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Chapter One: Hole in the Ground "Quinn?" The sound of someone shouting my name drew me instantly over in that direction, pushing through the tall weeds and scarce underbrush toward a man crouched over in the dirt. I caught Bates and Kerensky up in my wake and we came up short in sight of McDunnough there. Carlton too. He hovered over the other man, a big, satisfied grin plastered across his face with his hands snugly on his hips. "I think we got something here," McDunnough explained needlessly as we all sat there staring at it -- the sheen of metal plating breaking the monotony of the earth. He turned his head toward me with an excited look of his own. I got down beside them and swiped a hand across the surface, exposing dimmed light panels, plastics, mesh wires, and such. They had been worn down by the elements while sitting buried there in the dirt for who knew how long. Forgotten and lost. And now we'd found it. "Right," I declared, standing back up. I glanced around at the other nine men crowding the space, looking at either me or the thing in the sand, and sucked in a deep breath. "Let's get to it then." Kerensky and Bates broke out two shovels. They had to edge McDunnough and Carlton out of the way from where they had already started digging excitedly with their own bare hands. "Take a walk," I whispered to Jordan, coming up beside him. My eyes drifted meaningfully to the copse of trees around us and the rolling grassland it punctuated, other stands of brightly-colored maples and oaks and such scattered about. Lots of visibility from afar out there. Lots of places for a good set of eyes to hide and watch for others too. And that's just what Jordan was good at. He nodded, catching my meaning, and shouldered his hunting rifle. Clapping a hand on the shoulder of his little brother, Leslie, as he passed, he smiled at the kid. "Keep your eyes open." Leslie was far from little, though. He had a full three inches on Jordan and was built much broader and more muscled besides. He smirked back at the other man, showing half his teeth beyond his lips. "That's your job, J.D." "Yeah, you just sit there and look pretty 'til I get back," the older brother replied, clapping him a few more times. Then he trudged off, crouching down to lose his profile a little more into the brush. The rest of us spread out while Kerensky and Bates worked. After about fifteen minutes, I had them switch out for Ortega and Cooper. Then Leslie and McDunnough. By then, almost an hour had passed and we had a good deal of that metal thing unearthed. Enough to show what looked roughly like a broken corridor of steel -- a little like our old module terminals between sections. The metal had been splintered, frayed, and worn away like the world just ripped the top off something and cauterized the wound left behind with centuries of dust and wind and dirt. And that corridor shell led downward into the ground. Carlton and I were putting our backs to it by the time something else started to manifest beneath the mounds of dirt we'd been shoveling out. "Move, move, move," Harris pushed his way excitedly past us, and I grabbed onto Carlton's shoulder to help get him out of the way. Harris was one of the few people who knew how to handle bullets, explosives, and other chemical or ballistic things among our people, taught by his father who'd been something of an engineer back when we'd all first landed here. Somehow, that had translated along the way to him being good with opening tricky doors. Which was what I assumed we were starting to look at. "That a door?" McDunnough echoed my thoughts from beside me, face screwed up squinting at it. Harris didn't grace him with a response, though, just started running his hands over the surface and brushing away clumps of dirt and mud to get a closer look. Mumbling to himself a bit. "Got a control panel?" I asked instead. That actually warranted a response. "Right here, I think." It was hard to pull Harris away, but I did. I put a hand on his shoulder and scooted him back so we could finish digging out the rest of that thing. If anyone else had tried to pull the man away from Protean tech like that I doubt he would've budged. I was in charge of this run, though, and Harris had been with me plenty of times before. He knew not to argue. He knew he'd get his chance to take a crack at it. Another half an hour and we were set and looking at what I assumed was an opening to an alien ruin, even if the door was still locked. I tried not to give into any undue excitement like the others, keeping my head on the mission. We'd been sent out here to locate that very thing after all, and there was a good chance that we'd find some useful supplies or tradeable gear inside. But there was never any telling what else could be lurking within those ancient, forgotten places. It wasn't like we'd be the first team to turn up missing after investigating one of them. Not to mention the possibility of other scavers or even raiders stumbling across us and trying to lay claim to our haul. By force, if they had the guns and the numbers. Jordan would keep an eye out for that sort of thing, though, and warn me on our short-range radio if so. I could always trust his instincts and sharpshooting out in places like this. He'd had my back ever since we'd been scrappy kids scrounging outside the habitat years ago, and had pulled my ass through a few bad runs in the time since. I never let Vigo send me out unless Jordan was my second and felt better for it every time. Bates and Kerensky kept a closer eye on things with their rifles while Ortega, Harris, and I crowded in the fractured corridor. It led down along cracked stairs toward the alien door below. Harris was crawling all over that, his toolkit open on the dirt-stained steel floor beside him, already getting to work on the panel beside the door. The rest of us waited patiently while he did. Every so often, one of the guys above would trudge up and glance down after us to check on our progress, but that was it. For the most part. "You gettin' all this, Leslie?" I'd made my way back out to the top where I could keep a better eye on the guys outside and inside both. The younger Weeks was scribbling on his pad with a pencil, but he stopped when McDunnough elbowed him from one side, immaculately-kept rifle in hand contrasting with the man's dirt- and mud-scarred clothing. "Make sure you describe in detail all this waitin' around. You know ... for posterity." The man showed Weeks some teeth in a smile. "Don't worry, I'm cataloguing your heroic slouch in some detail," Leslie replied in even tones, continuing his notes and smirking to himself. It was hard to say what he WAS noting down at the moment, given our standby posture until Harris was done working. Old man Weeks had been a teacher and a student of Earth history from back when, and that had translated into a oft-ridiculed desire to chronicle Brotherhood history after things went to shit. To ensure any future visitors might know what happened to our failed colonization attempts here. To ensure that maybe some of us and what we did weren't just forgotten in the sands of time like these weathered ruins and the ancient Proteans before us. A lot of people had painted him an optimist. Some of that optimism had seemed to rub off on the younger Weeks, Jordan's kid brother. He liked to take notes on all kinds of thing, but I knew he recorded what we did on runs too. All the guys knew. And McDunnough nudged him again. "Oh yeah?" The other man suddenly stood up straight, crooked smile never leaving his face. He made an effort at showing Leslie his profile, holding his weapon firm. "Make sure you write me down with my good side. Gotta make sure future generations that won't exist know exactly how good I looked standing guard outside a hole in the ground." "McDunnough?" I chimed in then, raising my voice without looking back. I put on that chiding