“You weren’t lying about the decontamination. That was horrible. How can you do that all the time?” she asks, clutching her chest.
“I only use it when absolutely necessary. It doesn’t get any better, but at least you know what to expect for next time,” I offer, knowing that is of little consolation.
I return to my changing station and take the bio-suit off, piece by piece. This one needs to be quietly switched back with my original bio-suit, except for the damaged shoe, so no one notices. Then I can continue to use this bio-suit without worry of tampering. By the time the suit is off, the others have all arrived. When they are all changing, I make the switch. Nyree notices, but does not say anything as she leaves the room. After the switch is complete, I follow her. We are free of the surface for the day, but that does not mean I am out of danger. Soon the others will join us. With them around, I must always be vigilant, especially since we will be confined in the same room tonight.
Chapter 22
Before the others arrive, Nyree and I head down the hall, going to the room designated as our sleeping quarters during the detail. The room is much larger than our standard quarters, with enough space for six beds to be lined along the walls without stacking. The flooring is almost as soft as Mr. Vaden’s offices. In the center of the room, a couch and multiple chairs are arranged as an additional resting area. I may not be looking forward to the company, but at least the room looks comfortable.
By the time I finish surveying the area, Nyree has already chosen her bunk. I pick the one closest to hers and pull back the blanket to mark it as mine before going to the couch. We typically do not get such a large and cushioned seat, so I take full advantage of the extra benefit. Not long after sitting down, I start shifting back and forth, already bored. From my chair, all I see are the uninteresting, bare walls. They are colored with a warm, earthy-brown tone, which is a pleasing change compared to the typical metal grey in most areas. This is a luxurious room, but after spending the day on the surface, the space feels cramped and suffocating. The others trickle in until the room becomes full, making me feel even more confined.
“Good thing you had your partner nearby. How’s the ankle?” Balum asks while sitting down across from me.
“It’s fine,” I answer tersely, not wanting to engage him in a conversation.
Eldin sits alone on his bed. The only words he speaks are to give me another apology for the nearly disastrous accident. Ardal quickly falls asleep on the opposite side of the room, while Jadyn comes to join Balum on the chairs. The latter two are the only ones who seem comfortable here. With them around, I suddenly yearn for my boredom to return.
I check the time, mentally willing it to move faster. Finally, Rupert appears at the door. Since there were no incidents or potential contaminations, he releases us for a limited amount of free time. Nyree and I immediately leave the room. Neither of us wants to spend any more time with our detail group than necessary. I do not bother asking Nyree where she is going, knowing she would be well on her way down to the lower levels before the words would even come out. Besides, I am in a hurry myself, even if my movements are not as fast. My first objective is to head to the infirmary to get a brace to help stabilize my ankle. The support will not heal my injury, but it should help prevent me from aggravating the sprain.
Standing outside the infirmary, I pause to calm my mind, preparing myself for a potential interaction with Trent. Slowly, I make my way down the hall. When approaching my exam room, his muffled voice comes from inside. He must be speaking with a patient. Maybe I can get a brace from Rana’s room without having to see him. I slip into the room across the hall and carefully close the door behind me.
Now safely inside, I walk over to far wall where Rana keeps the supplies. As I reach out to open the cabinet, a faint rustling comes from behind the gurney, freezing me in place. Someone must have followed me. My muscles tense, preparing for the confrontation. Quietly, I move to the side for a better angle. Peaking around the gurney gives me a glimpse of the spy. This is definitely not the person I expected to find. Seeing the cowering figure concealed by a flowing veil of grey hair, I nearly burst out with laughter.
“Rana, what are you doing down there?” I ask, suppressing a chuckle at her awkward position.
“Oh, it’s you, Kagen. I thought it was Trent,” she says, holding her chest and taking a deep breath.
“Yeah, I came to get an ankle brace. I sprained it today,” I tell her. “What’re you up to?”
“Exactly what you asked me to do. I looked during the day but the case was nowhere to be found. When he came in tonight he had the thing in his hand. He was walking around with it this whole time,” she says incredulously. “I was waiting for a chance to switch the vaccination guns.”
“Rana, you have many talents, but hiding is clearly not one of them. How were you going to open it up anyway? The case needs a code,” I laugh for a moment before catching myself. I do not want to make too much noise or Trent will find us both.
“Well, sneaking about may not be something I’m well practiced at,” she admits. “But I do know Trent. He always uses the same password because he’s too lazy to memorize another.”
“Of course, I should’ve known that,” I say. “I might have a way to make this easier on you.”
“What do you have in mind?” she asks.
“You get to hide while I distract Trent. I’ll get him in here and keep him busy long enough for you to make the switch. Just ring the patient chime on your way out so I know when to stop stalling,” I say.
“Where should I hide?” she asks.
“Your best bet would be the waiting room, or at least around the corner near it. As soon as you hear Trent come in here, you go in. Oh, and I have another idea. Take this and hide it in the case,” I say pulling out Sayda’s tracking device. “Sayda can use it to track his movements. We might be able to find where the virus originated from if he goes back to the source.”
“You obviously have had way too much practice with this recently. That’s a decent plan,” Rana says as she takes the tracker from me.
