The Adjusters

by Taylor, Andrew

  “Henry Ward?” he asked, approaching the buggy. In one hand he cradled a device that looked like an iPad, only smaller and thinner. “I’m Nurse Levin. I’m here to take you directly to your medical exam.”

  The look of disappointment must have been evident on Henry’s face, because his mom slapped him on the shoulder. “No getting out of it, kiddo.”

  Henry climbed out of the buggy and she turned it round fast, kicking up gravel on the driveway. “Don’t forget the unpacking!” she yelled over her shoulder as she sped away.

  “Great,” Henry said. So much for his last day of freedom before Malcorp High…

  “Let’s get inside,” Nurse Levin said, leading the way back to the door. “Dr. Chancellor doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  Passing through the giant entrance doors, Henry found himself in a high-ceilinged reception area where every surface appeared to be made of marble. As Levin briskly led the way to a door on the other side of the area, Henry realized that the place was missing something that had been present in every other doctor’s surgery he’d been to. A reception desk. Clearly visits to the medical centre were by appointment only. It also felt distinctly chilly inside the building after the heat of the morning. Maybe it was all the marble. The interior was bright, despite the lack of windows. Henry looked up at the ceiling and made out large globe lights throwing out the ridiculous amount of illumination necessary in a building with no natural sunlight.

  Levin reached a glass door and swiped a key card through a reader, ushering Henry through as it slid open. They walked into a corridor lined with steel doors marked only with numbers. He turned right, into another corridor. And then another. Levin didn’t drop his pace for a second and offered no conversation as they made their way through the building. Soon Henry was completely disoriented and couldn’t have found his way back to reception if he’d wanted to. The doors and corridors looked identical to him and he was beginning to wonder how Levin found his way around, when the nurse stopped in front of a door marked 603.

  “Here we are,” Levin said, throwing the door open. Henry walked through into a small examination room. Like everywhere else in the building it was windowless, lit by a globe in the ceiling.

  “Why don’t you strip down to your underwear and I’ll go through the preliminaries,” the nurse said, tapping the tablet screen with his finger.

  Feeling more than a little self-conscious, Henry took off his T-shirt, folded it and laid it across the back of a chair in the corner.

  “Just a few background questions,” Levin said, an apologetic tone in his voice, as Henry sat in another chair and began to remove his sneakers. “Any previous injuries or medical conditions?”

  Henry pulled off his socks and placed them in his shoes. “No.”

  “Not taking prescription drugs at the moment?”

  “No.”

  “Non-prescription drugs?”

  “Uh…no.”

  “Smoke?”

  “No.”

  They went through a list of about twenty other questions, at the end of which Henry was sitting in his boxer shorts, arms folded across his chest, shivering from the chill in the room.

  “Last question,” Levin said. “Have you ever been in trouble with the law?”

  Henry frowned. “What has that got to do with the medical exam?”

  “It’s just a standard question,” Levin said with a smile. “If you don’t want to answer…”

  “No,” Henry said before he even knew he was going to lie. “I’ve never been in trouble with the police.”

  “Great,” Levin said, tucking the tablet under his arm. To Henry’s surprise, the nurse stepped forward and slapped him on the upper arm. “You’re going to do fine. Dr. Chancellor will be along in a moment.”

  With that, he exited the room.

  Alone, Henry rubbed his arm where Levin had slapped him – for a slightly-built guy, he had some strength behind him. He looked round forlornly at his pile of clothes on the other chair. The room seemed to be getting cooler by the minute. Everything about the inside of the medical centre was cold and hard and sterile. Even the floor felt uncomfortably cold against the bare soles of his feet.

  Time passed…

  Henry wrapped his arms around himself and considered putting his T-shirt back on. But the doctor could arrive at any minute, so he sat as he was. Goosebumps formed on the exposed skin of his arms and legs.

  He began to wonder how long he’d been sitting there. Ten minutes? Twenty? It occurred to him that they hadn’t passed a single other person on their way through the medical centre. Was it possible he’d been forgotten?

  He decided to see if anyone was around outside. Rising from the chair, Henry moved towards the door, feeling surprisingly stiff.

  He didn’t make it.

  Halfway to the door his head spun and his knees buckled. It felt for all the world as if he’d just finished a two-kilometre swim. Henry threw his hands out to break his fall as the floor came rushing up to meet him…

  “He’s coming round.”

  Henry recognized the voice as belonging to Nurse Levin. He opened his eyes and squinted against a bright light that shone in his face.

  “Where am I?” he asked, licking his dry lips. He was lying down on some kind of padded surface. He tried to sit up and a woman’s hand touched his chest, holding him down gently but firmly.

  “Do not try to sit up,” the woman said. Her voice had a strong Eastern European accent and the commanding tone of a doctor. Henry opened his eyes a little more against the light and saw Dr. Chancellor (identified by a badge on the lapel of her white coat) for the first time. Although he was lying down, Henry sensed that she was tall. She was also blonde and strikingly beautiful, although her face had a cool, calculating look to it that made him feel a little uncomfortable. Not least because he was lying practically naked on a table in front of her.

