by Casey, Ryan
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“They have their ideas about how the world should be run. A world without any trace of this virus. They want total elimination. To wipe it from the face of the planet without a damned chance of ever returning again. And you are included in that.”
A bitter taste filled Noah’s mouth. “They don’t want to fix things?”
“Oh, they want to fix things alright. But fix things in their way, using their methods. But my friend. If you have even a fraction of the power they say you have… you can change things. You can fix things. Before they destroy everyone else.”
Noah swallowed a lump in his throat. He looked over his shoulder, kind of hoping Kelly returned right now. “I still don’t understand. You say I’m powerful, but it’s not just me. There are others, too. Like… like you.”
The man smiled. Blood trickled between his teeth. “My friend, you are naive.”
“Thanks?”
“You are the one with the power. You always have been the one with the power. You can channel the virus. You can direct it. You can heal it. And you can use others as a beacon, too. A beacon to increase your own strength. But that is all we are. Beacons. You are the only one with the power. That’s why your scientists struggled. That’s why they could never extract this cure or whatever they called it from so many innocent people. Because these people might’ve been receptive to your signal, but they were not the source. You are the source.”
Noah felt dizzy and a little sick. “How… how do you know all this?”
The man coughed a little. Sat more upright.
And then he held out a hand.
“My name is Jaan,” he said. “Let me tell you everything.”
Chapter Ten
“You might want to sit down, brother,” Jaan said. “This is an awful lot to process, I’m sure.”
Noah stood opposite Jaan, who sat upright on the floor of the medical bay. He looked a lot better. A bit of colour in his cheeks as he sipped his water. His cough had eased. Still a nasty red mark around his neck, where the rope had strangled him. But he seemed in surprisingly positive spirits for someone who’d tried to kill themselves just hours ago.
Outside, the wind howled. Cold air blew in through the doors, sending a shiver down Noah’s spine. He thought about Shel out there on her own. Hoped she was okay wherever she was. He had an ominous feeling about her. A sense that she might be in trouble. In deep shit.
But guilty as he felt admitting it, his attentions were squared on Jaan right now and what he had to say.
“I’m good standing,” Kelly said, seemingly annoyed that Jaan had addressed Noah but not her.
He glanced at her. Nodded. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be rude and dismissive. It’s just… when you hear about someone like Noah here. Someone as powerful and important as him…”
“Don’t stroke his ego too much,” Kelly said. “He gets insufferable.”
Jaan chuckled. “Look. I will answer any questions you have about anything to the best of my knowledge. But sometimes it is better not to know too much.”
“Bullshit,” Kelly said. “We’ve had enough secrecy. Tell us everything you know. Right, Noah?”
Noah nodded. Looked around at Jaan. “The lot.”
Jaan sighed. “Eight years ago, I found myself falling in with a group in Russia. Now this group had meaning. They had a purpose. They knew about the virus. They knew about its spread. They even spoke of knowing about its origins.”
“Its origins?”
“This virus has been with humanity longer than humanity was even a thing. It works in cycles. It likely wiped out the dinosaurs and whatever life preceded them. The entire history of the world—extinction cycles, etcetera—they were all a lie to cover up the greatest secret of all.”
“Which is?”
“That the end of humanity is inevitable. Because eventually, Mother Nature would unleash the virus again and wipe the slate clean.”
Kelly shook her head. “All sounds a bit… well, far-fetched.”
“You live in a world where the dead walk. Aren’t things already rather far-fetched?”
“Fair point.”
“Now, throughout history, the cycle repeated itself. But the people I was with. They identified a solution. A way of ending the virus, once and for all, while it runs rampant around the globe. A compound. A compound delivered from the air, and with surprising accuracy. Only problem is… the slightest trace of virus in your bloodstream and it takes you out.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” Noah said. “I’ve got my abilities, or whatever you want to call them. And Kelly… she had a brush with the virus too, a long time ago.”
“Don’t ascribe logic to this virus. Don’t pretend you understand it. It works in miraculous ways. Especially when you are around, Noah.”
“You’re saying I cured Kelly? I wiped all trace of the virus from her?”
“Kelly, and many others, no doubt.”
It hit Noah, then. The people recovering in his past before he even knew he was special. People like Eddie.
What if that wasn’t coincidence?
What if that really was all him?
But then, Iqrah.
She’d been different. She’d been just like him. Right?
“I knew someone else,” Noah said. “A girl. Iqrah. She was just like me. More powerful than me, maybe. So it doesn’t add up. It doesn’t explain things. How can I be alone in this?”
Jaan shrugged. “There is a chance of others. But this girl you mention. It sounds like maybe they experimented on her. But you have to believe me when I tell you, her strength was only as strong as it was because of you. Whether you knew it or not.”
Noah shook his head. “So where do I come in to things now?”
“You don’t,” Jaan said.
“What?”
“My people. They are already focused on Phase Two. That’s what you’ve witnessed. The limited distribution of the compound on British soil. And then Phase Three, which is imminent.”
“Phase Two? Phase Three?”
