by Max Lockwood
There were people rummaging for scraps to eat in their barren cities while her father was snacking on caviar and champagne in his spare time. He didn’t even have to risk his life scavenging for it, either—someone else did his bidding.
When she heard him coming down the hall, Natalia jumped back onto the couch and rested her head on the arm of the sofa, pretending like she had dozed off in his absence.
“Natalia,” he said softly, nudging her on the shoulder. “Wake up. I have some exciting news for you.”
“Do you know where Will is?” she asked eagerly.
“What? No, I was talking about your new living quarters. I pulled a few strings and I got you a room that’s all yours. It’s so much nicer than that shared dorm. You’re going to love it.”
“I don’t need my own room,” she said, annoyed that he was so deaf to the needs of the people in the camp. “The old one was fine. I’d just like to see my friend. If you’re able to pull some strings, why don’t you let the men and women mingle? This is your camp, after all.”
Bretton poured himself a glass of scotch and sat back down on his couch.
“We have a system,” he said wearily. “Just let us keep you safe while I work on the virus. When this is all over, you can see your friend again.”
“Really?” she asked skeptically.
“Why not?” he replied. “You’re a young lady who can make her own decisions when the coast is clear. Just let me take care of you one last time. Then, you can spend time with whomever you choose.”
“Thanks,” she said carefully, seeing a side of her father that she remembered from childhood. He wasn’t the fun, nurturing parent most kids had, but his mental faculties were all there. Perhaps her presence in his camp would humanize him and pull him out of his mania. Natalia wondered if her dad could be normal again.
“Have you talked to Mom?” she asked. “I haven’t had a chance to get a hold of her.”
“Yes, when we were in the military camp,” he said. “I hadn’t had a chance to update her when we got separated. I suppose I don’t need to now.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“Not now,” he said quickly, standing up from his seat. “You need to go to bed. I’ve kept you up far too late. Let me have someone show you to your new room.”
“That isn’t necessary,” she said.
“No, I insist,” he smiled.
On the other side of the door was the soldier who had caught her trying to escape. He placed a hand on Natalia’s shoulder and guided her down the hall.
“Goodnight, Natalia,” Bretton said, giving his daughter a wave as she walked out of his quarters and into hers.
While her new room wasn’t even close to the size of her father’s, it was still leaps and bounds nicer than the plain, shared dorm. She now had her own queen-sized bed that sat in one corner. A beaten-up coffee table in the center of the room featured old fashion and health magazines, along with a few dog-eared paperbacks on various sporting topics.
Folded neatly on the bed was a white terry cloth bathrobe, which she slipped on immediately. She slid her other clothes off from underneath, grateful to have the opportunity to remove her worn clothing. She sniffed her shirt and cringed—everyone who had spent time with her during the last month must have been put off by her scent. She kicked the clothes to the corner and tucked herself into bed.
Natalia thought about what her father had told her and wondered if any of his promises to take care of her were even remotely true. She couldn’t even fully comprehend his role in the rebel camp in the first place, let alone why he was giving her preferential treatment.
As she lay there, trying to think of questions to ask her father in the morning, she fell asleep. Though she tried to stay awake to make sense of everything that had happened that night, the bed was too comfortable to keep her eyes open any longer.
When she woke up, light was coming in through the rectangular window in the door. Her mouth was bone dry, a sure sign that she had slept much longer than she intended to. Natalia sat up and noticed that her dirty clothes that had been lazily thrown into a pile were now neatly folded and placed on the coffee table. Someone had been in her room without her knowledge.
She bolted out of bed and picked up her dingy shirt and held it to her face. It smelled of fabric softener. She quickly pulled her recently laundered clothes back on and raced to the door to find answers for all her questions.
But, when she turned the handle, it didn’t budge. She pulled and pushed the door, but it was locked. As it turned out, her father didn’t trust her any more than she trusted him.
“Hey,” she called, knocking on the door. “Let me out of here.”
In seconds, a soldier’s face was peering in through the window. He didn’t look much older than her.
“Can I get you something?” he asked.
“No, you can get me out of here.” she retorted. “What time is it?”
He checked his watch. “Thirteen hundred hours.”
“One o’clock?” she moaned. “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”
“We had orders to let you sleep. That reminds me, do you need to be escorted to the ladies’ room?”
Natalia scowled. “I can go myself.”
“Actually, you can’t. Would you like me to take you there now?”
“No,” Natalia said, suppressing the urge to stamp her foot on the floor. “Just unlock the door.”
“I’m afraid I would be breaking the rules. I’ll get your lunch now. Let me know if you need to use the bathroom.”
Natalia was furious. She kicked over the coffee table, sending the magazines and books spilling to the floor. She sat on the bed and fumed.
A short while later, her door opened and a tray slid across the floor. It contained a piece of grilled salmon, a mixed greens salad, a dinner roll, and a slice of cherry cheesecake. She was also given an assortment of different beverages to choose from. While she was still on lockdown, she was already being given more services than the other residents had. Her laundry had been done for her and her meal was much better than the slightly soggy sandwiches the rest of the population got.
