Dearly, Departed

by Lia Habel

  I wasted no time in hobbling over and sitting down at the controls. I put the headset on and brought the microphone to my lips.

  “This is Dr. Victor Dearly, broadcasting from unknown coordinates. Do you copy, over?” I paused to make sure my voice was fully under my control, before adding, “Captain Wolfe, you sorry piece of flesh, are you there?”

  I forced my hand to lift off the transmission button, my fingers shaking. I’d practically been punching it down through the table.

  Averne was struggling, but Henry had him pinned. He kept thrusting the tube down a little farther than it needed to go, until Averne coughed for air; then he would let up.

  There was no answer on the radio, so I tried again. “This is Dr. Victor Dearly, broadcasting from unknown coordinates. Do you copy, over? Wolfe?”

  After a few more moments of static I gave up. I pushed my glasses up on my nose and leaned closer to the radio, dialing in one of our usual radio frequencies.

  “This is Dr. Victor Dearly, broadcasting from unknown coordinates. Do you copy, over?”

  Please, someone be there.

  “Dearly, your voice sounds unto my ear as air must taste to a drowning man.”

  I laughed uproariously and thrust my arms into the air before hitting the button. “Baldwin, you old fiend, I could say much the same!”

  “I’d been half ready to write you off! It’s a lucky thing I was here … Salvez, get over here!”

  I now understood what the phrase “giddy as a schoolgirl” meant. “Horatio!”

  “Victor! You’re all right!” Salvez sounded like he was ready to faint.

  “Relatively, yes. Can you trace this signal? I’m somewhere in Bolivia.”

  “I’m on it. Once the computers do their magic, we’ll be golden,” Samedi said from a bit in the distance.

  Steadying myself, I inquired, “Is Wolfe there?”

  “No, why?”

  It took me a moment to formulate my reply. “I do not know conclusively, but from what I’ve gathered … Wolfe has sold us out. He sent me here. He’s been working with the Punks.”

  “What?” Salvez said.

  “Bloody hell.” Samedi sighed, and said, “Look—this is where we stand. The dead are loose in New London. Are you telling me that Wolfe had some hand in that?”

  “Lord.” I sat back in the chair. “The commander here kept ranting about that very thing. He was right.”

  “Commander?”

  “There’re several hundred undead here, being commanded by a man known as Major Dorian Averne. He’s alive, he’s a Punk, and …” I glanced over. Henry was still toying with him. “He’s not been having a good time of it of late.”

  “How’re you managing to broadcast? Is he there? Are you safe?” Salvez asked.

  “Oh, he is here. A new associate of mine, Mr. Macumba, is making him play tonsil hockey with a test tube full of home-brewed explosive compound.”

  “It’s such a shame,” Samedi called out. “I never get invited to the fun parties anymore!”

  “But what are you doing there? This doesn’t make any sense,” Salvez fretted.

  “It has something to do with revenge,” I told him. “It has something to do with the vaccine. They wanted me to work on it here so they could have sole control of it.” I shut my eyes. “I didn’t tell them that I think it might be finished.”

  At this news, Averne thrashed furiously against Henry, and got another sucker punch for his troubles.

  “Finished?” Samedi asked. His voice was distant again. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. The last batch of models I ran—number 77-A, I think. If you just subject it to a few more mathematical tweaks … try C-series … I think that’s the one. At least it should have a very low mortality rate. I’d start subjecting it to the virtual rats now. Even if it’s not entirely effective, it should help restore some order, if things are truly as bad as my vivid imagination is leading me to believe.”

  “Are you serious? Oh, thank heavens.” Salvez sounded suddenly exhausted. “I’ll go fetch Elpinoy and do that right now. We’ll … what is it, Dr. Samedi?”

  “Got it!” Samedi shouted. “He is in Bolivia. How did you end up there?”

  “We’ll have to ask our friend Wolfe later.” But first, I had to ask after someone else. Steadying myself, I inquired, “And … my daughter? Is Nora all right?”

  There was a pause, during which I entertained a thousand ways of doing myself in. Without her, with my work potentially completed, I had no reason to continue to exist.

  “She’s in good hands,” Samedi said. “Bram’s been taking care of her. She’s fine with him. Hell, she’s taken right after you. She’s fine with all of us.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s the best news I’ve had in days.”

  “She’s quite angry at you, though, old man,” Salvez added.

  “I expected nothing else.” I opened my eyes. “At any rate, I’m afraid I must be going.” I didn’t want to, but now Henry and I had to deal with a very angry Averne. “We’ll be waiting.”

  “We’re coming,” Samedi said. “Just hang on.”

  I let go of the controls.

  Averne chose that moment to try and fight his way out from underneath Henry again. Henry managed to get the vial to clink against his teeth and pushed him back. “Calm down, or b-boom,” he said.

