The Reaping (11 page)

“We understand,” Jack says. “Open the door, please.”

She jumps up and presses a button I hadn’t noticed on the brick, and the door slides open. “Be careful. And here.”

She reaches to her hip, and I tense. Then she hands me a Taser.

“Most of the staff is equipped with them. Don’t ask me why. Most of the patients can’t do a thing. But take it. You’ll need it more than I will.”

I take the Taser from her and slip it next to me beneath the sheet. Jack pushes the gurney, and I watch the bricks on the ceiling go by. We pass two intersections and then the gray door greets us at the end of the corridor. Jack presses the up button, it illuminates red, and we wait. Behind the door, the elevator creaks and rattles and it sets my fingers twitching anxiously. Jack grabs my hand to still it.

What if there’s someone on it?

“Then you’re the patient and I’m the doctor,” he replies, his voice steady and calm. Too calm. I can tell he’s trying to convince himself that this is foolproof.

Patients don’t come back from down here.

He frowns. “That’s probably true.”

Maybe I came back to life?
Yup, my stupid humor to the rescue.

His frown relaxes. “Maybe. But let me do the talking. You’re a patient and have who-knows-what running through you.”

Of course. I need to be silent. I probably also need to look sick or crazy, too. I let my head loll to one side and close my eyes halfway.

“Just don’t over do it,” Jack says, hiding the laugh in his voice.

I smile, then return to being sickly.

The elevator dings and the door scrapes open, but no one comes off. Small miracles. Jack wheels me on.

Two
.

Jack nods. “Two or three, if that woman can be trusted.”

She can.

Jack presses the button. “I think you’re right. In which case we have less than an hour to find Nell and Red and get to the loading dock.”

The elevator rocks side-to-side as we ascend, and that combined with my nerves, the harsh light, and the antiseptic smell, I don’t need to do much pretending to be sick. By the time the door slides open again, I feel pale and woozy.

I lie on the stretcher, my shoulder blades and hips digging into the scarce padding beneath me. The thin sheet stretches over me, and even though I’m fully covered, I feel exposed with just the sheet and a hospital gown over me. I hope I’ll be able to grab my clothes on the way out of here, but with Red and Nell in tow, who knows what might happen.

Jack stands behind me, pulls a surgical mask over his face, and pushes me along the hallway. I squint against the fluorescent lights and turn my head to the side. Doors slip by. 231, 233, 235. We slow as we pass each one, and Jack glances through the windows. Soldiers line the hall every so often, and Jack doesn’t look at them. He just dips his head condescendingly as he passes by. He could have graduated from the Dr. Benedict Class of Bedside Manner. Only I who can read his eyes so well sees more than just feigned coldness in them. He glances about, taking in all our surroundings, counting the soldiers, looking for exits. I do the same as my fingers tighten over the Taser next to my hip. I hope the soldiers can’t see any trace of it under the sheet that is barely more than a piece of paper. Goosebumps raise on my legs and my toes are cold. This whole building is cold. I shiver and close my eyes.

“Just two more doors until the end of the hall,” Jack whispers. I can hear how clenched his teeth are. “Then we’ll have to go up again if Nell’s not here.” He grips the bars on either side of my head more tightly, and his knuckles turn white. I want to reach up and touch his hands, soothe him, but that would be out of the question. Any move like that and the soldiers would be on us in a moment to stop a nomad from attacking a precious cog in their system. I clench my fists to keep my hands still. My palms are still sore from crawling through gravel. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out.

Jack stops the gurney outside room 241. The sign next to the door says, “Female, age 67.” My eyes open wide. This might be her. But where is Red?

“We’ll find him, Terra,” Jack says so softly I can barely hear him. “Let’s worry about Nell for now.”

I nod. One thing at a time.

