Population Zero

Chapter Eight

When I awoke Dustin was gone and instead Eric was sitting beside me.

"Hey, pal. Pull yourself together. I'm taking you outta here." He said with a wink.

What?" I stood straight up. "Where are we going?" He couldn't possibly be returning me to the East Wing. I've never heard of a youth returning from the teenage wing.

"We are crossing compounds, buddy." Oh, wow. Is this really happening? Are we going to the female compound? Dustin must have really talked some sense into him. My eyes darted straight to the corner of the room where my bag was thrown on the floor. I needed to change and clean myself up. Eric seemed to hear my thoughts because he said, "I'll be back in 10. Clean yourself up for god's sake." A smile flicked across his lips and with that he was gone. I can't believe this. I'm lighter than air. I started to dance around the room as I pulled my change of clothes out of my bag. No more green jumpsuit! A pair of jeans and a black T-shirt is just fine. A fresh pair of socks. Some clean boxers, thank God. And a pair of sneakers. Eric must have packed this bag because I never dressed so casually but it works. In the bathroom I ran some water through my hair and splashed my face. I studied my features and wondered if I was attractive. I have thick curly hair black that falls over my eyes and I constantly have to brush it out of my way. I have dark hazel eyes that sometimes turn blue or green depending on the lighting. Today they looked more greenish but it was hard to tell because the light wasn't very bright. My skin looked a little pale and my eyes looked tired. I splashed some water on my face once more and decided this will just have to do. When I finished up I threw my bag over my shoulders and walked out to meet up with Eric in the hospital lobby. I found him seated and he was on his telepad as usual angrily blaring at the poor soul on the other line.
"I need coverage! I had a change of plans this morning and I need to transport a student across the compound. Well, check the schedule again! Call Hugo. He's been loafing around for weeks. What about Zach? There must be someone. Well, keep checking! He slammed his telepad down onto his thigh hard and made an angry growl sound that made me wince. I hated seeing him so angry and I feared ever being at the receiving end of one of his rages.

"Hey, Pal. Ready to go? You look good, heh." We walked towards the teenage wing and he started up an ATV as I climbed into the passenger seat with a grin on my face from ear to ear. This was beginning to be the best birthday ever. As we started our trek I noticed we were headed north and I realized I had never been this far north of the compound before. I always assumed the female compound was to the west since that's where the babies were always brought in. It would make more sense that way, at least. As we headed farther north we passed a strange building that looked oddly familiar in some way. Everything about this felt familiar as though I had been here before a long, long time ago.

"What's that building?" I asked Eric.

"Oh, that? That used to be an old prison. It's fallen out of use though. Probably been at least 8 years since anyone's used it." He raised an eyebrow and I wondered if he felt like it should still be in operation.  It did look long since abandoned and I wondered where they sent Benjamin, Asher, and Derek if there was in fact no prison to send them away to. Maybe I would find them at the female compound. Maybe the trick to meeting the females wasn't to be good. Maybe the trick was to be bad. I thought about this new concept for a while until I started to see a new compound come into focus. I took a deep breath and my nerves were on edge. I must have been shaking because when I hopped off the ATV I nearly fell. My mouth dropped open in shock when I realized where we were.
"What?" I gasped. "No!"

I had set foot onto a construction site and all around me were tall, built, strong looking adult men. I turned to Eric with an exasperated expression on my face and he just bursted out with laughter.