Shudder Page 3

  Jason surveyed the room and then dashed to the next door.

  Inside that room, there was a treadmill, a rowing machine, and an exercise bike. It was smaller than the library. There were no other doors.

  “What the hell,” Jason said, running his fingers through his hair. He backed out of the room. “It doesn’t make any sense. We’ll have to look at the other wings.” He started back towards Boone’s wing.

  A guy of around sixteen or seventeen was lounging against the door, blocking the way. His jumpsuit was unzipped, exposing his bare chest. His sandy-colored hair looked mussed from sleeping. “New people,” he said.

  Jason advanced on him. “You must be Boone.”

  “What about it?” Boone shrugged.

  “Can you stand aside and let us through, please?” Jason asked.

  “You woke me up,” said Boone.

  “Boone gets really annoyed when people wake him up,” said Grace. She said the guy’s name with a hint of awe and admiration. From the way she was staring at him, it was pretty clear that she thought he was great. Hero-worship or a crush. Or a mixture of the two, given her age.

  “Sorry,” said Jason, but he didn’t sound sorry. It was also pretty clear from the way Jason was addressing Boone that Jason had taken an immediate dislike to the guy. “Will you move or not?”

  “What if I don’t?”

  Jason’s jaw twitched. “Then I’ll make you move.”

  Boone laughed. “Let me save you some time, okay?” He pushed off from the door and gestured lazily to the cameras that were attached to the ceiling. “There’s no way out. Even if there was, and you found it, they’re always watching. The minute you try to get out, they’re three steps ahead of you. You can waste your time exploring every inch of this place, but you aren’t going to get anywhere. So you might as well give it up.”

  Jason folded his arms over his chest. “There’s got to be a way out.”

  “There’s not.” Boone opened the door and made an exaggerated this-way gesture.

  Jason didn’t move. “There’s got to be a way out, because there’s a way in. Unless you’re saying they beamed us all in here.”

  Boone shrugged. “For all I know, they did.”

  “You’ve never seen them bring anyone in?”

  Boone shook his head. “They lock us in when new people come in.” He pointed upwards. “They pump in stuff through the ceiling to keep us asleep so that we don’t hear anything. For all I know, the whole ceiling comes off, and they set us down in here like dolls.”

  Jason looked like he was thinking. Hard.

  “I’m going back to bed,” said Boone. He slunk back through the door. It thudded closed after him.

  Jason shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Grace looked disappointed. “I don’t want to stay here. You said we were getting out.”

  I turned to her. “We will. We’ll figure out a way. Jason can figure out anything.”

  Jason gave me a troubled look. “Maybe. Maybe not.” He opened the door.

  We walked slowly back to the main room, where Emma was hugging herself and looking terrified.

  “What is this place?” Jason muttered.

  “No one knows,” said Grace. “We all just fucking ended up here.”

  Emma sat down at one of the tables. “It’s better not to ask. It’s better not to try to leave.”

  I sifted through everything I knew. I’d woken up in a strange place that seemed to have no exit. We were prisoners here, being filmed by an unseen presence. There were other people living down here. Who knew how long they’d been trapped? And they didn’t seem to have any idea how to get out either.

  Jason was right. They had to bring us in somewhere. But where?

  Then I had a thought. “Wait,” I said. “Emma, you said they feed us.”

  “They do,” said Emma. “It’s not so bad here.”

  “How do they do it?” I said.

  Jason had caught on to what I was saying. “Where does the food come from?”

  Grace walked over to what appeared to be a small metal door on the wall, about two feet square. “It comes out here. Three times a day. When we’re done, we put the dishes back in here. They take it away.”

  Jason and I went to her. He pulled the little door open. Inside was a square metal box. He reached inside and pushed down on it. “It’s like a small elevator,” said Jason. “But it’s not big enough for a person to fit inside. We didn’t come down this way.”

  “Still,” I said. “If they lower things in that and take things away, there must be a small shaft above it. If we could get inside, maybe we could crawl to the top.”

