Chapter twenty two

Kelly

"You wanted to see me?" Michelle asked, entering the room.

Kelly looked up from her desk, littered with reports, some on what had happened, some on things that are yet to. She felt her skin crawl at the smile that continued to grow on Michelle’s face, this woman really pissed her off.

“I need your report from today.” She said crisply.

“Everything seemed to go ahead without a hitch.” Michelle said, sauntering over to the plush sofa in the room and spreading herself over it.

“Funny, because I could have sworn I saw someone in my control room who shouldn’t have been there.” Kelly countered.

Michelle rolled her eyes.

“I can hardly be blamed for that,” she said. “She’s your room mate, it’s not my fault if she wasn’t prepped properly prior to entry.”

“Your job was to ensure that all guests stayed calm and out of our way,” Kelly said quietly, “that includes everyone, no matter who they were linked to outside.”

Michelle held her hands up. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll deal with it, I know who’s to blame.”

Kelly felt her stomach drop as she too realised who Michelle was referring to.

“That Jason kid?” She asked.

“Oh, so you’ve met the darling.” Michelle said. “Sweet guy, queer as anything but hey, what are you going to do?”

“I wanted to talk to you about him anyway.” Kelly said.

“Don’t worry,” Michelle said, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t let anything like that happen again. I’ve worked out my leash on him anyway.”

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with telling him that you have his boyfriend tied up somewhere, would it?” Kelly asked, trying to keep the sheer level of disgust she felt out of her voice.

Michelle looked at her startled.

“Damn,” she said. “He figured it out?”

“It was pretty impossible for him not to,” Kelly said. “After he had seen what was going on outside, he asked me when we were transferring people from the other facility.”

“And you told him the truth?” Michelle asked irritably.

“Of course I did,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t consulted about a fictional place where we were holding loved ones hostage.”

“It’s called common sense Kelly!” Michelle said. “Come on! Like anyone’s going to work and do as they’re told without a little incentive to-“

“It’s not an incentive when it’s a down right lie!” Kelly said. “Have you seen outside? The place will never be fit for any kind of transfer! And even if you could sell that idea, think of the repercussions Michelle. One little idea that there is a way of moving around out there and suddenly we will have an entire building full of people who want to get out and search for people!”

“Well, if they’re stupid enough to want to try it, perhaps that’s Darwin’s way of saying they shouldn’t be survivors.”

“If they’re told that it’s possible then of course they’re going to believe it!” Kelly shouted, slamming her hand down on the desk. “We need to build a level of trust with these people Michelle, we cannot do that if we are sending out mixed messages. Once it gets out that one member of the leadership team has lied then what chance do we have to keep calm and restoration in here?”

“I did what I had to, to keep the place working over,” Michelle said. “If you have a problem with my ethics then maybe you should have highlighted that in your ‘whatever is necessary’ orders.”

“You kept it going for one night,” Kelly said. “What happens when Jason starts telling people what you did? How you lied to him? Do you think that that’s going to create a future calm for these people?”

“Are you kidding me with this?” Michelle asked. “You actually think that this is all going to ahead and have them all still like us? We lied to them from the very beginning. We lied to them to get them here, we lied to them as we plied them with drink and locked them down in their comfy little rooms. We have been lying to them for years, all the while knowing that each and every one of the people that they love and adore are going to be out there dying whilst they are passed out in their beds. They will know that we knew about this happening, and not only that, they will know that we planned it this way!”

“It is one thing to have planned this world of survival for them, it is another to lead them into a false sense of hope.” Kelly said. “It was made very clear that the moment they entered this place, the moment that the immediate danger was out of the way, all lies will be stopped.”

“And I believe my little bend of the truth fell within that time frame.”

“Seriously Michelle?” Kelly said. “You honestly don’t see the difference between what we have done to save these people and what you just did to completely wreck that guy’s life?”

“No,” Michelle said evenly, “I don’t.”

“You know what?” Kelly said. “I don’t care, just fix it Michelle. Apologise to Jason, kiss his arse for the rest of your life, I don’t care what it takes, but make sure that he doesn’t go around spreading any bad feelings about this place. We have enough to contend with as it is.”

Michelle said nothing for a moment, her eyes fixed on Kelly’s. Kelly could feel her blood boiling. Finally Michelle spoke.

“Fine.” She said, allowing her creepy little smile to etch back onto her face. “Anything you say, Ma’am.”

And with that, Michelle got up, bowed deeply to Kelly and walked out of the room.