Now I need to figure out how to distract Trent. I peek out the door. He is walking his patient out of the infirmary. When he returns to the exam room, I signal Rana to go back down the hall. As soon as she is fully out of sight, I open the door and turn around to knock over a metal container, spilling its contents on the floor. The vibrating clang the container makes is as loud as I hoped. While I am cleaning up the resulting mess, Trent appears at the door.
“Having some trouble there?” he asks sarcastically.
“I was looking for the ankle braces and this thing got in my way,” I say, throwing the syringes back into the container with a feigned annoyance. “I didn’t want to interrupt you while you were with a patient, so I came in here to get one. I sprained my ankle on the detail today and wanted some support before going back tomorrow.”
“You know you could have asked for me to bring you one up there,” he says.
“I didn’t want to bother you for something so minor. Besides, I can handle an ankle sprain on my own,” I reply. “Since you’re here, would you mind helping me out with this mess? I’m exhausted from the day, and it would be nice to get out of here to get some rest before the morning arrives.”
He reluctantly agrees and leans over to help clean up the mess. I look over at him kneeling over, picking up the syringes and needles from the floor in such a vulnerable position. He is lucky I have some self-control because nothing would please me more at the moment than to turn and maul him. Instead, fighting the urge, I clumsily continue to clean the mess. Even with me slowing the process, by the time we finish cleaning the spilled container, the patient chime still has not gone off. Trent is about to leave.
“Do you know where Rana keeps the braces?” I ask doing my best to stall for her.
He walks over the shelf next to me and pulls a brace out. I pretend to be perplexed to how my search missed it. He turns to leave. I am
running out of ideas to stall him. As he reaches the door, the patient chime rings. I exhale, knowing Rana has made the switch and is safely out of the infirmary. Trent leaves to greet his new patient, shaking his head at my uncoordinated efforts. I stay behind to put on the brace before making my own exit. That went as smoothly as planned. It’s about time something went right, I think to myself.
My feet stop moving when I see Trent coming back around the corner accompanying an ill looking woman. If she triggered the chine, then Rana is still in the exam room. Trent is going to find her. I want to distract him, but every idea that comes to mind is too obvious. My only choice is to trust Rana will find a way out of this. Even if I do not have a way to help now, I cannot leave her alone to deal with Trent.
“Ah, I forgot to get some of the cooling packs for my ankle,” I mumble loud enough for Trent to hear as he passes. I slowly return to Rana’s room while listening for any reaction from Trent, but only hear him speaking to the ill woman. Back in the exam room, I pace back and forth while attempting to come up with another way to help. I have to find a way to get her out of there because like she proved earlier, Rana cannot hide for long. My pacing speeds up as I become more and more upset with myself for placing Rana in this position. What if he catches her and injects her with his new virus?
My frenzied steps are halted by an unexpected sound. A faint laugh comes from the corner of the room. I turn to look for its source, and there she is.
“How did you get in here?” I ask with my mouth agape from the surprise. “I was getting worried and was trying to figure out how to rescue you from Trent.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Rana boasts while holding up two vaccination guns.
“Sneaky,” I tell her. “Now I hope those guns are what we think they are. If I see Talia before you do, I’ll tell her to come find you, but I can’t mention why. There’s no way we’ll have enough privacy for that conversation.”
“I’ll keep them safe for her,” she says.
This side trip took much longer than I anticipated. I intended to go down to see my mother and Arluin, but no longer have enough time. They will have to wait until tomorrow. I leave the infirmary and climb the stairs, my mind occupied by concern for my friends. Seeing Rana sneak around has made me realize how much my actions are endangering them. I remember the men watching Hadwin and Sayda when we talked during lunch. The people spying on us did not seem like a real danger at the time, but now I know better. I should have kept this to myself. Now if things go bad, I will have jeopardized everyone who matters to me.
I almost wish I could go back and stop from going down this path, even though doing so would have eaten away at me for the rest of my life. But at least then all of the others would be safe and blissfully unaware anything was wrong. I always tell myself not to dwell on things that cannot be changed, but now things are not so simple. Regardless of how I feel, my friends do know what is going on. Because of that, there is no going back.
*
When entering the upper level hallway, I am greeted by a group of familiar, yet unexpected faces. My mother, Arluin, Hadwin, and Sayda have all come to see me.
“Hey, what’re you guys doing up here?” I ask while limping toward them.
“I don’t care if we aren’t allowed on this level. We were all worried when you didn’t come down,” my mother answers, turning her head away when she notices my affected gait.
“What happened to your leg?” Sayda asks before I have a chance to explain.
“It’s only a sprain. I went to the infirmary to get a brace and some cooling packs,” I say, showing them my supplies. “Going to the surface wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The view is amazing.”
Only a few more words are spoken before Aamon appears down the hall. “This is a restricted level. All visitors must exit immediately,” he calls out, but does not come near to enforce it.
“Don’t worry about me,” I say, looking at my mother, knowing she is the one who will worry the most. “I’ll make sure to come down sooner tomorrow.”
We say goodbye, and they all turn toward the staircase to leave. I catch Hadwin by the arm before he enters the stairwell.
