Eclipsed

by Kathryn Hoff

  “Ah, June. Not serious, I think. You must stay back. You must complete…”

  “Of course, Leo. Young man, use the gauze. Yes, that’s right. Jacqueline, take my badge and go to the iso lab. Bring my hazmat suit, the largest one. Go!”

  Sergeant Stonehouse came pounding up the southeast steps as I fled down. Behind me, Westerly issued orders. “Sergeant, stop where you are. Call for a quarantine unit…”

  I ran through the front entryway, where an ECA soldier yes sir’d into his radio.

  “Stop! You girl!”

  I shouted, “Medical emergency! Gangway!” and barreled on through.

  Amazingly, it worked. No one stopped me, but the confused guard followed me.

  I passed the cafeteria, passed the kitchen, around the corner, down to the iso lab. I stopped in front of the door. Danger! Isolation Lab. Infectious Agents in Use. Authorized Personnel Only.

  The dude following me stopped short. “You’re not going in there, are you?”

  “Stay out,” I said. “I’m only going to the prep room.”

  An announcement came over the loudspeaker: “Shelter in place. All personnel should shelter in place until instructed otherwise.”

  My heart thumped—not just from running—as I used Westerly’s badge to open the iso lab door. It was the first time I’d been alone in the prep room. The white suits hanging from the wall looked like evil robots ready to come alive.

  Eeeek! Ooo ooo ooo! The noise had wakened Molly, deep in the red zone behind two more locked doors.

  I called, “It’s all right, Molly. Just me.” I missed her so much my throat got lumpy.

  There was no time to get sentimental. I threw the largest white suit over my shoulder, added a helmet and air filter, and backed out. “Here,” I thrust the helmet at the nervous guard and slammed the door shut. “Follow me!”

  I led the way up the northeast stair, coming to the second-floor hall behind Westerly. Sergeant Stonehouse stood at ready nearby, talking into his radio.

  “Ah, good. Jacqueline, if you will assist.” Westerly removed her robe and hitched up the purple caftan.

  It was awkward with no chair, just the wall to lean against while she muttered and grunted her way into the suit. She had me check the seals twice.

  “Thank you. Now stay back.” She trundled forward to Mendez’s prone body to take over the first aid.

  Stonehouse said, “Ambulance ETA eight minutes.”

  Mendez spoke to Westerly, so soft I could hardly hear, “It won’t make much difference, you know, June. The important thing is to proceed…”

  I waited, feeling helpless and useless, with Stonehouse and the other helpless and useless guard, until the white suits came with covered isolation gurneys. The baby had gone awful quiet. The teen mom wailed once, but she was already coughing, too, so bad she didn’t protest when they put her on a gurney, still cradling the baby, and closed the lid on them both.

  They took Mendez next, and then the soldier Perkins, who was still sobbing.

  Stonehouse patted my shoulder. “Don’t fret too much, Miss Jackie. They got a good chance—strain six ain’t so bad.”

  I nodded as if I believed it. The place where Mendez had fallen was a big, disgusting puddle of blood. It looked like too much to have come from one sick old man.

  As the last gurney went down the stairway, Westerly turned back. It was hard to tell with the helmet on her head, but she might have been snuffling too.

  “Sergeant Stonehouse, have this hallway sanitized at once.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re ready.” He nodded to a masked and gloved soldier with a canister of disinfectant.

  “This breach of security…”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll deal with it.”

  “I trust you will.” Westerly pivoted toward me. “Jacqueline, please proceed me to the iso lab. Bring my robe.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She moved nimbly enough, despite the suit, although I worried about her tripping on the stairs. If she fell, it would take at least two strong men to help her up.

  I opened the iso lab door for Westerly, which made Molly shriek again, and followed Westerly’s instructions to put on a surgical gown and gloves and mask and go with her to the decon room. There, I helped get her out of the white suit, put the suit into the sterilizer, and put the gown, mask, and gloves into medical waste for incineration.

  All the time, my eyes kept straying to the door that said Red Zone. No entry. I was one locked door away from strain seven, and it made me very, very nervous.

