Meltdown

Chapter 5

The bright blue skies nearly blinded me and it took a few seconds for my pupils to adjust to the drastic change. Other than the heavily armed soldiers surrounding the building at regular intervals while holding automatic weapons at the ready, nothing looked different at all. As we drove through the quiet streets, I could see signs plastered on the fronts of every business instructing people to stay inside their homes and follow instructions on the news until further notice. Citizens were informed that anyone caught outside would be immediately transferred to a medical facility to seek radiation exposure medication.

"I thought it would look different," I said absently, reading each sign I could. If I was actually expecting one to say something different, I would have been let down. We passed the skate park and the emptiness was sad. It was too early for the kids to be there hanging out, but I still couldn't help but wonder where they all were now. Atom was supposed to be working at the plant, but I held out hope that he'd partied too hard and slept too late to make it on time for his first day. It wouldn't have been the first time he blew off employment. And who knew where Murphy was. I just prayed he wasn't with his brother for some stupid reason.

Bellamy agreed with me and added, "Something isn't right about this, I just know it."

I didn't want to argue with his stupid conspiracy theories again, so I decided to pilfer through my bag, looking for gum or mints. I hadn't brushed my teeth in a day and a half and I couldn't begin to imagine how horrible my breath must be right now. On the top of everything was a scrap of paper that had my father's hurried writing scratched on it.

If you make it out of the hospital, stay at the house until I come get you, no matter what anyone says. Talk to no one. Take Bellamy with you. Hide if you have to. I love you. Dad

I held it up and showed Bellamy. His eyes bounced back and forth between the road and the note until he'd read the whole thing. "Looks like we did the right thing getting out of there?" By making it a question instead of a statement, I could tell Bellamy wasn't sure how to respond.

I nodded and stared straight ahead, swallowing hard and forgetting about the gum. 

Maybe Bellamy wasn't just paranoid. 

 Or maybe my father had just been hanging around him for too long and it was contagious.

Either way, I figured the smartest thing we could do was follow his orders. "My mother said you have to go back to the hospital. Are you going to run?"

Bellamy's fingers started nervously drumming on the steering wheel. "I have to get to my family. I can't help them if I'm stuck in the lab."

"Do you think Dad wanted you to stay at the house, too?"

I didn't wait for him to answer. Instead, I grabbed the satchel from behind his seat and opened it. Sure enough there was a note was shoved into Bellamy's bag.

Do anything you can to get out of the hospital. Take Clarke with you and keep her safe. I'll be in touch as soon as I can. I know I can trust you. Jake

I held it up for Bellamy to see and could see his mind was racing.

"How am I going to explain not going back like your mother instructed? She seemed pretty insistent on it." My own mind joined in the contest to see who could come up with a better answer first. Apparently, Bellamy was winning. "Is the prescription she gave you for sleeping?"

"Mida-something." I rustled around in my bag to find the brown bottle.

"Midazolam, right? That will knock you out cold. They use it to sedate patients before procedures sometimes. Maybe I could call her and leave a message that you needed supervision or something?"