Skylight (Arcadium, #2) (22 page)

“GO!” I yell to
Trouble, and he jumps and climbs like a spider. I step through the
wood slats and Trouble grabs the back of my shirt to help boost me
up to the next rung. I reach the platform first and gesture wildly
to Trouble to hurry. When he’s up, I run to Hank’s seat. The
shotgun’s gone but I see the door button and slam my hand over it.
The glass doors close painfully slowly, trapping the infected man’s
clawing arm right at the end. We watch from our perch as the man
struggles, effectively tearing off his own arm, and finally the
doors seal shut.

My lungs pant.
Trouble’s hand is squarely on my shoulder. The infected man’s
severed arm lies just within the door, its hand still grasping at
the air.

We run back to
the canteen, hoping to find someone to tell but we don’t make it
all the way.

“Florence,”
Jacob calls from above. He’s leaning over the railing, a tool belt
hanging from his hips. “What’s going on?”

I pause to
catch my breath. “Infected,” I say and point back to the doors.

He grabs
something from the toolbox at his feet then moves swiftly to the
escalator and descends in a rush. “Tell me.”

Jacob walks
with the crowbar slung across his shoulders. When he reaches the
red curtain he readies himself and looks in. Trouble and I hang
back.

Jacob goes
rigid and looks back slowly. His gaze is sharp, questioning,
suspicious.

“Jacob,” Hank’s
voice calls. “I’m just about to make a coffee. You want some?”

Jacob waves to
Hank then gestures for me to follow.

When I slip
behind the curtain I stick close to Trouble.

“What the
hell?” I say under my breath.

There’s no
severed arm, no infected body, no blood smeared on the glass.

“Who’s been
watching the door today?” Jacob says.

Hank frowns at
us from the platform. “I started two hours ago. Why?”

“We came up and
no one was here,” Jacob says. “I was just going tell someone.”

Hank makes a
growling noise in the back of his throat and stands up. “That
little punk. Did he bail again? I’m going to fire him. He’s only
here to cover breaks as well. Geeze Louise, can’t get any good help
anymore.” He shakes his head. “Thanks for letting me know, Jacob.
This is serious business that some just don’t take as so. I’ll make
sure it’s dealt with.”

“Who was
covering for you?” I ask.

“Forget his
name, but he’s one of those lads that likes to sit around and not
do a whole lot to help his community.”

“So… there was
nothing wrong when you came off your break?” I say.

“No, nothing.
Lucky this time though.” Hank unclips his radio.

“You believe me
right?” I whisper to Jacob. “I swear there was an infected guy
stuck in the doors ten minutes ago.”

Jacob gives me
one of his long stares. I don’t know if he believes me, but there’s
absolutely no evidence left and no reason to. “Think Hank’s
covering himself?” Jacob says finally.

I look back.
Hank looks agitated, talking into his radio. “No, not really.”

Jacob’s eyes
narrow and he holds the curtain back for us to exit. “Did you see
anyone following you?”

I frown. “I
wasn’t looking.”

“Did you see
anything, Chinaman?” Jacob says as he drops the curtain back into
place.

Trouble glances
between us. He stays quiet.

“I thought
not,” Jacob says. “Well…not much we can do.”

“You believe me
though, right?” I say.

Jacob’s eyes
are dark. He rubs his stubbled chin, then he smiles.

He confuses me
totally.

“Yes,” he
says.

It’s kind of a
relief. I don’t know why, but it is. “Surely we have to tell
someone?”

“You didn’t
tell Hank the whole story. You already know why we can’t mention
it.”

“We’re new,” I
say. “They’ll think we’re crazy.”

“Yep, that’s
pretty much covers it.”

At the end of
the day it’s us against the world and we have to stick together.
And I guess it kind of includes Jacob now.

JESSIE STARES
AT me for a long time before speaking. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I
say. I’m perched on the edge of the couch opposite Lisa’s empty
desk, tapping my nails together. And I’m not about to tell her
about my near death experience and its magical cover up.

“Are you sure?”
Jessie’s black fringe is so long she can barely see through it. She
tips her head to one side then has to flick her hair away. “You
seem kind of on edge.”

I clasp my
fingers together and try out a calm smile. “I’m fine.”

