NUMB

Day Thirty-Five (pt. 2) - Jet

My plan was to leave this morning after my shift ended, but when do things ever really go according to plan? The walkie on my hip goes off with the rushed voice of another Warden. Something is happening in the infirmary. My pulse jumps under my skin, but I can't leave my post. I was lucky enough to even manage to get Beck to give me the morning shift today and then a week off. If I were to leave now, he'd find out and probably retract his oh-so-generous offer.

I stand on the wall and listen to the chaos through the walkie. One of the kids has gone off the edge again. It sounds like it's bad, but details aren't being shared over the walkies. I should have figured that something like this would happen and that I would manage to be the one who would get stuck with some of the run off.

When Beck comes out of the break room, his face a storm of frustration, I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am that he bee lines straight for me.

"I'm going to need you here tonight."

"What? But you said I could do this shift and then go. I have that thing, remember?"

His right eye twitches like he wants nothing more than to just toss me over the railing right now for talking back to him. "I know what I said, but now I'm saying that I need you here tonight. Shit hit the fan in the infirmary and security is on high alert, which means you are on high alert. I'm going to need you in the Compound for the last swing shift. It's only a couple of hours."

I chew on the inside of my cheek. There's not really any way I can say no to this. If I fight him on it, he'll probably retract my request for vacation days and make me work swing shifts or nights for the rest of the foreseeable future.

"Fine," I say. "Where am I being assigned?"

"Courtyard."

"I'll be there at seven then."

Beck leaves the alcove and I let out a long breath. If I'd have known that I was going to be here all day, I would have made plans to meet with Elyse. I wonder if I'll be able to see her between my shifts at all somehow.

///

I didn't bother leaving the Compound between my shifts. It seemed pointless to leave, try to find out where Seth has holed himself up for a few hours and then have to come back. Instead, I hung out in the break room. It was awful and stuffy as hell, but I at least got to talk to some of the other Wardens and find out what happened.

Turns out, when Beck said shit hit the fan, he meant it. All the kids were sent to their rooms after the incident and not let out at all. They even had their meals delivered to their door. Like a sick kind of prison style room service. Sorry another one of you died, let us make it up to you by locking you up for the remainder of the day, but on the plus side, you can send out for food!

I pause in what must be my twentieth lap around the courtyard and look up at the moon. I check the time on my walkie screen. It's a little past nine. The Compound is dark, except for the fluorescents on the first floor. I wonder if Elyse is still awake and I get a feeling in my stomach that tells me I should go to the stairs even if we didn't make plans.

I'm not sure what it is exactly that makes me do it. She thinks I left this morning, so for her to be in the stairwell tonight would be nothing short of a miracle. So I press my hand to my side and make an uncomfortable noise, my ears burning with how awful it comes out.

The guy closest to me gives me a funny look and I smile sheepishly at him. "Man I must have ate something weird for lunch today. Would you care if I skipped out for a few?"

He gives me a wide eyed look and a shake of his head and then I'm pushing through the main doors and hanging a left towards the east corridor. I pause at the double doors at the end of the hall, look through the window on one of the doors. There are a handful of Wardens hanging around, but none of them are particularly close to the stairwell entrance. I carefully push the door open, just enough for me to slip through, and then do the same with the stairs door. I hold the door so it closes slowly, the click of the latch falling into place the loudest noise I've ever heard.