Page 21 of The Key to Fear
Her cheeks heated.“Foryou!”
“You’re right.”He cocked his head, a crease forming across his smooth brow.“Your hair is wet.”He dragged his fingers along the shaved side of his mohawk.“Stillwet is more accurate.I noticed it, you know, before.”His orange suit crinkled as he crossed his ankles and leaned against the wall.“You took a shower.A realone.”
Elodie’s chin tilted skyward as she folded her arms across her chest.“Idid.”
And since she couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without someone commenting, she was never going to do itagain.
He picked at one of the orange sleeves tied around his waist.“I thought I was the only one who took water showers.”
“Oh.”She tucked anotherhalf-drystrand behind her ear.“It’s a thing I do sometimes.”She stood a little taller, pleased with how nonchalant she seemed.
He practically leapt away from the wall.“Have you ever taken a bath?”he blurted.
Her shoulders relaxed.“Every day.Light baths are practically mandatory.”
“No.”He stepped closer, tightening the suit arms hugging his lean middle.“I mean inwater.”
“Of course not.”Her laughter echoed off the sterile walls.“I don’t want to sit in dirty personsoup.”
He nodded as if it was his first time considering the fact, which would have made sense.It was the first time for Elodie.
The blinking light flashed in the corner of her vision.“Sorry, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.”She pointed down the hall before resuming herquest.
His sneakers squeaked as he shuffled after her.“Where are we headed?”
She glanced up at him.“You’re coming withme.”
The ends of empty sleeves flopped against his legs with each step.“Unless I’m being uninvited.”
Elodie couldn’t help but grin.“Were you everinvited?”
He tilted his head as he cracked his knuckles.“Technically, no, but you never know when you might need a guy with a biocontainmentsuit.”
Elodie eyed the shiny orange suit, its arms flapping limply at his waist.“What do you do down here that you need one of those?”
Again, he tightened the arms around his waist.“ELU stuff.”
Reflexively, Elodie widened the distance between them.She’d never met anyone who worked in theEnd-of-Life Unit.Cerberus was most contagious upon death, when people would collapse, their bodies bursting like raindrops against the pavement.Even though she worked in the MediCenter, she never worked with the deceased.No one did.The second someone was declared, the ELU was called, and everyone else went back to work on people they could actually help.Now that she thought about it, Elodie didn’t even know what a real dead person looked like.Probably like her patients, but deader.
“Gross.”Her brow pinched.“Themorgue?”
He clapped his hands.“That’s exactly what Isaid.”
No wonder he had taken so many water showers.She’d had one VR experience and wished she could shower again.Each day he probably had dozens of real life situations that clung to him like a secondskin.
Elodie glanced at the map, transparent across her vision.“I’m going to themedi-pumplab,” she said, changing topics.“Hey, you’re from down here.You wouldn’t happen to know how to change out the tubes, would you?Or is that not part of your job description?”
His dark skin glowed deep brown under the lights.“Not that I know of, but it is my first day.I’m also notfrom down here, like some mole person living in those sealed up tunnels under the city.”He tapped his chin.“Shanghai Tunnels!Knew I hadn’t forgotten thename.”
Elodie’s lips quirked.“Shanghai Tunnel mole person?”
“Yeah like if some guy got bitten by a radioactive mole and became the world’s first tunneling,night-visionmole man.Or, at least that’s how I assume he would have become a mole man.”He shrugged.“What do you need in the pumplab?”
“Long-TermCare Unit nursing business.”She returned his shrug with one of her own.“It’s kind of a long story.”The map flashed as she closed in on her destination, and Elodie cleared the screen from her field of vision.“But I’m here now, so...”She stretched the word as he followed her through the open door and into the narrow room, busy withbots.
He held up his hands as he backed through the Violet Shield that coated every entryway within the MediCenter.“Say no more.I get when I’m not wanted.”He glanced at his cuff.“I’ve gotta go anyway.But I’m always up for a good story, and I’ll be down here for, you know, ever.”He tossed her a sparkling smile before disappearing around the corner.
Elodie nearly tripped over the bot loadingcolor-codedtubes into their corresponding receptacles as she craned her neck to watch him leave.“That was...strange.”She glanced at the bot as if it cared about or was even aware of the encounter she’d just had.“Water baths and mole people.Super weird.”Her cheeks heated as a grin lifted herlips.