Her eyes
narrow. “Are you ill?”

“I feel ill
every time I remember I’m in the middle of an apocalypse — which is
always.”

Jessie stands
with one hand on her hip, drumming her fingers on Lisa’s desk. I
look up and she twists her lips into a funny expression. She looks
away. She looks back. “Is the confinement getting to you? I was on
the outside for a long time. I know it’s a huge change.”

“Really, I’m
fine. I just need to work or something, you know? Do
something.”

“You can help
me out now, if you want. I’ve got some work over at the science
centre and I could use an assistant.”

This makes my
head snap up.

The smallest of
smiles creases one corner of Jessie’s mouth.

“Alright,” I
say slowly.

Jessie claps
her hands. “Awesome.”

We sit on the
train, with a few other people, and I let my head loll as the train
rocks back and forth. I can’t stop thinking about what Jacob did,
swapping my awful food for his. I guess it makes me feel confused,
like, how dangerous could it be letting this guy into our
group?

“You said you
were on the outside for a while, right?” I ask Jessie. I keep my
voice low like we’re gossiping about secrets.

“Yeah,” she
says softly. She sits next to me with her feet kicked up on the
seat in front and her arms crossed— relaxed, but at the same time
she looks kind of defensive.

“Is that how
you met Jacob?” I say. “Were you two a team?”

She raises an
eyebrow and smiles with tight lips. And of course she doesn’t
reply.

“That’s exactly
how Jacob would reply.” I watch her for a moment. “I can handle it.
I have a right to know what’s going on.”

“Can you handle
your trust in Jacob being challenged?”

“I don’t trust
him,” I blurt out.

Jessie glances
out the window. “Don’t you?”

The train
brakes screech and we pull to a smooth and gradual stop. Kean and
Trouble are up front with the driver. I know this because we waved
at each other when the train pulled into the station. I don’t know
exactly who’s driving right now, but I’d guess it’s the expert.

We follow the
other ten or so commuters out, and are greeted by a soldier
standing guard at the science centre’s door. He checks ID’s,
acknowledging some people by name and others by nodding. Another
soldier holds the door open from the inside, and we flow in pretty
quickly. When it comes to Jessie and me, he greets Jessie by name,
then looks at me.

“Just got
Florence an ID this morning. She’s our new star nursing recruit,”
Jessie says. “How’s Moran?”

The soldier
hands back our IDs. “Fine. If you ask me he got the week off for a
slap in the face.”

Jessie and the
soldier share a laugh, but the way I remember it, Jacob slammed the
Doctor in the face with a metal tray. I wouldn’t exactly call that
a “slap”. I keep my mouth shut and follow Jessie through the
winding white corridors. We pass the medical room where Doctor
Moran was knocked out, and we head deeper into the facility.

“What exactly
are we doing today?” I ask, trying to peer in a slightly open door.
Nothing’s happening on the other side. Jacob would freak out if he
knew I was in here and I know he’s going to ask for every detail
possible.

“General check
ups on some of the newer soldiers, taking blood samples, giving
booster shots, that sort of thing. Real world stuff.”

“How come we’re
not doing this at the nurses station?”

“Well… some of
the staff prefer to live over this side. I guess being close to
their work helps them sleep at night or whatever. Doctor Moran
would normally deal with this but as you know he’s on sick leave.”
Jessie gives me a warm smile. “Did Jacob really freak when the
needle came out?”

I pause for a
second and then grin. “Like a baby. I think there might have even
been a tear.”

“Oh man, I wish
I could have seen it — the tears I mean, not the Doctor on the
floor. I can’t believe he would panic like that.”

I nod as I
glance around the corner. She’d only know that if she’d spent time
with Jacob.

“This way,”
Jessie says, heading in the opposite direction. “Just up here.
We’ll get the boosters and double back.”

There are
little silver plaques on the doors as we pass. We stop at one
saying Medi Seven, and Jessie bangs twice on the white wood. Twenty
seconds later the door pops open and a soldier nods to her. He
follows us all the way to a dead end that features a white door and
two code boxes on either side.

Jessie and the
soldier each stand by a code box.