tone of mine, the one that served as a warning to one of the guys that they were getting out of line. "You wanna join Jordan on the perimeter?" "Not me, Quinn. Just makin' sure baby Weeks over here gets the story straight. Wouldn't want him misrepresenting me to my kids someday." "Sounds like you just volunteered to wait here when we get that door open." "Not me," McDunnough repeated, a little more insistently. He knew there'd be no chance for special picks if he wasn't on site to make it happen. Jordan never seemed to care much about his share or what constituted it, but he also knew I'd snag anything I thought he'd like for him anyways. "Then shut up." Leslie flashed McDunnough a sidelong smile and showed him some teeth in return. The truth of it, however, was that he'd never have kids someday. Neither would Leslie. None of us would. That future had died out a long time ago. Half an hour passed and something clicked over near Harris in the tube. He hopped back as sparks flew, then excitedly started gesticulating at Ortega. "Try it now!" Ortega pushed forward with a crowbar to the flush metal plating of the door where it should open, wedging in and trying to push. I gestured Carlton down in after them to help and noticed an impatient look flash across the younger Weeks' face. He knew places like this were usually sterile, as far as they were rare, holding the possibility of uncontaminated medical supplies inside. Being such close friends with his older brother, I also knew that Leslie'd made a certain promise to a certain dying old doctor that he'd find him something out here to cure what ailed him if he could. Months and months of a deteriorating condition had poured tension into that normally jovial, boyishly handsome face. There was shouting, grunting, and all manner of effort put into prying that secure door. I started to worry about attracting attention, though we hadn't seen any signs of wanderers on our way in. Weeks was on watch too, I reminded myself. I took my radio in hand and warned him that we were opening a Protean door. "Start bringing it in," I concluded into the channel. "On it." Then the door was open. Metal creaked and groaned. The prybars scraped metal and excited cries punctuated that hatch ripping open. Ortega and Carlton stumbled back toward Harris, out of breath and sweating. McDunnough jogged down with his gun in hand and Carlton grabbed his. Those two jumped a step inside, scanning the immediate interior while I caught Leslie up behind me and started down. The rest followed. "Looks clear," McDunnough declared after a few seconds. Someone lit a torch and then waved it near the opening and we saw an immaculate corridor stretching away before us. I pushed my way right up inside. "Alright, here's how we're gonna do this," I said aloud, rounding back on the others and unslinging my rifle after getting a good look ahead into the dark. "Two teams of three on the initial sweep. Two more on control and two on watch. Bates, Ortega, Cooper. Carlton, Kerensky, Leslie." I pointed each of them out in turn. "Harris, you're with me, looking at the control station up ahead there. McDunnough, you hang back and keep an eye out with Jordan here when he catches up." "Ah, shit," McDunnough grumbled, spitting out into the dirty metal floor and turning back around. Without another word, he trotted up and out to wait for Weeks. "Ready, everyone? Alright. Move in." * * * "What am I looking at here?" I asked, eyes scanning over the readout of alien words on the console in front of me. They streamed passed in various directions depending on which part of the screen I was looking at, some bigger some smaller. And if I didn't focus too hard I could just almost -- ALMOST -- get a sense like I might read them. Like looking at a forgotten memory of a dream I'd lost upon waking days ago. It kind of gave me a headache. "That is the first Protean data we have EVER come across," Harris explained, jabbing a finger into the screen enthusiastically. He had a power pack in his hand connected to the control terminal we'd thought we'd found, wires soldered on where he'd guessed at the input from the back. A few tries, and he'd gotten it right. The thing WAS jerry-rigged, though, and it showed in the way the screen flickered and rebooted every so often despite the other man trying to keep his hands still to not disrupt it. "So?" I countered that excitement with a stern look of my own. "It doesn't do us much good, does it? I want a control terminal that might give us power to doors and systems if possible, not some database that we can't trade or use back home, Harris." The other man shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. I gave him a few minutes to tinker with his pet project there before I came down harder and made him move on to another of the terminals we'd found in that room just off the main corridor from where we'd entered. I wanted lights and door controls if possible. Years ago, I'd been on another run with a better leader than me and we'd come across a Protean ruin like this one. Our Harris type at the time had managed to get full power control of the facility and we'd made out with some mechanical and electronic parts to be disassembled and used to repair our own back in the original habitat. So I knew it could be done. Of course, raiders had gotten that old technician not long after and I was stuck with Harris to reproduce that success, which was always gamble. It wasn't like Protean tech was the easiest thing to decipher after all. Some of the older guys who'd been adults when the colony first touched down had been there when the scientists first started digging into the alien technology they found on the planet. It had all been very unexpected at the time, I'd been told. But there were still a few people around who remembered what early successes they'd had in studying the Protean ruins back then. Losing that knowledge was like losing a weapon. Or an eye. It blinded and weakened us just that much more. Not that we weren't all destined for extinction anyways someday. But we did manage to get some limited lighting within a few hours. Harris finally cracked that after a few tries while Bates' and Carlton's teams finished their cursory sweeps and checked back in with me. Nothing hostile. Some collapsed parts to tunnels, though they hadn't gotten into any rooms. The structure was three levels deep with broken down lifts in locked tubes and stairwells leading between. They'd managed to get into one where the secure door was broken and scout down it to see how deep that rabbit hole went. I took a look for myself and came back when some of the lights flashed on overhead. "Limited power," Harris told me, eyeballing the charge on his power pack. "It's not burning fast on just lights but we won't be going on forever like this." "Focus on door control," I told him, nodding. "We can burn torches for light and I'd rather not have to pry open every single room if I can help it." "Yeah, me neither." Once those initial sweeps were done and things looked clear, I got one team started on manually breaking into the nearest room while the rest I set up in guard rotations on the opening outside, keeping watch for any other scavers or raiders who might try to muscle in on our prize. Jordan caught up with me while I was watching Ortega and Cooper work at our first room's door, hands on my hips. "Pretty good find," he remarked, glancing around. "Vigo'll be beside himself that the waster wasn't lying to him." "We haven't found anything yet," I just grunted, eyes still on the room. A dehydrated, beaten-down and mud-caked man had staggered into our habitat's guards two weeks back, and traded the location of some metal bits that could've been Protean in exchange for a meal and someplace to rest before we inevitably kicked him out. There'd been no guarantee that anything would be out here at all. But Vigo thought the risk well worth the cost of one meal and a bed. Jordan