Still, it didn’t make her feel any better. She would take freedom and safety over a comfortable place to stay. Bretton just wanted to get her comfortable enough to become complacent—she just knew it.
She ate a little before stashing the rest of it under her bed for later. She didn’t know how long she would be held in that room and didn’t know how punishments for disobedience would be handed out.
She knocked on the door again, specifically so she could speak with the guard.
“Yes?”
“I want to speak with my father.”
The guard shook his head. “He’s busy.”
“It’s important.”
“It can wait,” the guard said, putting on a tough act. “I have strict orders to keep you in here. If he’s available tomorrow, then I’ll let him know you wish to speak to him.”
“Then can you at least take me to the bathroom?” she asked.
“Come on,” he said, unlocking the door. “Let’s make this quick.”
Much to her dismay, the guard took her to a small, private bathroom instead of the shared one she’d used during her stay in the dorm. She’d hoped she would be able to run into Victoria or Naomi. She would have even settled for the quiet mom, but her plans were foiled by the cautious soldier.
Instead, she spent the rest of the day in solitary confinement. She hoped that Will’s time in solitary was even a fraction as comfortable as her time, but she knew it likely wasn’t the case. Now that she knew she was playing by her father’s rules, she just hoped that Will was still okay, wherever he was.
Night fell, and Natalia was beginning to lose her spark. She didn’t have much fight left in her. When she needed to stretch her legs, she politely asked the guard to escort her down the hall and to the bathroom, and when she was hungry or thirsty, a tray appeared at her door. A few times, the
guard slipped in a new magazine when she was finished with the selection she had.
Then, when there was nothing left to do, she tucked herself back into bed and slept, hoping she’d still have the motivation to talk to her father in the morning.
She woke in the middle of the night to a horrible crashing sound. At first, she thought it was a dream and tried to go back to sleep. Then, she heard it again, followed by a grunt.
Carefully, she tiptoed toward the door to see if the small window would give her any insight as to what the sounds were. When she pressed her face to the glass, another one was staring back at her.
She raised her hand to her mouth and stifled a scream as the man on the other side of the door held his finger to his lips. Natalia took two steps backwards and nearly collapsed on the floor from fright.
The door slowly crept open and a familiar face appeared, her eyes wide.
“Victoria!” Natalia cried, “What are you doing here?”
“We don’t have much time to explain. We have to get out of here. Do you have any supplies we can bring with us?”
Natalia pointed to a spot under her bed. “There are a few drinks under there. Why do we have to leave? What did you find out?”
Victoria, a middle-aged man, and a young girl who Natalia initially mistook for Naomi came into the room and closed the door behind them.
“Should we leave him outside?” the girl asked.
“No, you’re right,” the man whispered and quickly exited the room. He returned, dragging the body of the guard and placed him in the corner of the room.
“Oh God,” Natalia exclaimed.
“He’s just knocked out,” the man said, scratching his dark stubble. “Are you Natalia?”
She nodded.
“I’m Derek, and this is Melissa. You already know Victoria, right?”
“Can you just tell me what’s going on?”
Victoria looked uncharacteristically rattled. “We found out why we’re here. They aren’t rounding up healthy people to keep them safe until the virus is cured. They’re actually gathering test subjects to test their virus on. If we don’t get out of here, we’re going to all be test subjects.”
“I know it sounds totally insane,” Melissa said, “but we’re telling the truth.”
“No,” Natalia replied, trying to gather her thoughts, “I don’t think it sounds that insane at all. How did you find this out?”
“We just got here yesterday,” Derek said. “We had our medical exam and I accidentally walked past the wrong room. I saw scientists in lab coats inject a man with something. He instantly went insane and started fighting them. I got out of there before anyone noticed I was gone. I didn’t trust these people to begin with, and now I know that they rounded us up to kill us.”
“There are people everywhere,” Natalia said. “How did you get in here?”
Victoria shook her head. “There’s some type of celebration happening in the gymnasium. I heard it when I went to the bathroom. I slipped a note to Derek in his dorm and we planned to come looking for you. I figured you were in solitary when you went missing from your bed. We knocked your guard out, but we need to go before anyone notices.”
“Okay, but I can’t leave here without Will.”
“Who’s Will?” Melissa asked. “We don’t have time to go looking for anyone else. We risked enough to find you. I would be out of here if Victoria hadn’t insisted we find you.”
“He’s my friend. I’m not leaving without him.”
Melissa crossed her arms and Derek looked apprehensive. Victoria put her hand on Natalia’s shoulder.
“We’ll find him. He’s got to be here somewhere,” she said.
“I don’t think we have time for this,” Derek said, looking at the glowing numbers on his watch. “If we decide to search, we still need to get out of here by twenty-three hundred. That’s ten minutes.”
“That’s enough time,” Natalia pleaded. “If we move quickly and check as many rooms as we can, we’ll find him. Please.”
