Sanctuary

by Courtney McPhail

  “It ain’t Audrey!”

  All she could see was red as she glared at the back of Harold’s head, her finger shaky on the trigger. Red like his blood that she would shed to avenge the little girl she had failed. He deserved it just like the man she had beaten to death for trying to kill her brother. It had been easy to take his life. It would be even easier to take Harold’s.

  “Veronica, it’s not Audrey! She’s still alive!”

  The words cut through the turmoil in her mind and she took her eyes off the back of Harold’s head to look over at Jackson and Claudia, who were both standing next to the body. “Who is it?”

  “A man, don’t know who,” he told her. “He was infected though.”

  “His name was Glen Roberts and he was our friend.”

  They all looked over to see that Angela had joined them, her nose bloody and one eye already starting to swell. That didn’t stop her from aiming her rifle at Veronica’s head.

  “Now let my other friend go.”

  She kept her eyes on Angela but in her peripheral she saw Jackson grab his sidearm and turn it on Angela as Claudia did the same.

  Angela didn’t blink, keeping her eyes right on Veronica.

  “You are out of control and you aren’t listening to reason and that makes you a threat,” Angela said. “I don’t want to hurt you but I won’t let you hurt my friend. Put your gun down or I will shoot you.”

  “Not until I find Audrey,” Veronica replied, her hand tightening around her gun.

  “Veronica, I am serious. I will shoot you if you don’t put your gun down,” Angela said.

  Veronica shook her head, wanting to laugh at her. Even after telling her during their sessions, she didn’t understand what Veronica felt for those girls.

  “You don’t get it, do you? That’s not a threat to me. She’s my daughter and if anything has happened to her, I don’t care if I live or die. All I care about is taking the ones responsible with me. You shoot me, I’ll shoot him and then these two will shoot you. Either way the people responsible are dead, so, your move.”

  Subject File # 742

  Administrator: What happened yesterday?

  Subject: Maybe I should be asking you that question.

  Administrator: We didn’t do anything wrong--

  Subject: You broke our trust and if you can’t realize how wrong that is, I don’t know if I can help you anymore.

  “I can’t raise anybody on the radio.”

  Malcolm glanced over at Craig, who was seated next to the captain’s chair. He’d been trying to radio in to the people on watch for the last ten minutes but there had only been dead air.

  Malcolm had asked him to radio in only so those on watch wouldn’t be surprised by their appearance on the horizon. The dead air that had come back to them had him worried now and he pushed the engine to go faster.

  Unfortunately, they had hit the weight capacity for the boat with their supplies and it was slow going through the water. Thankfully, when the island had appeared on the horizon the current shifted in their favour and helped guide them in.

  “We’re almost there,” Malcolm said, the boathouse becoming clearer as they closed in. “Doc, take a look with the binoculars.”

  Quinton was sitting near the prow and already had the binoculars at his eyes. “There are some people at the boathouse. My sisters, Jackson, Angela, I think.”

  “What are they doing?” Malcolm asked.

  Quinton reached up to adjust the focus on the binoculars. He stared for a moment and then slowly lowered the binoculars to look back at Malcolm with confusion.

  “They’re pointing guns at each other.”

  Malcolm cursed under his breath and pushed harder on the throttle, the engine groaning as the wind picked up.

  “Guns?” Kim called out over the wind and the engine. “What is happening? Are they being attacked?”

  Quinton had the binoculars back up, clinging to the rail on the side as the boat bounced on the waves. “No, it’s just them as far as I can see.”

  They reached the calmer waves of the cove around the boathouse and the boat lurched forward and Malcolm eased off the throttle.

  “Craig, take the helm,” Malcolm said, standing up and switching places with Craig. “Bring her to the dock.”

  Craig guided her in and the moment that they came abreast of the dock, Malcolm jumped ship, landing nimbly on the dock and running down the length of it.

