The ARC 01: Tainted

by Alexandra Moody

  ‘Fine,’ he says. He leans over towards the large red button that calls for an attendant.

  ‘You said your grandson was taken!’ I blurt out. He stops. With his arm still reached out towards the button he freezes.

  ‘And?’ he slowly turns back and asks.

  ‘I could help you get him back.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘Because you’re not the only person who’s lost someone.’

  He eases back into his chair and watches me as he deliberates. ‘If you’re not tainted you can’t leave,’ he finally says.

  ‘I can if you help me.’

  He ponders over this for a moment before he continues. ‘I do want him back, but I can’t help you.’

  ‘Why not?’

  He turns to stare at the wall, refusing to respond.

  ‘You said yourself the tainted are no threat. The Council has taken so much from all of us and you know as well as anyone how hard it is to let go of the ones you’ve lost. I have nothing left to lose. Can you help me?’

  ‘I’m afraid you misunderstand me. I don’t know where they are taken. The little authority I had over the tainted is gone. Even if I wanted to, there’s no way I can help you.’

  ‘But you know things. There must be something you can do…’

  ‘What I know is that what you want to do is dangerous. You could die.’

  He sounds so certain that I can’t believe that’s all he knows. I obviously don’t want to die—I’m not completely irrational. But I want to find Sebastian. I’m not afraid to face a little danger and to be honest I’d be stupid if I didn’t expect some element of it.

  ‘I accept there are risks,’ I say, my voice sounding more confident than I feel.

  He shakes his head at me. ‘I fear you will regret this.’

  I pause for a moment. Just a second to wonder if I’m jumping in too deep—to consider whether I’m going to be in way over my head. I quickly dismiss the thought. Sebastian is worth the risk.

  ‘What do I have to do?’ I ask.

  ‘Like I said, I don’t know where they go. I’m not sure how I can help.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ I respond. ‘I don’t need to know where I’m going. I just need to fake the blood test.’

  ‘Now that, I suppose, I can help you with. It won’t be easy though. You’ll need to get a hold of one of the tainted blood samples. They don’t exactly leave them lying around.’

  ‘Where are they kept?’

  ‘The hospital has storage rooms on the third floor. You’ll find everything you’re looking for there.’

  ‘Third floor. Okay I can do that.’

  ‘You need to make sure you get a sample that’s the right blood type—you do know your blood type?’

  ‘Oh, ah, yes it’s O-positive.’

  ‘The vial you’re after will be in one of the fridges across the far wall of the storage room. It should be labelled with “LyTBS”.’

  ‘Oh-okay. Yes, I can do that.’ I begin to worry as I listen to his instructions. What if I mess up and get the wrong sample?

  He stands and walks over to the bookcase that leans against the far wall. He rummages around through the books before turning back to me, a small piece of paper in his hands.

  ‘I don’t expect you’ll be back, with or without my grandson…’

  ‘Then why are you helping me?’

  ‘I guess partially because I, like you, have nothing left to lose. But also, if you do by some miracle find him, I want you to give him a message.’ He brings the paper over to the table and as he nears I can see it’s a photo. On the back of it he draws a symbol I’ve never seen before.

  ‘Here.’ He passes me a small crinkled picture of a boy about my age. It’s one of the generic shots we all have taken for our ARC user profiles. Across the back of the picture written in black pen is, ‘Aiden, eighteen years old.’ Under it is the strange design he’s drawn: a vertical thick black line with a triangle hanging from the top.

  I safely slide the picture into my pocket.

  ‘Well, whatever your reason for helping me, thank you,’ I say, standing up.

  ‘Good luck,’ he says. ‘Something tells me you’re going to need it.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  I wait until midnight before slipping out of bed and making my way to the Hospital Wing. The hallways are all dim with only the night-lights on and even the Atrium seems more ominous without its usual rush of people.

