10/17

Episode 5, Chapter 18

"Just relax sweetheart," Laney's mom said. "Everything is going to be fine. I'll bet this'll be easier than we think." 

Laney was wound tighter than a harp at the moment. Between the phone call from her dad Monday night and their current destination, she was about ready to pop. Not that she had been too surprised by her dad's message. He was an attorney in Jackson, Mississippi with political aspirations. He was very busy in a major case and the last thing he need to do right now was get involved in the Altered situation, but he fully supported whatever her mother thought was best and would help financially in any way he could. Oh yeah, and he loved her. Click. That was about the gist of it. So that just left the building in front of her.

True to her word, it was Tuesday afternoon and Laney and her mother had just pulled into the parking lot for the building housing Tulsa's Government Altered Teen Clinic. Laney reread the paper she had nearly crumpled in her hand.

"A-teen Clinic 376, Tulsa, OK," followed by an address and a picture of the building printed in black and white. This was it.

Whoever came up with that name, needs to be fired, she told herself. Looking at the paper, she rolled her eyes again. A-teen was written in a font reminiscent of the old A-team TV show. As far as she was concerned it was a lazy play on a pop culture reference that was completely out of touch with the generation they were trying to impress. The only reason Laney knew of the referenced A-team was because of Ryan and that Bradley Cooper flick. She was pretty sure not many others her age cared. Not to mention, they were a vigilante group of mercenaries for hire. She was pretty certain no one had considered the message they were sending with that one.

And that was Altered with a capital A, now. Peyton, much to his delight, had been right on the money. She and Parker and the rest of the affected teenagers had been officially designated Altered teens. Ignoring the nervous energy eating at her gut, Laney looked around. The facade of the building made it look a little like an old theater, with "Urgent Care" written in giant red letters painted on the bricks. According to the information pamphlet that had come to their home via certified priority mail on Monday, all of the clinics were housed in requisitioned urgent care centers. A white vinyl sign hung just over the door.

"Closed for renovations."

According to their information, FEMA did not want to call attention to the selected clinics. Originally, they had planned to post the clinic locations to their website. After a riot outside one of the proposed locations in upstate New York, the Sunday after the announcement, the list was removed. Instead, they rushed the locations directly to all suspected families, with the intent to post the information again in a few weeks. 

Another Altered was somewhere nearby. She had felt the zing of awareness the moment they pulled in, and Laney wasn't sure how she felt about it. On one hand, she supposed it showed that people were taking this seriously. On the other, Mrs. Carlisle's warning still rang in her head. They could not be too careful right now.

Following her mother's lead, Laney got out of the car, scanning her surroundings for anything off, as Nan had instructed. Embossed on the door in white was one of those medical staffs with the snakes on it. The parking lot held few cars. Peoria, the street the clinic sat on, was as bustling and busy as she assumed it ever got at one o'clock on an autumn Tuesday. If you ignored the closed sign, only two things made this scene different than any other day of business, the two men standing beside the door that looked as though could have been taken straight out of the movie Men In Black, sunglasses, ear pieces and all.

"This doesn't look so bad," her mom said, putting her arm around Laney, as they stood in front of their car. "No military police or protesters."

"Yet," Laney huffed. "You know it's only a matter of time." The news had not been good the last few days. The clinics were only on their second day and already there had been arrests and attacks on families and staff. A clinic in Philadelphia had been set on fire.