by Matthew Fish
“You think?” Shouldn’t we be sure?”
“Claire,” I whisper as I hold up the wheel—making sure I’m not holding onto some silly souvenir. “This is it, right?”
“Please… they aren’t going to hurt you…” Claire says as she holds her hands out. The Catatonics begin to stir. One of them rises from their wheelchairs and pulls away violently at I.V.s stuck into their bodies. The man is covered in his own filth. It appears that C-Shapes had arranged for one last little surprise if by chance we decided to seek refuge here.
“Claire!” I shout as I begin to pull her away.
“No!” She shouts back as I place my arm around her and begin to lead her out of the room. “I was trying to keep them calm.”
“They’re not going to listen—there are too many. We have to go…” I say as we begin to run. A loud crashing noise quickly follows behind us. “Is this the key?”
Claire nods as she turns to look behind us. All twelve of the Catatonics have gone full Aggro. Robert begins to fire into the crowd—he does some damage and manages to take out one, however they are quickly upon us. We rush through the door and navigate our way back to the boat. Robert continues to fire into the crowd, buying us enough time to not get rushed by the group. We reach the dock. Claire slides her hand over the door and opens it, she then flips a switch on the wall and it remains open. I toss her the key and she runs over to the console and places it into the center. A red glow appears as the boat comes to life. Robert stands on the pier. He takes careful aim and attempts to take down as many of the Aggros as he can.
“Get on the boat,” I say as I run out and begin to pull him away from the group that is quickly closing in upon us.
“You go,” Robert says he shakes me away. “This time… This is my time.”
“Get on the boat,” I say once again as I grab the man by the back of his uniform and begin to pull him. “You can still fire your gun from the boat.”
“This is my duty,” Robert says as he takes aim on an incoming Aggro and takes him down with three well aimed shots to the head. The head explodes into a bloody mess and the remains fall into the ocean. Another one is quick on his heels.
“Robert… Get on the fucking boat,” I say as I grow frustrated and drag him with all of my strength until he is physically on the boat. “There now… keep them off of us.”
I run into the control room. “Claire, can we go…”
“Everything… I think… looks ready,” Claire whispers as she goes over the monitors. “Disembark.”
“We don’t have much time here!” Robert says as he shouts. “Running out of ammo….”
“Disembark…” Claire repeats more forcefully.
“Welcome Claire Derry—please state desired destination?”
“Hawaii…” Claire says as she once again commands. “Disembark.”
“We’re about to be really fucked here guys!”
“Coordinates?” The male voice asks.
“Just leave,” I shout.
“Coordinates?” The voice repeats.
“Lat…” Claire stutters as the sound of gunfire from the rear of the ship is causing her to panic. She shakes her head to clear the terrible sounds away. Lat… latitude 21.31… Longitude -157.8… Disembark!”
The engines rumble to life and the boat pulls away. I rush back to the stern of the vessel and find Robert sitting against the wall. He gives me a thumbs up. He releases the clip from his assault rifle… it is empty. I watch the dock as we speed away. The remaining Aggros scream out in frustration. I suppose they are not very strong swimmers—to our benefit.
“You did great,” I say as I help him up.
“You had five more seconds or so… what was the rush?” Robert says as he lets out an exhausted laugh and collapses upon the couch. “Fuck…”
“Robert…” I say as I get into the fridge and toss him a bottle of water.
“Yeah man?”
“Will you stop trying to martyr yourself?” I ask as I shake my head and let out a sigh of relief. “From here on out—just stop. You’ve more than proved you are brave. You do not have to die trying to prove it any further. Alright…?”
“I hear you—loud and clear,” He says as he downs the bottle of water.
I walk over to the console and stand beside Claire. I reach down and kiss her on her cheek. She is busy going over a map on the monitor. She looks to me and smiles.
“You did great, you really did—I don’t know how you pulled it off, but you saved us.”
“You saved us…”
“I hardly did anything… other than pull Robert onboard… I think I was the most useless one of us…”
“I think… I was the most useless one of us.”
“Got it,” I say with a short laugh. “That’s good timing though.”
“Good timing… though….”
I walk to the back of the door and I’m about to hit the switch and a flash of light fills the air far south of us. Robert gets up and stands beside me. Off into the distance, far away—a mushroom cloud fills the air.
“And so Los Angeles has fallen as well…” Robert says as he reaches into the side pouch of his uniform and pulls out the small TV.
A man on the small screen is standing alongside the wreckage of what appears to be pieces of black metal that has washed up along the shore. “I am standing by what appears to be what remains of a submarine that has washed up upon the shores of Georgia. From what I’ve gathered a rogue group of subs has declared war against those launching missiles upon the United States—so for now, hopefully, it appears that the threat of more cities being wiped off the map has passed. Reports have also been coming in regarding a cruise ship off the coast of Virginia firing guiding rockets, or what they call ‘bunker busters’ into the underground command room of the White House—whether this has been an effective measure still remains to be seen, as supposedly the command center is impervious to even a nuclear strike. However, it is now clear at this point that what remains of our military forces are no longer following the orders of the government…”
“Thank god,” Robert says as he places a hand upon his bald forehead and wipes away a heavy sheen of sweat.
