In the End (Starbounders) (24 page)

Chapter Forty-four

“Rice?”

I pat his cheek to wake him. I’ve already stanched the bleeding by bandaging his upper arm with ripped sheets from Baby’s bed. He opens his bright blue eyes, then squints, confused.

“I think I hit my head . . . on the wall,” he says. He lifts his arm and winces. “What happened?”

“Dr. Reynolds shot you,” Brenna calls from across the room. “You’re lucky he has sucky aim.”

“Where is he now?”

“We tied him up and stuck him in a broom closet,” I say. “I took away his earpiece, so he’s neutralized. I think now we should get back to my mother, and make sure she’s safe, ask her what we should do next.” We never got the research, but with Dr. Reynolds contained, we should be able to accomplish more. He can’t give orders from a broom closet.

“Can you stand?” I ask Rice. He tries, and I have to help him get to his feet. He’s still a bit wobbly.

“I’m going to scout the hall, make sure it’s clear.”

“It is,” Brenna tells us. “I can tell.”

“Brenna, can you help Rice while I carry Baby?” I ask.

Brenna takes Rice’s good arm, propping him up. I go to Baby where she sits, staring blankly at the wall, and I pick her up.

I cradle Baby close and whisper in her ear, “I know that you’re Hannah now. That this is your home. But you used to have a life with me. You used to be very good at keeping quiet, at avoiding the monsters. Do you remember?”

She doesn’t respond, but when I carry her to the door, she doesn’t scream, either. Maybe she can be Hannah, but still be Baby as well.

Despite Brenna’s assurances, Kay goes ahead to check that the hall is clear, then we make our way to my mother’s office. There are no other Floraes in sight—if the Guardians haven’t gotten them all, they’ve at least severely cut their number. Now, if we can just stay out of the way of those same Guardians, who’ll still be on the hunt for us in the absence of any orders to the contrary, we might be okay.

To my relief, my mother is safe in her office. She hugs me and Baby close before turning to her examination of Rice’s arm.

I sit in a chair with Baby in my lap, stroking her thinning hair. When I ask her if she’s okay, I get no response. I continue to pet her head, hoping at least the contact is comforting to her. Kay watches us for a while, but then stares at the floor, lost in her own grief.

“We didn’t get the research,” Rice tells my mother as she properly bandages his arm. “But Dr. Reynolds is detained for now, and we can probably break into the safe or pry the combination from him.” He pauses. “He admitted to us that he orchestrated the original outbreak. It wasn’t an accident.”

My mother gives him a long look, shaking her head, then sighs. “I’d begun to suspect as much. Everything awful began to feel possible over this past few weeks.” She rubs at her eyes then seems to gather herself. “I don’t know how many Floraes are left roaming the labs. I don’t know how many researchers died. But I do know I’ve finally chosen to do the right thing. We’ll get all the research and make it public. I know that New Hope will survive. There’s a lot here worth saving.”

Rice tells her about getting Ken’s notes before he died. “We have to look into it,” he says, “but I think he may have finally found it. A vaccine.”

My mother just nods, smiling tightly. “That would be wonderful. But when I think of the cost . . .” She shakes her head.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say softly. I blamed her before, and the truth is that she
is
still partially to blame. She engineered the bacterium. But she had no idea that Dr. Reynolds would release it into the world.

She comes to me, hugs me and Baby. “I’m so sorry for everything you had to go through. We’ll get Baby some real help.”

Just then my mother’s office door flies open and a heavily muscled figure in a synth-suit fills the doorway, holding a gun. There’s no doubt who it is, and there’s nothing any of us can do. The guns sit uselessly on my mother’s desk. There is nothing for me to do but hand Baby to my mother and stand.

My mother moves closer to me and, clutching Baby to her, puts on her director’s voice. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Marcus pulls off his hood and stares her down. “Following my orders,” he says, “and they don’t come from you.”

“They certainly do,” she says. “Dr. Reynolds has gone entirely mad—”

“Shut up,” he says, pointing the gun directly at Baby, “and take a seat.” My mother does what she’s told, and Marcus swings the muzzle toward me.

I don’t have it in me to feel the fear I should. I don’t beg or plead. At least Baby is safe. At least my mother will take care of her.

Marcus raises his gun. “Sorry, kid,” he says, though he’s grinning as he says it. “Orders are orders.”

And then his head snaps to one side hard enough to slam against the doorframe, and he slumps to the floor.

