The System

Lucy bit her lip and looked up to the ceiling. “You wouldn’t feel that way if you were the one left behind. Trust me. I didn’t get saved from anything. My best friend died. I spent a week trapped in my school. I just traveled here with another friend…who is going to die. What exactly was I saved from?” She instinctually rubbed her wrists. The battle wounds of her night with Spencer had healed, but there was a patch of bright white new skin, where the handcuffs had cut the deepest: a permanent scar.

“You’re not dead,” Galen offered, but he was tentative. He rubbed his temples and didn’t look at his sister. “And I bet Dad will get Huck to go get Ethan. Now that things have settled down? I bet he will.”

“That’s great,” Lucy said, and she meant it. Ethan needed to come to this place, needed the doctors and the help. “What do you know about this Huck guy?” she asked, shifting her body on the bed to face him—her knees touching the side of his legs as he dangled them off the bed.

“He runs this place. He’s nice.”

“Why do you like this place?”

Galen turned a bit, “They have a game room. A gym called the Center. Things for us to do, like movie nights and stuff. It just feels…I don’t know…the people are nice here. It’s…I can’t explain it…it’s not like it would seem. We all know we’ve survived something big and we’re all in this together. Maybe it’s hard to explain. But I’ll take you on a tour when you’re up for it.”

“You wouldn’t want to go home?”

He processed her question and thought for a bit. Then he shook his head. “I miss some of my stuff, I guess. But like I said, we’re not staying here.”

“We’re moving back?”

“Home? No. I’ll have Dad tell you. He can show you the blueprints. It’s awesome. Huck’s building floating cities! Six of them. One city for each of the six underground Systems.”

“There are six of these things?” Lucy pointed upward.

Galen nodded and smiled. “All over the world! It’s great, Lucy. You’ll think so too. I know it.”

Lucy didn’t say anything. She just stared at her brother and wondered if he would have felt the same unbridled enthusiasm for her father and Huck’s plan if he had seen the bodies and the destruction; maybe he didn’t even know the reality of the outside world—the crumbling cities, the devastated earth.

Galen thought he was at a type of summer camp.

She knew better.

Beyond that, she couldn’t wrap her mind around why Grant would be a threat to any of this. Was the System so weak, so brittle, and unreliable that one extra person could send it plummeting into destruction?

“I want to find my friend,” she said. “Do you know your way to the tanks?”

Galen’s eyes grew wide and he shrank away from her. “No, Lucy. I can’t. We’re not supposed to snoop.”

“Does Dad have a lab here?”

He nodded, “But I can’t take you there either. I don’t know where it is.”

Lucy handed him the plastic cup. “Thanks for the milk. I want to be alone now,” she said and then she tipped herself back over and crawled under the comforters, pulling the blankets over her head until she heard Galen let himself out.

CHAPTER NINE

Grant opened his eyes. He stared at the man standing near his shackled body and recognized him in an instant. For a second, he tried to place himself—there was the tank, then the guards, the injection, and now, this bland hospital room, his body flat against the hard bed. He knew he was incapacitated, so he didn’t even try to move or fight. Instead, he followed with his eyes as Mr. King moved around the room; the scientist adjusted vials, and syringes, slapped on latex gloves, and hummed a jaunty little tune. He hadn’t seemed to notice Grant was awake and just now coming out of his sedation—which was a bit u

It wasn’t out of some chivalrous desire for self-sacrifice either. She just deserved a happy ending; he really felt that way.

Somewhere in Idaho, Grant had the realization that this may not end well for him.

He had kept his alarmist opinions to himself. Lucy had written a whole new chapter with him as her newly minted brother; he’d just become one of their family—it was all smiles and pep, with the TV soundtrack of a 90s family comedy, complete with laugh-track and a moral at the end.

This moral: You do not walk into the hidden underground hideout of an evil mastermind and expect to get adopted into his family.

Lucy was going to be super disappointed with the way things turned out. Cue audience sad moans.

Scott King’s eyes met with Grant and he raised his eyebrows a bit. “You’re awake. I apologize for the entertainment,” he said with a self-deprecating smile, suddenly awkward.

“I’m always a fan of Scientist Humming. One of my favorites,” Grant offered up and Scott’s smile widened.

“Yes, um, that was Humming in a Major Chord,” Scott continued the joke. “A favorite.” Then Lucy’s father walked over to Grant and without warning plunged a needle into his arm; Grant flinched and then relaxed as Scott withdrew the needle. Then he slapped around for Grant’s veins and carefully drew a vial of blood. He held his finger over the injection site for a few moments before walking away, looking at the blood with curiosity.

“There’s no need for sudden needle plunges,” Grant called after him. “I’m not a big fighter. I’d rather know what you’re doing.”

Scott nodded without turning around. “Noted,” he replied absentmindedly. They fell into an uncomfortable silence.

“You want to know why I’m alive,” Grant said to Scott, hoping to extend the conversation.

Scott turned to Grant. He tucked the capped vial of Grant’s blood into his lab coat pocket. “Yes,” he replied. “It’s perplexing.”

“Up until a few hours ago, I thought it was sort of like a super power,” Grant replied. “I mean…Virus Boy. Has a good superhero ring to it.”

Scott kept his eyes trained on Grant; then he smiled.

“Virus Boy,” Scott repeated and he chuckled. Grant shrugged and put his hands in his lap—he tried to think of more virus jokes, but they eluded him. He wished he had paid more attention in biology class; there had to be a good zinger about antibodies.

For a brief moment, Grant thought maybe it would be exactly like Lucy suspected—they’d free him from his metal bed, invite him up for supper, and bygones would be bygones. If Scott King appreciated humor, maybe Grant could win him over with puns and superhero jokes all night.

He had nothing else.

No leverage.

No parents searching for him; no living family hoping for his return. Only Lucy and her friendship was the only clout he had, but he didn’t want to use her. It wasn’t fair.

“I can see why my daughter enjoyed your company,” Scott replied and he turned to leave. “It’s clear that you are a good guy, Grant. And you’ve been good for her. I appreciate that.”

“We were separated,” Grant said, his voice trailing off. “I’ve been worried. But… I mean, just, it must have been a great reunion. So, she’s happy now? I guess, I mean…” he stopped. He didn’t know what he wanted to say. He lifted his wrist and the chain lifted with him. “I just want her to be happy, you know? So, is she? Does she seem happy?”

Scott paused and he ran his teeth over his lips and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “She’s concerned about you, actually. She’s having a rough time understanding this place.”