  As I near the Hospital Wing, my eyes wander up to one of the screens that show the surface. The monitor is completely black. The sight of night up there has never bothered me before, but tonight it makes me worried. Would they really abandon the tainted on the surface?

  When I get to the Hospital Wing it’s eerily silent. Only the soft sound of my footsteps can be heard down the darkened hallway. The skin on the back of my neck prickles and my breath becomes short and shallow as I get closer to the entrance. When I reach the large swinging doors that lead inside I pause and take a nervous glance behind me. Only long dark shadows stretch across the corridor. No one knows I’m here.

  A shot of adrenaline pulses through my body, urging me forward. I feel a sense of purpose, finally a sense of drive, of knowing what to do.

  I push through the swinging doors to the entrance. Inside the overhead lights are all off and a lamp emitting a warm glow from on top of the reception counter overwhelms the faint blue hues of the lights skirting the floor. The entire waiting room is empty and the counter has been left unattended. Like all places in the ARC, the hospital runs on skeleton staff at night, so it’s not surprising to find it so deserted.

  I make my way across the reception and over to the slick metal doors of the elevator. I don’t like the idea of getting in. In fact, I hate the idea of entering such a small space. The confines of elevators give me the jitters, but there aren’t any stairwells close by and I’d rather not risk being caught wandering around.

  The doors open with a loud ‘ding,’ causing me to jump back. My heart leaps with me and now feels like it’s hammering from the base of my throat. I look around anxiously, but the sound doesn’t seem to have alerted anyone.

  The lift doors start to close and I dash forward to catch them. I hit the button for the third floor as I enter, and determinedly ignore the spike of fear that rushes through me as the doors close. I can feel a sheen of sweat developing on my forehead as I ascend. The space is just so small! When the doors reopen I lurch forward, away from the lift.

  I don’t care how far away the stairs are. I’m not going in that thing again.

  As I approach the third floor nurses' station, I pause. The deserted station troubles me. I know fewer staff work at night, but where is everyone tonight?

  I try to ignore the feeling and focus on where to go next. Several corridors lead off from the room and each one looks indistinguishable from the next. I pick at the hem of my sleeves as I try to think. I haven’t been to the hospital enough times to remember where the storage rooms are. I’m not even certain I’ve been past the storage rooms before.

  My stomach plummets, finding the storage rooms could take all night. I’m beginning to wish more than ever Quinn was here to help. She’d know exactly where we were going.

  ‘Idiot!’ I quietly swear at myself. I should’ve waited. I should’ve tried to talk to her again.

  For a moment I think about turning back. Instead I find myself pacing forward. Quinn can be completely stubborn when she’s made her mind up. There’s no way she’s helping me. Besides, I’m here now and I know I can do this.

  I pick a hallway at random to begin my search. All along it are numbered doorways that have been left open. Inside I can see sleeping patients, their steady breaths only interrupted by the soft monotonous beeping of their monitors.

  The passages are identical and I wander down them for what seems like eternity. Then finally I turn around a corner and spot a door up ahead with ‘storage’ written across the front of it.
r />   Jackpot.

  I have barely taken two steps towards the room though, when two nurses turn around the corner and start down the corridor towards me. They’re both looking at the charts in their hands and talking, so they don’t see me as I duck into the nearest room.

  I stand just behind the door and listen as they pace closer. I look around the room for somewhere better to hide, but there aren’t many options in here. It’s bare except for the small cot that hosts a tiny girl who faintly wheezes in and out.

  One of the women’s voices sounds from just outside the door. I press my back harder into the wall and pray she doesn’t come in here. It’s dark, but not so dark that I’m invisible.

  I listen to the women talking; they’re so near I can clearly hear every word they say. Please move on, please move on. My body seizes up with shock as one of them pokes her head into the room to check on the girl. She’s so close that if I reached my arm out I could touch her wispy grey locks of hair.

  I clench my hands into little balls to stop them from shaking. If she turns even just a few inches to the right she’ll see me.

  ‘She’s fine, I checked on her twenty minutes ago,’ I hear the voice of the other nurse say.

