10/17

Episode 5, Chapter 21

"Holy crap," Laney whispered in a low shocked voice. It was one o'clock on Friday and they were once again turning onto the side street for the requisitioned Urgent Care center, but, this time, things were not calmly mundane as they had been three days ago. Police barricades now sat around the perimeter of the parking lot and building grounds. A line of picketers were screaming from the parking lot across the street. Their bright card board signs were marked in bold lettering. The sayings ran the gambit of terrible from mildly accusational like "Call your senator, We Demand Accountability," and "What is the Government Hiding?" to threating and hateful like "Altered = God's Rejects," and "Cleanse the Land, Unstable is Unsafe". As they pulled into the parking lot, one of the suited security personnel from before stopped their car and tapped the glass beside her mother .

"I'll need to see your I.D.," he said the moment her window slid down more than an inch.

"Of course," she replied, fumbling for her purse. "Are we safe here? Yesterday when we made this appointment I was told their were no protesters," she said as she handed him her license. Rather than answer her question, the guard scanned the card with a small tablet. Seconds passed as the tablet presumably processed her information then elicited a "bing."

"You're approved," he said, returning her mother's I.D.. "Don't worry. Altered and their families are perfectly safe. The first of the protesters turned up an hour ago but we have multiple procedures in place to protect all our citizens from any threat. If you will, please proceed to the first spot by the door and enter the facility." He said all of this without a trace of a smile or any other discernible emotion. It was creepy. Laney watched her mother's reflection on the lenses of his dark glasses as she nodded, smiled nervously, activated her window and pulled away.

"I don't like this." Laney said as she glanced at the protesters in her rear view mirror. Something caught her eye. She unbuckled her belt and turned in her seat to get a better look, following the sight as her mom parked the car. "Oh crap!" she hissed. "Mom, look, this is bad. This really bad." Across the street, behind the protesters, was a parked news van. Another could be seen approaching the group. More were surely on their way. A man holding a camera and a woman holding a microphone were already facing the clinic, capturing the scene. Laney had never given any thought to the dark tinting on their windows, but, for once, her Nan's paranoia came in handy. They could not be seen with the car sideways to the news van.

"Where did they come from?" her mother said. "They must have pulled in right behind us. Damn they work fast." Laney cast a startled look at her mother. She must have been pretty shaken up to allow even so mild a curse word as damn to pass her lips.

"Mom, they're going to have our license plate number. Their going to see us walking in."

"Calm down," her mom said, though she looked just as worried as her daughter. "This is not life or death, honey. I can yell for a guard to walk with us." She gestured at the security guards just to the left of the front of the car.

"They'll still see us going in. I don't have a hood or anything. That camera is pointed right at us. I don't want to wind up on the news, Mom!" Laney shouted. "My face on TV is the last thing any of us need. That's how things become life or death."

"Laney, it's not..." Laney and her mother were startled by an unexpected tapping on Laney's window. She wrenched around to see a hand waving at her. She leaned up to find Clint crouched beside her door. Laney's growing panic from the moment they neared the clinic effectively masked the sensation she had come to expect when nearing another Altered. Laney opened her window.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping," he said with his quirky smile. "Can your mom make it out your door?"