Charged~ Electric Book One
Chapter Eleven~ Wait

The first thing thatruns through my mind is that they’re after me. I can tell by the look onMason’s face that he is thinking the same thing. Jared is too preoccupied byBrie, who he and Baby bear are trying to rouse in the back seat to no avail.

I remain still with myarms above my head. I know what I could do: zap them all so we can make ourescape. But I’m so tired already. My heart doesn’t think it can take harmingany more people, regardless of the circumstances.

A smaller group ofsoldiers separates from the larger, surrounding group and moves towards us. Anyhope I have left disintegrates, and mostly I feel like crumpling onto theground. We’ve survived the nanobots so far, just for this. What’s the point of fighting anymore?

Seeing their gunsraised, I only half hear the orders shouted at me from the soldier. I turn backaround to the Jeep slowly and motion for Jared to hand me Baby bear. Baby bearcrawls willingly into my arms. The tension in the air scares him. Mason standsfirm where he is. I can see his muscles twitching from here as he itches to getby our sides.

“I said turn around!”The soldier says again. This time I comply. “What is that?” He asks when hesees what I’m holding.

“It’s a baby bear. Wefound him and have been taking care of him.” I answer, my voice a monotone, andgraciously not trembling with the nervousness I feel.

Apparently he wasn’texpecting this answer, because he just grunts in response. He looks over toMason, then into the car. “What’s wrong with her?” As he asks, the threesoldiers closest to the car point their guns at Jared and Brie.

“She just fell downbefore and hit her head.” I don’t dare tell them the truth, or even say thatshe’s not feeling well. And I say it loudly, making sure that Mason and Jaredhear me, too.

The man eyes mesuspiciously but doesn’t question me. He walks around the Jeep, peers throughthe windows and undoubtedly notices all of our gear. A minute shake of his headhas the other soldiers backing off and lowering their weapons.

“You’re all survivorsfrom back east, I take it?”

I nod. “Yes sir. FromCanaan, Connecticut before all of this happened.” I figure I’ll stick to thetruth as much as possible.

His eyebrows shoot up.“That’s a far drive.”

I shrug. “We walked fora while before we found the Jeep.”

He circles again, thenmotions for Mason to come over and for Jared to come out of the Jeep. Jaredcarefully lays Brie across the backseat and steps out next to me. Mason is bymy side almost instantly.

“We have a quarantinedsafe zone, not too far from here that we can take you to. Each of you will haveto remain in isolation for three days to get in. If at the end of those threedays, you’re still uninfected, then you’ll become one of our residents.”

Mason looks nervouslyat me and Jared. “What if we’re not interested?”

The soldier raises aneyebrow. “Why wouldn’t you be interested?”

I jump in while there’sstill time. “We’ve been doing alright out here on our own.”

The soldier now turnshis hard gaze on me. “We’ve been instructed to eliminate the threat by anymeans necessary. That means we are not able to take the chance that any ofyou,” he nods towards the backseat, “are infected and allowed to spread it.”

“So we go with you orwhat, die?” Jared asks.

“Yeah that’s what we’retold.” The soldier says this with a hint of regret in his voice. It’s easy totell that he doesn’t agree with this at all.

Mason and Jared look atme and I shrug, “It’s not his fault.” I turn to the soldier. “What about ourthings?”

“After you leave theisolation rooms, your personal belongings will be waiting for you.”

“And the Jeep?” Masonasks.

Another raised eyebrow.“The Jeep is now property of the US government but don’t worry. You won’t haveany use for it inside the compound.”

I doubt that’s whereMason is planning on using it. I don’t really see any way out of this, otherthan to go along with it. I just really hope Brie wakes up soon, and that whenshe does, she’s okay.

The isolation room iscold: a dull grey concrete box with a small cot, sink and toilet. The smell ofbleach burns my nose. I sit on the floor against the wall and try to replacepatterns in the cracked concrete, anything to keep all of the sobering thoughtsin my mind from coming out to taunt me.

The one thing I can’tkeep my mind off of is Brie. She isn’t awake by the time we arrive here. She’sput into her own isolation room. I hope she makes it through the next few days.

I look to my cot. Babybear snuggles next to me in the thin blanket they provide. It took a lot ofarguing on my part. Ultimately something causes the soldier to cave, and heallows me to keep Baby bear through this isolation process. I was left by thefrustrated soldier with the firm understanding that if Baby bear shows anysigns of infection, that we’ll both pay the price for it.

