High Pressure System: First Season Underground

by K. D. Kinney

  “What is this place?” I felt as if I just entered The Secret Garden. The garden had to be the biggest secret in the bunker.

  “I wanted the real outdoors. Digging keeps my mind occupied. Making this garden look the way it would up above brings me peace over all the things I can’t control. I can control what is here and it can sustain me so I don’t have to depend on all the others if anything goes really wrong down here. I can shut myself away and live here a long time. I’m still digging over here.” He led me to the back corner. It looked as if he was creating another big room.

  “This area will be my own little farm. I want to bring in some chickens. Protein is important. That is what is missing. In the next hatching, I will be bringing home a few chicks. The fish are more for the fertilizer. The water is for the garden. The power in here is generated by the algae in the tubes over there. I have a fresh water source I’ve tapped into. Once my chickens come, I could live in here a long time.” He pulled a cover over some boxes.

  I looked away, I wasn’t going to pry if he didn’t want me to see what he had stacked there. I was astounded at what he had been creating while the rest of us struggled to find our own peace with our circumstances. Reading books and teaching science seemed so lame compared to what he had already accomplished.

  “In case you were wondering about how I managed to collect all this, I’ve been paid for the work I’ve done before everyone arrived. All that money is pretty much worthless now. Sometimes I take my payments in things. However, I did order some specialty plants and the water feature parts before everyone came and they are all mine. I’ve traded my construction skills for some of the plants and the energy setup. We don’t have a system like that in the main building though. I have another energy generator that I’m building that is even simpler than the algae and will give me an endless supply of power.” He gently pulled me away from his stash in the corner and steered me to the sofa. “I would love to sit here with you, but I think I need a shower first. There are some ripe berries over there if you want to pick some while I take care of my stink.”

  He left and all I could do was wander through the room. I could imagine I was outdoors in a fancy garden with how he landscaped everything in his cave. Lots of camouflaged grow boxes were filled with mature vegetables. He even had pots full of multicolored flowers. There was movement in the flowers. He even had honeybees. That didn’t excite me as much as everything else. It would make sense. Otherwise he’d have to pollinate everything by hand.

  I was eating a few strawberries when Micah returned.

  “What do you make of this?” Micah’s wounded hand was free of its bandage. The skin looked red and angry.

  “I don’t remember it looking that bad.”

  “That’s what I thought. I hurts much worse.”

  “Do you want to go back and have a nurse check it?” I held his wrist gently and couldn’t decide how much worse it looked. Sometimes bandages inflamed the very thing it was trying to protect. He smelled so much better, though. A whole lot better. I was hoping he would stay put and he would ask me to stay and …Wait. I had the dogs to go home to. However, Rocky would love the cave garden. The dogs would too. Unfortunately, they would probably want to pee on everything that shouldn’t be peed on.

  “Can you help me wrap it again?” Micah asked.

  “You don’t want to let it air out?”

  “It hurts much worse with air on it.” He pulled out a roll of gauze from under his arm. “Let’s go sit down.”

  That was going to be too much for me. Or not. Sitting with Micah in his romantic garden. It was the best thing that happened to me since I arrived at the bunker. My heart raced as I followed him to the sofa at the back of the cave room. He sat down, gripping his wrist as if it was somehow helping with the pain. The appreciative look he gave me wilted any resolve I had trying to keep my distance, from liking him too much. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t like being near him. I sat down, my knee against his, and moved his arm so it rested on my leg while I carefully wrapped each finger individually the way he asked me to. Not too tight. I kept drawing in discreet deep inhales. He smelled really good. I could sit there bandaging his hand all night long. If I kept it up, he’d have an old fashioned catcher’s mitt. I shook my head and finished.

  “What’s wrong?” He leaned his head down a little lower to catch my eye.

  “Nothing. I had to stop letting my mind wander.” I taped the gauze down.

  “Wander where?” He tilted my head up and met my gaze.

  “Nothing special. Like, umm, wrapping your hand until it is more like a boxing glove so I have an excuse to stay right here a little longer?”

  He laughed. He actually laughed really hard and shook his head. “That’s where your mind wanders? You can’t come up with something better, huh?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe?” It was far too uncomfortable to say what could be running through my mind. My heart was pounding hard and fast in my ears. Micah didn’t stop staring at me. He could be reading my mind again.

  He started to lean in when a flashing light caught his attention. He stood up straight and bit his lip.

  “What is that?” It must have been a blood pressure alert. Mine had to be outrageously high and the light didn’t think I could handle his lips on mine.

  “That’s the lock-down signal, I didn’t lock the door. Is it going to be an issue if Brandon knows you checked in here?” He held out his good hand to help me up.

  “I can just tell him I was checking on you. Your hand does have me concerned.” I followed him into the apartment.

  “It’s so late though.”

  “I was at Jim’s before I came here. I made sure he was in bed before I came to see you.” He wasn’t in bed then but he should be now.

