* * *
Leading Paul back to the t-intersection, Abrams began Paul’s introduction to Astralis. “I assume you’ve already had a chance to meet the girls in reception? Lovely ladies, all of them. I don’t know what we would do without them. Truly, everyone credits me for running the place, but it is Gladys, Martha and Lydia who keep it all together.”
Motioning to a row of three open doors along the left side of the hallway, Abrams continued, “These are our examination rooms. They are basically what you would expect in any doctor’s office. A bed, a sink, and cabinets full of all the things doctors use.”
Motioning through the door closest to them, Abrams swept an arm wide and said, “Viola. Exam Room 2. Pretty boring, wouldn’t you say? But certainly necessary if anyone gets sick, or if we were ever forced to treat more mundane types of patients.”
If ever they were forced to treat more mundane patients? Paul paused in the doorway. That was certainly a strange way to put it.
He peered into the room and saw clear signs that it was not regularly used. There was a thin coating of dust on the counter top and the sink was dry. “From what I read on your website,” Paul said, “you treat narcolepsy, insomnia, sleep walking, sleep apnea, RLS, DSPS—and that’s just a few. It’s clear that you’re well-funded, so you must have quite a reputation. But you only have three examination rooms?”
Impressed by Paul’s perception, Dr. Abrams replied, “Through studying those with disorders that are similar to yours, we continually enhance our understanding of sleep patterns and the way the brain and body embrace rest. And so, from time to time, we do take in patients who suffer from some of those maladies. But generally, our main focus is on people like you. Walkers.”
They shut the door and continued down the hall. It made a ninety degree turn to the right and Abrams motioned ahead. “The men’s and women’s lavatories for this floor are on our left, with the elevator between them. At the end of the hall is the stairwell.” Giving Paul a quick smile, Abrams said, “We’ll be using the elevator. I’m getting a little old to be climbing steps.”
Noticing that every door along the hallway was open, including those leading into the bathrooms, Paul asked, “Dr. Abrams, what is the deal with the doors here? Aside from your office and the main door leading in from the reception area, every door has been open. That seems a little odd, especially for the bathrooms.”
Abrams gave Paul an approving nod, and looked down at his watch again. “You don’t miss much, do you? We are a facility which houses every Walker who will allow us to give him or her a home. You now have less than thirty minutes before you will need to be taken to your quarters to lie down. The same thing applies to every other Walker in this building. I ask you, Paul—once the sun has gone down, would you enjoy being trapped in your room the entire night?”
Without waiting for an answer, Abrams went elevator doors and said, “Neither would any of the others.”
From intercoms in the walls, a very calm, very female, and very sexy voice cut into their conversation. “Thirty minutes.”
Responding to Paul’s quizzical glance, Abrams said, “Thirty minutes until sunset. Believe it or not that’s Lydia. Great voice, wouldn’t you agree?”
Raising his eyebrows as the doors opened and they stepped inside the elevator, Paul said, “Speaking of others, I haven’t seen anyone else at all. Where are they?”
Pressing the number ‘2’ button, Abrams replied, “It’s almost sundown. Many of them have probably already retired to their quarters.”
“So every patient here is a Walker?”
Dr. Abrams paused briefly. “It’s hard to call them patients, but yes. Everyone that is currently in this facility due to a sleep disorder is a Walker.”
In a matter of just a few seconds, the doors slid open again revealing the second floor. Stepping out from the elevator, Paul stopped short. They were in a hallway that stretched off to the right and left, much like the one on the floor below, but directly in front of them was a glass wall separating them from what was clearly the facility’s commons room and dining area. There were at least a dozen people sitting inside at tables, most of them looking back at him.
Paul had a natural introversion and fear of crowds, and it immediately kicked into overdrive. Although he knew they couldn’t hear him through the glass walls, he whispered, “Maybe we should just head to my room and do introductions tomorrow. I’m starting to feel very tired.”
Abrams smiled and looked at his watch. He pulled open one of the two doors leading into the commons room, smiling encouragingly. “Nonsense,” he said. “I know your sleep patterns probably better than you know them yourself. You still have twenty-eight minutes before you need to lie down.”
