Quarantine by James Phelan Read Free Book Online Page B

have showed because she put her hand on mine: hers was soft and warm.
    â€œWhy don’t you tell me more about Anna,” she said. “I’d like to hear about her.”

8
    T here was a sleeping hall with cot beds set up in what once had been a conference room. It was warm in here, the warmth of a dozen bodies already at rest. The sound of the snowstorm outside was a constant whirring and whistling. It almost made me nostalgic for the sanctuary of the skyscraper I’d stayed in at 30 Rock—then I remembered the creaky old building that Felicity and Rachel were stuck in right now.
    â€œIt’s mainly the kids and women in here,” Paige said. She went to a corner, lit by a little battery-powered lantern. “The rest are at the other side of the dining hall.”
    Paige sat down among five kids, two of whom I’d seen arrive that afternoon with their parents. They’d lasted two weeks in their apartment a few blocks from here and ventured out for food and fuel and, like me, decided to try this place out. Their mom was already asleep in a bed nearby, and I could hear relief in her quiet snoring. I sat next to Paige, leaning up against the wall, all the kids in their cot beds, under blankets, looking up at me with sleepily suspicious eyes. I poked my tongue out at the youngest, a five-year-old girl, and she cracked into a smile.
    Paige read them Stuart Little . They were already about thirty pages in. She read the part where Stuart’s doing his sailboat race, and then about Margalo. I really liked that story, how he protected her and his family adopted her; she flees for her life, he goes out to look for her. We don’t know how it ends for the two of them, if they will ever come together again, but I’m confident that Stuart found her. I preferred stories that didn’t provide all the answers.
    The kids soon fell asleep, except for a boy of about eight, who was happy to lie there and watch patterns on the ceiling from the LED strip lights outside in the hall. This warm environment made for a comforting time and place. I felt as tired as I could remember. I drifted off and woke with a start, as if I had tripped.
    â€œLooks like you need to get some sleep,” Paige said. “I’ve set your bed up, I’ll show you.”
    She took me through a screen of hanging sheets that acted as curtains to a row of beds. A couple of other teenagers were asleep, along with the middle-aged pair I’d seen arguing earlier.
    â€œMy parents sleep in the far corner over there,” she said. “They’ll be a few hours still, they’re always staying up with the others. Yours is over there.” She pointed, and I nodded.
    â€œThanks. I’ll go to bed in a sec,” I told her, and watched as she climbed under the quilt, turning away from me.
    I went to the bathroom, washed with some cold water and soap, brushed my teeth, changed T-shirts and put my gear in my pack, which I took with me and plunked at the end of my bed. I hung my coat on the clothes peg further down the hall. I lingered. Hesitation ran through my every fiber. I could slip out now, leave them all, head back to the zoo and figure my own way out of the city. But then I’d be forever wondering what happened to them. I wanted to wait and watch it play out. I’d give it until tomorrow. I wanted Paige to stick with her parents but it was not my place to tell her so—or to persuade her to the point where she would leave them. Was it?
    I carried on further down the hall. I wanted to pick up a bottle of water, but I was also intrigued to see how the adults spent the dying hours of the day, once the children and the injured were safely tucked up in bed. The dining room was still abuzz with talk. Many bottles of wine and cans of beer had been and were being consumed. It was pretty clear that the arguments weren’t any closer to being resolved.
    Daniel and Tom stood up at the front. I was