  While Westerly showered, I grew brave enough to peek through the window at Molly. Her cage was small, no bigger than the shift cage in the primate lab. When she saw me, she jumped up and down, screeching, nearly banging her head on the top. She slapped at the bars in frustration—she knew I saw her, but I was leaving her all alone in that little cage surrounded by exam tables and scary medical instruments.

  “Sorry, old girl. I wish I could come in and play, but I can’t.”

  Westerly came out of the shower with her hair dripping, and wearing the pink robe over her caftan. “Thank you,” she said. “How is it that you were wandering about the property at night?”

  “Oh! Bottle for the baby.”

  “Indeed. Well, as Paula would no doubt tell you, you kept your head and followed directions. Well done.”

  It was only later, after I’d told Reyna and Chubb—What, no chow?—all about it, and had gone to bed too wound up to sleep, that I was struck by something I’d seen when I’d peeked in at Molly from the decon room.

  It was the first time I’d penetrated the iso lab far enough to get a good look at the red zone. It was equipped like a mini clinic, with two hospital beds, an exam table, instrument trays, computers, and microscopes.

  And an old-fashioned rocking chair and two cribs.

  The next morning, I’d hardly begun cleaning Barney’s cage when Rico popped into the primate lab.

  “Did you see what happened last night? How bad was Mendez hurt?”

  “Pretty bad.” The memory made me queasy. “There was a lot of blood, but he was still talking.”

  “Dios mío.” He brushed back his dark curls. “What a disaster.”

  “Yeah. Especially for Mendez.”

  Rico dropped his voice. “What about the soldier? Could he be part of the conspiracy with Bert?”

  I shook my head, filling a bucket with water. “Perkins thought Mendez might have a cure for his baby.” I pushed the memory of the coughing infant out of my mind. “I don’t think he meant to hurt anyone.”

  Rico rubbed his beardless chin thoughtfully. “It could be connected. Bert’s friendly with some of the guards. That’s against the rules—the guards aren’t supposed to fraternize with the lab staff. But maybe Bert said something that made Perkins think we had some kind of cure almost ready to distribute. It would be easy to give the wrong impression to someone who wasn’t trained in science.”

  That made sense. “And when Perkins’s baby got sick, he was desperate enough to try to force Mendez to give it to him. It could have happened that way.” I bundled the dirty paper out of the tray.

  Rico stepped into my way. “And what were you doing, snooping around the halls at night?”

  “Snooping? If you must know, I was going to the kitchen for snacks. What’s bothering you?”

  He eyed me suspiciously. “I just want to make sure we’re really on the same side. Westerly and Quinn—they’re fighting all the time. Mendez has been keeping them working together, but if he’s out of the picture…”

  “Fighting about what?”

  Rico looked around, as if someone might be listening. “What Quinn is doing with phages is revolutionary, and every day counts. Mendez understands that. But Westerly wants to go slow, follow all the rules, even though more people are dying every day.”

  “So?”

  “So, if Mendez can’t keep working, Westerly’s got more say and she’ll slow things down even more. But Quinn
says we have to move faster than ever, because strain seven is spreading. You want to stop strain seven, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Good.” He grinned like I’d agreed to something. “We need to stand together on this, make sure Quinn gets all the help he needs. And Jackie…” He leaned over and kissed me, a peck on the lips. “I’m glad we’re on the same side.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Pride

  Rico kissed me! Not much heat in it, but a kiss is a kiss, right? And he called me Jackie instead of “Kennedy.” That had to mean something, didn’t it?

  Since we’d become allies, Rico had been a lot nicer, almost friendly. Not holding-hands friendly, but treating me more like a partner than a pesky little sister. Of course he was older than me, already eighteen and with a real job, so it was natural that he’d look down on me some. I wondered if maybe I should try some of that cologne I’d got for Christmas…

  I let myself dream for a moment about the nice Rico, the one who wanted to work things out together. He must have had it rough after his parents were Eclipsed—it wasn’t surprising when an orphan became surly and wary. Maybe, with a little genuine friendship, he’d get more comfortable, at least with me.

