Contain (14 page)

At some point, we all gave up waiting.
It's too depressing.

The door is down some eighty feet of
sloped concrete passageway, with walls growing to maybe forty feet
high at this end. It's very claustrophobic. Not even the sound of
the water gushing down the spillway a few hundred yards away is
able to reach us. Nothing but the electric hiss and crackle of
static.

That the system still works after all
these years is something of a wonder.

“
Are you safe?” the man
asks.

It seems like a strange thing to say,
especially considering he’s the one out there.

“
When was the last time you
opened your doors?”

Dad frowns. “Why do you want to know
that?”

“
Have you had any breaches
in containment?”

“
No.”

Jack stabs the button impatiently.
“Have you seen any Wraiths?”

The man looks startled by the
question. “Wraiths?”

“
Are there any infected out
there still?”

“
I— I don't know. Listen.
It's important that you listen to me. You need to get out of there.
Now!”

Several people quietly exclaim their
dismay at this.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
It's not safe.”

“
It's not safe out
there.”

The stranger considers this a moment
and nods. “Yes, but at least out here—”

“
What do you mean you don't
know if there are any infected?” Jack asks.

“
I haven't seen
any.”

“
He's obviously terrified,”
Susan Miller interjects. “Look at how jumpy he is. Let him in
before he draws them here!”

“
There aren't any Wraiths!”
Jonah yells.

My father turns to us. Before anyone
else can say anything, he raises his hands for silence. “It's too
risky,” he declares, shaking his head. “We don't know who he is, or
what he might be carrying. We don't know what he wants or why he
thinks we're the ones in danger.”

“
Just let him in, Abraham!”
Danny Delacruz shouts. “He's obviously not infected. You can tell
by the eyes. Let him in!”

“
My son's right,” Jack
says. “The Wraiths are all dead. We have nothing to fear from
him.”

“
Then why is he acting like
he's afraid of something out there?”

“
He's afraid of everything!
Anyone'd be jumpy. But he hasn't seen any, said so himself. Why
would he lie?”

“
Why would he tell
us
we're
the ones
in danger?” Dad presses.

“
Listen,” the stranger
says. “ I have vital information! Please, you need to hear me out,
before it's too late.”

“
Just open the door, Abe.
Get him in here so we can question him properly.” Jack turns to us.
“Are we going to stand for this, people? Are we going to let one
man keep us from learning the truth?”

“
I'm not doing—” Dad
protests.

“
You have!”

“
No,” I say, startling
myself. I hadn't planned to speak. It just popped out. “That's not
what he's doing.”

“
Then perhaps you'd like to
explain why he won't open the doors? This man is clearly a
survivor. He's been out there on his own for who knows how long.
He'll have information we desperately need.”

“
It's not safe!”

Everyone turns to me, some in
puzzlement, some shaking their heads in derision. I can see them
already dismissing me. It's not that I'm only eighteen or the son
of the man they seem to be losing faith in. It's because they all
know my feelings about the outside.

Jack Resnick nods contemptuously, as
if his suspicions have been confirmed.

But I press on. “He's a stranger. I
don't trust him, and neither should any of you.”

“
Like father, like son,”
Jonah says, pushing off the wall and stepping over to me. He jabs a
finger at my chest. “We all know about your phobia. You'd rather
spend the rest of your life inside this place than go out there in
the big wide world.”

“
My agoraphobia has nothing
to do with letting him in.”

“
Not talking about that.
I'm talking about your
xeno
phobia— fear of the
unknown.”

I can feel my face burning. His use of
the word is intentional, meant to impress the others. I have to
wonder where he picked it up, but when I see the approving look on
his father's face, I think I know.

“
A fear of the unknown can
be a healthy thing,” I growl. “It’s what keeps us
alive.”

Jonah smirks.

“
Answer this then,” I say,
challenging the group. “How did he manage to find us? How did he
know we were even here? Why do you think he's so eager to get us
out?”

Several people shift
uncomfortably.

“
Let him in,” Jonah says,
“and I'm sure we'll find out.”

“
Boys! Enough.” My father
turns to the intercom and presses the button. “Mister Williams,
we've got a few questions. First, how did you know we were
here?”

“
I have a map,” the
stranger replies, “a rather crude one, drawn from memory. It's not
very detailed, but enough so that I could find this place. Several
of the bunkers are indicated.”

There's a collective gasp, and people
start pressing forward. Nobody was ever told where any of the
bunkers were, so we're all curious about them, as well as news
about whether there are more survivors.

“
Have you been to any of
the others?” Dad asks.

“
No, this one was the
closest. Please, I'm begging you, if there has been no breach, then
it's not too late.”

“
Not too late for
what?”

The man loses his balance and stumbles
backward. “I— I'm sorry,” he says, panting. “It’s just that I
haven't had much to eat in weeks.”

“
For God’s sake, Abe, let
him in!”

But I don't like the way his eyes keep
shifting back up the ramp. It's like he knows something's
there.