clapped an arm around my shoulders, flashing me an encouraging look. "We will. There's always something in these tombs that people want or will use. Even just the metal is good. We did it, Quinn! This is going to really help everyone back home, you know it will." I looked back at him for a few moments. Then I shook my head, grinning. Good, old Jordan. Not so naive as his brother, but the whole family was a bunch of hopefuls. For what, it was hard to say. Someday they'd be rotting in the dirt and forgotten like the rest of us. No one was going to carry on our names or this colony. No one was ever going to remember who we were. In time. Sometimes I wondered why we bothered fighting so hard for scraps. For just another few moments even though that interminable night was always just on the horizon for our failed civilization. Sometimes. But Jordan always had a way of making it seem just that much less hopeless. Grinning back, and apparently satisfied with my response, he shook me off and drywashed his hands through the tactical gloves. "Now where's little Leslie and what's he gotten into so far?" We got that door open and there was a whole lot of nothing inside. After poking around a bit in broken steel crates and rusted instruments, I decided we were looking at a storeroom of some kind. Some chemicals in canisters were in what looked like lockers, but most of them were empty or long since evaporated into dust and nothing. There was an air of disappointment, of course, but that changed right around the time when Harris charged in, grabbing me to tell me that he thought he had door control. The lights went off and the torches came back out, but we had limited power going to the doors. Prybars got things moving much faster then, and we even got the other floors open. A few more careful sweeps and we confirmed the whole compound was clear. ?See?? Jordan was saying, slapping me on the back while we looked at a room on the second level and finding what looked like some kind of medicinal lab coated in dust on the inside. Chemicals and vials and syringes were scattered in various places all over, looking like the place had been state-of-the-art for whatever kind of people the Proteans had been long before humans ever arrived on their planet. But hastily abandoned. Still, medical supplies were a dwindling, precious thing. ?What?d I tell you, Quinn? And just look at all this. Leslie?s gonna love it!? Remembering the younger Weeks, I turned back to Cooper standing behind me gawking and told him, ?Go find Leslie. He?s gonna want to get in here and see this.? The man nodded absently, then trotted off to go find the kid. Chapter Two: Pandora My hand worked quickly and independently of my thoughts as it scribbled down notes on my pad. They started clinical enough, a description of the alien characters and odd arrangement of the Protean language that I could see flickering across the console screen, but they quickly ventured off as my notes so often did. Here was where my mind and hand found common purpose, speculating about the possibilities and implications. Why had they chosen to arrange things in such a way? Was there any clue that I could use to decipher what they meant? If I could, what secrets would they hold? Would they offer despair? Sympathy? Hope? ?Leslie, get your ass over here! Quinn wants you!? I heard a voice shout, tugging me away from those symbols. But as fascinating as they had been, they were quickly forgotten. After all, if Quinn needed me, it meant that they had found something interesting ? something that required more than just a strong enough back to carry it home. Looking up, I spotted the speaker, Dresden Cooper, coming from down the hall where the door to the stairwell sat. ?What is it? New tech? Medicine?? ?Something Quinn wants you for, so why don?t you quit trying to read moon letters and come see for your damn self,? Dresden retorted, confirming a find, but giving me no clues to guess at what that find might be. Rather than be deterred by the man?s refusal to answer, I was only more eager to comply; my curiosity driving me to action. Tucking my pencil behind my ear and my pad into one of the pouches on my belt, I got moving, trotting over to Dresden. By the time I reached him, he?d already turned around and started back the way that he?d come, heading deeper into the alien facility. ?Found the runt, Quinn,? Dresden announced as he turned the corner in front of me, stepping through one of the doors that the team had must have managed to get open. If Quinn responded, I didn?t hear it. By then, I?d turned the corner as well, stepping into the room right behind the other man. It only took a moment for me to lurch to a stop, eyes going wide as I took in the grime and dust of the lab. The place was a mess, but not enough of one to hide its former purpose as a place of science and thought. Alien minds had toiled here, seeking to unlock the mysteries of their world just like humanity had for so long. I couldn?t help but wonder what mysteries they had found answers to and what those answers had allowed them to create. ?Leslie!? Quinn?s voice barked, cutting into the whirlwind of possibilities that had been building within my head. Jerking my gaze toward the noise, I finally noticed Quinn and my brother standing there amidst the disarray. The former had an impatient look on his face that made me wonder how long he?d been talking to me before I?d finally heard him. ?Sorry. What?? ?Think you can sort through this mess and figure out what in here?s worth bringing back with us?? Quinn asked as he scanned around the dilapidated lab. Excited by the prospect, I had to resist the urge to let my own gaze wander and lead to more distraction. It would only delay my getting to the task, and probably get me yelled at to boot. That didn?t stop me from giving the older man an enthusiastic nod. ?Definitely! I?ll have it sorted out in no time!? Displaying none of my energy, Quinn just gave me a curt nod before he turned his attention to the man beside me. ?Cooper, stay here and help him.? The other man grimaced a bit at the command, but didn?t bother to protest. ?Fine.? Orders given, Quinn just tossed a quick look over at my brother along with a head bob at the door before moving on. Jordan fell in behind him, but whereas Quinn marched straight out into the hall, my brother stopped long enough to rest a hand on my shoulder. ?Don?t get too sidetracked, Les. Top priority stuff first.? Understanding the reasoning even if I wished it wasn?t so, I let out a defeated sigh. Given time, there was no telling what I could learn from the place, but learning wasn?t what mattered anymore. All the others cared about was what we could haul out of here quickly. ?Yeah, alright.? My reluctant agreement earned me a faint smirk and a head shake from my brother. ?Don?t worry, we can always come back again if there?s more,? he added before following Quinn out into the hall. Left to my task, I turned my attention back to my room as a big grin spilled out onto my face. Hidden in the mess were countless treasures just waiting for me to discover them. Just the idea of the kind of things that I might find had my heart racing with anticipation. ?Alright, let?s get to work!? * * * ?Co?e o? ...? I muttered, garbling the words as I tried to say them around the flashlight I had held in my teeth. That made the already unstable light wobble around unsteadily, but there wasn?t much I could do about that. Both of my hands were already occupied with tools which were currently jammed inside the open casing of a locking mechanism that I was trying my very best to pop open. Just as I thought I was about to get it, one of my hands slipped, causing both implements to jerk out of position, clanking against the confines of the lock. It also sent my right hand careening knuckle first into the solid metal door the lock held closed, sending a sharp stab of pain shooting my arm. Gasping from the hit, I lurched