The Boys nodded and escorted her to the stairwell. She followed them up a flight of stairs, and they led her to a room a few doors down from Blue’s bedroom. It was far enough from the stairwell that if Sunny happened to go creeping around the building, the sound of her footsteps wouldn’t carry to the exam room. Dr. Hazel set about arranging the bed to her liking, which meant stripping it of its blankets and pillow, leaving a single bare sheet. She handed the wad of unwanted bedding to Blue.
“Go get Dr. Rain for me. Help her bring up our equipment, will ya? A bunch of it’s in Parker’s pack. It’ll have to be scanned with a radiation counter, if you have one. As long as the needle doesn’t spike too high, bring it on up so we can get started.”
The Boys stood around for a moment, looking at one another with blank faces. None of them were quite sure whom she’d been talking to, so they hadn’t moved. Dr. Hazel put her hands on her hips, her gold-flecked eyes passing over each of them in disapproval. “I’m sorry, was I not clear enough? Go get my equipment!”
“Yes, Ma’am,” all three Boys replied. They hurried down the stairwell to do as she’d bid. Blue went to the laundry room to deposit the bedding he was carrying, leaving 00 and 62 to bring in Parker’s pack and locate Dr. Rain.
The pack Parker had brought was so heavy, it took both Boys to drag it in. They hauled it into the detox room, then looked all over for the radiation counter. Sunny had been the only person to use it. It took forever to find the cupboard she’d stored it in. They found a booklet of instructions taped to the gadget. Once they had the radiation counter turned on, they waved the wand over Parker’s pack. The box only ticked intermediately, and the needle on the box never went into the red, so they decided it must be okay. When they opened the bag, they couldn’t make heads or tails of the contents. They needed Parker and Dr. Rain to help them sort through it.
They found the pair of adults sitting at separate tables in the cafeteria. Dr. Rain’s petite frame was turned so her back faced them. Parker glanced over at her and rolled his eyes sarcastically as the Boys approached. He cleared his throat and spoke in a loud, friendly voice. “Hey there. You look like you’re on a mission.”
“Dr. Hazel sent us,” 62 said. “She wants to start giving exams upstairs. She sent us to get her supplies out of your pack, but we don’t know what any of it is.”
“I’ll help you sort it out,” Parker said, standing up from the table.
“You’ll need my help,” Dr. Rain said, finally acknowledging them. She turned to face them and 62 was amazed at how different she looked from Dr. Hazel. Blue had grown enough that now he matched Dr. Rain’s height. She pushed a few stray strands of her short auburn hair back behind her ear. “Not everything we brought is for today’s exams.”
Parker unpacked his sack of supplies on a table while Dr. Rain sorted through it. She loaded the Boys’ arms with pieces of medical equipment to take upstairs. As she sorted, she made a pile of gear on another table, muttering something about there being no need for half of it. Parker set his own things aside and said he’d take care of them later. Among the equipment, canned food, spare clothes, a couple of books about medicine and farming, and other miscellaneous items made up what remained when the sorting was through.
“How’d you fit all that in one bag?” 62 asked.
“Spatial relations,” Parker answered with a wink.
Dr. Rain followed the Boys back upstairs to the exam room. They carefully unloaded the medical supplies onto the tables that Dr. Hazel had set up. Then, Dr. Rain sent 00 and 62 to find Blue.
“I’m starting to regret saying I was glad to have more people here,” 00 admitted as they climbed down the stairs for the third time in less than an hour. “They’ve hardly unpacked, and I’m already exhausted.”
“Let’s get through the exams like they want. We’ll have to help Parker in the greenhouse tomorrow, too. But maybe if we’re agreeable, they’ll pack up and leave sooner rather than later.” 62 could feel sweat beading on his forehead. They reached the bottommost stair and he grabbed for the handle. Just as he pulled it open, Blue came barreling through, nearly falling on top of him.
“Woah, watch it!” Blue yelled.
“Sorry, I must have been pulling at the same time you were pushing. The doctors sent us to find you. They’re ready for us.”
