‘I’m just going to come out and say it,’ said Logan. ‘The President and the members of the board are planning on killing off over half of the population outside of the base by poisoning the water supply to the cities.’ Logan took a breath and looked around the room.
A couple of the boys visibly gasped, whilst Xander looked up and then shrugged.
‘We need to stop them,’ said Brad, barely taking in what he had been told. ‘We need to tell our parents and get them to stop this. Why are they even doing this?’
‘Slow your roll Cowboy,’ interjected Danny. He held out a hand for Logan to continue.
‘Their plan is that with half the population dead within a certain time frame they can start rolling out some of the processes we have used on the base to the remaining population. We will then have enough food and supplies to ensure the continuation of the human race.’
‘Sounds like they’ve got a valid point to be fair,’ said Seth.
‘And if you were on the outside Seth? Would you want to have that choice of whether you are in the side that lives or side that dies taken out of your hands? Besides that, who are we to say that humanity should continue?’ said Logan. Seth nodded ‘True, very true.’
‘So why can’t we tell our parents? Surely, they will use common sense to stop this happening,’ said Brad Junior.
‘The decision has been made. Your father was in the room Brad. He voted for this along with my father, Xander’s father, Tallulah’s father. They are the ones that are making this happen.’
The door swung open and all the boys jumped. In walked Tallulah with Faye over to where Logan and Danny were stood.
‘The point is boys, no-one on this base is a God. It’s about freedom of choice. However bad it is up there at the minute those people should have the choice as to whether they live or die. No-one has the right to take that away from another human being. They don’t know that this is coming, and they don’t have anyone other than us to fight for them. We are the last line of defense between millions of people being murdered so that others can live.’ Tallulah had made her point and Logan and Danny both looked approvingly towards her in admiration.
‘Oh, and for those of you who don’t know her, this is Faye. Faye and I will be joining the team.’ The room went quiet, and Logan took Tallulah by the arm and pulled her to one side.
‘I don’t want you going,’ he whispered.
‘I’ve just given a speech about freedom of choice and you’re going to stop me? I don’t think so,’ she spoke loud enough for the rest of the room to hear.
Logan looked up and around the room. Danny shrugged at him and smiled, knowing the decision had been made and nothing Logan was going to say would change her mind. Logan shook his head and turned back to the boys. ‘So, this is Faye and Tallulah and they will be joining the team.’ The boys laughed and even Logan smiled. ‘This is what we’re going to do.’
Logan went on to explain about the Professor, the prison and a possible antidote to the toxin. Then how the military team planned to poison the water and when and where it would happen. He went through various maps and they talked for hours about how they would get off the base and how they would get to the prison and extract the Professor.
Danny sat back quietly listening to everything going on, all the time focused on the only thing in the room that really interested him, which was Tallulah. She was beautiful and he’d loved her since the day he first laid eyes on her. Every single day he woke, he thought about the next time he would see her and what they would talk about. She was amazing in every way. Then the pain struck him that he’d never spoken up or told her how much he loved and cared for her and how when Logan had been the one to ask her out, she said yes. How he couldn’t bear to be around them when they were together and had avoided the pair of them to take his mind of the feelings he had for her, unsuccessfully.
All those years they had been so close, almost inseparable, and deep down he knew that if he had made that first move on Tallulah it could be him kissing her goodnight and shaping more than just a friendship with her. The pain was unbearable for him and he carried it inside him every day, unable to escape the base and seeing them every single day.
Danny blanked his mind and closed his eyes trying to erase his thoughts and get back on point. His part in the plan had not been mentioned and that was how it was going to stay. As much as the team were in too deep to back out now and had to be trusted this was the one thing that Logan, Danny and Tallulah had decided to keep between themselves. Just in case they couldn’t get the Professor back in time or if an antidote couldn’t be produced.