It doesn’t reallybother me—I know Baby bear’s fine.Even if he wasn’t, I’m pretty sure I could stop his infection same as anybodyelse. So far, they don’t seem to know who I am. A small part of me dares tohope that it will stay that way.

I have no idea how muchtime passes before the memories push their way to the front of my mind, nolonger willing to be ignored. At first they come in flashes. I hang my head inmy arms and lose myself in the overwhelming sorrow that facing my demonsbrings. It starts first with those evil men in that small town, and builds fromthere. By the time I face the massacre of the metal heads in the field, I’mnear hysterics. If the situation had gone differently, I have no idea if theycould’ve been saved.

I’ll never know unlessI get out of here, wherever here actually is. I have no idea or any clue as towhat goes on behind these walls. We weren’t given much choice, but hope wedidn’t cross the line into a situation that’s even worse.

With no windows, myinternal clock is all I have to go by. This means I’m totally screwed, becausegot altered during our extended road trip: sleeping a few hours here and there,and losing any semblance of my normal sleep cycle. My mind experiencesexhaustion when it finally slows down. I curl around Baby bear on the smallcot. His warmth and company makes me happy as I drift off to sleep.

The slide of the gratewakes me. This is the fifth tray of slop they’ve shoved through, since I’vebeen here. I add it to the pile of the rest of them, all untouched. The onlything I have been doing is drinking water. I take a sip, place the tin cupaside and save the rest for later.

The charge coursingthrough me is becoming uncomfortable. At first, I feel surprise that I don’tneed to recharge, especially after the display when we were swimming. It seemslike my body is recharging itself much more rapidly than before as though theenergy I create is now far stronger. Maybe the lightning caused it…maybe not.

If I ever make it outof this stupid room, maybe I can try to reach Dr. Ford. He could use theinformation have. I’m not sure if it’s possible to contact him without blowingmy cover. If I have to choose between the greater good for humanity and my ownwelfare, which will win?

Before looking toodeeply into that question I hear a different sound: a rough metal on metalsliding sound, a gruffer sliding, andloud squeaking. The thick door protests when it opens.

I scoop Baby bear offthe cot and stand with him in the far corner. I hope that the door opening isgood news. It’s hard to not feel defensive when trapped in the corner. I seethe same soldier from before take a step inside. He moves slowly anddeliberately, so I can see that he means no harm. It wouldn’t surprise me ifhe’s seen a lot of people go nuts within the confines of this concrete tomb.

“Congratulations,” hesays, placing some clean clothes on the bed. “You’ve passed the isolation test.Next up is the showers. Then you can join the other residents.”

“What about the rest ofmy group?” I ask, my concern for Brie overwhelming.

“I’m not sure. You’llbe able to replace out after you shower and change. Anything you have on now hasto go into the bag in the shower. It will be returned to you once it’s cleanedproperly. Hit the red button when you’re done.”

I shift Baby bear to myhip so that I can hold him with one hand while scooping up the clothes with theother. I follow soldier-guy out of the cell, into a windowless hallway andenter the door he points to. The loud noise of the closing door makes me jumpas I look around.

It’s really just a bigshower. On one wall there’s a bench. The bag he was talking about is beside it.A sink and mirror sit on the wall adjacent to the bench. The rest of the roomis filled with showerheads and a large drain in the center of the room. I placeBaby bear on the bench. For the first time noticing the bottle of shampoo, barof soap, and towel placed there.

I undress and showerquickly. Usually I’d enjoy it more, but I’m too anxious to see the others. Ireplace a comb, a new toothbrush still in the package, and toothpaste on a smallshelf above the sink. When I’m done I dress and even don the flip flopsprovided for me. The clothes are an ill-fitting pair of sweatpants and aT-Shirt, but they’re clean. The last thing I care about right now is clothes.

I scoop up Baby bearand hit the red button, next to a separate door from the one I came in. Thedoor buzzes and opens before I step through. Something I haven’t seen in daysimmediately blinds me, the sun.

“Kat!” The voice I hearmakes me feel instant relief. Brie!

Her arms are around mebefore my eyes even finish adjusting to the bright outdoor light. I squeeze herback tightly with the arm that’s not holding Baby bear. “Mason,” I ask,“Jared?”

“I don’t know yet.They’d be on the men’s side. I didn’t want to go without you.” She grabs holdof my arm. I’m not quite ready for her to let go yet either, so we wandertowards where the signs direct us, and keep our eyes peeled for the guys.