Abrams entered the room, still holding the door open. “Everyone is very anxious to meet you, Paul. They’ve heard a great deal about you from Lisa. Be yourself, and have no fear while you’re in this building. I give you the same promise that I have given every other Walker who has come to this place; so long as you trust in me, I will always do everything in my power to keep you safe and comfortable. Both physically and emotionally.”
Looking into Dr. Abrams eyes, Paul let his guard down for the first time since arriving. He realized that perhaps he had found another ally, much in the same way that Jeff had become.
Stephanie had always told him that she believed the eyes were the windows to the soul and that if you looked deep enough you could gauge the measure of a person without exchanging a single word. Look into their eyes and search for truth—if you look long enough, you’ll always find it, she’d say. Just be prepared that you may not like what you find.
As far as Paul could determine, Dr. Abrams was telling him the truth. He took a deep breath and walked forward into the commons room, leaving the doctor at the door.
Lisa immediately jumped up from one of the nearest tables, dragging one of the two guys she’d been sitting with to his feet, pulling him toward Paul.
Smiling that dazzling smile, she said, “Paul, I want you to meet Brent. He’s a Walker, too, and he’s been dying to meet you ever since I told him about you. Haven’t you, sweetie?”
Sweetie. Paul groaned inwardly as he looked from Lisa to her friend. He supposed it was inevitable that a girl as beautiful as Lisa would already have a boyfriend, but it had never occurred to him. She’d been giving him signals, hadn’t she?
Hadn’t she??
“What’s up, Paul. Everybody calls me Hodge.” Delivered in a distinctive, gritty monotone, it was evident that Hodge hadn’t been dying to meet Paul quite as much as Lisa was letting on. Oddly, this gave Paul a small glimmer of satisfaction, but at that moment he was more concerned with not showing how uncomfortable he was in this room full of staring people. He decided he’d puzzle through that emotion later.
Hodge was definitely older than Lisa; in his mid-twenties, at least. He was of average height, but stocky as they come with wide shoulders and a solid build. He was one of those guys that looked like he could stand outside in a hurricane as long as his feet were solidly planted. His hair was a dirty blond color, worn in a curly mullet style with pork chop sideburns that came down to his jaw line. The rest of his face was covered in stubble that looked neglected, at best.
Hodge offered his hand and Paul took it, receiving a crushing grip in return. Hodge’s eyes never blinked or narrowed. His face betrayed no hint of emotion. Looking into those eyes, Paul saw nothing at all. A blank slate. Releasing the hand, feeling way off balance, Paul took a step back and desperately tried to think of something to say.
Thankfully, Lisa came to his rescue. “I know you have a bunch of other people who are waiting to meet you and a lot of us have to get to our safe rooms, but I’m sure I’ll see you sometime tonight. If I don’t, then I’ll see you tomorrow at training.” She bathed him in her smile and her voice rose in pitch as she exclaimed, “This is so exciting—your first night with the crew!”
Not having any idea what she was talki
ng about, but knowing there wasn’t a lot of time before he’d be comatose, Paul could only nod. “Thanks Lisa. I’m looking forward to it, too.”
Without really understanding why, he gave Hodge an upward tilt of his head and a smirk before he turned away.
Why had he done that? That guy could crush him with one hand!
As he turned, he caught a glimpse of the other person who’d been sitting at the table with Lisa and Hodge. He was dressed head to toe in black and had stood up to lean against the wall near the table. He had ear buds in his ears and his arms were crossed, an iPod in his right hand as he lazily ran his thumb over the front. He stared at Paul through unblinking, narrowed eyes. Paul would have felt very uncomfortable had it not been for a group of people who came smiling up to meet him.
“Paul, right?” asked a young, round-faced girl with auburn hair who couldn’t have been any more than sixteen years old. “Hi, my name’s Juliet and this is Kenneth, Parker, and Liz.” Smiling wide, she added, “Looks like we’re the official Walker Welcome Committee today!”
Looking into each of their smiling faces and shaking hands all around, Paul couldn’t help but be infected by their good cheer and friendly demeanor. By the time he’d shaken the last hand, he was grinning as broadly as any of them and had mostly forgotten about Hodge and the black-clothed guy. Mostly.
“So you’re all… just like me?” he asked.
