Arcadium (18 page)

“Yeah, I know.
I’ve got his back. I’m pretty sure they’ve put us together for that
reason anyway.”

“What time do
you finish?”

“Six.”

“Long day.”

We stop at
another wall of glass. Behind it, all the people too old for school
are gathering and waiting for their work assignments.

“Well… have fun
at work,” I say to Kean, and I nod at Trouble.

“Thanks,
darling.” Kean smirks. “I’ll probably see you at lunch anyway.”

I sigh and then
smile. “Get in there, already.”

Kean looks at
Trouble and they both walk in.

I wander off
straight away because it feels weird watching them on the other
side of the glass, like they’re in some kind of experiment. I
stroll the silent hallways with no idea what to do. Everyone must
either be in school, on work assignment or locked away in a lab
somewhere.

Now that I
think about it, I don’t remember seeing any of the doctors or
scientists in the mess hall. They probably have a better place to
eat with better food and more intelligent company. With the elegant
wall panelling and covered floors in Doctor Harding’s office, I
wouldn’t be surprised if they’re all living in first class
accommodation while we slum it in cupboards with bunk beds and
communal showers. I mean, seriously what’s with that? I thought I’d
look forward to a shower every day but it’s just weird. Factory
line weird. It’s the way you wash animals, not humans.

I haven’t been
past the library yet so I move in that direction. I figure now is
the best time to explore the place while everyone else is busy. I
do feel kind of sorry for Kean and Trouble though, being on rubbish
duty for nine hours. I wonder what they’ll get me to do when my
hands have healed properly.

I come to
another glass wall and beyond it is the gym. It’s full of
treadmills and machines, weights and colourful exercise balls. And
it’s completely empty. I push open the door and hear the sound.
Someone’s running, fast, pounding away on a treadmill. I’m about to
slip back out when the glass door clangs shut behind me.

The running
sound slows suddenly and then stops all together. A shirtless guy
comes around the corner wiping his face with a gym towel. He stops
and stares at me for a moment as if I’m infected.

“I thought I
heard someone come in,” he says across the room.

“Sorry.” My
hands fidget, looking for pockets my outfit doesn’t have. “I didn’t
realise anyone was in here.”

He shakes his
head strangely; it looks like some kind of uncontrollable tick.
He’s only wearing a pair of white shorts and running shoes and
somehow I feel like I’ve walked in on him changing. His frame is
narrow, not incredibly muscular but he must works out a lot. And
damn, his face is pretty. It’s all sharp and angular with his dark
hair sitting messily on top and glistening with sweat. His chest is
still heaving from the run.

“I haven’t seen
you before,” he says.

“I’m new.”

“Oh.” He
pauses, runs the towel through his hair and walks over. He wipes
his hand first before holding it out. “I’m Adrian Harding,” he
says, shaking my hand.

“As in Doctor
Harding?”

He flashes a
smile. “As in Doctor Harding’s son.”

“Oh,” I say.
“Are you a doctor too?”

“No. I only
finished high school a year ago. Sorry, what’s your name?”

“Florence.”

He nods slowly.
“Three six zero, right?”

I blink, and
stand for a moment, temporarily stunned. “Yeah, how’d you
know?”

“I just know
things.” He slings the towel over his shoulder. “What happened to
your hands?”

“Car
accident.”

“Oh yeah, I
think I remember seeing that on tape.”

“You have
cameras?”

“Course.” He
shrugs. “We don’t go outside but it’s handy to see what’s going on
out there.”

“What’s out
there?”

“Nothing
mostly. Few infected wanderers, sometimes survivors. Not many make
it into the facility mind you. Wow, I’ve seen some crazy attempts
in the video room.”

I just stare at
him.

Adrian wipes
his forehead again, and he studies my face for a moment. “You want
to see?”

A drop of sweat
slides over his bicep.

“Ok,” I say. I
wait as Adrian changes. When he comes out he’s wearing the same
white uniform as me but his last name is embroidered on the left
side of his chest. “Follow me.”

As we walk I
feel the need to fill the silence by saying lame things. “I haven’t
been down here yet.”

