Resurgence

by Peter Hoole

  But that was the least of her concerns.

  As the men walked towards her, Deanna’s heart raced. She was no longer concerned with trying to remember the men’s features. Her more pressing thoughts dwelled on what was about to happen to her.

  “You need to come with us.” the man on the right said. Deanna in her flustered state could not pick his accent – save for the fact it sounded European at least.

  “Where are you taking me?” Deanna protested.

  The men did not answer her question.

  “Look. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

  Deanna thought briefly about making a quip about the clichéd nature of what he had said, but decided against it.

  Deanna, realising the ‘hard way’ probably involved pain, stood up, and walked towards the guards. As she approached, one grabbed her arm and led her through the door, while the other waited long enough to walk behind.

  They exited Deanna’s holding cell and made their way down the corridor.

  As she walked, Deanna tried to soak in as much of the surroundings as she could, hopeful that she could get away and find a way out.

  As she observed, her hopes of forming a plan dwindled. The corridors were much like her cell – baron and sterile. There were no real indications of anything she could use as a marker, and no obvious exits.

  After several steps, she decided to once again be patient. She tried to convince herself that a solution would present itself.

  The corridor was long and seemed to be blocked at the end. As the three of them drew closer, Deanna could see what they were walking towards – an elevator.

  As they approached, the guard holding her reached out and pressed a button. Within a few seconds, the doors slid open, revealing a larger than expected area.

  Deanna and her captors moved through the door first, followed closely by the other guard. As the doors slid closed, one of the guards spoke.

  “Section 17.” The guard said, ordering the elevator to its destination.

  Deanna had never seen a voice activated elevator before. And while the revelation concerned her, it did give her an important clue – whoever these people were, they had advanced technology.

  Deanna did not have long to appreciate the technology. Within less than a minute, the elevator stopped moving, and they had arrived at their destination. For the entire time, her escorts had not said a word.

  As they stopped, the doors slid open.

  Deanna and her guard waited for the other to step through the door. When he did, he turned and waited for Deanna to exit. All this time, the guard holding Deanna had not let his grip slip.

  As they walked, Deanna again looked for an opportunity to run.

  The corridor looked the same as the one they had just left, save for a small sign on the wall indicating “Section 17”.

  She looked around for any indication of what “Section 17” was, but nothing was forth coming.

  The trio walked down the corridor. After about twenty yards, they stopped in front of a door. The second guard stood to the right of the doorway. Deanna was on his immediate right, and her escort on her left.

  A noise came from the headpiece in the guard’s ear, a voice Deanna could barely make out.

  After listening to the voice, the guard pressed the panel on the side of the door. As soon as he touched it, the doors slid open. As they opened, Deanna was shoved through the door. As she was pushed, she lurched forward and fell to her hands and knees.

  Before she could compose herself, Deanna heard the door close briskly behind her.

  She looked up, hoping a solution to her predicament would present itself.

  As she scanned the room, she saw that it was essentially as she had anticipated. The room was sparse, with shiny walls and no visible features.

  There were some differences between this room and the one she had previously been held in.

  Firstly, it was larger than the other room. While her ‘cell’ had been small, this room was much larger. Deanna approximated it was at least a hundred square yards.

  The other feature she noticed was on one side of the room. Where the wall should have been, a large glass window appeared. She had seen similar windows before – in interrogation rooms from her former life as a paralegal. Dark in appearance, Deanna knew that it was a one way mirror, with people no doubt on the other side.

  There was one other aspect to the room that Deanna did not initially notice.

  On the far side of the room, seated on the floor – a blonde man was watching her.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Saunders, Robert and Catherine stood in a line at the window, watching the woman enter the room.

  “Are we sure this is the right move?” Catherine asked, “Shouldn’t we just get rid of her?”

  Robert turned to his trusted friend, “Trust me, Catherine, she will do just fine. Besides, we are getting rid of her.”

  Catherine was not so sure.

  “I can see your trepidation.” said Robert, “But we need someone to deliver the virus. It may as well be her.”

  Catherine shrugged. She was wary of their current situation. Robert had always been a good, trustworthy leader. But in the past day or so, he had been taking risks.

  Risks that Catherine felt were putting the entire plan in danger.

  She realised that Robert was trying to make a play for power. She had been around long enough to know that Robert, while the highest rank in Zone Three, was still a few places below the top of the Colonials.

  And their little foray into Zone Fourteen, crossing into another Zone’s jurisdiction, was way outside of normal protocol.

  And she knew Robert felt the same.

  Earlier, Catherine had been present during a conversation he had had with John, one of James’ closest confidants. During that conversation, neither John nor Robert made mention of the attack on the cruise ship.

  But Catherine knew when to bite her tongue. Besides, it was information she would be able to use to her advantage later.

  As far as she knew, there were only three people aware of the impending attack – herself, Robert and Larissa.

  And Larissa? She was expendable.

