by Rachel Aukes
“Relax, old guy. I’ve got you covered.” The girl took the lead again.
Birk frowned at Finn. “Old guy? Since when did I become the old guy?”
“Since you look old enough to be my father,” Cinder said over her shoulder and kept walking.
Finn smiled. “I like her.”
“You’re an old guy, too. Just better looking,” Cinder called back.
Finn scowled.
Birk chuckled and sped up to not lose Cinder. “Hey, slow down for us old guys.”
Cinder led the men to the entrance of Jade City Medical Center, which had a steady flow of people entering and leaving. “Follow me,” she said and weaved through people, being overly dramatic about not touching anyone who showed signs of being sick.
They walked through a waiting room and down a hallway. Birk was surprised that no one stopped them, but it seemed that people moved freely through the medical center. As they walked, he pointed to a medical kit hanging on the wall. “Hey, why couldn’t we have used those?”
Cinder’s jaw dropped. “Because those kits can help save a life.” She rolled her eyes and kept walking.
Birk grimaced and tucked the empty kits under his arms.
Cinder stopped at a nurses’ station. “I’m here for Doc Jones’s free clinic.”
The nurse looked up from her work, then looked Cinder up and down with disdain in her features. “Of course you are. You’d better hurry. Her shift’s over in just a few minutes.”
Cinder tapped the desk in a weak form of acknowledgment before hustling around the corner to a closed door. She didn’t bother knocking before opening the door and stepping inside.
Birk nearly dropped the kits when he had to catch the door to keep it from slamming closed on him. Inside, he frowned at the kits and handed them to Finn. He looked around to find themselves in a lab, with tables lined with equipment and beakers filled with various fluids.
“Anyone around?” Cinder called out.
“You can take a seat by the door. I’ll be right with you,” a woman called out from another doorway.
Cinder didn’t take a seat, so Birk didn’t either. Finn set the kits on a chair and took a position at the doorway through which they’d entered.
A woman in a white lab coat stepped into the room. She was about ten years older than Birk and focused on her tablet, looking up only to see her visitors. Her gaze stopped on the teenager. “Cinder, my dear, it’s good to see you. So what are you here for today? Strep throat has been making its rounds. Is that what you caught?”
Cinder shook her head. “I’m healthy, Doc. My friends and I are here for something else. We need some medical supplies.”
The doctor looked at Birk and Finn for a moment before speaking. “Ah. I told you the last time that I can’t give out drugs. They’re being monitored too closely now.”
“We’re not here for drugs,” Birk said, feeling personally attacked by the comment.
“Then what are you here for?” the doctor asked.
Birk answered, “Medical clothes—scrubs would work—along with some rubber gloves, breathing masks, and plastic glasses. Oh, and some hats would also be handy.”
The doctor’s brows lifted. “It sounds like you’re performing surgery.”
Birk shrugged. “More or less.”
The doctor looked at Cinder for a moment before turning back to Birk. “You’re lucky. Those are things I can help you with. Follow me.”
Birk glanced at Finn. “Watch the door. I’ll be right back.”
Finn nodded, and Birk followed Cinder and the doctor into the next room, which looked to be much like the room they’d just left. Doc Jones pulled out two rubber gloves from a box on the wall. She went to hand the gloves to Cinder but handed them to Birk instead.
She pointed to a large bin. “Everything you need will be in there. Be careful what you touch. I haven’t been working with any deadly contagions, but everything in there has been used. Take what you need and lock the door on your way out.”
Birk grimaced at the bin.
“You take care of yourself, Cinder, and say hi to Areston for me,” the doctor said.
“I will. Thanks, Doc,” Cinder said as the woman left them.
The teenager turned back to Birk. “Well, what are you waiting for? Grab what you need so we can go.”
He swallowed and turned back to the bin. He hesitantly pulled off the cover and rummaged through the contents. “What if there are used needles in here?”
Cinder pointed to the wall, a bored look on her face.
He looked to see a white box with a biohazard sign on it. “Oh.” He returned to rummaging. He set aside the cleanest items he could find. Finished, he tossed his gloves in the bin and pulled several fresh pair from the box of rubber gloves. “We’re good here,” he said as he held the bundle of medical clothing. “Where to now?”
“The morgue,” Cinder answered.
Birk’s jaw went lax. “The morgue?”
Cinder nodded. “It’s the one place I know would have quarantine tubes. I’ve seen them use them to transport dead bodies.”
“So these tubes are…used?”
“Of course.”
He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not like I’ll be the one lying in it.”
Chapter Sixteen
It turned out Walter took all the extra time Throttle had and then some. The old man didn’t handle the return trip down the ladder very well, and between the jarring and the walking, his body had been pushed well beyond its limits. They had to stop several times for Walter to rest.
Cinder found them four hours after they’d tainted the East water system. Walter had needed another break, while Throttle and Nolin stood nearby. The girl had grown bored with waiting with Birk and Finn and went out in search of Walter, Throttle, and Nolin to make sure they hadn’t been discovered. When the young girl saw Walter’s condition, she ran off, returning some time later with a group of gutter rats and a makeshift stretcher.