“Fine,” Derek said after a long pause. “But if anything happens, we have to abandon anyone who isn’t ready to go. We need to move as one unit. Should we elect a leader?”
He looked at the other women, who returned his blank expression.
“I think you’re a good candidate, Derek,” Victoria said. “You certainly have the most experience with this kind of thing.”
“Sure, Derek,” Melissa replied.
Natalia nodded her head in agreement, just trying to keep up with what was going on.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll give orders in the field if necessary. Our mission is to find your friend, then evacuate through a side entrance without alerting the camp. Is that understood?”
Everyone nodded.
“Can you describe your friend to us so we know who we’re looking for?”
Natalia closed her eyes for a split second and imagined Will’s face in her mind. If she could find him, it would give her the strength she needed to put a stop to her dad’s plans.
Chapter Twenty-One
“So,” Natalia said, looking at the unconscious guard in the corner of the room, “what are you going to do with that guy?”
Derek shrugged. “He’ll come to eventually. Fortunately, he’s probably not going to remember too much about what happened. It doesn’t really matter anyway—they will notice we are missing before he does.”
“Are we doing this the same way we broke in here?” Melissa asked.
“I think it worked well,” Derek said. “Melissa, you lead the way. Everyone else, stay ten paces back and go slowly around corners until we have the all-clear from Melissa. Let’s stay in a tight pack.”
“Shouldn’t we split up so we can find Will faster?” Natalia asked. If she didn’t advocate for Will, she wasn’t sure that the others would care about rescuing him.
“We all agreed for Derek to give the orders,” Melissa said. “I don’t think we have time to debate this anymore.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Victoria said gently, giving Natalia’s hand a squeeze. “Let’s go.”
Natalia hesitantly followed the others down the hall. As planned, Melissa led the way, walking briskly down the hall. When they would reach a corner, Derek would peek around the wall to check that the next hallway was clear. Then, they’d scurry after her, checking each door in the hall. Derek waved his team forward, and then everyone would check a room.
The room that Natalia arrived at was an old supply closet for the community center. Volleyball nets were strewn across the room, tangling field hockey sticks and tennis racquets in it. Dozens of golf balls leaked out of tipped over buckets. Natalia did her best to search as much of the room as possible, fearing that Will could be lost somewhere within the clutter.
“Come on,” Derek hissed. Natalia abandoned her futile search and rejoined the others in the middle of the hall.
She knew by their faces that they hadn’t seen a trace of him. Derek and Melissa looked exasperated, but Victoria had a look of concern on her face. She had met him and knew he was a person worth going back for.
“Let’s keep going,” Derek said, nodding at Melissa. She returned his nod apprehensively before continuing down the hall.
Natalia wasn’t sure if she could trust the newcomers. Melissa seemed uninterested in helping rescue Will. Derek wasn’t much happier about it, but Natalia found it unsettling that he sent the girl ahead of him. She seemed pretty muscular, but definitely not as strong as Derek. She thought it was a sign of cowardice or indifference about her that caused him to push her to the front. If she were with Will or Alec, they would have put themselves in the line of fire. Even Elaina would have done so. For someone who was supposed to be a leader, it seemed like a peculiar move.
When Melissa turned the corner, Natalia heard an almost indistinguishable gasp. Derek spread his arms out behind him, stopping Natalia and Victoria in their tracks.
“What are you doing out of bed?” a male voice ask
ed Melissa.
“I was looking for the bathroom and I got turned around. I think I might have been sleepwalking,” she said innocently.
“Likely story,” the gruff voice said. “What’s your name?”
“Melissa Sorensen,” she said. “I just arrived yesterday and I’m still a little out of it.”
“I’m going to have to escort you back to your dorm and give you a demerit on your record,” he said, rustling through papers. “If this happens again, you will be put into isolation.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
Two pairs of footsteps began to walk closer to the others. Derek frantically, yet quietly motioned for Natalia and Victoria to step back.
Natalia backpedaled a few steps, ready to make a run for it. No doubt Melissa would be left behind, and the others would try their best to escape with the guard’s knowledge that they were on the run.
As Natalia moved back down the hall, she noticed that Victoria stopped after a few paces and turned around so she was facing away from Derek, who had not even moved from the corner. Natalia was terrified that they had all taken the same moment to have a complete breakdown.
Then, as Melissa and the guard made their way around the corner, Derek swiftly pulled out a metal bar and delivered one solid blow to the guard’s head. He pitched backward, his grip on Melissa now slackened enough that she was able to free herself.
The girls cowered together while Derek raised the pipe again, ready to strike again if the situation warranted it. When he noticed that the guard was subdued, he bent down and touched his fingers to his throat.
When he was convinced that the unconscious guard didn’t require any special treatment, he slid the metal bar back up his sleeve and looked behind him to make sure he hadn’t roused suspicion with the noise.
“Which door was he guarding?” Derek whispered.
Melissa ran forward like a hunting dog and pointed at a door in the middle of the hall. Natalia pushed forward and turned the handle, not even thinking about what possible dangers there could be beyond the metal door.