Cascade

Chapter 5

"Heavy sleeper, huh?"

I blink my eyes open in surprise, blinking quickly to get rid of the drowsiness. The curtain that serves as my door is pulled back, relieving blinding sunlight. A figure stands there, but all I can see is a silhouette.

Cameron leans against the doorframe, shifting and blocking the sunlight.

I blink a few more times. "Would it kill you to knock?"

Cameron rolls his eyes. He reaches over and pounds his fist against the doorframe. "Good enough? Get outta bed, Sleeping Beauty. Everyone else has been up for hours. Some people want to meet you. Some people I just know you'll love," he says, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

I slide out of bed. "Ok, just let me get changed first.
He nodded and stepped outside, dropping the curtain back into place.

I pull on the pair of black cargo pants but stay in the gray shirt I slept in. I slide on the beat-up sneakers. If I concentrate hard enough, I can just pretend that I'm going to dance practice. Yeah. Of course, that's where I'm going.

I step out into the bright sunlight where Cameron is waiting for me.

He leads me down the dirt road, waving to people that we pass by. His bright smile warms the faces of people that we pass by who look hopeless.

He leads me through the blood-stained dirt, the bodies of last night seemingly gone, to the center of the quarantine, the big house where the boys first brought me. Miles and Cameron's house. I notice there are not as many people milling about around here as before, and the ones who are around are passing by as quickly as possible. Almost as if they are scared.

We walk up the steps of the main house. Compared to the other falling apart shakes, this house is luxury. The main house looks like your average American two-story home, with stutters, a wrap-around porch, and a screen door. But it's so much nicer than the other so-called "houses."

Cameron holds the door open for me and lets me go in first. I step inside and wait for him to join me inside. I follow him up the staircase to the second floor. He leads me into a large room with a rug in the center. On top of the rug is a square coffee table with four black fabric couches surrounding it. Sitting on the couch facing me is Miles, slouched over with his head in his hands.

On the couch to the left is a girl. She's about sixteen, with hip length, straight blonde hair, and in contrast, very tan skin. She turns her head to look at me when I walk in and I'm met with startlingly green eyes.

On the couch to the right is a guy who looks slightly older than me. He has light brown hair, a soft tan, and eyes the color of freshly baked brownies. He raises an eyebrow at me as Cameron leads me into the room.

Miles picks up his head from his hands when he sees us and leans on the back of the couch. "I was wondering when you'd get here," he says, his voice deep. "These two have been annoying me with their yapping for far too long." He points at the blonde girl who is staring at me with wide eyes. "This is Lareina Conway." He points to the guy on the right. "That is Kornell Valentino. But don't call him that unless you want to die. His name is Kody."

Miles points to me. "Lare, Kody, this is Miss Ara Choi of the girl group Cascade."

Lareina jumps up and steps towards me. She grabs my hand and shakes it. "I know who you are. I can't believe you're here! I've all your songs. I had all four of your albums. Sorry, but Binnia's my favorite, maybe it's because she's my age, but I love you too-"

"Woah," I interrupt her. "Calm down," I laugh. "It's nice to meet you."

She giggles and walks back over to the couch.

"Forty-three out of two hundred fifty people," Miles suddenly says. "Seventeen percent of our population was taken from us last night. It's not fair. Those people came here for the possibility that they would live because they or someone near them would be the key to finding the antidote. They never came here to be slaughtered like cows."

"Is there nothing you can do to defend yourselves?" I ask.

Kody shakes his head. "Would we have lost so many people last night if we could?"

"And you have no weapons?"

Lareina laughs. "Why on earth would they give us weapons? We're practically prisoners here. All they give us are dull knives to cut our food with." She motions to Miles. "When he first got here, after a few people had joined him and saw what kind of organization they were running here, he tried to leave. They shot him in the side to keep him here."

I turn my head to Miles. He nods once in confirmation.

"Only one person has ever escaped here," Cameron adds. "There was this one guy. He was in his mid-fifties. He was in the final stage of the disease, creepy grin and all. He broke into the guard's room, stole a gun, murdered a bunch of guards and we never saw him again. We presume he made it out alive, but we can't be sure."

I walk over to the empty couch. I sit down and cross my legs. "So there's a way out through the Gaurd's Room?"

"We assume so," Miles copies me, crossing his legs the same way. "It's inside of the wall surrounding the village. One door on our side, and I assume a door to get out. How else would they ever get out?"

"There could be a way out through the Labs too," Lareina adds. "Speaking of which," She looks at me, "You're going to find out just what those labs are like tomorrow."

I look at everyone. They refuse to meet my eyes. "What do you mean?"

Miles sighs and means forward til he leans his arms on his knees. He meets my eyes. "On the first day you get here, you can settle in. They don't want you in shock of your condition. On the second day, they take you in for testing. Most of the time it only takes about an hour or two, but I feel they will be very interested in you. Not only are you foreign, but when they put you in here, you were healthy. You didn't have the Blue Fever. Not only that but you are fit. You're more in shape than most Americans. So the progress of the disease would be slower. They want to know how long it will take for you to get the disease, and how long it takes you to move from one stage to the next. After the day of testing, you come in every other day for blood samples. Unless they find you as a more interesting specimen, like me, and they take you in for testing every few days instead of just samples."

"These tests are not fun," Cameron adds. "I don't envy you. I wish I didn't ever have to go in there again, but once anybody reaches the next stage, they go in for tests. Any day now I'll get into stage two and be brought into the Labs again." He nods at Lareina. "Her too. Stage two any day now."

Lareina pulls on the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt, insecure about the bruises that must be blossoming underneath.

Kody stands up and walks over to the doorway, motioning for me to follow him. I stand and follow him through the doorway, down the stairs, and out onto the front porch. The others follow us.

Kody points out into the distance. "Out there. That's the wall."

From here, I can barely see the large concrete wall that goes around the village. There's barbed wire at the top and guards walking around the edge.

"That wall is really thick. Inside are all the labs, the guard headquarters, and rooms for the doctors and nurses.

I stare out at the wall, which is blocking out the sun. There's something ominous about it. Mysterious, but it also scares me. There's something in there that I never want to see.