“Phase Two is the distribution of this purge around Britain. If that is successful—which it appears to be… then we move on to Phase Three.”
“What is Phase Three?”
“Phase Three is global,” Jaan said.
Noah shuddered. “Global?”
“The rest of the world’s population, devastated. Very few people left. But enough. Enough to start again. Enough to step in line for Phase Four.”
“What is it with you guys and phases?” Kelly asked.
“Phase Four,” Jaan said, “is the start of the New World Order, led by my people.”
Noah rubbed the side of his head. It was all too much. “Then, why are you here? And why are you hanging yourself in the middle of nowhere?”
Jaan sighed. “I was never totally comfortable with our actions. I understand it. Like, truly. I understand the need to wipe this evil virus from existence. But then, on the other hand… so many innocent lives lost because of it. And besides. Sometimes, I feel things are best left to Mother Nature.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Maybe this virus isn’t to be conquered by humanity. Maybe it’s something we have to accept. That we have to learn to live with. Maybe it’s something we cannot control, as much as we’d like to.”
Noah nodded. From the way humanity treated things like the climate, it made a weird kind of sense.
“This is batshit crazy,” Kelly said.
“But?” Jaan said.
“But… I can’t help but believe it.”
“You still haven’t told us why you tried to kill yourself,” Noah said.
Jaan looked across the room. That smile dropped from his face. He looked like he was lost in a memory, somehow. “I lost everything. I walked away from everything, all in the name of the greater good. And for what? To be left stranded on a dying island with nothing I could do about it. Until I found you.”
Noah’s cheeks flushed again. “Please. You’re flattering me.”
“I saw what you did to my colleagues,” Jaan said. “And I felt it, too. I felt you channel your energies into me. I felt it, and for that reason, I believe. I believe everything they ever speculated about is true.”
“More on that,” Noah said. “You said you knew there was somebody like me out there?”
“It was always theorised that there were special individuals out there. I exaggerate when I say you are alone or you are the one… but you are very rare. And you could just have easily fallen victim to the infection or died another way. You are not invincible after all.”
“Might want to check how many times he’s been shot before saying something like that,” Kelly said. “Getting fucking ridiculous now. If this were a TV show, people would be saying how fucking unrealistic it was.”
“Life is strange,” Jaan said. “I never expected I would be right here. With you. But now, we have a choice. We are at a crossroads. But there is only one true path. If you want to stop Phase Two ever reaching Phase Three. But we don’t have much longer.”
Noah felt his heart thudding. He saw the way Jaan looked at him, focused on him closely.
“And how’s that?” Noah asked.
“You use what you are capable of to destroy my people before they ever get a chance to leave this island. You use what you are capable of to destroy them while they sit in their bunkers. You use what you are capable of to end them, once and for all. The virus will not be eliminated forever as a result. But more people will survive. More people will go on to live their lives. Right here. Right now.”
Noah shook his head. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Jaan’s smile widened. “It’s a good job I am here to help you, isn’t it?”
He didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know where to go from here.
But as he went to say something else, the door behind him slammed open.
Shel stepped inside.
Looked at Noah and Kelly.
Then immediately looked at Jaan and lifted her rifle.
“What the fuck is that helicopter scumbag doing here?” she said. “And give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow his scumfuck head off, right this goddamned second.”
Chapter Eleven
“There’d better be a damned good reason you’ve got one of those helicopter pricks in here right now. Or, believe me, I’ll blow his fuckin’ head off before you can sing the fucking alphabet.”
Shel stood at the door of the medical bay. Rifle in hand. Firmly fixed on Jaan, who sat upright at the opposite side of the room.
To an ordinary person, it’d probably be a risky shot. A wayward shot. Not so easy to aim. To focus.
But Noah had seen Shel shoot before. He knew she had decent aim—far more decent than the average person.
And he knew she was fucking ruthless, too. So, if they weren’t careful, there was no doubt she’d put this guy down.
He couldn’t risk that. Didn’t want to. Because Jaan seemed to have some sort of plan. Some sort of idea of where they were supposed to go.
And besides. Despite all he said about Noah being some kind of special one—about him using other people as beacons, that sort of thing—he’d felt a kind of power the likes of which he’d never felt before when he’d connected with Jaan.
That wasn’t the sort of connection he wanted to throw away lightly. Not after losing Iqrah, after losing all hope on that front.
“Shel, just lower your rifle,” Noah said. “There’s a lot for you to catch up on.”
“Too fucking right there’s a lot for me to catch up on. You’ve got one of the people who fucking slaughtered everybody sitting here in our property. There’d better be a fucking lot to catch up on.”
“Shel, seriously,” Kelly said. “Just put that rifle down right this second.”
Jaan raised his eyebrows. Considering his life was in severe danger, he didn’t look all that fazed. Looked somewhat bemused, to be honest.
“She’s nice, isn’t she?” Jaan said. “Very welcoming.”
“Shut it, bastard,” Shel barked. “I don’t want to hear another word out of your fucking murderer mouth until I know what the fuck’s going on here.”
