Succinct (Extinct Book 5)

by Ike Hamill

  It caught quickly. He wasn’t sure if the door would go up or not. Tim didn’t wait around to find out.

  With the fishing pole over his shoulder and the crutch under his armpit, Tim walked at a decent pace across the clearing. Glancing back, he saw the cabin sitting serenely in the morning sun. With a blink, the thing was an inferno.

  At the first big tree, he paused and used the knife to take off an X of bark, in the way that he and Ashley had marked trees when the paint was running out. Maybe if they found the fire from the cabin, they would find his mark.

  Tim worked his way downhill, hopefully in the direction of the river.

  Chapter 57: Liam

  Liam’s thumping heart slowed down as soon as he pressed the button and the elevator doors slid closed. It was a perfectly normal elevator car—nothing to worry about. The brushed metal interior showed him a foggy reflection of himself. The ceiling was black, with round pucks of glowing light. It was the same glowing light as the rest of the place. It had seemed weird at first, like a really bright version of a lightning bug that didn’t blink.

  Lightning bugs still weirded him out a tiny bit. The first time he had seen them, he had cried, thinking that they were some weird aliens or something. Corinna had told him that they were perfectly natural, but there was a tone in her voice that suggested that she had been unconvinced as well.

  Staring up at the lights, they seemed even better than normal electric lights. The light wasn’t so harsh and direct. It flowed out of the little pucks like a liquid.

  “Autumn,” he said to himself—that’s what the light was like. It looked like the long, diffused light of autumn.

  His finger was getting tired of holding the button. Dutifully, he kept it pressed in, wondering if it was really necessary. Maybe Merle was mistaken. Liam had never seen an elevator where the button had to be held in order to keep it moving. The idea didn’t make any sense.

  Liam shook his head and sighed, wondering how long it would take to reach the surface.

  It made perfect sense that Merle was afraid of the elevator. The young man had been transporting old, decayed corpses. Being stuck in a confined space with a bunch of desiccated bodies would freak anyone out.

  From the floor, something let out a hissing sound. Liam bowed his legs and stood up on his toes, trying to find the source. It ended with a click before Liam could figure out where it had come from.

  “That’s his ghost,” Liam said. “I wonder if that’s a normal sound, or if something is failing. I should let Robby know before he tries to use this thing to…”

  He was cut off by the sound again. This time, perhaps because he was listening for it, he heard the start of the noise very clearly. It made the whole thing sound like a voice.

  “Miiiiiike,” he heard.

  “The fuck?” Liam whispered. He shook his head and blinked. “No. No. It’s just some sound that the…”

  “Miiiiiiiiike,” the voice said again.

  Liam looked at the button, wondering how long it could possibly take for the elevator to climb to the surface. Merle had warned him that the machine was so smooth that he wouldn’t be able to tell that it was moving. He had warned him not to let go of the button because the machinery somehow worked on momentum and it would take a long time to restart itself if he let go of…

  “Not all the way dead,” the voice said. The syllables were so stretched out that it sounded like, “Naahhht ahhhhhll awaaaaay deaaaaaad.”

  Liam looked up at the lights, thinking he might see a speaker. The sound had come from the floor though, and there was nothing down there but hard tile. Liam took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had to wait in the elevator for the doors to open at the top floor, but he didn’t have to pay attention to whatever strange sights and sounds that the government had somehow put in the elevator. Someone had already come up with a plausible theory for it. Liam couldn’t remember if it was something that he had said, or maybe if the idea belonged to Jackson. The government had probably rigged the place to appear haunted in case someone got in there who didn’t belong. They didn’t want squatters, so they put all kinds of boobytraps in the place to frighten people away. The plan was right out of Scooby Doo, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t true. The old government had done stranger things, if the rumors were right.

  “Miiiike,” the voice said again.

  “Mike’s not here,” Liam said. He made his voice authoritative and commanding, hoping that he would start to feel confident.

  “Naaaaahhhht…”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Liam said. His eyes were still closed. He took a peek at the buttons to see if something was flashing, or any indication at all that his trip might be over soon.

  Liam instantly regretted it. There was blood dripping down the metal panel from the button that Liam was pressing with his thumb.

  “Oh, come on,” Liam moaned. “What the fuck?”

  He backed away from the panel until just his thumb was in contact with the button. He really wanted to let go before some of the thick red blood got on him. He was too afraid that Merle was right. Merle had figured out a lot of stuff about the place. If he was right about the elevator, then letting go of the button would only prolong Liam’s torture.

  “Naaaahhhht deaaaad,” the voice said.

  “Who are you? Why are you bleeding from this button?” Liam demanded.

  It occurred to Liam that his best course of action would have been to just ignore the thing from the start. If someone was trying to frighten him, he was only giving them what they wanted. Blood was now pooling on the floor below the button. A foamy bubble was working slowly down the wall in the flow. Liam felt a wave a nausea roll through him. With a flash of panic, he looked behind himself, worried that there might be more blood that he hadn’t noticed before. The wall behind him was clean. When he looked back to the button though, he saw a blob of fresh ooze coming out from the seam above it.

