one hand and flipping through some notes in his notebook with the other. He dropped the length of cable to the floor and then jacked the end of it into the television, turning it on. Pulling out his modified handheld, he clicked a few buttons, and the screen lit up into the familiar display of the handheld screen.

Placing the handheld on the table, he dropped into the closest chair—right next to Morgan—and stifled a yawn before writing a few things down in his notebook. The room was exceptionally quiet, and it was easy to see why. Everyone was exhausted and still coming down from the excitement from yesterday and today, but there was very little end in sight. There was no relief, no one to take over for us while we slept. And so we trudged on, trying to put out fires we couldn’t even see yet.

“Well, we’re all here,” announced a gruff voice from behind us, and I turned to see Andrew “Drew” Kattatopolous, one of the three rebel faction leaders, walking toward the table with Logan by his side. Between them was Mags, still wearing her sling, and she shot me a smile as she plopped into the chair at the far end, opposite Henrik. Owen brought up the rear, and I was surprised to see him there for just a moment—we hadn’t had time to discuss or change his station in our command chain before the battle, but it hardly seemed to matter. I was happy to see him; noticing my gaze, he nodded toward Henrik, as though to explain his presence, before sitting down on Morgan’s other side. She jerked slightly in surprise, and then seemed to sink farther into her chair, fidgeting with her hands. I didn’t even think Owen noticed. He was staring nervously at Violet and me, as if waiting for some sort of punishment. I gave him what I hoped was a friendly smile, but he looked down and away quickly.

Henrik looked up from some papers he had started rummaging through while I was talking with Mark and gave us all a tired smile. He looked pale, and I knew for a fact the man was running on zero sleep, but he exuded control as he leaned forward.

“I know it’s been a long forty-eight hours, everyone, but we have some things we need to discuss before we can get to bed.”

“Like?” asked Drew.

“Like the command structure, the vote, and our next move,” said Henrik, tapping the papers together. “And... a report from The Outlands, apparently.” He gave Violet a pointed look, and she nodded gravely.

“I know it’s not necessarily about what is happening here,” she said, looking around the table, “but you guys will really want to hear this one.”

Violet and I had decided that we had to tell the whole group about the tower at once—there was no stopping the questions, and the revelations we’d found out there were world-changing. Besides, we didn’t want to have to explain this twenty times within the next week; better to get it over with all at once. I guessed that Ms. Dale had relayed our decision to tell everybody about it to Henrik while we were showering.

Violet’s statement was met with raised eyebrows from Drew, obvious interest from Mags, and a curious look from Ms. Dale, who had already seen some of the alien technology.

Henrik nodded. “I have no doubt we will,” he said. “Let’s just get our command structure straightened out, and then we’ll go straight to your report.”

“That’s easy—” Mags spoke up immediately,