In 100 Days | Book 2

by Grenda, Brian

  “What does she have?” asks Kyle.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you,” answers the male medical professional and then he walks away from Kyle.

  Kyle watches the male medical professional walk away from him and Kristina and Kaden come over to Kyle.

  “Is everything okay babe?” asks Kristina to Kyle.

  Kyle looks at Kristina and then Kaden and he thinks about how to answer Kristina.

  Kyle doesn’t want to worry Kaden, so he answers Kristina, “Yeah, I was just talking with our medical guy about a couple things.”

  CHAPTER 8

  DAY 50

  “It’s been days and Stan and Ashlyn still haven’t come back here,” says Kristina to Kyle as they sit in their kitchen and drink their morning coffee.

  “I know and they won’t let us near the lab either now,” replies Kyle.

  “And still no answer from your brother, that’s not like him to not answer you,” says Kristina.

  Kyle looks down at his coffee mug and he thinks about his brother and Evelyn, Stan, and Ashlyn, and what he can do about getting answers.

  “We need to get into the lab. I’m not sure why we aren’t allowed to get back to work in the lab,” says Kyle.

  “Should we go see P?” asks Kristina.

  “I guess, but I’m not sure what help he’ll be. He’s been MIA for days now also,” answers Kyle.

  “We have to do something, waiting around here is killing me,” says Kristina.

  “Dad come up here!” shouts Kaden from his upstairs bedroom.

  “What is it?” shouts Kyle from the kitchen.

  “Just come up here now!” shouts Kaden from his upstairs bedroom.

  Kristina runs upstairs and Kyle follows behind Kristina. Kristina goes into Kaden’s room and Kaden points to the radio that Kiran left Kyle.

  Kyle runs over to the radio, puts on the headphones, flips over the legal pad, and listens to people talking.

  “What did you hear?” asks Kristina to Kaden with a low tone.

  “People were talking over the radio,” answers Kaden with a low tone.

  Kyle hears Commander Pine inside the conference room, and she is addressing a group of people.

  “Again I’m sorry for such an early meeting, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed in here, so much has happened lately, and it’s been pretty exciting,” says Commander Pine.

  Kyle writes down notes on the legal pad of what he hears from Commander Pine’s meeting in the conference room.

  A man in the conference room asks, “Are you finished testing everyone on base?”

  Another man answers, “Yes, our team has tested everyone on the base, and we have found several quality subjects for our trials.”

  “Good, because we are going to be sending a couple groups on different missions and we wanted to make sure all the testing was done here before we leave,” replies the man that previously asked about the testing on base.

  “Yes, Lieutenant General Swartz we are starting phase two of the testing here with the forty subjects we found in phase one,” says Commander Pine.

  Kyle writes Commander Pine, Lieutenant General Swartz, and 40 subjects down on his legal pad.

  “Glad things are progressing, I’m sure the General will be glad to hear that,” replies Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “You are going to see the General?” asks Commander Pine.

  “Yes, we all are, everyone in this room is going to see him,” answers Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “When and where are we going?” asks Commander Pine.

  “We are leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I’ll leave the destination, well destinations, as a surprise,” answers Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “Any chance we’re going near Chicago? I would love to check on some family members back home,” says Commander Pine.

  “Possibly,” answers Lieutenant General Swartz.

  Commander Pine ends the meeting, and everyone starts to exit the conference room when Lieutenant General Swartz says, “Hoffmann and Meyers stay here, I have to talk with you two.”

  “Is everything okay sir?” asks Commander Pine to Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “Yeah, we’ll just be a minute, you don’t need to stay,” answers Lieutenant General Swartz.

  Kyle listens intently over the radio.

  “Explain to me why you two can’t coexist,” says Lieutenant General Swartz to Major Hoffmann and Colonel Meyers.

  Major Hoffmann and Colonel Meyers do not answer Lieutenant General Swartz and Lieutenant General Swartz says, “I know all about the fight, well fights, you two have had and I want to know what you are fighting about.”

  “Differences of opinions sir,” says Major Hoffmann.

  “Yeah, something like that,” says Colonel Meyers with a sarcastic tone.