  Not that her protégé knew anything about Catherine’s plan. Far from it. It was common practice for the protégés to be assured by their mentors that they had a confirmed place in future makeup of the plan.

  Unfortunately for Larissa, they could not take everyone with them.

  For many years, each Zone had been cultivating their own colony. And within each Colony, a distinct hierarchy was formed.

  There was what was loosely called the Governors. These were the leaders of each area. The Governors were joined by the Executive, the most experienced person in his or her given field. Essentially, the Executive were the advisors to the Governors, and they held direct sway over their various teams.

  Those teams were the third and fourth levels of the colony.

  The third level were the educated fraternity.

  Within Zone Three, the third tier comprised of engineers, economists, chemists, biologists… in fact, pretty much any field of science they were aware of.

  And the fourth tier were the workers - the builders, mechanics, labourers

  Catherine, she looked after the soldiers, the only group that fell outside of the regular guidelines for the future colony. While her place was automatically assured in the future, the rest were not.

  Most of her team had been given the serum by now, but that was not a guarantee they would join the next Phase and beyond. The soldiers, by their very definition, were the most at risk of being killed, particularly as they were on the front lines. From what Catherine could tell, several of her team, formerly run by Pierre, were already dead – including his precious Alpha team.

  But as the time for Ascension grew closer, and the next part of the plan came to fruition, Catherine knew it would soon be time to make some difficult decisions.

  For some time, she had cult
ivated relationships, both within and outside the Colonial organisation. And those relationships were about to be tested.

  But not just yet. Fortunately, Catherine still had some time before she had to make a call on Larissa’s life.

  Right now, she had more pressing concerns – what to do with the woman.

  “You think she’s the right one to deliver it?” Catherine asked, “What about the man. He’s still alive. He could do more damage and infect more people.”

  “You’re right,” Robert said, “He is still alive, isn’t he, Saunders.”

  Saunders was seething. For the life of him, he could not understand why the blond man had not died.

  It had been several hours since the time had spilt over and there were no signs of the man even feeling ill.

  Though he had heard Roberts comment, he dare not acknowledge it. He had felt the pressure building for some time. The other man should be dead by now.

  Since the first man had passed, Saunders had not left the lab, not wanting to miss the moment when his hopes would be realised. But the moment had not come.

  And now, another variable had been added into his experiment.

  Coupled with the fact that even John was now starting to pay attention, Saunders was becoming desperate.

  “What do you think it is?” asked Robert, “Why has he survived?”

  It was the question Saunders had struggled with. At that stage, he had yet to conceive of an answer.

  The tests they had done were sound, and their methodology exact. The Nightfall virus was the perfect killer. It was fast, concise and spread with efficiency. It struck with such speed that the search for a cure would be nigh on impossible.

  Everyone that had been infected with the virus had been killed within minutes. This they had known for some time.

  Their only problem in the past had been that the Source, while an effective counter-agent to the virus, was unable to be effectively administrated in enough time. They had had several occasions where an individual had been infected with Nightfall, but the application of the Source had been delayed, and as such the infected individual had died.

  This presented a risk, a risk the Governors were unwilling to take. They had always erred on the side of caution, at times to Saunders’ chagrin.

  But this was a situation that they needed to find a solution for.

  And after time, and as a result of Helen’s work in Haven, a solution was found. It was there she had created the serum – a hybrid solution that, when combined with the Source, was able to make the Source’s effects permanent.

  This not only solved the problem of the Source’s proximity to the Colonies overall but created the perfect solution to problem associated with the use of the virus.

  Saunders stood at the window, still accompanied by Robert and Catherine, and considered this very thing.

  And then it struck him.

  “Of course...” he said, a smile forming on his face.

  Robert and Catherine turned to him.

  “What is it?” asked Robert.

  Saunders turned away from the window, for the first time in hours. He faced one of his assistants.

  “You there,” Saunders said, not even pretending to know the young man’s name.

  “Sir?” the assistant replied.

  “Go to records. I want to see every image we have of the subject.”

  “What do you mean?” the assistant asked.

  “Every video, every photo. Anything that tells us where he has been and who he was in contact with. Everything, from the time we picked him up until now.”

  The assistant, seeming to understand Saunders’ request, left the room.

  “What are you looking for?” asked Robert.

  Saunders, still smiling from his revelation, replied after a few moments.

  “Robert,” he began, “I think we have a rodent problem.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Where exactly are we going?”

  Jace had assumed his seat in the back of the ‘Bat.

  As a show of trust - as Adam had called it – Caleb, Darcy and Jace had been permitted to use the vehicle and follow the others back to their home.

  Caleb heard Jace’s question, but he didn’t know the answer. None of them knew. All they could do was follow, and hope that Adam and his people were not leading them astray.

