Arcadium (20 page)

I step out into
the corridor as Liss and Henry start giggling. Kean looks over. “So
you’ve been sleuthing all day?”

I start walking
and he follows. “Actually, I’ve been hanging out with a mad
scientist’s son.”

Kean makes a
surprised frown. “Should I be jealous?”

“He’s a bit too
weird for my tastes.” I cross my arms loosely. “Have you met Doctor
Harding?”

Kean shakes his
head.

“Doctor Harding
gave me my check up. He’s… weird too. It’s like they’ve forgotten
how to act around people.” We pass the library and stop at the
surveillance room door. “I’m pretty sure Harding runs this place.
Anyway, it was his son I met today, Adrian. And he happened to show
me around.”

Kean listens
with a flat expression and then purses his lips. “How am I supposed
to compete with that?”

I rub the side
of my face and laugh into my hand. “Anyway…” I glance down the
corridor to make sure it’s clear. “Yeah, anyway, this is where all
the security camera feeds come into. It’s full of monitors. He even
showed me a recording of us arriving.”

Kean tries the
door handle and looks back at me.

“You need a
code to get in… to get anywhere important around here. I caught the
first three numbers but the rest…” I shrug.

“How many
cameras are there? And where?”

I touch my
temple trying to remember. “Thirty something, mostly on the outer
and inner perimeter, a few in the elevator and the rest in the
labs.”

“None here?”
Kean glances around.

“Nope, none in
any of our living quarters, just the science labs and those
hallways.”

“That’s weird.
Almost like we don’t matter.”

“I don’t know,
I’d rather not be on camera twenty four seven. And there’s
more.”

I take him
further along the corridor to the rooftop door. “You know how you
said there was no way out?”

“Yeah.” Kean
looks over the door with curiosity.

“Behind here is
a stairway leading to the rooftop.”

“You went out
there with him?”

I nod. “There’s
a fire escape ladder over the side of the building, and he says the
main fence against the road is electrified but there’s a part that
backs onto houses that’s not.”

Kean is staring
sideways at the wall with a strange expression. I can’t tell if
he’s just soaking in the information or kind of edging into
anger.

“Either way,”
he says, with a tiny shake of his head. “It’s not much of an exit
if we don’t have the door code. The full door code.”

“I can get
it.”

Kean glances
up. “At what cost?”

“What do you
mean? They take me through the doors every time I have a check up.
And every time Adrian takes me somewhere new. I’ll get it
eventually.”

“Do you even
know this guy? Don’t you think it’s dangerous? What if he’s a
serial killer?”

My lips fall
into a frown and I lean my shoulder against the wall. “You’re not
going to like the rest then.”

Kean takes a
sharp breath and steps closer. “Go on.”

“I talked
Adrian into sneaking me into the labs… tonight.”

“Why do you
want to see the labs?”

“Don’t you?
Don’t you want to be sure of everything before you settle
here?”

Kean drops his
head, pulls his eyebrows taut and kind of shrugs his shoulders. The
whole display is pure incredulity. I can’t understand it. And then
he lifts one of his hands and touches my waist. I can’t move. All I
can think about is his hand resting on my hip. I lean the side of
my head against the wall and barely hear his words.

“Can’t you ever
stop being the hero? You’ll get yourself in serious trouble one
day.”

Suddenly a set
of footsteps comes towards us. We both look up and a small dark
haired woman passes us by without even a glance. She continues on
around the corner and I keep my head turned in her direction.

Kean lifts his
other hand so that he’s holding my waist now, holding me in place.
“What are you trying to find?”

“Nothing.” I
look back and we’re so close our noses nearly touch. I drop my
chin. “Nothing. I just want to know what they’re doing behind all
the locked doors. I don’t understand why you don’t.”

“I do. I want
to know what’s going on. But I’m not prepared to send you into
danger all the time.”

“No one else
can do it,” I say.

“Give me a day,
I’ll get my flirt on with the weird mad guy and I’ll do it. Let me
do something.”

