by Bella Street
Lani pressed her hand to her mouth.
“Experiments?” Gareth said, looking freaked. “What kind?”
“You still haven't answered us about all the army surplus stuff around here,” Trent interrupted. “Looks like all that was in place long before any zombies showed up.”
Baxter checked his watch and got to his feet. “We have to leave. The first wave of the lunch crowd will be here soon.”
Seffy looked at her unbitten sandwich. “Can I take this with me?”
His nodded distractedly, then waved them all to follow him. As they trudged after him, Seffy sighed. While she knew she should be thankful she was no longer on the run, she wasn't thrilled to be in an old prisony place with dodgy employees either. Like Gareth, she wished they could've ended up in Hawaii instead. Then she could work on her fading tan and inhale the scent of tropical flowers instead of old stale institution. An institution with a psychiatric ward.
When they were close to their rooms, Seffy turned to Baxter. “So we're not eligible to become, like, official residents?”
He composed his expression. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it's obvious we're being kept separate from everyone else. How long will that last?”
Baxter looked pained. “Listen, I know this is tough. I really do. But for now, we simply have to keep you away from the others until we know what we're dealing with.”
“If we're not zombies,” Trent said, his tone sharp, “then what else is there to deal with?”
Baxter's eyes shifted to Seffy. “Uh, we've discovered some anomalies.”
“Anomalies?” Addison choked. “What anomalies?”
“How exactly did you discover anomalies?” Trent asked, his eyes narrowed. “You only just did physicals on us today.”
Seffy felt her face heat. She looked at Baxter, his face also red.
“You mean Princess here has already been tested? She's the anomaly?” Trent laughed. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Shut up,” Gareth snapped.
They said I was clean. Seffy bit her lip so hard she tasted blood.
“Seriously,” Trent continued, “it makes sense! I mean who else was always puking and getting all fevery?”
Seffy remembered him throwing up in the desert. Jerk.
“Hey, you're not exactly the picture of health yourself,” Addison said. “What's your issue?”
Trent's face flushed, highlighting his waxen pallor. “Well, at least I haven't been making out with a zombie!”
Baxter's eyes grew huge behind his glasses as he turned to Seffy. “You had made out with a—? Wait a minute, what does 'made out with' mean twenty-six years from now?”
“Same thing,” Addison said, looking bored. “Swapping spit.”
If Baxter's eyes grew any wider, they would've popped like grapes from their skins. “You kissed a zombie?”
“Not just kissed, I'll bet,” Trent said.
Gareth shoved him. “Do you like getting your face punched?”
Trent grinned. “I just meant there was probably some serious tongue action going on.”
“Oh, God, I'm gonna be sick,” Eva said.
“He wasn't a zombie when I kissed him,” Seffy said in a shrill voice. Chills swept over her body whether from shame or some new illness, she didn't know.
Gareth sighed. “He'd been bitten, but hadn't yet died or reanimated.”
“But he was infected at the time.” Baxter's horrified expression was humiliating beyond belief.
Seffy clenched her fists and tried to remain calm. “I obviously didn't know that.”
“I thought he was your boyfriend,” Baxter said, pointing to Gareth.
“Our Seffy here likes to play the field,” Trent said. “And don't count me out yet. I'm still working on her.”
Gareth punched him in the solar plexus.
Even as Trent gasped for air, he kept his rotten grin in place. “And don't worry, babe, I dig the new eye color. Of course it makes me wonder what else is fake.”
Seffy stared at Trent with mounting fury. “Shut up.”
“It wasn't her fault,” Lani said, her face pinched. “There was alcohol involved.”
“Malone's grog,” Cynthia said with a delicate shudder.
Seffy licked her dry lips. “The doctor who originally examined me said there was no trace of anything bad in my blood, so why is any of this relevant?”
“Did you tell him about the, er, contact with an infected person?”
“No,” she said through gritted teeth, “I didn't get around to that since I was apparently in a coma at the time.”
“Well,” Baxter said, lifting his chin in vindication, “now you can see why we're taking extra precautions.”
“You were already taking precautions with us,” Gareth said, rubbing his sore knuckles. “Before you knew about...before you had this new information.”
Seffy looked down, wishing the stained Linoleum would split open and swallow her up. Gareth took her hand. Gratefulness warred with mortification.
“I'm sorry, I need to leave you now. I'm expected elsewhere.” Baxter took a step backwards.
“Hey, I want to be in a different wing than Anomaly Girl here. Don't want to catch her cooties.”
Jared sided with Trent, making shooing motions with his hands. “Me, either.”
“The family that's exposed together, stays together,” Addison said, her expression tight. “Am I right, Bax?”
“I think the arrangements will stand for the time being.” He swallowed. “Since Seffy here already has her own room, you are welcome to...”
“Avoid her?” Trent finished. “No problem there, until I'm ready for her.”
In a flash, Trent was on his back on the floor.
“Sorry, about that,” Gareth said to their guide. “I'm really not a violent person.”
Baxter cleared his throat. “No, I think I understand.”
