Radioactive

"I guess the truth is i'm as lost as I was before."

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***Three Months Later***

Eight months. That was the orginal plan. The lab provided protection and aid enough for the delivery of a baby. Harper was opposed to it at first--more horrified, than anything--but she eventually gave in. It was the only place where they were truly safe. Brown had shown Matt how to send in reports, so he simply sent in a fake one once a week. He recieved replies and encouragement on the theories he was testing about the immunity serum, and Taniss even admitted--only once--that he was thankful they had a nerd on their team. Matt had only begrudgingly accepted the compliment. They were sent food and other necessities weekly, and they were pretty much taking it easy. They had little to no contact with the outside world. They had a radio, and Taniss had found a TV in Browns room with no more than four working channels. It stayed tuned into the news all day and night in the lab.

Harper proved to be mostly capable of taking care of her self, and Amaryllis was right by her side when she needed it. Matt still wasn't used to the idea of being a father. He did the best he could, and tried his hardest to take care of her and keep her happy, but she was a hormonal mess. More than once he'd had to sleep on the floor because she was mad over something that he had no control over. It was obvious now that she was pregnant, but hardly so. She was in desperate need of new clothes, and she had angrily thrown something at Matt when she couldn't button her pants anymore. (She cried and asked for him to forgive her soon after, though.) Taniss was the only one who seemed to remain sane during all of this. Amaryllis was soon tired of being cooped up, and even threatened to go into the C-wing a few times just to have something to do, but they always managed to subdue her and her crazy ideas. Things were going well, and they only had a few more months to go.

Matt showered quickly before making his way to the lab, careful not to awaken Harper. She had been up late claiming that the baby had the hiccups, but when he laid a hand on her stomach he couldn't feel a thing. Her tossing and turning kept him up too. He retrieved a cup of coffee from the kitchen, sipping it as he entered the lab and crossed to the computer. He did this every Thursday morning without fail, checking to see if his report had been responded to.

The computer whirred to life as he settled into the chair. He had one unread email. He sat forward in his chair as he read it, setting the cup off coffee on the desk. His eyebrows furrowed together as he read, his expression changing to one of horror. "Oh no." He muttered anxiously, getting to his feet, his coffee forgotten.

Taniss and Amaryllis weren't in their rooms. They had seperate rooms now, but Amaryllis was often found lounging on Taniss' bed. She claimed it was more comfortable. Matt found them on the third floor in the training room. It wasn't close to the weaponry, but it had an impressive rack of guns and weapons in one corner, and even some swords in another. They had dedicated themselves to keeping well fit and trained. Taniss had become some kind of physical fitness trainer. He put everyone but Harper on a strict diet, and had them working out and practicing with the weapons for atleast an hour or two a day. It was tedious work, and Matt hated it, but he didn't fight it. He knew it was best to be well prepared. After all, he had a family to protect now.

When he entered the training room, Taniss was working on push ups. Amaryllis had sat down on his back to make the task difficult, and he was straining beneath her. Who knew how long they had been at it. "We have a problem."

They followed him up to the lab where he showed them the email. Amaryllis' hair was up, so she twirled the pony-tail around her finger as she read. "Wait, is this for real?" She asked worriedly, shooting Matt a glance. His grim look was enough of an answer.

Taniss ran a hand over his chin where a slight beard was starting to form. His face was still shining with sweat. "They're coming here, then? To check out the serum and see how things are going?"

"That's what it says, isn't it?" Amaryllis shot back.

Matt ignored them, pacing in front of the desk. "We have no choice but to leave. We have two days until they're here, and then they'll find out that Brown has been long dead. They'll be able to track the security footage, if they're that curious, which i'm sure they will be, but I don't think they'll track us down. We should be on our guard in case they do, but that's highly unrealistic."

The government was shut down. Had been for months. The president and the rest of congress, and other official people that considered themselves important hadn't been seen since then. No doubt they were off somewhere in some presidential bunker safe from what was happening to the rest of the world. Someone was still in charge, they had assumed, because someone was funding the research in labs all around America. They weren't quite sure who it was that would be coming, but they couldn't stay and find out. Amaryllis was the first to speak after the long stretch of silence, "We have to get out of here, then." She stood up, a determined look on her face. "We'll continue with our plan, just a bit earlier than we expected."

"What about Harper?" Taniss asked, crossing his arms.

Matt groaned and slumped into a nearby chair as Amaryllis said grimly, "we'll have to work everything out with her later. For now, we can't be here when people show up for the serum that we don't have."

-*-*-*-*-

Matt closed the bedroom door quietly behind him before crossing to the bed. It dipped beneath his weight, alerting Harper of his presence. She let out a sleepy moan, pulling the blanket over her face. He couldn't help but smile, despite their situation. She was facing the other way, so he pulled the blanket up over himself and snaked an arm around her waist. Despite her slightly buldging stomach, she was still thin, and he easily folded comfortably around her. The room was cold outside of the blanket, so she pressed closer to him, so close that her hair tickled his nose. He let out a deep breath and she sighed, "stop breathing so loud."

