The Compound (21 page)

When he used both hands to pick up a microscope, I took my chance and ran out of the room as fast as I could.

I heard a roar behind me as he realized I was gone.

I shoved the parchment in my pocket and ran toward the door, my arms pumping. My heart pounded, more from the last few minutes than the physical exertion. At the hallway to the infirmary, I paused. I wanted to make sure Mom was okay. Make sure he hadn’t hurt her. But
the only way to truly help her was to open that door and get help.

“Eli?” Dad’s faint voice from behind me spurred me on. I ran down the hall, into the family room, and through the archway.

The corridor seemed shorter than I remembered, because all too soon the silver door stood before me. In the surface, my face was reflected. Despite the distortion, I could still see my terrified expression. I saw myself there, in the door, clutching the parchment.

Yes, I was scared.

More than that, I was ready. Ready to do it, to try the code.

The silver door had a panel with a keypad. So simple. Yes, so simple, if you had the code.

I prayed that I did. I prayed so hard.

I hoped God was still around to hear.

I had to stop and think for a minute, to breathe. My hands shook. There might be a security lock as well, something that shut down the system if any wrong numbers were pushed. I took a few precious moments to breathe deep, try to calm myself. I couldn’t risk hitting a wrong number. Not when I was almost there.

“You’re so close, Eli.”

I gasped, whipping around to see my father. He smiled, his hands behind his back. “This is such a big occasion, you shouldn’t be all alone.”

One of his arms slowly came around, revealing that it
was wrapped around Lucas, who looked up at me, confusion all over his face.

“Eli?”

I looked from him to Dad and shook my head, panic rising in my chest. “Let him go!”

Dad’s smile only widened as he gripped Lucas by the shoulders. “Let him go?” He leaned down and spoke to Lucas. “You want to go with Eli, right?”

Lucas nodded, looking surer of himself.

Dad straightened up. “He wants to go.”

I didn’t know what to do.

“Lucas, remember that song I taught you?”

Lucas nodded again.

“Do you think you can cover your ears and sing that song at the same time?”

Lucas grinned. “I think so.”

“Go ahead.”

With his small hands, Lucas reached up and covered his ears. Then, his voice, quiet at first, began to sing,
“I am Enery the Eighth I am, Enery the Eighth I am I am …”
His voice got louder as he kept singing. But it wasn’t loud enough to drown out my father’s words.

“What do you think, Eli?” His hands moved up to my brother’s throat as he spoke. “Should I choke the life out of him?” His hands moved farther up. “Or just snap his neck. That would be quicker.”

My head went from side to side. “Don’t.” Despite trying to stay calm, the word was a plea. “Please don’t.”

“It’s your choice. I just need that.” His eyes went to the paper in my hand.

Lucas was back at the chorus again, singing louder, a worried look on his face.

“Eli, time to choose.”

I glanced at the paper again, wondering how many of the numbers I could memorize before—

“NOW!”

I jumped. So did Lucas, who stopped singing. He tried to wriggle away from Dad’s grasp, but he couldn’t. “Choose, Eli.”

I could chance it. Lucas was his child, he wouldn’t hurt him. But then I looked into my father’s eyes, only they were no longer my father’s. They belonged to a madman.

Lucas looked up at me and whimpered, his eyes wet.

My knees nearly buckled as I stepped forward, holding out the paper. “Here! Take it! Let him go!”

Dad released Lucas as he reached out for the code and took it from me. “Good choice, son. Very unselfish.” With the paper still in his hand, he gave me a casual salute, then left.

I knelt down in front of Lucas. “Are you okay?”

Lucas nodded as he sniffled. “That was scary.”

My arms went around him and he leaned into me. “I know. I was scared, too.”

My father’s footsteps receded down the hall.

I leaned back, looking into my brother’s face. “But now we have to be brave, okay? We have work to do.”

Lucas wiped his nose with his sleeve. “What kinda work?”

I glanced over at the door. “I’ve gotta figure out some numbers.” I stood back up and took his hand. “Come on.”

I
WANTED TO GO CHECK ON
M
OM, BUT
I
DIDN’T DARE
. I
HAD
no idea what Dad was planning, and I knew my time was short. My only chance was to figure out the code using the few numbers I remembered. If it could be figured out. I had to try. Getting out was the only true way to help my mother.

Lexie and Terese were with the little kids. Once Lucas and I were inside, I dragged a dresser in front of the door.

Lexie walked over to me and whispered, “What’s going on?”

I glanced at the others, but they seemed occupied. “I had the code, but Dad stopped me.”

“How? He’s too sick.”

“Well, he got better real frickin’ fast.” I lowered my voice. “Threatened to hurt Lucas if I didn’t give him the paper with the code.”

Lexie’s jaw clenched.

“What about Mom?”

“I don’t know. He may be there. He could be anywhere. I have to figure this thing out.”

Lexie frowned. “I thought he took the code back.”

“He did, but I remember a few of the numbers. They have to mean something; it’s just a matter of putting it together.” I glanced over at a kiddie chalkboard. “I need your help.”

With a piece of chalk, I wrote down the few numbers I remembered.

Lexie stared at the chalkboard. “That’s it? How many numbers in the code total?”

“Way more. At least two dozen.” She breathed out. “Man.”

“Yeah.”

Lexie thought for a bit. “You’re sure about these, though?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure how many numbers in between, but I know these are in the right order. Sort of.”

Terese came over and I told her what we were doing.

“Are they all separate numbers?”

I looked at her. “Why?”

She put a slash on the board.

“July sixteenth, that’s your birthday.”

My mouth dropped open.

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s all our birthdays?”

She put some more numbers on the board.

“That’s Lexie.”