“Three, two,
one, go,” the soldier says, and they both start tapping in a long
code. The door lock clicks and Jessie pushes it open.

“I’ll be back
in a second,” she says to me. And to the soldier she nods. “Thanks,
Danny. That’ll be all.”

Jessie
disappears into the room, soldier Danny marches away, and I just
wait. It seems like a lot of security for the room or lab or
whatever it is. Whatever they’re storing inside must be pretty
special if they don’t trust just one person on their own to unlock
the door.

Jessie
reappears and hands me a tray of glass vials of blue coloured
liquids. “Just need to make a quick stop at the intake office to
get the blood sampling equipment and we’re set.”

“This place is
crazy,” I say, following. “It’s a maze.”

“And we’re the
little rats running around looking for the cheese?” Jessie’s eyes
glitter with amusement.

“Speak for
yourself,” I say.

Jessie has a
way of being perfectly at ease with the world. She smiles and jokes
and oozes some sort of calm coolness. She walks but doesn’t wander.
She has a purpose and sticks to it. But I can practically see the
chip Jacob has taken out of her, and I know she’s on guard about
him. She’s waiting for me to ask her about him again so she can
throw up her shields and repel him again.

Jessie’s
strong. Clearly she’s an older sister. Maybe.

We step into
the room and I just stand there with the tray of vials as Jessie
pops open a few cupboards and pulls out small white boxes with
printed labels on the sides. She stacks them on top of each other
then nods to the exit.

This makes me
feel like a school kid again, following the teacher around. At last
we arrive back at Medi Seven. She knocks her elbow against the
door, her hands are too full.

“Open up,
boys,” she calls.

Someone on the
other side obeys.

“Jessica, come
in.” Franklin, the awkward lanky guy I first met on the platform as
a disembodied voice, steps back so we can enter.

“Don’t call me
that,” Jessie says, dumping her equipment on a small table.
“Jessie, my name is Jessie.”

Franklin looks
from Jessie to me, and then does that twitchy thing he does,
pushing his black-rimmed glasses up with his knuckle. “Hum. I’m
afraid I don’t remember your name.” He closes the door, and manages
to awkwardly stand in my way, just staring at me. Not in an
I-have-the-hots-for-you kind of way, more like
you’re-a-poisonous-snake-and-we’re-locked-in-a-room-together
way.

The rectangular
room is set up with nine plastic stackable chairs, all in a row.
Everything is white — walls, chairs, tables, the ceiling. All
except for the floor, which is a smooth grey polished concrete.

“Where’s your
brother?” Jessie asks. “Shouldn’t he be here… working?”

“Said he had to
attend to something last minute.” Franklin’s eyes flutter in
Jessie’s direction. “You just missed him really.”

“Is that so?
He’s lucky to have a brother to cover for him.” Jessie sets her
equipment out in precision lines.

Franklin
doesn’t really know what to say so he looks about the room. I can
see his brain thinking, flying through ideas. He’s wearing a grey
suit and white shirt with two buttons undone at the top. Kind of a
weird style to have in an apocalypse but then I suppose he’s never
spent a day outside since it began. Maybe he’s trying to make
himself seem more important too. He can’t be that much older than
me… twenty at the max. It makes me wonder how he got his position
of responsibility, and what it is he actually does.

Jessie shoots
me a sympathetic look and tosses me my ID badge. I hold it up for
Franklin and he squints. “Florence, yes, I remember now.” Franklin
clears his throat. “Our names both begin with the letter F.” He
smiles. His eyes are baby deer brown behind his glasses. “Florence
and Franklin, kind of has a nice ring to it.”

I blink and
cast an awkward glance his way. “Uh… I should probably be helping
Jessie.”

I step around
Franklin and set the vials of coloured liquid on Jessie’s table.
“What can I do?” I say.

Jessie looks
amused. “He’s an odd one, Franklin,” she says in a soft voice.
“Just like the rest of his family. Harmless, I suppose, but
odd.”

“Gee,” I
whisper. “Thanks for the warning.”

Jessie plants
her hands on her hips. “Bring them in, Frankie. Let’s get this show
on the road.”

Franklin
fiddles with the back of his jacket and unhooks a radio from his
belt. “This is Medi Seven, prepared for intake, over.”