Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
I t's bright and early and I’m accompanying William and Ridge on a tour of the military facility. The leaders have recently made changes to some wings and the president must give his approval on the finished product. I follow behind my father as we're led through several corridors by the military general, who I've seen in the office more than a few times. I look around at the drab hallway as he explains the efforts that went into the changes we're about to see.
Ever since I saw what happens in this section of the Sanctuary, I've never been at ease with it. I go along with my day, acting as if it does not exist. When I'm asked to run errands here, I no longer have the desire to snoop around. I just do what's asked of me and leave. I hate being here. It's a reminder that everything going on inside of these walls is wrong.
The guide uses a keycard to open a set of doors. He points out a few inconsequential rooms, offices, and a state-of-the-art conference room, talking about each in a boring monotone. I question why my presence was requested for this walk-through. Nothing we've seen is out of the ordinary and this isn't a public appearance. I would have been more useful in the office doing my regular tasks. But William insisted that I attend too.
We enter through another secure doorway and the general says, “These are the new holding cells.”
I stop at a door and look inside through the small square window. “Are these the holding cells for people when they first arrive at the Sanctuary?” I ask, taking in the empty room.
“No, miss. This is a tour of the containment area, not the in-processing rooms,” he says, sweeping his weathered hand in front of him. “If you follow me this way, we will move on to the testing area and the observatory deck.”
My stomach drops, and I hurry to wedge myself between Ridge and my father. “What kind of testing is done here?” I whisper.
William's mouth pulls into a tight smile, and his eyes gleam. “You'll see, darling.”
Ridge doesn't look at me, and it's all the explanation I need. This is where they conduct testing on Zs. It's not that I feel sympathy for the creatures, far from it. We need to eradicate them, but to house them in a place meant to be a haven from them is wrong. If something were to malfunction or if there was an oversight, they could expose everyone here to the virus.
William gestures for me to walk ahead of him into a dimly-lit room. A dozen chairs face a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking a room below. I hold back and lean against the wall.
The general meets my gaze with kind brown eyes. They are such a contrast to the acts happening in this place. “I assure you that it is perfectly safe, Miss Spencer.”
My head snaps in his direction at my father's last name being tied to me. I want to reprimand him for calling me by it but reel myself in. “Please call me Quinn, and I'd rather stay here, thank you.”
“Quinnten,” my father calls over his shoulder from the front of the observatory. He and two officers stand at the window, looking at what's happening below. “They are getting ready to run a test now. You should come and see this.”
Ridge wraps an arm around my shoulders and says, “It will be all right. I promise.”
The general smiles as we join everyone at the front of the room. “It's amazing to watch. We're coming so close to perfecting it even further.” He assumes I understand what he’s talking about. This is general knowledge to people like him, my brother, and my father—the ones running the Sanctuary. I'm still clueless.
I look down into what resembles an operating room. A woman is strapped by her wrists, ankles, and head to a gurney. Her long dark hair is secured with a hair-tie, and they issued her a black jumpsuit that clings to her curvaceous form. She balls her hands into fists at her sides, with puddles of fresh blood underneath her raw fingers.
She's Afflicted.
The virus hasn’t taken her ability to talk yet. She speaks to the three people dressed in green scrubs and working throughout the room, but they ignore her. As the seconds tick by, I notice that her behavior is very erratic—one minute, she appears calm, and the next, she thrashes on the bed. I’ve never spent enough time with someone in the early stages of their infection to know if this is normal.
“We have the capability of talking to the medical staff and them to us,” the general says, pressing a button on the wall. “Dr. Himes, I have President Spencer with me. Whenever you are ready to conduct the test.” When he lets go of the button, the observatory fills with the sounds of the operating room.
“Mr. President—” the doctor waves up at us, “—it's an honor to have you with us today.”
My father nods in response, and the medical staff returns to what they were doing.
The woman on the table turns her attention to us, with tears streaming from her dark brown eyes. “Save me, please,” she whispers on a sob.
Every muscle in my body tenses, urging me to run and free her. They are using her as a lab rat, and she's still part human. I'm disgusted by the sight of it. This isn’t right, yet I can do nothing to stop it.
The medical team gathers around the table, and she snaps her teeth like the craving for human flesh has set in. They easily work around her as Dr. Himes aligns a massive needle over the center of her chest. He plunges it into her heart, and she screams, thrashing so violently she breaks a foot free of the restraints. Ridge takes my hand in his as I hide my face against his bicep. It feels like hours go by before her screams stop.
“Is she dead?” I ask my brother, with my face still buried in his arm.
He smooths the hair at the back of my head. “She's cured,” he announces.
I move away from him and watch the staff adjust the wires that came free from the heart monitor. When they attach them again, the steady beat of her heart appears on the screen. I release a deep breath and pull away from Ridge asking, “Did she arrive here infected?”
One of the other high-ranking soldiers in the room laughs. “Of course not. We would have killed her on sight if she was.”
