Arcadium (22 page)

I hold up my
hands. “I’m getting an x-ray.”

“Cool. Mind if
I tag along?”

“It’s not like
you have anything better to do, is it?”

Adrian smiles
and falls into step next to me. “How observant of you.”

Doctor Hope
ducks into a room and we follow. Inside is a giant x-ray machine,
humming beneath dim blue lighting. There’s a shield to one side,
which Doctor Hope steps behind. When she comes back out she straps
something that looks like a bulletproof vest to me. “To shield you
from excess radiation,” she explains.

She places my
hand on the machine.

“What about my
arm then?” I say.

Doctor Hope and
Adrian step behind the shield and I hear Adrian call out, “It’s
only your vital organs they worry about. The rest doesn’t
matter.”

Great, so when
my arm falls off later from too much radiation that will be ever so
helpful. The only exception is if somehow all the extra radiation
gives me super powers that allow me to dispatch pesky infected
people with a mere flick of the wrist. Now that would be
helpful.

“Stay still,”
Doctor Hope calls out.

I take a deep
breath and watch them behind the shield.

A few minutes
later comes the call, “All done.”

She steps out
from behind her shield, whips off my protective gear and powers
down the machine. Soon Adrian and I are following her back into her
office.

She tapes my
fingers back together. On my left hand she has to use a splint and
loads of tape to keep them straight but on my right hand she just
needs a bit of tape. “All done,” she says. “Adrian would you mind
letting her out, I have to get back to work. And don’t forget
you’re having brunch with your father today.”

Adrian groans.
“How could I forget when everyone keeps reminding me?” He turns to
me. “Let’s get out of here before anyone else mentions it.” He
leaps up and pulls the door open like he’s in the middle of a
tantrum. Outside he just smiles. “You look different without your
giant bandages everywhere.”

I smile as best
I can but really it’s just so he doesn’t see the awkwardness I
feel. “Brunch with daddy?” I say.

Adrian rolls
his eyes. We reach the coded glass door and he punches in the
digits. “I get called upon every now and then. He tries to teach me
stuff. It’s so boring.”

“Well you have
fun then,” I say, grinning.

The door closes
with a soft bump and he waves and turns away. Now that Adrian’s
otherwise engaged, Kean and Trouble are already at work, and Liss
and Henry are tied up with school, I literally have nothing to do,
and no one to do it with. Actually it’s weird, I haven’t really had
free time since we got here. No privacy in the shower, no privacy
at night, no moment of peace at meals. Every other second is spent
entertaining Liss and Henry, or trying to communicate with Trouble,
or having moments with Kean.

I haven’t had a
moment to myself, a safe moment, in so long. I step into my room
and stop. My jaw drops open as the door clunks closed behind me. It
doesn’t look like I’m about to get my alone moment anytime
soon.

“Who are you?”
I say. It seems the only sensible thing to say because sitting on
the top spare bunk is a man with thick dark hair, olive tanned skin
and a rough stubbled chin. He looks across at me as if I’ve just
broken into his home. We kind of stare at each other wide eyed and
mildly horrified. He’s wearing the same uniform as me but I can’t
recall ever seeing him before.

“I take it you
live here, too?” he says.

I nod.

“I’m Jacob.” He
holds out his hand. I glance down at my damaged fingers but give
him my hand anyway. He’s remarkably gentle.

“This is the
free bunk?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I just…
kind of guessed. It’s all new.”

I step into the
room and sit on the edge of Henry’s bed. “You’re the man from
quarantine…” I push my hair behind my ears. “Um, three six two,
right?”

Jacob narrows
his eyes. I become acutely aware that he’s about thirty, way taller
and stronger than me, and could probably take me down in
seconds.

“How did you
know?”

“I… uh… saw you
in decontamination.”

“Decontamination is off limits to civilians,” he says, his voice
husky with recrimination.

Now it’s my
turn to narrow my eyes. “How did you know? I thought this was all
new for you.”

Jacob tips his
head to one side and considers me with his dark eyes. Suddenly he
jumps down off the top bunk and lands nimbly on the ground. The
thud echoes in the tiny space. Jacob sits on Liss’ bed. “I’ll tell
you my secrets if you tell me yours.”