back, shaking my hand fiercely. That did nothing to undo my stupidity, however. ?Shit,? I finally cursed under my breath as the pain dimmed enough for me to reach the other hand over to rub at the bruised knuckles. Even with that to help, I still winced a couple of times from the sting. ?I need to stop doing that.? ?That?s not the only thing you need to stop doing,? Jordan?s voice remarked from behind me, earning a wince from me that was unrelated to my injury. ?You were supposed to be back up on the first level half an hour ago.? ?Sorry,? I muttered without really meaning it as I tucked my tools into their places on my belt. Now that my brother was here, I knew my time to work was done. ?You know how it is, though. I got caught up in work and?? ?You?re right, I do know how it is,? Jordan interrupted, having little interest in the excuses I always tried to feed him in situations like this. His attention had already shifted away from me anyway, focusing on the lock that I?d been fiddling with. ?What are you working on anyway?? Reaching over with my unhurt hand, I rapped the knuckles gently against the door which was part of a larger metal box that sat against the back wall of the lab. ?I?m trying to get into this. It?s some kind of storage unit, but it?s locked up tight. I thought maybe I could bypass the electronic lock, but I?m not having much luck so far.? ?Couldn?t Brad cut it open for you?? Jordan inquired, eyeing the door critically. Hardly an expert on the limits of a cutting torch, I had to shrug. ?I don?t know. The door seems pretty thick. Doesn?t really matter, since there?s no way to be sure we wouldn?t damage whatever?s inside, and given how hard this thing is to get into, I?m betting that, whatever it is, we really want it intact.? ?Good point. I guess that means using one of his little bombs is out too,? Jordan mumbled, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. He spent a couple of seconds like that, but apparently no other suggestions came to mind, because when he finally spoke he just asked, ?Think you?ll be able to get it?? ?Of course. I just need more time,? I answered, confident that, with enough time, I could figure out my way around this lock or any other one. Jordan?s thoughtfulness returned in the form of a few slight nods. ?Alright, there?s enough in this place to keep us here for at least another day. I?ll talk to Quinn and see if we can?t spare you for a bit, so you can work on this.? ?Really?? I questioned in a mix of surprise and excitement. I just knew that whatever was in the box was something big. I could feel it. ?Because that would be great.? ?Just make it worth it, Les,? Jordan told me before turning back toward the door. As he did, he waved over his shoulder at me. ?Now, come on. I?m starving. Let?s get back and get some grub.? Hunger, previously kept out of mind by my focus on the lock, came rolling in when I heard those words, making me notice the empty ache of my stomach. Even so, I took one last longing look around the lab, wishing I could just stay and sate my curiosity right then. It would all still be there in the morning, though, and I didn?t want one of Jordan?s lectures on how immature I was acting, like some kid too caught up in an adventure to do what needed to be done. Resolved to waiting, I trotted over to Jordan and fell into step with him on the way up to the first level. Waiting there, our group had made a base camp, choosing to shelter in the ruins for the night as much to stay out of sight as concern for the elements. As such, most of the group were huddled around a single camping lantern that we had, using it for light as they played cards and chowed down on jerky and half stale biscuits. Not everyone was busy distracting themselves with simple games, however. Quinn and Brad Harris were off to one side, discussing a door that they were having trouble with down on the third level. I didn?t see Travis Carlton at all, meaning he was probably the one that had been assigned lookout duty for the moment. ?I see you found the stray,? Dresden, the member of the card game that was facing our way, remarked when he spotted us approaching. ?Better not give him any scraps or else we?ll never get rid of him,? Mikey McDunnough joked, snickering at his own attempt at humor. Unbothered, I just quipped right back, ?Is that how they got stuck with you, Mikey?? While that comeback earned a few chuckles from the other guys, Mikey seemed to take it as a challenge, adopting a lopsided grin. ?Where?d he find you anyway, kid? Lost in the dark, crying for your big brother?? Before I could think of a retort, a bark of, ?Leslie!? put a swift end to the banter, while spawning sniggering from the gathered men. ?Get over here!? That order pulled an involuntary wince from me, as I twisted around to Quinn. The older man had a way about him that made me think he should?ve been some military captain snapping orders at soldiers. In fact, that was how he sort of ran the team. Whatever it was, it did a good job of pulling an obedient, ?Yes, sir,? from my lips before I started over that way. Jordan followed right along with me, tipping his head to Quinn by way of a greeting as he drew close. ?What?ve you been up to, kid? Haven?t heard from you since Cooper came back, saying that you two had cleaned out that medlab on the second floor,? Quinn asked in that stern, overly calm voice of his. ?Apparently, the room wasn't quite cleaned out, because I found him caught up working on this fancy box down there,? Jordan answered for me. ?It looks promising, but he needs more time to open it.? Our leader took that report stoically, offering only the slightest of nods as he digested it. ?How long?? ?Half a day tops,? I answered immediately, confident that I could crack the mystery box with that much time. That new bit of information churned through Quinn?s thoughts before he snapped his gaze over to the nearby Brad. ?Harris, do you need Leslie for anything tomorrow?? ?Nah, not unless we find something weird,? Brad answered. ?Not expecting to, though. Bottom level seems pretty cut and dry, just a bunch of storage and utility rooms. All we gotta do is pop the doors and pick ?em clean.? With all the pieces collected, I waited as Quinn slotted them into place in his mind before spitting out his order, ?Alright, half a day, you got it. We?re on a time table, though. When you?re out of time, you?re done. We all are. Don?t forget that.? Just glad to be able to keep working on the box, I nodded agreeably at the deadline. ?Sure thing, Quinn. It won?t be a problem.? ?Great ...? Quinn mumbled distractedly, seeming to have moved right on to some other task now that he?d sorted things out with me. He added a quick, ?Good luck with that box, by the way,? before he slipped away, off to go check on some other facet of his command. Once Quinn was gone, that freed Jordan and I up to go find a seat over by the lamp, although, I didn?t join in the game of cards like he did. Instead, I tugged out my pad and pencil, intent on catching up with my notes for the day. There was a great deal to write about, from the various interesting bits of salvage that I?d pulled from the lab to all my speculations about what lay beyond that troublesome lock. * * * ?Nope, not gonna work,? I muttered in frustration as I yanked my tools free of the lock to step back and glare at it. The damn thing was proving harder than I?d thought, eating through my time without showing any signs of yielding to my will. Whatever secret it kept locked away from me, it seemed damned intent on keeping it. Figuring that I needed a new approach, I looked down at my belt, running through the equipment that I had in search of something that might provide an answer to my problem. I had a pretty good array of gear for having had to scrounge most of it up by myself, but nothing really leapt out at me as an elegant solution. Of course, elegant was power and a keycode, and while I could maybe have rigged