Contain by Saul Tanpepper

“Just thinking out loud. What can I do for you?”
    Jack Resnick clears his throat. “Asuka
told me she saw Finn going through the rooms on Level One earlier
today. She also mentioned that she saw him sneaking off downstairs
in the middle of the night. What was he up to?”
    Missus Fujimura? That nosy
little old woman , I think. I want to shout
that it wasn't just me, but half the bunker sneaking around. Why
didn't she see any of them? Why just me?
    “ Up to?” Dad asks. “I'm not
sure I like what you're implying.”
    “ I believe Asuka used the
word snooping. You know how she can get.” He chuckles. “I'm sure
it's just innocent teen stuff.”
    “ Why do you think
that?”
    “ Linda stopped in on
Kaleagh and Seth this morning and noticed Bren wasn't with them. As
a father of a teenager myself, I'm sure you can understand
my . . . sensitivity in this regard. I'm constantly
having to remind Jonah how different things are in here. Everyone
knows everyone else's business.”
    “ What are you saying,
Jack?”
    “ It's just that Bren's
still very young.”
    Dad doesn't answer.
    “ They're teenagers, Abe.
They have a lot of free time on their hands. And you're a busy
single parent of a growing boy. I know how hard it can be, believe
me. That's why I keep Jonah on a short leash. I'm just saying that
if you're feeling overwhelmed—”
    “ I am not feeling
overwhelmed, Jack.”
    There's a long pause. Then Mister
Resnick says, “It doesn't have to be like this, Abe, you and me at
odds all the time. Let me help you out, give you some time to
relax, be a father.”
    “ I'm doing just fine, thank
you.”
    “ It's just that we're all
worried about our children, especially Finn, you know, losing his
mother like that and his twin bro—”
    “ Get out, Jack.”
    I can hear the tremble in my father's
voice, the barely restrained anger. It matches my own fury. I
clench my fists and my body shakes, but I can't let them know I'm
here, no matter how badly I want to punch Mister Resnick in the
face right now. If I were to step out, I'd just embarrass my father
and prove how adolescent I am.
    “ I'm just looking out for
everyone's best interest,” Jack says, his voice infuriatingly
glib.
    “ As am I.”
    “ It's a tough job. I'll be
the first to admit it. And nobody expects anyone to be absolutely
right all of the time.”
    “ I really must ask you to
leave, Jack.”
    He sighs. “Actually, my real reason
for coming here, Abe, is to tell you that, no matter how it goes
down tonight, you should know how much I appreciate all you've done
for us.”
    “ Tonight?” Dad says,
surprised. “Eddie's not out of the woods yet.”
    “ We'll just have to proceed
without his vote. It's what everyone wants.”
    I jerk my head away from the wall so
suddenly that I accidentally knock the stack of boxes on my right
and a loose bolt rolls off and pings to the floor.
    “ What was that?”
    The shadows from the doorway shift. I
squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself to be discovered, but I don't
get the chance. Right then the motion alarm on the monitors begins
to beep.
    “ Wraith!” my father shouts.
The chair in front of the table gets shoved away and bangs up
against the boxes. More bolts clatter to the floor, but neither he
nor Mister Resnick notices. “Front entrance! It's at the front
entrance!”
    “ Wraith?” Jack cries. “But
that's not possib— Wait a second. Look! There!”
    The table protests as someone leans
over it.
    “ It's not a Wraith! Look at
the way he’s moving, Abe. That's a survivor! Jesus, there's someone
alive out there! We need to open up!”
    “ No!” Dad shouts. “He may
be infected.”
    But Jack's already moving away. “He's
on the loading ramp! Come on!”
    There's more shuffling, and the door
to the room slams open. A moment later, it clicks shut again, and
everything falls silent. All I can hear are my heartbeats and the
sound of the turbines far away.
    I step out from my hiding place,