Metaltown by Kristen Simmons

people went hungry. Then these scientists started making synthetic corn, you’ve heard of that?”
    â€œI’m not stupid, you know,” he said from behind her.
    She rolled her eyes. “They thought it would end the fighting because people would have enough to eat. They made a ton of it in factories all over the world, but it wasn’t tested, and it made people sick.”
    They reached the donation room, and Ty commanded herself to stay calm as they passed through the threshold. There were stacks of clothes here, piled from floor to ceiling. Shoes, too. Nothing was organized. It was as if the workers had just thrown it all inside and slammed the door.
    Which was exactly what they’d done. Soon as someone at Charity House died, they stripped them, recycled their clothes, and burned their bodies in the incinerators out back. She could smell it working even here. The charred, sour smoke dried out her nostrils.
    â€œI never knew all this was here.” Chip dove into a pile as if he were being timed. Ty didn’t tell him where the clothes had come from.
    Chip sat on the floor, trying on mismatched shoes. She sorted them for him, hoping he would hurry up. He may have been more comfortable, but she was about ready to pop. They needed to get back outside fast.
    â€œSo why do they keep making the poison corn?” he asked.
    She cleared her throat. “They don’t. But too many people had already eaten it, and it was already put in all sorts of food. That’s why you’ve still got to be careful.” She threw a pair of gloves down for him to try. “And that’s why the Federations are all still fighting. Because testing food is so expensive, half the world’s starving to death.”
    â€œWhy doesn’t somebody just make some medicine?” He laced up a pair of scuffed boots, prodding the toe with his thumb. The look on his face said they were a good enough fit.
    â€œYou don’t think they’re trying?” The Medical Division tested their cures on the inmates at the local jail. Sometimes the inmates were released when they were no longer considered a danger to society. Most of them were so sick they didn’t last long.
    A worker opened the door and tossed another armful in. Before the door closed, they caught sight of an emaciated, naked male corpse being pushed outside on a gurney.
    Chip jolted up, face pale. “Can we go?”
    â€œYeah,” Ty said.
    *   *   *
    Later, Ty lay in the bunk she’d chosen, the one closest to the door and flush against the wall. She kept her knives out at night, one in her hand, the other close to her chest, attuned to the snores and heavy breathing of the fifty others that occupied this wing. Chip was upstairs with the juniors, probably curled up around his shoes snoring like a baby. He was a brat, but he was tough, and she liked that about him. She hadn’t been all that different at his age.
    Alone, her mind drifted to Colin, and whether or not he’d found his brother. She hoped so, more for Colin’s sake than Hayden’s. He was a worrier, always trying to keep track of too many moving parts. His family. Work. Cherish. She thought of the look on his face when they’d left Bakerstown and blew out a heavy breath. There was nothing to be done about that, but maybe she could talk to Hayden. Convince him to clean up his act. Colin had called him out more than once, but if Hayden heard it from someone else he might listen. Normally she’d say it wasn’t her business, but it was different with Colin. The things that hurt him, they hurt her, too.
    She made up her mind to do it the next time she saw him, and immediately felt something loosen in her chest. Imagining Colin’s grin, she smiled, and then quickly wiped the look off her face, feeling like an idiot.
    *   *   *
    A heavy hand fumbled over her chest and she bit back a scream. Like a shot she was