H.A.L.F.: The Makers

by Natalie Wright

  Elise said, “Tell me their names. I’ll do what I can.”

  Erika forced a smile to her face. “Tina Martinez Holt and Jack Wilson. Oh, and Jack’s mom, Kathleen Wilson.”

  “You mean Vice Principal Wilson?”

  “Yes, that’s her. Is she here?” Erika had met Jack’s mom last summer, before she knew that Kathleen would be her new vice principal. Kathleen was smart and together, and she cooked dinner and talked to Jack. She was, in short, everything to Jack that Tina had never been to Erika.

  Elise looked away. When she met Erika’s eyes again, Erika knew. “I’m sorry. She was one of the first to get the virus. We didn’t know what we were dealing with. Still don’t, if you want to know the truth. I’m – I’m sorry. I really am. Look, I’ve got to get back to work on your friend. You sure you’re okay?”

  Tears rolled down her sunken cheeks. Jack. She didn’t know where he was. He could be dead too. But if he was alive, he had to be hurting beyond what anyone should have to feel. He was close to his mom in a way that Erika would never know with her mom. Jack’s mom was more than a mom to him. She was his friend. The thought that he was feeling this loss – that he was going through it alone … Erika sucked the snot back up her nose and took a deep breath to keep herself from completely losing it in front of Elise. “I think I just need some rest. I’ll be okay. Eventually.”

  Elise nodded, squeezing her hand gently. “You can rest on an empty bed over there, beside your friend. And we’ll need to take some blood and test you.”

  Erika knew what the test would show, but she chose not to have another conversation about it. She’d let Elise take her blood. She was tired of fighting things. “Sure. Whatever you need to do.”

  The blood taker left with several vials of Ian’s blood. It seemed to Erika that he likely wasn’t in good enough condition to spare so much blood, but what did she know.

  There was an oxygen mask over his face and an IV dripping clear liquid into his vein. They’d covered him with three layers of warm blankets. It was probably in the low eighties outside, but Ian had been so cold.

  Erika swept a piece of stringy, greasy hair away from his face. He was resting peacefully. Breathing steadily.

  “I’m going to lie down here,” Erika said. “Can you wake me when you know anything from the lab tests?”

  Elise nodded and went back to making notes on an electronic tablet.

  Erika practically fell into one of the empty beds. It was lumpy and hard but a veritable feather mattress after sleeping on a hard floor as she had while at A.H.D.N.A. future. Erika fell asleep almost immediately. She roused only briefly when someone covered her with a warm blanket. She muttered thanks and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  43

  JACK

  Jack tapped his earpiece and blew on his microphone. “Ed?”

  The earpiece crackled and there was the sound of rustling on the other end. “I’m here. Just had a visit from the woman in charge.”

  Woman in charge? Lizzy. That couldn’t be good. “Yeah? What’d she want?”

  “Just checking up on my progress.” Thomas’ voice became a barely audible whisper. “She seemed suspicious. I think she may have recognized me. We’ve got to move fast.”

  Jack’s stomach had been twitchy before. Now his bowels were turning to water. Jack didn’t know how to respond in a coded way to what Thomas had said. He stood with the wire puller in his hand.

  “Um, I’m ready for you to cut power to this circuit, Ed.”

  “Forget it. I’ve already got the video feed spliced. Went more quickly than I expected. Mask up and pull the pin on a canister and toss it toward them like we planned.”

  “Copy.” Jack’s hand was shaking. He hoped the guards didn’t notice it.

  Jack bent down to his toolbox with his back to the guards. They were talking about sports and largely ignoring him. He pretended to search for the right tool. In truth he unhinged the bottom flap so he could get at the gun and masks.

  As soon as Jack’s fingers touched the mask, he pulled it out and over his head as quickly as he could. With his back still to the guards, he dug a canister out of the box, pulled the top open and quickly flung it toward the guards as he turned.

  Price said, “Hey – what the – ?”

  The crystals inside the canister quickly reacted with the air and filled the room with a thin smoky fog.