  It was cold and blustery out, but I was in a very good mood when I took Barney to the courtyard.

  Private Mary Koh was there, talking to Reyna, their faces flushed from the damp wind. The babies were bundled into tiny parkas and knitted hats and mittens. Reyna held both Gabe’s hands while he toddled unsteadily. Deedee stood holding onto the bench, rocking from one foot to the other, not yet brave enough to take a step.

  Gabe screamed, “Arney! Arney!” Barney sniffed him all over, knocking Gabe over in the process, then ran to Deedee and knocked her down too. Both the babies seemed perfectly happy with this treatment.

  Private Koh said, “Thanks, Reyna, see you around,” and nodded to me before heading into the back hallway. Her eyes were red, maybe from the wind.

  “Is Private Koh pestering you?” I asked Reyna.

  “Pestering?” Reyna shook her head. “She was telling me about Perkins. He was so proud of his baby…I guess his girlfriend panicked when the baby started coughing and came here to the gate. Now, even if he and his family make it through strain six, he’ll be court-martialed.”

  “He must have been out of his mind to let her in.” I looked around. “Where’s Chubb?”

  “Helping Sergeant Stonehouse in the supply room.”

  I picked up Deedee, who was crawling after Barney and in danger of being run over in his enthusiasm. “Stonehouse has a whole squad of soldiers to order around. Why is he bothering Chubb?”

  Reyna tsked. “He’s not bothering Chubb—Chubb asked to do it. He’s gonna learn about inventory systems or some such thing, while he dumps both the kids on me.” She heaved a theatrical sigh.

  “Maybe it will help, when he turns eighteen. Look at Rico. He came here as a teen intern and now he’s a lab trainee.”

  “Humph. You look at Rico, I don’t want to. And if you’re smart, you won’t neither.”

  I tried to be cool about it, “I don’t know. He has a nice smile. It’s just that Quinn works him awfully hard.”

  “Ooooh,” Reyna crooned. “I do believe little Jackie likes Rico.”

  “Stop it. I just think we should give him a chance, that’s all.” Really, I was wishing he would give me a chance.

  “But what about me?” Reyna moaned.

  “I’ll help when I can, except I have to help Paula twice a day in the iso lab.”

  Reyna snorted. “Great. Chubb gets inventory training, you get lab work, and I get dirty diapers.”

  Paula, with no jacket, just her lab coat, walked toward us, although I’d never seen her come to the courtyard before.

  “You should have a heavier coat,” I said.

  “I won’t stay out long.” She stooped to fondle Barney’s ears. “I just wanted to let you know—Dr. Mendez didn’t make it. He passed away this morning.”

  Reyna gasped. I bit my lip to keep from snuffling. Poor Mendez—all the work he’d done to fight Eclipse, and he died because a grief-stricken soldier didn’t understand the science. He’d never know if his work was a success.

  Supper that night was subdued. Even the soldiers were quiet and gloomy in their corner.

  “Looks like Quinn’s taking over,” Rico whispered, as he joined our table. He nodded toward the scientists.

  At the white-lab-coat table, now down to three members, Quinn and Westerly waged a quiet, tense discussion, eyes locked on one another. Quinn’s finger stabbed at the table. “We must advance the schedule…greater urgency…critical timeframe.” He was answered by Westerly’s low grumble. Between them, Paula inserted an occasional word or calming gesture.

  As we were toying with dessert—butterscotch pudding—Westerly clinked her spoon against her glass.

  “As you all know by now, Dr. Mendez passed away this afternoon. This is one more tragedy among the many we all have experienced.” Her deep voice was steady—only her blinking eyes showed her emotion. “While the loss of Dr. Mendez is a terrible blow, we have no time for grief. We expect strain seven to spread rapidly as the weather warms. This new wave of Eclipse has caused acute anxiety among the population as a whole—anxiety that approaches panic among some sectors. In light of these developments, we must proceed on an expedited timeframe. We may be asking many of you to take on additional duties to complete our critical mission.”