“Well, you’ve
only been awake for a day, you can’t know the ins and outs of this
place like I do.”

“Don’t you have
work assignment or something?” I ask.

“Nah, I think
it’s because of dad. He runs the place so I don’t really have to do
anything.”

“Don’t you get
bored?”

“Oh my God, all
the time. You will too, but I can show you all the fun things to
do.” A smile slides across his face like slick oil spilling into
the ocean. He stops suddenly.

I stop too, and
feel totally awkward as he just stares at me. I clear my throat.
“This it?”

“Yeah.” Adrian
looks away and punches in a code on the door lock.

“You need a
code for everything round here?”

“Pretty much.
To get into all the interesting bits anyway.”

We step into
the video room and the door closes behind us.

The room is
dark; the only light comes from the thirty or so black and white
monitors hanging from the walls.

“Whoa,” I say,
trying to take it all in. “How many cameras do you have?”

“Twenty two
perimeter cameras.” Adrian points to the monitors on the wall in
front. “Two on the elevator.” He points left. “Seven on the inner
perimeter, like mounted on the building.” Adrian shifts to the
right. “And even more in the labs and hallways.”

“There are
cameras in the hallways?”

“Yeah, but not
yours. Just around the science labs.”

“But isn’t
access restricted anyway? Why would you bother?”

“I don’t know,
for safety or something.” Adrian sits in one of the chairs and
swivels it around. He peers at a monitor. “Look at all those good
little scientists scurrying around finding the cure.”

I stare at the
screens, each one is in a different position: hallways, empty
rooms, and laboratories full of movement. People in white uniforms
and white lab coats move back and forth on the screen. One monitor
shows the room full of glass quarantine cells. I squint; it looks
like someone’s in one of the cages. I point to the white blur. “Is
that a person?”

“Yep. Another
guy arrived not long after you guys. He’ll be in there for the
quarantine period though, before being admitted to the general
population.”

“Why do you
make them wait so long? I thought the disease takes over within
hours?” I ask, looking back at Adrian.

He crosses his
arms over his chest. “Just the standard quarantine period. It’s
long, yeah, but better to be safe.”

“If someone was
infected though, how long would they have?” I’m still standing as
if there is a clear barrier and I can’t cross over it and sit
down.

“Best case
scenario… maybe an hour or two from the time of transmission.
Sometimes it’s super quick though, twenty minutes and they hit the
deck, another few minutes and they’re up again trying to eat
anything they can.”

“Including
people.”

“That’s a
lovely picture you’ve given me,” Adrian says, but his words don’t
quite match his expression. That’s when I realise he probably
hasn’t been outside for long, hasn’t had to see the horrors face to
face.

Adrian swivels
around on his chair. “Want to see when you guys came in?”

“You still have
it?” I sit in the chair next to him and watch him tap away at the
keyboard.

“We have
everything on record. That’s the thing about scientists, they keep
records: video, log books, security footage, everything.”

“Makes
sense.”

Adrian pauses
and looks over suddenly. “You have a lovely voice.”

A weird shiver
runs through me. “I do?”

“Yeah.” Adrian
turns back to the computer screen. “I’m used to the silence: all
day, every day.” He laughs. “It’s just nice to hear a voice.”

“Oh, right. Why
don’t you just help out with work or school if you’re so
bored?”

Adrian stops
and smiles at his screen. He turns to me slowly, with a
condescending look. “I’m not allowed to. I’m kind of banned.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know
why.” He laughs and turns back to his screen. “Dad’s rules. Only a
fool questions his father.” He points to a blank screen just to the
right of me. It flickers to life with a black and white image of
the street.

The picture
crackles and jumps for a moment but settles into the recording. A
counter in the top corner measures the time, right down to the
second.

“Here.”
Adrian’s eyes are glued to the screen. “Here you guys come in the
car and BAM! You take out the infected guy. And…” He pauses to let
the picture catch up to his commentary. “You hit the post. You can
see the airbag there, that white bit.”