Jack turns the door handle with a soft click. He looks up and down the hallway, but the soldiers ignore him, and he pushes open the door and wheels me in. As soon as the door closes behind us, I push aside the sheet and jump off the gurney. The tile freezes my feet, but I shove the sensation aside and clutch my Taser, surveying the room for any threats.

The only thing I see is a single bed with a single occupant and dozens of tubes and wires plugged into so many machines with so many blinking lights and beeps it makes me dizzy. The woman lying in the bed has gray hair that used to be glistening silver, long fingers that used to plant hydrangeas just for a touch of beauty, and a sunken face that still radiates kindness despite what the doctors have done to her. Tears flood my eyes as I run to her and fall next to her on the bed.

“Nell,” I sob, but of course it doesn’t come out right. I’m afraid I might crush her. She wasn’t more than a waif at the settlement, but now she’s more of a wraith. She stirs next to me, and her eyes flutter open.

“Terra? That sounded like Terra.”

I half-laugh, half-cry and wipe my nose with the back of my hand. Jack rushes to my side and takes stock of the machines Nell’s hooked up to.

“Yes, Nell. It’s Terra and Jack. We’ve come for you.”

She turns her head to stare at Jack, and it takes a second for her eyes to focus on him. “Who?” He pulls down his mask and smiles at her. Her head sinks back into the pillow. “Bless you both. I haven’t seen anyone from the settlement for months. Are they all right?”

I close my eyes and more tears fall out.

“We’re not sure. We’re still looking.” Jack puts a finger to his mouth and his brows furrow as he traces the lines of tubing from the machines to Nell’s arm, figuring out which tube belongs to which machine.

Nell reaches a hand for mine, and I grip hers tightly. Her fingers are cold. I rub them, bringing warmth to her. I bend over and kiss her forehead, then slip off her bed. Nell smiles at me.

“Are you a patient here?”

I manage a half-smile. I’d be all smiles if I weren’t still terrified that we were going to be found out at any moment. It was one thing to just have Jack with me. Now I’ll have Nell, and the responsibility presses down on me. I put a hand to her cheek, and she leans into it.

“Is Jack your doctor?”

I shake my head. She should know what’s going on here, and her confusion worries me.

She looks to Jack, who has meticulously started unplugging her. “I think I need those machines, Jack dear. The doctors explained it all to me.”

Jack’s fingers stop moving along the tubes and he turns inch-by-inch to face her. “Nell, we’d like you to come with us.” He speaks slowly, like he’s explaining it to a child. The frown on his face brings one to my own. “Can you do that?”

Nell smiles sweetly and folds her hands on her lap. “I couldn’t possibly do that. Not when the doctors have taken such good care of me.”

My heart falls and I feel empty inside. Not Nell. Not my dear, dear Nell.

Chapter Eight

“I’m sure they could patch you up, too, Terra. That scratch on your arm doesn’t look good.” Nell traces her fingers along the cut so lightly I barely feel her. I pull my arm to my chest.

I’m fine.
Fine except that I’m numb all over.

When her lips turn up into a smile, her eyes don’t sparkle the way they used to. “Best not to risk infection. My Red would tell you that. Have you seen him here?” Her eyes roam the room and she cranes her head around me. “I haven’t seen him for so long. The doctors told me that he’s in intensive care because his health was failing. But I know if anyone can save Red, it’s them.”

“Nell, we’re not sure where he is.” Jack wheels the gurney closer. “Would you like to find him with us? Then you can make sure he’s all right.”

Nell beams. “That’s a wonderful idea. The doctors tell me I should stay here, and I’d like to listen to them, but they really shouldn’t keep me from him, you know. It would be better for my recovery to see him. And if Red’s not doing so well, it wouldn’t hurt for him to see me either.”

I glance at Jack and he nods. He wheels the cart with the machines and tubes along as I help Nell swing her legs to the side of her bed. She is as thin as a sapling, and I’m scared she’ll break under my touch.

“Now give me just a moment to collect myself, Terra.” She puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not used to being up and about, and I don’t want Red to see me exhausted.”

