S. Bodeen - The Compound

“I’m not going!”

Dad scratched his neck. “So what are you going to do? Run?” He spread his arms out wide. “There’s nowhere to go.”

I looked on either side of me, as far as I could see. Nothing. I could outrun both of them, I knew it. But it wouldn’t change the fact that no matter what I did, my mother and my brothers and my sisters down below were still in the hands of my father. If I ran, and even if I found help, I might lose my family forever.

Phil chuckled at my distress. I realized at that moment he could have arranged for our food supply to be replenished, if only Dad had asked him. If only.

Phil turned to Dad. “You really don’t look so good. Have any trouble with those charges?”

Dad shook his head as, with a slightly shaky hand, he handed a small black box to Phil.

“What charges?” I looked from Dad to Phil. “What did you do?”

Phil held up the box. “Once we’re airborne, I simply flip the switch. There’s enough explosives down there to turn this place to dust. And then you’re off to a new compound in the South Seas.”

My hands curled into fists. “I’m not trading this prison for a new one.”

Phil started to climb down the hatch. “You don’t really have a choice.”

He concentrated on the stairs, so much so that he didn’t see me coming, and I hit him broadside, knocking him down that first set. His body cushioned my fall, and the remote flew out of his hand as I got him in a choke hold.

His body stiffened as a loud, pulsing beep sounded from the Compound.

I let him go as my hands went over my ears.

Phil screamed several choice words and then poked a finger in my chest. “Stupid kid! You set it off!” He scrambled to his feet and climbed back out of the hatch to where Dad was leaning over, looking down at us.

Dad shouted over the blaring of the alarm. “How much time do we have?”

Phil held out his hands. “The warning only sounds in the last ten minutes!” He grabbed Dad by the arm. “Let’s get out of here, Rex!”

“No!” Dad yelled back. “I have to get them out!”

Phil held up a hand. “I’m starting the chopper! And I leave in nine minutes, with or without—”

Dad clutched Phil’s collar, the veins in his arm bulging with the strength of the grip. His voice was a roar, even over the alarm. “You’ll leave when I say so!”

And then I turned and ran, as fast as I could, throwing myself down the stairs, trying to jump down whole flights as the warning signal blared raucously all around me. I had no idea how long I truly had. I hoped Dad would help, but I couldn’t wait for him.

My first stop was the yellow room, and I slammed into the door with my shoulder. The dresser was still in place, so I could only reach through with my arm.

“It’s me! Open the door!”

The little ones were crying, as Terese and Lexie tried to reassure them. Lexie stood up. “What’s that sound?”

“Help me move this!” I could barely breathe enough to speak.

I shoved as Lexie pushed, and we got the dresser out of the way so the door could open. I was still panting. “Get out! You’ve got to go.” I pointed at Lucas until I could get more words out. “He knows the way. Lucas, take them outside, up the hatch and out. Then run as far away as you can.”

Terese started to say something, but I shouted, “Go! This place is going to explode!” Not waiting to make sure they complied, I headed for the infirmary at a sprint.

I turned down the hall and nearly collided with my mother as she staggered down the hallway, clutching her stomach with one hand and covering an ear with the other. There were bloodstains on her nightgown. “What’s going on?”

“Dad wired the place to explode, we’ve got to go!”

Her eyes widened as she yelled, “Where are the children?”

“On their way out!” I moved to pick her up.

She tried to shove me away. “Leave me!” She motioned toward the direction of the yellow room. “Get them out!”

“Mom—they’re ahead of us already!” With one arm around her and the other under her legs, I lifted her, just as Dad rounded the corner.

He stopped, trying to catch his breath. He put one hand on the wall, and looked at my mother.

“Rex?” Mom reached out a hand to him. “What have you done?”

He didn’t answer, but stood up straight and started to push by me.

“Dad! I need your help to get everyone out.”

Hesitating, he looked one more time at my mom. “I need to get my research!” And he continued down the hall.

I paused.

Mom yelled in my ear, “GO!”

There was no time to waste, and as we headed for the exit I felt stupid for thinking he would actually help. Mom tried to put her arms around my neck as I jolted her along. I had no strength left as I started up the stairs, jogging them as fast as possible, praying the others were already out.

My pace was not one I could sustain for long, and I had to stop several times on the way up to catch my breath. Mom’s arms tightened around my neck each time I stopped, and I understood it meant we needed to hurry.

At the hatch I had to stop and gather my strength for the last push up and out. The warning signal got faster then, and I shoved Mom out, followed her, then picked her up again and began to run in the night, away from the helicopter. If Phil wanted us, he’d have to work for it.

My lungs felt as if they would burst, and my arms and legs burned as I just kept running. For all I knew, it wouldn’t be enough. I might be running right over the Compound. Then a series of quakes ruptured under my feet, a huge one rippling the ground beneath me, pitching us forward. Several other blasts in succession sent trembles under me. And then the ground was still.

My mother lay a few feet away from me. I crawled to her. “Mom?”

She moaned.

At least she was still alive.

I heard the whirring of the helicopter as it lifted off. It was nearly three hundred yards away and quickly disappeared from view. Was Dad on it? I was quite certain Phil didn’t have the nerve to leave without him.

Silence.

“Lexie!” I yelled. When I got no answer, I began to scream, “Lexie! Terese!” I screamed their names in every direction before stopping and putting my head in my hands. “Oh my God, what did I do? I should have made sure…” I started to sob.

And then I realized maybe they were on the helicopter with Dad and Phil.

Would that be the worst thing? I turned around the way I’d come, where an acrid smell drifted toward me. My brothers and sisters being on the helicopter, safe, would not be the worst thing.

Mom was silent, but I felt her throat and found a strong pulse. I rolled her on her side so she could breathe easier. My sigh was loud in the night, and as my lungs filled with fresh air I wanted to just keep breathing in more and more. She moaned a bit, but didn’t wake up.

Would it just be the two of us from now on? Or was it just a matter of time before more helicopters showed up to take us away?

I lay down on my back beside her on the dusty ground and stared up at the sky. A satellite went slowly across. That had to be a good sign, if the satellites were still there.

And as I listened to the nothing of the night, a faint scream bit into the silence.

I sat up.

The scream got louder.

I jumped to my feet.

And then it became a shout. “Eli!”

Out of the dark to my left, becoming more visible as they neared, was the rest of my family. Lexie carried the two little ones and Terese held Lucas.

I ran to them, enveloping Lexie and Terese in my arms, getting the rest of them at the same time. My face smashed in Lexie’s shoulder, my words were a mumble. “I thought you all were gone.”