  “It sounds like you’re making house calls. Too bad you aren’t a real nurse.”

  “I wouldn’t be a very good one. This part is easy. Dealing with the gross stuff, not so much.”

  After I pressed my thumb onto the recognition pad, I was overcome with the feeling I was about to get caught doing something I shouldn’t. It wasn’t the same feeling I had when I was caught in the hall by the storm either. Locked in a room with Micah at night. He might have been about to kiss me. His apartment sure wasn’t the most romantic place though. I was eager to return to his realistic outdoor simulator. It wasn’t pretend like the planetarium, indoor outdoor simulator.

  “How do you keep the bees from escaping?”

  “I usually keep the door closed and there’s an air current that keeps most of them from leaving the room.” He opened the door to his oasis for me.

  “This room is amazing. You really like to dig and plant things.” I didn’t have nearly that much ambition for anything.

  “I like keeping my mind from thinking.” He fanned a bee away from my head. “Lately I’ve been pushing thoughts of you out of my mind.”

  “Someone else has been trying to do the same thing. Why does everyone want to forget I exist?” I didn’t expect that observation to sting as much as it did and Micah didn’t have an actual stinger. My eyes teared up.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Who else said that?”

  “You know who.” I turned away to dry my eyes without looking obvious.

  “I tried to stop thinking about you because of him. I thought I was too late.”

  “He didn’t want to have anything to do with me until he figured out you might like me. That’s all I can figure. He brushed me off every time I tried to make conversation when I was trying to figure him out. I have been trying with you too. You were doing the same thing, blowing me off, for all I could tell.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his face. “I thought … Never mind what I thought. That doesn’t matter now, does it?” He pushed my hair over my shoulder with the back of his hand. His fingers tickled my neck giving me a chill.

  “You were just thinking about giving me a boxing glove, huh?” He laughed a li
ttle to himself.

  I shrugged. My heart wasn’t as indifferent as I was trying to play it. I could almost hear my heart beat in my ears again. If he touched me once more, he might launch some fireworks and who knows what would happen at that point.

  I yawned. Then he did too. If there was anything like a sparkler going on between us, the yawns extinguished it.

  All he did was reach for my hand and we walked through his garden until we were at the sofa.

  Once we sat down, he slouched until his head was resting on the back of the sofa. He tugged my arm until I scooted closer. I rested my head on his shoulder. The sound of water rushing over the waterfall was so soothing that I relaxed my body beside him and closed my eyes.

  19

  The Casualties of War

  “Rachel.” Micah’s voice was in my head. I thought for sure I was dreaming and I didn’t want to wake up.

  “Rachel.” The tone in his voice concerned me. I couldn’t figure out why he would be distressed and waking me up.

  I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

  “I need to go to the doctor now that lock-down is over.”

  “Oh?” I didn’t know where I was. He stood up and I did my best to follow.

  “Are you Ok?” It was coming back to me. I was at Micah’s and we were about to leave. Bummer.

  “The pain is much worse. Something feels very wrong.”

  I grabbed Micah’s sleeve and turned him around. I unwrapped his hand. The fingers looked raw and weepy and the peeling skin was further down his fingers.

  “Come on.” I was awake and ahead of him as we left his apartment.

  I had never roamed the halls or had been in the stairs so late at night. Usually I could hear small echoes or rumblings on the floors when people moved around in their apartments. The stairway was eerily silent as our footfalls echoed off the walls.

  “It doesn’t look like the last storm flooded the stairs,” I said.

  “They are trying to dig a drainage shaft off the landing below the lobby.” Micah’s voice was strained like he was in pain.

  He passed me and he picked up the pace to the medical floor.

  When I followed Micah into the waiting room, there was a flurry of activity going on in and out of one of the rooms.

  The nurses didn’t seem to notice we were there.

  I tried not to get in their way as I attempted to get their attention. “Excuse me.”

  “Hold on a minute.” The nurse didn’t even look at me. She jogged to the closet to collect a few things before running back into the room.

  Micah went to the door and his face drained of color. “That’s Travis,” he whispered.

  I gently held his arm, standing behind his shoulder as we watched them try to resuscitate the man in the bed.

  “I didn’t think he was hurt that serious.” Micah started to tremble. I pulled him away from the door and made him sit in a chair.

  His brushed away the tears from his cheek. I couldn’t help it, my eyes teared up too.

  I stood near the door and stopped a nurse that seemed to act as if the crisis in the room was over. “Is he gone?” I whispered.

  She nodded.

  “Was it the acid water that did it?” I asked.

  “Even though we cleaned him thoroughly, it seemed as if the acid was still there and didn’t stop burning his body.”

  Micah watched my conversation with the nurse very intently.

  “I think we need to stop what’s going on with Micah’s hand in a hurry then.” I pointed at him.

  We all realized the seriousness of Micah’s peeling hand at once.