up something for the first, there was no way I was getting the second. ?Well, if I can?t do it the nice way ...? I mused, tucking away the items in my hand. In their place, I grabbed my survival knife to use as a hammer, an awl to wedge into the lock, and of a few more refined tools that I could use to jam things in place. Stepping forward again, I dove back into my work, toying around inside the lock for a bit before finally setting the awl in place. When I tried to smack the butt of the knife against it, however, a couple of the other bits popped free, clattering against the floor. Muttering curses under my breath, I bent down to scoop them up, trying to figure out a way to get this to work. ?Any luck?? Quinn?s voice questioned from behind me. Focus shattered, I looked up from the pile of tools in my hand, having to blink a couple of times to get my eyes to focus on the man across the room. ?Huh? Oh ... uhm, no, not yet,? it wasn?t until I?d let that admission slip out that I realized that Quinn being here had to mean that I was out of time, that it was time to go and leave the box behind, unsolved. Unwilling to let that happen, I quickly added, ?But I?m really close.? Quinn?s brow furrowed slightly at me, though, whether from thought or skepticism, I wasn?t sure. ?How close?? ?I just need like ten minutes and a couple extra hands,? I answered, hoping that would be a short enough amount of time to get him to agree to it. Of course, I also had to hope that, if he did agree, it would also be a long enough amount. A dreadful silence followed my words as I waited for Quinn to decide one way or the other. I tried to follow his thoughts, watching his eyes, guessing at which way he might lean. At the same time, I muttered encouragement in my thoughts as if that could somehow influence the outcome. ?Alright, Leslie, ten minutes,? Quinn finally agreed, filling me with a triumphant thrill that almost had me pumping my fist. ?But then you?re helping pack up along with everyone else and we?re out of here. Until then, I?ll be your couple extra hands. What do you need me to do?? Having blurted out that requirement without really thinking about it, I raced to come up with instructions, stumbling awkwardly over my words a bit. ?Oh ... uhm ... right, just ... uh ... just come over here and hold a couple of things where I tell you while I try hammer something into place.? Without a word of protest, Quinn just nodded and started worming his way through the mess to get to my side. As he did, I turned back to the lock, getting everything into place, so that all I had to do was point once he got to me. ?Just hold this one up against that, so it can?t move and this one right in there.? Quinn quickly took up the indicated positions, allowing me to grab my awl and knife again. It took me a moment to figure out how to twist my wary around the other man in the tight quarters before I could finally set myself up in the right spot. Once I had, I asked quickly, ?Alright, ready?? ?Ready,? Quinn confirmed immediately, tensing for the coming strike. A moment later, the ring of my first blow resounded through the medlab, however the lock didn?t budge. As a frown crept onto my face, I reared back to try again, this time putting more force behind the strike. This time, I got a loud clank as Quinn lost his grip on one of his pieces, forcing us to reset to try again. For the third hit, I really put my strength behind it, cracking the two tools together so hard I almost worried about breaking the handles of one of them. Rather than one of my implements breaking, though, I felt a different shift, one from the lock as the bolt slipped back with a clunk. What followed was a loud hiss as the door?s apparently airtight seal broke. Right after that, the door popped open, promising the first tantalizing glimpse of whatever lay inside. Instead of a glorious view of some hidden treasure, the door unleashed a sudden cloud of mist-like, green gas, spurting out of it like some kind of spray can. As I was bent over right in front of the door, the fumes shot right into my eyes. After that, all my thoughts were on how much that burned. Hissing in pain, I lurched back, smacking into Quinn who?d been looming over me to hold his pieces in place. He doubled over around my bulk, dropping his weight on top of me. Already off balance, I went right down under him, slamming into the hard ground with enough force to drive the breath from my lungs. Wheezing from the hit, I yanked both of my hands up to my eyes, trying to get my vision to not just be a red field of searing agony. Atop of me, I could feel Quinn?s weight shifting around as he scrambled off of me, coughing from the fumes. The next thing I knew, I felt hands grab me under one arm and tug, sending me lurching a few inches along the ground. I had little time to worry about that, though, as my lungs finally started to work again, pulling in a fresh puff of air. Whatever the fumes were, they were definitely not fresh air, sending me into a fit of gagging and hacking as I curled up into a ball. Strangely enough, that new torment seemed dimmer than the previous one ? distant. The red in my vision was dark, too, fading toward black ? then it just was black. Chapter Three: Mother May I ?Leslie!? I remembered shouting that. Shouting the man?s name. Jordan?s baby brother?s name. One of my men?s name. I remembered, but no words had come out. The case he?d been so obsessed with opening had exploded and filled my lungs, kicking them hard and fast and choking everything else out. We?d collapsed to the floor on top of each other and I?d managed to throw myself back up on instinct and adrenaline alone, driving toward the open door and away from whatever it was that was killing us. I shouted his name and pawed at his body, trying to heave him along after me when he just collapsed there on the ground. But strength fled so fast as that stuff ripped up the insides of my chest. I remembered collapsing too just a few steps shy of escape. I remembered coughing out my lungs there on the ancient metal of the floor, thinking: this was it. This was how I died. And I?d gotten Jordan?s little brother killed too. But that wasn?t the end of it. I remembered because I felt hands on me. The realization that I was suddenly conscious again was a slow and painful one. A face crowded in, shouting down at me insistently through a fugue of white noise that rang inside my ears, making it sound like it was coming at me from under water. A hand slapped my cheek. I recognized Jordan?s face looking down at me, saying something. Shaking me. I couldn?t make it out. The next time I came to, it was quiet. Blood thumped slowly inside my head, bringing with each pulse the sharp stab of the worst headache I had ever had in my life. I felt myself cry out, it was so bad. So bad I barely registered the excruciating pain coming from the rest of my body beyond it. Ortega pushed into view. He was more coherent than Weeks had been, but I couldn?t focus past that pounding migraine. I tried to shout at him and he disappeared. Jordan replaced him. The other man looked calm on the outside, but his eyes were frantic. I became dimly aware that I was resting on one of those decayed old beds in the facility?s barracks we?d found, with the younger Weeks writhing beside me. Looking as bad as I probably did -- pale, feverish, sweating all over and grimacing or howling depending on where the pain took him. I must?ve lost consciousness again because the next thing I knew, Jordan was replaced by the rusted and cracked ceiling of the room and Leslie was still, unconscious, and looking like an emaciated corpse atop that bed. Voices drifted over to me. Jordan?s. Cooper?s. Carlton?s. They were arguing about something. Arguing and whispering harshly to each other as they did so. I heard the creak of the room door slam shut and felt myself drift away again with it. ?Quinn! Quinn, hey, you hearing me now?? Jordan?s voice was