  Angela had her back to him, facing Jackson and Claudia who were flanking Veronica. She was kneeling next to Harold, who was laying in the dirt, her gun against the back of his head. A wheelbarrow was on its side by them, a sheet clad body spilling out of it.

  “Just what the hell is going on here?” he demanded as he slowed to a cautious walk when he approached them, not wanting anyone to get an itchy trigger finger.

  It was Claudia who spoke, her eyes and gun staying on Angela the whole time.

  “Audrey has gone missing and while we were looking for her, we found some strange holding cell in the lab and Harold carting around a dead body. Veronica thought it was Audrey and things got tense and now we’re here.”

  “Who the hell is that?” Malcolm asked, nodding at the body.

  “Special Agent Glen Roberts,” Angela answered him.

  “You told me he got bit before you made it to the island,” Malcolm said, remembering their conversation on their first night here. “You said you brought him here and then the infection got him.”

  “We did,” Angela replied. “Glen knew he was doomed so he volunteered to let Harold keep him in the lab so he could provide fresh samples of infected blood. He died last night and we were trying to take him to be buried.”

  It explained why Harold had been so intent on keeping them out of the lab. If any of them had been down there, they would have discovered his secret.

  “What does all of this have to do with Audrey?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” Angela said. “Harold wasn’t involved in it. He didn’t take her, he didn’t hurt her. Veronica has lost it and won’t listen to me.”

  “Why should I listen to you when you are liars?” Veronica looked at Malcolm and he could see the pain in her face. Her eyes were red from crying, her eyelashes still wet from tears. “We found Audrey’s bandanna, covered in blood and hidden in the trashcan in the clinic and the twins saw him take her into the boathouse this morning.”

  “He didn’t do anything to her!” Angela cried out but Malcolm put up a hand to quiet her.

  He noticed that the others had disembarked the boat and were coming down the dock, weapons in hand. He met Kim’s eyes and then nodded at Angela, Kim understanding him immediately and drawing up behind her with her gun. Trey followed her lead, his gaze sweeping between Angela and Nas, who had come to stand at the end of the dock but had kept his weapon holstered.

  Quinton was already moving around the group to join his sisters, his allegiance in this stand-off clear. Only Banks and Mendez seemed unsure of what to do, guns in their hands but not knowing which side was the right one to be on.

  “Veronica, let Harold up,” Malcolm said but Veronica shook her head.

  “He hurt her, Malcolm, I know he did. If it was the twins or Ruthie, you wouldn’t let him go.”

  “If it was the twins or Ruthie, I’d want to be sure that the man I was pointing my gun at was guilty.”

  Malcolm walked around the group to stand in front of Harold, who still had his nose pressed into the ground. “Let him up so he can answer my questions.”

  He was worried that Veronica was going to force him to physically pull her off of Harold but eventually she pushed to her feet and stepped away from him. She still kept her gun pointed at him but Malcolm was willing to go in small steps.

  “You can get up now,” Malcolm told Harold and the man took his shaking hands off his head and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Sweat dripped off his nose as he breathed heavily, his body shaking as he looked up at Malcolm with terrified
eyes.

  “I d-d-don’t think I can s-s-stand right now,” he said, his voice shaking.

  “It’s alright, take a breath,” Malcolm said and the man did as he was told, taking several deep breaths before he looked up and nodded. “Now, tell me, why did you take Audrey into the boathouse?”

  “I didn’t take her into the boathouse,” Harold said. “She came on her own, she wanted to see the traps for the mice. A couple days ago, I asked Audrey for the empty can from her fruit cup she had for breakfast. I told her I needed it to trap mice and she wanted to know how. She helped me build the traps and set them up in the boathouse. She came by this morning to see if they worked, that’s all.”

  “It’s not true,” Veronica said. “She never said anything about talking to you or making traps.”

  “Maybe you aren’t as watchful over your girls as you thought,” Angela sneered and Veronica’s eyes lit up, ready to go after Angela.