  “Your heartbeat is elevated,” Chancellor said, running a soft hand over his chest. “Are you still feeling light-headed?”

  “Uh, a little,” Henry said, looking round at Levin, who was standing on the other side of the table. “What happened?”

  “You passed out in the examination room,” Levin said. “We found you lying on the floor.”

  “Has this happened before?” Chancellor asked, removing a pencil light from her pocket and shining it in his eyes.

  “No,” Henry replied.

  Unexpectedly, the doctor ran a hand through Henry’s hair, caressing the curve of his skull. Henry realized that he must have looked more than a little shocked, because in his peripheral vision he saw Nurse Levin suppressing a smile.

  “You have a beautiful cranial structure,” Dr. Chancellor said, feeling under the back of his head and then removing her hand. “Highly developed.”

  “Thank you,” Henry said uncertainly.

  Dr. Chancellor turned to Levin and said, “Put him in the scanner.”

  As she strode through to an adjoining room that could be seen through a glass window, Levin wheeled the table upon which Henry was lying towards a large, cylindrical machine in the corner.

  “What’s going on?” Henry demanded.

  “Relax,” Levin said. “You had a dizzy spell and it’s probably nothing, but better safe than sorry.”

  Henry twisted his head back so he could get a better look at the machine. It was the size of a car and made of smooth, white plastic. There was a circular opening at the front. Levin wheeled the table towards it.

  “Hold on a minute,” Henry protested as the table made contact with the machine and locked in place. Then Levin pushed something and the surface on which Henry was lying slid forwards so only his head entered the opening of the machine. Blue lights set into the circular headspace began to glow all around. “What’s going on?”

  Levin patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. “We’re just going to take a couple of brain scans. Lie still and it will all be over in a moment.”

  Henry’s blood ran cold as
he remembered the words of Christian’s note: Don’t let them scan your brain.

  “This isn’t necessary,” Henry said, trying to sit up. He found this was not possible as his head was in the machine and Levin had taken hold of his ankles so he couldn’t wriggle out. “Could someone call my mom?”

  “Just lie very still.”

  The blue lights suddenly glowed brilliant white and Henry involuntarily closed his eyes. Even with them closed he could sense the glaring light, which seemed to be boring into his skull. He opened his mouth to cry out…

  And suddenly the table was being pulled away from the brain scanner. Levin grabbed his arm and pulled him into a sitting position.

  “All done!” the nurse said, looking round at the control room. Through the glass, Dr. Chancellor gave an okay sign and then disappeared through another door.

  “Uh, is that it?” Henry asked, blinking as his eyes readjusted.

  “That’s it,” Levin said. “Looks like you have a minor ear infection, which caused the dizziness. Probably the result of jumping in the pool yesterday.”

  Henry looked round at the scanner. “You diagnosed an ear infection with that? Did you even look at the results?”

  Levin didn’t answer. He dumped Henry’s clothes on the table beside him. “Get dressed and let’s get you home.”

  “But what about the examination?”

  Levin looked at him as if he was being slow. “You just had it.”

  Less than ten minutes later, Levin dropped Henry off at his lodge in one of the medical centre buggies. As Henry climbed out of the passenger seat, the nurse snapped his fingers.

  “I almost forgot,” he said. “You mentioned something about wanting us to contact your mother…”

  “Yeah,” Henry said, remembering with some embarrassment the way he’d panicked during the scan.

  “I guess she should know about the ear infection. Normally we’d recommend bed rest for a couple of days. Maybe a high-fibre diet with prunes…”

  “Don’t worry,” Henry blurted out. “I’ll tell her myself.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Really sure.”

  Levin put the buggy in gear and gave him a little salute. “Be seeing you.”

  As the buggy zipped away, Henry turned back to the lodge and a day’s worth of unpacking, having already decided not to tell his mom anything about passing out in the centre. She didn’t need the worry. And he didn’t need the prunes.

  The Full of Beans coffee shop in Newton looked as if it could have been a popular place to hang out once upon a time. The walls were painted in warm reds and browns and every piece of available hanging space was filled with arty black and white photographs. The tables and chairs were made of funky-looking 60s-style plastic, while more comfortable sofas lined the edge of the cafe. A column in the middle of the room was plastered with posters for local bands, theatre productions and classified ads. However, all of them were faded and peeling; the newest were for bands that had played the town over three years before. As Henry entered through the main door and looked around the empty tables and chairs, he decided that whatever life had once been at Full of Beans, it had gone somewhere else a long time ago.

  Following his strange experience at the medical centre, Henry had spent the day unpacking. By the time his mom had arrived home from the lab, most of the work was done. As his mom had prepared dinner, she’d started questioning him about the medical exam. He’d told her that it was fairly standard stuff: sight and hearing tests, look right and cough, the usual. His mom had accepted this and after they ate had agreed to let him meet up with Christian without the slightest objection. He’d been a little surprised by this after the months of being grounded in the city, but she obviously assumed nothing could happen to him in sleepy old Newton.