  Price coughed and wheezed as he fell to the floor. Davis’ eyes bulged as he tried to unsnap his gun from his holster. His fingers shook as he too fell to the ground. Davis’ legs twitched like a dying rabbit. His eyes rolled back in his head, his face was red and his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. Price’s mouth had pink foam billowing out of it.

  Jack approached them cautiously. They made no move to pull a gun on him. Price’s eyes were glassy as they stared up at the ceiling. Davis’ legs had stopped twitching. Jack knelt and gingerly touched Price’s neck. There was no pulse. Both men had died in less than two minutes.

  Thomas had lied about the Zissnine. Did he think I’d chicken out if I knew it was poison instead of sleeping gas? The truth was, Jack was unsure what he would have done had he known.

  But it was too late to take it back. No reset button in real life. The men were dead. It had taken less than two minutes for Jack’s hands to become stained with blood. He stared in horror at their faces. In that moment he hated Thomas. He’d known he was asking Jack to kill yet had lied about it. He’d been on the fence about whether Thomas was a psychopath or not. Question answered.

  The eyepiece of his gas mask fogged up from the heat building up inside. He breathed so quickly he was afraid he’d hyperventilate. He wanted to take the gas mask off and wipe the tears from his face and get some deep breaths of air, but he didn’t dare. Thomas told him the gas would dissipate to an ‘ineffectual’ level in five minutes. Apparently the gas was an unstable compound when exposed to oxygen and quickly broke down. Thomas had used the word ‘ineffectual,’ not nonlethal.

  “Are you sure about the timing?” Jack had asked.

  “Quite sure,” Thomas had said. But he’d added, “But you might want to give it six minutes just to be on the safe side. And keep your mask on the whole time.”

  Jack planned on it.

  He hadn’t glanced at his watch before he threw the canister of deadly gas. He looked at it now and decided he’d wait the full five minutes before he opened the door to Alecto’s room to be on the safe side. If she got accidentally gassed, their whole plan was screwed.

  Jack put the comm up to his face mask. “Ed,” he whispered. There was no response. Jack tried again two more times, but Thomas didn’t respond. Jack wanted to rant at Thomas and let him know what an asshat he was for lying. Jack decided maybe it was best that Thomas didn’t answer him. Taking out these two guards had been the easy part of the plan. For better or worse, Jack was stuck in it with Thomas if he wanted to survive and get Anna out too.

  The seconds ticked slowly by in what was the longest five minutes of his life. He was stuck in the room with two dead men. He tried not to look at them.

  Jack pulled the neatly folded camping blanket from his box. It was made from an extremely lightweight wicking material on one side and silvery Mylar on the other. Both layers together were barely thicker than a few sheets of good quality paper but promised to keep a camper warm and dry. Jack hoped it delivered as promised.

  Two minutes left in the countdown. The smoky gas had dissipated. He decided to wait the full time anyway.

  The door to Alecto’s room was locked with a handprint scanner. It was beyond morbid, but Jack swallowed his bile and reached for Davis’ dead hand. Jack had expected it to be limp, but it was surprisingly rigid.

  He slapped the lifeless hand onto the scanner, but the lock didn’t click open. Davis apparently didn’t have the required clearance. Jack wondered if the two men even knew what they were guarding. He tried Price’s hand, but it was no more effective than Davis’.

&n
bsp; Jack tried to reach Thomas again on the comm to see if he could override the locking system. Thomas still did not respond. His lack of response had gone from merely annoying to worrisome. What if Lizzy recognized him? Jack had two choices. He could either go try to find Thomas and check on him or continue with their plan. He decided to keep to the plan. Once he had Alecto secured, they’d go look for Thomas together.

  He pulled the gun out of the toolbox and screwed the silencer on like the man at the gun shop had shown him. It took only one shot to fry the electrical system. The door clicked open.