  “Well, whatever problems you two are having, it needs to stop. We have important missions coming up and I need you both working together out there,” replies Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “My previous problems with the Colonel will not jeopardize any missions that we work on together,” says Major Hoffmann.

  “It better not,” says Colonel Meyers to himself.

  Major Hoffmann hears Colonel Meyers whisper something and he glares at Colonel Meyers.

  “Good, because the next couple missions are vital to what we are trying to accomplish and we need all hands on deck,” replies Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “I’ll do whatever you need sir, but how many more missions are planned sir?” asks Major Hoffmann.

  “Right now, we have three, but there could be more,” answers Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “I only ask as I’m trying to end up in Florida to check on my family sir,” replies Major Hoffmann.

  Lieutenant General Swartz looks at Major Hoffmann and says, “You help me with these missions, and I’ll get you to Florida.”

  “Thank you sir,” replies Major Hoffmann.

  Colonel Meyers rolls his eyes after hearing Major Hoffmann thank Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “And where would you like to end up Colonel?” asks Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “Wherever the universe has planned for me,” answers Colonel Meyers.

  “No family Colonel?” asks Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “None that I care about sir,” answers Colonel Meyers.

  “I know the feeling. Very well. I will see both of you tomorrow afternoon in hanger one,” says Lieutenant General Swartz.

  “Yes sir,” replies Major Hoffmann.

  Lieutenant General Swartz exits the conference room with Major Hoffmann and Colonel Meyers.

  Kyle writes down everything that he can remember from what he heard in the conference room.

  Kyle is about to take off his headphones, as he thinks the meeting is over, when he hears someone enter the conference room.

  “ACT are you still there?” asks Commander Pine.

  “Yes, I’m still here,” answers ACT.

  “Please transfer this recording to drive z and back up all the files on drive z to the device that is plugged into the computer in my office,” says Commander Pine.

  “Okay I’ve transferred the file to drive z and will start transferring all 20,021 files onto the device that is plugged into your office computer,” replies ACT.

  “Thank you ACT, how long will it take to transfer the files?” asks Commander Pine.

  “The estimated time to complete the transfer is eight hours,” answers ACT.

  “Okay, please notify me on my smartwatch when it’s completed,” replies Commander Pine.

  Kyle hears Commander Pine exit the conference room and he removes his headphones.

  “What did you hear?” asks Kaden to Kyle.

  “Let’s go outside,” answers Kyle and Kyle, Kaden, and Kristina exit their house and go out onto their back patio.

  Kyle hands the legal pad over to Kristina and Kaden and they read the legal pad.

  “Do you think Stan and Ashlyn are one of the
trial subjects on base?” asks Kaden.

  “That would explain why they didn’t come back here after the testing,” answers Kyle.

  “So, they are leaving tomorrow?” asks Kristina.

  “Yeah, sounds like a large group of them are leaving the base tomorrow afternoon,” answers Kyle.

  “Are they taking the subjects with them?” asks Kaden.

  “I didn’t hear anything about that,” answers Kyle.

  “Mom, we have to do something. They can’t just take Ashlyn and Stan,” says Kaden.

  “What can we do?” asks Kristina to Kyle.

  Kyle thinks about Kristina’s question and what is the best plan of action for them.

  Before Kyle can answer Kristina the Sinclair house doorbell rings.

  DING! DONG!

  Kaden runs into the house and answers the front door.

  Stan enters the Sinclair’s house, and he has bruises and swelling on his left eye, face, and forehead.

  “What happened Stan? Where is Ashlyn?” asks Kaden to Stan.

  Kyle and Kristina walk over to Stan and Kaden and they see the bruising on Stan’s face.

  “Are you okay Stan?” asks Kyle.

  “I’m lucky to be alive,” answers Stan.

  Stan sits down on a kitchen chair and Kyle, Kristina, and Kaden look at Stan.

  “What happened?” asks Kristina to Stan.

  “Should we talk outside?” asks Kaden.

  “It doesn’t matter, I don’t care what they hear,” answers Stan.

