“Release the death grip and I’ll think about it.”
I can’t hold him forever. “Fine.” I let him go, stepping back out of his reach in case he lunges at me. I holster my gun, glad to be done with it. If Jacks plans to fight me, I can use my Guardian training to take him. I’m grateful when he doesn’t move toward me at all. Instead he turns slowly to face me, then backs up against the wall, rubbing his shoulder. It takes him a moment to regain his composure.
“What now?” I ask.
“That’s up to you,” he says. “Look. I’m not going to tell you that Fort Black is one-hundred-percent safe and you never have to worry again.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“But,” he continues, “I guarantee that you can keep your weapons. Clearly, you can take care of yourself. These walls will keep the Floraes out. For most people that’s enough. I can see you’re not most people, though. Just remember, if you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be here. You can leave. No one will force you to stay.”
“And Tank?”
He allows a small smile. “I think you’ve just proven he can’t stop you.”
I exhale slowly. “So what do I have to do, exactly, to get into Fort Black?”
“Doc just has to examine you.”
“No.”
Jacks holds up his right hand and puts the left on his heart. “I can vouch for Doc.”
“Yeah? And who will vouch for you?”
He drops his hands and shrugs. “You’ve got to trust someone at some point.”
I want to trust him, but I’m not sure yet. I need more time.
“Why does Doc have to examine me?”
“We’ve had an outbreak of the Pox.”
“The Pox?”
“You haven’t seen anyone with the Pox?” he asks, unbelieving.
I shake my head.
“Then you’re lucky. You must not have had much contact with other survivors.”
He looks at me again, as if he is trying to figure out a puzzle—not calculating, but curious. “We still have to test you to make sure. We also have to check you for bites.”
“Florae bites? Why?” Do they know? How could they? Only a few people in New Hope knew the truth.
“To make sure you’re not infected.”
“Infected?” I say densely.
Jacks cocks his head at me like he doesn’t know why I’m confused. But when he speaks his voice is kind. “We need to make sure that you’re not going to turn into a Florae.”
“And how,” I ask, my voice a little too high, “could I possibly turn into a Florae?”
I know I sound hysterical, but I can’t believe they know. It’s not possible, not after all I went through in New Hope to discover the truth myself. Not after all I was put through by Dr. Reynolds to make sure it remained buried.
“Amy, you’ve been out there a long time,” Jacks says slowly. “You must know what happens when a person is bitten by a Florae?”
My limbs feel heavy, all my adrenaline gone. “So you know that the Floraes are people?”
“Of course.” He frowns, looks at me, and shakes his head. “It’s not like it’s a secret.”
Chapter Nine
We walk back down the corridor to Doc’s office. Jacks motions me inside, pointing to the exam table. I sit on the edge and try to force myself to relax, but I can’t stop shifting.
“He’s just going to take some blood,” Jacks says from the doorway.
The sting of Tank’s attack is still fresh. How many people here are just like him?
My training will get me through a lot, but part of besting Tank had been him not expecting me to know how to fight. In his eyes I was just a girl, fresh meat. But now he knows what I can do. He seems like a dumb brute to me, but Jacks clearly thinks he’s dangerous.
Before I can ask Jacks more about Tank, Doc steps up and stands there in front of me with a small, tired smile. His face is lined and weathered, his salt-and-pepper hair cut military short. “Let’s just take your blood pressure for now.” He puts his hand on my wrist. “How old are you, Amy?”
“Seventeen.”
“And how long have you been on your own?”
“I don’t know. . . . I was hiding in a house. Why are you asking me?” I move to pull my arm away, but Doc holds my wrist firmly.
“Where did you come from?” he asks. “How have you survived this long alone?”
“What’s with the twenty questions, Doc?” Jacks asks from the doorway.
Doc drops my wrist, turning to glare at his assistant. “I was just trying to find out a little more about our mystery survivor,” he says in a measured voice. “Maybe she’s seen other colonies.” He turns back to me. “Have you? Been to any other survivors’ colonies?”
“No.” The lie is on my lips before I even knew why I’m saying it. My skin crawls at the thought of New Hope. “Are we almost done here?”
“I’ll just take a blood sample to test and give you a few shots to boost your immune system.” Doc looks at my arm, still sheathed in my synth-suit. “You’ll have to remove your clothing for the examination, anyway.”
I shake my head. “No.” I don’t like Doc. There is something about him that makes me uneasy, and I don’t want him touching me again.
“I’m afraid the blood test is nonnegotiable. You could carry any number of communicable diseases. You might even carry the Black Pox. If you don’t let me take a blood sample, you’ll have to leave.”
“No.”
“You’re not going to find your friend out there,” Jacks says, nodding at the outside. “Unless he’s a Florae.”
I pause, thinking, looking at Doc and Jacks. I know Jacks is right; there’s nothing left to do. “Fine,” I relent, pulling the superstretchy material of the synth-suit down over my shoulder and freeing my arm from it. “But this is it. No examination, no shots.”
As he takes my blood, the doctor keeps pressing. “I have to check you for bites or gashes that can be caused by a Florae—”
“Just test my blood,” I tell him. “I’m not infected.”
Doc frowns. “You don’t seem to understand.” He sighs, as though having to deal with me is making him very tired. “The bacteria lies dormant in the bloodstream until just a few moments before the infected begins to change. It can take up to twenty-four hours before the person shows the first signs of infection.”
“Then I’ll wait it out here.”
Doc opens his mouth to protest, but Jacks cuts him off. “I’ll watch her,” Jack says from the doorway. “I’m off work soon, and I’ll keep an eye on her till my next shift. If she doesn’t change within the next day, she’s not going to.”
Doc considers, softening as he looks at Jacks. Maybe my initial instincts were wrong about Doc.
“Okay. But if she starts to change, you have to give her the injection. . . . No hesitation.”
Jacks’s eyes flick to me before returning to Doc. “I’ll watch her,” he says. “You have my word.”
Doc has left us to have my blood tested, giving me one last, hard look before leaving the room.
“What’s in the injection?” I ask after a few minutes of silence. I scan the room for the syringe and find it resting on a metal tray on the counter across from me.
“Potassium chloride.” He pulls over a chair and sits between me and the syringe, but not too close to either. “If you start to change, I’ll have to give it to you,” he says. “It’ll stop your heart.”
I grin darkly. “Why don’t you just ask Tank to take care of it?”
“I wouldn’t want to give him the satisfaction.”
“So what’s his deal anyway?” I ask. “Are there a lot of guys like him in Fort Black?”