  “Depends on how big the shaft is,” said Jason. “If it’s only as wide as this box, there’s no way I’d fit.”

  He was right. “It is too small. I don’t know if I’d fit either.” We both looked at Grace.

  She took a step back. “By myself?” She shook her head. “No fucking way.”

  “Just let me see if I can get in there and see how big it is, okay?” said Jason. He put his hands inside the box. “If I can pry out the box somehow, then we can get a look at the shaft. If it’s big enough—”

  There was a flash of blue sparks from the metal box.

  Jason cried out and was propelled backwards. He landed hard against the ground.

  “Jesus,” I said, kneeling down next to him. “It shocked him.”

  “It’s not good to try to leave,” said Emma. “I told you that it wasn’t good.”

  I nudged Jason. He wasn’t moving. “Jason?”

  Panic rose in my body. I shook him harder.

  No response. His body was like a slab of meat. I couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest. Was he breathing?

  I let out a little squeal of terror, feeling frantically for his pulse.

  Nothing.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I forced myself to breathe. It was really hard to find a pulse. Sometimes, I felt for my own and couldn’t locate it, even though it was obvious that I was alive. Not finding his pulse right away didn’t mean anything. If I kept looking, it would be there, beating. It would.

  But it wasn’t. I hunted all over his wrist and then manhandled his neck. “Jason!” I shrieked, pounding on his chest. “Wake up, now.”

  Goddammit, Jason had always been invincible. He’d had powers, and he’d been able to heal, and I’d seen him shake off a gunshot like nothing. I’d seen him heal so quickly. Back then, nothing could hurt him. But our powers had been stolen by Kieran and Eve. And either they’d decided to stop using them, or they’d disappeared. But Jason and I had been powerless for years now.

  I grasped his shoulders and shook him as hard as I could. “Don’t do this to me.”

  “Clearly, I’m not going to be able to get back to sleep,” said Boone’s voice.

  I turned on him, angrily brushing away tears. He was lounging against the doorway to his wing. “Did you know? Did you know that thing would shock him?”

  “No,” said Boone. “No one’s tried to crawl up the food shaft before.”

  “I think he’s dead,” I said, fighting sobs.

  “Oh,” said Boone. “You don’t know.”

  “Know what?” I said.

  “He’ll be okay,” said Grace, tentatively touching my shoulder.

  I shrugged her off. “He doesn’t have a pulse .”

  “Well, it usually takes a long time the first time,” said Boone. “Did you guys die before you came in here, or did you just heal freakishly fast?”

  I stood up. “What are you talking about?”

  But then Jason was moving. He sat up, groaning. “What the hell? That thing’s electrified?”

  “Told you,” said Boone. He sauntered over to the table where Emma was sitting and plopped down next to her, propping his feet up.

  I dropped down next to Jason. “Are you okay?”

  He rubbed his face. “I think so.” His hand went to his chest. “That was hard core
.”

  “You didn’t have a pulse,” I said. “I checked. You were...”

  Jason furrowed his brow. “That doesn’t make any sense. We don’t have our—” He broke off and looked up at Grace. It was better not to talk about our magical powers in front of strangers. He pushed himself to his feet.

  I did the same. “What did you mean about us dying before we came here?” I asked Boone.

  He cradled his hands behind his head. “Well, that’s what we’ve all got in common. That’s why we’re here, at least as near as we can figure it. None of us can die.”

  Jason and I exchanged a look. As one, we both headed over to Boone’s and Emma’s table, pulled out chairs, and sat down.

  “What do you mean?”

  Boone yawned. “I’m tired, you know. You guys disturbed my beauty rest.”

  Grace sat down at another table. “I died before I came here. It was an accident. I was in a play.” She looked away, wistful. “It was my big break, actually. Peter Pan on Broadway. And right after the theaters opened back up after Kieran and Eve had them all closed.” She looked back at us. “My harness snapped, and I fell. I was dead for like five hours. Then I woke up in the morgue. Which was scary. Anyway, I was supposed to go to a specialist, but I ended up here.”