‘First things first, we need to get a vial of the toxin’ said Logan. ‘If we don’t have time to bring the Professor back to the base, we need to get him to somewhere close to the prison that he can examine the toxin and made an informed decision as to whether an antidote can actually be made. Then we need to distribute it quickly and to the affected areas. The toxin takes a week to take effect, so we have less than a week to get the antidote into the major cities and back into the water supply. If that’s even an option. Brad, you have access to the stores which are as close to the laboratories as we can get. We need you and Tals to work on getting in that laboratory and getting some of the toxin. Tals, you also need to work on delaying the toxin being taken to the water reservoir. Think you can do it?’
‘It won’t be easy, but then none of this will be. It’ll only take one thing to go wrong and it’s all over,’ said Tallulah.
‘This is an almost impossible mission Logan. It’s all ifs and buts and do we really have the ability to distribute something that doesn’t yet exist to dozens of cities and millions of people?’ said Seth.
‘If they can do it then why can’t we stop it? We may be living on a base of the most knowledgeable people in the world, but we are the children of those geniuses. Where there is no light, we make light. And if we fail, then we fail trying and giving it everything,’ Logan said.
‘That’s good enough for me Captain,’ laughed Chuck.
‘Me too,’ said Xander. ‘Anything to get off this base.’
‘Good,’ said Logan. ‘Talking of getting off the base there are three exits in total but only two that have access points for vehicles. We will take one of the larger jeeps and that should hold the whole team. Danny will take one of the military motorbikes. These exits points are manned twenty-four seven by a minimum of two armed guards on a ten-hour rota basis. So, if we take two of those guards out at the start of their shift, we have potentially got a ten-hour head start and every minute counts. Scott and Seth, I need you to get some tranquilizer darts from the armory and we’ll use these to put them out. Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets hurt.’
‘So Chief, we’ve got a week before they set off, but you haven’t told us exactly when our little plan is going to happen,’ said Chuck.
Logan looked down and then back up at them ‘It’s happening in two days’ time.’
Chuck just grinned ‘Well, I’d need to check my diary, but I think it’s free for the next five years so what the Hell.’
‘We better get going,’ said Brad looking at Tallulah, who nodded, and they left the room. Logan continued to address the room while Danny stood up and followed Brad and Tallulah. He grabbed Tallulah’s arm and she gestured to Brad that she’d catch up.
‘I’m sorry Tals.’
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for Danny. I get it. You needed your space, it’s fine.’
‘No,’ he paused. ‘That’s just it, I didn’t. I didn’t need space. I just care, ok?’
‘I care too Danny. I always have and always will. You’re like a brother to me.’
Danny’s head dropped. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. ‘Just be careful Tals.’
Back in the room everyone was talking at once about their own separate part of the plan that they would be playing in this operation. Faye and Jay Green were talking to each other whilst the Mean Twins were discussing the armory. Xande
r sat alone facing the wall smoking what seemed like an endless supply of cigarettes.
‘Do we have a plan gentlemen?’ said Logan ‘and lady,’ he checked himself.
They all nodded and agreed to meet back at Logan’s room again after light’s out.
‘So, Danny, just us left. Do you think you can do it?’ said Logan to his brother.
‘I can do it. I just keep having these doubts telling me we should just tell dad what we think. He’s a reasonable man and I’m sure we can convince him to reconsider,’ pleaded Danny.
‘He’s a reasonable man in an unreasonable time Danny. This decision wasn’t his to make and had he made it alone I think you’re right. But he’s got Goldsmith in his ear and so have the rest of them. Goldsmith is a salesman at the end of the day. He wants this to happen and he will do everything he can to make that happen, at the expense of anyone who gets in his way.’
‘OK Brother, I’m with you all the way. I always have been,’ and he put a hand on his older brother’s shoulder reassuringly. Any negativity and everything that had gone before was shifted in that gesture and the brothers embraced. ‘Let’s do this.’
In the meantime, Brad and Tallulah had reached the stores and were trying to improvise their way into the laboratory to get some of the toxin and do anything that may delay the President’s plan.
