Through the Lungs and Back

Chapter Nine

We head back to the hideout feeling defeated. No one says a word, and no one tries to lighten the mood. I don't know about the other two, but I'm thinking about how we're going to explain this to Aline. Since there were deaths, the open spots will need to be filled. Who is going to take those spots? Are they going to pick random people like last time? And why don't doctors watch the victims? The volunteers do almost everything around here, and they should get paid for their time. "Do we let the doctors find out about the deaths, or do we tell them?" I ask after five minutes of a silent pity party. "We let them find out." Ellis says, quite obviously still wanting silence. We encounter no sick people on our walk back home. Good news.

Molly pulls open the door to our new hideout, and we sluggishly pile inside. It's a lot smaller with four people in it. It's a lot warmer, too. "How'd it go?" Aline asks. All three of us speak at the same time, and it's hard to tell who says what. "They're going to need replacements." Ellis says. "The little girl was crazy." Molly says. "Not well." I say. Aline chooses my statement to reply to. "Not well? What happened?" She asks. Molly and Ellis reply at the same time, and I decide that they can explain this one. "We need replacements." Ellis repeats. "You don't want to know." Molly says. "Let's just deal with it tomorrow. You three can go sleep." Molly says, making a dismissive hand gesture towards the skinny door in the back. Ellis pushes his way through the clutter to get to the door. "Are you guys coming, or not?" He says, looking back. Aline and I make eye contact, and I step behind Ellis. He opens the small door, and the room is too dark to see what's inside. I remember, I really wanted to see what was in the room earlier, but not under these circumstances. Ellis turns on a lonely lamp sitting on a table. This room is much nicer than Molly's workshop. The contrast from the posters stuck to the wall compared to the modernness of this room is insane. The walls are white, along with the carpet, but there's a blue table along the back wall and blue floating shelves. The shelves sit above two small beds that have a table separating them. There are six regular looking chairs pushed into the blue table, and above each one is a different laptop sitting above them on the desk. There are cords and books all over the table, and the shelves are jam packed with more thick books. Most of them are medical dictionaries and textbooks, while others are about coding and programming. On an otherwise empty wall, there are two doors. One says "closet" and the other says "bathroom". Something about a regular looking room lifts my spirits. "Rock paper scissors for the beds." Ellis says. Him and Aline match up for three games, and Aline wins. She picks the bed where her feet face the long desk. Ellis and I match up, and he wins. He takes the remaining bed, with his feet towards the door to Molly's workshop. "Why does Molly have a bedroom if she doesn't exactly need sleep?" I ask whoever will listen. "Why do you have a toilet if you can just go outside?" Ellis answers my question with another question. I grab one of the blankets and a pillow from the corner while I think about that. "Because it's nice to have." I reply. "There's your answer." Ellis says, the toughness drained from his voice. "Let's just sleep. I'll answer more questions in the morning." Ellis says, rolling on his side to face away from me. "Yeah." I say. I put the pillow on the floor, and I lay down. The rug I'm using as my bed is surprisingly comfortable. When I pull the blanket over me, it feels even better. Despite having any vents, the room is the perfect temperature. Not too warm and not too cold.

Molly cautiously opens the door to the room, and she kneels down on the floor next to me. "You can sleep in the bathtub if you want to." She whispers. "It'll probably be more comfortable." She continues. "Thanks." I say. I pack up my makeshift bed, and I open the door with the correct label. The bathroom is just as nice as the bedroom. Right when I open the door, the lights turn on. There's a sink right behind the door, a bathtub shower mix on an elevated platform right behind it, and a toilet shoved in the corner. The other wall is taken over by a rack with blue towels. I shut the door behind me, and I use a control to dim the lights more. I push back the curtain on the shower, and it looks completely dry. I put the pillow away from the faucet, and I lay down so my knees stick up, but my feet fit inside. Molly was right. This is more comfortable than it should be. I push the curtain back so all I can see is part of the door. I hear another door open, probably the closet door. Molly might be sleeping there.