by Max Lockwood
“What do you think Natalia would say about this right now?” Alec asked. “She always kept me entertained.”
“She’d probably be giving me crap about us being locked in a closet together, trying to embarrass me like always.”
“She embarrassed you?” he laughed. “About what?”
“Everything she could,” Elaina replied. “Mostly about you.”
“What did she say about me?” he asked eagerly.
Elaina suddenly regretted saying anything, but if she were going to be separated from Alec eventually, she figured that it didn’t matter what she said.
“Oh, you know, just silly stuff about how you’re cute and how she thought I liked you.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Was any of that true?”
She knew what he was really asking and she supposed that she would leave him with a parting gift.
“Yes,” she said hesitantly. “As it turns out, I actually do like you.”
He beamed. “And you think I’m cute?”
Elaina rolled her eyes, but indulged him. “Yes, that’s also true.”
He sat in the dark, smiling to himself. “See, I always thought you were fake flirting with me to distract me from your secret. It totally worked.”
She laughed. “There might have been some of that going on, too. Besides, I’m not sure if I could call that flirting. I’m honestly not sure how to flirt in the first place.”
“Then it must have come from a genuine place.”
She wrung her hands, suddenly feeling like she could open up to Alec a little more.
“I’ve never had a lot of time for romantic relationships,” she confessed. “I’m not sure what I would do if I even wanted to be in one.”
“Well, I’d say you don’t have a lot of time for a relationship now, either,” Alec said sadly. “It’s too bad, too. You’re a real catch.”
Chapter Seventeen
As the other women slept, Natalia listened to the footsteps outside of their door. At first, the patrols were frequent. She even got out of bed under the guise of having to use the restroom, just to see what was going on outside.
She noticed that there was a different soldier in the hall when she entered the bathroom, compared to when she left it. She assumed that they were working shifts or rotations, but as she listened in bed, she noticed that the footsteps came less frequently as time wore on.
In the early hours, the guards came so infrequently that Natalia knew that it was her time to check up on Will. Once the footsteps went away, she knew that she didn’t have long to make her move.
Because of the hastily put together barricade of concrete blocks, the guards couldn’t walk from one dorm to the other without circling the entire building. If her prediction was correct, one of their rounds began on the men’s side and ended on the women’s side. So, she needed to move quickly to get from her side to the other before the next round began.
Because the barrier was so roughly thrown together, there was a gap at the ceiling. It made it so it would be difficult to see through and impossible to walk through. But Natalia figured she would be able to climb to the top, slide through the gap, and climb down the other side without drawing attention to herself.
Quietly, she slid out of bed, opened the door a crack, and silently shut it behind her. Then she removed her socks and started to climb the wall.
While she didn’t have a lot of upper body strength, her legs had grown strong from running and she pushed her body up the blocks. She gripped the cracks tightly with her fingers and toes and cautiously scaled the wall. When she made it to the top, she maneuvered her body until she was parallel with the ceiling.
Feeling extremely claustrophobic, she wiggled her body across the top of the wall and turned so she could climb feet first back down. She nearly lost her balance and fell, but she managed to catch herself on the top of the wall, dangling by her fingertips.
With a few feet more to go, her hands slipped and she slid down the wall, landing on her feet with a tiny thud. Natalia held her breath, waiting for the first sign that she needed to climb back over to the safe side. But no one came, so she made her way down the hall.
Once she got to the men’s dormitory, she continued down the hall, trying every doorknob along the way. She discovered a janitor’s closet, but it was empty. She scoured the little room for any sign of Will, but there was no evidence to be found.
The next room over was the racquetball court. Abandoned rubber balls and racquets were scattered on the floor, but, again, no sign of life.
She made her way to the end of the hall without finding Will. She wondered if perhaps he had been released and no one had told her. She made her way back to the men’s dorm, but then paused. If he wasn’t in there, there would be witnesses who could alert the guards about an intruder. She would have to save that room for last.
At the end of the hall, she turned left. Here there was another hallway. This one had been used for the offices of the recreation center’s employees. She slowly opened each door, but they contained a desk and chairs, not an isolation ward for her friend.
Feeling nervous and discouraged, she quickly tiptoed her way back to the men’s dorm. Natalia’s plan was to quickly open the door, peek in, and see if Will was there. If he was there, she would climb back over the wall. She didn’t want to get herself into trouble, and especially didn’t want to make more trouble for Will. As much as she wanted to speak with him, she would be patient. For now, she just needed to know he was okay.
As she reached for the doorknob, she heard footsteps come down the hall. She abandoned her mission and started to scramble up the concrete blocks. But, this time, her hands were shaking so badly that she could hardly grip the blocks. Her limbs felt heavy and numb with anxiety, making her climb so much more difficult.
