S. Bodeen - The Compound

The corridor seemed shorter than I remembered, because all too soon the silver door stood before me. In the surface, my face was reflected. Despite the distortion, I could still see my terrified expression. I saw myself there, in the door, clutching the parchment.

Yes, I was scared.

More than that, I was ready. Ready to do it, to try the code.

The silver door had a panel with a keypad. So simple. Yes, so simple, if you had the code.

I prayed that I did. I prayed so hard.

I hoped God was still around to hear.

I had to stop and think for a minute, to breathe. My hands shook. There might be a security lock as well, something that shut down the system if any wrong numbers were pushed. I took a few precious moments to breathe deep, try to calm myself. I couldn’t risk hitting a wrong number. Not when I was almost there.

“You’re so close, Eli.”

I gasped, whipping around to see my father. He smiled, his hands behind his back. “This is such a big occasion, you shouldn’t be all alone.”

One of his arms slowly came around, revealing that it was wrapped around Lucas, who looked up at me, confusion all over his face.

“Eli?”

I looked from him to Dad and shook my head, panic rising in my chest. “Let him go!”

Dad’s smile only widened as he gripped Lucas by the shoulders. “Let him go?” He leaned down and spoke to Lucas. “You want to go with Eli, right?”

Lucas nodded, looking surer of himself.

Dad straightened up. “He wants to go.”

I didn’t know what to do.

“Lucas, remember that song I taught you?”

Lucas nodded again.

“Do you think you can cover your ears and sing that song at the same time?”

Lucas grinned. “I think so.”

“Go ahead.”

With his small hands, Lucas reached up and covered his ears. Then, his voice, quiet at first, began to sing, “I am Enery the Eighth I am, Enery the Eighth I am I am…” His voice got louder as he kept singing. But it wasn’t loud enough to drown out my father’s words.

“What do you think, Eli?” His hands moved up to my brother’s throat as he spoke. “Should I choke the life out of him?” His hands moved farther up. “Or just snap his neck. That would be quicker.”

My head went from side to side. “Don’t.” Despite trying to stay calm, the word was a plea. “Please don’t.”

“It’s your choice. I just need that.” His eyes went to the paper in my hand.

Lucas was back at the chorus again, singing louder, a worried look on his face.

“Eli, time to choose.”

I glanced at the paper again, wondering how many of the numbers I could memorize before—

“NOW!”

I jumped. So did Lucas, who stopped singing. He tried to wriggle away from Dad’s grasp, but he couldn’t. “Choose, Eli.”

I could chance it. Lucas was his child, he wouldn’t hurt him. But then I looked into my father’s eyes, only they were no longer my father’s. They belonged to a madman.

Lucas looked up at me and whimpered, his eyes wet.

My knees nearly buckled as I stepped forward, holding out the paper. “Here! Take it! Let him go!”

Dad released Lucas as he reached out for the code and took it from me. “Good choice, son. Very unselfish.” With the paper still in his hand, he gave me a casual salute, then left.

I knelt down in front of Lucas. “Are you okay?”

Lucas nodded as he sniffled. “That was scary.”

My arms went around him and he leaned into me. “I know. I was scared, too.”

My father’s footsteps receded down the hall.

I leaned back, looking into my brother’s face. “But now we have to be brave, okay? We have work to do.”

Lucas wiped his nose with his sleeve. “What kinda work?”

I glanced over at the door. “I’ve gotta figure out some numbers.” I stood back up and took his hand. “Come on.”

I WANTED TO GO CHECK ON MOM, BUT I DIDN’T DARE. I HAD no idea what Dad was planning, and I knew my time was short. My only chance was to figure out the code using the few numbers I remembered. If it could be figured out. I had to try. Getting out was the only true way to help my mother.

Lexie and Terese were with the little kids. Once Lucas and I were inside, I dragged a dresser in front of the door.

Lexie walked over to me and whispered, “What’s going on?”

I glanced at the others, but they seemed occupied. “I had the code, but Dad stopped me.”

“How? He’s too sick.”

“Well, he got better real frickin’ fast.” I lowered my voice. “Threatened to hurt Lucas if I didn’t give him the paper with the code.”

Lexie’s jaw clenched.

“What about Mom?”

“I don’t know. He may be there. He could be anywhere. I have to figure this thing out.”

Lexie frowned. “I thought he took the code back.”

“He did, but I remember a few of the numbers. They have to mean something; it’s just a matter of putting it together.” I glanced over at a kiddie chalkboard. “I need your help.”

With a piece of chalk, I wrote down the few numbers I remembered.

5______5716______89

Lexie stared at the chalkboard. “That’s it? How many numbers in the code total?”

“Way more. At least two dozen.” She breathed out. “Man.”

“Yeah.”

Lexie thought for a bit. “You’re sure about these, though?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure how many numbers in between, but I know these are in the right order. Sort of.”

Terese came over and I told her what we were doing.

“Are they all separate numbers?”

I looked at her. “Why?”

She put a slash on the board.

5______ 57/16_______89

“July sixteenth, that’s your birthday.”

My mouth dropped open.

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s all our birthdays?”

She put some more numbers on the board.

11/17

“That’s Lexie.”

I shook my head. “Those weren’t in it, I’m pretty sure.”

Terese bit her lip. “So it’s not our birthdays.”

As I erased the ones she’d put up, I gazed at the others. So, 7/16 was a date, a date other than my birthday.

5_______57/16_______89

I added more numbers.

5______57/161945______89

Lexie leaned in. “What’s that?”

“Date they set off the atomic bomb at the Trinity test site.”

“Nifty. So what are the rest?”

“Oh my God.” Slowly I erased the slash and filled in other numbers. Then I stepped back to read the result.

5_________57161945861945891945

“Holy crap that’s it.”

Lexie was by my side, looking at the board. “You’ve got it?”

“Part of it.” I pointed. “These are dates of nuclear bomb explosions. Trinity test site, July 16, 1945. Then Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Nagasaki, August 9, 1945.”

“Wow.” Lexie and Terese spoke together.

I rubbed my eyes. “But that’s not all of it. What else is there?”

Lexie pointed at the first number. “So if they’re all dates, what happened in May?”

“May? Nothing happened in May, they didn’t even…” I trailed off as something flashed in my memory. There had been a test, before July 16. A pretest explosion. It didn’t really count, but could that be it? I wrote in the numbers and hoped I had the date right.

5 7 1 9 4 5 7 1 6 1 9 4 5 8 6 1 9 4 5 8 9 1 9 4 5

I smiled. “It looks right. No way of knowing for sure, but it all looks familiar.”

Terese patted my shoulder. “So that’s it?”

“No. There were more numbers.” Lexie sighed. “Another date?”