A Book by Alexie (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

odds were getting better.

“What is the decay rate of the survivors?” asked Kaymore.

“Down to 5%.” answered Dr. Zarrious. He had lost all excitement when he'd caught Kaymore's eye in the hallway. He didn't wish to anger him anymore.

“Much better.” Things were progressing much faster than he expected. “Dispose of them.” ordered Kaymore as he turned and left the booth to make his way back to his transport he'd arrived in. All the while as he walked the way he'd come his thoughts were of his timetable.

Dr. Zarrious pressed a single button, he hated this part of the experiment, disposing of healthy test subjects. So much could still be learned from them but for Kaymore they were worthless at this point. A gas was released into the chamber with the test subjects and with in minutes they were all dead. Upon pressing another button robots entered the room to clean up and dispose of the bodies. No one person could ever be paid enough to keep quiet about this part of the job, so automation was employed. No emotions getting in the way of doing a necessary job. They couldn't afford any squealers on the team bringing a halt to the experiments. Now all that was left for Dr. Zarrious was to wait for the next batches of serums to arrive to be mixed in the correct portions and the next batch of test subjects to be rounded up for injection. Then wait for the results.

****
Cassie and Anton were out on the town celebrating her new job. Anton thought it was great that she only lived a block away from his place, and that with his promotion they had the same work shifts. Now was the time to build on this relationship and see where it took them.

They came to a quaint dinner, but to Cassie and Anton it was a little too sterile compared to the ones from their respective villages. All the wait staff were covered completely except for their eyes that peeked through their protective garments and of course then covered from head to toe in barrier cloth. There wasn't much variety in the compound but it was something they didn't have to make themselves.

All the food was processed and decontaminated prior to serving. Some patrons went so far as to bring their own utensils for fear of cross contamination. All this processing of the food in the compound made it taste dull, that is how Anton and Cassie felt anyways. After their waitstaff took their order and brought their beverages Cassie noticed someone walking in. Cassie called out “Teressa? Teressa!” The lady, thin and tired looking turned to recognize Cassie.

“Oh, my God!!! Cassie??? It is you!!!”

Teressa walked over to the couple to embrace Cassie. Cassie stood and just at the last moment before they touched they both thought better of their actions. They'd both almost forgotten the laws about public touch and just smiled at each other and exchanged a few pleasantries.

“Teressa, I want you to meet someone.” She gestured to the male figure who had been sitting across from her. “This is Anton, he's not a lifer like us.” Teressa looked at Anton and smiled. “Anton, this is Professor Teressa Moore. She lived in my village and was the one who got me my first job in the medical sector.” Now Anton had a context for who this individual was and her importance to Cassie.

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Dr. Moore.” said Anton trying to be polite and politically correct.

“Call me Teressa please, I get enough of the Dr. Moore business at work. In the real world I'm just Teressa.”

“Teressa, please join us for dinner.” Cassie invited. Teressa gladly accepted and the evening was spent catching up on each other lives.

Teressa had been the first to leave the medical sector for a different position in several years. Shortly after she'd told Cassie to came to work at the compound to fill the position she had just left. Teressa's new position was going to be teaching at the university. Her credentials as a scientist were very impressive and as usual took several days to pass clearance out of the medical sector. This was almost a year ago. Cassie's application took several months to process and to be physically cleared before she could start work and Teressa's recommendation made Cassie the perfect replacement.

Cassie inquired how her work was going. Teressa hesitated a little, this caught Anton's eye. Teressa made a bland comment about her students afraid to handle even water in the laboratory and the frustration she was having getting them over the remote possibility of coming into contact with potentially hazardous materials.

“In your last wave you'd mentioned some research you were getting paid to do. What ever happened to that?” Cassie inquired excitedly.

“Oh, it's still on going. Really quite boring and nothing much to talk about really.”

Anton noticed a little nervousness in Teressa's response. She was hiding something, her body language was unmistakable, he just knew it but couldn't figure out why simple research would be something to hide. Unless it was something illegal. Anton made note of this and thought he'd do a little checking on his own. He didn't want Cassie to be implicated in something illegal by association with a friend.

The conversation dragged on. Cassie told both Anton and Teressa of her wonderful discovery. The man she'd replaced had died due to stress he suffered over a lost package and that she'd found it. It was as if it had gotten bumped and knocked off it's shelf behind other packages. She'd even received a commendation for this work. She was so happy.