  They had left Haven the same way they had arrived, and travelled south. They remained on the road for only a few minutes - ten at the most - before they veered onto an unsealed track. Such was the undulating nature of the road they travelled; their speed could go no faster than about fifteen miles an hour.

  Caleb estimated they had travelled for about two miles into the bush, when they pulled to a stop.

  Adam exited the car in front, and made his way towards the ‘Bat.

  Caleb, feeling that some level of trust had been established, lowered his window as he arrived.

  “Problem?” asked Caleb.

  “Nah, mate.” replied Adam, “Just gonna need you to disable the tracker on this thing.”

  Caleb looked at Darcy.

  “You guys already did that right?” Caleb asked.

  As he was still unconscious when Darcy and the others took the ‘Bat, Caleb had assumed Murphy and Casey would have followed protocol.

  “Yeah… as soon as we left Haven last night,” replied Darcy, “We pulled over and Murphy fixed it. Just like in Seattle.”

  “Good.” said Adam, listening in, “Because we’ve kept our joint secret from those bastards for years, and we wanna keep it that way.”

  Jace spoke up from the back of the car.

  “Before we go any further, I just wanna make a phone call.”

  Adam looked disturbed by this request.

  “Who to?” he said sharply.

  “I’ve gotta call this in.” Jace responded.

  “Call it in?” Adam asked, “And then what?”

  “Mate… come on. There’s a secret military base hidden under there. We need to call this in so my people can secure it.”

  Caleb was surprised by the request. It appeared Adam was more so.

  “No way,” said Adam, “Your people can’t be trusted. Shit, I barely trust you.”

  “I can’t just let that place sit there,” protested Jace, “We need it secured.”

  Caleb decided to try diffusing the situation.

  Caleb turned around to face Jace, “Look. I reckon these guys know way more about what we’re up against. How about we hear them out and get a bit more Intel before we involve anyone we don’t have to?”

  Jace was riled, “Jesus, Captain. What do you expect them to tell us we don’t already know?”

  Now, it was Darcy’s turn to try and calm Jace.

  “Jace,” she said, “You saw it yourself. The colony is completely imploded. Even if the Colonials arrive in the next few hours, it will take them month’s to dig it all up and get it up and running. I doubt another hour or so will make a difference.”

  Jace seemed to be buying what Darcy was selling.

  “Let’s just wait and see what else we can find out.” Darcy continued.

  “And I’m sure Adam here will let you make your call soon, right?” said Caleb.

  Adam nodded his head.

  “We’re all on the same side I think.” said Adam.

  “We are.”

  With that, Adam walked back to the lead vehicle, and got in. After a few moments, the car began moving, and Caleb followed once again.

  As they drove, Caleb looked in the rear-view mirror. He could see Jace was annoyed with the way things were panning out.

  “You ok back there?” Caleb asked the Australian.

  Jace continued to pout. Caleb got the feeling he was not used to being so low in the chain-of-command.

  “I’m just not sure this is the right play, Caleb.” said Jace after a few moments, “We don’t know these guys. For all we know, they may be leading us into a trap.”

  Caleb had co
nsidered the possibility, but had also dismissed it. If Adam and his people had wanted them dead, they could have shot them in Haven. Instead, they had led them away from the town, probably to their base of operations.

  “I get where you’re coming from, Jace. I really do.” Caleb said, “But we don’t really have a choice…”

  “We do have a choice.” Interrupted Jace, “We can call in my team.”

  Caleb was about to respond, but felt Darcy’s hand touch his arm. After some gentle reassurance, Darcy turned to face the back.

  “Jace, I hate to tell you what you already know…” Darcy began, somewhat forceful in her tone, “But Caleb and I don’t trust your people.”

  Jace was taken aback.

  “Why?” he asked bluntly.

  Darcy paused, considering her words carefully.

  After a few moments, she chose not to be so diplomatic.

  “When you made your phone call… to your people…”

  “Yes?” Jace asked.

  “You’re sure you’ve seen Molyneux Industries?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “What I’m saying is… your people… they’ve been infiltrated. How else do you explain that your contact couldn’t find anything? Either someone deleted the information about them, or he did. Either way, it doesn’t give us great confidence in your people.”

  Jace stumbled over his words, but Darcy was having none of it, “I don’t care how much you trust them… right now… we don’t. So until we absolutely have to contact them, we’ll take our chances with the guys we know don’t want us dead right now.”

  After Darcy finished, Jace became silent, knowing he was in the minority.

  Darcy felt she needed to say something more.

  “Jace… I think I speak for me and Caleb here. We do trust you, and we’re gonna need your help. I have no doubt that sooner rather than later we’re gonna need your people, especially the ones you trust. But right now, we need to find out as much as we can.”

  “You don’t think we know enough?”

  “Not yet.”

  Caleb turned his attention back to the road. Not that it was quite the pure definition of a road. The width was only sufficient to put one vehicle through at a time, and the path was seemingly formed by SUV’s going over the surface over and over again.