“Yeah, Parker told me,” Blue said after he’d gotten his feet under him again. He closed the stairwell door, then looked up at the landing at the top of the stairs. Blue turned to his friends. “So, do you think we should tell them about… brussels sprouts?”
62 snickered at their code word. It made sense when they’d first come up with it, but using it in a conversation sounded ridiculous. He forced himself to put on a straight face. “We’d have to talk to brussels sprouts before we say anything. I’m not sure brussels sprouts is going to want any of them to know about brussels sprouts.”
00 chuckled. 62 lost control of his straight face and broke into his own whispering laughter. Blue was the only one who didn’t seem amused. He grabbed both giggling Boys by the arms and shook them into silence. “Look, brussels sprouts or no brussels sprouts, if Parker and those two doctors are going to be here for a few days, we’ve got to figure out what to do.”
“Well, they haven’t picked bedrooms yet,” 62 said, stifling his grin. “We’ve got to make sure they don’t pick a room next to brussels sprouts. Otherwise we’ll have real brussels sprouts to deal with.”
00’s eyes glistened, but he held his laughter in. “After the exam, let’s put their stuff in the rooms between Blue’s and yours. That way you can keep an eye on them and keep us all out of brussels sprouts.”
They heard a door open somewhere above them, and footsteps echoed in the stairwell.
“Hello?” Blue called up the stairs.
“We’re ready for you,” Dr. Rain called back. Her footsteps stopped overhead and she leaned over the handrail of the stairs above them. “00, you’re first.”
“Oh, brussels sprouts,” 00 cursed. 62 burst out into laughter and Blue pushed them both up the stairs.
“What’s so funny?” Dr. Rain asked once she could see them all.
“Nothing,” Blue said with a glum expression. “They’re just a couple of chuckleheads is all.”
Dr. Rain seemed to think that was a suitable explanation and pulled herself back from the railing. As the trio of friends approached her on the stairs, she assessed them with calculating eyes. “If 00 is nervous, he doesn’t have to go first. Any other volunteers?”
“I’ll go first,” Blue said. He stopped pushing his friends up the stairs and skirted around them, taking the lead. Dr. Rain turned and walked back up the few steps to the second-floor landing. Blue continued, “I want to get this out of the way so I have time to show Parker the work I’ve done in the greenhouse already.”
“What are you growing?” the doctor asked.
Blue looked over his shoulder with narrow eyes at the two Boys coming up the stairs behind them. “Brussels sprouts,” he grumbled. 00 and 62’s roaring laughter bounced off the bare walls, and could be heard echoing long after they’d left the stairwell behind.
CHAPTER 18
The exams were uneventful. The pair of doctors were amazed that the three young adventurers had made their trek without more than a few scrapes that had already healed. They’d been diligent with their equipment and managed their detox procedures well enough that there wasn’t a speck of radiation sickness among them. The Boys were thinner than the Women remembered them being in Hanford, but that was to be expected after their ordeal. Dr. Rain asked what they’d been eating, and when the answer was “soup,” Dr. Hazel promised to teach the three of them how to cook. Although Sunny had pretty much taken over the food preparation since they’d arrived, none of the Boys could admit that to their temporary caretakers. 62 hoped that Dr. Rain or the others would teach them how to make something new, so he accepted the offer for help with enthusiasm.
The evening dragge
d on, and 62 began to wonder if their visitors would ever go to bed. Long after the sun set, as the moon was climbing over the horizon, the adults finally announced they were tired. After they had turned in for the night, Blue, 00, and 62 snuck up the stairs to Sunny’s hiding place. They crept through the hallways as quietly as possible, in case one of the visitors came looking for them. When they arrived at Sunny’s door, Blue tapped it softly three times. The boys hunched in the hallway, so quiet they could hear Sunny’s footsteps inside the room. She didn’t say a word, and they took that as a signal that she was waiting for a voice she recognized before saying anything.
“It’s us,” 62 said in a whisper, “We’ve got new boots to share.”
There was a hitch in 00’s breath as he chuckled. Blue whacked him in the arm to get him to quiet down. The scraping of the chain in the lock inside the door seemed to roar through the still air, and the door’s groan filled the hallway as it opened.
