Outside, the air was humid and warm as if a good rain shower wasn’t out of the question. I let the door close quietly and we both moved to the corner edge of the building, Graham first as I diligently checked behind us to make sure no one was within view. He quickly leaned forward to get a quick glance and turned back to whisper to me that there were two security personnel walking along the perimeter of the grounds directly across from where we were. With the building layout being in a large diamond shape they would round one more building from the back way before approaching the one we just exited.
“They’re walking pretty quickly, we gotta get around by the main building,” Graham warned. I could sense the urgency and excitement in his voice.
“Get ready to stay low and close behind me,” he added.
“I will. I’m ready,” I said.
Graham nodded his head and looked around the corner again before he decided to cross the grassy area to get to the next building. While holding the bag in one hand he held out his other hand for me to take. I automatically grabbed it as he gave it a few quick squeezes out of habit. I was ready as he quickly took off with me, our feet only making minimal noise crunching against the blades of grass. Seconds later we rested ourselves against the next building with only the main building, which sat far off to our right, and the garage straight north from we were. The lights flickered again as the reflection of lights from off of the grass went off and then on.
My breaths had quickened while Graham remained almost entirely composed for the short run and burst of energy required to make it to where we were standing now. We continued close along the wall until we got to the corner that was closest to the garage and was it directly north in front of us. I could see the large building, which up until now was in my mind as a much smaller structure. It didn’t occur to me that the hundreds of people who traveled here needed to put their vehicles somewhere although I certainly didn’t imagine a large parking lot somewhere on the premises. The building was nearly two stories tall and just as big as the others. I looked behind us again to make sure that no one was following when I saw the back door of the building we just left now being opened and two security guards quickly stepping outside. Their hurried movements suggested that they were aware I was missing from my room and the search was on. I could hear the buzz from their radio from where I was. Graham saw I wasn’t right behind him and he quietly tried to get my attention. I ran over to him.
“That did not last long. I think they know we’re gone now,” I whispered to Graham who was in front of me as we both crouched low at the corner edge waiting to cross in plain sight of anyone looking in our direction.
We both heard the chatter and buzz going on as radios in different directions farther away flickered back and forth. From the windows above us, lights inside were being turned on, which reflected onto the grass next to us.
“We have to keep moving, the garage is just over there beyond that brush.” Graham pointed with one hand as he held onto the straps of the bag with the other. He gave my right forearm a soft and quick squeeze, which got my attention. Most of my concern came from any persons that could emerge from where we just left.
“Sea, you okay?” he asked.
I nodded my head but said nothing. The fear was beginning to mount up inside. It was the kind of fear that put a solid knot in my throat and caused the feeling of falling. You’d think that of the many side effects of being infected it’d be kind enough to remove the feeling of fear. If you asked me having the virus only exaggerates it.
“C’mon,” Graham said as he took my hand and we ran for the patch of bushes and smaller trees that were near the garage. It was about two hundred feet away and hard to see in the darkness but it was apparent that Graham had become familiar with the landscape during his week here. His helping out with building greenhouses and rooftop planters got him more exposure to the layout, which in turn would be helpful to us now. Graham ran much slower than he’d probably run on his own on account of my being bedridden for the last week. It felt like I was using some of the muscles in my legs for the first time. I used to run more often, for leisure and therefore out of habit I automatically started pacing my breaths so they were more even.
The brush provided some protection and cover though it was already inhabited by the bugs of the night. They weren’t too happy about our intrusion and I had a quick thought to promise them we’d be out of their space as soon as we could. The buzzing and crawling of things I couldn’t immediately see in the darkness had always been hard to ignore, especially when it came to moths, which never flew in a straight line for longer than a nanosecond. From where we were, I could look behind us and see the space we just left because that area had more light nearby. The guards hadn’t yet made it there though I was sure they’d come around the corner at any moment. We were now just one paved road across from the garage, which had a large, commercial-sized automatic door that was much like the smaller ones used in home garages; this door, however, was wide enough for two cars at once. I could see the steel entryway that foot traffic used right off to the side of the driveway. Graham handed the bag over to me.
“Here, hold this. I have an idea,” Graham said as he peered over to the garage and then over past me toward the other buildings.
“What are you gonna do?” I was hoping it wasn’t too dangerous.
He turned to face me, seemingly unaffected by the humming of the insects closest to us. I, on the other hand, was probably more annoyed than usual, swatting and cursing under my breath. Being nervous, full of fear and on the brink of more extraordinary pains at this point I’d probably be willing to do battle with whoever was on the other side of that garage door versus dealing with insects right now.
“Baby, please don’t go all Rambo on me,” I whispered after it looked like he was figuring things out.
Aside from the seriousness of the moment he looked into my eyes and let out a chuckle. “Seanna, you are something else. No one but you would think of someone from a movie right now. Relax, I’ve gotten to know the guys that work in there pretty well. I think I can go and try the key card and if that doesn’t work, I’ll knock. When they answer, I’ll just pretend I’m looking for you as well. Either way I’ll need to see who else is in there.”
