The door in front of Rose had the same rounded door handle as the one on the second floor and Rose had to give this door several tugs before it opened, metal shrieking on metal each time. Beyond was a large janitorial closet. The room smelled of mildew and disuse, likely not having been entered since around the time of the outbreak. Rose’s high hopes were instantly dashed by old mops and maintenance logs decorating the room.
There was an old desk with a wooden chair behind it, stacks of old work orders cluttering the desk along with assorted wrenches, screws and other odds and ends. Looking around the room, Rose hoped for another door she’d missed, an access panel or something that might lead somewhere else, but she couldn’t see anything. The room was just a janitorial closet, no secret bunker, no hidden lab, nothing. This was it. Rose had searched the entirety of the hospital and came up with nothing. It was a hospital of survivors struggling to make it and help others in a new world shaped by the infected. As much as Rose had willed it to not be true, it was the truth.
Resigned, Rose sighed and walked back across the room toward the metal door she’d come in. About half way across the room, her foot stepped on something metal making a hollow clunking sound as she walked over it. Stopping and shining her light down, Rose discovered a rusted sewer cover. Circular and worn with use, she hadn’t even thought to look down for it.
Rose set the flashlight down, its beam shining across the surface of the cover illuminating it and allowing Rose to use both of her hands. The cover had likely not been opened for a far longer time than the door she’d entered the room through and it took several minutes to get some movement out of it. There were two metal handles that could be pulled out of the top of the cover making lifting easier, but both were brown with rust and Rose could only get movement out of one of them; about an inch, barely enough to get a few fingers under. Picking up the flashlight, Rose took another look around the room for a crowbar or other tool she could use to pry up the handles or the cover itself. The cover had several holes in the top and if she found something small enough, she might be able to leverage it open.
“There’s gotta be some sort of tool,” she said aloud to herself while she searched, pouring over the shelves and hooks that lined the room. Finally Rose found a small metal pole, about two feet long with a pointed end, likely some sort of pry bar. Working the bar back and forth and using her fingers to pull on the handle the slightest bit, Rose was able to work it around the edges until some of the rust began to fall away, the pointed end finally able to find some traction. Working the bar up and down under the cover like she was jacking up a car, Rose was finally able to work the bar under the heavy sewer cover and create a gap large enough she could slip an entire hand under. Now holding the bar with one hand and the cover with the other, Rose hefted the cover up, letting go of the bar and grabbing the cover with both hands. The pry bar, now abandoned, clammered to the floor, it’s metal clanging reverberating around the small room.
Holding the cover with both hands, Rose half dragged, half hobbled the deceptively heavy cover away from the circular opening in the floor. Being solid metal, Rose guessed it weighed at least fifty pounds, possibly more. Dropping one side to the floor, Rose tipped the other against the nearby desk, letting it come to rest with a heavy thud. Panting, sweating heavily and filthy with rust, Rose’s anticipation had again started to grow.
Grabbing her flashlight, Rose shone the light down the newly exposed tunnel and found exactly that, a long, dark cement tunnel with metal rungs embedded into the wall leading down into the darkness. Without a second thought, Rose spun around and began her descent down into the tunnel.
Narrow and only slightly wider than the width of her shoulders, Rose felt she was climbing down the tunnel for some time, well past just one or two floors, but continued on. She was unsure how deep she was, at least four or five stories down, maybe more it was hard to tell. As she climbed, she’d stick her foot down, grope for the next rung until at last, instead of a rung she found a floor. Bringing her flashlight to bear on the platform she’d landed on, she found herself in another room, smaller than the janitorial closet. This room seemed to be some sort of maintenance room with several circuit breakers and other electrical equipment mounted to the wall, none of which appeared to be powered on.