  Jack turned the knob and took a deep breath to steady himself. The last time he’d seen Alecto, she was trying her best to kill Tex and Erika. She had no idea that Jack was, at least for the time being, not her enemy. The entire plan and their ability to get out of the place alive hinged on Jack’s ability to convince Alecto not to kill him.

  He opened the door and sultry air wafted out at him. This inner room was even more dimly lit than the outer room. Humidifiers hummed as they pumped moist air into the small room. The air was so thick with moisture it was like walking in fog. Jack squinted to see as he walked in. Besides the humidifiers on the floor, there was only a bed and a small, wheeled steel table next to it.

  Alecto was strapped to the bed, her wrists and ankles bound tightly. She wore only a hospital gown, and it didn’t cover the bruises on her arms, legs and face. Jack imagined that her torso likely was similarly spotted with purple and green marks.

  It was hard to look at her without wincing. It was also hard to imagine that the pathetic-looking creature strapped down on that table was the same woman who’d nearly killed Erika twice. Regardless of what she’d done while under Commander Sturgis’ command, he was moved to rescue her from being abused or tortured any further.

  Jack tiptoed over to her. She didn’t move or acknowledge that he was there.

  He stood next to the bed and wondered if she was still alive. Her body was entirely still. He watched her chest and waited to see it rise and fall. After more than twenty seconds, there was the barest hint of movement.

  “Alecto? It’s Jack. I’m here with Commander Sturgis’ niece and nephew.”

  Alecto’s great eyelids slowly opened. Her dark eyes searched, rolling from side to side as if dizzy or drugged.

  “We’re here to get you out of this place. We need your help to get Commander Sturgis out of prison and back to work.”

  Jack fumbled with the restraints, his hands trembling, hoping she wouldn’t strangle him. “We don’t have much time. Thomas fears they may be onto us. I’ll need your help.”

  Alecto said nothing and remained motionless. Her eyes watched Jack as he freed her arms and legs. She didn’t use her mental weapon on him. He didn’t know if it was because she was unable or if she’d chosen not to.

  Once the restraints were undone, Jack expected her to rise and beat a path to the nearest door. But she lay there like a corpse on an autopsy table.

  “Can you move?”

  She didn’t answer.

  Thomas’ voice crackled in Jack’s ear. “Jack? What’s going on down there?”

  Jack was both relieved and angry to hear his voice. He answered through gritted teeth. “We’re going to have a talk when this is all over.”

  “Sure – whatever. What’s going on there now?”

  “I’ve had some – complications.”

  “Well, you better rid yourself of any complications. Somehow you set off alarms. The head of security’s on his way to you with two armed guards.”

  “Copy that.”

  Jack grabbed the second gas mask. “I need to put this on you. It will protect you from the gas we may need to use.”

  Jack tried to slide the mask over her head. Alecto chose that moment to rejoin the living. She batted at his hand, flinging the mask to the floor.

  “Alecto, I’m not kidding about this. The guards are coming back, and if you ever want out of this place, then now’s the time. If you don’t put the mask on and I have to use that gas, you’ll die.”

  Jack picked her mask up off the floor and moved gingerly toward her. As he stretched the band over the back of her enormous bald head, she let out an unearthly screech that made Jack’s blood run cold. She flailed at him weakly, but he was finally able to get it on her and tighten the straps.

  “Just breathe normally.” Jack handed her the blanket. “Here, wrap yourself in this. It will dry you out. I know the mask feels strange, but you must keep it on. Do you understand?”

  Alecto took the blanket in her thin hand and stared at him. She didn’t answer or show any recognition that she understood him. But she pulled the blanket close around her. Only her large eyes peeked out from behind the Plexiglas of the mask.

  “You won’t be able to walk well all bundled up, so I’ll carry you. Is that okay?”

  She again said nothing but didn’t resist when Jack bent and scooped her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She couldn’t have weighed more than eighty pounds, and most of it in her head now flung over Jack’s back.

  Jack hoisted Alecto up. There were voices in the outer room. A man said, “The guards are down. Repairman gone. Wait – door’s been breached. He’s in the inner room, boss.”