Brad tapped on the glass window where his father was in deep conversation with Tallulah’s father. Brad Senior beckoned them in forgetting that the door was locked by an electronic keypad. He left Wanikiy and walked over to the door, punched in some numbers to a keypad on his side of the door and warmly welcomed them both in. Whilst he was accommodating to the kids, Wanikiy looked away to his desk before looking back grimacing.
‘Junior, how you doing? Nice to see you both. What brings you here? Let me guess, you want some crisps,’ he smiled and rubbed his stomach, ‘some chocolate perhaps?’
Brad nodded and turned to Tallulah, who was observing her father.
‘Yeah, that would be great dad, thank you.’
‘Come with me then son, let’s see what we can do,’ said Brad Senior walking towards the door.
‘I’ll catch you both up,’ said Tallulah, pointing to her father who was now sat looking into a microscope. Both Brad Senior and Brad Junior acknowledged her and walked towards the storage area.
‘Hi Dad, how are you doing?’ she said to her father’s back.
‘I’m very busy Tallulah. What is it you want?’ he replied not looking up from the microscope. Meanwhile Tallulah’s eyes were scouting the room looking for something, anything, that could be the toxin or some way to disrupt her father.
‘I’m just checking in Dad. You’re working way too hard and we haven’t even sat down together in the last month. I miss you Dad. I miss listening to your stories. I miss laughing together and reminiscing. I miss you hugging me and telling me ‘you’re my little Kimama’. I miss it all.’
Wanikiy sat back and spun around in his chair ‘Look Tallulah, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m not the father I used to be. I never meant it to be this way, but then your mother was never meant to leave us. If you want someone to blame then fine, blame me, but we’re here and we’re alive because of your mother and what she meant to me. I loved your mother and we were meant to be together forever, but it wasn’t to be. Every second I spend with you I see her, and it hurts me more than I can take. I love you and I will always love you but right now I need to work on this project for the President to make sure that in five, ten, twenty years and more that I have the opportunity to be a better father and to love you until I join your mother.’
He didn’t have the chance to see a tear roll down Tallulah’s cheek as he turned away and back to his work. Through the tears Tallulah spotted a fridge on the wall behind her father with several vials all marked as hazardous. She slowly backed towards the fridge whilst keeping an eye on the scientists feverishly working away in the next laboratory through the glass wall. Her hand slipped in through the fridge door and slowly and quietly removed one of the vials. The label on the vial declared Project Nebraska and Tallulah knew she had found the toxin.
Just at that moment the laboratory door opened and Goldsmith walked through the door glaring at Tallulah, swiftly followed by McGregor eyeballing her as she moved her hands behind her back.
‘Ah, a Wanikiy family reunion,’ he joked ‘in the Presidents top secret laboratory,’ the tone changed immediately to one of irritation and resentment.
’She’s just leaving,’ Wanikiy looked up at Goldsmith with equal disdain at both the fact Tallulah was still there and that Goldsmith now stood in front of him.
‘Good, good,’ said Goldsmith giving Tallulah the once over and then looking away as if she didn’t exist.
Wanikiy and Goldsmith despised each other with a passion. Wanikiy knew Goldsmith was a self-obsessed narcissistic bully and Goldsmith knew Wanikiy knew this and it grated on him. Even more so because Goldsmith’s plan completely rested on the scientist’s shoulders.
‘Where are we?’ Goldsmith stopped and looked round at Tallulah ‘you can leave now.’
‘Yes, good,’ Tallulah muttered and started walking towards the exit.
Before she could reach the door, McGregor stepped out in front of her.
‘What you got there sweetheart? Behind your back,’ he bawled, getting the attention of Goldsmith and Wanikiy.
‘Nothing,’ she stammered taking a step back.
‘Show me your hands!’ McGregor said, relishing this small moment of power.
Tallulah took another step back whilst all three men watched on.
‘What is this?’ said Wanikiy ‘Show them your hands Tallulah and leave.’