I started to shake my head in protest. It seemed too simple to work. What if they’d already been informed we both were gone? What if Davenport was already waiting for us, getting to the garage before us while we were busy checking behind us to see if we were being followed? If they took Graham prisoner I would never leave him here alone to deal with my uncle and his followers. No way.
“Babe, trust me. They weren’t as concerned for me as they were for you. As far as they know, I’m in their little library looking up proper irrigating techniques,” he said as he reached over and rested his hand on my arm. His confident touch, at least it felt confident to me, spread the sense of control and certainty that he would be able to talk his way through most any situation waiting for him in that garage.
“Watch for the door opening. If it stays open for longer than a few seconds it means you can cross over and come in. I’ll keep them distracted, just make sure you get over there,” he whispered.
“Stay low and in the corner, you’ll have plenty of cars to hide behind.”
“Okay… okay, please be careful, if you feel something’s up, come right back. At this point I’m not above hopping the damn fence,” I said as Graham nodded and crept out of the bushes. He looked back over past me before crossing the road, which led to a dead end only a few yards left from where we were. Graham made it to the door, tried the key card, to no avail, all which I could see from where I was in the bushes. I sighed and cursed again under my breath as Graham tried the card again multiple times, each of them denying entry inside. He turned to look at me and then further back behind me to see if anyone was coming toward the garage. He knocked just loud enough to where I could hear the echoes from the vibration of the door. Graham took another n
ervous glance off to the right side to where the road led to the main building. In the distance you could see a few flashlights maybe three hundred feet away. The road curved slightly but you could see three or four men assembled by the entrance. Becoming overwhelmed with worry now, I almost wanted to run over to where Graham was. Realizing it could possibly draw the attention of those looking for me I decided to stay where I was.
Graham quietly knocked a few more times before the door opened slightly. I could hear Graham’s excited greeting to the man who opened the door and after a few seconds of dialogue, Graham was able to go into the doorway. With his back turned to me I could not hear his exact words—only that he was wondering if they heard on their radios or by phone—that I was missing and that he was helping to search for me. I did hear a response in the form of, “Hey, man, sure come on in…When did they last see her?” before Graham disappeared inside and the door closed behind him.
The momentary silence almost drove me crazy. I could now just barely hear the voices of men at the building we just left. They were loud enough that my heart too now moved up to my neck. I looked back one more time to see the men come around the corner quickly using flashlights to search any darkened areas. They moved around to the corner closest to where I was and continued around the perimeter of the outside walls. I cursed under my breath, looking for the slightest light of the door to the garage being cracked open. Any little light would’ve sent me running across that road. I started to think about what I would do if Graham never got the opportunity to open the door. I needed more than just a few large bushes to hide out in, which were now an obvious place to look for me before any searchers made it to the garage. I would guess about twenty more seconds passed with myself huddled alone in that grass before my legs suddenly started moving. I quickly looked behind me to see the flashlights grouped together at the edge of the building. At that moment I didn’t know for sure but I assumed they would be on their way to check the garage next. My guess is they’d also check each and every room in every building, if they had to. I stopped just short of the standard sized entry door that was made of reinforced steel and had only a small eyehole in addition to the knob. I ran to the side of the building and while using the walls as cover, waited for the door to open.
From where I was standing it appeared as if the men off in the distance were not advancing, yet staying where they were––I saw no forward movements of their flashlights. I could feel pain building up at the middle of my torso, which was about the same time my left arm and shoulder began to react.
“Not now, not now,” was all I could whisper, coaching myself into calmness as I crouched down and began to take deep breaths. It had only been an hour tops since I got my last dose but I then assumed that was why they always gave me the narcotic medication along with it, which I hadn’t received all day. Little drops of perspiration began to form on my forehead as I held my sides and tried looking around the corner from an almost seated position. There was almost complete silence and no light peeking through the doorway when I turned back and began to focus on my breathing. I promised myself I would resolve the issue of pain as soon as I had the opportunity.
Chapter Thirteen
Sooner than I thought it took to go away, I opened my eyes a few seconds later after feeling some of the debilitating pain subside. It made me even more impatient and I wanted badly now to deviate from Graham’s plan to wait for him to open the door for me to go in unnoticed. Perhaps I would go up to the door, knock and wait for whoever was assigned to the garage to open the door a little and I’d just bust in forcefully taking one of the cars to get us to the Princeton lab. I let out a sigh of frustration and as if it were magic, the steel door opened a tiny crack. I waited a second; as it did not close back, nor did anyone come out, so I knew it had to be my cue to go inside. I scooped up the bag and scrambled to my feet, ignoring any residual pains that were left in me. Using both arms to get up, which I probably should not have done, as I rushed to the door, carefully peeking through the crack before going in.
