Deceived

Chapter Six

The van arrives at the local security center and the agents move me into a cold lobby with bright, sterile lights reflecting on the walls and panels. Workers pass without a second glance while I wait. How nice it must be to have full immunity.

Wilson brings me another bottle of water, but now I've worked up a cold sweat, and the bottle dangles lifelessly from my fingers as I stare at the desk on the other side of the room.

An hour passes, and Wilson pats my shoulder. "The shuttle will be here any moment. Time to go." I stumble behind her to the lawn. A shiny, sleek black speck descends from the rich blue sky. My hair flies against the wind from the roaring rotors that whip the grass at my feet. I shiver, wide-eyed. I've seen shuttles pass overhead, but only on occasion.

The hatch opens, mechanics hissing as the metal platform lowers until it thumps softly on the ground. A new agent steps out from the back of the rear bay. He's tall and slender with light brown skin, but I can't see much else of him with his suit.

"The Community is safe," Wilson says with smile as she steps away from me. "Good luck."

I give a small nod, about all I can muster.

"This way." The new agent-Agent Agarwal-ushers me on board the back of the shuttle and motions to a table beside the interior door. Like the others, his accent is a little bit different from what I'm used to. These agents have come from all over the Community. According to the doctor, they're taking me outside the Community to the treatment facility.

Where am I going to end up?

"You'll spend the trip here," Agent Agarwal continues. "Others will be accompanying you later in the journey. There's a bathroom to your left, and you can get water from the sink. There should be paper cups beside the mirror." He leads me past several unmarked crates to the bathroom, but that's really the only thing to show.

My stomach rumbles... and for the first time since the injection, I don't feel like I'm going to lose the pudding I ate earlier. "Is there going to be an evening meal?"

He nods curtly. "We will bring you food, as well as a sleeping bag."

I blink, surprised. "We don't get bunks?"

Agarwal places his hands behind his back. "This was something of an unplanned trip. Normally there would be more options, but since we have to keep you quarantined, this will have to do."

I frown. "Why keep me quarantined from the other agents but not you? Aren't they already immune? Are you going to be okay?"

He sighs, his shoulders slouching, but he seems to understand where I'm coming from. "It's not so much the plague we need to worry about as it is the delusions you might have. The infected have been known to get... rambunctious. Inside the Community, an incident is fairly easy to handle. Plenty of security guards with the proper measures to subdue someone if necessary. Don't get me wrong, those of us on the shuttle can handle you, too, but it's all about safety. Something goes wrong in the air, that could be a lot more devastating than if something goes wrong on the ground."

My stomach twists in a knot. So much for the idea of successfully eating dinner. The idea that we... that I could get violent... that I could cause harm to the Community...

I might not do well in school, but I don't want my friends to get hurt, or my family.

I lower my eyes and rub the back of my neck. Though the day is surprisingly cool for August, which has flooded the back of the shuttle with fresh air, I'm pretty sure that air should be humid. Instead my skin feels like it wants to crack from sunburn. I withdraw my fingers and knot them together to keep from fidgeting.