Slowly Tallulah brought her hands out in front of her and held them before McGregor, his smile slowly turning to a scowl as she held out her empty palms.
‘Can I leave now?’ Tallulah ridiculed. McGregor stood firm.
‘Oh, for God sake McGregor, let her out of here. We’ve more important things to do than search children,’ Goldsmith said looking to Wanikiy for approval and shaking his head dismissively.
Tallulah walked out the door without so much as a goodbye to her father and kept walking. Walking past the stores, past the armory, past the dormitories, past the mess hall and into the female shower area which was currently unoccupied. She opened one of the shower cubicles and put her hand on the wall holding back the sickness rising from her stomach. She reached into the waistband of her jeans and pulled out the vial and held it up in front of her eyes.
‘So, you are the apocalypse,’ she said and began to cry.
Chapter Eight
Tonight was the night and everyone was nervous. Logan had spent the last two days listening to the plans of the President and his assembly room cohorts and knew exactly what was happening and when. His hope was that after the guards they planned to knock out were replaced, they would realize the group had left the base straight away. However, instead of coming to the assumption that something was occurring with the plan to distribute the toxin, they would be more concerned that the children had left the facility.
At 1.00 am most of the team had assembled in Logan’s room and were discussing last minute plans when Faye walked into the room with Zack Stoker, a boy from Danny’s dormitory. In all honesty Danny couldn’t stand the guy. Zack was blonde haired and looked like he’d been chiseled out of granite. Smug and pretentious he thought he was better than everyone else. Back in the day he would’ve been an all-star quarterback, but here and now he was just a good looking nobody who wanted to be a somebody.
‘What’s going on?’ Logan said.
‘It’s Jay,’ Faye said on the verge of tears, ‘He’s slipped and fractured his skull. Zack found him and told me. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I told Zack everything and he’s agreed to help,’ said Faye.
Logan didn’t like this at all, but at this point he knew options were limited. He needed the manpower and as paranoid as this m
ade him, he knew that now Zack knew their plans there was no leaving him behind.
‘What actually happened? Is Jay going to be ok?’ said Logan
Zack stepped forward grinning. ‘I was walking past his parents living quarters when I heard a noise. I went to investigate and found Jay lying in the middle of the room, guns and ammunition everywhere. Thought he’d done himself in at first. Then realized he must’ve have slipped or something. There was blood all over the kitchen floor. Of course, the guns got me thinking something was going on, so I bagged them up, stashed them, then called the medical team. They said he’s critical but stable. No idea when, or if, he might wake up. Bad news for him but good news for you. I get to help you ‘save the world’ and you get an all-American hero on your side.’
Faye punched him weakly on the arm and then looked at him in awe forgetting her friend who was lying in the base hospital.
‘You were the only one there?’ said Logan.
‘Yeah man, like I said. I got the guns,’ he winked at Logan. There was no going back now.
‘Looks like you’re in then. Faye, get Zack up to speed. Firstly, though I need to talk you all through Danny’s part in the plan. We don’t know what’s going to happen and I can’t take the chance that something happens to me out there, so you all need to be aware of Plan B. If we don’t get to the Professor in time or if he can’t make an antidote it’s down to Danny.’ He looked at Danny. ‘Danny will take one of the military motorbikes to the reservoir and wait there for our signal. If we fail then either me, or one of you, will contact Danny through the walkie talkie and he will blow the reservoir foundations. In theory this will cut off water supply to the territories it flows too, and the toxin will have no way of travelling through the water system.’ He stopped and picked up something from the table beside him and handed it to Danny. ‘This explosive trigger is rigged so that once you press it the explosive is live. Once you remove your finger from the trigger the charges will explode. Now the most important part. There is only one pressure point in the reservoir according to the blueprints which will blow the whole place and it’s at the most central point of the dam. Even more importantly you cannot release the trigger within one hundred meters of the explosives, or you’ll be caught up in the blast. Do you understand?’
The Cure Page 5