?Lisa and I spent a lot of time in places like this.?
?Right,? I said, after an uncomfortable pause. ?Which way??
?CDC iso wards all follow the same basic layout. We go left.?
That made sense. Zombies don?t learn, and if there?s a chance your personnel are uninfected, you want them to know which way to run. It would also serve as a herding mechanism; those that had already amplified but were hoping for a way out would charge straight into the air lock, where a positive blood test would buy them a bullet to the brain.
Rick started walking. I hurried to keep up, and he glanced at me.
?I?m sure Shaun?s fine.?
?Mmm.?
?If he?d amplified, we?d be seeing signs of the outbreak. Or at least smelling fresher disinfectant.?
?Mmm.?
?I?d like to take this opportunity to say, off the record, that your eyes are much more attractive when you don?t hide them behind those freaky-ass contact lenses. Blue really doesn?t suit you.?
I gave him a sidelong look.
Rick smiled. ?You didn?t go ?mmm? at me that time.?
?Sorry. I get a little anxious when I don?t know where Shaun is.?
?Georgia, if this is ?a little anxious,? I never want to see you when you?re actually uptight.?
I shot him another sidelong look. ?You?re awfully relaxed.?
?No,? he said, in a measured tone, ?I?m in shock. See, the difference is that if I were relaxed, I wouldn?t be walking along, waiting for the reality of Buffy being dead to hit me like a brick to the side of the head.?
?Oh.?
This time, his smile was small and tight and held not a trace of humor. ?Ethan taught me about CDC isolation. Lisa taught me about shock.?
I didn?t know what to say to that. We walked through the white halls, our white-clad reflections flickering like ghosts in the tinted-glass ?windows? until something new appeared up ahead: a steel-barred door with an intercom and a blood testing unit set into the wall next to it.
?Friendly,? I said, as we approached.
?The intercom connects to the duty station, and the test unit has an automatic upload function,? said Rick.
?Friendly and efficient,? I amended. I stopped in front of the door and pressed the button for the intercom. ?Hello??
Shaun?s voice answered immediately, full of the rampant cheer only I was likely to recognize as his way of masking grief and fear. ?George! You decided to rejoin the world of the living!?
Something in the center of my chest unclenched and I could breathe again. ?Good to see you haven?t decided to leave it,? I said. ?Next time, leave me a damn note or something.?
?Afraid that?s my fault, Ms. Mason,? said a deeper, Southern-accented voice. ?We try not to leave anything that could serve for a weapon in the rooms. That includes paper. You understand the necessity.?
I frowned. ?Joe??
?That?s right, and I?m pretty properly glad to see you?re both all right.?
Both? Rick hadn?t said a word since I activated the intercom. I turned and scanned the edge of the ceiling until I found a small discolored patch, off-cream against the white of the tile. Looking directly into it, finger still on the intercom button, I said, ?You must have been real popular with the girls in high school. They love Peeping Toms.?
?Hey, don?t rag on the man, George. This way I get to see your adorable pajamas. You look like Frosty the Snowman. If he were on the rag, I mean.?
?Frosty?s going to be kicking your ass in a minute,? I said. ?Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here, before I get seriously pissed??
?Door won?t unlock without a blood test, George,? said Shaun.
?Of course it won?t.? Turning, I slapped my hand down on the reader panel, barely even flinching as the needles bit into my skin. For every needle I felt, there were five more I didn?t. The thicker needles on CDC kits are more for psychological reassurance than anything else?people don?t believe they?ve been tested unless they feel the sting. Most of the information the CDC needs comes from hypos so small they?re essentially acupuncture needles, sliding in and out without leaving marks.
A light over the door flashed on, going almost immediately from red to green, and the locks disengaged with a loud ?click.? I removed my hand from the panel.
?I assume alarms go off if Rick tries to follow right through??
?Got it in one. Head into the air lock, let the door shut, and he can follow you.?
?Right.? I gave Rick a quick nod, which he returned, and opened the door and stepped through.
If the hallways seemed featureless, the air lock they fed into was antiseptic. The walls were so white that the stark light they reflected was enough to make my eyes ache, even through the UV-blocking strip. Half squinting, I shuffled to the middle of the room.
The intercom crackled, and Joe?s voice said, ?Stop there, Ms. Mason.?
?Close eyes, hold breath??
?Exactly,? he said, with faint amusement in his tone. ?It?s always a pleasure to work with someone who knows the drill.?