Contained (Jake Riley Fanfic)

Day 2: New Day Of Light

Once we gathered up all the kids, I took them back to the room while Katie went to go ask Dr. Cannerts when we can leave. "Okay guys, Ms. Frank is talking with the doctor so I'm keeping an eye on you. I want you to behave and follow the rules."
"Yes Miss Lithe." The students chorused. I sat on my bed and pulled out my phone. I dialed Luke's number since I know Hannah would be at work and Mom would be cleaning. After the second ring he picked up.
"Hey Iris, how is everything?" Luke answered in a calm voice but I could tell was stressed.
"Hi Luke, I'm fine... Just stressed. What's wrong?" I said as I heard Luke go quiet for a bit.
"My boss is close to losing all his savings. Tomorrow might be the day that he lets me go." I could see him now, hunched over his desk on the phone, one hand pushing his dirty blond hair back.
"You should start looking for a new job. This job is stressing you out, we're barely getting by." I looked out the window and saw the city more clearly.
"I know Iris, but people aren't hiring old men, they want the young ones." I rolled my eyes and stood up.
"Your not old, your only 53. Someone would want to hire you." I walked up to the window and looked out.
"Well I don't know now, with the quarantine and all. Well I have to go, it was so nice hearing from you. I love you, stay safe."
"I will, love you too." I said then hanged up. I stared out the window and clutched my phone to my chest.
"Miss Lithe." Said a small voice.
I turned from window and looked to see Mary in front of me. "Yes Mary? Is something wrong?"
"I was just wondering if I could have a small snack." I smiled and nodded my head, leading her to a brown bag that I had brought in case the kids forgot some snacks.
"Ok I have....bananas... Fruit snacks...pretzels... Granola bars..." I continued to look through the bag until I heard her say something.
"A banana would be fine." I nodded and pulled one out.
"Here you go, now tell Thomas that I'm watching him." Mary ran off to where Thomas was trying to steal a candy bar from one of the other students. Thomas immediately turned to look at me after Mary went and told him what I said. I laughed and pointed to my eyes and then his. Thomas went red and backed away. Today's gonna be fun.
"Alright guys, let's play a game. I'm gonna blow up this glove to make a balloon, then we all are gonna stand 4 feet away from each other and pass the balloon to each other. If the balloon falls to the ground, the person who passed it is out." I said as I noticed some of the students getting bored. I grabbed a glove and quickly blew it up as big as it could get.
All the kids stood in their own spot a few feet from each other, I threw the balloon glove up in the air and carefully hit it in Quentin's direction. This went on for a few minutes until Katie came back. "Keep playing without me, I need to talk to Ms. Frank for a minute."
I walked up to Katie who looked kind of confused. "Is anything wrong?"
"I went to find Dr. Cannerts and a nurse told me to wait in his office. When I got there the TV was on the news and it said Patient Zero died after those two other people that we saw." Katie whispered as she pulled me aside so no one could hear us.
"Are you sure? That doesn't make any sense! Does that mean that one of those people had it before 'Patient Zero'  got it?" I whispered back to her. I started to get confused and worried. What if we're being lied to?
"Yes I'm sure. I talked to Dr. Cannerts but he made up an excuse, I don't believe it though."
I looked at the kids, all trying to keep the glove afloat. "We can't deal with this now, we have enough to worry about. C'mon lets go play with the kids." Katie nodded then we both went back to the kids who were still trying not to let the balloon fall.