  “We were supposed to be going to a specialist too,” I said. “But we weren’t dead. We were in a coma. They said we healed too fast.”

  “Pretty standard for around here,” said Boone. “I cut my hand off with a saw in shop class.” He wriggled his hand at us. “It was instinct, I guess. I picked it up and pushed it back on my arm. It healed.” He considered it ruefully. “It’s a little crooked though.”

  “So then you got brought here?” said Jason.

  “Yeah,” said Boone. “It’s obviously some kind of weird government thing, right? They’re studying us. They probably want to use us to figure out how to make invincible soldiers or something.”

  “Can’t be,” said Grace. “I keep telling you that there is no goddamned government. I mean, not since Kieran and Eve disappeared, anyway.” She looked at us. “Is there?”

  I shrugged. “There’s something. But we’ve been in a coma for nine months.”

  “Doesn’t matter whether it’s the government or not,” said Boone, pulling his legs off the table. “The point is that we’re lab rats. And we’re stuck here.”

  I looked at Emma. “And you? How did you end up here?”

  Emma shook her head. “It’s not good to talk about this. They don’t like it.” She cast a worried glance up at a camera.

  “Emma was either born here or doesn’t remember anything about her life before,” said Boone. “Don’t bother trying to get her to talk. She won’t.”

  I swallowed. “This doesn’t make any sense.” I’d never been able to heal in any amazing way before. I had the bike scars to prove it. Jason had been able to heal, but we knew why Jason had been able to do it. His powers. Could all these people have powers too?

  We’d done something when we were in that coma. And we weren’t supposed to wake up. Had we somehow given these people powers? “How long have you been here?” I asked.

  “It’s hard to say,” said Boone. “There’s no real way to measure time. No sun. No clocks. Just them turning the lights off for eight hours every day. I kept track for a while, but I got out of the habit. I think it’s been almost two years.”

  Jason and I were both actively without powers two years ago. Eve and Kieran had them. So, this wasn’t because of us. I looked at Grace thoughtfully. “You remember Kieran and Eve disappearing,” I said to her. “So you were brought here in the last nine months.” That was how long Jason and I had been in the coma.

  “I guess so,” said Grace. “However long it’s been, it’s too long. I want the hell out of here.”

  “Yeah, well, no one gets out,” said Boone.

  “I find it hard to believe that no one’s tried to escape this place,” said Jason.

  “It’s not that people don’t try,” said Boone. “They just fail.”

  “It’s better not to try to escape,” said Emma.

  “You said ‘they,’” I said. “Implying that the people who did it weren’t you. So, who tried? Emma?” I couldn’t quite picture that.

  Boone sighed. “There were more of us at one point. When I came in, it wasn’t so bad, you know? You remember how everything was when Kieran and Eve were around? How everyone was in a good mood? I was a kid when they took over, and nothing was that bad. When I cut off my hand it wasn’t that bad. Being taken here was okay too. I was happy all the time. Everyone was happy. And then one day, no one was happy.” He shook his head.

  “Well, that’s what happened when Kieran and Eve disappeared,” said Grace.

  “Some people started talking a lot about escaping. Making plans. Figuring stuff out. There were maybe ten of them. They tried it. We never saw them again,” Boone said.

  “Maybe they escaped,” said Jason.

  Emma shook her head, whimpering. “No. No, they didn’t.”

  “A DVD came down with the food the next day,” said Boone. “They didn’t escape. They didn’t survive.” He got up from the table. “This has been fun and all, but I’m sick of doing new prisoner orientation. See you around.” He started for the door to his wing.

  “Wait,” I said. “What happened to them? I thought you said the people here couldn’t die.”

  “You can watch the DVD if you want,” said Boone. “It’s on the shelf in the library. Apparently, there are some things not even we can heal from.”

