Project ELE (3 page)

Another F.E.M.A. official, a woman whose name badge identifies her as a nurse, comes out to collect Sebastian. The nurse isn't flaunting the biohazard suit thankfully, which makes her look less intimidating. She does have her entire body protected by long sleeve scrubs, rubber gloves and a disposable surgeons mask over her mouth and nose though.

"No momma!" Sebastian clings to my mother's leg.

"Can I not go with my son? He’s only four." My mom asks the nurse.

"No, I'm sorry but each person must go through the tests alone." Her answer sounds so genuine that I believe she may actually feel sorry that she's separating our family.

I lean down and whisper in my brother’s ear. "Hey Sabby, if you can be a big boy and go with this nice nurse, I'm sure you will get a lollipop or a sticker after you are done." I don't know if it's true or not, but I figure if they don't offer him a treat I will find a way to make it up to him later.

He looks up at me with wide hopeful eyes and releases his grip on my mother's leg. "Okay Wello."

"I love you Sebastian. We’ll see you in a few minutes." My mom bends down and gives him a big hug. My father and I each take turns giving him reassuring hugs. Then he puts his hand out for the nurse to lead him into the testing station. He looks back and says to us, "I see you in bit."

I try to convey a reassuring smile. My nerves are running haywire and the anxiety I've been feeling increases ten-fold while I watch my little brother disappear through the curtain.

The nurse comes back a few minutes later and asks for me. I give my mom and dad a hug, say: "I love you," and follow the nurse inside.

The light inside the testing tent is so artificially bright that I have to keep my head down in response. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the brightness but when I do look up, I realize I haven't missed much. The nurse is leading me down a stark corridor made up of white curtains. We walk halfway down the aisle before the nurse stops suddenly and jerks back one of the curtains. Inside the room is a simple exam table and a tray with a few creepy items on it. The nurse hands me a flimsy white hospital gown and tells me to change into it. I expect her to leave the room but instead she merely turns around to give me some semblance of privacy.

"What are all the needles for?" I ask while changing out of my clothes. The sight of all of the needles, some holding several different colored fluids, makes me queasy. I count twelve needles in all. Ten of them are standing up perfectly straight in a container with the needlepoint sticking up. Two of them are lying side by side next to the container. Those can't all be for me, right?

"We have to take blood samples as well as give you an immunization before you may enter the facility. Please make sure you remove all your undergarments as well." She adds kindly. Unlike the other officials, the nurse doesn't seem annoyed with my question.

"Um, okay. Uh, do I have to get all of those shots?" I ask feeling rather dreadful at the thought of getting injected with these foreign substances.

She laughs. "We only give you one depending on your blood test results." Then she adds, "Everyone who wishes to enter must be immunized. We will be in close quarters inside the facility and we need to make sure everyone is healthy." She answers.

Phew! I finish changing in silence and then clear my throat to announce that she may turn around. My legs are feeling so shaky that I decide to take a seat on the exam table.

The nurse takes out a plastic bag from underneath the table and puts my clothes, my shoes and even my underwear inside it. "Could I please have your hairband too?" She asks.

I pull the hairband out causing my bun to fall and some of the braid to come undone. "Will I get my stuff back?"

She looks at me apologetically, "Not if you are granted entrance to the facility. You will be provided new clothes inside." She closes the bag with a twist tie and sets it on the floor near the curtain.

My breath hitches at her mention of if I'm granted entrance. My heart starts pounding at an unsteady rhythm and my head feels all light and dizzy.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Here put your head between your legs. You're panicking." She says calmly while guiding my head down.

My heart feels like it's going so haywire that it may just beat right out of my chest. Maybe I have the virus, I don't know, but right now I feel like I'm dying.

"Deep breaths honey. Here breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out." She strokes my hair in an oddly maternal gesture.

My heart becomes increasingly steady and I feel my body starting to relax again. "What was that? Am I sick?" I sit up with frightened eyes.

"No honey, you only had a panic attack. You’ll be just fine. What is your name?" She asks.

"Willow." My voice seems a little unsteady still so I reiterate, "Willow Mosby."

"Nice to meet you Willow. My name is Nurse Laurie. You need to try not to panic like that again okay?" She says looking at me with concerned eyes.

I nod my head in compliance.

"You will be just fine. Don't worry and if you start feeling a panic attack coming on again, just take deep breaths and focus on calming your body." She pats my leg and then says, "They should be in soon. The testing only takes a few minutes."

"Thank you." I say to her. She smiles and exits the room.

I lie down on the exam table and stare at the ceiling, while taking deep cleansing breaths. I do my best not to look at the needles and strange contraptions on the table next to me. It's so hard to stay calm when I feel like my very world is catapulting out of control. This tent, the needles, the F.E.M.A. facility, the end of the world, it all scares me to death. Last week I was doing homeschool lessons with my mom and this week I'm facing the end of my life, as I know it. "Once upon a time, there was a girl..." I try to tell myself a story to make me feel less afraid but I'm interrupted when three F.E.M.A. officials enter my room. All of them are wearing identifications on their biohazard suits that mark them as doctors. Two of the doctors are male and one is female.

"Willow Mosby?" The woman asks.

I sit up and nod my head.

"We are going to run some tests, is that okay." She asks.

No! No, it's not okay! "Yes." I barely choke out.

They go about taking my vitals. The male doctor, the chubby one, sticks me with a needle none too gently and takes four vials of my lifeblood from me. I wince as he moves the needle around in my vein trying to get the blood to flow faster.

