by Jim Miesner
“Samantha. Don’t do this.”
“Guess what,” she said through slurred speech. “I’m not afraid either.”
“No!”
She swung the drone into the wires as its rotor blades spun. Sparks shot in every direction and her body flew backwards before everything went black.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The bright white light blinded her as she opened her eyes.
“How are you feeling?” asked a voice.
She squinted to see a blurry white figure standing over her with the halo of an overhead light behind them.
“You’re lucky you’re alive.”
Sam rubbed her eyes as the room began to come into focus. The first thing she noticed was the blue bandages around her blackened fingertips. Then the blurry shape in front of her cleared, and she could see the nurse’s face through the visor of the white plastic contamination suit.
“Where are they?” Sam asked.
“Who?”
Sam blinked again as the rest of the room came into better focus.
“Jenny, Daniel, Emmanuel, Marlena?”
“Shh,” said the nurse, “I’ll try to find out for you, but you need your rest, Samantha. Your body needs it.”
Sam tried to get up, but couldn’t move her left leg. She looked down to see a black spider-web cast covered her shin and was tangled in the sheets of the bed. A tube went into the port on her stomach and Sam pulled it away.
"What are you doing?" asked the nurse. She held up a small white syringe. "Let me just give you something to help you rest."
Sam pushed the nurse's hand away. “No. Don’t touch me. Where are they?”
The nurse jumped back in surprise. She muttered something under her breath that Sam couldn’t hear and then she left the room. Sam struggled to get up but screamed as her cast hit the floor. She laid back in the bed as she gritted her teeth. The room was bright, heavenly-white with no windows. She knew where she was, and it wasn’t a hospital.
Pushing herself up she leaned on the bed and gritted her teeth again before getting to her good leg. Taking a deep breath, she hopped to the door, not wasting any time. When she tried it, she found it locked and banged on it with her fist.
“Where are they?” she yelled. “Where are they?”
She waited a couple of more minutes before her leg grew tired and she had to slide back down to the floor. There had to be some way out. Some way to escape this box. How?
The door clicked open and a figure in a white containment suit looked down on her. From his gate and build Sam could tell it was a man, but the glare from the light hid his face at this angle. In his hand he held a blue syringe. God only knew what was in it.
In her mind, she rushed at him, knocked him out and escaped out the door but her body wasn’t capable of that anymore. Even if a miracle happened, and he had a stroke at that moment it wouldn’t matter. She could barely cross a room, let alone walk down a long hallway and escape the facility.
“Good morning, Sam,” said the doctor. “Glad to see you’re doing better. My name is Dr. Robertson.”
“Where are they? If you hurt them, I swear…” Sam slid along the wall and tried to get to her feet. She didn’t know where she would go, she just knew she had to.
The doctor shifted in his suit and the glare moved away from his face as she watched him blink several times and his jaw hung open. “I assure you everyone is okay.” He shifted on his feet and paused as if searching for the right words to say. “We know about Saunders and what happened to the council. We know everything.”
“How?
“We were able to piece it together from the security footage.”
“You know about the virus?”
“Yes.”
“Did they?”
He shook his head. “We can discuss it more later. The important thing is everyone is safe, for now.” He put the syringe down on the table. “That will help with the pain-”
“I don’t want it,” Sam said.
The doctor nodded and looked out the door window. “You have visitors,” he said.
The door popped open. In came another white suit, then another. One was about five feet, the second closer to three and a half. The light glared across their visors as well and she couldn’t see their faces.
The doctor bent his knees and leaned closer to one. “Keep those on like I told you, okay?”
They stood there staring at each other. In a subtle twist of the taller one’s head, Sam thought she saw a glimmer of auburn hair flash behind the visor, and then disappear again into the light.
“Jenny? Daniel?”
They moved closer, and the glare disappeared to reveal Jenny’s emerald green eyes and Daniel’s sky-blue ones, the same as his father’s. Jenny had a big smile on her face, and with it all the pressure lifted off Sam as she reached out to them.
“You’re okay? Why are you in those?”
“Precautionary,” said the doctor.
“They treating you okay?”
“Yes,” Jenny said. She moved closer to hug before glancing at Sam’s arm and moved back. “They’re feeding us. I think it’s food.”
“It tastes horrible,” Daniel said.
“The mush?” Sam asked.
Jenny shook her head. “No, real food. I think.”
“We’re doing our best in spite of not cooking anything in over a century,” the doctor said with a smile.
Sam put her hand on Jenny’s and Daniel’s visors, and rubbed her fingers across them. A warmth flushed over her as she looked at them. She just needed to feel something, to know this was real and not a dream.
“You can hug me, you know.”
The doctor raised his hand. “With your injuries that might not be-”
“It’s okay,” Sam said. “If they’re careful.”
He nodded. Jenny reached around Sam, awkwardly trying to avoid her right arm and left leg and then Daniel wrapped his arms halfway around Jenny and Sam. Sam squeezed them back. She couldn’t believe it. It seemed impossible.
