Sanctuary

by Courtney McPhail

  Subject File # 742

  Administrator: It is good for a leader to learn to delegate.

  Subject: Yeah I think that might be a problem for me. It’s not that I don’t trust them to get the job done. I just feel like if I’m not in there, getting my hands dirty, I’m not doing a good job.

  Malcolm woke with a start, unsure where he was for a moment when his eyes opened to wooden rafters overhead. It was only when he turned his head to see Kim’s pack on top of the dresser next to the bed that he remembered. He was on the island, in the bedroom he and Kim had claimed.

  The space next to him was empty, the sheets cool to the touch, meaning Kim had been gone for a while. Daylight streamed through the window and he reached over to grab his watch from the nightstand.

  10:20

  Shit.

  He’d slept in. He hopped out of bed and pulled on his clothes, wondering why Kim had let him sleep so late. The small living room in their cabin was empty and so he headed over to the lodge.

  The main room was empty but he could hear voices in the kitchen. When he entered, he saw the pantry door open and found Kim and Elaine inside.

  “We’ve got sixty two cans of tuna,” Kim said and Elaine made a note on the clipboard in her hand.

  “That’s all the canned goods,” Elaine said, turning to the shelves on the opposite side of the pantry. “Now on to the boxed goods.”

  Kim spotted him in the doorway and smiled, crossing the pantry to kiss him. “Good morning. Have a good sleep?”

  “Too good,” he replied. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “You looked so peaceful, I didn’t have the heart to wake you,” she told him. “Besides, you needed the sleep. I don’t think you’ve gotten more than four hours of sleep a night since we met.”

  “That’s because there was always work to do,” he said. “You should have woken me. There are things we need to do today--”

  “And everybody is doing them,” she said. “Trey, Craig, Jackson, Nas and Banks are already at the pumphouse sorting out building supplies for the watchtower. Mendez and Lorraine are patrolling the other sides of the island. Angela and Quinton set up a schedule for their meetings with everybody. Janet, Veronica and Jenny have the kids helping to clean and air out the rest of the cabins. After we’re done here, we’re going to get them and go work on the garden.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He should have known that they didn’t need him steering them. Everybody knew what needed to be done and they weren’t lazy.

  Still, he felt a bit lost knowing that they hadn’t needed him. He hadn’t realized how committed he was to the role of their leader until they didn’t need him.

  “I saved you some breakfast. It’s in the oven,” Kim said. “Eat up and then you can go see how the boys are doing with the watchtower.”

  He followed her instructions, taking out the covered plate and pulling up a stool to the island counter.

  “So, what how do the stores look?”

  Elaine held up the clipboard in her hand. “Good. We’ve got enough food here in the pantry to feed everyone for at least six months. Of course, half those meals would be rice and beans but we’d live.”

  “That’s a good number.”

  Elaine nodded. “There were twenty five members of the Omega Protocol, including the Director, and he planned for six months’ worth of food for those numbers.”

  “There were only five of us in the original meeting when the Director asked us to join,” Malcolm said. “I assume he kept us all separate since I had no idea you were part of it. Do you know who the others are?”

  She nodded. “We found full profiles on all the members in the Director’s files. Everyone was pulled from different divisions throughout the agency. Analysts, agents, people from R&D, tech and medical. From what I could tell, all of this was off the record so I think he kept us in the dark to prevent leaks.”

  “Sounds like him,” he said. “So should we expect any of them to show up?”

  “Aside from the nine we lost coming here, I’ve only crossed three of the agents off the list. They were overseas operatives at the time of the outbreak. It leaves the possibility of nine more that could come here, including the Director.”

  “What do you think the likelihood of them making it is?” he asked, before forking the last bite of pancakes into his mouth.

  “Low. Two of them were retired so it is possible that they did as you did and headed here after they got the coordinates. The rest were active agents and support staff. When we determined that the infection was an attack, everyone was called back into Langley. There were a lot of people who didn’t come back in. If they were still alive or capable, they would have come to Langley, if only to rendezvous with the rest of us.”

  She was right. Those with no field experience wouldn’t pack up and head out like he had done. There was a possibility that the agents could make it here on their own as he had but, as Elaine said, the odds were low.

  “Alright, well then we won’t plan on keeping rations aside for them,” he said, grabbing up his empty plate and going to the sink to wash it. “When do we expect the garden to start yielding food for us?”

  “The Director stocked the library in there with plenty of books on survival and homesteading so we’re going off what they have in them about gardening. If they are right, we should have tomatoes, peas and green beans in two months. The rest will take longer, probably an early fall harvest.”

  That was good news. As they stood now, they would not go hungry any time soon. It was one last thing to worry about.

  He finished with his dishes and set them to dry in the rack. “Alright, well, if you have things in hand here, I’m going to head out to see how the construction is going.”

  Kim walked up to kiss him. “See you later.”

  He headed out the back door and followed the path that led to the pumphouse on the south west corner of the island. He could hear the whine of a circular saw long before he came upon the pumphouse to find Trey cutting through lumber that Craig was holding on a sawhorse.

