Adaptation

by Malinda Lo

  CHAPTER 33

  Reese woke up when the overhead lights came on. She groaned and dragged the thin blanket over her head as she remembered where she was. She heard the glass wall slide open and footsteps click across the floor.

  “Time to get up, Miss Holloway.” It was Agent Todd. “I brought you some breakfast and some things to wear.”

  She opened her eyes warily, rolling over as something heavy landed on the bed beside her. She saw a pair of dark green shorts, a gray T-shirt, and a pair of the ugliest green-and-brown running shoes she had ever seen. “Why do you want me to wear that?” She squinted across the room at Agent Todd, who was depositing another tray on the counter.

  “We’re putting you and Mr. Li through a few tests this morning. Eat your breakfast. You’ll need it.”

  After she ate the food—bland oatmeal and overly sweet orange juice, accompanied by a cup of disgusting coffee—she grabbed the new clothes and the duffel to go to the bathroom. One of the lab coats was keeping an eye out for her, and when she approached the glass wall it whooshed open.

  The exam room next to hers was empty, but when she entered the bathroom she found David brushing his teeth at the sink. He was dressed in the same outfit she was about to put on. “Hey,” she said. “Where did you get that toothbrush?” He gestured to a folded towel at the far end of the stainless steel counter. A toothbrush and mini tube of toothpaste lay on top. “Thanks.” She desperately needed to pee, but she didn’t want to do it while David could hear. She decided to brush her teeth first.

  To her relief, when he finished he said, “I’ll see you in a few,” and left the bathroom. As soon as the glass doors slid shut, she hightailed it into the stall, dragging her duffel bag with her.

  After using the toilet, she took off her clothes, taking care to conceal her cell phone in the pocket of her jeans and folding them so that the phone wouldn’t fall out. The new clothes did fit, sort of, but she was sure the getup made her look like a complete frump. Whoever had packed her duffel bag must have had a twisted sense of humor, because even though they had seen fit to throw in a sports bra, they had only included black socks. She clumped out of the stall in the heavy new shoes and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She did look frumpy, not to mention possibly crazy, what with her long, tangled hair and eyes bruised from a fitful night’s sleep. Great, she thought sourly, and resigned herself to looking like a dork.

  Out in the medical bay, Agent Todd was standing by the U-shaped counter with David. The clothes that made her look awful made David look good—in an I’m-training-with-the-military kind of way, at least. On her, the T-shirt was too big in the wrong places and made her look pudgy in others; on him, it emphasized the breadth of his shoulders. Plus he had white socks. David noticed her staring at him and said, “Hey. You ready?”

  She colored. “I have to put this bag back in my room.”

  “Go ahead,” Agent Todd said.

  When she returned a moment later, Dr. Singh was coming out of her office pushing a cart with a computer on it. “I’m going to attach these to your chest and temples,” she said to David, holding out what looked like shiny metallic stickers.

  “What are those?” David asked.

  “Sensors to measure your heart rate and other physical reactions.” She pushed up David’s shirt and stuck one over his heart and two on his temples. Then Dr. Singh came toward Reese and said, “Now you.” Once Reese was similarly outfitted, Dr. Singh went back to the cart and typed something into the computer. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  Agent Todd led the way out of the medical bay, and Dr. Singh trundled the cart after Reese and David. As they walked down the pristine white corridor, Reese noticed video cameras attached to the ceiling, red lights glowing. They passed two of the cameras before Todd stopped outside a set of double doors marked BBTC1. He stepped up to the scanner and keypad, and after he entered the code, the doors clicked open. Reese’s mouth fell open as she saw what lay beyond them.

  It was a huge, multistory gymnasium lit by gleaming overhead lights as bright as midday. An oval track was laid around the perimeter, and in the center was a series of obstacles: climbing walls and sand pits; unidentifiable structures that resembled medieval torture devices; and even a couple of pools, one of which looked muddy. Windows lined the upper walls near the black ceiling. Through the glass, Reese saw white hallways, offices, and in one wide expanse, what appeared to be a cafeteria. There were people too, some gazing down into the gym but most going about their business. Many were dressed in uniforms or fatigues.