  “Shut up!” Malcolm yelled at both of them before turning back to Harold. “What about the bloody bandanna they found?”

  “It was my blood, not hers,” Harold told him and he moved his hand that had a bandage wrapped around it. “I cut my hand on one of the metal edges. Audrey gave me her bandanna to stop the bleeding while she put the last of the mice into the cages. I took them back to the lab and wrapped my hand while Audrey waited to meet the rest of you here at the dock. You all saw her then, she was fine. I haven’t seen her since, I swear it.”

  “They’re liars,” Veronica said. “They kept that freak hidden here when it could have killed any of us. They say that freak was once their friend but do you tie your friend to a bed and let him waste away and die?”

  Kim stepped around Angela. “Veronica, I know what you are feeling. If Trey was missing, I’d be going crazy but Harold didn’t have anything to do with it. Do you think that man could ever take Audrey anywhere without her putting up a fight? She’d do more damage than a little cut. She’s a strong girl. The freak, the lies, that stuff didn’t have anything to do with Audrey so that means she’s still missing. We need to stop this and go find her.”

  Veronica stared at her, tears slipping from the corner of her eyes and her face crumpled as she dropped her gun to her side.

  “What’s happening?”

  The voice was soft but it got everyone’s attention. Audrey stood on the path, Janet and Elaine with her, staring at all of them with wide eyes.

  Veronica cried out and ran to the girl, pulling her into her arms and she started sobbing, burying her face in the girl’s hair.

  “We found her reading in the bunker under the lodge,” Janet told them. “None of us thought to look there until Elaine noticed the keys in the office were missing.”

  “See, I told you,” Angela spat out, rubbing at her jaw that Malcolm noticed was darkening with a bruise. “Harold didn’t do anything wrong! It wasn’t bad enough that you all treat him like he’s a joke, now you’ve threatened his life because you thought he was a monster who would hurt children. He’s not the monster, you are!”

  Jackson scoffed at her. “Ya got a set of balls on ya, don’t ya? Callin’ her a monster when it’s yer friend that made the infection that’s out there killin’ millions of people.”

  “Who told you that?” Angela demanded but Jackson shook his head. She looked to Nas and then Harold but it was Elaine who stepped forward, her face showing her guilt.

  “I told them. They found the lab and they thought the worst. I had to tell them.”

  “That was classified information,” Angela snapped at her.

  “Oh fuck classified information!” Malcolm roared. “It doesn’t matter anymore! None of it fucking matters now! Look at where we are, for fuck’s sake!”

  No one said anything as he ran a hand over his head, feeling overwhelmed in that moment. It was all too much.

  He had thought that they were in this together, that all of them were working together to build something. Meeting Darren, seeing what his group had been able to accomplish, he had thought they were a reflection of this group. Trusting each other, supporting each other, united as one against the dangers outside their borders.

  But no, here they were lying to each other, fighting each other, believing the worst of each other.

  “We have to work together, not pull apart,” he told them. “This isn’t going to work if we don’t trust each other.”

  “After what happened here, how can you expect any of us to trust each other?” Angela asked.

  “Because we don’t have any other choice,” Malcolm replied. “This is our home and I intend to make the island a place that others will call home. The purpose of this place was to be a fallback so we could start rebuilding. Not just for ourselves but for others. We need to make this a place worth coming to so we can go out and recruit others to join us.”

  He looked around at all of them. “When we were out there, we met another group. Together they’d worked hard to make a safe place for themselves. You know what they did for us? They helped us. They even offered us a place with them if we wanted it. They’ve got the right of it. We need to be like them if we have any hope of making this work.”

  “She put a gun to Harold’s head,” Angela said, her voice simmering with anger. “How can we feel safe around someone who would do that?”

  “And you kept a freak here,” Malcolm said. “A freak that could have gotten out and killed any number of us. How can we feel safe around someone who would do that?”

  Angela shook her head, ready to argue but he held up a hand.