I could hear Graham’s voice talking more than anyone else’s as I checked around me one final time before going in. I pushed the heavy duty door open only wide enough as I needed to get in. I noticed there was a secondary heavy-duty lock to match and I reached up and pushed it through in an attempt to ensure no surprise visitors from the outside. Following the plan, I hid myself behind one of the cars, a sedan parked closest to the corner. Graham wasn’t kidding; there must’ve been a hundred cars neatly parked in this garage. All of them were varying in models, colors and sizes as they belonged to the many Next Gen Tech Lab employees who reported in for work as usual or later traveled here in a panic with their families because of the distance and safety from the chaotic danger and mania going on within the bigger city limits. It was here where I would wait for any clue from Graham that it would be okay to come out.
“Yeah, we don’t see any sign of her or anyone else in the building. Any vehicle keys would be in the office and no one’s been in there ‘cept the two of us. I don’t know what else to tell you, Graham,” I heard an unfamiliar male voice say.
Out of curiosity, I peeked––straining my neck to see who all was in the garage. There were two men aside from Graham who walked quickly but cautiously to get a look at each of the vehicles in all of the five long rows. Though they had their backs to me, the one who spoke was slightly shorter and smaller than Graham. He wore a navy blue mechanic’s jumpsuit and tan work boots. The other man with them wore the same thing, was close to three inches taller than Graham and looked to be about forty pounds heavier.
“We should check the office and make sure none of the keys are missing, you think?” Graham suggested as the three of them continued along the walkway that was in between the second and last row of cars nearest to the wall where I was. They walked on a path that was marked in yellow paint similar to the parking spaces. They turned once they were halfway to the other end of the garage, presumably into the office area. It was about a hundred feet from where I was but it was easy to see the light that came through the large office window that looked out into the garage space. Even with the slight echo from the height of the garage, I could no longer hear any of the conversation when they went into the office so I was again forced to wait. I looked to the other sides of the garage and took in the layout. The direction Graham and the others went in spanned at least two hundred feet while the width was at least a hundred feet on its own. The inside was equally as humid as the outside as I looked up and saw large commercial fans slowly turning, quietly circulating the dense air.
Along several spots on the walls for convenience there were basic, older telephones. They became noticeable as they rang and echoed back and forth from each of their locations. The volume was loud and made my heart stop momentarily thinking about the caller and the subject matter to be disclosed to whoever answered. It would be no surprise at this point if the broadcast would be made that Graham and I were no longer accounted for––and were missing. Whoever it was on the line could be calling to put the warning out to call security if we were seen. The phone was midway through its fourth ring before it was picked up. Feeling that I could not be of any help from where I was, I peeked around the corner of the sedan to double check that indeed everyone who was in the garage was now in the office. Holding on tight to the bag I began to move closer to the office so I could get a better view as well as listen in. I stayed low and on the back row of cars before coming to the wall that would be the office on the inside. I could hear the same man’s voice from earlier now talking on the phone.
“I understand the urgency. Like I said he’s standing right here but the woman’s not. He’s looking for her too… I don’t know how he knew she was missing, I just answered the door a few minutes ago and it was only him outside… You can ask him all that yourself, he’ll tell better than I can… Okay, I guess not.”
I heard a sound indicating the phone being hung up. From where I was hiding I could see the
taller man now standing in the doorway looking out into the parked cars. He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He slowly scanned the area as he pulled one cigarette out, placed the pack back in his pocket and lit the cigarette without looking away from the cars. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was thinking while surveying the modestly lit space. I quietly ducked back down to be sure I was well out of the man’s line of sight as I heard the same guy on the phone now talking to Graham.
“They want us all to stay put. They’ll be here in a few minutes,” he said, frustrated.
“Alec, you know I wouldn’t bother you all unless it was absolutely necessary. You guys are good guys, which is why I’m not happy to do this at all,” Graham spoke regrettably.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude, he’s got a gun!”
I heard Alec speak in an argent tone as my eyes widened and my head poked out from around the corner in shock. Immediately I stood up with the bag in hand and dashed to the minivan in the next row. The tall guy still stood in the doorway but was now turned around, facing the inside office. His cigarette was still in his mouth but both hands were now slightly raised. It looked as if he was going to try to take off running but Graham quickly saw this and instructed him to step inside. I couldn’t see the gun from where I was standing but I could see half of Graham from the window. He was calm, much calmer than I would be holding a gun and furthermore, pointing it at someone. Both of the men moved closer together as Graham maneuvered past them so he could be by the door.
“Seanna and I are leaving so none of what happens next concerns you. We just need a car, one with plenty of gas and we’ll be on our way. You guys, take a seat,” Graham instructed after he took a deep breath. As the men were sitting down I quickly walked up to the doorway of the office. I announced myself to Graham, which surprised both of the men. I sat the bag down by the doorway and came into the small office area, which could seat three people at an “L” shaped desk. There was one computer, three smaller monitors, a phone and a set of two-way radios that sat on the mostly tidy tabletop. I quickly glanced at the back wall that had a tall, portable metal utility closet and more importantly a section of what looked to be about one hundred numbered knobs that each held a set of keys for the cars parked outside of the office. It was exactly as described. I quickly turned my attentions back to my boyfriend who could be a little more convincing to Alec and Joel, the name of the other man in the chair according to the name patch on his jumpsuit.
Affliction Page 19
