I’m up early, early enough that I don’t think Kari’s awake. I pick my way across the room to the closet, thankful for my night vision. Kari had tried to clean up… but she really is terrible at it. There’s still clothes and little bits and pieces of things that I don’t know where they came from all over the floor. Opening the closet, I put on my uniform. It’s been what I’ve worn since… since I started this. I’ve kept it in perfect condition, because you have to. Putting it on, my motions mechanical and jerky, I wonder when this will be done.

When will I get to go home? If whatever the Queen’s doing continues, will there be a home to go back to? If I die, if I’m one of those who disappeared, one of those that simply wasn’t good enough. And this was all for nothing. Nobody will have learned anything, and people will disappear until there’s nobody left. Nobody but the queen, and her ice cold heart.

“Seana?” Kari asked, blinking blearily in my direction. Her hair is stuck to one side of her face, the other side sticking straight up. Propping herself up on her elbow, she rubs her face with her other hand. “We don't have to be up… There’s ah…” She yawns lengthily, slumping back down onto her pillow. “A bell.” she finishes, snuggling back into her blankets.

Even if there is a bell, I know I’ll wake up at this time. I never really wake up any other time, no matter how late I go to sleep. I learned a long time ago how much sleep I need to make sure I don’t look like a ghoul in the mornings. Frowning down at my wrinkle free trousers, I sit stiffly on a hard, wooden chair placed at the desk. It’s uncomfortable, but what in the military is comfortable? I pull out a pen and paper, and start to sketch.

The hallway I entered the building from, the one leading to the dining hall. Our room, and others I had roughly guessed the size of. The room where the troops line up like sardines for the Queen when she comes. There’s so much I haven’t seen, so much of the building I need to find excuses to visit.

The bell rings, and Kari sighs loudly from her bed. So many people to track, so many secrets to unravel. And I’m the one that decides my time.