“How is everyone else?”
Daniel and Jenny pulled away, the smiles no longer on their faces as Jenny bit her lower lip and Daniel looked down at the floor.
“What is it?” she asked.
“They haven’t found Marlena yet,” Jenny said.
“She wasn’t found among the bodies,” said the doctor. “It’s a strong possibility she and the others were taken with them.”
“Taken?” Sam asked.
“Wexler and the guard escaped. They may have been taken prisoner for reasons we don’t understand.”
Tears welled up in Daniel’s eyes.
“She’ll be okay. We’ll get her back,” Sam said.
“It’s all my fault. I should never have taken that stupid necklace. She and Kelly are gone and Emmanuel is hurt because of me.”
Jenny turned her head toward the ground.
“No, it’s not,” Sam said. “It’s because of some bad people. You couldn’t have known. How could you have?”
He sniffled. “I should have listened to them.” He leaned back into Sam. His weight pressed on her arm as she gritted her teeth, and struggled to readjust while he sobbed on her shoulder. She rubbed her hand over the plastic on his back. Daniel pulled away with bleary eyes, and a line of clear snot dripping out of his nose that was too far to snort back up.
“It will be okay, Daniel,” Sam said. “Everything will be okay. You did nothing wrong.”
“You kids hungry?” asked the doctor. “I believe there was a fresh harvest of wild berries and fish flesh this morning. How does that sound?”
Daniel sniffed and Jenny put her hand on his back.
“It’s okay,” Sam said. “Eat something. I’ll see you soon.”
Jenny nodded, and they made their way back toward the door before they slipped through it and it clicked closed behind them.
“Have you found her parents?”
The doctor nodded. “We’ve sent out drones to c
ontact the parents of the children that haven’t had the Sacrament. Jenny’s parents have been located, and a ship is on its way to pick them up.”
“And her mother’s health?”
“I’m not aware of the exact details, but I believe she will survive. I hope that gives you some reassurance.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about your friends.”
Sam nodded. “I need to see Emmanuel.”
“He’s in no condition to see people right now.”
“I’m not asking.”
The doctor smiled. “I see why you survived out there. Let me check to see what I can do. Can you give me an hour?”
“Yes, and there’s something else.”
“I will try my best to help with anything that is at my disposal. There is something you should know first about your friend. We did everything we could until we had no other choice. It was the only way to save him.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Sam smiled as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. The exoskeletal suit pressed against the white containment suit she wore over the top of it and made her look like a bodybuilder. Despite its girth, it wasn’t heavy at all. In fact, all of her weight was suspended inside it by a harness. It had taken a few minutes to get used to walking and not feeling the ground press under her feet as they dangled inside. The pressure of gravity going to the harness around her torso, instead of her fractured ankle bone. It kind of felt like she was swimming in a way, with each step. Her mind told her she was constantly going to fall over but the suit kept her perfectly balanced. She probably could run in it but she wasn’t going to try that just yet.
Standing over Emmanuel’s bed, she ran her hand along his cheek. They had shaved his face and cut his hair. Tubes now went into his nose as the hiss of the respirator went up and down and the life support monitors bleeped on the screen. A tube of neon blue went to his stomach. The doctor had told her clinically he was dead, and it had been the only way to bring him back. She squeezed his hand.
“You will get through this. You’re a fighter and you’re going to get through this. Do you hear me? Daniel is waiting for you, Emmanuel. I’m waiting for you.”
She knelt down and laid her visor against his hand as she held it, hoping for some response. His hand didn't squeeze hers back or touch the back of her helmet. That was what happened in stories, not real life. Still, it didn’t stop her from waiting as if she could will it. She knelt there for what seemed like forever until getting back to her feet again and looking at him one last time. Finally, she took a deep breath and left.
Making her way back down the long hall, she wished she'd had the right words to say to him, some simple flowers she could have left behind to signal her presence. It could be days before he came to, if he did come to. When he awoke again, he would have no recollection of anything, not her, not Marlena, not Daniel. All of his memories were gone. A tear rolled down her cheek.
She punched a keypad, and the doors hissed open to reveal Dr. Robertson waiting for her in his suit.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “We believe he will recover.”
“Except he won’t remember anything,” she said.
“In time he may. There’s evidence to support that after the reversal of the treatment, some memory can return.”
“Mine haven’t.”
The doctor nodded. “Come with me, please.”
Sam walked alongside him as they moved down the hall and exited the building. There was no longer any smoke in the air and most of the rubble and damage from the fighting had already been cleared away. Men and women in suits were moving pillars on lifts, lining them up, while others finished up the remaining cleanup. Some were in the traditional white bio-suits with others wearing emergency red.
He turned to her. “They’re scared. With everything that happened. They don’t know who to trust anymore. Wexler and most of the guards escaped, as you know. We destroyed the research but can’t be sure they didn’t make a copy.” He sighed. “They also took half of the source with them.”