The other male doctor sticks some circular patches just above my heart and on each side of my forehead. A handheld machine relays whatever data he was searching for. They move so quickly that, just as the nurse declared, they were finished within ten minutes. All three of the doctors leave the room without saying anything.

That was so freaky! I look to the exam table and realize they took the container of immunizations with them. Only the two needles that were lying on the table remain. I wonder what that means. What if I was declined? What other reason would they have to not give me a shot? My heart starts accelerating again and my breath quickens. I throw my head between my legs like Nurse Laurie taught me. Taking long deep breaths I succeed in warding off another panic attack.

As if sensing that she was needed, Nurse Laurie opens the curtain and comes to my side. She places my passport just beneath my eyes to where I can read the bright red stamp that states ACCEPTED in bold print.

I look up at her with grateful eyes.

"See, I told you it would be okay," she smiles.

I nod my head, too relieved to speak.

"Okay, so I have to give you an immunization. Once I give you this you will be promptly taken to the facility. I have to read you a disclaimer first though, alright?" She looks at me waiting for my answer.

"Okay." I say a little unsure.

"You will receive one immunization that has not been thoroughly tested by the FDA. By accepting the immunization, you are hereby-releasing F.E.M.A. and or the FDA from any and all liability if this immunization results in adverse side effects or death. Willow Mosby, would you like to accept this immunization by your own free will?" Nurse Laurie asks.

I stare at her rather incredulously. I know that I wanted to be a big girl, being a teen and all, but should I really be left with this decision on my own? "Um, I need to speak to my dad." I say hesitantly.

"Your father has already signed the approval for you to have the immunization. However, we are giving every person over the age of fourteen the opportunity to decline if they so wish." She looks at me sympathetically.

I look at the needles holding the bright foreign liquid and then back up at Nurse Laurie. Clearing my throat, I say at barely above a whisper, "Yes, I accept."

She nods, and lifts up a needle with a dark green fluid that I hadn't realized she was carrying. She gently inserts it into my arm. While the mossy serum is pushed into my blood stream I take a closer look at the vial and notice that it's labeled PROJECT ELE, I shiver when she pulls the needle out.

"Do I have to have those two?" I ask pointing to the remaining ones that were not a part of the set of ten.

She looks at them like they are lethal and replies, "No, those are given as a parting gift to someone who is declined."

"A gift?" I ask skeptically.

"Willow, I don't want to scare you." She answers carefully.

"I was just...curious." I ask hoping that she will shed some light on such a strange 'gift.'

"The yellow one here is supposed to help sustain a life for three years. It doesn't protect against the heat but it could possibly allow someone a fighting chance if they found a way to keep their bodies cool and if they found an untainted food-water source. It's completely untested and it is doubtful that it will work, but we felt compelled to do something. Most countries aren't even providing such an immunization, but we fought for it. The thought of turning away so many is unbearable without the slightest sliver of hope." Nurse Laurie looks at me with sad eyes. I can tell that those eyes have seen a few too many people declined.

"What about the red one?" I ask.

She stares at me in silence for a few moments, deciding whether she wants to share the answer to that question with me. As if realizing that she's already past the point of no return, she answers: "The red one brings death. A swift and painless death."

My eyes bug out of my head, her answer startling me, catching me completely off guard. Why would anyone take the red shot?

"Look Willow, there is only a limited amount of room inside of the shelter and we can't afford to fill those spaces with someone who doesn't have the odds in their favor for survival. Many of the people who are being turned away have some strand, maybe even a latent strand of the virus. Usually those infected go to a hospital where they are pumped with morphine and other pain relieving drugs to help their exit from this life to be as painless as possible. Dying of the virus is excruciating." Her eyes glaze a bit as if remembering something from her past. She shakes it off and continues. "This shot would bring a quick and painless death to the person if they so wish to take it." She studies me waiting to see if I am going to break down any second.

My eyes tear up but I remain stoically straight. How am I supposed to process that kind of information? Either way I decide that I will be strong. I have to be strong. Plus, I'm going inside. I've been accepted.

She gives me a sad yet proud smile and says, "You are a brave one Willow. I think you will make it through this just fine."

A guttural scream breaks out from somewhere down the hall startling both Nurse Laurie and myself.

"No!" The person cries. Not just any person, my mom! I jump off the exam table and run out of the room before Nurse Laurie can restrain me.

"Mom!" I yell. I can hear her cries coming from a few rooms down. I open curtains trying to find her and succeed in startling patient after patient until I find her. My mom is hunched over Sebastian holding him in a death grip. She's crying so hard that her back is shaking up and down. Tears spring to my eyes as the panic and fear runs cold through my blood.

"Mom, Sabby!" I run and cling to them. "What's wrong?" I look down at my little brother expecting him to be hurt or worse, dead. He's breathing just fine and looking at me with scared, tear filled eyes. He doesn't understand what's going on, how can he?

My mom doesn't answer me so I look around trying to find out what's wrong. My mom's passport is lying open on the ground. I breathe a huge sigh of relief when I see the ACCEPTED stamp that's splayed across it.

"No, no, no." My mom keeps repeating through her tears while stroking Sebastian's curls.

My dad throws open the curtain and runs in the room. "Alice, what's wrong, what happened?" His voice cracks ever so slightly. I can see that his eyes mimic the same fear mine do. My dad rushes to her side and falls to his knees.

"No, no, no." My mom continually whimpers rocking Sebastian back and forth.

My dad shakes her lightly to get her to answer. "Alice, please tell me what's wrong."

Her arms are holding Sebastian so tight refusing to let him go. I follow my dad's gaze down to my mom's hand. She's clutching something and as if answering my dad's question she lets the object fall to the bed behind Sebastian.