I blink back at
him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He sucks in air
between his two front teeth and presses his lips closed again. “How
long have you been in here?”

“I’ve been
conscious here for four days.”

Jacob whistles.
“A newbie.” He nods slowly, watching me. “I get it now.”

“So you’re not
new then?”

“I am, here in…
what do they call this one?”

“Arcadium.”

“Arcadium. Has
a nice ring to it. You know there are more, in different suburbs. I
came from one in Brighton.”

“Why did you
leave?”

A crooked smile
passes over his lips. “I didn’t have a choice. It was overrun with
infected and they hit the kill switch.”

“What do you
mean? Kill switch?”

“The self
destruct mechanism for any… accidents. They have one here too, you
know.” He laughs like it’s all so funny but the sound seems to
haunts the air around me.

“I didn’t know
that.”

“Little girl, I
assume there’s not much you do know about this place. Who else are
we rooming with?”

“Uh… my sister,
Liss. That’s her bunk you’re on. Kean, he’s my age… Henry, he’s
closer to Liss’ age and is in a wheelchair, and last one is
Trouble.”

“We’re rooming
with… Trouble?” His eyes sparkle with amusement.

“Yeah, it’s a
nickname, he doesn’t speak any English except for the word
trouble.”

“It’s a good
word to know out there.”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve been
on the outside this whole time?”

I shrug.
“Yeah.”

“That’s pretty
tough.”

“We’re a handy
group.”

Jacob drops his
chin and raises his eyebrows. “You mean to tell me that you were on
the outside with a kid in a wheel chair and a guy that speaks zero
English?”

“Why is that so
hard for everyone to believe?”

Jacob laughs
and waves his hand. “Well, I just can’t wait to meet the rest of
the family.” He runs a hand over his stubble. “I don’t know why you
came here though.”

“Because it’s
safe,” I say.

Jacob laughs
again but it’s lacking all humour. “Little girl, do you have any
idea what they do here?”

“They’re
finding a cure.”

“That they are.
It’s true.”

I sit back
further on the bed. “What do you mean? What else do they do?”

“It takes a
secret to unlock a secret.”

“But I don’t
know any.”

He sighs. “I’m
going to give you a free one, because you seem like a good tough
kid. If you ever see blue flashing lights and maybe hear a siren,
you have thirty minutes to get out. Red means ten minutes.” He taps
his temple with two fingers. “Flashing lights remember?” He
chuckles to himself and stands. “I’ve got things to do. I’ll see
you later.”

“Yeah,” I say,
watching him leave. “See you later.”

When I’m alone
again I feel this creeping sense of dread. What the hell is he
talking about? And if he’s right we’re sitting on a time bomb. The
sudden urge to run straight to Kean overwhelms me. I need to tell
him we’re rooming with a death prophet who thinks Arcadium is bad
news. I need to find him right now and tell him what my instincts
are screaming at me to do.

We have to
leave.

I burst out
into the corridor and head towards the area the workers meet at in
the mornings but when I get there it’s completely deserted. I
double back to the mess hall and check the gym and library but I
can’t find the clean up crew anywhere. I sweep back past my room
and Adrian steps out into my path, stopping me like a barricade.
“Hey,” I say, out of breath.

He crosses his
arms. “Where you running to?”

“I’m just
trying to find the cleaning crew. Do you know where they are?”

There’s
something defensive about the way he’s blocking my path with his
body.

“Adrian, are
you ok?”

He stares at me
for a moment. “Hope told me you were leaving.”

“What?”

“She said you
were trying to leave.” He runs his tongue across his teeth. “Are
you trying to leave me?”

“No!” I don’t
have to try to look surprised because I am. “I have no idea why
she’d say that. And where would I go? It’s safe here, it makes
sense.” I stare back at him to prove I’m not going anywhere.

“So, you’re
not?”

“No. Don’t be
stupid. I don’t want to die.” Which is exactly why I want to leave
this place. At least on the outside we were free.

Adrian looks
away and laughs suddenly. “It is stupid, isn’t it? You can’t just
leave Arcadium. How would you get out?”

