Contained (Jake Riley Fanfic)

Day 3: The Touch

"This isn't your fault." Dr. Cannerts was saying to Katie down the hall. Once the man stopped coughing up blood we all raced to get Thomas contained. I was pacing back and forth down the hall from where the two were watching Thomas, I couldn't bare look at him get sick.
"Katie, c'mon lets get a snack from the vending machines." I said as I finally walked up to the both of them watching Thomas through the glass. Katie just turned and nodded to me then we walked down the hallways until we found a vending machine. "What do you want?" I asked but she shook her head. "You wanted to just get away too." I observed.
"That obvious? I just can't help but feel it's my fault, I just stood there...doing nothing." Katie said as she hugged her arms for comfort and looked away.
"If it makes you feel better, I probably would've been too scared to do anything too." She just nodded and shrugged.
"Maybe." After that we started talking about random things like our family and the weather.

A while later when we finally returned, Dr. Cannerts was not there. Katie ran to the end of the hall and looked into the small room where Thomas was supposed to be. "THOMAS!" She yelled trying to see if he was hiding behind his bed.
"What? Is he not there?" I asked getting confused. Katie turned around and shook her head. "DR. CANNERTS?!" I yelled turning on my heals and starting to fast walk down the halls. "Katie, follow me!" I said as I turned a few corners then stopped. Thomas was there holding hands with his dad and walking across the hallway, toward the exit. I heard Katie come up behind me then gasp.
Mr. Graham turned around letting go of his son and looked at us. "I've come to take my son home."
"No, no, you can't. He has been exposed." I whispered loud enough for him to hear. Then things escalated quickly. Mr. Graham took out a gun and pointed it at both of us, causing a gasp and whimper from Thomas.
"I said, I've come to take him home." I stepped back then I saw Dr. Cannerts walk into the hallway with his arms raised up a little.
"Dr. Cannerts call the police, Jake even." Katie said with hope filling her voice.
"I've already tried. We can't." Was all Dr. Cannerts said.
"Please, let us keep an eye on hi-" I was suddenly cut off by Mr. Graham running toward us with his gun switching from Katie to I.
"YOU TWO WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE CARE OF HIM! BOTH OF YOU!" I bit my lip and looked away. Please... Not here... Not now... Not like this.
All of a sudden I heard Bert's voice from behind me. "Sir, It's not kind to wave a gun in a woman's face." I glanced back at Mr. Graham who looked like he just realized what he was doing. His eyes glassed over and he looked down.
"Please... I just want to take my son home." I blacked out for a few second until I heard a small voice say goodbye to me. I slid against the opposite wall that Katie lay on, and let out a breath that I didn't even realize I had been holding. Thank god that didn't end badly.

An hour later I decided that I needed to be alone for a while so I wandered through the halls. I decided that I should tell Hannah what happened to me, so I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed her number. On the second ring I heard her cheery voice pick up. "About time you called! We've been worried."
"Sorry, a lot happened today... Can you just listen for a few minutes?" I said sighing and sitting against a random wall.
"Of course, what happened?" So I told her, everything that happened from when we hung up last night to an hour ago.
"-Jake arrived back at the hospital but I nor Katie wants to see him right now. Katie is with Quentin right now, she doesn't want to leave his side." Hannah listened to all of it until I was done. I heard her sigh and I could tell she was running a hand through her hair and thinking about what to say.
"I'm glad your fine now, God I don't know what I would do if I lost you... Or dad or even Sarah. You should let Katie have some time with her son, she definitely needs it now. As for Jake, talk to him, see what he's been up to, get your mind off things. And I know you have a crush on him, it's obvious from what you say about him."
"HEY! I do not!... Ok maybe I do but that's not the point. There are more important matters at hand, but I do need to get my mind off things... I miss you." I said sighing again then fiddling with the hem of my black tank top that I changed into earlier.
"I miss you more. Sarah and Dad have been having such a hard time focusing, every time I see Sarah she is flipping through news channels. Dad is about to lose his job which this situation is not helping him. They love you lots."
"Tell them nothing will happen to me and that I love them. I'm gonna go talk to Jake, Love you."
"Love you too." Hannah said before she hung up the phone. I turned off my phone and headed to where Jake would be doing god-knows-what.

I finally found him in a big furnace room putting something on a shelf. "Hey." I said in a small voice causing him to turn around and smile at me.
"Hey Iris. Cannerts told me what happened... I hope you and Katie are okay."
"I am... I don't have a kid yet so I barely know what she must be going through." I said as I looked around curiously. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I'm working two jobs now. It's hard... These people were all alone. At least Thomas has his family." Jake said as he caught me looking at the jars on one of the shelves. His job is to burn the-oh God....
"If a man could easily take a kid from in here, what's it like outside this hospital? Who's in charge?" I asked finally looking at him. Jakes looked away avoiding eye contact with me. "Why are we in this mess?" I asked even though he didn't have the answer.
"I know that Thomas is in his house eating dinner with his family. Probably watching YouTube like any other normal 11 year old." I shrugged causing him to ask, "Have you seen the one were the dog shoots a basketball into a hoop?" This caused me to laugh and shake my head. Jake gasped and put a hand to his chest dramatically. "Follow me!" He said before running into the hall and going on his phone.
One I got into the hall, Jake set his phone down in the middle and sat on one side of the hall. I sat on the other as Jake leaned out and pressed play. I saw a boy balance a ball on his dogs nose, then I saw the dog shoot it into a small basketball hoop. This caused me to laugh and after the third time Jake and I were out of breath.
All of a sudden the video stopped and the screen went black with only a few red letters and an exclamation point inside of a triangle. "W-what happened?" I asked grabbing his phone and trying to go on the Internet.
"I don't know... Let me see." I handed him his phone and pulled out my own. I tried to call Luke, Hannah, or my mother but the calls didn't go through. I tried going on the Internet but it said the Internet was down. "They shut off the service and the Internet." Jake said as he put his phone on the ground.
"No, no, no. I need to talk to my family, let them know I'm okay." I said getting angry. Jake looked at me sympathetically then stood up.
"It's okay, they'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, why don't you say we get to know each other better?"
I sighed then heaved myself up from the floor. "I guess that's okay.. What do you want to know?" I said as we started walking back to the room we were staying in.
"Your family, your friends... The basics." So I told him.