H.A.L.F.: The Makers (36 page)

The door to Alecto’s room was locked with a handprint scanner. It was beyond morbid, but Jack swallowed his bile and reached for Davis’ dead hand. Jack had expected it to be limp, but it was surprisingly rigid.

He slapped the lifeless hand onto the scanner, but the lock didn’t click open. Davis apparently didn’t have the required clearance. Jack wondered if the two men even knew what they were guarding. He tried Price’s hand, but it was no more effective than Davis’.

Jack tried to reach Thomas again on the comm to see if he could override the locking system. Thomas still did not respond. His lack of response had gone from merely annoying to worrisome.
What if Lizzy recognized him?
Jack had two choices. He could either go try to find Thomas and check on him or continue with their plan. He decided to keep to the plan. Once he had Alecto secured, they’d go look for Thomas together.

He pulled the gun out of the toolbox and screwed the silencer on like the man at the gun shop had shown him. It took only one shot to fry the electrical system. The door clicked open.

Jack turned the knob and took a deep breath to steady himself. The last time he’d seen Alecto, she was trying her best to kill Tex and Erika. She had no idea that Jack was, at least for the time being, not her enemy. The entire plan and their ability to get out of the place alive hinged on Jack’s ability to convince Alecto not to kill him.

He opened the door and sultry air wafted out at him. This inner room was even more dimly lit than the outer room. Humidifiers hummed as they pumped moist air into the small room. The air was so thick with moisture it was like walking in fog. Jack squinted to see as he walked in. Besides the humidifiers on the floor, there was only a bed and a small, wheeled steel table next to it.

Alecto was strapped to the bed, her wrists and ankles bound tightly. She wore only a hospital gown, and it didn’t cover the bruises on her arms, legs and face. Jack imagined that her torso likely was similarly spotted with purple and green marks.

It was hard to look at her without wincing. It was also hard to imagine that the pathetic-looking creature strapped down on that table was the same woman who’d nearly killed Erika twice. Regardless of what she’d done while under Commander Sturgis’ command, he was moved to rescue her from being abused or tortured any further.

Jack tiptoed over to her. She didn’t move or acknowledge that he was there.

He stood next to the bed and wondered if she was still alive. Her body was entirely still. He watched her chest and waited to see it rise and fall. After more than twenty seconds, there was the barest hint of movement.

“Alecto? It’s Jack. I’m here with Commander Sturgis’ niece and nephew.”

Alecto’s great eyelids slowly opened. Her dark eyes searched, rolling from side to side as if dizzy or drugged.

“We’re here to get you out of this place. We need your help to get Commander Sturgis out of prison and back to work.”

Jack fumbled with the restraints, his hands trembling, hoping she wouldn’t strangle him. “We don’t have much time. Thomas fears they may be onto us. I’ll need your help.”

Alecto said nothing and remained motionless. Her eyes watched Jack as he freed her arms and legs. She didn’t use her mental weapon on him. He didn’t know if it was because she was unable or if she’d chosen not to.

Once the restraints were undone, Jack expected her to rise and beat a path to the nearest door. But she lay there like a corpse on an autopsy table.

“Can you move?”

She didn’t answer.

Thomas’ voice crackled in Jack’s ear. “Jack? What’s going on down there?”

Jack was both relieved and angry to hear his voice. He answered through gritted teeth. “We’re going to have a talk when this is all over.”

“Sure – whatever. What’s going on there now?”

“I’ve had some – complications.”

“Well, you better rid yourself of any complications. Somehow you set off alarms. The head of security’s on his way to you with two armed guards.”

“Copy that.”

Jack grabbed the second gas mask. “I need to put this on you. It will protect you from the gas we may need to use.”

Jack tried to slide the mask over her head. Alecto chose that moment to rejoin the living. She batted at his hand, flinging the mask to the floor.

“Alecto, I’m not kidding about this. The guards are coming back, and if you ever want out of this place, then now’s the time. If you don’t put the mask on and I have to use that gas, you’ll die.”

Jack picked her mask up off the floor and moved gingerly toward her. As he stretched the band over the back of her enormous bald head, she let out an unearthly screech that made Jack’s blood run cold. She flailed at him weakly, but he was finally able to get it on her and tighten the straps.

