Epitaph Road (21 page)

A minute later, Dad appeared from out of a small fissure in the rock right near us, a fissure I hadn't even noticed. His rifle was slung across his back. I dropped my hand from Tia's side. I didn't want to invite any crap from him.

“What are you two doing out here?”

“I had to talk to you.” I told him why, with Tia filling in the blanks when I took time to catch my breath.

Dad's face darkened as he listened to our tale. “The PAC tyrants murdered my dad,” he said. “And billions of others. They locked up Paige. They're planning on wiping us out. Wapner's doing something important here. Something that could change the world. And he's always been straight with me before.”

“How would you know?” I said. “And why would Dr. Nuyen lie?”

“Look, Kellen, I appreciate your coming out here, but I knew when I volunteered to do this today — Gunny, too — that there were no guarantees on the vaccine. We've got sentries all the way to the highway. If someone heads this way, I'll hear about it. I'll have plenty of warning. If the wicked witches show up, I promise I'll run to the lab for shelter.”

“What if they sneak in through the woods?” Tia said. “Kellen says they know where everything is.”

“They're so blinkin' comfy here they've installed a
phone
in a
tree
,” I said. “They probably know every square yard of this
whole compound
. They could be watching you
now
. We still have time to take off for the hills. PAC wouldn't come after us. They're coming for the Foothills Project and its scientists. For Wapner.”

A little grin appeared on Dad's face. A hint of brightness. “You inherited your mother's fire.”

“It's not funny,” I said.

Dad's gaze lifted to the distant peaks. “There are no guarantees up in those hills.”

“Elisha's coming
here
,” Tia said.

“I know these woods pretty well myself,” Dad said. “And even though it looks like the bad guys are on their way, I'm confident they're not here yet.”

Something beeped insistently. Dad reached in his pocket, took out a talkaloud, raised it to his face, and pressed a button. “Winters.”

“I'm back,” Gunny's voice said. “I just turned off the highway. But PAC picked up my scent. By the time I got to the cutoff, there were two PAC cars and a cop car in my rearview mirror, trying to look inconspicuous.”

“Did you get the supplies?” Dad said.

“Yeah. No worries there.”

Another voice cut in. “Where are you now, Gunderson? And where are the authorities?” Wapner.

“I'm stopped, a hundred yards off the highway, waiting to see if they follow me in. So far, they're not coming.”

“Proceed to the lab,” Wapner said. “We'll deal with them if they start up the road.”

Another voice — Miller's, I thought — broke in. “They're not moving in,” the man said. “I've got my glasses on 'em, and they're setting up a roadblock at the spur. Four cars now, and what looks like an armored vehicle under a tarp on the back of a transport truck. They're getting ready to off-load it.”

“Affirmative on that.” Jimmy's voice this time. “I've got 'em on the monitors. No turning back, Gunny.”

Wapner swore, un-scientist-like. I took out the talkaloud Jimmy had given me and touched the power button. It came alive. Now I could practically feel the anger in Wapner's voice. “Are all the mines in place?” he demanded.

“Buried,” said Jimmy. “I'll arm them as soon as Gunny passes. I'm monitoring the cameras at all three sites.”

“If anyone besides our team members ventures up the road,” Wapner said, “at your first opportunity, blow them back to creation.”

“Yessir,” Jimmy said.

“Are you moving, Gunderson?” Wapner asked.

“I'm on my way.”

“Anything else to report?” Wapner said. “Anybody?” He paused. “I shall see you at the building, then, Gunderson. In ten minutes. The rest of you continue your diligence.”

I formed a picture in my head of the mad scientist creeping through the woods. “How about now?” I said to Dad. “Will you come back now?”

“They're not moving in yet,” Dad said. “They're just making sure no one leaves. And Wapner wants us out here. Regardless of his methods, if there's a way to salvage the work he and the other scientists are doing, I think I should help.”

He didn't allow me another chance to argue. He gave us a quick hug and slipped back into the fissure.