“A resistance group….” With that, the TV fizzles out. Robert messes with it for a few moments—however, it remains unresponsive. “Fuck it,” he mutters as he tosses it into the ocean.
We enter the control room, I flip the switch and the door shuts behind us. Robert takes his place back on the couch as Claire gets up from her seat. “We’re good—we just have to pass the time…”
“How long…?”
Claire pauses apprehensively… and bites her lip. “Fourteen days.”
“That’s a long time,” I say as I let out a sigh. “I hope that we still have time to fix things.”
“I hope so…” Claire says as she wraps her arms around me. “Finally though, we’re safe. You kept your promise. At least… feel okay about that?”
“I do,” I say as I hold her tightly against me. “I’m so proud of you. We’re safe because of you.”
“You helped,” Claire says as she smiles up at me and laughs. “You got us here. You saved me… you saved Robert. I’d say you did something good.”
“Now just to save the world,” I say as I laugh uncomfortably. “Should be a piece of cake after what we’ve been through, right?”
Claire nods as she kisses me.
After we eat, we head down into the bedrooms.
“Goodnight Robert,” Claire says as she hugs the large man.
“Goodnight Claire, Ethan…” Robert says as he smiles.
“Hey Robert…” I say as he pauses and raises an eyebrow.
“No jerking off in there now…” I say as I laugh.
Robert laughs heartily as he shakes his head and shuts the door behind him.
As I enter the bedroom with Claire I hear soft beeping noise. I make my way to the case that rests upon the bed. There is a green light that reads ‘ready’ up
on the case. I quickly pick it up and make my way out of the room—Claire follows me. I knock on Robert’s door.
“I’m not jerking off,” Robert says as I can hear the bed creak as he gets up. He opens the door and looks down at the metal case.
“It’s time to figure some things out,” I say as I lead us to the control room. We all sit down upon the couch as I place the metal case on the table. I anxiously hold my breath as I run my finger across the metal strip on the top. The case pops open revealing a huge stack of papers. I pick up the first one. It simply reads ‘YOU ARE THE MESSAGE.’
“What does it mean?” Claire asks as I pick up the second paper.
“You are the message?” I say aloud as I read it. I quickly pick up a stack and go through them. They all say the same thing… ‘YOU ARE THE MESSAGE.’
“I don’t understand,” Robert says as he fingers through the remains of the pile. There’s nothing here—it just says the same thing over and over again.
“Maybe… it is a code?” Claire asks as she holds up the paper to the light.
“It’s just the same computer paper over and over,” I say as I thumb through my pile once more. “It’s just… the same thing.”
“Don’t be upset,” Claire says as she notices the frustration upon my face.
“Maybe he means for you to tell the story…” Robert says as he places a hand upon my shoulder.
“This was supposed to be proof—this was supposed to be what I was to give to someone important… instead this is… nothing. It really was all for nothing. No one will listen to me without real, concrete evidence.” I say as I toss the papers back into the case. I get up and walk out of the command room.
“Ethan…”
“He just needs a moment,” I hear Robert say as I head out onto deck. I walk to the bow of the ship and see the ocean spread out before me. It is dark—it reminds me of that dream I had. I watch as the waves stir and the sea is in a constant state of movement. It reminds me of something Noah said once… I think, the first day that I met him. “The sea comes in many shapes… it’s never in one constant shape… you can’t stop the sea and make it into one singular shape; you can’t control something so big.”
I suppose that is true in many ways. C-Shapes tried to control the virus, which was just as uncontrollable and widespread as the sea itself—it failed, it was too big to control, and even with their vast numbers of people and research… it just… couldn’t. Just like Noah’s plans. He was standing up against something so big… that he might as well had been trying to stand up to the sea itself—the sea will always prevail. No matter how strong you think you are, or how strong you feel, it will always survive. I guess, ultimately, my goal was just as futile. Perhaps, even Noah knew that. Perhaps he truly was mad. Too much information—it had caused him to break. Maybe he wasn’t an Unstable, but that didn’t mean he was invincible.
I feel a hand upon my back. I turn and see Claire.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” I say as I nod. “I just thought… I could do something.”
“Well we’re safe now,” Claire says as she hugs me tightly. “Who knows what the future will bring. Let’s go back to bed, alright?”
“Alright,” I say as I take her hand. I look once more to the ocean, although I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot of it, it won’t be the same—it will never be just as it is now. I find that both a little comforting, and sad for some reason.
As we make our way back into the command room. Robert is attempting to bring up some news. “TV… News…?”
“Must be some kind of interference,” I say. “…maybe from the nuclear explosions… or something.”
“Going to be a boring fourteen days…”
“We can play cards and board games,” Claire says as she shrugs.
We head back to our respective bedrooms.
I wrap my arms tightly around Claire. “If there is anything that I am happy for… it is you—I do love you. So I’m disappointed in Noah, but… at least I have you.”
“I love you too,” She says pulls me close. “I’m not disappointed about anything.”
