Author's Note: Wow, sorry for not updating in so long! But I've been busy with papers and trying to update another fanfic that I have not updated in over a month! So here is the next chapter and I hope it's not too boring after such a long wait. Enjoy and please review!
Chapter 9
Any More News?
The week following Jeff's death was the worst that Keith had had at the compound. True, he wasn't blamed for his death but he still felt incredibly guilty about it, knowing that as Richard had shouted at him, he had been an indirect cause of it.
"Don't blame yourself, Keith," Al advised him, at the end of the week which Keith had spent the entirety of in his apartment when he wasn't at work. "If Jeff wanted to save the world, he would've done it himself."
"We need more people like Jeff," Markus added. "He's a hero like you."
"I'm not a hero," Keith snapped. "I'm just a sick kid who can't keep his mouth shut."
That night, he was cheered up considerably when Billy came by for a surprise visit.
"Ever since Markus proposed to Rachel, nobody's any fun anymore," he complained. "I wouldn't even mind if Ben and the others made fun of me 'cause then it would give me somethin' to do."
At that Keith laughed, his first true laugh in a long time and ruffled his young friend's hair and asked teasingly. "Did you just come over here to complain, bud?"
"No, I wanted to ask if you had any more news from your radio," said Billy.
At his words, Keith smiled vanished and he shook his head. "No, sorry, I don't, bud."
"Oh." Billy's face fell. "Okay, then."
Wanting him to cheer him up since they had so little cheer as it was, Keith said brightly. "But I promise that when I do listen to it, you'll be the first one to hear what it said, okay?"
As he suspected, Billy's voice brightened. "Really? Wow! That would be so awesome!"
Yeah, it would be, Keith thought to himself, especially if I could actually listen to a radio.
With the start of a new week, Keith decided that he had spent enough time sulking and that even though he couldn't listen to an actual radio, he would still try and give the good news that everyone so desperately craved.
In short, he would lie.
"So, Keith, it's been a week, what has the radio said?" Markus asked that very day during their lunch break.
Keith took a long time in swallowing his crust of bread as he considered Markus' question. "Well," he began slowly, "the report that I heard about the cures was a special report meaning not only that it was important but that you could only hear it at certain time of night like I did."
"I thought you heard it before curfew," said one man, "that doesn't sound like a 'special' time of night."
"It was," Keith assured him, "because where the broadcast was coming from it was really early in the morning but it was still dark out but since it was night here, they obviously got the time change wrong. So, really it was a stroke of luck that I heard it when I did!"
He was lying through his teeth, of course, since the broadcast hadn't been a 'secret' report in the slightest. He had no conception of time changes anyway, so he hoped that those listening wouldn't ask where in the world the broadcast had come from.
He needn't have worried however as Markus promptly exclaimed, "It sure was! So, what else has the radio said?"
"Um, basically that people haven't developed cures for every disease but that they're finding treatments that will lessen the symptoms," said Keith slowly. "So, we do get out of here, there's no guarantee that we'll all be cured."
"It doesn't matter," said Andy, "what matters is that we are there and not here."
Several people voiced their agreement with this statement and then much to Keith's relief, it was time to go back to work.
Now as he sat at his usual spot, waiting for Natalie to tell him that she had a radio, he couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to get through the rest of the week. With the original news story being so short, he had little of the actual truth to tell left so his lies had become more fabricated as the week had gone on. The worst part had been that people kept asking questions, always wanting more and so forced Keith to come up with an even more fabricated answer.
It had all in all been an extremely nerve racking week, but to see the excited glint in their eyes and the shadow of a smile on their lips had made it all worth it.
He was drawn out of his reminiscing of the past week when Natalie said, "You know, I'm not sure if we have a radio, I bet my dad has one in his office though."
"Do you think you'd be able to listen to it?" Keith asked hopefully.
Her brow furrowed in thought. "Well, I'm technically not allowed in his office but since I've got nothing else to occupy my time with besides books…and now talking to you, I'm sure he'd let me listen once in awhile."
Keith nodded. It was better than a straight 'no'. Now, at least there was a new glimmer of hope.
"Okay, I've answered your question, now will you tell me why you're being kept over there?" she asked then.
"Uh-huh, but first, tell me what you know about the Plague."
"Um, just that it happened a long time ago and that a bunch of people died and they somehow must have cured it because now no one gets really sick anymore and if they do, it's just a cold or something that clears up really fast," said Natalie.
"Okay, that sounds about right," said Keith, nodding. "Except for the part about the cure."
"Why? Do you know what it is?'
"Yeah, it's me."
"You?"
"Well, not me specifically but me and other people like me, we're the 'great cure' that they came up with." At her utterly confused expression, Keith decided it was time to launch into the whole story. "So, this plague that happened had symptoms that people had never seen before and it was really hard to control since it spread so quickly and killed people in the process. Well, eventually the source of it must have died out or it just ran its course 'cause suddenly it stopped. But the government really hadn't found an 'exact' cure for it. So, wanting to keep it from happening again and to make sure that society was just oh so wonderful and prefect, they started tracking down anyone who had a long term illness or anything that made them 'abnormal' like a mental illness or something. You with me so far?"
"Yeah, keep going."