On our way back there was no sign of Wapner or anyone else. I wondered if he'd be disappointed that I wasn't staying outside long enough to field-test his vaccine. I wondered if he was watching us right now.

Nothing had changed in the upper building. We'd left the door unlocked; it was still unlocked. No one was inside, and the hatch to the lab area was still open. We closed it behind us and descended the stairs. Nobody was in the hub or hallways.

What now? I was starving, but Wapner's little speech about blowing people back to creation had me feeling even more ambivalent about him. I wanted to be in the security room, studying the monitors, letting Jimmy explain to me what was going on.

“Can we get something to eat?” Tia said.

“Sure. Something quick, though.”

“Let's check with Sunday first.”

We went to the bunk room. Sunday's stuff was there, but there was no sign of her.

“Maybe she's still in the kitchen,” Tia said.

But no one was in the kitchen. We could see that from the doorway.

“Where else could she be?” Tia said.

“Bathroom, maybe?”

We hurried to the bathroom. It was empty. I was beginning to feel like we were the only ones here. Every door we passed was closed. And locked.

We ran to Lab Two. It was locked. I knocked. Loud. No answer at first. Then a voice — Dr. Nuyen's. “Who is it?”

“Kellen,” I said. “And Tia. We're looking for Sunday.”

The door clicked and opened. Dr. Nuyen slapped a magnetic
QUARANTINED
sign on the outside of the door and pulled us inside. Tia's face was pale. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

Dr. Nuyen headed toward her desk. “When did you last see her?”

“Half an hour ago,” Tia said. “Maybe a little longer.”

“We went outside to talk to my dad,” I said. “Sunday stayed here to get something to eat.”

“I haven't seen her,” Dr. Nuyen said, sitting down at her computer, touching a screen to life. “I was hoping someone on Team T would let his guard down once the excitement and panic levels rose over Gunderson being followed. So I came back here. And I was right. I was able to fish out a password to access Team T data.”

“Why?” Tia asked.

I inched closer to Dr. Nuyen and her display, wondering what she was looking at or for, and like Tia,
why
she was looking.

“Curiosity, mostly. I wanted to tie up a loose end before I lost the opportunity.”

“You need some help?” I asked. “Tia's good at worming her way into files.”

I expected her to say she was a scientist, she didn't need help from kids, but she just mumbled a distracted “no thanks” and something about too many cooks.

“Why is Team T all male?” I asked, half-afraid Dr. Nuyen would wonder how I even knew about the makeup of that team. Tia gave me an impatient look and a tug back toward the door.

“Good question,” Dr. Nuyen said. “Availability, maybe. Coincidence, maybe. I hope to have answers soon.” She was concentrating now, barely glancing toward us as we edged toward the door.

“We have to go,” I said. Now I knew what it felt like to lose someone I cared about — even for a few minutes — and I didn't like it. I wanted to find Sunday.

“Set the lock,” Dr. Nuyen said, still staring at her screen. “And leave the sign up.”

Out in the corridor I glanced left and right, hoping for inspiration.

“Can we try the kitchen once more?” Tia said. “She told me she was starving.”

“Why not,” I said. “Maybe she was just on her way from one place to the next when we were there.”

The kitchen still appeared empty, but it was a big room with a corner we couldn't quite see from the doorway, so this time we went all the way inside. Nothing. Nobody. I was getting jumpier by the second, not quite believing she'd be this hard to locate.

Tia picked up an apple from a table and nibbled at it. She took a step. “Yuck!” she said, staring down at her feet, where a half-peeled banana was squashed against the concrete floor. Part of it — a blob the color and texture of pus — clung to her shoe. “Why don't people pick up their messes?”

I didn't answer her. Something else had grabbed my attention. Something silvery and blue, near the banana but under the table where Tia couldn't see it.

I walked over and picked up Sunday's earring and showed it to Tia. “Maybe the banana's hers, too,” I said, imagining lots of things, all bad.

“It could be someone else's,” Tia said.

“The earring or the banana?”

“Both?” It wasn't even convincing for a question. I let her think about it, though.