“Wait,” I whisper to him. “We have a way to get into The Caves. Nyree knows of a tunnel in the Deep Vents. As soon as the detail is over I’m going back in. The other good news is Rana has the vaccination guns Trent used. She put the other tracker in his case, so have Sayda monitor it. We almost have everything we need.”
“We are going. I’m not letting you go alone again.” Hadwin speaks quietly, but has absolute determination in his eyes. “One way or the other, we’re going to end this.”
He then follows the others down the stairs. I feel Aamon watching me from down the hallway. While turning toward him, I am mindful to display a carefree smile for his benefit. I do not want him to even think he knows what we were talking about. As far as he knows, we were simply making more jokes. Aamon crosses his arms and impatiently taps his foot, waiting for me to get back to the sleeping room. So, I slow my pace to a relaxed saunter.
“Is your injury too much for you?” he asks as I move past him.
“I’m fine, thank you for your concern. I guess Mr. Vaden doesn’t trust you as much as you think since he had to personally oversee the detail,” I say in a mocking tone.
“I’m in charge of this detail, make no mistake about that,” he snaps back. “He only checked in briefly. I have everything under control.”
“Yeah, you’re in control. Just like Eldin had complete control of his Grinder,” I mutter.
“It’s time you return to your quarters,” he orders.
Aamon looks as though he is desperately fighting to hold his tongue. He has something he wants to say, and I think I know what it is. He wants me to know what happened was not an accident today and that he controls my fate, or at least he thinks he does. I am getting tired, so I stop instigating him and walk back into my temporary quarters. Nyree has also returned. She is settling in for the night while the others are nearly asleep already. She turns to me as I sit on my bunk.
“I asked around some. Rumor has it there are large predators on the surface that have mutated since we’ve been down here. I don’t know if it’s true or just frightened imaginations conjuring up monsters, but we need to be careful repairing the fence tomorrow,” she warns.
“That’s been worrying me too, especially since Aamon refuses to tell us anything about it. Hopefully, we don’t meet whatever caused that damage,” I respond. The fatigue of the day quickly sinks in, so I get comfortable in my bunk for the night. I soon drift off to sleep. Tonight, my dreams return to me.
I am walking on the surface without my bio-suit. The warmth of the sun energizes my steps and the trees bristle with life. I am happy and free of the weight of my bonds from Securus. While exploring the forest, the distinct sound of heavy footsteps follows me. Suddenly, all of the sounds from the creatures in the forest cease. Only the increasing cadence of the footsteps drawing near can be heard. The pace turns into a rapid gallop. I instinctively run.
I circle around through fallen branches and emerge onto the Solar Panels fields. The fence has completely disappeared. The sounds of my pursuer vanish, leaving me alone in the field. I search around. At the base of the central tower is a security coded box. The box stands twice my height and is as black as the deepest caverns of The Caves. A distinctive Leadership insignia brightly shines near the top. Somehow, I know all the answers I seek lay within this box. I sprint to it, and go straight to the key pad, which is actually a keyboard for a computer. Without thinking, my fingers type in the code: T-R-U-T-H.
The box opens with a hiss from the released pressurized gas. I strain to see what is inside, but the box appears to be empty. An itch comes to my throat. I try to clear the sensation, but the dryness becomes overwhelming. My muscles twitch and begin to weaken. Falling to the floor, I realize what I have done. The box contained The Agent, and I released it. My eyes loo
k up and see everyone I care for standing in a circle around me, gasping for air. They have been infected because of my heedless impetuosity.
The world darkens as the Sun is swallowed by foreboding clouds. An electrical storm nears. The thunder becomes deafening.
The burst of thunder is soon followed by another. The rhythmic bursts of thunder morphs into the shrieking of our special morning alert. I wake up and try to shake off the anguish from my nightmare but cannot. I must face my guilt for leading those that care for me into the path of harm. My appointment in life is to help those in need and to do no harm, but in that, I fear I may fail.
The other members of the detail are now awake and getting ready for the second day of work. As we dress, Aamon and Rupert enter the room. Aamon briefly whispers to Rupert before leaving.
“As soon as you’re ready, grab some breakfast across the hall then make your way to the exit chamber. You have twenty minutes to eat. We need to be efficient if we’re to stay on schedule today,” Rupert tells us.
There is very little conversation amongst us as we finish dressing and go to get our food. When we enter the small room across the corridor, a pleasant surprise awaits us. The room is the size of the average domestic quarters, but has been outfitted with a table large enough for the six of us. On the table sits our food. Today we are not served the synthetic gruel we were expecting. Instead, we get a filet of fresh fish served with a mix of vegetables along with a large glass of a strawberry flavored drink. At least that is what they tell us the flavor is, since none of us have ever actually had a real strawberry.
The surprising treat elevates the mood of our entire group. None of us have had any natural food in a while and to get this type of meal is exceptionally rare. Our plates are emptied rapidly. Something about the natural food feels more energizing to me. The unexpected food is delicious but worrisome at the same time. This feels kind of like a last meal. If I am not careful, it may well be.
The Death Detail (The Securus Trilogy Book 1) Page 21