  Jason got to his feet. “How did they do it? How did they try to get out?”

  “I don’t know,” said Boone. “I wasn’t there. Anyone who was isn’t talking.”

  “If I watch the DVD will it tell me?” said Jason.

  “No,” said Boone. “It won’t. The escape attempt failed because they’re always watching.” He pointed at the cameras.

  Jason nodded. “I get that. That’s why the food thing shocked me, right? They knew what I was doing, because they saw me.” He picked up a chair. “So maybe the easiest thing to do would be to remove that element from the equation.” He hurled the chair at the nearest camera.

  The chair made impact, shattering the camera lens and knocking the entire fixture off the wall.

  “Jesus, you think no one’s tried that?” said Boone.

  Jason picked up another chair and sent it soaring at another camera. The camera didn’t come off the wall, but it broke and dangled by a wire, sparking.

  “Well,” said Boone, “at least I’m going to get to go back to sleep.”

  A hissing noise.

  I looked up. White clouds were pouring out of little jets in the ceiling.

  “Gas,” said Boone.

  “Hell,” said Jason.

  I started to reply, to go to him, but I suddenly felt really sleepy. I struggled to keep my eyes open. It was no use.

  * * *

  I woke up on my cot in my gray room. My head hurt. I sat up, rubbing my eyes. What the hell?

  I guess they’d knocked us out and moved our bodies into our bedrooms. I went to the door. It was locked. Great. I banged on it.

  I yelled, “You can’t keep us locked up in here!”

  I yelled, “Help! Someone, help, please!”

  I yelled curse words and threats and oaths. I pounded against the door.

  But eventually, all I had to show for my trouble was that I was hoarse and that my arms hurt from hitting them against wood. I slid down against the door and was quiet. I felt beaten.

  Maybe an hour later, the doors unlocked. I went back out into the main room. There were new cameras mounted on the walls. Jason was out there, staring up at them.

  I went up behind him and wrapped my arms around him, laying my head between his shoulder blades. He didn’t resist. We stood like that for several long minutes. We were quiet. But holding Jason, feeling his body against mine, seemed to energize me. The longer I was cl
ose to him, the less beaten I felt. We could get out of here. We had faced down worse things before. This wouldn’t beat us. There was no way.

  Jason led me down his wing to his bedroom. He tugged me down onto his cot next to him. The bed was narrow. We barely fit, but we tangled up our limbs so that we did.

  “This is completely weird,” I whispered.

  “Our life is weird,” he said.

  He had a point. I burrowed my face into his neck.

  “Should we even talk?” he said. “They’re recording us. What if we give something away?”

  “I’m not getting the impression that they took us because we were, you know, us,” I said. “This doesn’t seem to be about that.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “It’s something different. But it doesn’t make any sense. I mean, I’ve been able to heal myself, but not since I lost my powers.”

  “No?” I said. “Are you sure? Did you ever get hurt, really hurt while they were gone?”

  He pushed me away and sat up. I did too. He rolled up his jumpsuit. “I was cutting myse—” His eyes narrowed. He shook his head in confusion. “My scars are gone.”

  “Scars?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “You remember. You asked me about them. Right after we made love on the steps. Right before Kieran and Eve captured us.”

  I bit my lip. “I kind of remember that. You said you used a knife to hurt yourself.”

  “It was the best way to deal with it,” he muttered. “All the guilt over killing all those people. When I cut myself, it made it a little better for a while. It was the only way I could manage.” He got up off the bed. “Why would the scars go away?”

  “You said something after we woke up in the hospital,” I said. “About my scar.” I touched my own face. The skin was smooth. “You said it was fading.”

  He turned to me. “I forgot about it. I’m not used to you having it, you know.”

  “It’s gone too.”

  He nodded.

  “Jason, what the hell?”

  He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. I have absolutely no clue. It’s ridiculous.”

  “Do you think it’s because of us? We weren’t supposed to wake up. Maybe...”