We wait for Ollie at the gate, watching the sun inch higher into the sky. It isn't yet midday, but the temperature is rising slowly. Isaac leans against the wall, eyes wide and alert. Unsure of why he is on edge but not wanting to ask, I stand still and kept quiet.
Back at the house, Mandy had thrown another fit, stomping around the room and yelling.
"You seriously aren't going to come see me off?" I asked calmly. Isaac was behind me again; my hands didn't shake, face didn't burn. My heart rate wasn't rising, not yet beating in my ears. I had control of myself again.
"No, I'm not," she spat back at me, "Because I don't support this at all."
"I'm a grown woman. I can do whatever I want. I'm not trying to be defiant."
Dad put a hand on her arm, and the light died in her eyes. She withered back a few steps, taking a long breath.
"You're still my daughter," she whispered, looking at the floor. The comment made my energy fizzle out, leaving me staring blankly at her.
"I'm going," I finally said, taking a step towards the door, "Not because of you or Isaac or anyone else. I'm going for me."
Not that I was being entirely truthful. Isaac was most of the reason I was going. There was a tiny piece of me though, that wanted to be a part of something else, that wanted to be outside the wall again. I never quite stopped craving the mountains around me, being able to see for miles down the road, not having someone tell me what to do and when to do it. Being within the walls was the safest place for me, but it would never feel like enough. I could see that now.
"You're from 5, aren't you?" I ask, making Isaac jump. He looks down at me, nodding.
"I am."
"Are they building an army?"
Isaac looks away, his lips pursing tight together.
"I'm not sure. I passed my Intelligence Exam when I was 16, but I was sent off, remember?"
Intelligence Exam?
I open my mouth to continue questioning him, but a shadow approaching interrupts me.
"The Jaelyn Price."
I glance up, a smile spreading across my face.
"Jane," I whisper, watching the redhead bound over towards me. She spreads her arms out, taking me in a giant hug.
"Thank you for coming," she whispers in my ear. I nod. "It's going to a be a long few months."
She pulls away from me, smiling sadly at Isaac.
"And you," she says, offering him a hand to shake, "I'm glad you pulled a Jesus and rose from the dead. You were always my favorite wall guard in Compound 4." Isaac returns the smile, shaking her hand.
"Alright," Ollie says, as she comes around the corner. "Here's the plan. Jane has the trucks parked outside the gate, waiting and ready. She's going to get you into Compound 3 and introduce you to the people from Compound 2. When the time is right and you've done all you need to do, you can leave and head to 2. Maybe this will happen in a domino sort of fashion."
I take a long breath, watching Isaac pick up our bags.
"Any idea what I should say to get them on our side?" I ask, swallowing.
"Here's the Hartley videos," Ollie says, handing me a small silver disk in clear wrapping. "I don't know what the other compounds are hiding, but you have to find their weak point and exploit it. Just like you did here. Find their figurative second strand and destroy it."
I hand the disk off to Isaac, who shoves it in a backpack.
"I told you," Ollie continues, handing him more bags, "It's going to be a lot of just sort of winging it."
"How did you end up in charge?" I ask, crossing my arms. She laughs, and a smile lingers on her face. I'm not smiling, though; I don't think it's funny.
"Oh," she said, "You're serious."
She shrugs, turning towards Jane.
"Good luck," she says, shaking the woman's hand, "Keep me updated. Now that the power's working, you can always call."
Jane nods.
"I'll be sure to do that when we pass our first telephone booth," Jane says, turning on her heels and walking away. Isaac tries to hide his laughter.
Ollie rolls her eyes, turning to me as Isaac follows Jane out of the gate. The guards watch them cautiously from the upper wall.
"Seriously, keep us updated. We need to know how things are moving along," she says, hands in her jacket pockets.
"Yeah," I say, "I'll write or something. Thanks for being worried about my safety."
"I am worried about your safety, Jay," she says, chasing after me as I follow the others, "But the future is more important than you."
I just nod, watching Isaac toss the bags into the back on the Compound 3 truck. He favors his right leg, standing with his left foot elevated off the ground a few inches. He slightly winces as he walks, the kind wince that stays in his nose and eyes. He doesn't suck in air or make a big deal out of it.
Isaac catches me watching him and waves at me, the gentle smile I've missed tugging at the corners of his mouth. He turns back around, and I watch how his arms tense as he helps move more boxes and bags.
"Earth to Jaelyn," Ollie says, tapping me on the shoulder. I glance at her for a second.
"Yes?"
"Your dad wanted me to tell you goodbye. He had to run to the infirmary."
"Oh? Well, thanks."
I know the part Dad didn't tell her. He can't say goodbye, can't be that vulnerable again. I saw a side of him in the white room that I'll never see again. Dad does not cry; he does not put himself into situations that might depress him. I'm flattered that my leaving makes him want to run away. It means he feels something.
"Sorry about Mandy," Ollie continues.
"I don't really care if she comes or not."
"But those two are all you have, aren't they?"
I take a long deep breath. A month and a half ago, the answer would have been yes. My father was my life, and I would have done anything for him. Although my mother was dead in my mind, she was the reason that I chose to be secluded from my peers. The two of them represented everything I had ever known.
Are they all I have now?
I watch Isaac as I think, biting my nails.
No. He is all I have.
"Jay?"
I look at Jane, half leaned out her window.
"You ready?"
Isaac's sitting in the back of the truck, leg propped up on the edge as he stretches out. Emily is sitting beside him. Trevor's arm hangs out the passenger side window, and I see the silhouette of his head through the back window.
"Yeah," I finally say, jumping into the bed of the truck, "I'm ready."
Isaac hands me my bag, the open pages of his sketchbook rustling in the wind.
"Can I feel that?" I ask him, as Jane puts the truck in gear. It lurches forward, jostling all of us around for a minute.
"Sure, but why?" he replies, passing me the sketchbook.
I flip through, finding his pictures of the infected, the giant bird, the mountains of Dunlap. I find the page where we were writing back and forth on my second day. Tracing the letters with my fingers, the indentions are like canyons.
"You're going to smear it," he scolds as I flip to the next picture, feeling the shape of the bird's beak. I laugh, passing it back. He goes back to drawing, ignoring the wall receding into the foreground. I rest my head on his shoulder, the heat of the sun warming me.
"I missed you," I mumble, digging through my bag for a book. He laughs, patting my leg.
"I missed you, too," he says, left hand still sketching.
"Hold tight, guys," Jane shouts from the front, "It's a long drive back to Compound 3."
I take a shaky breath, watching the wall become nothing more than a caterpillar on the green expanse of grass around it.
A/N: Thank you so much for being along for the intense and crazy ride that has been Immune. You, as readers, mean the world to me, and you make this possible. Stay tuned, because when one door closes.... ;)
xoxo, Amy.