by Brinda Berry
I’d always known Arizona to never be afraid, never unsure, never worried. Everything I’d known about him was wrong. A mossy green frisson of color surrounded him and told me that we were in trouble.
His denying it chilled me to the core.
“Do they know you’re here?”
“Yes.”
I grabbed both his upper arms. “So, you’re authorized and this is routine? Your being here?”
“The IIA may wonder why I’m in the Garden, but it’s no big deal.”
I knew he was lying.
I chose to ignore it for the moment. “Is Regulus very far ahead now?”
“He’s keeping a steady pace, but he’s fast. We’re fine. He’s near the border of Magnum Opus.”
“What’s that?” I asked. He pulled me from behind the metal box. I glanced at the emblem painted on it; it reminded me of a radioactive waste emblem.
“It’s a sanctioned facility, level ten. A place where the Makers cure the ills of the worlds.”
“Huh.” I opened my mouth to ask another question, but promptly shut it. I could sense that he didn’t want me asking questions and I was too out of breath to ask more, if I wanted to keep up.
“Regulus can’t go in because he doesn’t have an invitation.” Arizona exited the narrow alley from the opposite direction where we’d entered. This new street was darker than the last. Arizona dropped my hand. I wished he hadn’t, but I didn’t intend to act like I needed it.
“Don’t move from this spot,” Arizona said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
My stomach cramped and a clammy sweat stole over my face. “Hurry.”
15
Caregiver
The ringing in my ears matched the pounding of Arizona’s feet. I knew I was sicker than I’d been at my house. I tried to remember if I’d ever been this sick before.
“Mia. Mia?”
I heard Arizona was calling my name and I saw him waving his hand to me from the end of the alley. Arizona’s face blurred and I bent over with my elbows on my knees.
A hand rested on my back.
“Pete?” Sweat beaded on my upper lip.
“Mia, it’s me. You’re confused. I don’t know why the meds didn’t work. Sit down.”
Obeying him was easy because I wanted to fall down. I leaned against the concrete wall and slid to the ground. “I’m down.”
“We can’t stay here. I have to move you. Take a minute and breathe.”
“I can get up.” I moaned when I attempted to slide up the wall. It didn’t work as well as sliding down.
“You’re very hot.” Arizona shifted my arm over his shoulder for support. He grabbed me around the waist and lifted me.
“I’m hot?” I laughed deliriously. “Why thank you. Really. You’re pretty hot yourself.”
“Ssh. I’ve got to get us out of here. Lean on me and we’re going back into the streets.” He placed the scarf I’d worn over my head.
“Why are you covering my hotness?” I knew I was babbling. In the recesses of my mind, I knew something was very wrong, but I was afraid to stop talking.
“I’ll get help. Don’t worry.”
Arizona’s whispering at my ear made me wonder if he felt uncomfortable taking care of me and it made me wonder if I should feel uncomfortable that he was definitely in my personal space. I realized it didn’t matter. My thoughts were running wild in my fuzzy brain. Disorganized. I wondered if I might be dying.
My knees buckled and he picked me up. I tucked my face against his chest. He knocked on a door; his raps were hard and impatient. I heard the door open.
“My friend is sick,” Arizona said. “I’ve run out of meds. I need your help.”
“Come,” the person said.
Arizona moved again and placed me on a hard surface. “I’ve given her meds and they aren’t working. Maybe more will help? I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”
My arm muscles didn’t cooperate with my brain firing orders. I lifted one fingertip.
“Can you bring a scientist?” Arizona asked.
“I will bring him.”
“Thank you,” I said. The woman before me was older with gray hair and soft blue eyes.
“Is she your pair?” the woman asked. She left the room then returned with cold, wet cloths.
“No.” Arizona leaned down, squeezed my forearm, then patted my head. “I’m here. You’ll live.”
“Living is a good thing,” I whispered and gave one short laugh. He probably wasn’t making an understatement.
A while later, the woman returned with an elderly man.
“How long has she been ill?” He placed his hand on my cheek.
“Today,” Arizona said. “Not…um…longer. She was sick earlier. She said she vomited yesterday.”
The man busied himself with things from a bag he’d brought. I watched him through half-opened eyes. He reminded me of an older version of my dad, patient and calm.
“She is not a citizen,” the man said.
Arizona froze. He seemed unsure.
I answered for him. “No.”
The man nodded. “I’m Josah.” He gave a tight smile, his mouth closed and sad. “I was like you once.”
Arizona touched my hand.
“And you are a citizen.” Josah stared at him. “What are you doing with her?”
“I’m an Enforcer.”
Josah raised one eyebrow. “That would be a problem.”
“She’s my friend. I am responsible for her. You are helping her, not me.”
Josah leaned forward. “Let us see what I can do. I need to test something.” He removed an object from his case. “Move her into a sitting position.”
Arizona placed his arm behind my back and pushed. “Does she need to stay upright? Should she sit in a chair?”
“No. It will be over in a minute.” He held a clear ball between his fingers. “I am going to ask you to hold this ball inside your mouth. I will take it from you in two minutes.”