I can’t help
but crack a smile and I glance up, just for a second, but it’s all
the time he needs. Kean pulls me in close and presses his lips to
mine. At first I don’t do anything; I’m just in pure shock, eyes
wide open. Our lips sit still against each other like we’ve turned
into a photograph. I don’t know how long we stay locked together
this way but it feels endless.

Kean lifts his
hands and holds my neck, sending spears of shivers through my skin.
I close my eyes and his mouth opens against mine. His warm lips
slide over me and my arms hang limp at my sides. I’m like a puppet
with broken strings and can’t work on my own.

It’s wonderful
and horrible at the same time. As we stand in the cold corridor
locked in this kiss, I almost forget which way is up and which is
down. I like him, I really like him but I shouldn’t get this luxury
in the outbreak. He’s like a brick wall building between Liss and
I. A really lovely, warm, kind, charming brick wall. Damn it. But a
barrier nonetheless.

He pulls back
but keeps my head in his hands, which is probably a good idea
because I feel like I might collapse at any second. My brain is
searching for words that don’t seem to exist anymore.

“If you want to
go into the labs then go. I won’t stop you, it’s just…” Kean bites
his lip ever so slightly. “Don’t get caught. Don’t get killed.”

I stare up at
his clear green eyes. “I can’t get killed here. This is a
sanctuary.”

His hands
shift, sliding a few centimetres down toward my shoulders and I
swear nothing has ever felt as good.

I make a
strange noise, almost a tiny laugh, and Kean smiles. He lowers his
fingers from my neck and takes one of my bandaged hands. We walk
back to the room slowly. I still feel like I’m in shock, worse than
any car crash or any infected person jumping out at me could ever
create. This is something all new. How could I never know this
existed?

“What’s the
plan?” Kean asks when we reach the door of our room.

“He’s meeting
me here at midnight. Apparently that’s the only time the labs are
scientist free.”

“Is there
anything I can do?”

“You’ve done
enough for today,” I say.

Kean pushes
open the door with a smile.

All five of us
hang around playing snap with a pack of cards Kean found on rubbish
duty. It’s the only card game we’ve successfully taught Trouble and
somehow it always manages to get us all distracted and
laughing.

At ten the
lights automatically go off and a small yellow backup light comes
on, dusting the room with just enough illumination to make out the
edges of the bunk beds.

For the next
two hours I wait in my bed, wide-awake and kind of nervous. Kean
stays awake with me, every now and then I look over and he’s
watching me but we don’t say anything in case we wake the
others.

It does give me
plenty of time to think about that kiss though, to replay it over
and over in my mind. Kean says I’m bold, but never in a million
years could I have done that… just stepped up and kissed someone.
And now I just can’t get him out of my head, even though I should
be thinking ahead and keeping my mind clear; he fogs me up.

Kean smiles, as
if he knows exactly what I’m thinking and I have to look away and
just watch the clock for a while. With five minutes to go I grab
the paper bag, slide out silently and point to the door. Kean nods
but his face is grim. I try to shake the image as I slip out into
the silent corridor.

Chapter
18

Adrian is
already waiting for me, with his arms crossed and shoulder leaning
against the wall. He pushes off as he sees me and nods down the
hallway. “Right on time.”

“Always am,” I
say in a low voice. “You sure this is ok?”

Adrian glances
over as we walk. “You’re not scared now, are you?”

I shoot him my
best unimpressed look. “No, I just don’t want to get in trouble
with your dad.”

“Makes sense.
He can be an iron fist sometimes.”

“You don’t get
to manage a place like this by being soft, I guess.”

We reach a
glass door and I glance over as Adrian taps in the code. I don’t
catch any more numbers but I know they’re somewhere down the
bottom.

The door hisses
open and I follow him through into the restricted area.

“You know,” he
says. “When you walk I can’t even hear your footsteps.”

I shrug. “How
do you think I survived outside?” I pass him the paper bag and he
takes it but says nothing else.

The concrete
walls give way to glass. I stop and press my fingertips against the
window. Beyond is the decontamination room, and I can see the man
lying in a hospital gown, wires and tubes extending from his arms
and connecting to machines.

“Can we go in?”
I ask, dropping my hands.