Once Walter was loaded onto the stretcher, he held up his hand. “Captain.”
She rushed over and grabbed his hand. “I’m here, Walter.”
“Be careful out there,” he said and then smiled. “And remember, don’t drink the East water.”
She returned his expression and handed him his bag. “I’ll see you on Hiraeth.”
“Wait.”
She turned. He pulled out the duct tape and handed it to her. “You might need this to keep your leg braces together until then. I can get another batch on the next interstellar shipment coming from Sol.”
She smiled and tilted her head in his direction as she accepted his gift.
Cinder gave directions to where Birk and Finn waited. Throttle and Nolin rushed to meet the rest of their team and found them sitting on something shaped like a small cryopod. A stack of supplies sat on the floor nearby.
Birk, who’d been picking at his nails, jumped when he saw her approach. “It’s about time.”
Finn opened his eyes, came to his feet, and stretched.
“We had a delay. Nothing to worry about,” she said and bent to look at the quarantine tube. It was a wheeled stretcher with a clear plastic dome. Air vents were covered with a foam of some kind. She frowned. “I was hoping no one could see inside.”
Birk slid off it and tapped the clear plastic cover. “It’ll work. If anyone has any sense, they’d avoid this thing. In my experience, no one wants to be close to someone who’s contagious with something nasty.”
“They might be curious enough to sneak a glimpse at Typhoid Mary.”
He shrugged. “Even if they look, they won’t come close.”
“We’ll see,” she said, cocking her head. “Wait. It looks dirty. Is this thing used?”
“No. It’s definitely new,” Birk said in a rush.
She snapped her head up with a grimace. “Let’s hope it doesn’t have anything contagious in it.” She then straightened. “Did you get everything else we need?”
<
br /> He nodded toward the pile.
She rubbed her hands together. “Then let’s get moving.”
Finn gave her a stack of white clothing. She pulled the white paperlike shirt on over her suit. It covered her weapon, and she tugged the shirt down to pull out her pistol.
“Use this.” Finn handed her a small plastic case with a red cross on the outside.
She opened the case, examined the other contents, and slid in her pistol before re-dressing. She looked at the logo on the cap. “Jade City Medical Center? I thought we were going in as an East medical team.”
“We could only get a hold of these,” Birk said.
She nodded and slipped the cap over her head. She held the large plastic glasses, rubber gloves, and breathing mask in her hands until everyone was dressed. Then she donned her remaining gear, grabbed her small medical case, and looked to the others. Each had a similar case.
Birk cocked his head as he looked at Throttle. “Your own father would have a tough time recognizing you in that getup.”
“That’s the idea,” she said before turning to the other two. “You set?”
“I’m ready,” Finn said.
Nolin took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m ready, too.”
She turned to Birk. “You ready in case we have to go to plan B?”
He tapped his medical case, then tapped his chest. “I even brought a backup.”
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Birk walked over to the full-sized door and twisted the wheel to open it.
Nearly every door Throttle had seen in the gutters was small and round. Only major intersections had larger doors. This door was odd in that it was at a dead end.
Birk opened the door a crack and peeked around to the other side. He leaned back abruptly. “Well, this is easy.”
He swung the door wide open. Throttle stiffened but then calmed when she saw a dim, vacant hallway before her. She rushed through to find signs that the section was closed for repainting. Finn and Nolin took the stretcher, and Birk closed the door behind them. Birk strolled around the stretcher to lead the way with Throttle.
As they walked, he spoke. “That Cinder is some girl. She gave us directions, but she also said we wouldn’t need them. I think she knows every square inch of this place.”
They paused when they reached the end of the hallway. Before them was a much larger hallway, about half the width of the massive hallway at the docks, and empty. Vendor carts were parked at every corner, but none were occupied. Video screens dotted the walls. Throttle suspected this was usually a bustling thoroughfare.
“Cinder said to take a left here and then just follow the signs,” Birk said and kept walking.
As the group walked briskly down the center of the hallway, Throttle wondered how many cameras had caught them, before she reminded herself that medical personnel would be expected to be seen when an epidemic hit a population. The screens on the walls all displayed the same video. It was a message from someone wearing medical garb telling people that a gastrointestinal virus was going around and that Jaders shouldn’t worry but should stay home until it passed.
Birk paused before jogging over to a cart. He picked up a fruit of some kind and ran back with it. “Have you tried one of these yet?”
It was round and orange and covered in a wrinkled peel. “No. What is it?”
“It’s an orange,” he said and held it out to her.
“It’s orange, and it’s an orange?” Throttle rolled her eyes. “These Jaders could use some creativity around here.”
He held it out to her. “Try it.”
She shook her head. “Put it back. We’re not stealing from anyone.”
“We stole that medical pod.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, we’re not stealing anything else.”
“Fine.” He opened his medical case and dropped the orange inside.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You said we’re not stealing anything else, and we’re not. I’m stealing this, and I’m not going to share. This one’s all mine.”
“Focus on the mission,” she gritted out.
“Don’t worry. I’m focused,” he said and kept walking. After a couple of blocks, they turned right where an overhead sign read EAST ADMINISTRATION TUBE.