  ‘Oh I didn’t realise. Isn’t she a cutie?’ The woman steps back out into the corridor and I finally start to breath normally again.

  Once I’m certain the nurses have gone I go back into the corridor and finally make it to the storage room. I lightly place my hand on the door handle and briefly check over my shoulder to make sure no one is coming. Knowing the coast is clear I turn the handle, but it jars.

  The door is locked.

  Dammit.

  I lean against the wall and glare down at the irritating door handle. I guess I should’ve expected they’d lock the room that stores all tainted blood samples. I’m surprised Dr. Wilson didn’t warn me.

  I should just go home and go to bed, but I know I won’t do it; I’ve already made my mind up.

  I slip back to the nurses’ station I’d passed just a few minutes earlier. I glance around the room to make certain no one is here and then step behind the counter.

  There are stacks of files placed upon the desk, all with patient names on them. I flick through the folders, but they’re of no use to me. I shift them around the desk to make sure I haven’t missed anything. There’s nothing there.

  I’m about to bend over to check the drawers under the table when I hear a heavy clunk coming from around the corner. I bolt up straight and stand dead still, listening. I wait, my heart pounding in my ears, my whole body frozen to the spot.

  I can hear the low discreet hum of the lights, the long drawn out rasping of a patient trying to sleep, and the repetitive beeping of monitors. The unexpected noise doesn’t return and after a minute of standing so still, not daring to even breathe, I slowly look around the corner and down the hallway. There’s nothing there.

  My heart still hammers as I turn back to the drawers and my hands shake as I try to ease the top one open.

  It’s stuck, so I carefully attempt to jiggle it to get it moving. With agonisingly slow movements it gradually begins to budge. As it wedges open further I see a ring of swipe cards. Yes!

  It’s hard to keep quiet as I sneak back towards the storage room. With the set of swipe cards in hand I’m too excited and I become careless, making too much noise as I walk. Despite this, I manage to make it back to the storage room without alerting anyone to my presence.

  Now for the big problem: which one of these thirty swipe cards will open the door? I start to make my way through them one by one.

  After trying half the cards on the ring I begin to feel doubtful. I start to lose hope that one of them will open the door. Who knows what they’re even for? I swipe them through more urgently. This has to work. The key has to be on this ring. Each one that fails though, makes me feel less certain.

  I’m almost to the end of the cards, when I swipe one through the reader and it finally lights up green with a small happy beep. The door handle smoothly turns. The door swings forward and I feel a wave of excitement when I see what’s inside.

  As the door opens wide my eyes fall on a room lined by glass doors that are frosted along the inside edge. The fridges are in here. Dr. Wilson was right.

  I place my hand against the doorframe and lean into the room to see what the fridges hold. Those closest to the door look like they hold urine samples. But further down, against the back wall, there appears to be vials of blood. My heart skips a beat. I’ve found them.

  I rush over to the fridges against the far wall, my whole body overwhelmed with anticipation. I’ve finally found a way to fake the blood test. The glass of the fridge door is all foggy but I can easily see the small tubes of blood sitting on the shelves inside. The frosty cold air from the fridge hits me as I wrench one of the doors back. I look on every shelf, but can’t see any O-positive samples in this fridge. I go to the next one, and then the next. Finally, I open a fridge that contains samples labelled ‘LyTBS: O+’. I grab the first sample I can get my hands on and slip it in the pocket of my pants.

  I let out a breath of relief. I’d been so worried the samples wouldn’t be here and this would all be for nothing. I close the fridge door and go to turn around, but just as I move to leave, I feel the sickening touch of a hand firmly taking grip of my shoulder.

  A chill runs down my spine as the strong, secure grasp of the hand spins me around.

  The fierce, menacing eyes of an official are trained down upon me.

  ‘What are you doing in here?’ he spits at me, his words quick and harsh.

  ‘I… I….’