"So then with all these sick people, they built these quarantine compounds to keep them all together so they won't infect and poison normal society and that's what I'm living in now and your dad is in charge of it."
"He is?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, then it must not be too bad then. Since he's a really good guy and everything."
"To you maybe, but not to me," said Keith with much more bitterness than he intended. "They treat us like we don't matter at all, 'cause we don't. We're imperfect and they want perfection in everyone so they hate us and starve us and work us to death!" As he spoke, his voice had grown steadily louder in his anger and desire to express his true feelings on his life to someone who had no idea what it was like. When he finished he was aware that he was glaring at the girl who sat across from him and he quickly looked down at his lap.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, without looking up at her. "I—I guess talking about it makes me realize how completely fucked up it all is and how my life has become a complete waste." He raised his head then, furiously blinking away the impending tears only to find that she had buried her face in her hands.
"Natalie, are you okay?" He questioned when she didn't look up right away.
"No!" she wailed without taking her hands away from her face. "No, I am not okay!" Here, she lowered her hands and continued, "I can see that you aren't getting enough food but I just can't believe that this is actually happening! That…that someone who looks completely normal is being locked up just 'cause they have some disease that everyone is too lazy to fix! God, how could I be so damn ignorant!" she finished angrily and much to Keith's surprise she got to her feet and began to pace in front of him, venting her rage.
"I mean, here I was living my life and the worst thing I to worry about was whether I failed a test or not and all the while, you're starving and getting beat for no good reason and I'm not doing anything about it!"
"But, Natalie that's the point," said Keith calmly as he got to his feet as well. "They didn't want you to do anything about it, they didn't and still don't want you to know! 'Cause if you knew about what they did to people like me, then everyone would know that there were still a lot of diseases out there."
"But they aren't necessarily contagious ones, are they?"
"No, but what would you think if suddenly a bunch of new diseases were suddenly in existence with weird names and symptoms?"
"I'd…I'd think I'd catch one."
"Exactly."
"By the way, what do you have that got you in this compound?'
"I've got cancer and the kind I have is with white blood cells so I can't fight off minor stuff like colds as well."
She nodded slowly, having ceased her pacing and they were now standing and facing each other. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes before Keith said, "So, anymore questions?"
"So, my dad runs your compound and he makes other people starve you and beat you?"
"Yeah," said Keith softly, but Natalie was already shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe he would do that," she whispered. "I just can't see him doing that. How---how can he be so heartless…and cruel?!"
"I dunno, he probably believes some shit that he's makin' the whole a better place or somethin'," said Keith.
Natalie snorted in disgust. "I bet he does," she snapped. "God, and this is my dad we're talking about!"
"You do believe me, don't you?"
"Well, I'm sure if someone who wasn't in your situation told me, I would've have believed them but now that I can look at you and see your…uh, condition, I can see that's all very real."
Keith said nothing, it just felt good tell someone about his life who lived a completely different one and that that person didn't hate him in the process.
They were silent for awhile after that, neither one knowing what to say or what could possibly be said. Finally, Keith said, "I should probably be getting back before anyone starts to miss me. If I'm gone for too long, I'll get in trouble."
Natalie nodded. "Yeah, I should probably be getting back too. I can try to listen to my dad's radio for you, what do you want me to listen for? Just news?"
"Yeah, well any good news."
"Of course, so I'll see you tomorrow then?"
Keith hesitated. "Well, if I come out here every day it might start to look suspicious, so let's make it every other day or two days."
"All right, sounds good. Well, thank you for telling me everything, Keith and I promise I'll bring more food next time."
"Thanks for sharing your lunch," he replied. Then there was an awkward silence before Keith said, "Well, see you around, Natalie."
"See you, Keith."
When Keith got back to the compound ten minutes later, he was almost immediately met by Billy and Kurt who demanded, "Where the hell have you been, Keith?"
"At my spot by the fence."
"Why?"
"Doin' some thinking."
"About?"
"Nothing that you need to know about but I found these." And he pulled out Natalie's cookies from his pocket.
"Wow!" Billy cried instantly. "Are those…cookies?"
"Yup and they're chocolate chip ones too," Keith told him as he opened the bag and handed him one. Billy took it as if it were glass and stared at for so long that Keith said jokingly, "You're supposed to eat it, bud."
He laughed then as Billy shoved the entire cookie into his mouth and chewed ravenously much like he had done before. Then, he handed one to Kurt, who eyed it suspiciously. "So you just found this bag of cookies by the fence?" He inquired.
"Yeah, and it's just a cookie, Kurt and last time I checked, cookies don't bite," Keith said with a smile and at his words, Kurt reached into the bag and grabbed one. But unlike Billy, he bit into it and chewed slowly, savoring it. When he had swallowed his first bite, the hint of a smile formed on his lips and he said, "Well, wherever you got them, they sure taste good. Thanks, Keith."
"No problem, Kurt," said Keith with a smile. "No problem at all."
Author's Note: Again, I hope this wasn't too boring and I hope everything made sense! Things will definitely be getting more interesting in the next few chapters, as Keith will get his job at Natalie's house since I know you all have been wondering about that! This will probably the last chapter for a week at least since I have midterms coming up. Hope you liked it and please review!