  “Were you followed? Are we in danger with you coming here?” asks Kristina to Stan.

  “They let me go after they beat me up, so I think it’s fine,” answers Stan.

  “Where is Ashlyn?” asks Kaden to Stan.

  “With them still, she was taken away yesterday,” answers Stan.

  “Who took her?” asks Kyle to Stan.

  “Two doctors in lab coats,” answers Stan.

  “Why did they beat you up?” asks Kyle to Stan.

  Stan tells Kaden, Kyle, and Kristina what happened after Kyle and Kaden went with the female nurse in Building E three days ago.

  Stan and Ashlyn go with a male nurse and the male nurse says to Stan, “We usually perform the testing one at a time with everyone.”

  “Well that doesn’t work for me and my daughter,” replies Stan.

  “I hate needles,” says Ashlyn.

  “Don’t worry, the blood draw is quick,” replies the male nurse to Ashlyn.

  The male nurse performs the same tests on Stan that was performed on Kristina, Kyle, and Kaden.

  Stan’s information is entered into the system, he is given a white wristband with a barcode, and his saliva and blood are taken.

  Stan’s blood and saliva are examined by the medical equipment in the male nurse’s booth and something is triggered in the system on the male nurses tablet and medical equipment.

  The male nurse sees the alert on his tablet, and he says to Stan, “You are one of the lucky ones, but before we proceed with further testing on you, I want to start with your daughter.”

  “That’s fine, I’m not leaving her side with any of this,” replies Stan.

  Stan gets out of the chair, where the male nurse took his blood in, and Ashlyn gets into the chair that Stan was previously sitting in.

  Ashlyn is nervous as she sits in the chair.

  The male nurse sets up Ashlyn into the system, gives her a white wristband with a barcode on it. A saliva sample is taken from Ashlyn and the male nurse says, “Now next is the blood sample.”

  Ashlyn looks at Stan and Stan holds Ashlyn’s left hand.

  “I’m only taking one vile as the system can check so many different things with one vile,” says the male nurse.

  The male nurse rubs an alcohol swap on Ashlyn’s arm and Ashlyn already starts to squirm.

  “I’ll make it quick,” says the male nurse to Ashlyn.

  The male nurse finds a good vein on Ashlyn’s right arm and he inserts the needle. Ashlyn tenses up her body and Stan tells Ashlyn to breathe.

  The male nurse fills up the collection tube with Ashlyn’s blood and he removes the needle from Ashlyn’s right arm.

  “All done,” says the male nurse to Ashlyn.

  Ashlyn looks at Stan and the male nurse puts a bandage on Ashlyn’s right arm.

  The male nurse puts Ashlyn’s blood and saliva into his medical equipment and both samples are examined by the ACT system.

  Two alerts go off on the male nurses medical equipment and tablet.

  Stan and Ashlyn see the red alerts on the male nurses medical equipment and tablet.

  “What’s the flashing?” asks Stan to the male nurse.

  “I’ll be right back,” answers the male nurse and he exits his booth.

  Stan starts to worry about Ashlyn and what will happen next.

  “Why is the machine flashing red?” asks Ashlyn to Stan.

  “I’m not sure, but I’m not leaving your side,” answers Stan.

  A Caucasian man in a white lab coat comes over to Stan and Ashlyn and he says, “You two are the lucky ones. Come with me please.”

  The male nurse comes back into his booth and looks at Stan and Ashlyn.

  Stan makes eye contact with the Caucasian man in the white lab coat and asks, “What happens next?”

  “Come with me and I’ll show you,” answers the Caucasian man in the white lab coat.

  Stan and Ashlyn exit the booth and they walk with the Caucasian man in the white lab coat down a long interior hallway into an examination room.

  “Please sit, the doctor will be in shortly,” says the Caucasian man in the white lab coat to Stan and Ashlyn and then the Caucasian man in the white lab coat exits the examination room that Ashlyn and Stan are in.

  Ashlyn sits down in a chair and Stan looks around the room.

  “I don’t like this at all,” says Ashlyn.

  “I know Ash, but I guess we both need more testing,” replies Stan as he turns and looks at Ashlyn.