much closer. He was standing over me again. I blinked up at him and wondered slowly at what was going on. But he was coherent. My whole body felt like it was dead below my neck. Except for the throbbing soreness. And the pain. Like little spiders crawling under my skin. I tried to work my tongue. ?Quinn! Quinn!? The other man ducked in close and I could suddenly see the feverish desperation in his own eyes as they bore into mine. ?You?ve gotta fight this, Quinn. Whatever this is. Don?t let it kill you. You?ve gotta help me keep this from killing Les. Please, Quinn. Please. If you can?t make it, he ... he?s got no chance. He?s not as strong as you or me. You HAVE to help m--!? ?Jordan,? I suddenly managed to croak out and it felt like my throat was on fire with little shards of glass crinkling up and down it buried in flesh. I immediately coughed and it was a thin, weak sound like a little kid. It made me suddenly wonder if I?d been wasting away as much as Leslie had looked like he was when I last saw him. The older Weeks recoiled abruptly at the motion, covering his face. I was confused by the sudden, real fear there at first, but my brain quickly caught up, as slow as it seemed to be at processing anything but pain just now. The other man seemed to feel the need to explain. ?Sorry, Quinn. Everyone else ... I?ve got them under control, for now. But they were scared when we found you. When you two started ... They were just scared, Quinn. They wanted to leave but I made us stay. I wasn?t going to just leave you two behind to die like this. But I can?t hold us up forever. You?ve gotta fight it and come back or they're gonna lose it and run one way or another.? He rested a hand gingerly on my shoulder as I lay there, blinking through the haze, and looked deeply at me with that hint of feral desperation so unlike his usually calm, optimistic self. He?d always been the moral rock of my command on runs. Always the softer edge to my authority for the men. I could see that melting away to fear as he crouched over me and his little brother now. Were we dying? So slowly? It was a struggle. But I managed to lift one hand. And I crept it over, wincing and groaning at the steady burn that I got while I did. I got it all the way to the other man?s wrist and managed to grab onto him. Squeeze some reassurance into him. He blanched at first, looking at that hand on his own. I don?t know why. But then I saw his resolve harden once more as he brought his eyes back around to my own. And his jaw set. He squeezed back and clasped his other hand over mine, sandwiching them. ?You?re gonna make it, Quinn. I know you can. You just keep fighting it.? And I did. * * * The room was black when I finally woke up again. Black, and empty. But more importantly than that -- much, much more importantly than that -- my body wasn?t aching all over any more. My throat didn?t burn and my bones didn?t ache down to the marrow. My head had stopped pounding, the blood settling into a steady, quiet thrum within my veins. Whatever it was ... it was over. It had to be. I tried to move, but my muscles were all like jelly. I couldn?t pull myself up, so I rolled over halfway onto one side and reached a hand out in the dark toward the shadowed form of Leslie huddled there on the next bed beside me. I could just make out the silhouette but had no idea if he was still breathing. I needed to know that he was alive. I needed to know that he?d made it through too. Fingers flopping clumsily along the cold, rusted steel of the floor, I got to him. Eventually. It took a minute, but I got to him. Those beds were nothing but cracked pallets flush to the ground so I was able to reach him. And I grabbed onto what must?ve been his arm through his clothes and could already tell it was too thin. The image of an emaciated corpse version of the young man who?d always been so tongue- in-cheek and vivacious flashed in my mind, and I resisted the urge to worry about how badly I looked in turn. I just focused on feeling the subtle tension of life humming through his veins. He wasn?t cold. I could just barely tell, but I didn?t think he was dead. And he confirmed it when he stirred slightly under that desperate pressure I applied. I pulled back then, slouching onto the flat of my back and heaving out in relief. I sounded like a ghost when I did, and became powerfully aware of just how thirsty I was. When was the last time I?d drank anything? Just how long had I been out? I needed to alert someone and tried my voice to do just that but it caught in my throat. Too dry and wasted to do more than squeak. So I scrambled around for something -- ANYTHING -- and found my pistol, still belted at my hip. I worked my fingers around it until it was free in my hand, ignoring how my cargo pants now swam against my thigh. Then I just started tapping it as loudly and insistently as I could against the floor with whatever strength I had left. I remembered what the older Weeks had said about the men wanting to leave us behind and I had to crush a wave of despairing fear before it crushed ME as I waited for some sign that they hadn?t done just that. That they hadn?t abandoned me and Leslie here to die after all. I just kept on with that pistol against steel as best I could. It took forever and I nearly lost it, the sound ringing erratically while my fingers struggled to keep a hold. Then I heard stirring somewhere out of sight. A door creaked open and footsteps scurried inside. I dropped the gun with the hopeful relief of a man who?d just run miles and miles and had finally reached the end, collapsing at the finish line. And Jordan was there again, throwing himself down to a knee beside me. ?Q-Quinn?? ?Water,? I croaked out after several tries. The other man hesitated a few seconds before scrambling away for a canteen. And I?d seen his eyes lingering on my face before he did, confusion and shock writ there all over for me to see. It made me even more fearful for how I must look. What that stuff had done to us. He helped me get that canteen to my cracked, bleeding lips and some water in me. While he did so, he checked on his baby brother as well. That same look of fearful incredulity on his sun-browned features. For my part, I noticed how diminished the kid?s previously large, muscled frame seemed now. And I felt the weakness in my own limbs, had seen how thin my arm was when I?d reached out to Leslie. I could only imagine what drew the man?s concern. ?How long?? I managed when I?d wet my ravaged throat enough to actually speak, but just barely. The sound was thin and so weak that the other man had to press in close to hear. ?Three days, Quinn,? he told me and my eyes flashed wide. I?d shared Vigo?s warning with him, the old man?s suspicions of a leak in our fraternal ranks. We couldn?t stay here that long. We couldn?t stay out on ANY run that long! The attacks on other groups had been too consistent to suggest anything other than someone feeding the raiders information, getting worse and worse and worse over the past six months. I hadn?t dared to stay out in that ruin for more than two days for fear of the mission details having found their way to raiders this time too. And now whatever had happened to us had made that five. ?You have to get out!? I tried to tell him, clutching at his jacket while he hung over me. Except my hands were too weak to do much more than limply hang there and all the words that came were a choked ?get out.? But that was enough. He got my meaning. And he shook his head. ?I wasn?t going to leave you two here,? he explained. ?None of the others would help carry you either. Once the changes started. We?d thought to wait it out before then and see if you two pulled through but ... I sealed the lab. We got you out and made sure no one else went in. But the other guys wouldn?t come near you two after what happened. They were too scared.? ?What ...?? He was babbling. It was overwrought, useless babbling. Like a man who?d