“Well,” answered a man with long, blond hair who’d been introduced as Kenneth. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, with a hair style that could only be described as ‘Bad-Guy-From-Die-Hard-esque’. “From what we hear, none of us are just like you but if you’re asking if we’re all Walkers, the answer is yes.”
Kenneth was now the fourth person to say that he was special, even in the eyes of other Walkers. What was the big secret? Kenneth and the rest of the group appeared to be truly happy that he was here, a complete reversal from the way Hodge had acted. He didn’t want to start what could be a friendship with a lot of questions, but he sure wished someone would tell him exactly what they meant when they said he was special.
Picking up on Paul’s discomfort, one of the group—Parker, was it? Paul couldn’t remember—said, “We’re really looking forward to working with you, Paul.” He was slightly younger than Kenneth, probably in his mid twenties, with an open, friendly demeanor. “I know this all probably feels like a bit much, but trust me, this is a great place and we’re all here to help each other. Especially in the beginning. In a week, you’ll think back and wonder why you ever felt uncomfortable in first place.”
Smiling, Paul said, “Thanks, um…”
“Parker,” Parker supplied, smiling.
“Thanks, Parker. I’m sure you’re right.” Looking from Parker to Kenneth, who were standing shoulder to shoulder and could have easily passed for brothers, Paul asked, “How long have the two of you been here?”
“I think this whipper-snapper may be implying that we’re old, Kenneth,” joked Parker. Both of them laughed and Paul blushed. “We have been with Astralis for over a decade. Ironically, we were both found at the same time, living in the same town.”
“We caused quite a stir of controversy at the time,” Kenneth continued, “Dr. Abrams went all out trying to find if there was something in the water or if somehow the two of us were related further down in our bloodlines, but he found nada. To this day, no one can explain how or why there would be two Walkers showing up in the same town, so close to the same age. The odds are more than three times your chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.”
“We are,” said Parker with a smirk, “a scientific mystery.”
“More like a fluke!” chimed in Kenneth. Smiling, he punched Parker in the arm. “Definitely for you, anyway.”
As everyone joined in the laughter, Dr. Abrams approached with a stately middle-aged woman in tow. “Well, Paul, it appears that you’ve made it through most of the initial introductions unscathed. I’m glad to see that everyone has shown you such a warm welcome.”
Only Dr. Abrams’ eyes, which flicked toward the table where Lisa and Hodge had been sitting, showed any trace of his annoyance with what he had witnessed.
As Lydia’s calm, sexy voice came over the intercom saying, “Ten Minutes,” Dr. Abrams took in the rest of the group.
“Well, then,” Dr. Abrams said. “It is off to your safe rooms. We’ll see you at sunrise. Paul, if you’ll follow me I will show you to your temporary quarters.”
The group said their goodbyes, promising to speak again in the morning.
Looking past them, Paul noticed a table of six people who hadn’t come to meet him. Two of them returned his look, but the rest concentrated on their meals, apparently having no interest in him. “Who are they?”
“Sentinels,” Dr. Abrams said as he turned back toward the double glass doors, motioning Paul with a look to follow him. As Paul fell into step beside him, the woman matched their pace on Dr. Abrams’ other side. “Paul,” he said, “I want you to meet someone I truly don’t believe I could live without. This is Natasha.” Paul leaned past Dr. Abrams as Natasha did the same, and they smiled pleasantly with murmurs of pleased-to-meet-yous. “Natasha is my personal assistant and confidante. She has worked with me longer than anyone else in the facility and I trust her implicitly.”
Stopping to pull open one of the doors, Dr. Abrams paused and made it a point to make eye contact with Paul. “It is important that you understand this: should anything ever happen to me, Natasha would be the one to find first for direction and answers. She knows my mind in all matters.”
Feeling uncomfortable with Dr. Abrams’ sudden intensity, not knowing how to respond to such a statement from a man he’d just met, Paul nodded. One quick jerk of the head seemed to be his token reply to most anything important these days.
Abrams stood still for a few more moments, staring unblinkingly into Paul’s eyes to make certain he got the message.
And then the moment passed, and Abrams was through the door and heading down the hallway.
Watchers of the Night Page 22