I shake my head, not wanting to believe such an atrocious truth. “How do you do it? She would need to be bitten.”
“That’s a rumor,” William says. “The virus runs through all bodily fluids, but it must be directly introduced to the bloodstream for it to take effect. A bite is the most surefire way for the Afflicted to contaminate another, but we use a more civilized approach.”
My fingernails sink into my palms and heat washes over me. “You injected her with the virus. Is that it? You took a human being and purposely exposed her. She may not be dead, but she might as well be, William. You’ve degraded her to nothing more than a lab experiment!”
I march toward him, and my brother places a hand on my arm. I jerk away from him and spit, “Don't touch me, Ridge. You're as guilty as him.”
Without missing a beat, William turns his attention to the others in the room, “Gentlemen, if you will please excuse me and my children.”
I glare at the officers, projecting blame on them as well as they leave.
The moment we are alone, Ridge says, “They don't belong with us, Quinn.”
“What do you mean that they don’t belong with us?” I snarl.
“She wasn’t of Stern lineage and would have never been granted entry.”
I swallow down the bile building in my throat. “She migrated here,” I whisper, the horrific truth taking root inside of me.
“She would’ve most likely been infected anyway. At least her life can go toward something good.”
“You don't know that,” I say, unable to hold back the sob in my voice. “You could give them shelter. There's still room for us to grow, yet you're massacring people who come here looking for your help. They believed in your false promises. Nothing on your posters indicates that this place is only for those who meet a birthright. You're luring them here only to kill them with the thing they're trying to escape. It's sick.”
“She's not dead!” Ridge shouts, pointing to the comatose woman below.
“For how long? Has she earned her place in your community now? Was everything she just went through to gain her welcome card?” I yell back.
“Absolutely not!” William steps forward. “This continent was infected long before the outbreak. The virus is doing its part in exterminating the parasites who have taken advantage of our way of life.”
What a fucked-up thing to say! I’m fighting to maintain my self-control. But he is one more dumbass comment from my rage exploding.
He straightens the cuff of his shirt and says, “Trust me when I say, it will not happen again.”
My mouth drops open. “What is wrong with you? You have the cure.”
“It doesn't work past the first week of infection. That's what we’re working on,” Ridge explains.
And at the same time, William states, “We've always had the cure.”
My gaze darts between them. They stare at me with the same hazel-colored eyes. The only difference between them is that Ridge's hold worry at knowing that I'm pissed at him. He's grasping at straws, trying to make things better between us. My father glares at me with pure arrogance, infuriating me even more.
I turn on William and hiss, “You're a fucking disgusting tyrant.”
The back of his hand strikes the side of my face, his sharp knuckles cutting into my cheekbone. “It would do you well to remember, Quinnten, that I have made many exceptions for you. I will not tolerate your blatant disrespect of me. My patience is wearing thin with you, my darling daughter.”
I press my palm to the side of my face and tears sting my eyes. I know I should submit, play it safe. But I can't bring myself to do it. I hate him, and he doesn't even deserve my fake respect.
I square my shoulders and nod, turning on my heels to leave.
“Quinnten,” William says.
I stop short of the door and glare at him over my shoulder.
“Remember what you saw here today. Keep it at the front of your mind the next time you feel the urge to question me.”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and slip out into the hallway.
“Are you all right, Miss Spencer? Let me get you an ice pack,” an officer says as I pass him.
“I’m fine,” I say with a shaky voice.
Ridge rushes to my side. “She slipped coming up the stairs. I'm taking her home.”
I speed up my steps. I've had enough of his and William's company for one day. All I want is to get home and wallow in my immense anger and grief.
As we walk out of the military facility and onto the busy market street, Ridge matches my stride. “I'm sorry he hit you,” he says.
With my hands balled at my sides and my lips pulled between my teeth, I keep moving.
“I tried to talk him out of showing you, but he insisted that it was time you knew.”
I turn and press my index finger into Ridge's chest. “That's all this was. He didn't care to give his approval on the renovations made. He wanted me to see what goes on behind the scenes—to control me like he does everyone else.”
“You have to see that good comes from it, Quinn.”
“Shut up, Ridge. Every word coming out of your mouth makes me hate you.” I fight with my tears and keep my attention on anything but him. “Just leave me alone,” I say, leaving him behind.
Hating William I can deal with, but to feel it toward Ridge tears me apart. He knew people were being infected with the Z virus and subjected to painful experiments. Human beings are dying for our father's sick cause. And he stood by as William struck me, doing nothing to intervene. Everything is piling against him. I doubt there is anything we can do to salvage our relationship. Yet, a delusional part of me wants him to be redeemable.
It can’t be me who saves him. I have others who I love and would lay down my life for, and I know they'd do the same for me. Each and every one of them is in danger. William won’t think twice about exploiting them for his experiments. It's only a matter of time before I screw something up, and he uses them to keep me in my place. The Sanctuary may protect us from the Afflicted, but it’s now a deadlier threat to us than they are.
We must get away.