I nodded that I understood and opened my mouth. The smooth ball felt like an oversize marble in my mouth. A bead of sweat trickled from my forehead and into my eyes, forcing me to blink away the stinging sensation.
Josah held a cup to my mouth. “Place it in the cup.”
The desire to sleep chugged toward me like a train barreling at a steady speed. I spit the ball into the cup and slumped back.
“Catch her,” Josah said.
* * *
I woke to Arizona’s voice. “It’s time to wake.”
Liquid trickled into my mouth and choked me. I coughed and gagged. A burning sensation filled my mouth and I sputtered. “Hey. Stop.” If he didn’t stop putting the cup to my lips, he was going to drown me.
“You’ll get dehydrated.”
I held out shaky hands to take the cup from him. He held my shoulders.
The room was dark, but light seeped in around the edges of the window. “Is it night?”
“No. Morning. We’ve been here a day.”
I jerked upright and looked around. “Here?” A blanket lay carelessly thrown across a chair beside the bed. “I’m not sure what’s happened. Is this the same place you brought me when I was sick?”
“Uh-huh. Same.”
“What about Regulus?”
“He’s still close. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s not moving farther away.”
“You decided to wake.” The woman came in with a pitcher and glass. She nodded at Arizona. “Take a break. I’ll watch her.”
“I don’t need a break.” Arizona gave her an irritated look.
“Go. You never listen.”
Their exchange confused me. Never listen?
Arizona shrugged. “I’ll stretch my legs. Mia, I’m not going far.” He left the room and the woman sat on the chair.
“Thank you. For everything. I’m Mia.”
“I’m Caregiver.”
“Caregiver,” I repeated. “That’s an odd name.”
“Mi
a is an odd name.”
I smiled. “I guess it is.” I stared at her staring back at me.
“Do you know Arizona? I mean, from before yesterday?” It was a hunch. Caregiver had such a pleasant face. Her blue eyes were warm and sparkled with intelligence and understanding.
“Of course I do. I know Regulus, too. I cared for both of them while they trained at The Vault.”
“Ah.” I smiled and my silly heart raced at hearing his name.
“And are you a pair for Regulus?”
I kept smiling. “I don’t know what you mean. A pair?”
“The Makers haven’t placed you, have they?”
My insides began to flutter nervously. “No.” I wished Arizona would return.
“Arizona will take you to them.”
I steadied my breathing. “Why would he do that?”
She held out her hand. When I didn’t move, she said, “Let me hold your hand.”
A cold spike of dread started in my chest and traveled to my hand, rendering it immobile. She waited and I stretched my fingers toward hers.
“What are you doing?” Arizona didn’t sound like his usual happy self.
“I’m…uh…” I darted my eyes from him to Caregiver. She still had her hand out.
“Mia. Get ready to go. We’re leaving,” Arizona ordered.
Caregiver smiled at me for the first time. It was an apologetic smile. It suddenly hit me that she gave nothing to be read. No vibes or colors that I could determine.
“I hope you take care of her, Arizona. She is different.”
“Yes. She is.” Arizona picked up my scarf and coat lying across the end of the bed.
“I wanted to ask her for more information,” Caregiver said.
“Your translator works fine so you can ask her out loud,” Arizona said. “But really, there’s nothing more that you should know.”
Something was going on, but I couldn’t figure it out. I’d remember to ask Arizona later. I swung my feet to the floor and looked around for my bag. “Please tell Mr. Josah thank you.”
“I will.” Caregiver walked us to the door. “Good-bye, Arizona.”
He didn’t even turn around. I elbowed him, but he ignored me.
“Bye, Caregiver.” We stepped outside. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.” He looked at me like I’d said something stupid.
“You were so rude to her.”
“No, I wasn’t.” He grinned at me. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” I hurried to keep up with his long strides.
“I guess I thought you’d know. Or be able to tell. I have no idea what Regulus has told you and what he hasn’t.”
“Told me what?”
He looked around as if someone might overhear our conversation. “She’s an artificial.”
“Artificial? Artificial what?”
“She’s not human.”
I stopped, my feet cemented in place. “Not human? She seemed human to me.”
“She has some superior human tissues. I don’t know the reason for that. But her brain is a computer.” He grabbed my hand to pull me forward.
I shook my hand from his and continued walking. I’d felt better before this information. Now, I was queasy all over again. It must have shown because Arizona halted.
“I thought you were cured?”
“I feel fine. Did Josah do something to me?”
“He gave you a shot. He also diagnosed that you’ve been poisoned.”
If I hadn’t wanted to sit before, I did now. Seeing that Arizona walked like he was late to catch a plane, I kept pace with him.
“I can’t handle this. Artificial people. Somebody poisoning me. It’s too much.”
He stopped and turned to me. “You had something in your system that Josah diagnosed. A bacteria that causes a chemical imbalance in your body.”
“Like the flu?”
“No. Strains of the flu abound in your world. They’ve been identified and documented. This bacterium was different.”
“How so?”
“It originated here.”
I grabbed his elbow. “But that’s not possible.”