  He grabs my arm and tugs me to the doorway and out into the hall. ‘Oh you’re going to be in trouble for this,’ he says darkly.

  As he turns to close the door, his grip on my arm lessens slightly and in a blind panic I rip my arm free from his grasp and begin to run.

  ‘GET BACK HERE!’ he roars from behind me.

  But I’m off. I tear around the corner and find myself back at the nurses’ station. I don’t know which way to go, but his footsteps sound from right behind me.

  He yells loudly into his CommuCuff, ‘Third floor, Hospital Wing…’

  Without any thought other than escape I run past the nurses’ station and off down a passageway. Careering around the corner I bowl over a nurse and her folder spills from her hands, sending the papers inside flying everywhere.

  ‘Sorry!’ I yell, as I attempt to regain my footing and stumble past her.

  My heart thuds loudly in my ears and I can hear myself panting for breath as I turn down another endless corridor. My legs are burning from the exertion and my head is beginning to feel faint.

  I check over my shoulder as I turn around the corner. The official is still there, but is beginning to fall behind. I push myself to run faster, clenching my teeth as pain shoots through my legs. I know I need to escape. I can’t be caught.

  I whip around another corner and select a patient’s room at random, diving into it before the official can catch me up and see where I’ve gone.

  A man sleeps on the bed inside and I can hear a heavy snore coming from him as he rasps in and out. I’m concerned he might hear me, wake up, and sound the alarm, but I don’t have a choice. I scramble towards him, duck down and crawl under his bed.

  I lie flat against the ground, with one hand securely wrapped around the vial in my pocket and my eyes focused on the doorway, which I can see through the small gap between the floor and the blanket that reaches down to it. My chest heaves, exhausted from running, and somehow I manage to keep my panting quiet.

  In the distance I can hear the official’s pounding footsteps. They’re faint at first, but slowly they get louder and louder. I want to close my eyes, to pretend this isn’t happening.

  His footsteps slow as he nears the room I’m in. I begin to tremble with nerves. Does he somehow know I’m in here? His voice yells out and I draw back in shock. He’s closer than I’d
thought.

  ‘She’s got away…’

  I raise my head off the floor to try and hear better. There’s the muffled sound of a response, but it isn’t clear enough to make out. He must be on his cuff.

  ‘Yeah, we’ll get her,’ he says, before I hear the distinct beep of a comm disengaging. For a moment there’s total silence, then comes the sound of his footsteps retreating back in the direction he just came.

  I close my eyes and try to get my body to relax. He’s gone. But he’d sounded sure he’d fine me. Could he know who I am?

  I wait under the bed for almost half an hour before I make my way out from beneath it. I carefully steal my way back across the ARC; stopping before every corner and slowing whenever I see someone coming towards me in the distance. I feel quite certain there’s an alert out for me now. If an official sees me out here in the middle of the night, they’ll easily be able to tell I’m the one they’re after.

  I only start to feel slightly less worried when I get closer to home. As I turn down my corridor I feel a giddy relief to see the flickering light bulb over my doorway. I’m finally safe.

  I hurry towards the door, eager to get inside. I swipe my key card against the lock, and the sensor lights up green. I’m home.

  I go to turn the door handle, except it turns of its own accord and opens to show Quinn standing in the doorway. Her face looks grave. She’s clearly still pissed at me.

  ‘Hi,’ I say, awkwardly. I don’t really know what to say to her to make things better. I’m surprised she’s even looking at me directly.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she mouths. I frown at her, confused, what is she…

  The door opens fully to reveal two officials standing there in wait.

  They both step past Quinn towards me. ‘Elle Winters, you need to come with us.’

  ‘What?’ I take an involuntary step back towards the opposite wall.

  Without breaking stride, the first official grabs me by the arm and pulls me back down the hallway.

  ‘What’s going on?’ I ask him, fear pulsing through my body. How did they know who I am? How did they find me? I turn back to Quinn who has followed us out. She stands just outside our doorway watching silently as the two men escort me away.