Noah found it all a bit ironic, to be honest. Shel had been prepared to kill him when they’d first run into one another, after all. She’d been involved in capturing people for some psycho called Renault, who fortunately Noah never got the displeasure of meeting. It wasn’t like she could lecture anyone on morals.
But he decided against saying that. Best not to upset her when she was in a mood like this.
“This is Jaan,” Noah said. “He’s... he turned on his people.”
“Right. Sure. Sounds fucking convincing.”
“He turned on them, and he could barely live with what was happening, so he tried to take his life.”
“Should’ve fucking let him.”
“But he told me something. Something about me. About what I’m capable of.”
“Oh,” Shel said, rolling her eyes. “We going down the superhero Noah route again?”
“My strength. The shit I can do. I... I’m more powerful than I first thought, apparently.”
“Jesus. Someone sucks your ego dick, and the next thing you know, you’re blowing your load all over them. Doesn’t matter who it is. That how it is, huh?”
“Shel, Jaan says there’s a chance we can end things. I don’t know how it works physically. How I’ll ever feel strong enough to do what I know I have to do now. But he says he can help. And I’ve no reason to believe he isn’t sincere.”
“And that’s your problem,” Shel said. “Far too trusting. Seen it before.”
Noah looked at Kelly. Looked at Jaan. He knew damn well it was going to be hard to win Shel over. Hell, he’d probably never win her over.
He was about to admit defeat and weakly argue his line again when Jaan stood.
“Hey,” Shel said. “Not a muscle.”
But he wasn’t listening.
He walked over to her.
“Hey,” Shel said, lifting her rifle. “Don’t move another muscle.”
“Seriously,” Kelly said. “She doesn’t fuck about. Stand still, dude.”
But Jaan kept on walking. “Shel, right?”
“One more step, and I fucking take a kneecap.”
“Seriously,” Noah said. “Shel doesn’t fuck around.”
It was as if Jaan sensed something, then.
Sensed Noah and Kelly weren’t lying when they said Shel didn’t fuck around.
He stopped. Held up his hands.
“The place I come from,” he said. “The people I work for. We’re at the end of something called Phase Two. That’s the bad news.”
“Why?” Shel asked. Curiosity piqued a little more now.
“Because Phase Two is the elimination of everyone with a trace of the infection in Britain. Unfortunately, Britain is already lost as we knew it.”
Noah’s stomach sank. Even though he suspected as much.
“But the good news?” Jaan said.
Shel nodded.
“Phase Three hasn’t yet begun. It isn’t due to start just yet. But time is running out—very fast. If as long has passed as I think… the time for Phase Three is imminent.”
“What’s Phase Three?” Shel asked.
“The results of this purge are assessed. And if it’s as successful as it seems to have been, things go global.”
“And when you say imminent…”
“Three days. But I wouldn’t want to leave it to the wire. My people have a way of getting itchy feet like your people say.”
“But there’s a way to stop this?” Noah asked.
Jaan smiled. “That’s where you come in.”
Noah already got an uncomfortable sense of where this was going.
“My people. They were ordered to set up a temporary base in Liverpool at the docks, right after Phase Two comp
leted. Which means they’re all there. Waiting for a shipment. And waiting to begin.”
“A shipment?”
“The compound.”
Noah nodded. “I’m sort of following.”
“We take those people out. You’re capable of that, whether you know it or not.”
“Yeah,” Noah said, his stomach sinking. “I see where this is going now.”
“Batshit crazy,” Shel said. “That’s what it is. Batshit crazy.”
“Maybe,” Jaan said. “The chances of it working are slim. But can I be honest with you?”
“I’d like to think you’ve been honest all along,” Shel said.
Jaan ignored her. “It’s the only shot we’ve got.”
Noah stood there. Heart racing. Hand clammy. He saw the eye of Kelly turn to him. Saw Shel glance at him, too, shaking her head. Bruno sat there, lying on his front paws, sighing. All this human crap of no interest to him.
“Seriously,” Shel said. “You really think you’re some kind of saviour? You really believe this guy’s crap?”
“You don’t have to believe me,” Jaan said, walking to Noah now, stopping just before him. “But think about it. I tried to take my life. You saved me. You’ve seen the power. Seen it for yourself. I pray you’ll believe me. It might not work. It probably won’t. But it’s all we have. Please.”
Noah stood there, and he felt his deep-rooted distrust kick in. Felt those instincts push him in one direction. Resist. Don’t trust this guy. Fucked over one too many times. Not again.
But on the other hand, he had a chance. A real chance.
“What does it mean for the world?” Noah asked.
Jaan shrugged. “Truthfully? It means the virus will live on. It means when it goes dormant, it’ll re-emerge again, sometime in the future. And we’ve no guarantees someone worse won’t rise up and attempt a power grab. But we cross that bridge when we come to it. It’s a gamble. But I know the people I worked for. And believe me when I say they aren’t the kind of people you want running things.”
Noah nodded. He looked at Shel. Looked at Kelly. “You don’t have to come, you know.”
Kelly frowned. “What?”
“If you don’t want to. You don’t have to come. You should lay low. Stay safe. I don’t need you there.”