“Just breathe normally.” Jack handed her the blanket. “Here, wrap yourself in this. It will dry you out. I know the mask feels strange, but you must keep it on. Do you understand?”

Alecto took the blanket in her thin hand and stared at him. She didn’t answer or show any recognition that she understood him. But she pulled the blanket close around her. Only her large eyes peeked out from behind the Plexiglas of the mask.

“You won’t be able to walk well all bundled up, so I’ll carry you. Is that okay?”

She again said nothing but didn’t resist when Jack bent and scooped her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She couldn’t have weighed more than eighty pounds, and most of it in her head now flung over Jack’s back.

Jack hoisted Alecto up. There were voices in the outer room. A man said, “The guards are down. Repairman gone. Wait – door’s been breached. He’s in the inner room, boss.”

“Dammit. How’d he get in there?” Harris asked. He answered his own question. “He’s working with the other one. You two guard him and don’t let him – or it – get out of this room. I’ll go take care of the other one.”

Jack pulled the mic up to his mask. “Harris is on his way to you, Thomas. Copy?”

There was no answer.

“Ed?”

Still no answer. Jack had no time to worry about Thomas. At least two men stood between him and the outer door. He pulled the gun out of his waistband and flicked the safety off. He now wished he’d brought one of the deadly Zissnine canisters with him.

It was dark outside when Erika woke. The room was lit by a lone desk lamp still on Ms. Baumgarten’s desk where she’d left it.

Ian no longer wore the oxygen mask. Even in the dim light his skin looked fuller and had more color.

Erika had been stripped out of the hazmat suit and had a bandage on her arm where they’d taken blood. It alarmed her that she’d slept through that.

She stretched her arms over her head and rolled out of the hospital bed. The clock said two o’clock. She’d slept for nearly twelve hours. She hadn’t meant to sleep that long.
Where are Dr. Randall and Tex?
Dr. Randall was rightly worried about Tex ending up in military hands. She hoped they were on the school campus somewhere.
I’ll check on Ian then try to find them.

Erika tiptoed quietly over to Ian. At least she tried to be quiet. On the way her stomach rumbled so loudly that she was certain the people in the gym probably heard it.

“Hungry?” Ian whispered. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her.

“I’m so hungry I’d eat a hot dog.” The hydration had done wonders for Ian. He looked ten times better than he had when they arrived. “I told them to wake me when they knew something about your labs.”

“I told them to let you sleep. You were snoring. I figured you needed the rest.”

“I can sleep tomorrow. What’d they say?”

“That I’ll be fine. No liver damage. No heart damage.” Ian knocked lightly on his head. “And no brain damage. At least not more than I already had.” He smiled thinly.

Relief washed over her. He’d be right again with time and food and rest. At least his body would be okay. She wasn’t sure either of them would ever be emotionally okay again.

He squeezed her hand in his, and the touch was enough to bring fresh tears. She cried silently with joy that Ian would live and ached for Jack losing his mom. All the fear, all the anger, all the pain and hunger poured from her in silent, heaving sobs.

And Ian let loose quiet tears too. “We’ll be okay.”

Erika nodded and wiped her nose on her filthy shirt sleeve. “I know. But … Ian, the whole town is infected.”

“I know. My family is here. They said I’ll be able to see them tomorrow. I guess my mom is doing okay and my brother and sister, but my dad is pretty sick. Good thing I made it back. Before …”

“Jack’s mom …” Erika couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Ian dipped his chin and sniffled. “What about Jack? And your mom?”

If the medic had come back with news, he hadn’t bothered to wake Erika up to tell her. “I don’t know. I asked someone to check, but –”

“They’re really busy. Hundreds of people, all infected with the crap those damned Conexus made. I swear if I ever see one of them again, I’ll kill them, Erika. With my bare hands if I have to. I’ll wring their scrawny, effing necks until –”

Erika stroked his arm. “Calm yourself. You need to rest. Besides, I don’t think we’ll see them again. We have their ship, remember?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any of them here spreading that virus around.”

Erika hadn’t considered that. It wasn’t a welcome thought. “Well, rest anyway. I’m going to go see if I can find food. Want anything?”