Anton remembered this incident and had remembered interviewing Stanley Banks the individual Cassie had replaced. Stanley had walked Anton through the entire area and even showed him step by step his procedures that he'd taken to find this package. Stanley had looked behind everything on the shelves and had shown Anton that the package had gone missing with out the benefit of being checked out. It was just gone.

Something was going on and Anton feared for Cassie. He kept quiet, didn't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily. He also noted the look in Teressa's eyes, she was politely curious but, seemed a bit taken back by the story, she seemed a little unsettled. He'd check into all of this new information later, and covertly. He didn't want anyone else to know, as the missing package smelled of an inside job, something a little more sinister than just a lost package. That his investigation might turn up to be dangerous for everyone.

On their walk home Cassie couldn't say enough about Teressa and their life together as they were growing up. Funny stories and sad stories of lost loved ones, on and on she went. Finally Cassie realized she was having a one sided conversation and inquired of Anton's distance. “Oh, it's nothing really, just work I've got to do tomorrow.” He instantly perked up for Cassie, he didn't want her to suspect anything. Not now, it was not worth getting her all worked up about. They stopped at Cassie's place and stepped inside the foyer. For the first time they actually embraced, it was a little safer than on the street as someone would definitely notice their touching and possibly report them to the authorities.

Anton gave a little tug on the barrier cloth over Cassie's face, as it fell away he leaned forward to kiss her and found her lips meeting his on his way to hers. This was so nice that Cassie felt the same as he did, and didn't have any affliction to touching. He had no idea how he'd survived as long as he had without human touch. He had no idea how the compounders coped. Anton pulled away first, Cassie was wanting more, but Anton thought better of it as all the questions from their night out swam through his head.

“What's wrong?” asked Cassie, a little hurt by his actions.

“Really nothing, I would love to stay.” 'Boy would I' he thought to himself. Things were moving in the way he'd only dream-pt of since he'd met Cassie. Not that he didn't want to have them progress but, the information of the evening kept tickling at the back of his head and wouldn't let me concentrate on the pending consummation of their affections. “It's just I remembered that I have an early meeting and I really need to be in my own bed tonight. Sleeping over as you know would mean no sleep for either of us right now.” He knew his forward presumptions words were spot on as Cassie blushed and said nothing. This warmed Anton, now he knew for sure she was having the same ideas about him as he was about her.

Cassie tried to control her blush, it was as if he looked into her soul and pulled straight out of her mind her very thoughts. Or, was she just that transparent to him. Either way she understood. Didn't like it much as it had been very long since she'd had the opportunity for human contact. She longed for the night that her and Anton could take the time to discover each other completely. But, tonight wasn't going to be it. They kissed once more, Cassie put on her barrier cloth so the neighbors wouldn't suspect and retired to her door.

Anton, busy in though made his way home. He wasn't sure how to progress in his investigation so as not to arouse suspicion so he decided to be more covert than usual. He'd have to call in a few favors.

****

Stanley awoke, still groggy and realizing he was not home. He had no idea what had happened. The last thing he remembered was going to bed after letting Mr. Greeg out his apartment door, worrying weather he'd have a job come morning. 'Where am I.' He though rubbing his eyes trying to clear his vision. As he regained a clearer head he sat up. He was not alone. He looked down beside and across from his position to see several other beds some filled with people still asleep and some empty awaiting occupants. 'Am I in the hospital?' he wondered.

As he surveyed his surroundings he realized his arm hurt, glancing down he saw a tube that was taped in place there, which was attached to a bag full of fluid, he reasoned an IV was attached to his arm. “I must be in a hospital, but why am I hear.” he said softly not wishing to disturb the other patients. Stanley had never been in a hospital so he had no idea how one looked. The only reference he had was the video waves left over from the past age before the plagues. That's how he knew about the IV bag attached to his arm. He didn't even think of removing it as it was there for a reason and his health. That's what they did to patients on the videos.

Next to his bed was a covered tray. Stanley realized just how hungry he was, as he reached for it he was hoping it was food. Yes, it was. Stanley gorged himself uncaring who saw. He felt he hadn't eaten in days. He had no idea that in fact it'd been 3 days since his last solid meal. He'd just have to wait on an attendant to fill in the blanks in his memory.

****

Stanley hadn't shown up for work the next day. His one and only, sometimes, friend and