“Relax Isaac. We’re safe now,” she said as we followed Williams around the corner and away from the mysterious, sealed area. Indigo gave my hand a final squeeze and let go. I closed my hand, savoring the recently lost warmth of her.
The turn led us deeper into a wing that contained living quarters and a breakout area with sofas and a pinball machine, along with some other stuff. We saw more of the Homeland guards down here, some in uniform but most in regular clothes as they relaxed and socialized.
A short distance further on, Williams paused and swiped his security card, unlocking a door and leading us into a large room with ten single cots, a couple of sofas and a table and chairs.
“Okay, here we are,” he said. “Home sweet home for the next few days. I’ll have some games and reading material brought in for you shortly. Unfortunately, you’ll be required to stay in the dormitory until the Professor gives you the all clear.” He pointed to the far end of the room. “There’s a small bathroom with a shower. The sink has a second tap which is filtered drinking water and there is a receptacle with paper cups beside it. Your meals will be brought to you. Anyway, you look beat, I suggest you all get some sleep.”
He turned and left the room, the door closing behind him with a click. I walked to it after he left and even though I knew it would be locked, I tried it anyway. The handle didn’t budge. Like the shock of our unfriendly rescue (capture?), being locked in a room wasn’t quite how I had envisaged being treated when we reached our ‘Safe Haven’.
“It’s locked?” asked Ben.
“Yeah.”
I walked back to where they were busily claiming their cots and sat on the first one I came to. I gazed at the wall mural that lined the long wall opposite our cots. It was a photograph of a beach with golden sands, palm trees and sea….and happy people laughing and enjoying the sun. I knew the life-size image was designed to make up for the lack of widows and natural scenery in the facility, but it only struck me as sad. A bleak reminder of the world that we had lost.
“Well it’s fair enough,” said Indigo, perhaps sensing my disquiet as she unfolded a blanket and fluffed the pillow on the end of the cot she had claimed. It was two down from the one I was sitting on. “After all, they don’t know us, it would be strange if they weren’t taking precautions.”
“Yes,” agreed Brooke. “It makes sense; I don’t think we should take it personally.”
Ben dived onto one of the cots and turned on his side, with a hand cocked under his head, grinning at me. “I’m sure it’s just another one of their rules. It is Government after all.”
“I know. You’re right, I’m just tired. Why don’t we get some rest? I don’t remember the last time I slept on a mattress. I guess we can finally relax now that we’re here.”
Allie yawned and fell into the cot next to mine. That was slightly annoying, I had thought…well I don’t know what I had thought really, but I felt strangely disappointed that I hadn’t been quick enough to claim the cot next to Indigo.
Ben and Brooke had already disappeared beneath their blankets, as had a yawning Allie. I slipped my shoes off and laid down. I couldn’t stay mad at her for long and smiled when I heard her soft snoring.
Even though it was not the most comfortable bed I had ever laid down upon, right then, it felt like resting on a cloud and I too fell asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.
What followed were three of the best days I could remember having since…well since my parents and sister had died in the fire. They would have been complete if Sonny and Luke had been with us, although of course, the dynamics may have changed if Sonny had been there, him being a grown up and all.
As it was, we were five kids and we acted like it. Now safe and well fed, we got back to the business of being kids and having fun, something that had been missing from our lives for months and months.
We played games, not only the board games that were supplied to us, but silly games we made up. We spent hours one day just playing a variation of hide and seek, which involved one of us taking a Monopoly piece and hiding it while the others looked away. Another day we spent hours acting out scenes from movies we loved.
Best of all though, we talked and told stories and got to know each other as we hadn’t been able to when we were running, hiding and fighting for our lives. Even though I already felt like I knew her well, I got even closer to Indigo during that happy time. Watching her interact with the others, the way she took Allie under her wing and shared her happiness, I only felt my love for her grow stronger. Yeah, I said it. Love, although I might have denied it back then if you’d asked me.
Of course, I hid it well—I was a teenage boy after all. Did she know? No doubt. Even though I wasn’t overt, I guess there was no way she could fail to notice my occasional doe-eyed stare and the goofy way I responded when she was in close proximity. I’m pretty sure she was emotionally mature enough to understand that I was smitten with her.
I think by the end of the three days in the dorm, I had finally let go of the constant wariness that had been an integral part of my nature since the Pyongyang Flu had ravaged our country. I now had other things to think about, not the least of which was the beautiful girl I had fallen in love with.
23
Apart from our meals, we were visited by the doctor every day for a few minutes. He seemed satisfied with what he saw each time, and on the fourth day after breakfast instead of him showing, Williams came back.
“Okay, medical has given the all clear for you to be released into the general population. Today you’ll be debriefed individually by Colonel Randall, he’s been set up in an office down the corridor.” Something in his tone told me he didn’t approve of this. Whether it was us being interviewed by Randall or the fact that he was on Top level, I don’t know.
We were taken out one by one, starting with Allie. I wasn’t able to talk to her before she was led out, but I quickly told the others that no one should mention Huian and her group or Sonny’s link to her. I didn’t want his situation to get any worse than it may already be.