It doesn’t take longbefore we spot them. I instantly smile at Mason’s pacing. When he turns backtowards us, his worried face lights up. My heart warms. We watch whileincreasing our pace. Mason smacks Jared’s arm and they both run towards us.

We all stand in oneinterestingly coordinated group hug for a moment. Brie and I are still holdinghands with my other arm still cradling Baby bear. We can care less how we look;we’re far too happy to see each other. After separating into pairs, Mason andI, as well as Brie and Jared, share a more intimate embrace.

It’s someone clearingtheir throat that finally separates us. I turn to see a younger guy smiling atus. He’s maybe in his early twenties and has warm brown eyes.

“Sorry,” I mumble,feeling the heat in my face.

“No worries,” he says,“I always prefer happy reunions to the alternative. I’m Jay, here to get youall settled in.”

“Hi, Jay,” Masonintroduces us all. “I’m Mason. This is Kat, Brie, Jared and that’s Baby bear.”

I feel better when Isee Brie’s red face. At least I’m not the only one who feels embarrassment.

“That’s so cool! Iheard about him, but I didn’t realize he was with you guys. How’d you guys endup with him?” Jay asks, his eyes on the fur-ball in my arms.

“We found him.” Brieanswers.

“His mom was infected.”I explain. “We couldn’t just leave him to fend for himself.”

“Wow. To be honest, I’msurprised they let you bring him in.”

“Yeah, Kat did a goodjob convincing them.” Jared says, smiling.

“I’ll have to meet himwhen he’s not sleeping. C’mon, I gotta show you to your new digs.” Jay turns,and motions with one arm for us to follow.

Our new digs turn outto be two tents next door to one another. They are pretty nice, though—with airmattresses and pillows and sleeping bags. Our stuff is waiting for us already,which is convenient. It’s a little annoying that someone else went througheverything.

Our tents are two ofmany, possible hundreds set up around a main building. Next to the mainbuilding is a large open air tent serving as a cafeteria. Jay leads us herewhile more people mill about, waiting for lunch. I look around and realize thatif this is it, there’s way more tents than there are people.

After we eat, Jaybrings us to meet the military personal that he says we should probably get toknow—just in case we ever need anything. While being introduced to CaptainJennings we inadvertently overhear their discussion regarding the infection.

“We have no idea whythey’re pushing back in that area.” A soldier whose name I didn’t catch reportsto the captain.

“We didn’t deploy ournew tactical unit to the area?” The captain asks.

“No sir,” The soldiershakes his head. “We’ve been concentrating on the Northeastern quadrant wherethe infection was worse.”

“How about there? Doesthe new weapon work?”

“Yes sir, it seems tobe working. Who would have thought that this new energy they’ve discovered andharnessed would push them back?”

It’s our reactions thatturn the captain’s attention to us. Brie gasps, and the three of them stare atme. I can’t seem to wipe the stupid smile off my face. He did it. Dr. Ford managed to replicate my energy and turn it intoa weapon that we can use against the nanobots.

The captain focuses onthe bundle of fur in my arms, and a funny look crosses his face. He dismissesthe soldier he’s speaking with and shuts the door behind him. He sits down andmotions for us to do the same. He doesn’t say anything for a moment: just sitsand looks at us with his hand clasped under his chin. When he does speak, whathe says surprises us all. “I’m impressed you made it this far in such a shortamount of time. You four are either damn lucky, or work exceptionally welltogether.”

We all just stare athim. Of course, we know what this means. We’re even more shocked when he burstsout laughing at the expressions of horror on our faces. “Wait! You think I’mgoing to turn you in to General Carch? I can’t stand her! Besides, Dr. Fordalready told me and a few others he trusts to keep an eye out for you in caseyou turn up.”

I breathe an audiblesigh of relief. I’m pretty sure everyone else is doing the same thing, but I’mtoo busy being elated to really be sure.

It’s Mason who speaksfirst. “Thank you, sir. You have no idea how relieved we all are to hear yousay that.”

“How is he? Dr. Ford, Imean.” Brie asks. “He gave us a phone, but we haven’t heard from him.”

The captain growsserious now. “He’s fine. He couldn’t call you because the General is monitoringhis calls. She’s convinced he knows where you are. Just be careful, some of thesoldiers here are more loyal to her than they are me.”

“Thanks for thewarning.” Jared says.

“No problem. If you guysneed anything, tell Jay to replace me. You can trust him.”

“Thanks, CaptainJennings.” I tell him, as we head out the door to replace Jay.