Arcadium (17 page)

“Hope, will you
set the bandages right? Now, what’s your name?” Doctor Harding asks
without breaking eye contact with his shining monitor.

“Florence
West,” I say as Doctor hope wraps my hands again.

“Age and
birthday?”

“Seventeen. May
twelve.”

“Blood
type?”

“Um… I don’t
know.”

“Known medical
conditions?”

“None.”

“Allergies?”

“None.”

“Last
immunisations?”

“Uh… I have no
idea.”

“Parent’s
medical history?”

“I don’t
understand what this has to do with…” I say, glancing between the
doctors.

“Perhaps we’ll
put unknown for the moment.” Doctor Harding scratches his neck
quickly and types something else. “No doubt you feel groggy. Hope
gave you a sedative because you kept trying to wake up during the
decontamination process.” He sits back into his chair, still
staring at the screen and lets out a long slow breath. “There’s not
much you can do, I’m afraid. I can’t put you on work assignment so
you’ll just have to rest until your hands heal. Think you can
manage that?”

I nod.

“When the
swelling goes down you can take the bandages off, just leave the
splints and tape in place and… in a day or two we’ll take out your
forehead stitches.”

“Ok.”

“All right
then. Hope, will you show her out.”

“Certainly.
Follow me.” Doctor Hope opens the door and waits for me. Doctor
Harding returns his attention to typing, without even a final
glance or word.

Out in the
corridor Doctor Hope begins marching away. “What does Doctor
Harding do?” I ask, hurrying to follow.

“Head of
neurological sciences.”

“Sounds
important.”

Doctor Hope
looks down at me. “This is a medical research facility. Most
personnel are in the medical or scientific fields, and are
therefore extremely important.”

“How did you
know to make Arcadium? I mean, the outbreak happened so fast.”

“Originally
this was to be a quarantine centre but we shifted our equipment
here when our labs were overrun with infected.” She gave an airy
laugh. “We realised it was just as good at keeping infection out as
it was in.”

“But there were
never infected actually here?”

Doctor hope
gives me a quizzical look. “It was never used for its intended
purpose, no.”

She stops at
the glass door and punches in the code again. This time she just
holds the door open for me. “Are you fine from here?”

I nod and the
door closes with a hiss like it’s an airtight seal. I watch Doctor
Hope disappear with her determined stride and realise the door must
be soundproofed because I can’t hear her clacking footsteps at all.
I glance at the code box for a moment and then go to find the
library.

The others are
watching a Shrek DVD. I sit on the couch next to Kean and lean
forward to gently smooth Liss’ hair. She’s so absorbed in the TV
she doesn’t even turn.

“How was it?”
Kean asks.

“Weird.” I sit
cross-legged and turn to him. “You know they sedated me but not you
guys.”

“I thought you
seemed a bit slow.”

I pull a
sarcastic smile. “It’s supposed to wear off.”

“And what about
the rest of you?”

“Well, I think
everything will wear off eventually. In a few days they’ll take out
my stitches.”

“And what do
you think of Arcadium? Everything you dreamed of?”

“Not exactly,”
I say, glancing around. “But at least it’s infection free. You know
this was originally a quarantine centre?”

Kean leans
forward. “Really?”

“Yeah, they put
the labs in as an after thought. Doctor Hope said it’s a medical
research facility now.”

“Mmm, that
makes me feel like a lab rat.” Kean laughs.

I smile and
glance at the TV. “What do you think of all this?”

“I think… we’re
safe now.”

I roll my eyes.
“Back to this again.”

“Even if this
reminds me of a concrete concentration camp,” Kean says with a
grin. “Just remember Liss is safe now.” He pauses to see if I’ll
say anything and when I don’t he moves on. “You know someone came
by when you were getting your check up. Trouble and I have work
assignment in the morning, apparently. Eight AM sharp. Get this…
we’re on waste disposal.”

I screw up my
nose. “All day?”

“All day.” He
nods. “How am I supposed to explain this to Trouble?”

“He’ll have no
idea what’s going on. You guys have to stick together so he knows
it’s ok. They said I couldn’t do work until my hands heal.”