  “Right now, we’re wiping the slate clean. We forget about this and start new with each other. No secrets, no clearance levels, no more classified bullshit. You got a problem with someone? You don’t pull out your gun or start a fight. You bring it to me and Elaine and we’ll decide together what should be done. You okay doing that, Elaine?”

  Elaine looked surprised to be included but he couldn’t think of anyone better. His group trusted his judgement but he knew that the Langley group would only feel this was fair if they had one of their own looking out for them.

  Of their group, Elaine was the only one he felt he knew. Harold wouldn’t be right for this and he still didn’t have a feel for Nas’ true nature and his loyalties. Words would not ease Angela’s resentment towards Veronica and he couldn’t trust it not to poison any of her decisions. He knew that he and Elaine could work together.

  “I’d be happy to do it,” Elaine said.

  “Good,” Malcolm said. “So part of the clean slate means getting everything out in the open.”

  He looked down at Harold who was still crouching on the ground next to the wheelbarrow.

  “You kept this man in the lab to experiment on him?”

  “He volunteered,” Elaine interjected. “Glen knew what it would mean but he believed that Harold could cure this.”

  Harold nodded. “It’s true and I never hurt him. I kept him sedated and on IV feeds and only took blood.”

  “But then you killed him?” Malcolm asked.

  “No, I didn’t! He got sick. It was encephalitis. I tried everything but I couldn’t stop it.”

  “It’s true,” Quinton said, stepping forward. “He had me come down and check on him. He was doing everything he could but it was most likely a side effect of the infection.”

  “You knew about all of this?” Malcolm asked.

  Quinton nodded. “I found out not too long after we got here.”

  Malcolm narrowed his eyes. “And you didn’t say anything.”

  “Because I knew people wouldn’t agree with keeping a freak here on the island,” Quinton said, “And because I gave Harold my word I wouldn’t say anything.”

  Malcolm could understand needing to keep his word but he didn’t like the idea that one of his people was keeping secrets. Still, he’d offered a clean slate and he couldn’t go back on that.

  “Anyone else know about this?” Malcolm asked but the others shook their heads. “Alright, well
it’s over. Now, is anybody on watch?”

  They all glanced at each other and realized that those who had been scheduled on watch were standing here.

  “Craig, Lorraine, Kim, you’ve got watch. Jackson, take Veronica and Audrey back to your cabin and you can all have a talk about stealing keys and going places you aren’t supposed to be. Nas, Quinton, help Harold with Roberts. There’s a patch of soft ground by The Hummingbird, you can bury him there. Everybody else can help us unload the boat.”

  With that the group broke apart, Jackson wrapping an arm around each of his girls and heading towards their cabin while Nas and Quinton went to help Harold right the wheelbarrow. Kim came to stand in front of him, reaching up to cup his cheek in the palm of her hand.

  “You okay?” she asked and he sighed as he leaned in for a kiss. When they broke apart he rested his forehead against hers. “I will be.”

  “You let me know if you need anything,” she said, patting the radio on her hip and left him to go on watch.

  What he needed was something Kim couldn’t give him. He needed assurance that this was going to work out and no one could give him that. All he could do was hope that they would all come together.

  Subject File # 745

  Administrator: How is she doing?

  Subject: Ain’t sure she would want me to tell ya that.

  Administrator: She won’t come see me anymore.

  Subject: That’s ‘cause she hates herself.

  Jackson wasn’t sure what to do.

  He was flanked by Veronica and Audrey, charged by Malcolm to handle the aftermath of today but he had no idea how to start.

  He could feel Veronica trembling next to him but she hadn’t said a word since they left the dock.

  Audrey had been silent too, her head bent so her face was hidden from him beneath her cap. He knew she was waiting to get in trouble for disappearing but he didn’t have it in him to start in on her just yet.

  The relief that washed over him when Audrey had appeared at the boathouse had been better than any high he had ever had. He was still riding it and he wasn’t ready for it to stop yet.