The Immune

23. Mistakes

Isaac says nothing else to me as we break out into a jog. Soft rain falls on our shoulders. It's a good thing Isaac doesn't try to talk to me, because I feel like a bomb. My hands shake; my face burns.

I realize halfway through our run that it's past Hartley's curfew. That's why we haven't run into anyone else. No busybodies sit around on the sidewalks, blanketed in ignorance of what's coming.

In the distance, I hear shouting. Familiar voices yell back and forth. One of them is Farrah. I careen into an alley, pulling Isaac behind me. My side burns as I push on. I grit my teeth to keep moving.

Finally, the Research Facility comes into view. It rises high above us, casting long shadows in the dim moonlight. A small fire burns between two tents. The flame dances feebly in the chilled rain. We step carefully around piles of the inhabitant's belongings, not making a sound.

"Have you ever been in there?" Isaac asks in a whisper.

I nod. "Once. The summer after my thirteenth birthday, when Hartley found out I was immune, he ordered a bunch of blood work and testing to be done. At the time, I thought he might be trying to find a cure." The tower looms ominously before us. "Now, that doesn't make sense. Who knows what he was doing. The results were inconclusive, and I was sent home."

Isaac stares up at the building. "That sounds terrible. I'm sorry."

"It's the past. No need to look back on it now." I step up to the door and dig the keycard out of my pocket. "Let's just do this."

I push the card through the scanner, and the set of automatic doors slide open. A strong wind washes over us as we step in, gun in my hands.

Yet, the lobby is completely empty. There's a desk, but no one sits there. The ticking of a clock fills the room, but no scraping pencils, no soft human chatter, no rustling of shoes. The hum of the elevator across the room drifts towards me.

"Where is everyone?" Isaac asks, not bothering to whisper.

"In bed, maybe?"

He shakes his head. "It's a twenty-four hour workplace. Someone's always here. I know; the lights used to keep me up."

"I don't know, then." My spine tingles. It's suspicious, but I can't think of a valid reason to stop. "We should hurry before they come back."

Together, we check the rest of the floor, but it's nothing but cold offices and empty rooms. So, we head to the staircase, straight for the second floor. The directory hanging on the wall outside the door outlines the layout of the rooms ahead.

1st Floor- Lobby

2nd Floor- Patient Rooms 201-220

3rd Floor- Psych Ward

4th Floor- Medicine Storage and Manufacturing

5th Floor- Research and Development

"Fifth floor," I mumble, taking off up the steps. Where Isaac gets his energy, I'll never know, but I can hardly keep up with him. He sprints ahead of me. By the third staircase, my breath comes faster and faster. I gulp air down like a starving Infected.

By the fourth landing, I stop, clutching my side. Isaac stares down at me.

"You gonna make it?"

I suck in air, managing to spit out, "Yeah..." With one last burst of energy, I lunge up the stairs. Isaac laughs.

"How are you so out of shape? You were on the night guard!"

"We just did a lot of pacing. I didn't run laps around the compound all night."