  A low moan of disgust escaped him and he desperately wanted to pull his thumb away.

  The blood began to seep over his thumb and it was warm.

  “Gross,” Liam said.

  “I’m riiiiiiiiight heeeeeeere,” the hissing whisper said.

  Liam felt the blood roll down and around his thumb.

  Grinding his teeth together Liam squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the tickle of the blood as it surged and pulsed from the button.

  With a whoosh, the door slid open.

  “How was it?” Merle asked.

  Liam didn’t answer. He rushed forward, pushing Merle of the way as he fled the elevator.

  “Hey! Don’t let it shut,” Merle said.

  Liam flicked his hand violently, trying to get the blood off of his hand.

  “What’s wrong?” Merle asked.

  “Don’t you see it?” Liam asked. “It’s all over me. Damn it.”

  “See what?”

  Liam looked at Merle. “My hand, damn it. You told me not to let go of the button and the blood got all over me.”

  “You’re bleeding?”

  “No. I…”

  Liam held up his hand to show Merle. His mouth fell open as he turned his hand one way and the other. Perplexed, Liam held up his other hand and spun that one too.

  “My hand was… What the fuck?”

  “Hey, can you grab that fire extinguisher over there so I can wedge it in this door? I can’t reach it.”

  Merle was standing in the open door of the elevator. Liam ducked under the arm that was holding the door from sliding back shut. Liam peeked around the corner. There was nothing coming from the button. There was no blood pooled on the floor.

  “Liam? The fire extinguisher?”

  “Sure,” Liam said. “Sure.”

  After they propped the door to the elevator open with the fire extinguisher, they stood and looked at it for a minute to make sure that it wouldn’t be dislodged when the doors tired to slide shut. Liam told the story about the blood coming from the button. He didn’t mentio
ned the whispers. Liam decided to save that detail until they were away, and the elevator wouldn’t hear.

  “Maybe it’s carbon monoxide in there? Maybe something else? Some kind of gas?” Merle asked. “When I explore these places for the first time, I always bring an air quality meter with me, you know? The mines are the worst. They have all kinds of terrible gasses built up in them. You know, this place should probably be check for radon. Then again, I suppose that the…”

  “I don’t think it was carbon monoxide,” Liam said. “It was too real.”

  “That’s what you would think though, right?”

  Liam had to admit that he didn’t know if Merle was right or wrong about the topic.

  “Okay, the door is blocked. Let’s get to the exit,” Merle said.

  Liam nodded. He let Merle lead the way. There was really not much to it, now that they were up on the top level.

  “I love these carts!” Merle said, rushing ahead down the hall. Merle jumped up onto the platform, letting his momentum roll him along for a few feet before he jumped off.

  “This is how I moved those guys. You can string these things together,” Merle said. “We should go put this in the elevator door. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about it getting knocked out of the way by the doors when they try to shut.”

  “It’s fine,” Liam said. “Don’t worry about it. The exit?”

  “Yeah. Sure,” Merle said.

  With one more turn, they were at a dead end. Liam spun around, thinking that they must have taken a wrong turn. Merle didn’t think so. He immediately went to the wall near the corner and worked some kind of magic to open a hidden panel. Messing around with the controls there for a minute, the wall began to split in the middle, with the upper half raising and the lower half sliding into the floor.

  “Very cool,” Liam said. The line of black in the middle of the wall turned into a rectangle that was growing steadily as the halves of the wall moved apart to reveal the exit. It was night outside—Liam had forgotten that. Already, he was starting to forget the terror of the place and he was starting to wonder if he should stay inside. The night outside was nothing but unknown.

  “The radio should work now,” Merle said.

  “Huh?”

  “The radio?”

  “Oh,” Liam said. He had forgotten that he had it. He turned up the volume to the maximum and clicked the button. “Jackson?”

  When he let go, there was nothing but static in response. It went away quickly as the radio figured out that there was no signal to lock onto.

  “Maybe you have to step out,” Merle said.

  Liam held out the radio. “You go.”

  “I’m holding open the door,” Merle said, gesturing with a glance at the panel.

  “I can do that.”

  “Just go,” Merle said.

  Liam took a careful step over the part of the floor where the door had disappeared. The thing had moved pretty slowly, but he couldn’t help but imagine the door slamming shut from below and above, and cutting him in two. Liam found himself on sloping concrete. Looking back, he realized that the exit of the bunker was in the concrete wall of an underpass. A local road was in front of him. Above him, up on the bridge, would be an interstate.

  He clicked the button again. “Jackson? Can you hear me?”

  Liam almost screamed when the radio blasted out at full volume.

  “Is that you?” Jackson asked. “You’re out?”

  “Yeah,” Liam said. He dug around in his pocket and found a flashlight. He spun in a slow circle, trying to find something to determine his location. “We’re near River Road and Faye Street.”

  “I’ll pass that along,” Jackson said. “Hold your position. They’re on their way upriver to a crossing now. Did you guys have a power outage?”

  “When?” Liam asked. It was a stupid question. Obviously, it had to be since Jackson had left them. It seemed like they had been apart for days though. Everything down in the dry bunker had been a little weird.

