Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

birth to rumors. Some said that the sickness was engineered by the Founders-a kill switch to be thrown if the shelter ever tried to leave. Others believe that I was somehow responsible, that daring to send Odysseus and Athena outside had brought back some kind of plague that was going to be the death of us all. There were theories far more wild than those, but they aren’t recounting. If I had unlimited resources I might have suggested that the medical team brief the public but it simply wasn’t possible. So I decided to do it myself.

“It seems to have a mortality rate somewhere between twenty and thirty percent. Of course, we don’t know if that’s due to quarantining or if that’s how it would be if we all still had contact.” I was walking with Ezekiel, a middle-aged man who had volunteered to be my escort for the afternoon. He lived with his partners Seher and Iain. They had all been spared, but Iain’s parents both were sick.

“I hear that people are turning feral towards the end. Somebody told me that one of the medical technicians got a chunk taken straight out of their arm when they were trying to sedate a patient.” He noticed my labored breathing and offered a gowned arm that I took gratefully.

“I can’t speak to that particular incident but yes. There are some people who seem to experience increased aggression towards the end stage of the disease. It’s not everyone, it seems to be more prevalent in younger, stronger patients. The older ones just go to sleep.” His face relaxed at that, wrinkles disappearing from behind thick glasses. At least his loved ones wouldn’t suffer, should the worst befall them.

“And you want to leave the shelter?”

“I think it’s what we have to do. I’m living proof that you can step outside and live, this aside.” I gestured towards the lower half of my body. “If we stay in here the likelihood that we all die from this thing is too great.”

Ezekiel worried at a fingernail through thick gloved hands. “Do you really believe that? George says he can get Gabriel back up and running. Get us all back in the pods, and we can go back to our lives.”

“Son, I believe it with all my heart. Even if what George says is true, do you really want to take the chance? We’ve never experienced anything like this. Hell, I doubt even our parents did. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live free than take my chances while I’m plugged into an overgrown video game. It’s beautiful out there.”

I spent the rest of our walk together regaling him with tales of the outside world. Though Ezekiel was closer to my age than Marcus’s, he was still a shelter baby and never had the chance to see the sun rise or the glow of the stars at night. I painted for him a picture of a happy and fruitful life, one where he could raise children of his own if he so chose. He marveled at each new detail. Where there really stars in the sky too numerous to count? Was it really true that there were animals out there humans had never encountered? Our talk reminded me of the days when Fiona was young and her endless questions peppered my days.

“The real question I have for you is, will you help us? I’ve asked a few trusted people to start gathering supplies. When the time is right, we will leave this place and say goodbye to our old lives.”

He contemplated the option silently. “I’ll have to talk it over with them.” Meaning his partners. “If it were just me, I’d be right there with you, but I have Iain and Seher’s wellbeing to consider. I promise you that I will have an answer by tomorrow morning.”

Our circuit of the shelter’s hallways had brought us back to the beginning and Ezekiel dropped me off at the infirmary and bade me goodnight. I pushed one of the twin doors open but stopped when I felt a prickle on the back of my neck. About fifty yards ahead of me, hidden in the shadows of the corridor, stood Gabriel. I hid my reaction as best I could but I knew that he must have heard everything. I gave him a cursory nod and went to retire for the night. That was going to come back to haunt me. One could only hope that whatever his plan was that it would wait until I could get people outside. Safeguarding that mission was our top priority. If that meant that I had to play the red cloth to Gabriel’s bull, so be it.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jason, Nicole, and the other remaining members of the exit team met up with me in the mess hall. They didn’t sit with me, deferring to the social distancing rules that remained in effect, but visited my table briefly to convey their plans. It was agreed that we would convene in front of the shelter’s inner door after lights out that night to discuss the plan. I was happy to learn that they had been hard at work. The minute it was confirmed that I hadn’t died in the fire outside, they had been stockpiling supplies, squirreling them away. Thankfully theft was commonplace enough at this point that Gabriel didn’t think it strange.

Word was spreading quickly that people wanted to leave. Gabriel’s attempts at winning over the populace had fallen flat with the continued enforcement of quarantine. His goon squad had taken up the position of enforcement. Anyone who defied Gabriel’s orders found themselves having an unpleasant day. Defiant sentiments were quashed as quickly as they could emerge, which only served to spark more dissonance from the status quo. The valiant efforts of the medical staff were losing the battle. We had already lost one highly trained physician and there was no way to train new medics and technicians fast enough. Trying to turn