Moving to the only door, Rose found it more modern than others above with a push bar to open it rather than a door handle. Pushing it open, the door almost immediately stopped, Rose crashing face-first into it. The door had only opened about a foot or so and appeared to be blocked by something Rose could not see as the door had no windows. Rose pushed and shoved at the door but whatever was blocking it wouldn’t budge. Giving up on pushing the door open, Rose attempted to squeeze her way through the opening. After much scraping and maneuvering, Rose was finally able to expel herself from the doorway and out into whatever was beyond.
Rose found herself in the corner of an underground parking garage. The object blocking the door was some sort of street sweeper that’d been backed into the corner at some point and blocked the door. Whether intentional or not, the sweeper made the door invisible to passers-by. Close inspection might have revealed the door behind it but judging by the amount of dust accumulated on the sweeper, it had not been closely inspected in some time.
The garage itself was pretty typical as far as underground garages were concerned. Not much special about it beside the fact that it was dimly lit by yellow-tinged lights casting a hazy fluorescent gloom over the whole area. It was also completely devoid of cars; all the spots were empty. Instead of cars, the parking spaces had been filled with cells, an underground prison, about three spaces per cell. Not professionally made, the cells had been retrofitted over parking spaces after all, but they appeared sturdy constructed with metal, rebar and barbed wire. The cells themselves were not what drew Rose’s attention though, it was what was inside. Most of the cells were empty but several contained people.
Slowly, Rose approached the closest occupied cell. Inside was a man, possibly about 35 years old with a scruffy brown beard and long nappy brown hair. There were no clothes to hide his naked body which was muscular and toned. An infected. The man, whose back had been to Rose, must have heard or smelled her and turned. Rose expected him to rip himself apart trying to get at Rose much the way Kate had done when she’d been trapped in their basement, but he did nothing of the sort. Rather, the man slowly padded up to the barrier around him, eyes fixed on Rose, like a caged tiger eyeing its prey. The man let out a low growl as he paced back and forth in front of Rose, his eyes locked on hers the whole time. The man was aware he was incarcerated and was biding his time; a predator waiting for his opportunity to secure his next meal.
This disconcerted Rose even more than if the man had been in a frenzy to attack her. Dr Faraday had obviously not been lying when she spoke of infected who’d adapted to the infection...Alphas. Rose felt more and more uncomfortable the longer she stood in front of the man’s cell. Rose imagined this is how prey must feel when confronted by a predator higher up on the food chain. Humans had been unseated from the top spot it seemed.
However, Rose didn’t have an opportunity to stay even if she’d wanted to. In the distance, she could hear a vehicle descending from upper levels of the parking garage. Moving quickly, Rose retreated to the sweeper and hid from view. The infected man watched her go with hungry eyes but lost interest as a Humvee came into view. It was a military-style Humvee but had the blue letters of the CDC on the front doors. The humvee was pulling a small trailer with a cage mounted to it, very similar to the larger cells in the garage. The Humvee pulled up to a cell two down from where Rose was hiding. As the vehicle came to a stop, several soldiers exited, rifles in hand and immediately surrounded the cage they’d been pulling. After the soldiers, two men in white lab coats exited the Humvee and joined the men around the cage. Rose didn’t recognize the first man: tall, blonde with a blonde mustache, but she could never forget Dr Knight. He and the other man stood near the ca
ge but a safe distance back as a signal was given and one of the soldiers closed in, his movements covered by two others. They opened the cage and dragged a body from it, apparently unconscious.
Rose’s view was mostly blocked by the Humvee as the soldiers carried the body from the cage to a cell and laid it down on a cot inside. Once placed on the cot, all the men quickly backed out, secured the cell and shouldered their rifles.
“Great work men,” said the blonde-haired scientist. His voice was deep and cultured. A stark contrast to Dr Knight’s.
“I was hoping she would be awake by the time we put her in a cell, Dr McNeil,” droned Dr Knight to his colleague, his nasally voice unchanged over the two years. “I hope your men did not kill her. Capturing Alphas is one thing, but we’ve never encountered a pregnant Alpha. Should she die…”
“I have faith in my men Dr Knight. They are well trained and thought it was best she were unconscious for the entire transport. To have minimal impact on the pregnancy, I mean.” Even from a distance, Rose could tell the blonde man, Dr McNeil, was covering for his men.
