“Nyla,” he said, smiling broadly as the group approached.
“Good to see you, Pax.”
After they shook hands, she presented the rest of her team to him, most of whom he’d already met.
“We have three more who are keeping eyes on the station,” she said, and then turned to the only person she had yet to introduce. “This is Martina Gable.”
Pax held his hand out toward her. “The immune girl,” he said.
She looked a bit self-conscious as she shook his hand. “Good to meet you.” She glanced at Nyla. “Can we go now?”
“You’re anxious about your friends, aren’t you?” Pax said.
Martina nodded. “If we wait too long—”
Pax held up a hand. “I understand.” He thought for a moment and then said to Nyla, “The other planes should be only a few minutes behind us, but there’s no reason to hang out until they get here. We’ll take this first group now and see what we can figure out.”
“Of course,” Nyla said. She pointed. “We’ll take that van.” She turned to the man next to her. “Gabriel, you drive, and I’ll fill Pax in on the latest. The rest of you will bring the others the moment they’re on the ground, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the rest of her team said.
Pax looked back at the volunteers, all of whom were off the plane now, and motioned at the van. “Load up. Time to go.”
As he turned back around, Martina was looking at him.
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
He dipped his head slightly and put a hand on her back. “Let’s see what we can do.”
They took the 101 Freeway from the Valley into Hollywood and approached the stadium from the basin side. Gabriel, clearly knowing where all the jams were, exited at Gower and turned down Hollywood Boulevard, heading east.
“Any theories on where this convoy might be going?” Pax asked when Nyla finished her brief.
“No idea,” she said. “Unless they’re all leaving.”
Pax frowned. “The reports I heard said the other places that have bugged out usually had a stream of trucks moving from the station to whatever airport they were using.”
“Could be they’re getting ready to do that.”
“Could be,” he said. “But from the way you described it, it sounds a little bit different.”
“If it’s not that, I don’t know what it is.”
Eastern Hollywood gave way to Los Feliz and then Silver Lake.
“We’re getting close,” Nyla said. “We’ll stop about a mile and a half out and hike in from there. Any closer and they might see us.”
When they reached Alvarado Street, Gabriel pulled the van into the gas station on the northeast corner.
“The hike’s a little hilly,” Gabriel explained as they climbed out. “But the good thing is that so far we haven’t seen any patrols at night. Hopefully that pattern will hold.”
Duncan organized everyone into two parallel lines, and told them to keep their pace steady while watching out for the person in front of them.
Pax noticed a few of them pulling their guns out of their bags. “Hold on,” he said. “Best if you keep those stowed for now. Nobody’s got holsters so you’d have to hold them, which means you might accidently pull the trigger. I’ve done it myself and let me tell you, it’s the last thing we need right now.”
There was reluctance from a couple of people, but in the end they all put their weapons back in their bags.
“Everyone ready?” Pax asked.
There was no dissent.
Looking at Nyla and Gabriel, he said, “Lead the way.”
Dr. Lawrence was looking through the window when the subject regained consciousness. The girl lay there for several seconds, staring up at the ceiling before she finally sat up.
Immediately, she placed her hands over her eyes and winced.
Lawrence pushed the intercom button. “Ruby, are you all right?”
The girl moved her palms far enough apart to squint at the door. “What happened? Why am I in here?”
Lawrence clicked the button again. “You had a reaction to the vaccine that caused you to lose consciousness. How are you feeling now? Are you ill?”
The girl looked around. “What is this place?”
“Isolation chamber. Merely a precaution.”
Turning back to the door, the survivor said, “Precaution for what?”
“As I told you, you had a reaction to the vaccine. It’s standard procedure in such circumstances to isolate the patient until we are sure everything is okay. Now, please answer my question. Are you feeling sick?”
The girl blinked a few times. “My head hurts.”
That symptom could have been as easily caused by the sedative as the virus.
“Anything else?” Lawrence asked. “Do you feel…congested? Any difficulty breathing? Aches? Pains?”
“Just the headache.”
Interesting. The doctor noted it on her tablet.
“How long do I have to stay in here?” the girl asked.
“Overnight, at least. You will hopefully be able to leave tomorrow.”
The answer didn’t seem to please her. “Can you at least turn up the air conditioner in here? It’s hot and…” She touched her arms. “I’m sticky.”
“Why don’t you try to rest more and I’ll see what I can do.”
As Lawrence stepped away from the door, Rivera asked, “So?”
She grinned. “Nothing yet.”
Ben waited until twenty minutes after the kitchen crew collected the dishes before he headed for the dormitory door. He only went a few steps, though, before Jilly ran up behind him and grabbed his arm.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“You know where,” he said.
“But we can’t leave Ruby.”
Ben had known since Ruby had been led away that this discussion was coming. Jilly had pretty much spent the rest of the day sitting in the yard, watching the fence in hopes her friend would come back. Any attempt to discuss the escape plan had been shut down. Ben and the others knew, however, they couldn’t wait.
“No one said anything about leaving her,” he said, “but we can’t do anything for her from in here. After we get out, we’ll figure something out.”
“Like what?”
“I promise. We’re not going to just disappear. We’ll get her.”
“What if they bring her back right after we leave?”
He grabbed her by the arms and locked eyes with her. “Jilly. We will get her out. But we need to get out of here first. Do you understand?”
She blinked several times, fighting back tears. “We can’t leave,” she whispered.
“You can stay here if you want, but if you choose to come, you have to do everything I tell you.”
“I’ll…I’ll come.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah.”
He smiled as he gave her arms a squeeze. “You’ll be number one behind me, okay?”
“Okay. But don’t forget your promise.”
“I won’t.”
When he let go of her, he glanced at Preston, who was standing only a few feet behind them. Preston gave him a shallow nod, indicating he’d heard the conversation and would keep tabs on Jilly when Ben couldn’t.
Ben made his way outside, strolled over to the fence, and dropped down. Crawling along the narrow shadow at the barrier, he worked his way around to the gate.
Close up now, he examined the grass. What was amazing to him was how uniform and tightly woven it all was. His father had always prided himself on the grass in their yard but it was nothing like this. This was a work of art.