10 minutes later Katie excused herself to talk to Bert, then she got a phone call, handed her phone to Quentin and walked out. I ran out after her and started following her down hallways. "You can't run away from your problems Katie!" I yelled as she turned a corner.
"Well I can sure as hell try!" She yelled back getting more tense and picking up a little speed.
"I know you don't like her but she is apart of his life too you know. His whole family is! It's not just you." I said as I caught up to her. Just then we heard someone shout and hit something. We turned another corner to find non other than Jake pissed off, yet again.
"HEY!" I have an 11 year old handling this better than you!" Katie shouted once he looked at us. I looked at her a little shocked. She barely knows this guy to take it out on him... even though he was an ass the first time around.
Jake just gave her an annoyed look and walked off down the hallway. I groaned and pushed past her to follow Jake.
"Jake! Wait." I yelled as he picked up his helmet and started to turn a corner. "Katie's just really pissed off right now, she's not meaning to be rude." Jake turned to look at me, still a little annoyed.
"That's her problem, not mine." As he said that, Dr. Cannerts walked into the hallway and started talking to Katie who was slowly walking behind us. We listened in and what I found out was that the hospital quarantine was lifted but the city one is still standing. When Cannerts left Jake and I walked up to her.
"Where will you two go?" I asked them both. Jake was the first to respond.
"There's a place by the fence that I can stay at."
"My house is outside the fence, plus I have to stay with the kids if their parents don't show up. What would you do?"
"I should stay. My parents house is outside the fence and I have no relatives who are in this part." I said thinking about all my family.
"I could use the help." Katie said a little relieved. "I guess it's goodbye." She added turning to Jake who was looking around.
"Yup. You two have my number so if there's any trouble just call." Jake said finally focusing on us. "And I'm sorry about earlier. I was upset, anger gets the best of me."
"I know the type, it happens to me too." Katie glanced at me apologetically. I nodded and turned to Jake.
"The kids look up to you, they expect you to protect them." Jake chuckled a little then got serious again.
"You sound like my buddy Lex. Always trying to make me the good guy no matter what I do."
With nothing else to say I just nodded and looked away. "Well, you take care." Katie said as Jake walked off. As soon as he left we both leaned against opposite walls and looked at each other.
"Dibs." I said loud enough for her to hear. She chuckled then reached into her pocket. Once she pulled out her pills she tried opening in but it wouldn't open correctly.
"DAMN IT!" She yelled as the cap wouldn't open. I quickly took it from her and opened it slowly.
"Here Katie." I said giving her two pills. "It's okay, deep breath." Katie took the pills but looked like she was about to cry.
"I can stay." I heard and immediately spun my head to the left to see Jake standing a few feet away. "I could help out..." Katie and I pushed off our walls and looked at him. "I'll stay." He said again.
"Thanks." I mumbled as Katie just nodded. I wonder if he just saw everything.

When we got back to the room everyone was staring out the big windows. "What's going on?" I said looking at Jake worriedly. He just shrugged, I ran to my bed and grabbed my phone. I quickly dialed Hannah's number and ran to the window. Right in the middle of the first ring she picked up.
"IRIS! Oh my god Iris! You would not believe what they're doing." Hannah said in a frantic voice. As I finally got a glimpse of what was happening I nearly dropped my phone.
"Containers..." Was all I said as I fell to the ground on my knees. "They're locking us in..." I suddenly couldn't breathe. Jake ran up to me and kneeled down, asking if I'm okay.
"They can't do this! We can put up a fight! They could listen to us if we just-" I shook my head, tears started to form in my eyes.
"They won't listen. They're trying to keep you guys safe." Jake said to me as he gave me a sympathetic look.
"You're not safe!" Hannah yelled into the phone, her voice breaking a little. "You could get infected! You could die!" She yelled again, this time she started to cry.
"I-I'll stay safe, I'll follow the rules. This won't be forever, I promise." I said as a tear slipped down my cheek. Jake looked as though he wanted to comfort me, but he couldn't. If we want to live we have to listen to the rules.
"You can't make promises you can't keep. I love you..."
I tried to tell her that I could keep it, that it's not forever, but no sound came out. Instead I looked outside the window at the containers that were being placed along the fence. "I love you too." I said then hanged up.
"Iris?"
"Miss Lithe?"
"Iris are you okay?"
"Is Miss Lithe sick?"
All the voices formed into one until I took one deep breath. I whipped my tears away and got up. "I-I'm okay, I just... need to be alone. Sorry." I mumbled quickly and ran out of the room down a few hallways.
Once I finally stopped, I collapsed onto the floor and leaned against the wall. "I will make it out. I will get through this." I took a few more deep breaths and finally calmed down. It's only temporary after all.