seen something so impossible that it had freaked him right out of his wits and he wasn?t so sure what was real anymore. Was desperately trying to cling to some stable, familiar THING. So unlike the Jordan Weeks I?d known, the Jordan Weeks who?d run beside me out there in the wastes so many times before. We?d fought raiders, been jumped by scavers in the dark, and kept each other alive through it all. None of it had ever shaken him like that before. I could almost just imagine that it was seeing his kid brother laid low that had him suddenly so rattled, but ... No. I?d felt so wasted away. I knew it was more than just that. He moved away toward his brother for a moment while I sat there, wrestling with my own fears and doubts. I was trying to move again before he came back, feeling the slightest bit healthier with some fluids in me now, and Jordan just stood there while I did. I managed to push myself up on my elbows and stopped, seeing my jacket and shirtsleeves looking so loose and empty like there was nothing in there of me at all. And I had a blind, stabbing shard of panic break right through. ?Wh-what h ... hap--? Again that voice was thin and weak. Just like the rest of me. I?d shrunk within my own clothes until I was little more than skin and bones. And Jordan was just standing there, watching me. That wide-eyed look of a man in a situation beyond his control painted on his face. ?What the h ... hell ...? My sleeves rolled down over my hands when I moved to push myself off the pallet. I brought them up in front of my face and felt like a little kid wearing his dad?s clothes until the cuff of one slouched back down and I saw my hands. Mature, adult hands. But not like mine. Thin, and insubstantial, and fine-boned. My legs too. I peeled my eyes away from those alien hands and saw how I wasn?t just swimming inside my cargo pants -- they were all but falling off me down to the floor. Boots hanging on by a thread, my feet sloshing around inside them. I was shaking before I realized it, trembling all over. ?Jordan ...?? His name was a plaintive, shell-shocked whine when it left my lips. I looked up at him like a gutshot, dying man and he was still just standing there, watching. I held my hands up in the space between us like he could just take them from me and tell me what the hell was going on here. But he had no more idea than me, I could tell. And he had watched it happen. Something fell off my face. Glancing down, I saw black fuzz on my collar and had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach at the sight. Those hands, still trembling, found their way up to my face toward my beard. Or what was left of it as I pulled a mass of brown and black hairs away in my palm, matted with days-old sweat. And I started hyperventilating. ?W-Weeks ...?!? The other man didn?t move. His eyes flicked towards the form of his brother before coming back to me, frozen in apprehension. I could just imagine what he was seeing. And I had to see it too. I called out to him. ?Mirror?? But he started to shake his head. ?Quinn. I don?t know if that?s such a good idea ...? I didn?t wait for him to change my mind, or bother trying to argue. I just snagged the combat knife from my belt and did my best to hold it up in front of me so I could see my own reflection in the oiled steel. It was too dark, though. Jordan had brought in a light but he was currently holding it over where he was standing, too far away to see. I looked at him again. Sharply. ?Bring me the light.? ?Quinn, you really shouldn?t --? ?Jordan!? I snapped, and coughed at the harshness of it on my still abused throat. I had to swallow thickly to continue on. ?If you don?t want me to see it then you better just kill me right now, god damnit.? I tried to push myself up onto my feet. Failed. And punched the bed with one too-weak fist before glaring daggers at the other man. He finally gave in then, but it was as reluctant as I could imagine he could be when I meant business like that. Which made me wonder all the more at what I was going to find. I was still shaking all over when he hastily dug out a small shaving mirror from his gear and scurried over to put it in my hands. I wasn?t sure what I was looking at, at first. I pushed the mirror up to my face before I had a chance to think about it anymore than I already was, and saw the smattering of my beard there, a big clump swiped away by my hand. The rest of it was smeared all over and I just stared at myself for a moment, looking like some sickly mess. I didn?t find rotting flesh or cadaverous eyes, though. I didn?t find the face of a corpse. If anything, I suddenly looked too young. I looked like a prepubescent boy buried in the remnants of my old body, its clothes and face. Sparing Jordan a confused look, he was just studying me with a semblance of calm. Still rattled, though, I could tell. I?d know him too long not to catch it beneath the surface. It made me wonder. ?Did that,? I started to ask out loud, but my voice broke. I was focused back on the mirror. ?Did it make us ... younger?? ?I don?t think that?s it, Quinn,? he admitted worriedly after a moment and I frowned. Back to studying my face in the mirror again, I started swiping at the rest of my beard hairs, pawing them away from the skin so I could see. The skin of my cheeks underneath was too soft, too smooth, like a little boy?s. Except I kept pouring over it and noticed how I didn?t look like I had when I?d been younger, I was pretty sure. My chin was too pointed, jaw too soft and small, nose too short -- I remembered how big it had been, even when I was just a kid, and this wasn?t it. ?I ...? I touched my face again, tentatively. Like it was some poisonous snake that would suddenly bite me. But I got a distinct flash of memory inside my head then. ?I look like my mother.? Jordan didn?t say a word. He just bobbed his head like he had already realized that some time ago, despite the remnants of my facial hair smattered all over my face. And as I mumbled that realization out, I believed it. I remembered the face of my mother, even though she was over twenty- years dead. All the women were. All women all across this miserable planet our parents had tried to colonize thirty years ago were. I remembered what she looked like, even though I?d only been six when she?d succumbed to the plague that?d swept across each of the habitats, attacking and killing every last female while leaving the men alone to inherit what was left. There hadn?t been a child born on Proteus in more than twenty years. Leslie had been one of the last, and then the Weeks brothers? mother had perished too. Living on this planet was a death sentence to ALL women. Inevitably. And a whole new fear flooded into my head then. One, shaking hand pulled away from the mirror and found it?s way to my chest. I knew what I expected to find there. I?d felt the vague difference in myself since waking up, but had ignored it with all the other thoughts waging war inside my head. Now there was just the cold, clammy fear as my fingers pressed in and found soft flesh beneath my jacket and shirt where there had been nothing but lean muscle before. I knew what to expect, but couldn?t help the shards of ice that spiked down my spine at the raw confirmation of it. ?H-how?? I managed, body hunched over in horror as the pieces started to fit together inside my head. I knew how, though. I didn?t expect an answer from Jordan, I just felt too helpless not to say anything. It was impossible. It was impossible. And it was also a death sentence. ?Quinn? Quinn, look at me!? The other man finally got into gear then. I must have looked pretty fucking wrecked for him to finally pull it together after being confronted with all this, and sitting on it for maybe a day or more while it happened. He stuck a hand out and grabbed my shoulder, trying to steady me. And I noticed how easily that hand swallowed my entire shoulder up inside it. ?You?re still alive, Quinn!? he