  “Maybe fifteen minutes ago. Went out for, I want to say, ten minutes?”

  “No,” Liam said. “Not that I know of.”

  “That’s really good news. Everyone will be excited to hear that. Okay, I’m going to sign off and see if I can find River and Faye. You guys hold tight.”

  “Okay.”

  Liam walked back up the slope to the rectangle of light coming through the bunker’s doorway.

  “Did you catch that? They’re on the way,” Liam said.

  “Yeah. Did you see the guys?”

  “What guys?”

  “The corpses—I rolled them down the slope and left them in the road.”

  Liam swung his flashlight back over. It was tough to see anything out in the night compared to the lights from the bunker.

  “No. I didn’t see them,” Liam said.

  Merle nodded. Liam was glad that it wasn’t his own finger on the button this time. He was also glad that he and Merle had each other for company now. He leaned against the wall next to Merle—Liam positioned just inside the bunker’s exit—and they waited. If the doorway were to start to close, Liam considered whether he would try to get out or stay inside.

  He wasn’t sure.

  Chapter 58: Robby

  “There, Dad,” Janelle said, pointing.

  Robby finally saw the light that his daughter was pointing at. A tall truck had its headlights pointing down the road. Next to the truck, built into the concrete wall, Robby saw what must have been the entrance that they were looking for. He steered for it.

  “Pull past,” Mike said. “So the people behind us can unload.”

  “Good point,” Robby said. He had been so focused on getting his kids to safety, that he had almost forgotten about the line of trucks behind them. As they had traveled north, people had organized using the radios and caught up with them. Robby’s van was leading a train of Donnelly’s citizens that had regrouped after everyone fled town.

  Robby pulled past the big truck and shut off the van. He turned around.

  “Kids, I want you to stay close to me at all times, okay? We have a bunch of stuff to organize and I don’t want to split my attention looking for you. Understood?”

  They both nodded at him solemnly.

  “I’m serious,” Robby said. “I don’t believe that you understand the importance of what I’m saying.”

  “We do, Dad,” Janelle said.

  “Nope,” Robby said. “We’re holding hands.”

  “Dad!” Jim moaned.

  “Nope. We’re holding hands,” Robby said. He opened his door and waved for Janelle to crawl over the seat. Before her feet hit the pavement, he grabbed her hand. With one child ensnared, he slid open the door and put out his other hand for Jim.

  “Dad! I’ll stay close, I promise.”

  Robby shook his head until Jim took his other hand. With his kids on either side, Robby marched them around the van and toward the rectangle of light coming from the bunker. Liam was standing in the entrance. People were spilling from the trucks and moving to offload stuff from the back of the first truck. Sariah was telling them to get everything through the entrance—they could sort it all out once it was all inside.

  “Along the right-hand wall. Don’t block the corridor. Go as deep as you can,” Sariah said.

  They were lucky. The corridor that led underground was wide enough that they could stack the supplies on one side and still have enough room on the other for two people to pass. The unloading would go pretty quickly as long as they stayed organized.

  Robby spotted Merle and moved toward him.

  “Hey, Jim. Hey, Janelle. You’re coming down, right?” Merle asked.

  Robby felt Jim squirm in his grip. Jim was mortified to be holding his father’s hand while they talked to Merle. He had always looked up to Merle, like a cool older brother.

  “Yeah,” Jim said.

  “Merle, have you been in touch with your mother?” Robby asked.

  “Today?”<
br />
  “Yeah.”

  “No. Why?”

  “We should let her know that we’re going to head into the bunker until we figure out what’s going on out here.”

  Merle suddenly looked a little panicked.

  “You don’t think she’s going to be okay? She hates being cooped up with people. She’s never going to come.”

  “Can you get in touch with her? At least she should know where we are in case she goes into town and can’t find anyone, you know?”

  “Yeah. I can try,” Merle said. He was off at a sprint. The young man jumped up and practically threw himself into the giant truck.

  Robby moved his kids toward Liam, who was standing in the doorway, directing traffic.

  “What’s it look like down there?” Robby asked.

  “It looks pretty sophisticated,” Liam said. “There are living quarters, kitchens, cafeterias, and control rooms. There’s a lot of space that I didn’t see, as well. At least it looked like there was a lot according to the map. There are some… strange things as well.”

  Robby nodded.

  “It’s safe?”

  “I think so. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s any way to be sure. I think it’s safe enough. It definitely looks like there are systems for the air quality and water. And there are lights and we didn’t lose power down there at all. If I can get someone else to hold this door open, I can show you what I know. Merle’s the real expert.”

  Robby turned back just as the truck fired up. Merle and Jackson were in the cab, backing away from the mass of people quickly.

  “You’re the expert now,” Robby said. “He and Jackson must be going to track down Amy Lynne.”

  Liam nodded. “Hey, where’s Corinna?”

  “She volunteered to go south and try to get in touch with the Outpost.”

  “Oh.” Liam looked down and away as he considered that.

  “Mike?” Robby called. Mike and Sariah had taken charge of the trucks, pointing one to move out of the way so the next could pull up and be unloaded. Former residents of Donnelly swarmed to the task.