The guard turned the corner just in time to see her trying to shuffle up to the top and took off toward her in a full sprint. In her haste to get away, she managed to get stuck at the top. The guard grabbed her arm, just as she was about to cross to the other side and yanked her down. She fell to the floor flat on her back.
She moaned in pain, having taken the brunt of the fall on her back. She was so startled by her fall that she wasn’t sure if she was okay or not.
“What the hell are you doing?” the buff guard hissed at her. “You have violated curfew and will have to be put on probation. You will spend no less than five days in isolation for violating a rule. Come with me.”
“Wait,” a familiar voice said from down the hall as the guard hoisted Natalia to her feet. “Be careful with her.”
Natalia blinked hard. She knew she had a concussion even though she didn’t remember hitting her head. There was no other explanation for what she saw.
“Dad?” she gasped, her legs threatening to give out from under her.
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Natalia,” he said, his voice dripping with saccharine sweetness.
“No,” she said, fighting against the soldier. “Take me back to the dorm. Throw me to the side of the road. Just get me out of here immediately.”
Bretton Vincent extended his arms. “Thank you, Derek,” he said to the guard. “Let me handle things with my daughter.”
The soldier loosened his grip, but didn’t completely release Natalia. “Are you sure you can handle this? I can assist you, if you’d like.”
“That won’t be necessary,” he said, making eye contact with Natalia. “My daughter knows better than to disobey me. Come, Natalia. There are things I need to explain to you.”
Something in her gut told her to run, but curiosity overcame her. She needed to know what her father was doing there. Then, if she could get that information from him, maybe she could ask about Will.
She followed him down the hall, past the small offices and into a large conference room. On the other side of the conference room, Bretton opened another door, leading to a break room that he had converted into a personal off
ice.
He had been residing there for a while, because the lunch table had been pushed aside to make room for a bed. He gestured toward a couch and Natalia sunk down onto it, ready to give her father a piece of her mind. He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of sparkling water, handing it to his daughter before taking a seat in the opposite couch.
“I’ve been very worried lately,” Bretton said, sitting back in the couch. “When we got separated, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again. I was so worried that you would become infected and I would lose you. You have no idea how surprised and excited I was to see you on the security footage. When they said they had a Natalia Vincent here, I knew it was you. You’re a strong girl and you fought your way to come back to me.”
Natalia pursed her lips, completely in awe of her father. “You’re delusional, you know that? Don’t pretend like we got separated. You had the opportunity and the means to take me with you, but you deliberately chose not to.”
“Natalia,” he whined. “You understand how the fight or flight response works, right? Humans go on autopilot in those kinds of situations. We got the order to evacuate and my bodyguards did their job and took me to safety. Once I got in the car, I realized that I needed to get you, but it was too late.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. If you had tried, you would have known that I fought and struggled to get out of there. I watched you drive away from us. There was plenty of room in your vehicle. You got scared and bolted. I’m sure you thought of me as you drove away, just like you did the first time. It’s not good enough for your own child, though. You don’t care about anyone but yourself. I’ll say it now and forever—you are a bad father and a selfish man.”
Bretton looked hurt. “But don’t you realize what I’m doing now? I’m trying to save the world from this virus.”
“You can’t,” Natalia retorted. “Only Elaina can, and you tried to kill her.”
“What do you mean?” he said, his phony look of concern falling into a deep frown.
“She was trapped in a lab, scared out of her mind when we found her. I knew that you had something to do with that.”
He instantly looked relieved that Natalia knew nothing more about what happened there. “It was an accident,” he said. “There weren’t enough soldiers to save everyone.”
“You didn’t have to save everyone,” Natalia said. “Just me. You could have saved me. I will never forgive you for that.”
“Oh, be reasonable, Natalia. I love you. You’re my only daughter and you don’t know how devastating it was to lose you. Being left behind has nothing to do with me. I acted out of fear, but I’m only human. Anyone else would have done the same.”
“That’s not true at all. I had three people who have pulled me out of a bunch of scary places. They thought about me when things got bad. And these are just people I’ve known for about a month or so.”
“Only because it was convenient for them, I suppose.”
“How do you figure? You had way more protection than they ever did.”
He sucked his teeth. “People know who I am, Natalia. Elaina knew that you were my daughter, so she kept you around to be used as a bargaining chip when the moment was right. You can’t tell me that she wouldn’t ditch you if it gained her some immunity.”
“She wouldn’t. She cares about me. So do Alec and Will.”
“Where is Elaina now? Why isn’t she with you?”
“We—Will and I got lost,” she stuttered.
“And Elaina didn’t come to your rescue?”
“I’m sure she did. She’s probably out there now, looking for us.”
“Oh, honey,” he said, his voice full of condescension. “Don’t be so naïve. Fortunately, you were rescued. Otherwise, you probably would have been sold to the highest bidder.”
“How dare you,” Natalia snarled, standing up from the couch. Her father gave her a warning look and she sat back down.
