The landscape was barren desert. There wasn’t a plant more than two feet tall, and the bus windows were pelted by grains of salty sand. It seemed to get more bleak and desolate with every mile.
Jack nudged her. “It’ll be okay.”
She nodded, but didn’t answer. It would be okay for him. He wasn’t a freak.
The bus crested a hill and the uninhabited desert suddenly transformed into a small valley of bustling activity. There were a handful of permanent structures—some metal warehouses, others squat and cinder block —but the majority of the valley and hills were covered in olive-green tents. Tall chain-link fences with razor wire ran in every direction, separating one building from another and creating restricted pathways.
Each corner was guarded by a wooden tower.
Everything looked new and hastily built, but there was already tumbleweed blown up along the base of the fences.
Jack thought it would be okay. He didn’t know what he was talking about.
The convoy drove through one chain-link fence, then maneuvered around a short maze of cement barriers before entering one of the large warehouses.
A few minutes later there was the sound of engines—other vehicles moving away from them—and then a metallic thud as the warehouse doors closed. The interior was lit with dim floodlights.
The bus door opened and a soldier who looked older than the others entered. “Welcome to Temporary Quarantine Camp 14. Please exit the bus in an orderly fashion. This can be as simple or as hard as you’d like.”
Jack gave Aubrey a nervous smile and they slowly made their way to the front of the bus. The soldier there unlatched their handcuffs, though he didn’t remove their ID bracelets.
Aubrey followed Jack down the stairs and onto the dirt floor of the warehouse.
A banner hung on the far wall reading “Intake Station 2.” There was a catwalk around the perimeter of the warehouse, almost at the ceiling, and at least twenty armed soldiers stood there, cautiously watching the teens as though they were prison inmates.
She walked around the bus to where the others were gathering, and noticed that two more buses were behind them, and dozens of other students were there, people she’d never seen before.
Jack pulled her away from the crowd. There was fear in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have told you to stay.”
“Where else would I have gone?” she whispered.
“Look at this,” Jack said, keeping his voice low. “You’d rather be here?”
She glanced up at the soldiers—one appeared to be aiming a machine gun right at her. “What else was I supposed to do? Hide in the mountains for a few more weeks, starving and freezing? They’d have found me eventually.”
“They’re going to find out—” Jack paused.
Aubrey took a step closer to him. “What about you? You think I should have just left you alone here?”
He didn’t answer, his frustration plain on his face. She knew that her words didn’t carry much weight. She’d abandoned him plenty of times in the last six months. And besides—what help could she be?
Jack looked into her eyes, his lips tightly sealed. A loudspeaker squawked as someone prepared to talk.
Jack leaned close to her, his voice barely audible. “If you want to help me, promise that you will stay safe. Don’t let them find out what you can do. Promise me.”
Aubrey smiled, and touched his arm. “Okay.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Good.”
Nicole was moving from Matt over to Aubrey, but before she got a chance to say anything, the loudspeaker blared to life. The voice was older and rough.
“This is Intake Station Two at the Dugway Assessment Facility. You have been brought here in accordance with Executive Order 16309 and the Emergency Protection Act. This is for your welfare, and is in the best interests of both public health and national security.”
Nicole exchanged a glance with Aubrey. Aubrey would have expected Nicole to be angry, but instead she looked scared.
“At the east end of the building you will see a metal door,” the speaker continued. “Please proceed to that door in an orderly fashion for identification and your initial assessment. And please note that your cooperation is appreciated and will be rewarded. Thank you.”
Nicole turned to Aubrey. “What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you escape?”
Aubrey glanced at Jack. His face was tense and anxious. “Not now,” she said.
Nicole looked confused. “Why not? They’re going to test us. This has to be about whatever you and Nate are.”
Aubrey shook her head. She looked at the door; a few students were slowly moving toward it. “Where could I go? The doors are locked.”
Nicole scowled, and she turned so her back was to Jack. “You could have warned me last night,” she whispered, her voice harsh and low. “After everything I did for you.”
“I—I’m sorry. I tried.”
“You were too stupid to even save yourself,” Nicole snapped. “And too selfish to save anyone else.”
“Selfish?” Aubrey said. “I’ve been your slave for six months.”
“How is it slavery,” Nicole said, “if you’re getting something out of it? This was a partnership.”
Jack leaned in close. “Can both of you keep it down?” he said. “Who knows who’s listening?”
Nicole’s eyes were cold and bitter. Aubrey wanted to say something—wanted to scream at her—but Nicole finally turned and began marching quickly toward the door. Matt, who’d been waiting for her, didn’t meet Aubrey’s eyes, but followed in Nicole’s wake.
Aubrey seethed. Nicole had no right calling anyone selfish.
“Come on,” Jack said, taking Aubrey by the elbow. She reluctantly followed.
There were at least thirty teens in front of them in line and another ten or twelve behind.
“Whatever is happening,” Jack breathed, “you can’t let them know.” His hand found her hand, and she took it out of sheer terror.
“I won’t,” she said. “Quiet.”
The line was slow, but steady. Aubrey felt like they were being led to their doom—that something sinister was waiting behind that door. But, when they finally got inside, it was just a generic, boring office. Two soldiers sat behind a desk at the front, and the line wound past them and toward a long table where medics were doing something Aubrey couldn’t see. Ten armed men were watching the line.
Aubrey reached the first intake worker.
“Left hand on the desk,” the young soldier said, and pointed to a rectangle that had been drawn on the desk with marker. Aubrey let go of Jack and then laid her palm on the table.
“State your name,” the soldier said, peering at the bracelet on her wrist.
“Aubrey Parsons,” she said.
The soldier turned to the man next to him. “Aubrey Parsons. One-one-seven-W-S-L.”
There was a brief pause while the man typed on a laptop. “Aubrey Parsons, one-one-seven-W-S-L. Confirmed.”
The soldier, for the first time, looked her in the eyes. He seemed uncomfortable. “Please proceed to the medics for a cheek swab.”
“Why?”
“Testing,” he said. “Please move along.”
Testing. It could be for anything, she told herself. Any disease. The terrorists could have put anything in the air or the water or the mail or the food. But she’d had half a dozen blood tests in the hospital when she’d gone blind, and no one had found any irregularities.