“I didn’t have
an airbag,” I say, watching the few seconds of stillness before the
car doors start popping open. I can see myself, dazed, stumbling to
the back of the car. It’s weird watching myself; I look like just a
fuzzy black and white anonymous person on security footage.

“Right. Now we
switch to the inner mounted camera.” Adrian presses a button and
the angle changes. It’s further back and we’re running toward the
camera now. Being chased down by an absolute hoard of infected
people.

“Kid in a
wheelchair, hey?” Adrian grins. “That’s classy.”

“What did you
expect? That we’d ditch him?”

He glances at
me. “Most people would.”

“Most people
are stupid.”

Adrian laughs
like it’s a hilarious joke and not a general reality. He jabs his
finger to the monitor. “Watch this.”

The angle
changes again to one inside the elevator. “This is my favourite
part,” Adrian says. He watches with great amusement as if he’s at
the local cinema and not watching real people almost bite the dust.
“Look… there’s the swarm of infected closing in… and there you are,
standing in the doorway going head to head with them. The only
possible way that could be cooler is if someone puts a samurai
sword in your hand.”

I watch myself,
and remember being down there, holding Liss’ hand thinking we were
about to die. I don’t remember it being cool or funny or
entertaining.

“And doors
shut…” he says. “Elevator starts and here it comes…” He claps his
hands loudly and I jump.

“There goes the
wheelchair kid and then the old guy. Drop, drop, dropping like
flies and… there you go! You guys just got chlorofined.”

“Got what?”

“The gas. It’s
a refined version of chloroform we’ve been working on here. It’s
much safer to use on groups with different sized bodies because it
won’t overdose the smaller ones. Anyway when you press the elevator
button it releases chlorofine into the air so that when you reach
the top you’re manageable, and if you’re infected you’re
disposed.”

“Seriously? How
many do you have to dispose of?”

“A few. I don’t
know the exact numbers.”

The screen
pauses on our limp bodies as we lie about the elevator. “How do you
dispose of them?”

“That I don’t
know either. I assume they get incinerated.”

“That’s a
lovely picture.”

Adrian laughs.
“Funny.”

“How long have
you been in here?” I ask. “You seem… desensitised.”

“Right from the
start. I guess I’ve seen so much on the monitors it doesn’t really
affect me.”

I look back at
the screen thinking that if Adrian had to survive outside he
wouldn’t last five minutes. I grip the edges of my chair and wait
as the urge to punch him in the face subsides slowly. “How come
this camera station isn’t manned?”

“What’s there
to man?” He shrugs. “No one wants to break out and it’s not like
we’re stopping people from coming in. We don’t really have crime
so… what’s the point?”

“It could be
your job,” I say, swivelling my chair from side to side.

Adrian looks
amused. “I’d go mad! Stuck in this dark little room all day.” He
looks back at me. “Maybe if I had company.”

“Um… anyway,” I
say, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. “What
now?”

Adrian leans an
elbow on the desk. “That depends on what you want to see next.”

Since I’m
feeling pretty awkward sitting in a tiny dark room with a guy who’s
clearly lost the ability to socialise in a non-creepy way I’d say
anywhere would be good. “Can I have a look at the
laboratories?”

Adrian slaps
his hand down on the desk. “Yeah right! They’re full of scientists
and doctors who would freak out if you went near them.”

I nod and look
away. Pressing my lips together, I try to put on the most
unimpressed look I have. “I didn’t think you’d be up to it. Pity. I
would have thought…”

Adrian leans
forward in his chair. “Hey, I didn’t say I couldn’t, I just said
not right now.”

I look back,
almost too eager. I hope he doesn’t notice. “When then?”

He shrugs and
taps his hand against the bench. “I bet I could sneak you in
tonight.”

“Cool,” I say.
“What time?”

“It has to be
late like midnight. I can meet you outside your room if you
like.”

“Ok,” I
say.

Do I feel bad
for manipulating the poor socially deprived guy just to get a peek
at the inner workings of the facility? That makes it sound like I
have sympathy for him. I don’t, not one drop. If this is my new
home I want to know everything, including what’s behind the locked
doors. So no, I don’t feel bad.