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Beeping machines had kept her awake at night. She had shed many tears for her friend, Lily Meyers, another girl her age sick with AHA-B. One day, Lily’s bed was empty, but nobody would tell Lisette what had happened to her friend.
    Midway between the dorm and Heisenberg Hall, Lisette got a rare glimpse of survivors outside the colony. A tall fence covered in green fabric surrounded Emory Campus, but a piece of the fabric had ripped. Through the opening, Lisette saw survivors peering in with their lips moving and fingers clinging to the chain links.
    She couldn’t hear what any of them were saying above Doctor Martin’s lecture, so she pretended to scratch her ear and removed her earbud.
    “Feed us.” “I’m starving.” “Please, I’ll eat anything.” “Help us.” The raspy voices crackled with fright.
    Lisette reinserted the bud as a wave of panic washed over her. Would Doctor Perkins put her outside the fence if she told the truth?
    With a chill from the desperate cries of the survivors settling deep in her bones, she paused her mobile lesson when she entered Heisenberg Hall. Today was the fourth of the month, an even number, and she took her place in the weigh-in line. The boys and girls ahead of her had even ID numbers, as did she. When it was her turn, she stepped on the scale and said, “Nine four four.”
    “Lisette Leigh,” the ensign replied, reading from a list that matched IDs with names. “Twenty-two point eight kilograms.”
    He entered her weight into a computer.
    She moved through the food line, where the cooks gave her scrambled eggs, an orange, and some oatmeal. After pouring a glass of soymilk, she found a seat at Zoe’s table.
    She let Zoe wiggle her tooth.
    “Can I do it?” Molly asked.
    Lisette pushed her jaw forward, and Molly wiggled it.
    “I hope you stay in the colony,” Molly told her.
    Doctor Hoffer, Atlanta Colony’s chief scientist, entered from a side door. A woman Lisette had never seen before accompanied him. Doctor Hoffer wore thick glasses, and because he had snow-white hair, Lisette thought he was the oldest adult at the colony. The woman had sandy blonde hair and carried a shoulder bag. Lisette leaned to the right to get a better view and noticed she wore a silver necklace.
    Both adults stepped to the front of the cafeteria.
    “Good morning,” Doctor Hoffer said.
    “Good morning,” Lisette said in unison with the other two hundred members of Generation M.
    He straightened his bowtie. “I’d like to introduce Doctor Hedrick, a physician from Colony East. She’ll be in charge of our clinic. She’s also starting up a new program, training ensigns to be doctors.”
    As Doctor Hoffer continued with the morning announcements, Lisette peeked at the boys from Unit 2B eating at the next table. Richard, whose cowlick sprung up like a rooster’s tail, grinned at her and pointed to his tooth. She grinned and pointed at her tooth. He made a funny face, and she did the same. They went back and forth like this, scrunching eyes, sticking their tongues out, and seeing who could make the funniest face.
    Someone tapped Lisette on the shoulder, and heat scorched her cheeks when she turned and faced the magnified eyeballs of Doctor Hoffer. Doctor Hedrick stood beside him.
    “This is Lisette,” he said to Doctor Hedrick. “She’s having an evaluation later on. I’d appreciate it if you could send me the results of the examination before noon.”
    Doctor Hedrick led Lisette outside. “Please, call me Sandy.”
    Sandy’s smile and soft tone put her at ease.
    “Your necklace is pretty,” Lisette said.
    Sandy pinched the silver braid between her fingers and lifted a small silver heart. “My grandmother gave it to me when I graduated from high school. That was a long time ago.”
    She held out her hand. Lisette took it, and they started across the campus.
    “I haven’t had a chance to review your profile yet,” Sandy said. “What’s your last name?”
    “Leigh.”