“Come in,” Sunny whispered. She fanned her hand in the air, gesturing for them to hurry. Soon, they stood in her small room, the door shut and locked behind them.
Although Sunny didn’t own much, the sparse room was still in utter disarray. Blankets were thrown on the floor, the mattress was bare, and the window covering had fallen on one side, so it was hanging off-kilter. Sunny’s spare clothes had been torn from the closet where the Boys had put them. Shirts, pants, and undergarments were strewn about the shelves as if they’d exploded from their stacks.
As for Sunny, her hair had gone wild. It stood on end in some places and was clumped together in others. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and dark purple circles clung to the puffy skin beneath them. She looked broken. The moment the door was locked, she set about pacing a small, bare patch of floor in the center of the room. Randomly, she’d pick up a piece of clothing, her pillow, or a blanket, and fling it across the room in quiet agitation.
62 looked at his brothers, the concern on their faces mirroring his own. They knew Sunny had been upset when they’d seen the strangers coming this afternoon, but none of them were prepared for this. Sunny’s frantic actions were a far cry from the lethargic despondency that they’d come to expect from her.
“Why is he here?” she hissed.
“Who?” 62 asked without thinking. He looked at his brothers again and realized that she wasn’t talking about either of them. “You mean Parker? He says Auntie sent him to check on us.”
Sunny shrieked. “Why did she have to send him?”
Blue put his hands out in surrender. “He volunteered to come. Some of the people in Hanford were worried, so Parker and a couple of doctors decided to make sure we had what we needed to survive.”
“You mean, they came to make sure we didn’t wreck the place,” Blue said with a smirk.
“They should’ve sent someone else,” Sunny spat. She narrowed her eyes, and they nearly disappeared within the puffy skin of her lids. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She ignored them, letting them fall to her chin. The tears collected there and fell together, a thin trail of sorrow that splotched the front of her shirt. Sunny let out a wail and her hands flew to her face before she crumpled into a ball in the middle of the floor.
“Hey,” 62 said in a soothing tone. He went to her and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. He rubbed her shuddering arm softly. “It’ll be okay. We haven’t told him you’re here. The doctors either. They said they’re only staying a few days. Just long enough to help us fix the greenhouse and get some more plants started. They’re even going to teach us how to cook.” 62 looked up at 00 and Blue. “Right, guys?”
“That’s what they said,” 00 croaked. His face was pale and long, his analytically savvy mind lost in such an emotional situation.
Blue crouched on Sunny’s other side, placing a hand on her knee. “We’re going to follow along while they teach us, we’ll prove to them we’re okay, and get them to leave as fast as we can. We promise.”
Sunny peered over her hands. Her bleary eyes settled on Blue. “But he can’t leave me! Not after coming all this way. I saw him. I can’t let him go.”
Blue looked at 62 with questioning eyes. “Where did you see him? When we were outside? Everyone was in masks and ponchos.”
Sunny sniffled and pulled the collar of her shirt up to wipe her nose. “When they came, I snuck down the stairs to see who’d come. I saw you talking to Parker.”
62’s eyes felt like they were about to pop out of his head. “You did? Do you think he saw you?”
“No.” Sunny shook her head with jagged movements. “The door was only open a crack. He couldn’t have seen me. But now he’s here, and I can’t let him go.”
Sobs racked Sunny’s body and she trembled beneath 62’s hand. All three Boys wore worried grimaces as they looked back and forth at one another, each at a loss for what to do. Finally, 00 found the courage to step forward.
“Do you want us to tell him that you’re here?” 00 offered.
“No!” Sunny shouted. “He can’t see me like this. I’m too wrecked. Too far gone. He’ll never accept me like this!” Her tears seemed to burst from her eyes, spreading over her nose and mouth. 62 had never seen anyone cry so hard that they became deformed, before. Now Sunny’s whole body seemed to transform into a new, swollen, bundle of terrifying emotion.
“What do you want us to do?” Blue asked in frustration. “If we tell Parker and the others you’re here, maybe they can help you. Or, we can keep the whole thing a secret and send them back to Hanford. But we can’t do both, Sunny.”