“Lucky you.”
Kean rubs his thumb over his bottom lip. “I made it through the
apocalypse to become a cleaner.”

“We can always
go back to the hotel, I guess, if this doesn’t work out.”

“You think so?”
Kean gives me an unsure look. “You see any windows? You see any way
out except for the gas chamber? Freedom never felt so
claustrophobic.”

***

We’re one of
the first groups in the mess hall, sitting politely at one of the
long tables down the back. I watch the other people wander in.
They’re all in the same white gear and they head straight to the
food line. No one looks at us, which is kind of strange when you
think about it. It’s not like survivors come along all the
time.

“Should we eat
now?” Kean says.

“Finally,”
Henry replies. “I thought you’d never ask.”

We all get up
and follow Kean into the queue. There are three huge stainless
steel pots sitting in a warmer, but the lids keep the contents a
secret. Kean reaches the server first. She’s an older woman, maybe
in her fifties, with pale hair and small glasses that sit on her
nose and keep steaming up. “ID,” she says. “It’s in your left
cuff.”

“Really?”

The server
gives him an impatient look. “Last time I checked.”

Kean glances
back at me. “Sorry, we’re new here.”

“You got that
ID? No ID no service.”

“Man, how many
times have I heard that before?” Kean says to me as he rolls back
the left cuff of his jacket. Sewn in is a small black metal tag.
“Hey, what do you know? I’m number three five eight.”

The server
writes the number down in a notebook and spoons out some rice and
peas onto his plate. I show her my cuff. I’m three six zero. She
gives me the same rice and peas mix. At the end of the line I pick
up cutlery, a glass of water and wait for Liss. Both Liss and Henry
get smaller portions but they also get a glass of milk.

“This is so
weird.” Kean says as we walk back to our table. “I feel like I’m in
jail.”

“Well, I like
it,” Henry says. “No running, no screaming and no dying. Plus an
endless supply of food and DVD’s.”

“You have to go
to school tomorrow, remember.” Kean says. “You looking forward to
homework and maths equations and Shakespeare?”

Henry narrows
his eyes.

“I bet school
doesn’t change even in the apocalypse.”

“Damn it.”
Henry spoons a lump of rice into his mouth. “Where’d they get milk?
Think they’ve got cows here?”

Kean picks up
the milk glass and stares at it. “It’s probably UHT milk, the stuff
that lasts for years.”

“Ew,” Liss
says, pushing her glass away.

Kean takes a
big mouthful of Henry’s milk. “Still tastes the same.”

She seems to
change her mind and takes a tiny sip of milk. “How come you guys
don’t get milk?” Liss asks.

I shrug. “Too
old maybe?”

“Where do you
suppose they get all this food?” Kean says pushing the peas around
his plate. “Three hundred people a meal. That’s a truckload of
food.”

“I don’t know.”
I look at Trouble; he’s glancing around, slowly chewing on the
rice. “And water and electricity…” I add.

“And gas…” Kean
says. “To gas us with.”

“I guess it
makes sense in a quarantine centre.”

“Does it?
Shouldn’t they be trying to cure everyone, not knock them out?”

“I don’t know,”
I say, lifting my hands in surrender. “I’m not an expert at
this.”

“I’m just
peeved they took our stuff. Trouble’s legendary baseball bat, the
dictionaries, your backpacks, your boots!”

“And my chair,”
Henry says with a full mouth.

I look over.
“They took your chair?”

“Yeah, this is
a different one. I suppose it doesn’t make much difference, but it
seems like overkill.”

“It’s like
starting all over again, hey.” Kean punches Henry in the arm.

“I think it’s
weird how no one talks to us.” I take a sip of water. “We should be
like new shiny toys or something.”

“And they
pretend we’re not even here. Think they’re worried about us
bringing infection?”

“Maybe.” I
shrug.

We finish the
rest of our plain meals and head back to the room. I’m so used to
going to sleep early because there’s not much you can do in the
dark. But now I’ve no idea if it’s dark outside, all I’ve got to go
by is the clock on the wall.

Chapter
15

At six an ear
splitting alarm beeps four times and a voice sounds over the
loudspeaker. “Hot water is now on until seven. Breakfast from seven
to eight. Work and school at eight.”