  “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve washed it. I don’t know what to do to make it stop eating away the skin.”

  She led Micah into another room. I hovered near the doorway and my mind was whirling. There was something I knew. Something to help with acid. I wracked my brain from way back when I would research the things my father was studying. My way of quietly rebelling against the chemical compounds he would test on animals. I always believed there were better solutions. When I came up with all sorts of useful information, I would email it to him. What I was trying to remember came flooding back.

  The closet door was open next to the room. I saw exactly what I was looking for. Now if I could get the nurse, the doctor, and Micah to cooperate.

  I entered the room and the nurse and the doctor were discussing what to do with his hand.

  “We can peel the rest of the affected skin off his hand. However, I’m concerned with what happened to the young man in the other room that we may have to consider drastic measures of sacrificing your hand to save the rest of you.”

  Micah’s eyes were wide and he shook his head vehemently against the doctor’s advice.

  “Why don’t you try neurtralizing the acid with this.” I held out the box of baking soda.

  “Don’t you think we would have considered that if it would help? The disinfecting soap and Betadine should have taken care of it the first time we washed it.” The doctor waved me away.

  “I’m all for trying anything before you start cutting away skin or consider cutting my hand off. That is drastic.” Micah pulled his hand away from the doctor.

  “I’m just trying to give you the potential worst case scenario. It took no time for that young man to deteriorate from his chemical burns. No time should be wasted with experimentation if you really want to save your hand and your life.”

  “More like horror stories before you even try the most basic thing. Baking soda cleans acid off battery terminals. If this is a chemical burn, I’d rather try that.” Micah protected his hand from the doctor.

  “It might hurt.” I warned. He was right about battery acid. That was why I brought the baking soda in the room. Whenever the posts are cleaned of battery acid buildup, the baking soda always foams and bubbles as it does its job. I had no idea what it would feel like on skin.

  “Let’s try it.” Micah jumped off the observation table and was at the sink in no time. He held his hand over the sink and waited for me.

  The doctor was genuinely miffed as he left the room. “Tell me when you’re done with your experimenting and need me to salvage what’s left.”

  The nurse hovered nearby. I felt I was treading where I didn’t belong.

  “Would you like to help him and see if it works?” I asked the nurse.

  At first she shook her head. I awkwardly held his hand and the moment he flinched when I just sprinkled the powder on his hand, she stepped in.

  “I changed my mind. He’s going to need to tough it out, I need to keep an eye on what it’s doing and you are obviously too sensitive to hurt your boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” I said in unison with Micah’s, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  We both looked at each other red faced and I stepped away.

  Good thing I let the nurse deal with him. He fussed when the water and the baking soda combined together on his hand. It foamed all around the worst wounds on his fingers. He clenched his jaw, moaning in pain. The nurse gripped his arm under hers and worked over his hand. His pain was escalating. He started pulling, begging her to stop.

  “Come on now. Remember, you want to keep your hand,” the nurse chastised him.

  He rested his forehead on her shoulder as he struggled to manage the pain and keep himself from screaming. All I could do was stay out of the way and wait it out.

  When Micah walked back to the examination table, his face was flushed and he wouldn’t look at me.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, unsure of whether to get any closer.

  “It’s not your fault.” He clenched his jaw and gripped his wrist. “I didn’t think I’d be such a baby about it.”

  I stared hard at the pattern on the tile floor. No sense in drawing more attention to what was already an uncomfortable experience for us both.

  “I’m sure the doctor will want to keep you here to watch what happens to it over the next few hours.” The nurse
examined his hand. “We sure made it angry. It is going to take time before we can tell if your little experiment worked.”

  I didn’t want to add what else I thought Micah should try to help it while in the clinic. I might get myself banned. So I kept my mouth shut, which was hard. I was so tired, I couldn’t control my yawning.

  “You should go home and rest. I’m sure you’ll need it if you’re still going to teach in a few hours.” Micah finally looked at me.

  “I’m sure I won’t sleep. I’ll wonder if you’re okay the whole time.” I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my sweatshirt and took a real interest in my right foot.

  The nurse had a funny smirk on her face when she left the room.

  “I’ll tell you what, if they let me out of here, I’ll come find you. Even if you’re busy teaching and let you know all about the status of my hand. If you don’t see me, you’ll know to come here.”

  I felt weirdly emotional. “If they don’t let you go, that means it is worse so the longer you’re gone, the more I’ll anticipate the worst.”

  Micah slid off the edge of the examining table and stood inches away from me. I studied the marbling pattern on his gray t-shirt. It was much nicer than his construction bright green ones I always saw him in. He gave my arm a gentle squeeze.

  When I looked up, I went into shock when his lips pressed against mine. My heart was pounding so hard and a thrill wave washed over me from my mouth to my toes. I might have gone weak in the knees. I barely had time to respond when he pulled away. His eyes were a little glazed over when he looked at me.