The Extinction Trials(11)

Power failure.

Initiating battery backup.

Battery capacity 26%.

Battery capacity warning: 20%.

Battery capacity critical warning: 10%.

Battery capacity critical warning: 5%.

Battery capacity critical warning: 2.5%.

Reactivation sequence initiated.

Biological anomaly detected.

Error Code 3940.

Reactivation override accepted.

Reactivation sequence initiated.





The glass cylinder opened with a pop.

“Remember,” Bryce said, “get her to Observation 2. Then bring the others.”

With that, he turned and barreled out of the room.

Owen’s instincts took over. When the others woke up, they would be freezing and scared and disoriented. Owen certainly had been. He wanted to be there to help.

For a moment, he felt the same way he had in the Oasis Park building as the fire swept through the apartment: focused and driven. The danger in that apartment building had transformed him. He sensed that there was danger here too. Once again, he felt that same focus. And more: a sense of purpose. He had a job to do. An important one. One where people depended on him. And he liked how that felt.

“Ah!” the woman yelled.

Owen’s attention snapped back to the chamber. The glass dome was hinged near the foot, and it stood completely open now, revealing a naked woman about Owen’s age. She had sandy blond hair and a smooth, unlined face except for the very slight wrinkles that fanned out from her eyes toward her temples.

She was shivering, and like Owen, she squeezed her eyes shut. Her breath came out in a white cloud that hung between them. “Hello?”

“I’m here.”

He took her hand in his, feeling the cold skin. His warmth flowed into her, and instinctively, he reached up and placed his left hand on her face. He glanced around the room and quickly spotted a metal cart nearby with a pile of clothes heaped on top.

“Cold,” she breathed out, her shaking growing more violent.

“Hold on,” Owen said, releasing her hand as he reached for the clothes.

In several quick motions, he extracted the tubes from her arm.

With her help, Owen dressed the woman and pressed the buttons on the garments that activated the heating element embedded inside.

She was struggling to open her eyes, but Owen whispered to her, “Give it some time. Just grab onto me for now.”

She wrapped her arms around him, and he hoisted her up and ran out of the room and across the hall, into Observation 2.

The room was large—a bit bigger than the pods that held the chambers—and empty except for ten metal folding chairs and a pile of thick blankets in the corner. Owen set Maya down on a blanket and wrapped it around her. Her shivering had abated some and her eyes were cracked.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Owen.”

“Where are we?”

“I wish I knew. I’ll be right back, okay?”





Chapter Ten





A hospital. That’s what the place felt like to Maya. The walls were white. And they looked plastic.

It was cold here, and there were no windows, only lights above that went out at irregular intervals. The red strobe light that snapped on and off was like a hammer hitting her in the head, fueling the throbbing headache.

Owen burst into the room carrying a middle-aged man in his arms. The new arrival was wearing the same black sweater, gray pants, and boots as Maya. Owen was panting by the time he reached the blankets and set the man down. But without a word, he turned and ran toward the door.

Maya rose, stumbling on lethargic legs.

Owen glanced back. “Stay here—”

“I’m not staying here!”

“Okay, don’t stay here,” he muttered as he left the room.

Maya couldn’t help but laugh at his reply. In the hall, she noticed someone else emerging from another doorway near the end: a slender young man, moving quickly away from them toward another door, which he opened by placing his thumb on a panel.

“Who’s that?” Maya asked.

“Bryce,” Owen said, now jogging down the hall.

“Does he—”

“That is actually the sum total of all I know: his name is Bryce.”

“Do you work here?”

He chuckled. “I don’t even know where here is.”

“Wonderful.”

Owen slipped into an open room that held seven of the glass chambers like the one Maya had awoken in. On one of the beds, there was a young girl, likely just old enough to start school. Her eyes were closed and she was shivering and crying.

Instead of rushing toward her, Owen raced to a nearby cart and grabbed some clothes, which he handed to Maya. “Help her. I’m going to get the others.”

Then, he was gone.

Maya froze for a moment.

“Mom?” the girl said, her voice cracking.

Maya placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl reeled back as though the touch was a shock.

“It’s okay,” Maya said softly. “I’m here to help.”

“Cold…”

“I know.”

Maya drew the tubes from the girl’s arm and helped her into the clothes. Still, she was freezing. Maya remembered then: the touch of Owen’s finger on her upper chest. She found a patch there with two buttons: a circle of red and blue and another symbol shaped like a shield.