“Well, I suppose there won’t be much observation time while she sleeps. Would you care to join me for some breakfast up top while we wait?” asked Dr Knight moving toward the Humvee.
“It would be my pleasure, Dr Knight. Alright men, let’s head back up,” said Dr McNeil motioning to the closest soldier. All the men piled back into the Humvee and after turning around, were soon gone leaving Rose once again alone with the caged Alphas.
Rose knew it was a risk going over to the cells again, but she had to see what the men had been talking about. A pregnant Alpha? Was that possible? The infected were still technically human, just altered mentally by the infection so a pregnancy wasn’t outside the realm of possibility she supposed. Was she pregnant before or after she was infected? That added a whole new layer to these Alphas.
The female was still lying on the cot she’d been placed on, unconscious. Naked, her swollen belly was quite obvious, but at the same token, she was not very far along either. Maybe three or four months pregnant? Rose knew what nine months looked like and this woman was not there yet, not even close. As Rose studied her, she began to stir. She appeared hispanic with black hair on her head, under her arms and between her legs. It was hard for Rose to be sure because she was dirty, but it was too early in the year to appear as tan as she did. The woman rolled over on the cot before sitting up, brown eyes wide, but like her male counterpart, the fear in her eyes was not accompanied by a wild rage. The woman studied where she was, then the cell that confined her finally settling on Rose. The woman stood, shaky at first, but more steady with each step and walked up to the cage directly in front of Rose. The woman put her hands on the cage and tugged back and forth several times before stopping and staring at Rose. She raised her upper lip and hissed as her, Rose instinctively took a step back.
The infected woman’s gaze lingered briefly then she moved on to another section of the cell giving that a couple tugs before again moving on. Backing away, Rose knew she needed to leave, the infected woman was awake, the CDC could return at any time. How much time had she spent down here? Rose didn’t have her phone so it was impossible to know. Awake or not, Jamie needed to hear this story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Popping out of the door into the garage had been a lot easier than squeezing herself back through it, but Rose eventually did so and quickly made her way back up to the second floor of the hospital. Opting to leave the sewer cover off, Rose made sure all the other doors were closed. Moving quickly, she needed to get back to her room, change out of her dirty, sweaty clothes, and then get to Jamie’s room. It was not uncommon that Rose would visit her several times a day, but the state of her clothing would draw attention.
Emerging out onto the second floor, it appeared to be mid-morning. The hallways between the wing she’d been in and her own were bright with sunlight, it was a warm day so that meant the only people indoors were there because they needed to be. The hallways would be almost deserted. Rose gave a cursory wave at her wing’s guard and didn’t even look in his direction as she hustled past. Lingering would only draw attention to the state of her clothing and that might lead to uncomfortable questions.
Entering her room, Rose quickly stripped and redressed in other, hospital-provided clothing: a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. Rose went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face and washed her hands, most of the grime now gone. As she was leaving the bathroom, there was a knock on her door and it slowly started to open.
“Hello? Rose are you in here?” It was Dr Faraday, a concerned look on her face.
“Hey Doc,” said Rose tossing aside a towel. “I was just on my way to see Jamie, everything ok?”
“Yes, everything is fine. That’s exactly what I came to talk to you about earlier this morning. Jamie is awake, you can talk with her.”
Rose hadn’t been expecting that for another couple weeks, she was genuinely shocked. A broad smile grew on her face. “That’s great news! Let’s go see her!” said Rose moving toward the door.
“Rose, where were you this morning?” asked Dr Faraday, not moving.
“What do you mean?” asked Rose, her joy fading, her gut starting to churn. What did she know?