“What a lovely
wake up call,” Kean says, rolling out of bed onto the floor.

“Oh my God I
think my ears just exploded,” Henry groans. “Tell me they don’t do
this every day.”

I head to the
showers with Liss. We wait in line with the other females and show
our ID’s again. When it’s out turn, we remove our ID tags, discard
our old uniforms into a bin and get handed clean ones. In each
cubicle there is soap and shampoo, no conditioner though. There are
also no towels so we have to walk, totally naked from the cubicle
to the drying station but no one seems to care. We wait in line,
dripping water onto the cold white tiles.

At the drying
station we have to step into one of the small cubicles. Heat
radiates from hot plates and blasts of air tussle my hair. I’m
completely dry in twenty seconds, hair and all. When Liss is done,
we change into our fresh uniforms and head out to breakfast.

Liss holds my
wrist since she can’t hold my hand. She looks like a strange little
space creature in her white suit.

“That was so
weird,” she says.

“I know.” I
stand at the mess hall entrance and scan the room for the others.
The room looks like a snowfield with all the white uniforms.
Trouble sees me first and stands up. He’s easy to pick out in the
crowd because he’s the only Chinese person and the only person
smiling that big.

I wave back,
and then take Liss to the food line. We show our ID’s again and
receive our breakfast of warm baked beans and black tea.

There’s a
constant din of muffled conversation and scraping chairs in the
hall. I slide into the seat next to Kean and Liss sits opposite
me.

“Did you guys
have a weird shower experience too?” I ask, picking up my
spoon.

“You mean the
naked experience? That was an eye opener,” Kean says, but he still
has a smile on his face. He looks so nice when he smiles, the
corner of his mouth creases and a tiny dimple forms high in his
cheek. His teeth are almost perfect and his pale hair…

“What about
me!” Henry says, leaning over to look at me. “Everything is at eye
line for me! That was so wrong. I’m traumatised for life.”

“Oh, so no
problem with creepies chasing you and trying to eat you alive.”
Kean grins. “But a bit nudity is the thing that gets to you.”

“A bit! That
was more than just a bit!” Despite his protests, Henry laughs.

“Anyway…” Kean
turns to me. He’s already finished his beans and is just sipping
away at his mug of tea. “How did you sleep?”

“Ok. I think
the stuff they gave me is wearing off, especially after the shower
shock. You?”

“Yeah. Henry’s
snoring kept me awake for a while.”

“Whatever,”
Henry shoots. “I don’t snore.”

Kean grins at
me. “You know, Florence, you slept with your eyes open last night,
for a while anyway.”

“Really?” I
finish my mouthful.

“Yeah, you were
staring right at me for ages and then you just rolled over.”

“Yeah, right.
Liss, do I sleep with my eyes open?”

“I don’t think
so,” she says thoughtfully.

“See.”

Kean laughs and
lifts his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying you did and it was
kind of freaky.”

I smile back at
him. “At least I’ll see the infected coming before you.”

“Yeah, sure.
We’ll see who wakes first. I have like two or three life saving
interventions to make up for.”

“I’m going to
hold you to that.”

Kean taps his
finger to his temple. “I am already planning… already planning.
Don’t you worry.”

“Does that mean
we’re leaving?” Liss asks in a sharp voice.

“No.” I shake
my head. “No, we’re staying. Kean’s just dreaming of being a
hero.”

“Good,” she
says, adjusting her concerned expression to a smile.

We all walk
Liss and Henry to the school in the library and watch them for a
few minutes through the windows. “So this is what it feels like to
send your kid off to school,” Kean says.

“Weird, huh. I
don’t like the thought of being away from them.”

“What are you
going to do today?” Kean asks. Through the glass we watch Liss and
Henry sit at a table. A kid leans over and starts talking to
them.

“Um… wander
around, I don’t know. I’ll walk with you guys to work
assignment.”

“We should
probably head off then.”

Trouble follows
us through the hallways.

“You have to
look after Trouble,” I say. “I don’t know how to explain this to
him and I don’t know how everyone will react to someone they can’t
understand.”