“She left here in a hurry,” I said after a bit, trying not to let anything scary come out in my voice.

“
We
need to hurry,” she said, tugging me toward the door.

“Security,” I said once we were back in the hallway. “Sunday must be in with Jimmy, watching the monitors.” Anything was possible.

The security door was unlocked, which was a relief. And Jimmy was there, still at his console.

But Sunday wasn't.

“Have you seen Sunday?” Tia said. Her voice had tears at the back of it.

“The other girl?” Jimmy said. “Not since you were all here together.”

“Not even on the monitors?” I said.

Jimmy shook his head and gestured toward the walls, reminding me that the screens were all tuned to outside cameras.

I wondered if that had been the case the whole time we were outside. “But where could she have gone?” I said.

Jimmy shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. Instead, he looked jumpy.

“Can you switch some of the monitors back to inside views?” Tia said.

“No.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Dr. Wapner's orders. And anyway, there's secret stuff going on in the labs.”

“How about the corridors?” Tia said. “All the rooms that
aren't
labs?”

“You're welcome to check those yourself.”

I was about to ask him once more if he'd seen her on the monitors if not in person, maybe following us outside, when I heard a noise. Tia heard it, too. I could see it on her face. It was the same kind of noise I'd thought I heard earlier, coming from the holding cell at the end of the room. A woman's muffled voice. I looked. Dim light filtered out from a window again, but it wasn't the one on the far left.

It was the window on the far right.

“Who —?” Tia began, but at that moment the room erupted with sound: first a horn, then a stranger's voice, bloated with excitement, over the sound system.

“Helicopters! Three helicopters, crossing the perimeter at high speed. Heading your way! ETA less than three minutes!”

“I'm nearly back!” Wapner's voice, urgent. “I'll secure the main door. Jimmy — check all other openings, airways, and filters. All personnel on outside security, disperse immediately. Get as far away from the lab as possible.”

Jimmy sprang up and raced out the door.

A heartbeat later a thunderous explosion sent a shudder through the room. The floor quaked and rolled. The walls trembled. Debris sifted down from the ceiling. Were the helicopters here already? Had someone set off a mine?

Tia's fingers dug into my arm. Dust dulled her dark hair. I was wobbly but frozen, thinking of Dad, closer than anyone else to the lab. If the helicopters were still on their approach, he had less than three minutes to get his stubborn ass out of harm's way. But Wapner would be securing the door, shutting out Dad and everyone else. Could Dad make it to the cave in three minutes?

What about Gunny?

The door swung open, and for an instant I was wondering how Jimmy had gotten back so quick. But it wasn't Jimmy; it was Dr. Nuyen, breathing hard. She was covered in chalky grime. She was wearing a small backpack, also covered.

“What was the explosion?” I asked.

“Me,” the doctor wheezed. “I blew the filters. You two have to get out of here.
Now.
”

“You
blew
the
filters
?” I said.

“We can't leave Sunday,” Tia said.

“You can't
help
Sunday,” Dr. Nuyen said. Her eyes shifted to the end of the room, the far right holding cell. “You need to get
out
.”

We didn't get out. We sprinted to the cell. Tia pounded on the door while I twisted and pulled futilely at the doorknob. Over our noise, I heard something from inside the chamber. Tia continued to pound while I kept turning and tugging and Dr. Nuyen tried to pull us away.

A palm pressed firmly against the inside of the wire-crossed glass. The top of a head appeared. The blond hair was matted down but familiar.

Too familiar.

Sunday's face rose above the bottom of the window frame. It was pasty-white and sweaty. Her green eyes were teary and terrified. A silver hoop earring with a small blue stone hung from her left ear. Her right earlobe, empty, was smeared with dried blood. She mouthed a word, and even if I couldn't have heard her frightened voice through the sealed door, I'd have had no trouble deciding what that word was.

“Run.”

Her face disappeared. For a moment her hand lingered, pressed against the glass, as Tia sobbed and my stomach tightened into a throbbing knot.