As I allow myself to sleep. I dream of Noah one last time. We are back in his house. He is sitting in his dusty old grey couch.
“Ethan…” Noah says he smiles.
“Noah,” I say with a nod.
“We’re not at sea?” I ask, noting the change of scenery. I rather preferred the ocean dreams.
“I’m sorry?”
“Oh, it’s just that the last few dreams I’ve had where you’ve appeared we’ve been at sea,” I say as I sit down in a chair at the chess table.
“This is the last time that you will see me,” Noah says.
“Well you’ve been dead; I figured you’d stop hanging around eventually…” I say as I shrug my shoulders.
“Dead…? I’d had hoped not. I guess it’s possible,” Noah says as he looks down. “Yeah, this is more of an apology—to you.”
“For what, Noah…?” I ask as I get up. “For sending me on some quest that has no resolution…? Or for making me carry around a case with a bunch of nonsense.”
“For all of it,” Noah says as he begins to flicker strangely.
“Whatever,” I say as I give up on being angry. There is no point anymore.
“Thought I’d have a bit more time…” Noah says as he strangely flickers out of existence. The room slowly fades away and everything turns to black.
I rouse from my slumber for a few moments, my eyes are heavy and I am exhausted. I fall instantly back asleep.
Part 3: Return
15: Hawai’i
It has been 14 days. The big island of Hawaii is visible from the windows of the command room. The trip has been uneventful. Almost relaxing—especially after all we had been through. We played cards, we ate, we laughed, and we made love. Well… Claire and I did, I’m not sure what Robert did at night—perhaps I don’t want to know.
We exit the command room and stand on the bow of the ship. The boat is set to automatically dock at the harbor ahead. A low rumble groans in the air as two white and red helicopters escort us… I’m not sure what to make of it—they are carrying cameras instead of guns. That gives me a bit of comfort.
“What do they want?” Robert says loudly.
“I don’t know… I guess they’re curious who we are. I imagine they don’t get many visitors.” I say as I try to keep my volume louder than the roar of the blades.
“…don’t get many visitors…” Claire repeats as she covers her ears.
As we approach the dock I see thousands of people waiting at the harbor. I begin to feel a little uneasy. “Robert… will you get the weapons.”
“Yeah,” Robert calmly says as he shakes his head and begins to into the command room. As we near the dock he returns with my rifle and handgun. I toss the rifle over my shoulder and place the gun in my pocket. Robert tosses his Assault Rifle across his back.
We dock, and I help Claire off of the boat. A tan skinned man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt rushes over to greet us.
“It is good to have you here,” he says as he bows. “Welcome to the independent Islands of Hawai’i.”
“Why are you…?” I begin as I notice a familiar face in the crowd of thousands.
“Ethan Chase,” Katharine says as she approaches.
“Stay back,” I say as I pull my handgun from my pocket and aim it at her.
“There is no need for that,” she says calmly. “I do not mean you any harm.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I say as I keep my gun on her. Robert raises his assault rifle as the crowd lets out a collective gasp.
“Ethan… Robert,” the man who greeted us speaks. “There is no need to worry. You are safe here.”
“You won’t take her away from me!” I shout.
“Nobody wants to take her away from you,” Katharine says as he fearlessly continues to advance towards us. “I was one of Noah’s contacts. Please trust me.”
“What do we do, Ethan?” Robert asks, he is still holding his rifle.
“What choice do we have,” I say as I nod to Robert. “We have to trust you.”
“This is Andrew Kaapana, protector of the Hawaiian islands,” Katherine says as she begins to lead us through the thick crowd.
“…protector…” Claire repeats nervously. All these people must be making her feel rather uneasy.
“Yes we have done away with any of the old words associated with the United States… old words lead to old habits they say here,” Andrew answers. I suppose he does not realize that he is answering a question that was not intentionally asked.
We are carted off by limousine to a room. It is a small room, part of a larger hotel. Katharine has us sit in leather chairs. A large screen hangs on the wall. I look out the window—there are still people everywhere. I look past them and notice beautiful green mountains and palm trees. It is a cloudless day, almost a perfect day.
“You’ve come a long way…” Katharine says as she sits down at the table. The protector sits beside her.
“A long way for nothing,” I say as I shrug my shoulders. “If you want Noah’s case—I have to tell you… it was nothing… It just said ‘you are the message’ over and over… whatever Noah’s plan was, it failed.”
“But, Ethan… you were the message.” Katherine says as she leans forward. “You were the plan… and it did no fail. It far exceeded any expectations that he had… that any of us had. You showed us so much. More than we could have possibly even imagined.”
“I don’t understand,” I say as I shake my head.
“…don’t… understand…” Claire repeats.
“The first day that Noah met you, he implanted you with a tiny transmitter—in the back of your neck…”
“The spider’s bite…?” I say as I search for the small bump I had all but forgotten about.
“That was his cover. After Noah and a lot of people on the inside of C-Shapes had discovered that something terrible was going on, they started reporting C-Shapes’ plans to the resistance—we formed an alliance with Japan and called ourselves ‘The Ohana.’ We had the information, we just needed to get it out there,” Katherine explains.