The worst thing about Green Sector was the memory.

This was where most of the Col's food used to be harvested and processed once they were denied access to the Fabricators. He'd briefly visited with his father before the Internment.

He remembered watching the massive vats of protein-producing bacteria being stirred by hand; they were forced to save power. The pools of steaming grey ooze looked noxious and unappealing.

Further along he saw the ooze being processed, used to grow meat. His father swore that it tasted the same as what the Fabricators could produce, but to Dru there was always a weird artificial taste, like he was eating something synthetic - a little like how his suit had tasted.

The tour ended with him being shown how they made chocolate, manufactured from a dark green algaculture. Despite its appearance, it filled the entire area with its warm, saviouring aroma. Yet, when he brought some chocolate home for Meri she refused to eat it, especially once Dru told her how it was made.

Now that he was back in Green Sector, he was immediately reminded of the smell of that chocolate. It drove him mad. His hunger pangs returning with a vengeance.

This must be how Meri must feel, he thought.

Meri even managed to overcome Dru's story, about how it was manufactured. She would gleefully eat her full ration as soon as she received it. However, Dru could not forget. Most of the time, Meri got his ration as well.

He loved his little sister. He wished she was with him now.

Dru had saved up for half-a-year so that he could buy Meri's birthday present. He'd even scavenged the eyes, although stole was closer to the mark. Then with his mother's help, he'd constructed the doll. Of course, Meri named it Chocolate.

The doll wasn't pretty (not compared to what you could Fabricate before the war – if you had the money), but Meri loved it to death. It was her constant companion, and she insisted on taking it with her into the Internment. He didn't know how she had managed it, but Meri had smuggled Chocolate past the Brethren Mothers. She slept with it under the covers each night.

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Green Sector was mostly deserted. He wandered for what seemed like hours, lost in the tunnels, occasionally hearing footsteps or distant chatter. Once briefly, he caught a glimpse of a patrol through one of the grates, but other than those instances there was nobody. It was vastly different from Blue Sector, which was crawling with Grownups.

He even slipped down into a room, that had once been an office. It had long since been abandoned, stripped of any fixtures and fittings. He snuck out into the corridor to check the location tag on the wall.

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Not that it helped much. Green Three Alpha Quad was not a place he was familiar with, but at least he knew he had dropped coreward three levels.

Dru needed to work out a plan. Since his his escape he had been running, but he had no clear destination.

Food was his most immediate priority. If he could find a reliable food source, especially if it was renewable, he could remain hidden and free forever. He might even be able to track down Gar and the others.

He knew the Grownups still used Green Sector to manufacture food, but the process had been scaled right back. There were no longer any collagen scaffolds, or any aromatic or flavouring supplements. Nothing to make it look or taste like real food. It was just the flavourless gray ooze that he had seen during his visit, or the similar-tasting green sludge.

One or the other was served up in a bowl every morning. At night they received a small cup of white milky drink, that tasted as if it had been made from powder added to water, and not stirred enough.

Together, they were told, they provided all the sustenance a growing child would ever need. Yet unlike Commander Goul, all the kids were skinny and underweight.

Each meal was delivered with the threat of harsh punishment if the bowl or cup wasn't licked clean. Dru hated the stuff. All the kids did. Yet he would give anything for a bowl now. He wondered would if he could sneak in and steal some.

He set off, trying to remember where the industrial centre was located. He thought it was located somewhere on Green Seven, but in the Gamma Quad. They had taken a rim shuttle to reach it last time.

He never even got close. He was soon lost, and had to drop down into a corridor again to get his bearings. That almost got him caught.

He heard the lock cycle and he only just managed to scramble into a vent before the patrol spotted him. He remained absolute still, as they drew near, watching through the grate. All one of the Grownups had to do was to bend down and they would see him in the vent, he was that close. He barely dared to breathe.

Fortunately, they passed by harmlessly. Just as they moved through the door at the far end of the corridor he heard a familiar voice. Galan was amongst them.

As soon as they were out of earshot he bolted, but he didn't get far. He heard scurrying in the vent ahead of him.

At first he thought it might be Manda again, or one of the other Brethren Mothers. They might be crawling through the vents while the other Grownups searched the corridors. Yet it sounded wrong. Too light. Could it be Gar?

Then he realised it couldn't be human, at all, or even a Brethren Mother (he didn't consider them fully human, no matter what they said). There was no heavy thumping, but a light poly-synthetic tapping. Claws, not hands and knees.

It was a rat. Somehow it had escaped The Purge.

Part of him wanted to make a mad dash, but he had just enough sense left to turn off his lantern and wait. He barely even took a breath as he let the rat come to him – he knew it would. Rats are nothing if not curious. He had read about them.

The rat was cautious. It knew something was wrong, but still it came.

Maybe it was lonely, or maybe it had given up hope and wanted the pain to end. Dru didn't know, nor did he care. He was amazed how well he could see in the dark once his eyes grew accustomed to the low light.

He watched the tiny form take a few steps, stop to sniff the air, before continuing. Closer and closer. Then it was within his reach.

He leapt and grabbed both hands around its middle. It had tried to bite him, but his hunger and desperation gave him strength. He crushed its chest and the rat went limp. Then he tore away its furless skin with his teeth and fingernails.

He ate its flesh raw.