He chuckled, tightening his grip on her. "Are you awake enough for us to talk?"

She was completely still beneath him, "about what?" He sighed again. She seemed to decide that she wouldn't be getting anymore sleep, cause she tiredly sat up, slumping back against the pillows as she turned to face him. "Matt?" She gave him a worried look.

He sat up too, leaning his head against the headboard. "We can't stay here, Harp."

Her eyes widened in worry, "what? Why not? I thought we decided this was the best place for the baby to be born?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "I know, but we can't. I recieved an email today. Apparently they--whoever they even are--want to come check Browns progress on the serum. I didn't know they would do that. They're coming in two days." It surprised him that she took it so easily. Being in this place had given her a sense of comfort.

Instead of expressing any concern about what they were gonna do, she gazed down at her stomach, her eyebrows furrowing together. "He has the hiccups again."

Matt raised an eyebrow in her direction, "Oh, it's a he now?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. Wouldn't it be better if it was?"

He answered as honestly as he could, "I don't think it matters. Either way, things aren't going to be easy for him. Or her." There was no use sugar coating it. Things were going to be difficult as soon as they left the compound, and she knew that.

"I suppose so." She replied with a shrug. "I kind of want to know."

He shifted closer to her, reaching out to lay a hand on her stomach. He didn't feel anything. No hiccups, no movement, no anything. At first he thought maybe the baby just didn't like him, but she assured him that wasn't it. "There's stuff here for that. We could find out before we leave, if you want."

The thought worried her. She was curious, but she didn't want to know. She felt as if it would make things twice as difficult. Instead of answering, she looked up at him, his face only centimeters from hers. She reached up to tousle his messy hair, and he ducked his head to avoid it. "Stop, it's messy enough."

She smiled before wrapping her arms around him and pulling herself close for comfort. "When do we have to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning would probably be best."

She sighed, shifting around so she could lay her head comfortably on his chest. "Yeah, probably."

-*-*-*-*-*-

After a quick shower, Taniss stood in the middle of his room, unsure what exactly to do. After only a moment of unsurety, he began packing up all of his stuff. There wasn't much. The door opened, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Matt walking in, yawning. "Hey, man, I was going through my backpack last night and I found this. I plugged it into your charger, so the batteries full." He tossed his phone across the room and it landed safely on the bed. As he went to retrieve it, Matt slumped on his bed, and he gave him a shove, sending him tumbling off the bed and onto the floor.

"Get out of my room."

"I'm so tiiiiiiired." He groaned from the floor, reaching up to pull the blanket off of the bed.

Taniss allowed him to do this, giving him a strange look. "Wow, is Harper really that bad?"

"It's not her fault." He mumbled as he pulled it over him and disappeared beneath it.

"Yeah, it's your fault for getting her pregnant in the first place." Taniss said with a smirk, turning his phone on.

Matt let out a dramatic sigh. "I am a fool." He admitted. He shuffled around beneath the blanket for a moment, causing it to tighten around him until it looked like he was in a dark red cacoon. "I'm in a burrito of sadness."

"You're--what?" He forgot what he was going to say to patronize his tired friend as his phone beeped, and all the messages and notifications he had recieved while it was off caused it to vibrate wildly in his hand. He sat on the edge of the bed as he clicked onto his voicemail, holding it up to his ear.

Matt peeked out from beneath the blanket to see his friend smiling at whatever he was hearing. He pulled it away from his ear to press a button, and when he started listening again, his expression changed. First to one of concern, then surprise. After a moment he looked utterly horrified and pulled the phone away from his ear, staring down at it in shock, his breaths accelerating until he was almost hyperventilating.

Matt dragged himself out from beneath the blanket, tossing it to the side. "Are you alright, dude? What's up?" He asked carefully.

He had been expected Taniss to do anything but what he did. He put his head in his hands and allowed a low, guttural sound to wrench it's way out of him. It escalated into something that Matt could only describe as a pained wail. He slid off of the bed and got clumsily to his feet, pulling back his fist, and chucked the phone across the room. It shattered against the adjacent wall.

"Woah, man, hey," Matt stepped towards him, but Taniss only stumbled backwards, waving a hand at him.

"Get out! Get out of my room!" He was yelling now, and tugging at his hair. Matt had never seen him so livid. He glanced wildly around the room as if searching for something. "Get out!" He yelled at Matt again as he chucked a lamp across the room.

Unsure if it was a wise idea or not, Matt backed out of the room. He turned on his heel and went back to the lab, unsure what exactly had happened or what on earth he was supposed to do about it. He'd never been good in situations like this.