I shook my head. “Those weren’t in it, I’m pretty sure.”

Terese bit her lip. “So it’s not our birthdays.”

As I erased the ones she’d put up, I gazed at the others. So, 7/16 was a date, a date other than my birthday.

I added more numbers.

Lexie leaned in. “What’s that?”

“Date they set off the atomic bomb at the Trinity test site.”

“Nifty. So what are the rest?”

“Oh my God.” Slowly I erased the slash and filled in other numbers. Then I stepped back to read the result.

“Holy crap that’s it.”

Lexie was by my side, looking at the board. “You’ve got it?”

“Part of it.” I pointed. “These are dates of nuclear bomb explosions. Trinity test site, July 16, 1945. Then Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Nagasaki, August 9, 1945.”

“Wow.” Lexie and Terese spoke together.

I rubbed my eyes. “But that’s not all of it. What else is there?”

Lexie pointed at the first number. “So if they’re all dates, what happened in May?”

“May? Nothing happened in May, they didn’t even …” I trailed off as something flashed in my memory. There had been a test, before July 16. A pretest explosion. It didn’t really count, but could that be it? I wrote in the numbers and hoped I had the date right.

I smiled. “It looks right. No way of knowing for sure, but it all looks familiar.”

Terese patted my shoulder. “So that’s it?”

“No. There were more numbers.” Lexie sighed. “Another date?”

“Probably. There were so many other tests, though. Which date is the one?”

Lexie sat down on the floor. “Isn’t this all ironic? That the code is all about nuclear war, the entire reason this place was built?”

I shrugged. “These dates aren’t really about nuclear war per se, because they’re all bombs built by the same
country, and a nuclear war would be bombs from at least two countries, which …”

“What?”

My hand went to my mouth. “Lexie, you’re right.”

“What?”

“The last date.” I put in the numbers.

Terese considered the numbers. “What happened August 29, 1949?”

I smiled. “The first Soviet nuclear detonation.” I looked at Lexie. “There’s your reason for the Compound.” I grabbed a piece of paper and pen, jotted the numbers down, double-checking them three times, then handed them off to Lexie to check as well.

“Do you think that’s it?” Lexie sounded hopeful.

“One way to find out.”

“Can I go?” Lucas stood in front of me.

I set a hand on his shoulder. “Oh, buddy, I need to go fast.”

He stuck out his foot, showing me his cross trainers just like mine. “I can go fast.”

He felt scrawny under my grip. “I’ll come back for you, okay? But now I have to leave.” I shoved aside the dresser. “Lexie, make sure you put this back after I leave.”

She stepped over to me, hesitated, and then gave me a quick hug. “Good luck,” she whispered.
“Hurry.”

Again, I found myself running down the hall, into the family room, and through the archway.

This time I didn’t hesitate. My right index finger punched in the numbers. A series of electronic blips sounded. With a loud puff of air, the vacuum seal of the door released. The silver door fell open. Stale air came through.

“Thank you, God.”

I grabbed an edge and pushed the door out of my way. Other than being dusty, the entryway to the stairs was in pretty much the same condition as I’d last seen it six years before.

It seemed smaller. And dimmer. A lone red emergency light lit the area. There was a fuse box on the wall. I opened it and started flipping switches. One flooded the area with light.

I started to climb the stairs two at a time. All that money and Dad couldn’t invest in an elevator? I suppose he thought about what fifteen years without maintenance would do to the machinery and figured stairs were a better idea.

As I climbed the metal stairs, my footsteps were quiet. I thought they should make more noise. The way down had been so loud and chaotic. Maybe I expected that from the trip back up as well.

After two flights, my breaths came faster. I didn’t remember the trip being so arduous the first time. But this trip I was climbing, not descending.

I found myself thinking of the first rainy day of second
grade. I was anxious to wear my new blue slicker with matching boots. As always, Mom drove us, me and Eddy in the middle seats.

We stopped for her coffee at Tully’s, the smell of it filling the SUV as we turned into the school driveway. We sat in a line of other cars as they idled at the entrance and gently ejected their small passengers. Vivaldi played on the radio and the heater blew warm air, pleasantly overheating us.

Waiting our turn, I adjusted my backpack and got a better grip on my blue lunchbox, which held the same thing every day, packed by Els. Peanut butter sandwich, decrusted and cut diagonally into fourths. Minicarrots. A snack bag of chocolate chip cookies. They came with a napkin and a sweet, tender note from my mom, ending always with

ILY Eli! Mommy
.

The SUV moved up. We popped open the doors. Mom blew kisses and waved good-bye. We shrieked, jumping boot first into the downpour, ecstatic to be seven years old on a rainy day.

I wanted that again. That security that came from knowing exactly what was in my lunchbox. I wanted that so bad.

At the top of the stairs, I saw the hatch. I didn’t remember it being so wide, but then I basically got shoved down it the first time. There hadn’t been a lot of time for observation. A skinny set of steps ascended and I took them nearly in one leap.

I pushed on the hatch. Didn’t budge. I panicked, thinking maybe Dad had Phil or someone seal us in.

Driven by adrenaline, I shoved with my hands as hard as I could. I felt it loosen a tiny bit, enough for a little dirt to dribble in around the edge. I relaxed. Soil had probably accumulated over the opening. Maybe we weren’t trapped. My fingers reached through, pushing dirt out of the way, pulling some of it inside. I still couldn’t garner enough leeway to get my hand out to work away the rest of the dirt.

Once more I strained, shoving my hand out the slim opening. The hatch didn’t move any more. I tried to pull my hand back in.

It was stuck. Stuck in the cookie jar of the outside world.

“No, no,
no!”

If I yelled for help, would my family hear me?