INKWELL

Chapter Four

May 31, 2081

"Who?"

The question came out of the lips of almost everyone standing outside, but it didn't seem to surprise Angela Cassey. Her eyes were wide when she asked, "How?"

"It's Senator Felix. He called them because you refused to accept him on the spaceship," the man replied.

Angela Cassey let out a series of expletives before she started moving, barking out commands. "Pack this up, get everyone to the spaceship."

"But we haven't finished the tests," one of the people taking the test complained.

"There's no time for that."

My heart jumped at her words. If we were allowed into the spaceship, then there was no need for me to fear being tested as infected, but that wouldn't stop the worrying. I knew if I didn't know now, I would start worrying, worrying about whether I was infected or not.

I thought of all those that had tested infected. Was it fair to them? It wasn't but life was not exactly fair. Any infected one among us was going to be lucky.

Angela Cassey was already rushing before she turned back and realized we were all staring at her. It seemed we were all shocked by the sudden change.

"Fine, test them, but I only need two doctors doing that. The others should pack up and get into the spaceship. Bring them in as soon as they're tested," she said before walking away with the man who had come to inform her that 'they were coming.'

I still wondered who was coming. The man never said who but Angela Cassey seemed to know. It was almost as if she was expecting him. Who was Senator Felix? I wondered. Most of the officials around dispersed, only a few stayed back to assist us.

Wunmi drew closer to me. "Why did Angela Cassey change her mind? She should just have allowed all of us to enter into the spaceship without the test."

I chuckled.

"At least we're lucky she didn't say they should leave us," a girl standing beside us said.

I thought of that. It was true. The safe thing to do would have been to say they should leave all of us, there was no time to check if anyone was infected or not. But Angela Cassey had said they should take all of us instead. That was reckless but showed the kind heart she had.

Even though there were just two doctors, the lines grew shorter quickly. More priority was placed on the children and the adults didn't seem to mind. I was grateful for that. I took a deep breath when Mrs. Abimbola was being tested. I prayed that she wouldn't be dragged away. When the officer smiled at her and nodded, I sighed in relief.

When it was Wunmi's turn, my chest constricted again. It was an uncomfortable thing watching your loved ones being put on what seemed like a life or death scale. The scale could tip in favour of any but I hoped it wouldn't be death. When Wunmi was cleared to go, I breathed another sigh of relief. That seemed to be something I had been doing a lot recently.

It was finally my turn. My feet felt heavy as I walked to the table and stretched out my arm. I took in a deep breath and held it as they drew my blood and placed it on a device. In a few seconds, the device beeped. I couldn't stop the smile that spread on my face when the official  told me I could go. A huge burden had been lifted off my chest.

Wunmi was waiting for me and we both squealed as we got to each other. It was finally over,  I thought.

"We have to go," one of the officer's said, gesturing for us to move forward.