Times A Ticking

8

I lean my head up slightly to the right and make eye contact with Andre's bunny like eyes. I give him a small smile and nod my head, I stand up and look at him.

"What's up?" He looks around nervously and shake his head before grabbing my hand and pulling me down another hallway we haven't been down before.

He stops next to a metal door and leans against the wall. "They don't know how to fix this do they?" He asks in a hushed voice his eyes never once leaving mine.

"What?" I ask and he gives me a look before shaking his head. "Oh." I whisper and nod my head slightly, "I don't know Andre. It's probably just another disease. There's always a vaccine, I don't think we should worry."

"Have you seen how our fathers are acting Gabs? I'm not the only one who can see that they are on edge." He says as he crosses his arms over his chest accidentally scrunching up the dark blue fabric of his shirt in the progress.

"Of course they are, I'm sure all scientists get out on edge when there's a flu outbreak." I whisper trying to calm him down at least a tad. "Stuff like this always happens."

"No, no, no." He says as he shakes his head and grips my shoulders giving me a little shake. "When had there ever been a flu where people would eat the others? Or come back alive?"

"Kuru." I say and smile proving him wrong but he just releases me and sighs in disappointment. He presses his back against the wall and slides down until his bottom hits the floor.

"Stop bringing up what we learnt in history. That was forever ago. Those people didn't die then come back to live. This... This is something different, something that not even our fathers can fix. I know it, you know it, and even they know it." He whispers as he brings his knees to his chest and rests his forehead against them.

I move next to him and sit down as I rub his back softly. "They might not know how to fix it right now, but they will. We can't just give up hope."

"And we can't just hang onto it either. I don't want to sit here and wait for something that may never come Gabby. I might as well make myself used to it." He says as he brings his sad eyes to mine. "I don't want to get my hopes up and end up like one of those things out there."

"You won't." I pause and take a deep breath before continuing, "None of us will. We are safe here. Look at this place Andre, we could live here for years if we needed to."

"I know." He says as he leans his head against the wall. "I'm going to go try and get some rest, I had a rough morning. Well, the rest of my day sucked too." He laughs softly before standing up and helping me up as well.

"Okay. I'll be nearby if you need me." I say as we begin to walk back. After a few minutes of silence I speak up again, "Andre? Why are you so worried about this... You seem more worried than a lot of us do." I point out.

He gulps slightly and I watch his hands begin to slightly shake. "I'll tell you later, I really need rest Gabs." He says before jogging away from me leaving me in the hallway by myself.

I walk back over to Adam who was sitting in the floor with Ruby and Zoey playing with them. I sit down beside them and cross my legs.

"Hey." I say as I rub the top of Zoey's and Ruby's head making them both giggle and tackle me with a hug.

"Sissy!" They yell together before wrapping their tiny arms around my neck. I giggle and I wrap my arms around them both giving them a little squeeze before gently setting them back down into their spots.

"Mommy told us to stay and play, Bubby said we were being good." Zoey says with a big smile showcasing off her missing front tooth.

"Bubby who is being better?" Ruby asks and Adam quickly shuts it down knowing the girls would begin to argue if he didn't.

"You both are. No more questions like that, remember what Mom said about that Ruby?" Adam asks and she frowns before nodding her head.

"Mommy said we can't ask who's better anymore because we start to fight." Ruby whispers out before Adam puts her in his lap.

"Good job. Now how about I take you and Zoey and let you two take a nap?" He asks as they both begin to whine and shake their head profusely.

"Girls, it's time for your nap. Don't make me go get Mommy." I say and the widen their eyes, I stand up and pick up Zoey as Adam carries Ruby.

We walk over to the small sleeping bags Mom had set out on the floor and lay them down on one large one. I lay down between them allowing them to each cuddle up to me as I rub their back to soothe them.

"Adam will you check in my bag? I brought them both their sippy cups, you know they can't sleep without them." I say as he digs through my back and gets them out handing one to each of the girls.

I hum softly as they drink out of their sippy cups and watch as their eyes slowly begin to shut. Once I was for sure they were asleep I slither out from between them and stand up. I look around and giggle before making my way over to Adam who was standing in the corner drawing on a notepad.

"Everyone is asleep but us." I point out as Adam lowers his notepad and laughs before shaking his head. "Kinda like how it was when we were younger too, before the twins. I remember Hannah always getting us in trouble too."

"I miss it." He sighs out before he begins to draw again. I look over his shoulder slightly and look at what he was drawing.

"What is that?" I question as he smiles and lowers the drawing for me to examine. I take it from his hands and stare at it.

"A blueprint. Of this laboratory, or well what I've seen so far. I tried to get into the closet over here on the left, it's locked though. There's two other rooms down that way as well, both are locked." He explains before he points up to a hallways directly across from us. "I haven't went down there yet. I honestly don't want to it looks creepy since the lights are flickering."

"We can check it out tonight as well." I say before handing him the notepad again. "I'm going to go wake up Andre and talk to him. He seemed really uneasy earlier. I'm worried about him, he's not built for stuff like this." I say as Adam ruffles my hair.

"Good luck Pup." He says as I walk away groaning and fixing my hair. I scoot around the twins and manage my way past the computers before kneeling down and gently shaking Andre.

"Hey, wake up." I whisper as he opens his eyes and blinks a few times to get them to focus. He leans up resting himself on his elbows before yawning.

"What do you want?" He asks before sitting up completely and stretching out his limbs. I stand up and motion for him to as well. "I was sleeping really good you know."

"You'll have time to sleep later. I want to talk to you about something." I say as I lead him to the hallway by the main enterance. He hesitates before following behind me, he was still disturbed from what I had shown him earlier in the room down the hall.

"I really don't like this hallway." He shutters as he stops towards the middle of the hallway. I turn around and shake my head a small smile creeping onto my face.

"Okay this is far enough anyway. So, Andre.." I pause, "Will you tell me why you were acting like that earlier?" He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.

"You woke me up for that?" He pauses and stares at me and I eagerly nod my head. He lets out an exaggerated sigh before looking around us. "Okay I'll tell you but you have to keep your mouth shut. Only my Mom and I know about this, and she doesn't want it to get out. Not yet at least."

"Okay come on, I hate waiting you know this." I whisper as he looks around us once more as if something was going to get us at any second. He slowly drags his eyes back to me and takes a deep breath.

"Mom is pregnant."