  “What is this place?” she asked.

  “Training Center One,” Agent Todd said. “We’re going to put you through some basic training and see how you do today.” Reese pictured young men in buzz cuts doing several hundred push-ups in a field. Her stomach sank. She hoped he didn’t mean that kind of basic training.

  While Agent Todd conferred with Dr. Singh in a low voice, David edged closer to Reese and whispered, “Do you think we’re going to have to do those obstacles?”

  She gave him a dubious look. “You realize you actually sound kind of excited by that possibility?”

  He grinned. “I like a good obstacle course. Don’t you?”

  “Are you kidding? I hate gym class.”

  “Beats getting another physical exam.”

  “Good point,” she said, but she felt a little queasy. She wasn’t the worst kid in gym class, but sports were definitely not her thing, and she suspected there was going to be more to this basic-training test than a game of kickball.

  Agent Todd returned from his consultation with Dr. Singh. “We’ve set up a level one obstacle course for you to complete.”

  “I knew it,” Reese said.

  Dr. Singh came over, holding something out in her hand. “Here. You might need this.”

  It was a dusty-looking black scrunchie. “Thanks,” Reese said. She tried to avoid thinking about where it had come from as she used it to pull back her hair into a ponytail. There probably weren’t too many long-haired super soldiers in training down here. She bet they all had buzz cuts, even the women—if there were any.

  “The obstacle course begins over there,” Agent Todd said, gesturing to a marker on the ground to the left of the track. “We’ll tell you when we’re ready for you to begin.”

  Reese walked over to the marker and stood next to David, who was crouching down in a runner’s stretch. As he shifted from his right leg to his left, she crossed her arms over her chest, thinking about the cigarettes she had smoked in the last couple of days. David would sail through this. She hoped that she didn’t collapse into a hacking mess.

  “Ready?” Agent Todd called. “Go!”

  It began innocently enough, with a series of rings embedded on the floor like Reese had seen football players run through. She felt ridiculous as she jumped through the rings—which were spaced out for men with longer legs than she had, she was sure—but she made it through without mishap. David had let her go first, but by the time she was finished, he had already caught up with her.

  “Come on, you’re not gonna let me win so easy, are you?” he teased her. He slipped around her, tugging on her ponytail as he ran ahead to the next obstacle. She felt the tug all the way through to her toes.

  It spurred her on to the set of hurdles he was already sailing over. She took a flying leap at the first one and made it over without falling, surprising herself. Track and field had definitely been her least favorite part of gym class, and she had plenty of memories of face-planting on the ground after tripping over a hurdle. She jumped over the next few cleanly, but before she could get too cocky, her foot caught on the last hurdle and brought it crashing down. She sprawled onto the ground and her cheek skidded over the dirt. David turned back, calling, “Reese?” The wind had been knocked out of her, but she didn’t want to look like a wimp. She waved him off and pushed herself to her feet, brushing the dirt from her face. She winced slightly when she felt a stinging sensation on her ch
eek. She wondered if the scratch would be gone by the time she finished the obstacle course.

  Ahead of her, David was vaulting over what looked like a chest-high wall covered in tan vinyl. She had seen him take a running leap at it, hands hooking over the top to haul himself over, but when she tried it, she had a more difficult time. It took a few attempts before she managed to jump high enough to reach the top and slide over. She landed with a splash in a pool of muddy water, and she cursed in surprise as it splashed all over her. At the end of the rectangular pool was a fifteen-foot climbing wall outfitted with two ropes and a number of hand- and toeholds. David was already halfway up the wall.