I smile and hope she sees how much I want to help her. I also hope she doesn’t guess what form that help will take. With the loyalty serum wreaking havoc on her, I have no idea how she’ll react when she finds out just where we’re going to take her.

She lies down on the gurney and smoothes her hospital gown. She shivers. I pull the sheet up over her. Her knees and elbows cut sharp angles that are visible through the sheet, and my heart aches. She shivers again, and I open cupboards until I find a blanket. I pull it up around her chin.

“Thank you, Terra. The doctors said the medicine they gave me might make me cold. They weren’t joking.”

Jack frowns as he studies the liquid dripping into her veins. He rubs the scruff on his chin. “Can I unplug any of this, Nell? Would that help?” He tries to say it with a casual concern, but I know him too well, and I can hear the stress surging below it all. We’re going to have to unhook her eventually, and she may have been lucid enough through all the testing to know what does what. But Nell shakes her head.

“No, dear. I’m afraid I need all of them. The doctors said so. They’re such nice people. Haven’t you met any of them yet?”

I’ve had enough. I shake my head and make for the door when Jack grabs my arm.

“You’re still in a hospital gown.”

I was too caught up and almost walked out of here in just a gown. And how would that look to the soldiers in the hall?

“Stay here,” Jack says. “I’ll find you something.”

He opens the door and slips out. I lie down on Nell’s bed so that if anyone looks in, there will be two patients.

“Are you not feeling well, Terra? I can page the doctors if you need me to.”

I sit up and shake my head. Not that. I smile, trying to wipe the worry off my face. I squeeze Nell’s hand. Hurry Jack, I think. Please just hurry.

I look at the clock on the wall and watch the second hand stagger forward until five minutes have passed. We only have thirty-five minutes until we meet the physician’s assistant at the loading dock.

I hold my breath as a soldier marches past the door, but he doesn’t even glance in here. I close my eyes.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to page them?”

I try to smile. It doesn’t work.

Then Jack opens the door. He opens his doctor’s coat and pulls out a white bundle. He shakes it out. Scrubs.

“It’s what the nurses wear. There’s a laundry drop at the end of the hall. Sorry if they’re dirty.”

Jack turns as I rip off the gown and pull on the scrubs. Nell frowns.

“Why do you have that uniform?”

Please don’t put it all together, I beg her silently. I smile as sweetly as I can and push her toward the door. Jack opens it.

“Please, Nell. You need your rest. Let’s go find Red.”

Her troubled gaze lingers on me, but she draws the blanket up closer to her face. Her lips rise up at the corners, and I can tell she’s thinking about Red. Jack looks up and down the hall. A sign next to the elevator door says,
Intensive Care 4
^th
Floor
.

“Fourth floor,” Jack says. He leads the way as I push Nell.

“You look nice in a doctor’s coat, Jack. So handsome. I’m glad you finally made your way here. I was so worried for you when you left the settlement. When you both did. But life went on like it always does.” Nell hesitates on the words, and a strange look flashes across her face. “Then the helicopters came. Everyone was screaming and running. I’m not sure why. All the soldiers wanted to do was help.” She stumbles over her words for a moment and then continues. “And then an agent came out of a truck. He was such a nice—” She puts a hand to her head as if it’s hurting her. “But that can’t be right.”

A timer on the machine next to her starts beeping. It’s slow and steady, and after three beeps, one of the tubes fills with pale lavender liquid. It creeps toward the needle in Nell’s left hand.

I hiss at Jack. Nell is so befuddled she doesn’t notice a thing I’m doing, but Jack turns back to me. I point to the trail of fluid evacuating the tube for Nell’s veins.

“What is it?” he asks, studying the tube.

The serum.

“You’re sure?”

The liquid reaches the needle, and Nell’s eyes begin to cloud over and she smiles at us. “And you haven’t met the nice doctors yet?”