Kean pulls his
sleeve over his palm, rubs my invisible fingerprints from the glass
and moves to the door. He punches in the code with his thumb and
because I’m standing on his right now, I manage to work out the
next number: nine, but miss the last three. So far all I’ve got is
four-two-six-eight.

Inside there’s
a dull thrumming sound coming from the machines. Graphs continually
flash up on the computer monitors, rewriting themselves every
twenty seconds or so. I walk over to the end unit, where the man is
unconscious on a bed. “What’s his name?” I ask, peering through the
thick glass.

Adrian steps up
right behind me, so close that I can feel his breath on my ear when
he speaks. “Three six two.”

I can’t move
away because Adrian’s blocking me with his body. Electric panic
sends the hairs on the back of my neck straight up and I find
myself staring at his reflection in the glass. If I’ve learnt one
thing since the outbreak, it’s to trust my gut instinct. Trusting
it has got me this far and right now it says stay dormant. Be the
unsuspecting predator just lying in wait. I swallow back my
discomfort. “That’s a number,” I say. “Not a name.”

“We’re all
numbers here. Even me.” Adrian steps to the side and it’s as if he
releases me from his invisible grip. I breathe a tiny sigh of
relief. Adrian rolls up his uniform cuff and shows me his number:
zero zero two.

“Number
two?”

He nods,
looking down at his tag. “And when dad gets too old to run this
place I’ll become number one.”

“You’ll be in
charge?”

He grins.
“Cool, hey.”

It takes every
ounce of my being to not betray my horror at this moment. I clear
my throat. “What’s next on this tour?”

“Follow me,” he
says. Adrian opens the coded door and I follow him further down the
corridor. There are a few doors on the left that must be offices;
they all have nameplates mounted at eye level. We pass Doctor
Hope’s office and make a final turn. Adrian stops at a plain
looking door and whips his thumb over the number pad. He puts his
index finger to his lips and pushes the door open, just enough to
peek in.

This corridor
is slightly different. Instead of having transparent windows, half
of the wall is made of dark mirrors that display our reflections as
we walk. It makes me suspicious of what’s on the other side and why
they don’t want it readily on display, even to their own staff.

Adrian beckons
to me and holds the door open.

I go through
first. It’s a rather small room, plain, with desks around the outer
walls and computer monitors flashing and humming. The corridor
glass turns out to be one-way glass. I can’t see in from the hall
but I can see out of the lab. Is that a safety thing?

The opposite
wall of the lab is half wall, half normal glass, and beyond it
stretches a seemingly endless line of similar rooms. It reminds me
of a house of mirrors where your reflection it multiplied thousands
of times.

“Whoa,” I say,
sounding overly enthused.

“You like
that?” Adrian stands next to me.

“How far back
does it go?”

“Sixteen labs,
not including this one because this is just where they do random
paper work and stuff. It’s more like an office.”

“Huh.” I glance
around. “How far in can we go?”

Adrian looks
unsure.

“Can we at
least go into the next room since this isn’t even a lab?”

He looks at me
sternly. “Just one and that’s it.”

I follow him
through the next coded door.

“All those
codes must be annoying,” I say. “What is this, like a nuclear
weapons facility or something?”

Adrian pauses
and looks at me for a while, then he smiles. “Not exactly but
probably just as volatile.” Adrian sits on a swivel seat at a
corner desk and watches me wander around.

In the very
centre of the room is a bench with stacked cages of live rats; big
and fat, their white bodies make eerie shuffling and squeaking
noises. It’s really horrible to look at actually. I’ve never really
had a pet before but I don’t think I need to to know it feels wrong
to cage things against their will. “What are they for?”

“Tests.”

I almost don’t
want to ask but I do. “What kind of tests?”

“Antidote
tests.”

I tip my head
to one side. “They’re kind of cute.”

Adrian snorts a
laugh. “They’re ugly.”

I move away and
pass a desk full of paper work. Along the wall is a bench with
three sinks and cupboard space underneath. All the cupboard doors
have metal grilles built in, maybe to keep the air flow going, and
I wonder if they keep more animals in there. “Why is it so cold in
here? It’s like a fridge.”