by Jean Davis
“Police?” asked Amanda.
“The army, I think, some of them anyway. Are there any more of you here?”
Jackson shook his head, shuffling the earphones around his neck.
“I’m sorry.” As hard as the man was holding his book, Nickolas expected to see his fingers shove right through it. “Why don’t the three of you go pack your things, and we’ll get out of here. Would you like that?”
They all nodded. Amanda ran off in the direction of the women’s wing while Nickolas and Jackson went the opposite way with Father Frederick trailing behind.
Mr. Forrest lay on the floor just like he’d been when Nickolas had left him, but he wasn’t talking anymore. He wasn’t moving either.
He’d been one of the fast ones, and that made Nickolas a little happy. He didn’t know if he could stand Mr. Forrest reaching for him, trying to talk with his throat all swollen, so all he could do was make grunting and groaning noises.
Nickolas packed quickly and threw his clothes in the suitcase his mother had sent with him six years before. He gave Mr. Forrest one last glance before running all the way back to the day room to find the others. Jackson and Amanda were already waiting. Father Frederick led them out a back door, one they would have been yelled at for even trying to use if Mr. Sam had been there. But he wasn’t.
The air smelled like smoke, but the sun warmed his shoulders. He smiled up at the blue sky, imagining the sounds of his friends playing the courtyard all around him. But they were gone too. The only sounds were of their shoes on the sidewalk and Jackson humming softly to himself, his earphones still around his neck.
Father Frederick brought them to the parking lot where he opened the back door of a big white van. Four other people sat inside, young like the three of them. One of them wore a hospital robe, the others had real clothes. They all looked tired and worried.
“Hop in,” Father Frederick said. “We’ve got a little over an hour drive ahead of us. Not too long and we’ll be there.”
Nickolas sat in the long back seat with Amanda on one side and Jackson on the other. They left the parking lot of the building where he’d lived the happiest years of his life and went out onto the road where he’d watched traffic speed by from the dayroom. There were no other cars moving on the road today, only a few empty ones off on the sides here and there.
“You’re lucky to be on the outskirts of the city,” said Father Frederick, looking back at them in the mirror as he drove. “It’s much worse in the more populated areas. Some of those that have survived are helping others, taking them in, forming small communities to keep things running. Others aren’t so kind, trying to take everything for themselves. We’ll be lucky to have trained forces looking after us.”
“Why doesn’t everyone go where we are going?” asked one of the girls in the first row of seats.
“Because the doctors have asked for people like you. All of you. You’re special, born the way you are. The people we’re going to see, they want to understand why most of you don’t get the virus. They’ll take good care of you, don’t worry.”
“You’re staying with us, aren’t you?” asked Amanda.
“If there’s room for me. We’ll see.”
He drove the rest of the way in silence. The seven of them stared out the windows. Cars sat alongside the highway. Nickolas was pretty sure there were bodies in some them, but none of them were moving. An army truck passed them once, heading back toward the city. Two rows of soldiers sat in the back. One of them waved. He waved back.
The trees and grass alongside the road grew just like every other day, a little brown in the summer heat, but still pretty. Birds and butterflies flew around the bushes and flowers. Other than the music coming from Jackson’ earphones, the ride was quiet and peaceful.
They passed through two smaller towns before more large buildings rose up in the distance. Two army trucks were parked across the road. Father Frederick slowed the van and then stopped in front of the soldiers.
He turned around. “I’ll be right back. Everyone stay inside.”
They watched as he spoke with two of the soldiers, pointing to the van now and then. One of the men in camouflage came over and poked his head inside. When he saw them, he smiled.
“Hello. We’re glad you’re here.”
They all said hello, one of the boys in the front seat yelled but the rest mumbled or whispered.
Father Frederick came back inside a moment later. “We’re almost there.”
One of the trucks backed out of the way so they could continue down the highway. They turned off at the next exit, which brought them by farms with giant green fields. The farms gave way to small houses in rows alongside the road, much like the one Nickolas had grown up in, and a couple minutes later, a strip mall with colorful signs in the windows and a gas station. A soldier stood guarding the pumps. Turning there down a side street, they pulled to a stop in a giant parking lot in front of a big grey building. Rows of narrow dark windows lined the front. The parking lot held more army trucks and cars. Up in the front row, closest to the building was a row of shiny, fancy cars. Nickolas would have liked to look at his reflection in them, but four soldiers ran out to the van and told them to hurry.
They all grabbed their belongings and were rushed toward the door. Nickolas turned to see Father Frederick waving at them.
Jackson noticed too. He slowed and turned to female soldier beside them. “Why isn’t he coming with us?”
“We’re saving the space for people like you. There are more people he can help elsewhere.”
Jackson watched Father Frederick get back in the van before he let the soldier continue their march across the lot.
Sad to see the nice man go but excited to see what awaited them inside, Nickolas hurried toward the door with the others. “Why are we walking so fast?” he asked her.
“Sorry, there are some people who are angry that you aren’t sick like everyone else. They have guns.” She glanced at the wooded area along the edge of the parking lot. “No one can hurt you once you’re inside.”
They piled up by the large metal door. More soldiers stood there, but they were smiling so he wasn’t scared of them. One by one they filed inside. A man with a white shirt and blue tie sat at a desk just inside the door.
As each of them walked by, he wrote in a big book. When it was his turn, Nickolas paused in front of the man to give his name and birthday.
“Welcome, Nickolas Sutton.” The man neatly wrote his name on a line of the back of the first page just below Jackson and Amanda. “May I see your hand, please?”
With a black marker, he wrote seventy-six on the back of Nickolas’s left hand.
“What’s this?”
“With so many of you here all at once, we’re using numbers in order to keep our research organized until we can learn your names.”
The line moved forward, bringing Nickolas into a grey stone hallway that ended in a brightly lit room with glass doors. Inside, two people covered in white suits from head to toe were talking to Amanda. The three of them moved away, walking into a mist. Minutes later, the door opened and Jackson went inside.
Nickolas’s heart pounded, and he wasn’t so sure about being excited anymore. He missed Mr. Forrest and his room at the home where he knew where everything was. His muscles began to twitch.
He noticed the nice soldier lady was still beside him. She patted his shoulder. “You’re safe here. With all the smart people we have inside this building, we’ll get this thing figured out, and you’ll be able to go back out there as soon as it’s safe. Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you.”
Feeling the twitching subside, Nickolas nodded. He stepped into the bright room and let the white-suited people lead him into the mist.
If you enjoyed this sample, you can purchase the full book here.
Table of Contents
SOLITUDE
THE EMPLOYER
CHILDREN OF THE TREES
FOUND
&
nbsp; A LITTLE THING LIKE DEATH
TO EXIST
SUNSET CRUISE
SPACE COMMANDER
TAKING A BREATHER
LATE
HEALER
THE SPELL
KICK THE CAT
MOTHER
GIVING CHASE
CHETRIC THE GRAND
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SAMPLE • SAHMARA
SAMPLE • A BROKEN RACE