“Feel free to use him for your experiments,” Addison offered pointing to Trent.
Seffy looked at him where he sat on the floor, wondering at the strange, hectic light in his eyes, wondering why he spoke to her at all. His behavior made no sense. He returned her searching gaze with a contemptuous smile. Breaking the connection, she took a deep breath and headed to her door. “Me and my cooties are going to take a nap. Maybe I'll see you all later?”
Gareth nodded. “Hang in there, okay?”
She smiled tremulously and nodded.
“See ya, Sef,” Addison said.
Lani gave a little wave, then headed to their door.
With one last look at Baxter, then Trent, who continued to stare at her, Seffy went into her room and closed the door.
Fiona was inside, sitting in the chair, swinging her crossed leg in a slow arc. Something sparkly flashed in her hand before she closed her fingers over it.
“Change of plans. You're being moved to another room.”
Chapter Twenty
Seffy blinked in surprise. “What? Why?” What was in her hand? Was it pink?
“We heard about a little detail you failed to mention earlier.”
“Word travels fast around here.” Seffy turned from Fiona and addressed Fenn, who stood by the window overlooking her room. It was rather unnerving to always face him in observation mode. Almost more than the fact that Fiona could appear suddenly in her bedroom. “Was Baxter wired or something? How did your girlfriend get the 411 so fast?”
At Fenn's confused expression, Seffy said, “She obviously heard our conversation with Baxter.”
“You don't need to keep referring to me in the third person.”
I will if I want to, Seffy thought, more pissed than she'd been in a long time.
While Fenn avoided an answer, Fiona rose with feline grace.
“Follow me.” Casting an annoyed look at her boyfriend, Fiona headed out the door.
Seffy followed, figuring he'd show up in the next place from behind yet another window. Maybe she'd get an answer to her
question then. Maybe they could tell her why she was an anomaly.
A few hallways over, Fiona opened the door to another room. Seffy went inside and looked around. The bedroom was a little bigger, the bathroom had a mirror, there was a sitting area with a couple chairs, but there was also an observation window along one wall. A few minutes later Fenn appeared in the room behind the glass.
His eyes begged for understanding. “To get back to your question. Yes, we heard.”
Seffy's shoulders slumped with renewed exhaustion. Why did everyone around here seem to be telling only half-truths? “So you are all, like, connected? How? Wires? Bluetooth? Oh wait, Bluetooth hasn't been invented yet.”
“Two-way radios. Baxter was pressing the button on his unit so we could hear everything.”
“So you guys go around spying on everyone?”
Fenn's lean cheeks darkened. “He must've felt the information you were sharing was pertinent.” He looked down. “And no, we don't spy on everyone.”
“Oh, I see. Just on the anomalies.”
“And only because of the extraordinary circumstances.”
“That's what all the commies say,” she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fiona leave and close the door behind her. Buh bye.
Seffy walked up to the glass and looked into the other room where Fenn was. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to ignore the compelling blue of his eyes. “You don't need to spy. Ask me anything you want.”
He stared at her for several awkward moments. “Is Gareth your boyfriend?”
She dropped her arms and laughed. “Are you joking? That's the best you got?”
“It seemed important to your friends in that hallway.”
“I remember it being more about my contact with Zombie Wannabe Guy.”
“That, too.”
She hardened her gaze. “It's complicated.”
He smiled a little. “That happens when alcohol is involved.”
“Yep.” What didn't he know about? She blew out a breath. “Are we done here? I was planning on a nap.”
Fenn stared at her as if trying to make her understand. She looked away so she wouldn't get lost his dreamy eyes. Plus she was angry and didn't want to cool off at the moment.
“Listen,” he said, “I know this isn't an ideal situation. We just have to do what we think is in the best interest of the people here. If we're doing it wrong, I apologize.”
Hmmph.
“And I know it's not helpful to say you don't have to stay here. You're free to leave—”
“Except for the disco dancers.”
“Dancers?”
Seffy compressed her lips. “Zombies.”
He grimaced. “Right.”
She chanced a look at him, and was struck again. Kinda like when Gareth hit Trent. Right in the solar plexus. “So when will you have results of the blood tests?”
“We think in a week or so.”
“How will that affect anything?”
He crossed his arms. “Right now we just want to make sure you're all healthy and not a threat to the rest of us.”
“Especially me?”
His silence was answer enough.
“What are you expecting to find?”
Fenn ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up in places. For the first time, she noticed shadows under his eyes. Seffy steeled her heart against a pang of sympathy. Someone who hooked up with Fiona could not be trusted.
“Like the doctor told you, no suspected virus, but we're wondering if there are other effects from the blast.”
“Did everyone here experience it? That blast, I mean.”
He nodded.
“And have you tested everyone?”
“Actually yes, and there don't appear to be any adverse effects.”
“So how are we different?”
His brows went up. “You apparently traveled through time.”
“Ah. Well, ask Gareth if wormholes are radioactive. He would know.”
“Yes, we've figured out he's very knowledgeable about a lot of things.”