“What about Saunders?”
“Permanently offline…"
“You’re already rebuilding?”
“Yes, by orders of the temporary council.”
Sam turned toward him. “You’re a part of it?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I hope you don’t mind. We took samples from Jenny and yourself while you were asleep. That was the purpose of the tube. I’m sorry for the confusion. We’re currently working on understanding why it worked for you and not for Tesla. Hopefully very soon we’ll be able to start doing human trials for those that volunteer. We could use your help with this. You’ve been through it, you could guide others through the process.”
Sam turned back to the people and watched them as they worked. “There has to be someone else that would be better suited. I mean, I haven’t even eaten solid food yet.”
He sighed. “If it’s because of what happened, we know you did what you had to do. No one blames you for anything, Samantha. It’s not your fault.”
“Find someone else.”
“There is no one else.”
Sam watched the men and women as they cleared the last of the rubble and removed broken glass. The doctor shifted on his feet. Sam crunched a small piece of rubble under her foot.
“Saunders said there will be others coming," she said. "Others that-”
He raised his hand and cut her off as he nodded. He suddenly seemed very tired as if he had discussed this subject a thousand times. “We know,” he said. “That’s the other thing I needed to discuss with you.”
He puffed out his cheeks and looked up at the Shell.
“You were able to convince the naturals to fight with you. We need you to do it again.”
“That was Emmanuel and Marlena.”
“You were there though. You were a part of it. All I’m asking is that you talk to them.”
Sam sighed. Helping the Coven was one thing but asking the naturals to protect them. She almost laughed at the thought of it. “I wouldn’t know the first thing to say.”
“Just think about it.” He looked back at the workers. “You don’t have to make a decision now. All I am asking is that you consider it. Come, there is something else I want you to see.”
“What is it?”
He smiled. “A surprise.”
They moved away from the workers, rounded the corner and toward a large hole in the ground. What was this all for? The damage to the surrounding buildings had mostly been repaired. Whatever this was they were creating would be massive. A new building, but for what? She didn’t ask though as they turned the corner again to find a group of hundreds of pop-up tents. Around them men and women mingled, some sat on the ground while others cooked food over fires. Many of them wore clean clothes and had bathed. None of them had suits on.
“What is this?”
“We’ve come to an agreement, for the naturals that wished to stay inside the Shell. That hole in the ground we walked past. That will be the first of a series of vertical farms. We’ve agreed to provide them shelter and food in return for their cooperation.”
“If I convinced them to help you, and they do, then what? They remain in tents while you are in suits forever?”
“We are working on a second wall. One that would surround their living area and the vertical farms.”
“So, apartheid, that’s the plan?”
The doctor sighed and his face reddened. “Do you have a better solution? It’s a step in the right direction. We’re doing our best. The only way either of us is going to survive is if we work together. I can’t make any promises beyond that until we learn how to safely reverse the treatment.”
Sam looked at the ground and then back up. “I’m sorry.”
The doctor nodded. “Soon they will have more permanent housing than these tents, as will the first of our volunteers to make the transition. We are even working on a modern waste management system, with Toyotas.”
�
�I believe they’re called toilets.”
He nodded. “Our people and theirs don’t know about the threat yet. They don’t know they’re coming. As far as they know you destroyed all records of the research.”
“You believe Wexler has a copy of the research?”
He nodded. “It’s likely, and if she does. we’re certain it’s only a matter of time before she learns how to manufacture the virus.”
Sam sighed. “I can’t promise they’ll listen to me.”
The doctor’s eyes lit up but the rest of his face remained rigid and emotionless. “That’s all we’re asking.”
“I’ll need some time to think about what I’ll say.”
“Understandable.” He reached out with something in his hand. “I believe this is yours.”
Sam looked down at the pendant in his hand, some of the edges were blackened but it remained largely intact. It even looked to have been repaired where she had stomped on it. Popping it open, she saw the picture of her and Dr. Tesla burnt around the edges, half of her face gone. All this time, she wore the key to Saunders’ destruction around her neck. How had Tesla known? Where had he gotten it from?
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome." A light blinked on his wristband and he looked up at Sam and smiled. "Let’s pick this up later. That favor of yours is here.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Sam combed her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. Stopping mid-brush, she found herself staring at her own face. When was the last time she had looked so closely at it? She recognized the freckles that stretched across it like the milky way, the emerald green eyes, the brownish-red hair that puffed out in every direction when she couldn’t find a brush or put it in a ponytail. It was the same face she had seen every day of her life but it felt like she was staring at a stranger. Who was this person? Where had she come from?
Her fingers touched a yellowed bruise on her cheek and a small cut on her neck. Somehow, she had survived while others had died alongside her, good men and women. Had there been a better way without the cost of as many lives? Could she have done anything different? What did the future hold? If Saunders was telling the truth that meant that others were coming. Had she only delayed an inevitable slaughter while simultaneously putting everyone's life in the Covenant at risk?