  “Dammit. How’d he get in there?” Harris asked. He answered his own question. “He’s working with the other one. You two guard him and don’t let him – or it – get out of this room. I’ll go take care of the other one.”

  Jack pulled the mic up to his mask. “Harris is on his way to you, Thomas. Copy?”

  There was no answer.

  “Ed?”

  Still no answer. Jack had no time to worry about Thomas. At least two men stood between him and the outer door. He pulled the gun out of his waistband and flicked the safety off. He now wished he’d brought one of the deadly Zissnine canisters with him.

  44

  ERIKA

  It was dark outside when Erika woke. The room was lit by a lone desk lamp still on Ms. Baumgarten’s desk where she’d left it.

  Ian no longer wore the oxygen mask. Even in the dim light his skin looked fuller and had more color.

  Erika had been stripped out of the hazmat suit and had a bandage on her arm where they’d taken blood. It alarmed her that she’d slept through that.

  She stretched her arms over her head and rolled out of the hospital bed. The clock said two o’clock. She’d slept for nearly twelve hours. She hadn’t meant to sleep that long. Where are Dr. Randall and Tex? Dr. Randall was rightly worried about Tex ending up in military hands. She hoped they were on the school campus somewhere. I’ll check on Ian then try to find them.

  Erika tiptoed quietly over to Ian. At least she tried to be quiet. On the way her stomach rumbled so loudly that she was certain the people in the gym probably heard it.

  “Hungry?” Ian whispered. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her.

  “I’m so hungry I’d eat a hot dog.” The hydration had done wonders for Ian. He looked ten times better than he had when they arrived. “I told them to wake me when they knew something about your labs.”

  “I told them to let you sleep. You were snoring. I figured you needed the rest.”

  “I can sleep tomorrow. What’d they say?”

  “That I’ll be fine. No liver damage. No heart damage.” Ian knocked lightly on his head. “And no brain damage. At least not more than I already had.” He smiled thinly.

  Relief washed over her. He’d be right again with time and food and rest. At least his body would be okay. She wasn’t sure either of them would ever be emotionally okay again.

  He squeezed her hand in his, and the touch was enough to bring fresh tears. She cried silently with joy that Ian would live and ached for Jack losing his mom. All the fear, all the anger, all the pain and hunger poured from her in silent, heaving sobs.

  And Ian let loose quiet tears too. “We’ll be okay.”

  Erika nodded and wiped her nose on her filthy shirt sleeve. “I know. B
ut … Ian, the whole town is infected.”

  “I know. My family is here. They said I’ll be able to see them tomorrow. I guess my mom is doing okay and my brother and sister, but my dad is pretty sick. Good thing I made it back. Before …”

  “Jack’s mom …” Erika couldn’t bring herself to say it.

  Ian dipped his chin and sniffled. “What about Jack? And your mom?”

  If the medic had come back with news, he hadn’t bothered to wake Erika up to tell her. “I don’t know. I asked someone to check, but –”

  “They’re really busy. Hundreds of people, all infected with the crap those damned Conexus made. I swear if I ever see one of them again, I’ll kill them, Erika. With my bare hands if I have to. I’ll wring their scrawny, effing necks until –”

  Erika stroked his arm. “Calm yourself. You need to rest. Besides, I don’t think we’ll see them again. We have their ship, remember?”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any of them here spreading that virus around.”

  Erika hadn’t considered that. It wasn’t a welcome thought. “Well, rest anyway. I’m going to go see if I can find food. Want anything?”

  “A pizza with a side of double cheeseburger and fries.”

  “At least your appetite is back.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back.”

  Ian raised the arm with the IV in it up slightly into the air. “I don’t think I’m going anywhere anytime soon.”

  Erika slipped quietly out the door and into the cool night. The desert air was thick and rich. Her time in the clammy, stale world of the Conexus gave her a new appreciation for simple air. The sky was clear and bright with a three-quarter moon. Erika quietly made her way to the building that used to house the cafeteria and hoped that it still had food inside.