  Malcolm waited until Trey finished the last cut and turned off the saw before he spoke. “How’s it going?”

  “Great,” Trey replied enthusiastically, pushing up his safety glasses. “Since Craig can’t lift anything, I get to use the power tools.”

  “You guys are already starting to build?” Malcolm asked, eyeing up the pile of cut lumber that was already stacked neatly next to the saw horse.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” Craig said, nodding over to the pumphouse door where a few pieces of loose leaf paper were tacked up. “I drew up some plans last night.”

  Malcolm walked over to look at them and was surprised to see a detailed sketch of a platform perched between two trees. There was also a list of measurements and different dimensions of lumber, as well as the necessary nails and screws.

  “You did this?” he asked Craig.

  “I took a walk down to the north point last night,” he explained. “Then I came here to check out what supplies we had and drew up a plan. We’ve got enough supplies here to build a couple of these platforms.”

  “This is great,” Malcolm was impressed with what the kid had done. “Did you work in construction?”

  “Spent a summer on a crew but I’ve always liked building things,” he said and reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out a stack of folded papers. “I also checked out the other sides of the island and drew up some plans for other watch points. We can put more of the platforms on the east side and we can build a perch on top of the boathouse and disguise it under a dormer. No one will even know it’s there.”

  “Thank God you’re here,” Malcolm said. “I was not looking forward to serving as foreman for this. The job’s yours if you are up for it.”

  “God, yes,” Craig said quickly. “If I had to spend one more day laid up, I was gonna lose my mind.”

  “Alright, well, put me to work then, Foreman.”

  “I’ll take you o
ut to the point to show you what we’ve got going. Nas and Banks are out there prepping the trees for the supports. You can carry the lumber we’ve cut so far.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Malcolm hefted up some of the boards that Craig had pointed to and followed him. He let Craig set the speed as they walked towards the north point, noticing that the young guy wasn’t as fast as he’d been before he was shot.

  “I’ve got some good news and bad news,” Craig said. “Good news is we found an old ATV with a wagon hitched to it behind the pumphouse. Bad news is it didn’t start. Jackson’s looking over it right now to see if he can get it running. Once he does, this’ll be a lot easier.”

  “You’ve done a great job getting things going,” Malcolm replied, shifting the lumber in his arms as his muscles began to protest the weight. “Almost makes me feel obsolete.”

  Craig smirked. “Maybe when we get that ATV up and running but right now we still need you to carry heavy shit.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear.”

  “Don’t worry,” Craig said, “Nobody’s trying to replace you. Everybody just wants to be productive.”

  He could understand that need. He felt it himself. On the road, it had been all about getting as many miles under their feet as they could each day. It had always been about getting away from where they were. Now it was about digging in, building something that they could look upon with pride.

  He heard the rhythmic chop of an ax before he spotted the men through the trees. Nas and Banks were standing on ladders propped against the sides of the trees, tool belts low on their hips, hatchets in hand as they hacked into the trunks.

  Nas gave him a wave and ran the back of his hand across his forehead to wipe away the sweat that had beaded there. “How goes it?”

  “Got some lumber for you,” Malcolm said, setting the cut boards down at the foot of the tree. “How are you guys doing?”

  “Good,” Nas replied, dusting out some wood chips from the notch he was hacking in the tree. “We finished cutting the other two trees to Craig’s specs and we’re almost done with these. We haven’t run into any problems so far.”

  “Except when you almost chopped your finger off,” Banks said and grinned down at Malcolm. “Wasp flew by his face and he freaked out.”

  Nas glared at Banks. “I thought we agreed to never mention that.”

  “Big tough CIA agent pisses his pants over a bug.”

  Nas ignored him. “What do you think, Craig? Can we get the supports up here?”

  “Grab up the eight footer and see if it fits in the other two,” Craig said.

  Nas and Banks climbed down and moved their ladders around to two trees behind the ones they had been cutting. Malcolm grabbed up the board Craig had indicated and carried it over to them, spotting the freshly cut notches up in the trees. Malcolm hefted the board up to Nas, who passed one end to Banks. Together they pushed the board into the notches they had carved. It took Banks hitting it a couple times with his hammer before it was finally in place.

  Craig grabbed a level from the toolbox and handed it up to Nas to check it.

  “Perfect,” Nas said before handing the level to Banks to check his end.

  “Even stevens.”

  “Excellent,” Craig said. “As soon as you guys finish the other trees we can put in the rest of the supports and reinforce them. After that it’s just a matter of hammering in the planks for the platform. We’re gonna want railings and a roof, they might have to wait until tomorrow though.”

  Malcolm couldn’t believe it. “Really? That soon?”

  Craig nodded. “This one is the easiest, just a basic platform. We’ll put the same thing out on the west side. The boathouse is going to be a bit harder since we’ll be building onto the roof and we’ll have to be careful about weight distribution. Probably a two day job.”

  “Did you check out the east side?” Malcolm asked. “The cliff would be a good vantage point if we could put a watchtower out there.”

  “Aren’t you worried about it being spotted from the water?”

  “Anybody coming by can see the boathouse so they’ll know that there are things built here. We can’t avoid that so best we have a way to get an early warning.”