was trying to argue with the bone- crushing despair that was welling up inside me all over. ?You?re still YOU, Quinn! You?re still HERE!? But I was shaking my head at him, staring at nothing and barely hearing him. My whole body was just ... wrong. I could feel it. I?d felt it since waking and now I knew the reason. The terrible, deadly reason. I might as well have just died back there in the med lab. How much worse it was going to be once the Phage caught up with me. I remembered the adults back then saying that every male was a carrier. We were infected already, and if we weren?t -- well, Jordan was re-infecting me right now just by being in the same room. I tried to push him away. I tried to stand up and stumble my way away from the bed and him and Leslie all. Not towards the door. Not out into the rest of the facility and wherever the rest of the team was. Not into a world full of men and the disease I had just somehow become uniquely, entirely susceptible too. I just tried to get away from ... EVERYTHING. I didn?t get far, though. Jordan grabbed me and kept me from getting away. Grabbed me like a child and I had all the strength of one just then so I could hardly fight him. He was hissing in my ear. ?Quinn! Quinn! Listen to me!? He was wrestling with me, getting angry. I didn?t look at him. I couldn?t. I just kept trying to squirm out of his vice-like grip that was suddenly so, so much stronger than my own that it made me sick. ?Quinn! I need you to get your shit together, okay? QUINN!? He shook me. Hard. It got me to actually look back at him for a moment. Long enough to realize he was taller than me now by a couple inches, and I felt him tower there over me. I?d actually shrunk. ?You can?t fall apart on me right now, okay?? he was growling at me, jabbing a finger in my face like I was some kid Leslie?s age on his first run who didn?t know the ass-end of a knife from the tip. ?I need you to help me keep this thing together so we can get the fuck out of here and back home and figure out what to do to fix this!? ?Fix this? Fix this?!? I screeched, and the man just nodded his head quickly. ?Yeah. Think about it! Something in that case did this to you,? he explained. ?Something turned you and Les into ... THIS. So maybe there?s something in there that can fix it! Maybe there?s something in there that can change you back!? I stared at him for a moment. Stared, and then immediately tried to spin around and run for the door. Back to the lab. Back to where that something that could fix this might be. ?No, Quinn! FUCK! Will you stop?!? He held tight, wrapping me up again so that I couldn?t just take off without him. Held me back from the door and I fought him viciously, scrabbling for the door. Fought him until he abruptly picked me up right off my feet and swung me back around so I was facing the other way. ?LET ME GO, JORDAN!? I screamed at him, that alien voice shrieking up an octave and filling the room. It wasn?t my voice anymore. It wasn?t mine. I squirmed, but he held fast. ?You?re not going to go messing around in there and fuck yourself up anymore than you already are, Quinn! You?ve got NO idea what you?re doing. You?ll only make it worse!? ?FUCK YOU!? ?Shut the fuck up!? he snapped back. And then suddenly threw me into the floor. I rolled over and away from him, landing on my back. He was standing there, heaving above me when I came back up. ?The rest of the guys don?t know!? he shouted at me, angrily. ?I have to tell them, Quinn. ME! As far as they know, you guys are dying and we?re just waiting until you?re gone before we leave. We still have to get out of here, Quinn. We don?t have time to let you tear apart that lab and fuck yourself up with more Protean chemicals!? ?I?m dead if I go out there, Jordan! The plague will KILL me! You know that!? ?Maybe,? he agreed, his face grim and set and obviously having already considered that. ?But you?re not dead yet. And there?s time. Do you think the Proteans made something that could do this to you just so you would die?? ?What does it matter?!? I shrieked back at him. ?It matters because we?re just going to have to hold on and figure this out! We?re going to have to get back to the habitat and get help before we can do anything! We?re not equipped for this sort of thing, Quinn!? ?I can?t go back like this! What the hell do you think they?re going to do to me, Jordan?? He stopped and had a hard time saying anything to that for a few seconds. The thought had obviously not really occurred to him, even though he?d suspected this long before I finally woke up. We had ... holdovers ... from the time before the Phage. Boys that had grown up not knowing of a single, living woman still had pornography from their fathers and the times before. Still had the carnal urges that our race demanded for procreation. Like one half of a whole feeling phantom pains for a limb that had withered away and died off, they limped on and wondered at their missing pieces. And now I looked like that missing piece. Leslie too, I had to imagine since I hadn?t bothered to look at him thoroughly yet. So I just repeated myself. ?What the hell do you think they?re going to do?? He took a long time to answer. I could see the terrible, insurmountable problem being worked behind his eyes. But he held as firm as I think he could. Naively, and stubbornly so. ?I?m not going to let them hurt you, Quinn. Either of you.? I wondered if I could be so resolute in his position. I wondered if I could be so foolish. I took a deep breath, swiping a trembling hand back through my lank, sweaty hair. ?What do you want me to do then?? I asked then, trying to shove that panic and fear aside as best I could. Get myself back to a working brainspace. He was right, and I had no other choice than to kill myself here and now. I wasn?t ready to die. And he needed me for Leslie. Leslie needed to see that this hadn?t broken me. That I hadn?t given up. He was just a kid. ?We need to get out of here, I agree,? Jordan started anew, relaxing just a little now that I?d apparently calmed down enough that we could start attacking the immediate problems. ?The rest of the team, they?re ... I don?t know how they?re going to take this. I?ll talk to them. They need to know it?s still you guys inside there. So you have to be YOU, Quinn. You have to pull it together long enough for us to get back home and figure this mess out. We know where this facility is. We can get HELP looking into a cure.? I listened to him and nodded. I nodded even though I didn?t feel it. I agreed because I wasn?t in a state right now to disagree with him or fight him on this and that shook me. How had I come into this place leading this run and come out like ... this? So weak. It would?ve been easy to break. It still was. But I nodded at him. ?Good,? he said, nodding back. He breathed out another sigh of relief that I?d become amenable, planting his hands on his hips as he thought about what was coming next. ?I?ll go figure this shit out,? was what he finally told me, shaking his head. ?I?ll go talk to the rest of the guys and start making sure we can move as soon as possible.? He gestured toward his brother?s form on the bed, still laying there, and I saw him falter just the slightest bit. ?We need Les up and together too, Quinn. We need you both ready to walk out of here.? ?We?ll make it,? I assured him. We had to. ?Can you get us some food? Bring me my stuff? Water too. We?re gonna need it.? ?Sure. Anything you need.? And with that, Jordan left. I didn?t envy him the task ahead of him, and felt bad letting my leadership pass to him even though I was still alive and now up. But I didn?t envy what lay before me either. What lay before both me and his kid brother both. There wasn?t much else to do but harden the fragmented pieces of my resolve, though, and wait. And sit down there by Leslie?s side, ready to keep him from losing his shit like I almost had. Like I still wanted to. To the kid?s credit, he