“Calm down, Natalia.”
She took a deep breath. She still had a lot of questions for her father.
“I get that you’re working on the virus, but what makes me such a strong bargaining chip?”
He smiled and crossed his arms. “Do you see how large this camp is compared to the other military base?”
She nodded her head.
“You know, it’s only by chance that you ended up here. But, I’m very pleased to see that you were picked up.”
“Why?”
“So you can see what I’ve been working on. I want you to be proud of me, Natalia. One day you’ll understand that everything I’ve had to do was necessary.”
“Are you working here or something?” Natalia asked, confused as to why her father was at a rebel camp at all.
“Working? Sort of,” he grinned. “This was created for me. You thought you were rescued by strangers, but, in fact, you were rescued by me. You may have thought that I abandoned you a few times, but, I assure you, I’ve saved your life. You’re safe here—thanks to me.”
Chapter Eighteen
When Elaina woke the next morning, she found her head resting on Alec’s shoulder. She jolted awake, hoping that he didn’t notice how close they’d gotten last night.
After being busted for talking, Alec maneuvered himself around so he could sit on the same side of the closet as Elaina. With their faces closer, they could hear each other as they whispered about possible escape plans and theories about what the men were after.
But, somewhere along the line, they had fallen asleep. Elaina just hoped that he slept too soundly to notice anything that could be construed as a display of affection.
“Get up,” the man who had antagonized them the previous night said, swinging the closet door open. “We have to go.”
Elaina was about to ask where they were going, but there was no point in asking. Even if he did tell her, it wouldn’t make a difference. They were still tied up and outnumbered.
A few other men, including the ones from their capture, joined the ringleader in marching them outside. Elaina was surprised to find themselves walking down the street instead of being piled into the truck.
Though it was the middle of the morning, there were no other residents out and about in the small town. Elaina looked around, hoping there would be someone she could call to for help, but there were only men with evil smirks on their faces.
After walking for about ten minutes, they were led up the steps of the county courthouse. Elaina looked at Alec with fear in her eyes, but his expression didn’t match hers. If anything, he looked like he still had some hope left in him.
It was as if seeing another town’s version of his workplace reminded him who he was. His pace slowed and a man prodded him in the back with the end of his rifle.
“Hey,” Alec warned. “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a police officer with the Seattle Police Department. Police officers tend to stand up for other officers, so whoever is inside will not be happy with you once they realize who you have in your possession.”
Some of the men broke out into raucous laughter. “Ooh,” one taunted. “You’re a police officer? I had no idea. Sorry, Officer, we’ll let you go on your way.”
Alec was pushed forward and stumbled on the steps before regaining his footing.
“Listen here, kid,” the ringleader said, “I don’t care if you were the Queen of England before the virus hit. There are new rules now. I’m in charge here and I’m not going to let some city boy tell me what I can and cannot do. I’m a fair and just leader, but I am the leader. Got it?”
“Yes,” Alec mumbled.
“Good,” he replied, swinging the front door of the undamaged building open. “Now, let’s prepare you for trial.”
“Trial?” Elaina squeaked.
“Of course we’re having a trial,” he laughed. “We are a civilized group of people, after all. Now, go sit in that cell and wait for us to begin our trial. Your defense would like to know what you plead.”
“My ple
a?” Elaina repeated.
“Guilty or not guilty,” he sighed, annoyed that he had to explain it to her.
“Not guilty,” she insisted
“Guilty? Okay, let’s prepare the trial,” he said, shoving Elaina and Alec into a holding cell and locking the barred door behind them.
“I’m innocent,” she shrieked, pushing her body against the bars.
“Tom,” the man said, ignoring Elaina’s cries, “you’re in charge of them. Just stand here and make sure they can’t escape.”
A young man, no older than eighteen, walked from the back of the procession to the front.
“Don’t let them give you any trouble,” the man smiled, handing the key to the boy.
With that, the rest of the group sauntered off into the courtroom, laughing and patting each other on the back.
Elaina slumped down on the bench. “Can you believe this?” she said to Alec as he took a seat on the floor.
“It’s like all social structures went down the drain. How long has it been since the virus began?”
Elaina tried to count the days. Time was surprisingly meaningless to her any more.
“Over a month. I don’t think it’s even been two full months since the first interns got sick.”
“Two months,” Alec whispered. “Entire cities have collapsed and towns are being run by vigilante psychos.”
The boy cleared his throat. He looked mildly offended by Alec’s observation of their captors.
“You don’t know what it was like here,” the boy said, flipping his scraggly hair to the side.
“Enlighten me,” Alec said flatly.
“Once we heard about what happened in Seattle, people lost their damn minds. The rich people got on planes and flew to fancy resorts to wait it out. Everyone else stayed and did the best that they could.”
“I find it hard to believe that this is the best anyone could do,” Alec retorted, gesturing to the cell.