Seekers

Chapter 14

A week had passed, and Thomas was finally allowed to stand on his feet, without a nurse. He was happy, but the fact that he couldn’t really walk yet was a grim reminder to how weak he had actually become. The cane had taken some getting used to. Thomas hated it. It was the ultimate reminder not just to him, but to everyone else too. It was as if it were saying ‘Hey everyone, Thomas is here. Not that he is really here, thugh. He still can’t walk! See?”

The first couple days had been the hardest. He was actually scared to put weight on his leg, for fear it would crumble, and give oout. Which had happened a lot, actually. Eventually he got used to it, and figured out how to place his foot so that he didn’t topple over.

Kate helped him, too. She would walk with him around the floor, and take him arm when his leg got tired. He wasn’t allowed to do stairs yet, with his foot and the fact that he couldn’t do much before he was worn out, but Kate helped him then, too. She would take him outside in his wheelchair and show him around. Once in a while Mr. Howard would stop in, too.

But still no sign of Max. At first, Thomas thought Max just hadn’t heard. Things moved really fast here at IDC, and if you weren’t in the loop, you would probably never know. But after a while he had gotten curious, and asked Kte if she had seen him.

“No,” she had replied. “I’ve looked in your room, too, and his stuff isn’t there.” She had promised to ask Mr. Howard though.

Thomas’s eighth day in the clinic, Kate came in, looking somber.

“What’s wrong?” Thomas asked.

“I asked Mr. Howard about Max, like you asked.” She took a deep breath and said, “He’s gone. He left just a couple days after you did, for your mission. Mr. Howard had required that Max tell him where he was going, since he is a Seeker and all, but Max gave him a false address. He said he was going back to his parents for a while, and that he would be back, but . . . I don’t know, Tom. Something tells me he isn’t going to come back.”

Thomas knitted his brows, asking, “Why wouldn’t he come back? He liked what he was doing, didn’t he? I mean, I know he was a little bitter about not getting to take his field test, but that wouldn’t upset him too mch. Did he say anything before he left?”

“Mr. Howard asked him why he was leaving, since he had come so far. He was almost graduated, which really confused everyone. Why wouold you quit when you’re so close? Anyway, I asked Mr. Howard and he said that Max told him he just wasn’t into it. Just didn’t want to do it anymore.”

“You’re joking.”

“Seriously! It’s as bad an excuse as they come. Mr. Howard tried calling him later, asking him what’s up but Max  never  picked up.”

“Soomething’s up.”

“OObvioously. But no one can finure out what’s going on with him. He’s disappeared and no oone knows if he’s going to come back or not.” She thought for a moment. “What if you tried calling him?”

“You really think he has the IDC clinic on speed dial?”

Kate gave him a disapproving look. “Well, he might just pick it up. And, if he does, you would probably be the only person he would talk to.”

“I guess. Maybe I’ll try calling him this week.” He thought for a moment. “So, anything else happen while I was incapacitated?”

“You know, you still kind of are-“

“Shut up.”

“-but no,” she giggled. “Not really. Just a couple meetings here and there about what to do next. They found out the rest oof the hostages were taken to Russia. We’re almost definite that it’s COBRA behind everything. Mr. Howard was really interested when I told him what they wanted us for. I think he wants to look into gene mapping us too.”