  KNOCK! KNOCK!

  A light knock on the closed door of the examination room that Stan and Ashlyn are in is heard.

  The door opens and Dr. Yen enters the room.

  “Sorry for the moving of rooms, but we need you isolated from the auditorium,” says Dr. Yen.

  “What’s going on? Why are we in here?” asks Stan to Dr. Yen.

  “Well, your blood or saliva triggered something in our system that is important to our research, and we need to conduct more testing,” answers Dr. Yen.

  “What if we don’t consent to all this?” asks Stan.

  Dr. Yen looks at Stan and answers, “Well, I guess you could not consent to the testing. Is that something you are doing?”

  Stan looks at Dr. Yen and tries to feel Dr. Yen out.

  “How about you? Do you want to continue with the testing?” asks Dr. Yen to Ashlyn.

  Ashlyn doesn’t answer and she feels that Dr. Yen is creepy and weird.

  “Look, I know the state of the world is bad right now and we are all for helping everyone find a cure or whatever this is, but my daughter doesn’t like needles,” says Stan to Dr. Yen.

  Dr. Yen looks at his tablet and sees the bloodwork of Stan and Ashlyn and says, “Your blood was found to have important antibodies that are important to our research.”

  “So, you’ll just take more blood and that’s it?” asks Stan.

  Dr. Yen, while looking at his tablet, answers, “That’s one aspect of further testing, yes.”

  “Give us a second and let us talk privately,” says Stan to Dr. Yen.

  “Of course, I’ll be right back,” replies Dr. Yen and Dr. Yen exits the room, and the examination room door closes behind him.

  Ashlyn looks at Stan and she’s worried.

  “I can’t give more blood,” says Ashlyn to Stan.

  Stan sees that Ashlyn is getting upset and he wants to protect Ashlyn. He thinks about running out of the room with Ashlyn, getting in a car, and leaving the bas
e.

  “I know Ash, I’m going to see if they can just take my blood,” replies Stan to Ashlyn.

  Suddenly the examination room door flies open, and two armed soldiers and Dr. Yen come back into the examination room.

  “Take the girl,” says Dr. Yen.

  A soldier goes to grab Ashlyn’s left arm and Stan punches the soldier in his face.

  The other soldier points his rifle at Stan and Stan puts his hands up.

  The soldier that Stan punched looks at Stan and grabs Ashlyn.

  “Dad!” shouts Ashlyn to Stan.

  “Don’t hurt her!” shouts Stan as the soldier takes Ashlyn out of the examination room.

  Stan looks at Kyle, Kaden, and Kristina as they sit in the Sinclair’s kitchen and says, “And that was the last time I saw Ashlyn.”

  “How did you make it back here?” asks Kyle.

  Stan, who is emotional, answers, “They took some more of my blood and saliva... Took my urine and ran a couple scans of my skin, brain, heart, and circulatory system and then they let me go.”

  “How did you get the bruises?” asks Kristina.

  Stan answers, “I ran into Building E and tried to get back into the hallway that they took us down and two soldiers caught me. I fought them off and I was able to get into the hallway, but two other soldiers came and were about to shoot me when Commander Pine stopped them.”

  “She saved you?” asks Kyle to Stan.

  “Saved me from being shot, but the soldiers beat me up pretty good and threw me out behind Building E,” answers Stan.

  Kyle thinks about what happened with Stan, Ashlyn, Dr. Yen, and Commander Pine.

  “Did they say anything about Ashlyn?” asks Kaden to Stan.

  “No, they just took her away and I don’t even know if she’s alive or not,” answers Stan.

  Kyle stands up from the kitchen table and says, “We have to get a hold of Sheila and Elias. They are our only hope to find out what’s going on.”

  “But how do we do that?” asks Kristina.

  “I have an idea where the neighborhood is that they live in,” answers Kyle.

  “But how do we know which house is theirs?” asks Kristina.

  Kyle thinks about how to find the house that belongs to Sheila and Elias.

  “What about Paxton? What if we follow him?” asks Stan.

  “That could work,” answers Kyle.