Brenna walks to the doorway and peers out into the hall and gives a little wave to whoever she sees there. Then she steps aside, shaking her head. “I’ll never get used to the silent- gun thing.”

Another figure appears in the door beside Brenna, reaching up to pull off his hood. It’s Gareth, wearing a sad smile. “Glad to see you made it, honey.” He looks down at Marcus. “‘Orders are orders,’ huh? Bastard.”

“I’m Brenna,” Brenna says, sticking out her hand, “and that was awesome. Seriously. The way his head hit the door. Gruesome.”

Gareth considers her, then takes her hand and shakes it. “I’m Gareth, and we’ve met . . . but you were a bit unconscious.”

“Oh yeah . . . my abduction from Fort Black. I guess I shouldn’t complain. From what I heard, that place was going to shit. Still, I would have liked to have a choice about being a lab rat.”

I feel a twinge of guilt at being willing to sell Brenna out to save Baby. . . . But it’s hard to feel bad now that I know Baby is safe. I look over at her, her blank stare and dead eyes. She could have permanent damage to her body as well as her mind. She may still not be saved.

“And what about Dr. Reynolds?” Gareth asks.

“We have him tied up in a broom closet,” Kay tells him. “Good to see you.”

He winks at her. “You too, Kay.”

“You can torture him if you like,” Brenna chimes in.

“We won’t be doing that,” my mother says, handing Baby to me, “but we’re going to make sure everyone knows all the things he’s done. I may have created the Floraes, but he released them into the world.”

She puts her hand to her ear. “This is the director speaking. I need to make an announcement to all of New Hope.” She waits a moment and then begins. “Due to unforeseen, tragic circumstances, we have lost our new leader of the Guardians. Marcus will be missed, but I am reinstating Kay. As of now, she has complete control and my full support. Dr. Reynolds has also had to step down from his position, and I will be addressing everyone later tonight on the exact details. Please gather in Memorial Hall at eight p.m. or tune in to the news. Everything will be explained.” She pushes the button on her earpiece again, ending the transmission. “Dr. Reynolds is done.”

“That’s something, at least,” Kay says, stepping to the side and putting her own hand to her ear. She gives instructions to the Guardians, calling off the order to kill me. After a while, she steps over and looks at me, confused.

“Amy, there’s someone on the radio for you.”

“For me?” I look around. Anyone who would want to speak to me is in this room.

Kay nods. “They’re definitely asking for you . . . and they say they’re from Fort Black.”

Chapter Forty-five

“Hello? Anybody there?”

It’s a voice I never thought I’d hear again.

“Jacks?” I can’t believe he’s alive. Neither can Brenna, who’s standing beside me, jumping up and down at the news. “How . . . ?” I ask. “What happened?”

Jacks explains that while the infection spread through the Yard and Cellblock A, the people inside the corridor within the wall and those in blocks B and C were fine. It took a while before anyone could leave the cellblocks, but they finally managed to kill all the Floraes. Fort Black is once again secure.

“It took some convincing, but my uncle gave me the communicator. I pushed the button and asked for you, and like magic, here you are.”

“Jacks . . . I . . .” I look around, wishing I had some privacy to speak with him. How do I explain how much I missed him and how often I thought about him? “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was scared you didn’t make it.”

“I had to keep myself safe. I knew it was my only chance of seeing you again.”

My face goes red. Everyone in the room is staring at me, listening. Brenna’s still bouncing up and down, asking to talk to him. “Jacks,” I say, “Brenna’s dying to talk to you. Hold on.”

I take the earpiece out of my ear to hand it to her, but my mother takes it from my hand and plugs a wire from her computer into it. “Speaker,” she explains. “Go ahead.”

“Jacks,” I say loudly, “Brenna is here too.”

“Jacks!” she shouts. “I’m really happy you didn’t die.”

“Me too.” He laughs. “I don’t know how things are there for you, but there are a lot of people here who are scared. We don’t have any food, and people are afraid to leave the walls.” He’s quiet for a second, then he asks, “Are you coming back, Amy?” There’s a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Jacks . . . I can’t.” I look at Baby, twirling her hair around her finger. She doesn’t tug it out, though. I can’t go anywhere. She needs me. “But you can come here. You can all come here.”

“Amy,” my mother begins, “I don’t know if we can accommodate—”

“We can make room,” Rice says.