“A pizza with a side of double cheeseburger and fries.”

“At least your appetite is back.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back.”

Ian raised the arm with the IV in it up slightly into the air. “I don’t think I’m going anywhere anytime soon.”

Erika slipped quietly out the door and into the cool night. The desert air was thick and rich. Her time in the clammy, stale world of the Conexus gave her a new appreciation for simple air. The sky was clear and bright with a three-quarter moon. Erika quietly made her way to the building that used to house the cafeteria and hoped that it still had food inside.

She pushed through the doors and flipped the switches on the back wall. A bank of overhead fluorescents flickered on. This room, at least, looked exactly as it had. Rows of tables with round stools built in. It smelled of food, not antiseptic, and Erika figured they were still using it to feed people.

Erika had almost always packed her lunch. Being a vegan, most food that the cafeteria made was full of meat and dairy. But she was starving and wasn’t about to be choosy. She scoured the refrigerator and found a vat of leftover chili. She heaped it into a paper bowl with a ladle and microwaved it just long enough that it wasn’t cold. It tasted as bad as it smelled. Erika wondered how people ate the stuff week after week when a sane person would be warned off it after the first bite. But she shoveled it in and tried to mask the flavor with a handful of saltines crushed into the bowl.

She knew she should let the chili settle before assaulting her starving stomach with more food, but it still rumbled with hunger. Erika opened cabinets and rifled through boxes and packages, searching for something that looked edible. Finding nothing, she went back to the refrigerator and pulled out a large brick of leftover meatloaf and a container of mashed potatoes.

The cafeteria special was spinning on the rotating micro plate, getting zapped to warmth, when the door opened. Erika was raiding the school cafeteria’s food supplies without paying for it in the middle of the night. Her instinct was to hide. But she had nowhere to go. She stood at the counter with a spoon full of peanut butter in her mouth, waiting for her third course.

Dr. Randall sauntered in. His eyes were rimmed in red and he looked even more tired than he had when they arrived. “Ah, Erika, I thought it may be you in here raiding the food stores.”

She was relieved to see him. She pulled the spoon out of her mouth and said hello. Her mouth was still full of peanut butter, so it came out as ‘pho-ro’. She held the jar out toward Dr. Randall. “Want some?”

“Oh my, yes. And I’d like some bread with mine if you can find any.” He hovered on the other side of the counter across from her. His eyes lit up with excitement like a child on Christmas morning. “Do you think they have jelly too?”

Erika opened a cupboard and pulled out an industrial-size loaf of white bread and slapped it on the counter and found a knife and some grape jelly. “Here you go. A feast fit for a king. Is Tex here?”

“Yes. He’s stabilized and sleeping soundly at the moment.”

The timer rang on the microwave, and by the time she had the plate pulled from the tiny oven, Dr. Randall had already devoured half a sandwich. “Best PB&J I’ve ever had.”

Erika doubted it was anything more than just edible, but she knew what he meant.

They moved their feast to the nearest table. Dr. Randall ate two more sandwiches and drank half a gallon of milk without saying a word. They chewed noisily, neither of them bothering to be polite about it.

Finally satiated, Dr. Randall pushed back from the table a bit. “How is Ian coming along?”

Erika drank the rest of the water she’d poured herself. “He’s doing well. Much improved, I’d say. He says they told him he’d make a full recovery. No permanent liver, heart or brain damage.”

“Ah, wonderful. That’s good news, anyway.”

Erika raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you gotten bad news?”

Dr. Randall wiped his patchy beard with a paper napkin and belched. “The situation is worse than I feared. I met with Dr. Montoya. She says that this is ground zero, but before they got a lid on it, the virus spread. There have been outbreaks in all major cities and towns in Arizona as well as several in California, Nevada, New Mexico and, most alarming of all, there have been reported cases in Mexico and as far away as Europe and China. Apparently the Chinese government denies claims of the outbreak, but reports that have gotten out confirm it’s the same illness.”

Erika pulled the vials from between her breasts. She’d nearly forgotten it was there. “Did you tell them about this?”

Dr. Randall shook his head. “Put that back,” he whispered.