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government. Maybe?”
    "Government?" Sabine questioned.
    Max rolled his eyes. "There isn't enough time in the world to explain all of this."
    "Where did you learn it all?" Sabine asked.
    "School," Max piped in. "We used the textbooks that were left behind in the schools in Champaign. Of course, they haven't been updated in almost two centuries, but we at least got to learn a little about the old world."
    "So what state is Dallas in?" Ally looked back at the map.
    "Texas," Luke responded.
    "Texas," Ally repeated.
    "What state are we from?" Sabine asked.
    "Okay, we don't have time for all these questions." Luke rolled up the map. "There's something we need to talk about."
    "Like the name of what state we're from," Sabine said.
    Ally smothered a laugh.
    Luke glared at them both. "I didn’t want to show any of you this until we were away from the City, and Champaign. I showed Max last night, and he agreed that we should all know."
    Ally's smile faded. All six of them huddled in a circle beside the fire, watching as Luke pulled a black case from his pocket. It was small, maybe the size of a mini port, and looked solid. Luke released a latch on the side and it popped open, revealing four syringes set into black velvet.
    "Is that the vaccine?" Ally asked. It looked just like the injections Kemp had given her, although this liquid was a purple color, rather than the yellow-green liquid that filled the darts.
    Luke looked around the circle. "My father was able to replicate the serum that created the Exceptional gene. The same gene the darts in your guns have cured. The same gene that Ally had suppressed all those years."
    Ally met Luke's gaze and then her eyes dropped back to the syringes. "So it's the anti-cure," she said with a raised eyebrow.
    "I guess you could call it that." He pulled the case closer to his body. "Basically, an injection of this should turn an Ordinary into an Exceptional."
    Luke stared at the case proudly, but Ally didn't feel the same. She peered around the circle slowly, and found looks of disinterest on Stosh and Sabine's face. Lilla looked at the syringes longingly, and Max appeared to be caught between disgust and intrigue.
    "Why did you bring those?" Stosh asked first.
    She would have expected Max to have spurted the question out minutes ago, but he had apparently already seen these.
    "I think this could help us," Luke said.
    "How?" Ally responded, an angry tilt to her voice.
    Luke just looked at Ally, and she realized that she already knew the answer.
    "No, no way," she said.
    "What?" Sabine asked nervously.
    "He wants us to take them," Max said calmly.
    "Not all of you," Luke responded. "Just one or two. It could be the advantage we need, especially after last night. It will be easier to battle the Rogues if we come across more, and to take on any other enemies."
    "Like who?" Ally asked.
    Luke ignored her.
    Lilla licked her lips. "I'll take one."
    "Lilla!" Ally exclaimed.
    "What?" Lilla said quickly. "I've been an Exceptional my whole life Ally. I don't know anything else, not very well at least. I want it back."
    "You don't even know what effects this will have. What if it kills you?" Ally gestured wildly with her hands.
    "We've tested it..." Luke’s voice trailed off as Ally's fiery gaze met his.
    "Let me guess," she said. "On Ordinarys from the ORC?"
    His silence told her all she needed to know.
    "Unbelievable," Ally snorted.
    "You need to be reasonable," Luke told her.
    "Reasonable?" she responded with a snort.
    "What if he's right?" Max said to her. "What if this will help us?"
    Ally felt her mouth pop open as she looked at Max. Of everyone in the circle, she expected him to have the strongest disapproval.
    "You don't have to take one," Luke told Ally.
    But she could tell that he wanted her to. It would make the most sense, to have she and Lilla take them. They both had been Exceptionals before.
    Luke was already pulling an injection from the casing, using one hand to uncap it. Stosh and Sabine