  Craig nodded. “I’ll look over the cliff again, figure out what we’ll need and do up some drawings. We’ll definitely have to build a foundation and that will take a couple days.”

  “Take your time.” Malcolm clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll head back and get the next load.”

  Malcolm walked back to the pumphouse with a skip in his step. Everything was running smoothly, better than he ever could have expected.

  Maybe it was time for him to start raising his expectations. He knew these people were smart and they were hard workers but on the road, they had needed his leadership. He had the upper hand out there. His experience helped them survive on the road but they weren’t there anymore.

  Here the others could use their own talents and knowledge to survive. Now it was his turn to step back and let the others take the lead.

  For some men, they would feel lost or start plotting a way to take it back but he wasn’t one of those men. It made him feel better about all of this to see the others take up their own leadership roles. In the Director’s plans for the island he had called the initial members of the Omega Protocol the first wave.

  It was up to the first wave to build up this place and then go out and recruit what he called the second wave. It would be up to the first wave to be their leaders and show them how to be a part of this. His people would be more than ready for that job when it came time.

  He grinned as his steps picked up, eager to get to work and see what else they could accomplish today.

  He cut over to the west side of the island where the path curved along the marshy shore. He spotted Veronica up the path, standing along the edge with a rifle slung over her shoulder.

  “How goes it?” he called out to her.

  “All clear,” she replied as she walked towards him. “I’m glad I ran into you. There’s something I wanted to tell you.”

  He came to a stop in front of her and nodded for her to go on.

  “I feel kind of stupid now that I’ve had the morning to think about it and it could be that I’m just being super paranoid or looking for fault where there isn’t any because it all seems too good to be true but I feel like it’s in everyone’s best interest to let you know and I’m rambling, sorry.”

  She let out a small laugh and he smiled. “It’s okay, just tell me what it is.”

  “Last night when I was coming back from watch, I overheard Angela and Nas talking. They were worried that Quinton was asking about the lab. Angela said that it was a restricted area and only people with the proper clearance could go in there. She said that she wouldn’t even let you in there. She said it was because her uncle wouldn’t want her to break protocol but I don’t know...it was all very strange but, like I said, maybe I’m just seeing trouble where there isn’t any.”

  Malcolm frowned, not sure what to make of it. Nas had warned him that Angela was a stickler to her uncle’s rules. It would make sense that if he had designated the lab a restricted area, she would want to keep it that way. She believed that he was going to come here eventually and she wouldn’t want him to find out she broke protocol.

  But he could understand Veronica’s apprehension about it. It didn’t sit well with him to be told he couldn’t go somewhere. He was used to having all access or, when he didn’t, getting it. Hell, even now part of him wanted to go straight down into that lab.

  What kept him standing here was that Angela and Nas had been upfront about what was going on in the lab. If they were hiding something, it would make more sense to not mention the lab at all.

  “They told me what is going on in the lab,” Malcolm said. “Harold is trying to find a cure for the infection.”

  Veronica’s eyes almost bugged out of her head at that. “A cure? Harold? The short gu
y with the glasses? Wow.”

  “I’m not saying he’s going to do it,” Malcolm said, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, “But he’s probably got samples of infected blood down there. Angela is probably just concerned about contamination if anybody goes down there. I know that the whole clearance thing seems strange to civilians but it’s there for a reason.”

  “Okay, that makes sense,” Veronica said. “I wasn’t trying to stir up trouble or anything. I just thought you should know.”

  “No, I’m glad you told me. You don’t feel good about something here, you should tell me. If you hear or see anything else that doesn’t sit right, let me know.”

  “I will,” Veronica said.

  “I best get a move on. They’re waiting on me to bring more lumber up to the north point.”

  She nodded and he headed off to the pumphouse but his steps weren’t as light as they had been.

  Nothing that Veronica had told him seemed unreasonable, all things considered, and yet he still found himself wondering about the lab beneath the clinic. Maybe it was because he didn’t like unsolved mysteries or because for so long his job had been gathering intel but he couldn’t shake the urge to go to the clinic and demand access.

  He pushed that thought away, knowing an aggressive approach wouldn’t do. He had a feeling that Angela could be stubborn when she wanted and knew how to stonewall.

  No, if he was going to get into that lab, it would take finesse and time. He’d bide his time and work out the best way to approach Angela.

  For now, they had more important work than sating his curiosity that needed to be done.

  Subject File # 745

  Administrator: You seem to be making new friends.

  Subject: Guess so. Bit strange to be sayin’ I got friends.

  Administrator: You didn’t have a lot of friends before?

  Subject: None really. I ain’t ever been Mr. Popular. Meetin’ everybody here, it’s the first time I ever had people I could call my friends. Now I get why everybody always made a big deal out of it.

  Jackson leaned up against a tree, feeling pretty damn lucky he’d gone to prison. If he hadn’t, he never would have become a mechanic and then today he wouldn’t have the cushiest job on the island. Instead of being stuck working on the platforms, he got to sit under a tree scrubbing engine parts from the ATV they had found.