Ok, that’s a
creepy statement but I put on my most normal smile. I draw the line
at laughing along with him though. If this outbreak has changed me
in any way I’m now a fantastic actor slash professional liar.

“So, you want
to get some lunch?” he asks. “And watch the security cameras?”

“I thought you
just had brunch?”

“Yeah, but who
cares. You haven’t had anything.”

Somehow I know
I’m not going to be able to shake him, but maybe I can buy myself a
little time. “Ok. You go get lunch and I’ll try and find the clean
up crew. Meet you there?”

Adrian drops
his shoulders and uncrosses his arms. “I am so good to you,” he
says. “Come here.”

He walks me to
the end of the corridor and pushes open a door. It looks just like
all the other sleeping quarter doors except it has no door handle.
“Down there I bet. Hold your nose.”

“Thanks.” I
peer down the dimly lit stairwell. “Oh, hey.”

Adrian stops
and looks over his shoulder.

“Can you see if
they’ve got any cake, please?”

He throws back
his head and laughs. “The things I do for you.”

Yeah like
showing me around and smuggling me food I should be able to eat
anyway. Thanks a lot. I watch him walk away and I realise how much
I dislike him. He makes me feel cynical and dark. He makes me
suspicious, makes me lie and pretend. Nothing around Adrian is
real.

I have to find
Kean. I move on down the stairwell, listening to the tiny echoes my
footsteps make in the cramped space. There’s a slow dripping sound
too, somewhere off in the distance, and the air feels heavy and
damp. Weak yellow lights are spread at intervals across the ceiling
but not all of them work.

At the bottom
is a corridor stretching in two directions. To the right it snakes
away round a corner and to the left is a coded door with a yellow
and black biohazard sticker. I stare at it for a second and walk
over, pressing my ear against the door. I can’t hear anything and
the light above me flickers. The door feels strangely cold like a
refrigerator.

I glance back
over my shoulder but I can’t walk away, my curiosity won’t let me.
I punch in the code with my thumb and when the code-box makes a
tiny beep I push open the door. A peek won’t hurt.

The smell hits
me first, and I linger at the threshold, inhaling the salty
sourness. I have to press my thumb up under my nose to stop myself
from dry retching.

The basement
room is a cavernous space, ominously quiet and full of shadows. In
huge square trolleys, twice the height of me and as wide as
dumpsters, hang bright yellow bags. They stretch as far as I can
see, each one carrying the biohazard sign. The yellow plastic is
thick and impossible to see through, but I can tell by the way it
juts out in places that they hold something: maybe laundry or
medical stuff. It could be anything.

I step in and
chock the door open with a wayward broom. My creeping unease makes
me feel like I need that open exit. I keep glancing over my
shoulder as I move down the row of trolleys.

With my spare
hand I press my good fingers onto one of the hidden lumps. It’s
soft and moves around my intrusion, so I’m eighty percent sure I’m
in the laundry room. But laundries shouldn’t be this quiet, should
they? Where is the thrumming, whirring machinery… unless everything
gets hand washed here? But if they can support three hundred people
and a whole laboratory surely they can use washing machines.

I spin around
but it all looks the same, just rows and rows of huge trolleys in a
dimly lit and grimy space. Overhead a metal walkway hangs and I
follow it along the roof, back towards the door. It weaves to the
left and I duck between the trolleys, still sealing my nostrils
with my thumb. Against the wall I see a metal staircase ascending
to the walkway. If I get up there I can see the whole room in one
glance: see what’s in the trolleys and make sure the clean up crew
isn’t down the other end.

I slide my hand
over the railing and move quietly. Each step lifts me up higher
until finally I’m hovering over one of the trolleys.

I peer over the
railing, leaning out as far as I can, staring at the dark mass
within the plastic but I can’t make it out, it’s too shadowy. I
glance around, looking for a light source. At the base of the
stairs is a kind of switch box and I wonder if I’d be able to turn
on more lights.

I skip down the
stairs and swing open the door to the box, peering at all the
switches. But I don’t even need to try them. At the base of the box
is a small silver torch.