This hallway was smaller and nearly vacant. A man in coveralls ran up to them. Throttle thumbed the latch on her medical case. His eyes were wide. “I work the night shift. When I woke up, I learned that everyone’s sick. Are we going to die?”
“Calm down,” Throttle said. “No one’s going to die. It’s just a gastrointestinal virus and will pass. Go home so you don’t catch it,” she said, parroting much of the message playing on the video screens.
“Can you check to see if I have it?” he asked, his eyes pleading.
“Sorry,” Throttle said. “We don’t have the equipment on us here. Go home and ride it out, okay?”
He gulped before giving a depressed nod. “Oh, okay.” Shoulders slumped, he turned and walked away.
“You could’ve asked if he drank the water,” Birk said quietly. “Someone will figure it out soon enough.”
“Except they might wonder how some low-level medical techs from Jade City were the first ones to figure that out,” she said and kept walking.
After another turn, they reached a glass door. It opened as they stepped closer. The wall on the other side listed the various administrative offices and the floors they were on. It came as no surprised to see ANNA W. EAST listed on the top floor. They took the elevator all the way up. When it opened, they found themselves facing two medical personnel wearing the same caps that Throttle and her team were. This pair wore no masks or goggles.
Crap.
“We just checked on Ms. West, so you can move on. I hear the Sunrise Apartments can use all the extra hands they can get,” the medical tech on the left said.
The second medical tech cocked his head as he looked around Throttle. “Hey, why do you guys have a quarantine stretcher? Is there something we don’t know about?”
Throttle shrugged. “A precautionary measure. Some lab tech found signs of a previously undocumented pathogen, so they sent us up here to ensure Ms. West can be secluded for safety. At least that’s what we were told.”
Their eyes widened, and they fished out masks and goggles from their medical cases. The first then scowled. “I wish they’d tell us something. They told us it was just the stomach flu going around. Who told you about the pathogen?”
“My boss, Dr. Smith,” Throttle said.
“Smith?” she asked.
“Yeah. He runs the volunteer unit on L-Two,” Throttle said.
“That makes sense,” the first tech said. “I try not to spend much time on second, if you know what I mean.”
Throttle scolded, “Everyone needs care, even those down on L-Two.”
“Yeah, sorry,” she said, then motioned behind her. “Ms. East isn’t showing any symptoms yet, so she may have gotten lucky. But everyone else in this building has become symptomatic so far.”
“Lucky her,” Throttle said.
“Well, I think we need to make a couple of calls to see what JCMC has figured out since we’ve been over here.”
“I’ll let you at it,” Throttle said and moved to the side to let them pass.
As soon as the pair was inside the elevator and Throttle’s team was in the hallway, Birk spoke quietly. “Once they make a call, they’re going to figure out that everything you said doesn’t add up.”
Throttle gave a small nod and walked toward the door at the end of the hallway. A guard sat at a desk off to the side. His skin was pale and covered in a sheen of sweat, and his eyes were glassy. It looked like he was struggling not to fall from his chair.
“We’re here to check on Ms. East,” Throttle announced.
“Your people were just here,” he said, heaving on the last word.
“Yes, and we have new information on the virus. We need—”
The guard jumped to his feet and ran down a side hallway. A second later, Throttle grimaced at the sound of heaving taking place.
“I think I’m going to be sick just listening to that,” Birk said, and she noticed he was looking paler.
Throttle reached over the desk and pressed a button. The door opened to reveal a foyer before another door. The four people entered the small room, and the door closed behind them.
Anna East’s visage appeared on a screen near the inner door. “What do you people want now? I told you I was feeling fine.”
Birk stepped forward. “Contagion Protocol Alpha, ma’am. If there’s a possible pathogen outbreak on Jade-8, leadership is immediately quarantined to prevent exposure and to ensure no disruption in leadership. We’ve been sent to bring you to the medical center quarantine ward. It’s set up with full network access for you to conduct any necessary business from the safety of the ward. As soon as the lab confirms we’re not dealing with a dangerous pathogen here, then you can safely return to your office.”
Worry caused Anna to blink rapidly before she composed her features. “I’m not going to the JCMC. Quarantine me in my office if you have to.”
“Sorry, ma’am. The only fully equipped quarantine ward is at JCMC,” Birk said.
Anna huffed. “Fine. Come in, then. I need to grab a few things.”
The door opened, and they stepped into Anna East’s office. She was busy stuffing a bag with a tablet and folders. She looked up, and she practically snarled at the stretcher. “You can’t possibly expect me to ride in that.”
“It’s for your safety, ma’am,” Birk said.
To the left of Anna’s desk, Throttle noticed a small kitchenette with a contraption added onto the faucet. Anna East had her own purification filters. No wonder she hadn’t become sick.
She turned to catch Anna’s gaze on her.
“The water around here tastes awful,” Anna said. “That filter at least makes it somewhat drinkable. Hopefully, you have something to make the water decent at the medical center.”
“It’s probably not as good as you’re used to,” Throttle said softly, careful not to make eye contact or else risk being identified.