We had a break for a lunch of sandwiches and cheese, amazed and curious as to where they were getting the variety of fresh food we had been enjoying. Ben had his interview after that. He was gone for an hour and I was just beginning to worry when he was brought back in and I was led out.
Thankfully, Allie had told me when she had come back that she hadn’t even thought about Huian during the interview and so hadn’t mentioned her. She seemed a little put out that I was asking her. “I wouldn’t have said anything anyway Isaac, I’m not stupid.”
Indigo stepped in and reassured her that no one thought she was stupid, that we were just being cautious. By the time my turn came around I knew what to expect. The girls said that Randall had been nice and had really just wanted to know how they had fared since the attack, how we had all met and how we had found the Facility.
Williams was silent and unapproachable as he led me to the interview room. I took the hint and didn’t try to make conversation. He knocked on the door and stood aside as we waited a few seconds before Randall opened the door.
“Isaac, come in.”
The older man stood aside as I entered and shook my hand with a strong grip. The last time I had seen him, Colonel Randall had been wearing his white camouflage. In his crisply pressed officers’ uniform and his short silver hair slicked back, he really did look like authority personified. I looked around, taking in the shelves of cleaning chemicals and implements. It was a storage room.
“Forgive the décor, will you? The Professor wasn’t overly generous when he gave me this office space.” I didn’t detect any bitterness, only wry amusement. He walked behind a blue plastic drum and sat down on an office chair. “Please, sit.”
He waved me to a chair opposite his and put on a pair of reading glasses before picking up a clipboard and pen.
“Firstly I want to say I’m sorry if you feel that the way we brought you in was a little heavy handed.
We have a duty of care to the people of the facility, so any newcomers are treated with suspicion, especially ones with half the Chinese army chasing them into the mountains."
“Sure, I understand.” I didn’t mention the unnecessary attack on Sonny, which I most definitely didn’t understand.
“So you seem to have a bit of a fan club amongst your group,” he said, smiling and gazing at me over the top of his glasses.
“Sorry?”
“Your group, they look up to you.”
I shrugged, “I don’t know, sir.”
“Well I know—based on what they’ve been telling me, you’ve gained the respect and trust of your people. All of them. I’ve heard enough to know that it was hard earned and deserved. Well done on getting them here safely.”
“Well, it wasn’t only me sir.” I felt my cheeks grow warm in embarrassment. “We wouldn’t have made it without Sonny or Luke either.”
“That may be the case, but you seem to be the glue that bound them together when things got rough.”
I shrugged. “By the way, no one has been able to tell us how Luke is…or Sonny, for that matter.”
“You’re friend Luke is recovering nicely, I spoke to him this morning before I began the interviews up here. I imagine he’ll be released from Medical in a few days. He asked about you all too. As for Sonny, the Professor has yet to interview him, he’ll need to remain isolated—a precaution, you understand—until that happens.”
I started to protest but he held up his hands.
“Not my call son, the Professor is in charge of this facility. I’m sure your friend will be back with you soon.”
“Okay, but just so you know, I couldn’t have done it without them, it was a team effort”
“I know that son, although you may be underestimating yourself. I think you still might have managed to get them here if things had been…different. That’s what leaders do. Anyway, we’re here to debrief. I think I have most of the story anyway, but I want to hear from you about how it went down after the infection, after the Flu had been released. Let’s start with where you were living…”
I spent the next hour telling him my story. He was a considerate listener and asked questions only to clarify a point or get more details about certain incidents. I found myself recalling my story enthusiastically. It felt strangely cathartic to tell my story and I became so lost in it that I almost mentioned Huian by accident when I got to the part about the gas station. It was only with some swift thinking and talking that I managed to brush over that.
Randall was particularly interested in the last part of our journey and commended me on the attack on the bar. It’s funny, but now that we were safe, well fed and rested, I had begun to second guess what I had done. I said as much to the Colonel.
“No, you did the right thing at the right time Isaac. The enemy isn’t just at the gates, he’s screwed our wife, and is now in the living room with his feet up, drinking our beer. You gave him a bloody nose and something to think about.”
“Aren’t you worried that they’ll track us back to the Lodge?”
“No. Even if they do, the chances of them working out that it’s a front for the facility is minimal, and even in the scenario that they did, this place is all but impregnable. It was designed to take everything but a direct nuclear strike.”
The Colonel wasn’t as forthcoming when I asked about the facility. He told me that I would learn more tonight when I met the Professor.
After our interview he saw me to the door. “After you’re settled into your permanent quarters, I’ll be having a conversation with each of you about what you want to do while you’re here. The Professor will tell you more about that tonight, but I want you to consider joining our ranks, we have a… vacancy we need filled.”
“A vacancy?”
“Yes,” he said, looking thoughtful, perhaps weighing up how much he could say to me. “We lost one of our men on patrol last week and the Professor has approved recruiting a replacement. If you want I will put your name forward, even though we wouldn’t normally recruit anyone younger than eighteen. Anyway, don’t answer now, just hear him out tonight and have a think about it.”