The frail Woman’s sobs shortened as she fought the sorrow, pulling it back inside. She closed herself off until her tears slowed and her trembling subsided. Sunny sat up straight and looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. Her shoulders shifted backward, her head swiveled around as she glanced at her companions, and she heaved a ragged sigh. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I don’t know what’s happened. I don’t know what I want anymore.”
Sunny’s eyes were even redder than when she’d first opened the door. She slowly turned over, crawling first onto her hands and knees, then forcing herself up to standing. She swayed where she stood, barely strong enough to stay upright. “I need to sleep,” she whispered. “I’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Blue said. He set about remaking her bed while 00 picked up and folded her clothes, putting them back in neat piles in the closet.
62 stood with Sunny, allowing her to lean on him for support while the others picked up the mess. As soon as the room resembled a comfortable place to rest again, 62 led Sunny over to the bed and helped her climb up on the mattress. Blue tucked her in gently, then the Boys inched their way toward the door.
“Do you want us to turn out the light?” 62 asked.
“No,” Sunny whimpered from under the covers. “I’m afraid of the dark.”
Blue scrunched his brow, overcome with the admission of the grown Woman’s new fear, but he cleared his throat and said, “Okay. We’re going now. Get some rest. We’ll come back to talk about this again tomorrow.”
There was no response from the bed. The Boys crept back out into the hall, pulling the door closed behind them. The only lock was the chain on the door, which had to be fastened from the inside. There was nothing for them to do about that. 62 hoped at some point Sunny would be able to pull herself together enough to get up and lock her door during the night.
“That didn’t go well,” 00 said in a morose tone as they retreated down the hallway.
“I knew she’d be upset when she found out Parker was here,” 62 admitted, “but I wasn’t expecting anything like that.”
Blue wrung his hands. “I’ve never seen her like that before. It’s scary.”
“Do you think she’ll be okay until morning?” 00 said, looking over his shoulder as if she might come barreling out of the room after them. “Should one of us stay with her?”
“If any of us were going to stay with her, I would. But you saw her. I don’t
think being in there with her would help anything. It seemed like everything we said made her worse,” Blue answered.
“I hope she feels better tomorrow,” 62 said. Even though none of their new visitors seemed to know that they were here because of Mattie, he still regretted ever sharing a dream with her. “Maybe she’s right and a little sleep will help.”
“I wish I knew what to do,” Blue said. He hung his head and his pace slowed to a crawl as they reached the stairwell. “I want to tell Parker she’s here. But if I do, I’m afraid she’d get so mad that she’d hurt somebody.”
“I don’t think she’d hurt any of us,” 62 said, “but she might hurt herself.”
00 nodded. “Let’s not tell anyone yet. We’ll check on her tomorrow. Maybe she’ll make up her mind about what she wants us to do by then.”
62 agreed, but Blue’s deep frown said he wasn’t so sure. 62 touched Blue’s arm. “There’s no harm in waiting one night to see what she decides. Just think of how rotten you’ll feel if you tell them about Sunny now, and she comes out tomorrow to tell you she’s decided she doesn’t want anyone to know. Believe me, you’ll feel a lot worse if that happens than you do now.”
“Okay,” Blue muttered. “I won’t tell them about her, even though I think they can help her. Maybe Parker wouldn’t be able to do much, but the doctors work at the hospital. They know a whole lot more about things than we do.”
“I know,” 62 said with an understanding frown. “But we can’t save people who don’t want to be saved.”
“I wish we could,” said Blue. Then he picked up his pace, rushed down the stairs, and disappeared into his room before 62 or 00 could say another word.
CHAPTER 19
62 went to bed with the hope he could share a dream with Mattie. No matter how hard he tried to focus, he simply couldn’t get Sunny’s odd behavior off his mind. He tossed and turned most of the night, and when he did sleep, his dreams were filled with the echo of Sunny’s wailing cries. He woke with the sunrise, feeling more exhausted than he had when he’d gone to bed. As he trudged down to the cafeteria, he found that 00 and Blue hadn’t fared much better.
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