  She waded over to the free rope, tugging on it experimentally. It seemed securely attached. She watched David using the rope to help himself move from one toehold to the next as he made his way toward the top. He made it look easy, but when she fitted her foot into the first toehold, she realized this wasn’t going to be any fun. She didn’t have the upper-body strength he did, so she had to figure out how to get herself up the wall without relying so much on the rope to pull herself. By the time David made it to the top, she had climbed only a couple of feet, and her arms felt like they were about to fall out of their sockets.

  He swung his legs over the top of the wall, straddling it, and looked down. “Do you need some help?”

  “I can do it,” she said through gritted teeth, reaching for another handhold while simultaneously clinging to the rope to prevent herself from falling into the muddy water. Bit by bit she inched up the wall, her muscles burning so fiercely that she felt tears spring to her eyes.

  A few feet from the top of the wall she miscalculated—her arms were clumsy with fatigue—and she slipped. She shrieked, grabbing at the rope, and it scorched against her sweaty palms until something suddenly halted her descent. David’s hand was wrapped around her left wrist, all five fingers digging painfully into her forearm. His grip opened a conduit between them, and suddenly she could sense his entire body: the muscles of his right arm and shoulder burning as he struggled to hold her, the edge of the wall cutting into his left wrist as he hung on. The connection was so open and so clear that it stunned her, and for a moment she just dangled there, feet hanging several feet above the water.

  “I’m slipping,” David said, his voice rough. “You have to give me your other hand. I’ll pull you up.”

  She twisted her head to look up at him. He was lying flat on his stomach on the top of the wall. A droplet of sweat that was clinging to his nose plummeted onto her face, striking her cheek in a tiny spark. If she didn’t grab on to him, she would fall right back to the bottom of the wall. With a groan of effort, she launched her other hand up and grasped his arm. The sensation of connection between them magnified, as if he came fully into focus. The strain of hauling her up tore into the muscles of his upper back, and his abdomen contracted to steady himself. She gasped as she too felt the pain that arced through him. Even if he was in way better shape than she was, he still wasn’t accustomed to pulling girls over fifteen-foot walls.

  She kicked at the wall with her dripping shoes, trying to push herself so that he wasn’t bearing all of her weight. His body pulled back, counterbalancing her as gravity tried to drag her down. It was an awkward, precarious scramble, and she was sure that she was going to slip out of his grasp at any second and plunge down into the shallow pool. But by some miracle—or maybe just stubborn persistence—she managed to throw herself over the top of the wall.

  The instant he let go of her she felt ripped away against her will. Her upper body was hanging over the far side and her butt was in the air somewhere in the vicinity of David’s face. “That was shitty,” she said, her voice sounding hoarse.

  David wheezed. “Don’t make me laugh.”

  She carefully eased herself around so that her stomach was on the top of the wall and she was facing David. He was sitting up, straddling the wall and rubbing the arm she had been holding. “Thanks,” she said, dazed. She gingerly pushed herself up. “Now how the hell do we get off this thing?”

  He tugged the rope toward him and tossed it over the far side of the wall. “That should be the easy part.” He swung his legs over the side and began to rappel down, hopping from one toehold to another with ease.

  She groaned. “This is going to kill me.”

  When David splashed down—there was a pool on this side too—she grabbed the rope and began the process of easing herself over the top of the wall. Her hands were sore from the rope burn she had gotten when she nearly pitched into the water on the other side, and it was hard to hold on. Halfway down the wall, she skidded. The skin on her palms parted, smearing blood on the rope. She winced. The blood—combined with the sweat on her hands—made the rope slippery. She knew she was going to lose her grip, but she hoped to make it down another few feet before it happened.

  She didn’t get her wish. All of a sudden she fell, an involuntary scream tearing out of her throat.

  David tried to catch her, but he wasn’t prepared, and the two of them went down in the water. It was freezing cold on this side of the wall, and when it sluiced over her she gasped in shock. She landed on top of David, tangled in his arms and legs, and the connection was there again—snap! like a light switch—and she couldn’t breathe for a minute. This time she knew he felt it, because she sensed the surprise inside him. All the aches in his body from the climbing wall were thrust aside as astonishment rippled through him.