“I came by this morning to tell you the news and your room was empty. I asked Sue, the guard at the door, if she’d seen you and she said you’d left early. I figured I’d missed you in passing somewhere and went back over to the CDC wing but you weren’t there either nor had their guards seen you. Rose, where were you?” Dr Faraday did not seem angry, she almost seemed a little worried.
“I needed to go for a walk,” Rose lied. “Doing laps around this wing was getting old so I expanded my route. Was that against the rules or something?”
“Rose, look. We try and keep upbeat here, that’s the job of medical staff, to keep our patients happy and healthy. But you shouldn’t forget this place, Boston actually, is run jointly by the military and the CDC. There’s no government, there’s no democracy anymore. It’s martial law and I don’t see that ending anytime soon. No, you didn’t technically break any rules but...Rose I don’t want you to...Look Rose, military regimes don’t historically have “grey areas” ok? You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Please try and remember that ok?”
Dr Faraday seemed sad, almost like one prisoner rationalizing her acquiescence to a new prisoner. Was this a lesson Dr Faraday also had to learn the hard way? Rose didn’t have much time to analyze it, the mask of the kind health professional was quickly pulled back on, her sad eyes replaced with caring ones.
“Alright, are you ready to go see your wife?” asked Dr Faraday, as though the previous conversation hadn’t happened.
Rose nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The walk from Rose’s wing to Jamie’s was quiet and awkward. Rose was still mulling over what Dr Faraday had said and Dr Faraday was pretending as if the conversation hadn’t happened, ever the caring health care worker.
Rose and Dr Faraday entered Jamie’s wing without incident and went right to her room. Jamie was sitting up in bed talking with a nurse, her complexion rosy, looking almost as if the attack that’d put her in the hospital bed had never happened. Jamie turned to look as Rose entered the room, her face brightening as she saw Rose. Rose couldn’t help but smile. She’d made it. Jamie was cured, she couldn’t believe it. After everything they’d been through, all the people that Rose had seen killed by this disease, here sat Jamie cured.
“There you are,” said Jamie, her voice a little hoarse. “I was wondering when you would find the time to stop by.”
Rose didn’t answer, she just walked over to the bed, wrapped her arms around Jamie and hugged her, Rose’s face already wet with tears.
“We’ll give you two a few minutes,” said Dr Faraday from the door as the nurse left the room, closing the door behind her.
Finally Rose broke the hug and gave Jamie a deep
kiss on the lips. “I’m so happy you’re alive, I was so worried.”
“I know, can you believe it?” said Jamie, unable to hide her excitement. “Before I woke up here this morning, the last thing I remembered was fighting that infected guy outside Boston. Let’s just say I was shocked to wake up here, let alone be alive. Rose, they have power!”
Rose wanted to tell her about her morning, the Alphas, Dr Knight, all of it, but it was not the time. They were safe and alive, both of them. Rose didn’t know how long this moment was going to last and she wanted to preserve it for as long as she could. Climbing into bed with Jamie, they both laid there for some time just holding each other, their warm bodies pressing against each other. Rose softly stroked Jamie’s hair as her head rested against her chest, rising and falling as she breathed. There was a small part of her that was sad Kate had died before this was possible, Rose had never had this chance with her infection, but that was her past. Jamie was Rose’s future and Rose wanted nothing more in that moment than that future.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took a few days for Jamie to be well enough to move from the CDC wing to Rose’s wing. Rose was a little surprised that the CDC would let Jamie go that easily, but they were so confident in the cure, other than a few follow-up blood tests when Jamie woke up, they didn’t really seem concerned about any type of relapse. Dr Faraday made a point of stopping by every day to check on Jamie and Rose who now barely left her room anymore. According to Dr Faraday, almost everyone who lived in Boston and was not immune had been through the same treatment Jamie had been through at least once, others several times. Since they’d yet to find a way to inoculate someone from the infection, a person would need to be treated each time they were infected. However, repeated treatments did affect the potency of the cure.
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 2): Homecoming Page 13