More half-assed answers. “Aren't you needed elsewhere instead of talking to a toxic, unwelcome visitor?”
His mouth became set. “I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time.”
God, I'm starting to act like Fiona. She shook her head. “Sorry, I just don't want you to waste your time. Baxter said there are five hundred people here, of which I've seen about five, and I'm sure they'd like to have your attention. Right?”
“I think they can spare me for a little while,” he said, his features relaxing.
“So what do all those people do all day?”
Fenn gave a half-smile. “Just live their lives in relative peace.”
“And they can't do that anywhere else?”
“For a lot of the people, it's a time out for them from the pressures of regular life. They can come here for a year or two, debrief, get some perspective, then leave if they want. But we have a lot of families who were looking for a sane way to raise their kids.”
“So you have jobs and schools and such?”
“Yes. We're remote enough that it would be difficult to hold down a job or go to school elsewhere.”
“How long do most people stay?”
“I'd say the average is about two years.”
Seffy peered up at him, suddenly interested in the different expressions on his face. “How long have you been here?”
After a beat, he said, “Most of my life.”
“Whoa. Why?”
“As I mentioned before, my dad started this place. He bought a defunct prison and tried to build a commune for people disenfranchised from regular society.”
“I bet it attracted a lot of whack jobs.”
His brows furrowed. “If you mean radicals, then yes. And under his management, it ended up being more strict than the outside world, and of course, those who held the power wanted to keep it that way.”
“You mean it became cult-like?”
“That's one descriptor.”
“But it's not like that any more.”
His shoulders seemed to bunch up slightly. “That's what I'm trying to change, though there is an element resistant to the greater...freedoms.”
Seffy wondered what he really meant. Then again, did it matter? They were all being held against their will despite the nice terminology. “Did you grow up here?”
He nodded.
So was he a latent whack job or an enlightened victim? “Have you been anywhere else?”
“When I turned eighteen, I left. Spent five years traveling around the world.”
Seffy groaned. “Ugh, don't tell me you went all Kerouac with a motorcycle and backpack?”
He laughed. She warmed at the unexpectedly genuine sound. “Something like that.”
“Dude, that is so clichéd.”
He smiled, which relieved the lines of strain on his face. “But it was a lot of fun. And in the end, I came back here.”
“The end, huh? What are you, all of twenty-eight?”
“Thirty.”
“So thirty years old, burned out, and now saddled with a few hundred dependents and a few dodgey out-of-timers.”
“I never said I was burned out,” he said, lifting his lips.
“Oh, ouch.”
His smile faded. “My dad died, and the people most committed to this place wanted me to take over.”
“Sorry about your dad.”
He nodded. “It's been seven years now.”
“So is this what you want to do with the rest of your life?”
Fenn looked down at the floor and shrugged. “I'm still working on that one.” He looked up and smiled, although it appeared forced. “What about you? What were you doing before you were sucked through time?”
She gave a hollow laugh. “I guess I'm just as clichéd. I was in Hollywood trying to break into acting.”
“Any luck?”
Double ouch. “No, not yet.”
/> He was silent for a moment. “And am I to understand you're originally from Montana?”
“Mm-mm, gotta love those two-way radios.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Yes. Unlike you, when I left, I never planned on coming back.”
“It was that bad?”
“Oh, yeah, it was that bad.”
His intense gaze seemed to seek out her secrets. Seffy returned his look with an implacable one.
His radio sputtered. “Fenn, where are you?”
Fiona.
“Just a second.” Fenn pulled the radio from his belt and turned away. “I'm on my way.”
When he turned back, his expression had gone blank. “It's been nice getting to know you, Seffy.” He paused, hooking the radio back onto his belt. “I'm sorry to separate you from your friends. You're actually not that far, just around the corner, well, a few corners. We just wanted you in a room with a window.”
Seffy bit her lip. “Why?”
“For...observation.” He put up his hands. “Not to spy. There are blinds. Just close them when you want privacy. And that switch on the wall. You can turn it off to stop comm between the rooms.”
Seffy felt a weight of despair press down on her as she realized she was little better than a prisoner—and a possibly contagious one at that—no matter what they said.
“There's a speaker phone if you need anything. You know where the cafeteria is, though we ask that you avoid the main meal times. Also, in between this room and where your friends are, there's a common area with a living room set-up and a television. Sorry, we can't get cable out this far. But, you can go see your friends whenever you want.”
“But I can't see you whenever I want?”
“Uh...no,” he said. “Not whenever.”
“And then, only from behind the glass.”
He nodded, his blue eyes apologetic. “Sorry.”
Seffy stared at the shiny floor tiles as he said goodbye. She waited until he left before looking into the now empty room. Who was this Fenn exactly and what did he want with her? Because she had no doubt he wanted something.
She reached for the drawstring to the blinds and watched as they cascaded over the window.
***
Seffy's eyes fluttered open at the sound of movement. She decided she didn't care to find out what it was and rolled over in the bed, pulling the pillow over her face.