He held up the bag. “Josah asked me if I knew what you’d been eating. I laughed at first because there’s no way I’d know. He said something about it being mixed with citric acid in your stomach.”
I frowned at him. “So?”
“At your house, I grabbed food to throw in this bag. One thing I grabbed was a tin of that stuff you offered me at your house on Christmas Eve. Fruitcake? The food I didn’t want to try because it looked too odd.”
“What about it?”
“The poison was in the fruitcake. Where did you get that?”
“It was a Christmas gift on our front porch. I don’t know.” I stumbled at the disgusted look he gave me. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Do you eat everything you find? Someone left it for you and it seemed safe to eat?”
“People give us baked goods for Christmas every holiday. It’s…”
He waited for me to finish.
“…I was going to say normal. But really it’s stupid.”
“Are you the only one who ate it?” he asked.
“Yeah. My dad hates that stuff. And you saw how no one touched it the other night. I’ve always loved it.”
“I’m trying to figure out who poisoned it. Nancy? Bleeker? I don’t know.”
“I could have died. Bleeker didn’t want to kill me. I think he didn’t…”
“It would break down your resistance until someone here could give you treatment. Treatment like Josah gave you. Otherwise it would have eventually killed you. But it would take a little while. Enough time for someone to offer treatment in exchange for something that he wanted.”
We’d reached a building with an elevator on the outside. The car was moving up at racecar speed. Arizona stopped and turned to me. “We’re going in.”
“Why?”
“Woman, I need resources. Money. Food.” He sighed.
I followed him inside. “About Caregiver. You already knew her.”
“She was my caregiver.”
“Like a nanny?”
“Maybe.”
“And Regulus’s?”
“Uh-huh.” He turned a corner and walked into a huge circular area. A rotating walk moved around the perimeter and people stepped on and off.
Arizona stepped on, and I followed.
“What did she do for you?”
“She made sure I had rations, knew how to navigate the world, and had someone to talk to.”
“Like a mother?”
He laughed. “Better than a mother.”
“How’s that?”
“Never told me no.”
“That’s sad. I mean if you’re OK with not having someone care if you get hurt or feel down…”
He stared at me with a smirk. “You didn’t have a mother to do those things.”
“But I had my dad.”
“Here. Exit.” The smooth white walls gleamed like polished floors, an illuminated circle appearing every twelve inches. Arizona pressed his finger to a circle that looked like the others.
A drawer slid out. Arizona scanned his wrist over the center of opened drawer and I waited to see what would happen next.
An alarm sounded, high and piercing.
He shoved the drawer shut with one hand, grabbed my hand with the other, skipped the moving walkway, and ran. “They’ve frozen my resources. Fast. Run fast!”
The entrance to the building was clogged with people who appeared to be looking for someone. Someone pointed at us and Arizona pulled my arm harshly. My lungs nearly burst when we hit the street, our feet pounding against the pavement.
I shot a glance over my shoulder and saw three men chasing us. They’d catch us very soon. If I let go of Arizona’s hand, he could make it. On impulse, I relaxed my grip but Arizona held on tighter.
“I. Said. Fast.” He turned a cor
ner, entered a building, slid around corners. I had no choice but to keep up.
We exited through a door and came up against a brick wall. Arizona released my hand and jumped. His fingers caught the top edge and he pulled himself up.
“Jump.”
“I can’t make it.”
He straddled the top and reached down. “Grab my hand. Do it.”
I jumped and caught his hand. He slung me to the top. My arms stretched to their limit and my joints screamed a protest. I tumbled over and dropped to the other side.
Once I landed, I stumbled back and my head hit the ground.
* * *
I woke to darkness. A single light swung lazily, like a clock pendulum. I saw more lights in a string above my head. Tilting my head, I saw millions of lights. Christmas, I thought.
“I had this nightmare,” I croaked. I closed my eyes again. The hand that took mine was vaguely familiar, but not Dad’s.
“Hmm…” The response sounded far away.
I registered noise and wondered if the television volume could be lowered. Something cool pressed upon my forehead. Fingers touched my lips and I protested, trying to sit.
“Hello.” The masculine voice tickled my ears. Its tone reverberated pleasantly. Not nasally, but low and comforting. Powerful.
“Hello,” I mimicked with a faint smile and no attempt to open my eyes. I tried to remember what had happened and failed. “Go away.”
“Help her sit. Is she awake?” The second masculine voice was pleasant, but not like the first.
“She’s awake. I think she is ignoring us.” The last part was said with a smile. I could tell.
I pried my eyes open again and the lights burned them as I focused. A dark head moved to shield the light. I stared into dark blue eyes that made my stomach tingle.
Bottomless. Mysterious. Dangerous.
I broke the gaze and saw another person leaning over me. “Where am I?” I scooted over to avoid touching the one seated nearest my side.
Arizona answered me with a rueful grin. “We barely made it out alive. I don’t know why they’ve triggered my box. It’s a good thing Regulus doubled back.”
“Where?” I rubbed my forehead.
“Underground. About a mile from where you dropped and hit your head. I thought you’d land on your feet.”