“
He's lying about the
Wraiths,” I say. “He's seen them.”

“
Why would he lie about
that?” Jonah snaps.

“
Are you alone?” my dad
asks into the intercom.

“
Open the goddamn door,
Abe,” Rory Newsom shouts.

“
Don't do it,” I counter.
“Something's not right.”

Dad waves his hand, shushing me and
the others, and repeats the question. “Were you followed? Is
someone after you?”

“
Please!
” Mister Williams
says.

Others are starting to have second
thoughts now. I can read the alarm in their eyes. Several people
mutter that maybe we should wait.

“
I've had about enough of
this,” Jack Resnick shouts. “Give me the security code, Abraham
Bolles! You are no longer in charge.”

“
No.”

“
Do you see what he's
trying to do to us, people?” Jack wades into the crowd, his head
sticking up taller than most of the others, and I feel a stab of
fright as he draws closer to me.

Over to the side, Jonah smirks,
sensing my fear.

“
Don't you see what's
happened here, people?” Jack asks. “Bunker Eight has become Abraham
Bolles's little empire. King Abe! And we're supposed to be his
loyal little subjects. You all agreed with me this morning that
something needs to change, and soon!”

“
Not all of us,” Kari
mumbles.

“
You were all there. You
all agreed that it's time to put someone else in
charge!”

“
Not everyone,” I
snarl.

“
No, but enough. I even
counted your vote and your father's, not that it made any
difference.” He sweeps his gaze over the crowd. “More than half of
you voted for me!”

While that may be true, only a couple
people are nodding now.

“
Oh, I see how it is!
You're all chickening out!”

“
We said it was time for a
change, not that it should be this, Jack! This is no
better.”

He looks around uncertainly for a
moment. Nearly the entire population of the bunker is here by now.
Eddie is missing, of course, and Doc Cavanaugh is probably
downstairs with him. I see little Mia Largent and her older brother
Sam huddling close to their parents. They look
frightened.

I also don't see the Fujimuras or Bix
or Bren. I wonder if they're keeping Hannah company.

“
Jack, just calm down a
second,” Dad says. “This is no time—”

“
Don't you tell me to calm
down! I'm in charge here now, not you! Now open the
door!”

“
Jack—” Maria Caprio
starts, but he cuts her off with a cry of frustration.

“
Do you want to stay inside
of this prison forever? Is that it?” He turns and glares at each of
us in turn. “Well, do you? I know I don't.”

“
Maybe Abe's right,”
Vincent Caprio chimes in. “Why is that man so eager to get us to
open the door?”

I'm tempted to remind him that I was
the first one to point that out, not Dad.

“
Because he's alone! He
wants to come in!”

“
That's not what I
heard.”

“
It's the
Wraiths.”

“
There are no
Wraiths!”

“
Then what's the
rush?”

“
Rush?” Jack screams in
frustration? “That's the wrong question. The question we should be
asking ourselves is why
delay
? That's the question Abraham
Bolles doesn't want asked because he knows what'll happen once he
opens that door. We'll all realize that we no longer need to stay
here anymore. We won't need him. And then his kingdom will
crumble.”

“
There's no kingdom, Jack.
I'm only trying to be cautious.”

But Jack Resnick pushes his way back
through the crowd and grabs my father's shirt and begins to shake
him. Dad's head whips back and forth, coming perilously close to
the wall. I step forward in alarm. A voice rings out, shouting,
“Dad, wait!”

There's a loud
CRACK!
And my father's
body slumps forward in Jack's hands. For a moment, everyone
freezes.

“
Abe?” Jack says. He
actually manages to looks surprised.

Suddenly, I'm standing next to them,
pushing Jack away, grabbing for my dad. His eyes are glazed, and
the way his head lolls to one side tells me something is seriously
wrong. “What the hell did you do?” I scream.

“
It wasn't—” Jack lets him
go and starts to back away. “I mean, I didn't—”

I catch my father before he hits the
floor. “Get help,” I scream. I cradle his head, and lay him down.
When I pull my hand away, it's covered in blood.

“
Get the
doctor!”

Above me, the intercom crackles and
the man demands to know what's going on.

“It's nothing,” my father says, his words slurred. He pushes my
hands away, but when he tries to sit up, his body sways for a
moment, and he looks like he might collapse.

People press against me. I push them
back and ask for room. “Where's Doc Cavanaugh?” I cry. “Someone get
her!”

Dominic Green offers to go find
her.

“
No!” Dad reaches behind
his head and hisses in pain. “Leave her. She's busy. And I'm fine.
It's just a bump. And I'm barely bleeding anymore.”

“
See, he's fine,” Jack
says.

“
You almost brained him!”
Kari shouts.

“
He should have listened to
me. None of this would have hap—”

“
You shut the hell up!” I
scream at him, spinning around. “You're totally insane! What the
hell is wrong with you?”

“
No, I  I don't know
what came over me.”

“
Bullsh—”

“
Finn! Enough!”