  She glanced at Quinn. “In addition, we will be taking steps to address the repeated episodes of intestinal disturbances among both the infants and the staff. Ricardo, you will instruct the interns in the procedures for taking stool samples. You will take samples from each of the infants every two days.” Chubb and Reyna screwed up their faces in disgust. “Each of the interns and select members of the security squadron will provide samples as well.”

  Chubb dropped his jaw. “From us? You want to test our crap?”

  “Take the samples to Dr. Quinn. In addition, Ricardo will take blood samples periodically over the next few weeks. I will continue to test the infants’ blood during their weekly exams.”

  Reyna shook her head, jangling her earrings. “Why can’t you just give the babies some medicine to keep them from getting sick? Then wouldn’t none of us catch it.”

  Westerly frowned. “Over-medicating has caused many ordinary viruses to become resistant to antibiotics. I can assure you, the entire research staff is absolutely devoted to ensuring these children remain healthy.”

  Devoted staff or not, whatever that damn virus was that kept hitting us, it hit us again two days later. First the babies got it and kept us changing their diapers non-stop. The babies got over it in no time, but then Chubb and Reyna and I got it.

  At least we got all the stool samples Quinn wanted. I volunteered to take them to the phage lab, hoping for an excuse to talk to Rico, but he had little time to talk.

  “Nothing new,” he whispered at the phage lab door. “Bert’s too busy to cause trouble—Quinn’s running him and me ragged, analyzing crap.” Then Quinn yelled at him and he had to go.

  Take Barney for exercise, help Paula dress, clean Barney’s cage, and in between, try to get some schoolwork done while minding the babies. I was falling way behind in history and lit, and even in math I was barely above grade level. Paula didn’t have time to give me any training in lab work, and every time I asked Rico if I could help him, he just told me to get more stool samples.

  Part of the problem was that the babies needed even more attention since Gabe had started walking. He’d totter for two steps before falling down and righting himself to try again, over and over. Deedee would watch him, holding onto a chair or something, and bounce, not quite able to lift a foot yet. Then she’d throw herself down and crawl as fast as she could to where Gabe had tumbled down, and generally get in the way while he took off again for the next two steps.

  “Oh, Deedee,” Reyna moaned,
sprawled on a beanbag. “You’re gonna spend your whole life running after some boy, aren’t you? And that boy won’t never stay in one place long enough for you to catch him. Have some pride, girl!” She was still under the weather, and I was helping watch the kids while Chubb did a stint with Stonehouse.

  “And look at you,” she said. “Gathering stool samples just to get a chance to talk to that Rico.” She looked at me sideways. “You should watch out for that boy. His kind’s only nice when they want something.”

  I felt my face grow red. “His kind? What’s that? Lab flunkies? Latino boys? Or all boys?”

  “Boys who say mean things about you when you’re not around.”

  That caught me short. “Mean things? What mean things?”

  Reyna nodded. “Look here, girl. A cat could see you kinda like Rico, but he don’t respect you. When you’re not around, he calls you the monkey girl and he brags about how much smarter he is than you.”

  I looked away. “Chubb calls me Jackass.”

  “Can’t you tell the difference? Chubb, he’s just joking around, and he does it to your face. Rico, he really means it, and he says it behind your back. Have some pride, girl. Stay away from that jerk.”

  Was I really such an idiot? So desperate for attention that I’d been taken in by Rico? By one little kiss?

  Maybe I was.

  Rico had been hostile at first, jealous that I had Paula, and he hadn’t liked it that I could handle Molly better than him. And he’d been ready to believe that I let Molly out. But lately, I thought we’d become friends, or at least allies.

  Worst of all, now that I thought about it, Rico never talked to me in front of the others. It was like he didn’t want anyone else to think we were friends. Didn’t want anyone to think he was desperate enough to hang out with an underage, overweight kennel cleaner.

  Idiot: fool, simpleton, half-wit.

  Crap. I didn’t want to believe Rico was messing with me. Using me, maybe, to find out more about what Bert and Tilly were up to.

  Being honest was about more than simply not telling a lie. Reyna wasn’t the most pleasant company, but in her own way she was honest. Which was more than I could say for Rico.