  The town was a twenty-minute walk from the gate of the Malcorp complex, where he’d signed out with Hank the security guard. If he’d wanted, he could have borrowed a buggy from the gatehouse and driven it along a special track that ran parallel with the main road, but Henry preferred to walk. He’d been cooped up in the house all day and felt like he needed the fresh air. After the incident at the medical centre he hadn’t felt dizzy again – hopefully a sign that the ear infection wasn’t serious. He didn’t want anything to delay his return to the pool, or spoil his chances when he tried out for Coach Tyler at the end of the week.

  He needn’t have worried. The early evening walk to Newton had left him feeling great – no dizziness at all. The air was fresh and clear, the temperature just right and there wasn’t a car in sight. As he listened to the breeze blowing through the firs and the sound of cicadas buzzing, Henry had admitted to himself that Newton County had some things going for it. Things that the city couldn’t offer.

  What it didn’t have was nightlife – that much became clear as he reached the edge of town. At 7 p.m. the streets were deserted. Every shop along the high street was shut – with the exception of Full of Beans. And that was completely empty. It was beginning to look like his mom’s instincts were correct: he couldn’t get into trouble here even if he wanted to.

  As he stood inside the doorway of the deserted cafe, he looked around for Christian. It wasn’t hard to see that he wasn’t there. At the counter, a fourteen-year-old girl with short-cropped black hair was reading a paperback book beside a large, chrome coffee machine with an Italian name emblazoned on the front. The girl didn’t look up as he entered, as if she was used to people walking through the door, taking one look at the empty place and then walking right back out again. Feeling uncomfortable, Henry moved across the room to the counter.

  “Hi,” he said, looking down at the girl as she turned a page. He noticed that her hands were flecked with many different colours of paint and her fingernails were bitten short.

  “Hi,” she said, looking up at him without much interest. “What can I get you?”

  Henry eyed the industrial-sized coffee machine and wondered when it had last been used. “Just a Diet Coke, thanks.”

  The girl pushed herself off the counter with an audible sigh, opened a bar fridge and removed a glass bottle. She unscrewed the top and placed it on the counter in front of Henry. “Three bucks.”

  Henry passed the money across to her.

  “Want a glass?”

  “No thanks.”

  “Anything to eat?” The girl waved a hand over glass containers filled with cookies behind the counter.

  “No.” For all he knew the cookies were as old as the band posters on the column.

  “Take a seat then,” the girl said, waving him away dismissively. She already had her head stuck in the book again.

  No wonder this place is so popular, Henry thought as he turned away from the counter. It must be the friendly service.

  To his surprise, Christian was now seated at a table in the corner of the cafe away from the window.

  “I didn’t hear you come in,” Henry said as he joined him at the table.

  Christian spread his hands. “I’m like a ninja.”

  “You hang out here much?” Henry asked, looking around the deserted interior.

  “I like to be sociable,” Christian replied, leaning forward as if he wanted to speak confidentially and was afraid of someone overhearing. “How was your medical exam?”

  “How did you know about that?”

  Christian tapped the side of his angular nose. “Sources. Did you meet Dr. Chancellor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’d like her to examine me sometime,” Christian said with a grin that quickly faded away. “But actually I wouldn’t. Because she’s a psycho Nazi doctor.”

  Henry frowned at him. “What is that supposed to—”

  “Did they give you a brain scan?”

  “Yes, I—”

  Christian banged his fist on the table with enough force to make Henry jump in surprise. The noise echoed around the empty cafe.

  “What the hell did you let them do that for?” Christian demanded, lean
ing even closer. “Wasn’t my note clear?”

  Henry leaned in as well. “I had a dizzy spell. I passed out. What was I supposed to do?”

  “You passed out?”

  “I picked up an ear infection when I jumped in the pool yesterday. It affects balance.”

  Christian shook his head as if he didn’t believe a word of it. “You were drugged. Did they give you pills to take?”

  “No.”

  “Something to drink?”

  “No!”

  Christian reached over and started examining Henry’s left arm.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for injection marks,” Christian replied.

  “They did not give me an injection,” Henry said, pulling his arm back. Christian was acting even stranger now than he had the day before, when he’d walked away from Henry and Blake.

  “Then what’s that?”

  Henry looked at a red mark Christian was pointing to on his upper arm, just under the sleeve of his T-shirt. He pulled up his shirt and looked at the mark more closely. The skin looked inflamed and there was a red point in the centre.

  “It’s just a mosquito bite,” he said. “Must have got it as I walked here tonight.”

  “That’s an injection mark.”

  “It is not…” Henry stopped dead as he remembered the way Nurse Levin had slapped him on the upper arm before leaving him in the examination room. He was pretty sure the slap had been on the exact same spot where the so-called injection mark was now coming up. Could Levin have had some kind of syringe concealed in his palm? Had they drugged him? Henry shook his head and laughed to himself. He was getting caught up in Christian’s paranoid fantasies – it was pretty easy to do. “Why would they want to drug me?”

  “To get you inside the scanner,” Christian replied. “Not much reason to conduct a brain scan as part of a normal medical exam, right? But for someone who has passed out in their waiting room…”

  Henry played along for the moment. “And what is the purpose of the brain scan?”

  Christian grinned enigmatically at him. “Well, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and passed it across the table. “Take a look at this.”