Chapter Five
She ushered us in, standing watch by the door. Mrs. W was like a hawk.
“I’ve gotta check if she’s okay.” Landon mumbled to me as we were walking.
“I was about to say the exact same thing.” I nodded.
We waited until Mrs. W wasn’t looking to sneak around the side of the building. Landon held my hand tightly in his as we darted around corners, trying to find the door.
We finally found it. It was old and wood, with medal handles and one grimy old window.
I pushed on it softly, hearing the wood creak and groan. Landon and I slid into the room, trying to be quiet as possible.
There were high, moldy, old ceilings, and cement floors. There were long hallways with wooden cells.
Guards stood at each hallway.
I couldn’t shake the smell of tears, vomit, and blood.
Mostly blood.
Quiet sobbing came from the majority of the cells. I was only able to see one person inside the cell closest to me. She was dressed in the Tinkering uniform, her shirt and shoes torn up. Her blonde hair was wild. There were scars on her arms and legs and on her face. Her eyes were huge. She was backed up into a corner, crouched and waiting for someone to make a move towards her. She seemed just about ready to pounce at anyone who came near her. You could see the dried tears on her face. Her lips, whispering something repetitively.
The guard walked past her, not paying attention.
She hissed and pounced on the bars. She opened her jaw as far as it could go and shrieked at him, shaking the bars.
The guard didn’t even shake. He just continued down the hallway, leaving the girl alone with her cell.
She continued to screech and cry out, reaching her arms out towards the guard. She clawed and clawed at the air, tears slicing through her eyes and streaming down her cheeks.
I looked over at Landon. He seemed shocked. His mouth was wide open and he looked like he was damn near about to cry. I took his hand and we ran out of there as if all hell was on our heels.
“What was that about?” I asked him, my hand still in his.
He wiped his eyes and let out a breath.
“That was Jack’s sister, Kailee.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“Well, we’ve gotta tell him!” I managed, my fingers and legs shaking as we walked to the elevator to get up to our floor. We were both in engineering today. I picked up my radio, blowing into the battery power to start it. Everything was powered by either light or wind. Once we got up to the landings, I wouldn’t have to blow into the radio anymore. The tropical breeze would take care of that, so long as I kept it the same direction as always.
“We can’t! I know Jack. He’ll want to go into the lab and get his sister.”
“He’ll want to know that Kailee’s still alive! I know I would if I were in his position.”
Jack knew that the zombie that was taking Kailee’s place wasn’t her. She was too happy all the time.
“Hannah Steele online, coming up the elevator. Radio me if you need anything. Over.” I reported into the small radio, my voice still shaking.
“Hannah come to landing number 400, we need some repairs on the steel girders and communication towers. Over.” The fuzzy voice came through the receiver. I recognized it as a girl I had talked to a couple times. Her name was Leigh Anne, I think. She had fiery red hair and bright green eyes.
