Page 87 of Good Half Gone

Jackie comes back with a box of garbage bags, and she drops a handful next to me. I scroll past the medical terminology, the sinking feeling returning to my stomach. I’d forgotten about the favor—the plastic baggies I passed her from my car window. I already had my answer. At the bottom she typed,It’s a match! It’s him!

Jackie is wrapping herself in garbage bags, making her own jacket. She snaps her fingers in my face. “Hypothermia,” she says.

She wants me to put them on, but I can’t. I scroll up again. That can’t be right. All three items she sent to the lab have the same DNA on them. Bouncer collected the trays. I took something from each one. Poley tried to call me. I hadn’t been able to call her back. But here it is right in front of my face in her text—her last-ditch effort to tell me. Jude is Cal’s father.

I stand up. But… Leo had shown me results too. No, he handed me a single sheet of paper. I barely glanced at it because I trusted him when he said the results were negative. Why would he lie?

“I have to get the patients out of D,” I hear myself say. “When the fire reaches them, they’ll be trapped.”

Ruthie looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“You can’t go back in there. Someone has probably let them out—just let it go, or you’re going to get yourself killed.”

Alma whimpers.

I don’t let them stop me this time. I’m through the mowers and out the door, no longer cold but hot—so hot. The fire is huge, I look at it as I run. It has reached the Victorian side, the white roof starting to cinder. With my legs pumping wildly, I run past the pink walls. Timber cracks to my right. Jordyn’s office will burn next. Has she gotten out in time? I push it out of my thoughts. It’s too late to do anything about it.

My legs are moving on their own. The ground is steep and getting steeper. I reach a handrail and suddenly I’m being battered by the wind. Concrete stairs lead up, up, up. There is a sign bolted in the ground. I use the flashlight on my phone to read it.DANGER. Do not enter. High winds.

The tree cover that was to my left a moment ago is gone. I’m cliffside. I can hear the waves beating against rock. My legs feel like Jell-O as I grab the handrail, keeping the light pointed on the side of the building. The stairs plateau. I can’t keep going—a portion of chain-link fence cuts off my path. I can’t go any farther. I want to scream. I went the wrong way. I sweep my precious beam of light around one last time before I begin my descent. The fire is burning toward me now, but slower. The rain is helping. I keep the light pointed down, watching my feet. Every few seconds I glance up to check my progress. It’s then that I see that the railing is no longer supported by the side of the building. A space opens up barely three feet wide. I point my light through space and see a door.

I peer down, unsure of how to get to it. I’d have to lower myself through the space and drop into the courtyard. Once I jumped down, there’d be no way for me to get back up. I only take a minute to consider. This is not what Piper would do! I tuck my phone into my pocket. I get on my stomach and lower myself through the space backwards so I can land feet-down.I have to wriggle through the space. My scrubs pull up and my stomach scrapes against rough concrete. I’m holding on to the edge of a stair. For one horrifying second, I think the space is too small and I’m going to get stuck, but then my torso is through, my belly exposed to the cold. All I have to do is let go. One…two…three…

Chapter29

I Land Hardon my butt. The pain takes a second or two to reach me, and when it does, it’s powerfully sharp. I cry out and roll to my side, knees up to my chest. My eyes water but I force them open. No time. Gingerly, I test my limbs for breaks. The worst thing that could happen did not.

I stumble to my feet, whole. When I reach for my phone, I already know what I’ll find. Smashed to smithereens. It hurts to walk. I hobble the three steps it takes to get to the door. How bleak would it be to die in this horrible cliffside cage? That’s exactly what will happen if the door is locked. I grip the knob with little to no faith.

Three gunshots pop in succession—pow, pow, pow. The knob turns. I cry out in relief and fling it wide open. It’s a machine room. I can feel the ground vibrating beneath my shoes. No phone means I’ll have to navigate it in the dark. I close my eyes, picture Cal’s sweet face, and step inside.

The machine that lives inside the dark takes up most of room. I keep away from it, pressing my back against the opposite wall. I walk sideways using the wall as my guide. I don’t know how far I’ve gone when I reach the corner. I face the new wall, running my hands up and down to feel for a door.It’s there. The knob is the same as the one outside. It turns. I’m in yet another hallway, this one lit by emergency lights. I know this place. I can’t smell smoke and I remember Leo’s words: D was once an army bunker. A bomb shelter. It doesn’t take long to find the way out. I have to use Leo’s key card to open the metal security door. When I step through, I am in a closet. Fabric brushes my face, and I catch a whiff of cologne as I shove my way past the coats. I’m in Leo’s office.

Holy shit. Everything is the same as when Alma and I left it. I can’t tell if Leo has been back. He keeps a Taser in the top drawer of his desk. Worry ebbs in the back of my mind. Leo, where is he? His Taser is where it’s supposed to be. There’s a first aid kit next to the Taser. I ignore it, grabbing the flashlight instead. I can’t smell smoke outside of his office either, but it’s only a matter of time. I am tired, but not—wired is what I am.

I stand in front ofthedoor—Jude’s door. I’m terrified, not just of him, but of myself. Of what I came here to do. I lift Leo’s card and swipe. A green light appears on the reader, followed by a loud click. I give the door one hard shove. It swings open, and I very cautiously step inside, shining the thin beam of light.

“Jude…” My voice is loud in the small space. The room is empty. The mattress on the bed is bare. The shelves are bare. There isn’t a door on the bathroom; I can see into it from where I stand. Leo said they had a small outdoor space. I see that too. Empty. I back out of the room. Five more doors. I open them one by one until I reach the end.Empty, empty, empty.I don’t understand.

I scream, pound the wall with my fists.You’re going to die for nothing, I think. I’m not nearly as frightened as I thought I’d be.I’ll be with Piper, I think calmly. I wheel around like I’m drunk. No way out. The fire is on the other side of the security door. I think of all the people lying dead in the annex. Their families will never be able to bury their bodies. How sad,I think. They’ll be as sad as me. I slide down the closest wall until I’m sitting.

I have not cried yet. Ruthie cried, Alma cried, Jackie cried. I take my turn, sobbing into my knees. Another granddaughter gone, Cal’s mother gone. I know what their grief will feel like, and I don’t want it for them.

I have to try…for them. One…two…three. I haul myself to my feet. I use Leo’s card for the last time, dropping it as soon as the door opens. Smoke. Holding an arm over my nose, I plunge forward.

In a split second, I decide to try to get through the collapsed A hall. I claw at chunks of drywall, moving through the roof tiles and timber, kicking and ripping until I can’t feel my fingers. I have no sense of self, just raw survival. I’m somehow on the other side. The exit sign is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Air, air, air. It’s easier this time. I make it outside and fall on my knees.

“What have we got here?”

I wake up to that awful voice. It’s still dark, still wet. HOTI is still burning. I couldn’t have been out long. It takes effort to sit up.

“Hurts to open my eyes,” I mumble.

“Give her something to drink,” Marshal barks at one of the men. Something is put in my hand, bottled water. I drink most of the bottle, then use the rest of the water to pour on my eyes.

When I open them, I see three men standing in a circle around me. I gaze past Marshal to the other two.

“Am I seeing what I’m seeing, or do I need to wash my eyes out again?”

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