The Variables

“Did you kill them?” Darla asked.

“It wasn’t like that. My dad’s not a bad man. He’s scared of you.”

“Stop,” Ainsley said, her mouth full of granola. “How can you get us out of here?”

“I don’t know,” Lindsey said. She was nearing tears. She ran her hand over her short hair and then tore off the top part of the nail on her pinky finger with her teeth, spitting it to the floor. “It’s just...”

“Come on,” Darla moaned. “Can’t you finish a sentence?” She hit the ground next to her and Lindsey jumped.

“I’ll come up with a plan,” Lindsey said. “On one condition.”

She waited for a reply, but Darla just stared at her, narrowing her eyes.

Lindsey continued. “Right. I’ll come up with a plan, as long as you take me with you.”

The girls were silent. They waited for her to explain or elaborate, but she only stood there. After waiting a requisite amount of time, she lowered her head and added, “Please?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Scott slipped into his seat at the round table and rubbed his eyes. The computer monitor was inches from his face and the Elektos Board settled into their places; their voices rang throughout the room, a steady din and buzz of activity. Each of them took their places and waited—the screens for Shay and Muuez remained dark and unmoving. Their absence was noticed. No one had ever missed an Elektos Board meeting.

Tinkering with the monitors, Gordy lowered the volume so that the Elektos members were relegated to a barely audible hum. The meeting wasn’t set to start for another five minutes, and nobody looked particularly anxious to begin. Huck entered the room and walked straight to Scott, and he put his hand on Scott’s shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

“And?” Huck asked.

“It’s finished,” Scott answered.

“Good. Good. And the mist worked?”

“Worked efficiently. Like the first release, but more potent. Faster.”

Huck sniffed. “Yes, well. That’s what I ordered. So, I’m glad to know you’ve been able to delivery so quickly.”

There was a distance, a perfunctory quality to Huck’s responses that caused Scott to feel on edge. Whenever Huck’s moods veered closer to darkness, Scott felt the need to fix everything, and restore the balance. It wasn’t out of a strong attachment to Huck, but rather a desire to replace the safety net. This ebullient, effusive man’s dark side felt personal; if Scott ignored it, then the gloom would fester. He needed jovial Huck back; for his own sanity he needed the faux-kindness and the rapport. Without it, he felt like he was staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

“It’s my pleasure,” Scott replied with a forced smile. “It’s my job and I...support this cause.”

“Hmmm,” Huck nodded once. “A change of heart, I see.” Scott was confused. As Huck turned to take his seat, Scott floundered, and tried to put his finger on the reason for the distance.

“What that boy did to Cass was...” Scott hesitated. “You’d think that he would look at this life like a second chance. Humanity is so...”

“Predictable?” Gordy interjected. There was an edge to that statement that felt directed to Scott. Scott looked at Gordy and held his stare for a beat too long. A heaviness closed in. He wondered what he possibly could have done to offend the Trumans. He had created a new virus just like Huck asked for. He had dispatched his virus to kill the boy. What small objective had he missed?

“So, we’re ready? We have no other concerns?” Huck clapped his hands together and waited for Scott’s answer expectantly.

“Yes. We’re ready,” Scott said.

“Excellent.” Huck smiled.

Scott let out a sigh, and he thought the smile was a good step. It provided him with balance and a twinge of bravery. Perhaps Huck was stressed about the Elektos meeting after the frustrations of the last one; perhaps the mood had nothing to do with Scott at all. He wiped his brow and took a breath. “Look, Huck, can we talk about—”

Huck interrupted him. “Hold your thought. Let me tell the others about our good fortune.”  He sat down in front of the monitors and went to adjust the volume.

“It’s just,” Scott started again, taking a deep breath, his eyes sca

The name seemed to cause everyone in the room to freeze. Steadily, Huck swiveled. “Our meeting is starting in sixty seconds.”

“He hasn’t been changed on the manifest,” Scott replied. Then after a pause, he added, “I’ve been waiting for it to go through so I could tell him not to worry.”

Huck looked at his son, an understanding passed between them, and suddenly Scott felt like he was watching some cruel joke unfold.

“Wait. It wasn’t an oversight? You purposefully added him to Copia?” Scott asked.

“Can we discuss this after the meeting?” Gordy inserted himself into the middle of the conversation. “I’m not trying to dismiss you…but we don’t have time to discuss this thoroughly. My father decided—”

“Yes, it was my choice.” Huck’s voice was stern, clipped, and perfunctory.

Scott opened his mouth to reply, but Huck leaned forward, his eyes narrowing, and he spoke before Scott could answer.

“It might interest you to know that our rangers found survivors.”

Scott felt sick. He felt his stomach tighten, but he tried to keep his face incredulous and calm. He knew where this was going.

“That’s...wow. Why weren’t they brought to me?” Scott asked, understanding in an instant the best way to navigate the news. He picked at a cuticle on his right hand and tried not to stare at the table.

“As prisoners?” Huck asked, shocked.

“As bodies,” Scott clarified. “For study.”

“Why is this the first we are hearing about this?” asked Claude. “News about the Islands shouldn’t have overshadowed news about survivors.” The architect turned his attention to the conversation, keenly interested.

“We always knew there would be survivors. Pockets of people who escaped our reach...that’s why we had the plan for the rangers...but it isn’t that we found people that shocks me, Scott. It’s that these people were living in a city. They had not evaded exposure, which was always our biggest fear. No, they’d been exposed and they had survived. A family.”

The implication was clear and Scott waited for the other shoe to drop. He kept his mouth shut tight.

“We sent the bodies to Seamus in Brazil—” Huck continued. And Scott groaned, slapping his palm against his forehead. His palms were sweaty.

“Seamus?” Scott threw up his hands in the air. The man had been an original scientist on the release team, but he frequently contaminated the lab and reported incorrect data. Scott spent more time cleaning up Seamus’s mistakes than receiving any benefit of having him assist. He had personally requested to send Seamus to the EUS One to get him away from his lab in Nebraska. “You sent Antonio to Russia. Why not send the bodies there? You know Seamus is a sub-par scientist...”