My mother’s shaking her head. “But all at once? And who knows what kind of people they are. And the diseases—we’ll have to test each one to make sure they’re healthy. I don’t know if this is the right time.”

Brenna has turned on my mother, her expression darkening. “Whoa, whoa, whoa: ‘Who knows what kind of
people
they are’? What kind of people are
you
, lady?”

“Mom,” I say, stepping between them. But I feel as angry as Brenna sounds. “Are you hearing yourself? What, you’re worried they won’t live up to New Hope’s standards?” I give my head a sharp shake. “Yes, there are hard cases in Fort Black. Criminals, when it comes down to it. That useless vaccine that Doc was distributing didn’t help either; it made people more violent. But if they don’t have to fight to survive, they may not want to fight at all. If there are troublemakers, we can ID them, work with them. Jacks can help us with that. But I can tell you, there are a lot of good people in Fort Black. Maybe they’re hardened, but they had to be to survive.”

“I have to think about what’s right for New Hope,” she says, but softly, as if she’s talking to herself. I can see she’s hearing me, at least. Thinking.

“Of course you do,” Rice says quietly. “But we can agree that New Hope needs to change, can’t we?” When my mother nods, he says, “I think we need to open up to people, starting tonight. Now. Starting with this question, about bringing the Fort Black people in, helping them. Give people the whole picture, tell them what we think is the right thing to do.” He shrugs. “I think we can trust them to want to do it.”

“That’s asking a lot of them, isn’t it?”

She’s been insulated in her lab for so long, she has no idea what regular people are like, how they feel, what they’re capable of. I have to make her understand.

“Mom,” I say, “believe me, the people in Fort Black have dealt with a lot worse. And they still are. There are sick, frightened people there. We can’t turn our backs on them.”

For a long moment, my mother and I look at each other,
into
each other. And then she nods, just perceptibly. “We can downsize the Ward,” she says, “move people who need medical attention there. Start with them.” She nods again. “We can make this work.”

“The Guardians can run supplies out to Fort Black,” Kay says. “Any medical staff who wants to treat them. Then we can start shuttling people here.”

“How does that sound?” I ask Jacks. “Do you think people would want to come here? Do you want to come here?”

“I don’t know, Amy. . . . I haven’t left Fort Black in a long time. I . . . don’t know if I can.”

“Even to be with me?” I ask, uncertain. Rice gives me a sharp look, but I don’t care anymore who else hears. “I have to take care of my sister. You know that. But I want to be with you. If you want to be with me, it has to be here,” I tell Jacks.

There is a long pause. Then, quietly, Jacks replies, “Okay. I’ll come. But what about everyone else in Fort Black? What if they don’t want to move?”

“We won’t make them leave, but it’s safer here.” I look at my mother. “Or it will be. Won’t it?”

“We’re going to try.”

“No.” Rice stands, still a little shaky from his wound. “We’re going to do more than try.”

“Jacks,” I say, “we’re sending some supplies for now. My mother’s going to be talking to the citizens here, and we’re going to figure out how to fit you all in. Let everyone know they’re welcome here. Let them know they’ll be safe.”

“All right, Amy,” Jacks says. “Thanks. I . . . I can’t wait to see you.”

There’s a silence in the room. Rice gives me another look, and I feel my face go hot.

“I . . . can’t wait to see you too, Jacks. I’ll check in with you soon.”

We click off. I still ignore Rice’s questioning gaze. Rice has done so much for me. He was the first boy I ever had feelings for, but he was too consumed by his work. Like my mother, he had all of humanity to worry about. How could I compete with that? Jacks was different. He understood what was important. He understood I needed to protect Baby at any cost.

I kneel next to Baby. “You may not know what’s happened to you, or why,” I say to her, “but I promise that you’re going to get better.”

When I squeeze her hand, it twitches in mine—and then her fingers begin to work into my palm.

Thank you, Amy,
she signs.

I look into her eyes and see a spark of comprehension.
You know who I am?
I ask, signing into her hand.

She nods slowly. “You’re my sister,” she says aloud, her voice uncertain. I’m still not used to hearing her speak, having spent so much of our time together in silence.

“Yes,” I say firmly.
“We’re sisters.”

She smiles her sad little smile, her face looking much older than her six years.

“Amy”—my mother puts her hand on my shoulder—“let’s go home.”

I gather Baby in my arms and walk her out the door and down the hall.

Finally, going home.