  His hands tightened over her as he tried to make sense of what was going on. One hand was on her back and the other, embarrassingly, was on her butt. Water streamed over her face as she raised herself up on her hands and knees, trying to extricate herself from him. She was leaning over him now, her hair dripping onto his chest while he was still half-submerged in the water. She could see the outline of the sensor over his heart through the soaked material of his T-shirt. Seeing him from the outside as well as the inside was surreal. When she saw his chest rise, she also felt his lungs expand. The pressure of his thigh against hers sent a startling surge of heat through her. She wanted to stay right there, in this freezing cold water, and—and—

  The same surge of heat went through David. Feeling it in someone else was the most dizzying, delirious, frightening thing she had ever experienced. She dragged herself away, breaking their connection.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice shaking.

  He pushed himself up from the pool, shoving back his wet hair. Water streamed from his clothes, plastered over his body. The gray T-shirt material was pretty revealing when it was wet. “Are you hurt?” he asked, breathless.

  She didn’t let herself think about whether her own clothes were as see-through as his. And she definitely wasn’t letting herself think about what had just happened. “Not really,” she said, and averted her eyes from him. Agent Todd was watching from the edge of the obstacle course. “We should keep going,” she said.

  A beat. Two beats. And then David got up and waded away, the water sending ripples against her legs. She let out her breath in relief.

  “Looks like there’s one more,” David called back.

  At the end of the pool was a concrete cylinder submerged lengthwise. Agent Todd was waiting on the other side, watching them. “What are we supposed to do with that?” she asked.

  David examined the cylinder. “I think we’re supposed to go through it.”

  “Underwater?”

  They glanced at Agent Todd, who nodded. “All right,” David said. “Hold your breath.”

  “Ugh.” She had never been claustrophobic before, but the cylinder didn’t look very roomy, and the thought of submerging herself beneath the chilly water to get through it made her stomach twist.

  “You want me to go first?” he offered.

  “If you want to.” She pushed a few strands of wet hair away from her face. “But it doesn’t mean that you automatically win.” He smiled, and something in her belly fluttered as she saw his eyes move over her. She crossed
her arms over her chest and gave him a challenging look.

  He laughed. “All right. I’ll see you on the other side.” He placed his hands on the lip of the cylinder, which rose a couple of inches above the surface of the water, then threaded his legs inside and lowered himself underwater. She watched him propel himself through by pushing hard against the edge of the cylinder. The water on the other end churned as his feet kicked out, followed by the rest of his body. Finally his head popped free of the water, gasping for breath.

  Reese didn’t let herself wait after she saw him emerge; she had to do this before she lost her nerve. She held on to the concrete rim of the cylinder as David had done and climbed in feetfirst. Her fingers slid on the wet concrete. She took a deep breath and ducked her head underwater.

  It was like sliding into a coffin, and she flailed in sudden panic, her knee striking the inside top of the pipe so hard that her leg went numb. She shrieked, sending a stream of bubbles toward the surface. The water stung her eyes, and she couldn’t see much beyond the dark gray underside of the concrete. No light, no air. Her heart was an echoing drumbeat in her ears.

  She remembered being trapped beneath the car. The ton of warped metal on her, the shattered safety glass of the windshield littered over her, glittering like diamonds in the light of the weirdly angled high beams. Beside her David was silent—so silent. She tasted blood in her mouth. She was screaming.

  She blinked furiously to shake herself out of the memory. Water streamed past her ears, magnifying every sound. Her hands found the inside walls of the cylinder and pushed. The goal was simple: Get out and breathe again. There was no room for anything else. Her knees banged against the opposite end of the pipe. Her feet found the bottom of the pool. David’s hand wrapped around hers—snap!—and she burst out of the water, sputtering and gasping and clutching at him as if he were a life preserver. His shirt was wet and cold, and her teeth were chattering against his shoulder, her fingers digging into his upper back. David.