Williams took me back to the dorm and before he left addressed all of us. “It’s just after 1300. You’ll be joining the Professor for dinner at 1900 hours and after that you’ll be taken to your permanent dormitories. Make sure you have your gear packed up by 1900. It will be moved for you while you’re at dinner.”
“That’s shouldn’t be a problem Officer Williams, we don’t have a lot to pack.”
Even though Ben’s tone was friendly and not in the least sarcastic, Williams shot him a dirty look before he left us, the door clicking locked behind him.
24
The rest of that day dragged. We talked about the interviews of course, but it was clear that generally, we had all been asked the same questions and none of us had been able to milk any information of real value from Colonel Randall.
We were all looking forward to meeting the Professor. Not only to have all of our questions answered, but I wanted Sonny released and I was going to push for it to happen as soon as possible. It wasn’t fair for him to be locked up and kept from us just because of his heritage and genetic makeup. I was sure the Professor would be reasonable about it.
As Ben had told Williams, packing didn’t take long at all. Our belongings consisted only of what we had been given since we arrived. The backpacks the soldiers had confiscated from us when we were taken into custody at the lodge had not been given back to us. In any event, they had only contained a few items of clothing, some small weapons and a few scraps of food.
When Williams arrived with another Homeland guard to escort us back to Midlevel, we carried a small bag each that we had been given to stow our toiletries and a change of clothes. That was it. The sum of our existence right then. We followed Williams back to the elevators, all a little excited to be doing something different. As much fun as the past few days together had been, by the last day we were all a little stir crazy. Ben and Brooke had even had a spat over something really trivial while we had been waiting for Williams, the first time I had ever seen them argue.
The elevator was so silent it was eerie, even the doors didn’t make a sound when they opened and closed. We didn’t talk on the way down, the presence of the armed men putting a dampener on our mood. I for one began to feel a little apprehensive about meeting the Professor.
The elevator doors opened onto the lobby and Williams ushered us out. I took more notice of it this time. The reception desk was still empty. I imagined there wasn’t much need for a receptionist these days.
Williams led us past the desk to the large double doors. This time there were two armed guards at the large doors as well as another patrolling the corridor just outside of the main door of the lobby. All of the guards wore Homeland uniforms. I wondered briefly why there were no military personnel. Perhaps they didn’t do simple guard work?
The presence of the guards and the lavish surroundings made the whole thing feel a bit surreal, almost like we were being admitted to the Oval Office to meet the President. The two unsmiling guards looked us over carefully before pulling open the heavy doors.
They opened silently onto a smaller but still large room dominated by a long oak table covered by an expansive white tablecloth and set for a meal. It was a board room that had been converted to a dining room.
At the head of the table sat a handsome man with salt and pepper hair. He was engaged in a quiet conversation with a smaller man to his left. The smaller man was neat and compact looking and wore wire-framed glasses. He was wearing a grey suit and blue bowtie. Given his nerdy appearance and poor dress sense, I immediately picked him as the Professor. The two men looked up at me, the handsome man smiling and the Professor regarding me expressionlessly.
I was walking towards him to introduce myself, when the handsome man got up from his seat and held out his hand. He was tall and well built, with a s
quare jaw.
“You must be Isaac,” he said. “I’m Professor Leahy.”
I tried not to let my surprise show as I took his hand.
“Nice to meet you sir, I’m Isaac Race.”
His hand gripped mine and I had to work hard not to wince as he crushed my hand in his, twisting it so that his palm was facing down as we shook. I knew about this particular approach, my grandfather had told me it was a way that executives and politicians tried to assert their dominance when meeting someone new. A handshake is normally supposed to be a welcoming gesture between people. But allowing your palm to face upward while the other guy’s is facing downward is basically allowing them to have the upper-hand…literally. I was having none of it. Without being obvious about it, I planted my left foot and as we continued to shake, slowly twisted my own hand back until it was level with his.
His brown eyes regarded me determinedly as he attempted to regain his dominant position and I looked right back at him, just as determined not to allow it. In the end his greater strength won out… just, and after shaking for what seemed like a ridiculously long time, he finally pulled out of our handshake and stepped past me to Ben, introducing himself and also shaking his hand. The man I had initially mistook for the Professor was watching me but didn’t get up to greet us.
“Please be seated,” said the Professor, after he had greeted and introduced himself to the girls.
He went back to his seat as we took ours but didn’t bother introducing the other man. A woman carrying a basket of bread rolls came in as we got settled and began placing one at each of our settings. The Professor waited until the woman finished and had left the room before addressing us.
“Thank you all for coming, I didn’t expect that we’d see any more new arrivals, so it’s a real privilege to have you here. In fact, the night you were brought in was the last night the retrieval team was going to be deployed. If you’d arrived a day later, I’m afraid that the Chinese would have captured you…or worse.”
On The Run Page 15