  “Sounds like you’re coming back into your own,” I said as I stood up and made my way over. Henry shot me a sideways grin. “Good to see.”

  I pulled up in front of Averne, and balancing on one leg for a moment, thwacked him in the ribs as hard as I could with my crutch. He made a sound of pain, his shoulder sinking on that side.

  “That’s for my leg,” I growled, as I got my footing again. “Heaven knows you deserve more, but it’s going to have to wait.”

  Henry left the vial in Averne’s mouth and put his arm against his throat. “We’re not going to k-kill him?” He sounded relieved.

  “No. We’re going to save him for the proper authorities.” I leaned in close to Averne and snapped my teeth together. He went still. He was afraid of contracting it. I smiled slowly. “Not so crazy that you’re fearless, I see. Either one of us can bestow upon you a short, brutish second life, if you so desire, Major.” I stepped back. “Knock him out. We’ll tie him up.”

  Henry grabbed the vial from Averne’s mouth and tossed it lightly onto the salt. He then elbowed Averne in the chin to disorient him, before taking him by the front of his face and hammering and hammering him back against the salt until he became unresponsive.

  “That’s for my a-arm,” Henry said, retrieving the vial. He wiped it off on his trousers and handed it to me. “Your half of the weapons c-cache.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Macumba.”

  We unwrapped Henry’s bandages and twined them together in pairs to make ropes, which we used to bind Averne’s hands and feet. Henry studied his injuries as they were revealed. As he fingered the leathery burnt skin still clinging to his raw muscles, he asked, “Is there a w-way to fix th-this?”

  I nodded. “It will never heal, but we can patch you up easily enough once we get back to base. Please don’t worry, Mr. Macumba. The worst is over. It’s just survival from here on out.”

  He nodded, and glanced to the door. “Is that what we t-tell the tr-troops, too?”

  Oh. Them. Bother.

  “We …” My eyes landed on Averne’s scarf. It’d fallen on the salt, a patterned patch on the white ground. “We adhere to the principle ‘What they don’t know won’t hurt them.’ ”

  Nora jumped back into the hold and fell in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. I ran over and helped her up. “I got Pam,” she said, holding out the com unit. “How do I put this on speaker?”

  I took it from her and punched a few buttons. “Nora!” Pam said on the other end of the line. She sounded out of breath.

  “We’re here,” I told her. “Where are you?”

  “We’re in the Museum o
f Natural History!” she got out. “We rescued someone, and the dead followed us! They’re right behind us!”

  Nora grabbed the com back from me. “Pam, can you get to the roof of the museum?”

  “Maybe! It’s confusing in here, and we’re trying to avoid the zombies.”

  “Just keep going up,” Nora instructed. “Go up, no matter what. We’re on our way. It’s just north of the cathedral, right?”

  “Yeah! Should be! They’re coming, keep going up! No, Issy, you idiot, up!”

  “Keep the phone handy!” Nora ran to the window and set the com unit down on a nearby crate. “Museum. Go north. There’s a huge lion on the top, you can’t miss it.”

  “Right.” I pointed to the others. “Everyone who’s not controlling the ship, weapons on.”

  I noticed that Nora’s hands were shaking as she slipped her shotgun strap over her shoulder. She’d gotten a thigh holster for the pistol. When she saw that I was watching, she straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “Ready to meet my best friend, then?”

  I clipped my vest together in front and smiled tightly. “Should I bring a bottle of wine? Any taboo topics? Politics, life after death?”

  “Yeah, just stay away from that one entirely.”

  Coalhouse had taken over by the window. “There’s a big lion rearing up on that building down there. It looks almost … shimmery. Aw, man, don’t tell me this eye is going, too.”

  “Shimmery?” Tom asked him.

  “Holographic,” Nora said.

  I slapped the beacon on my shoulder, and the light started flashing red. “Find a place to dock her.”

  Leaving the others to command the Alice, I accompanied Nora back up the stairs to the main deck. We picked up a bit of speed again as we started to descend, the ropes creaking within their mountings, Nora’s hair flapping about her face. “That’s it,” she said as she rushed to the prow. The lion appeared to be crafted of speckled gray stone, but Coalhouse was right—it had a slightly transparent, almost magical look to it. I found myself blinking several times. Combined with my cloudy vision, it looked more like a drug-induced hallucination than a real statue.

  “I don’t see anyone on the roof,” she said, leaning over the railing to scan it. I reached out and hooked a finger into the belt of her skirt. She decided to go with it and leaned even farther out.

  “They might still be inside,” I said. “We’ll go in if we have to.”

  “I just hope something hasn’t happened to them,” she said, falling back again against my hand. I slipped it free and let it rest between her shoulder blades instead. She didn’t buck it off. “She’s like my sister.” Her voice told me, You know what it means, to have a sister.

  I remained quiet, because I did.

  “Prepare for impact!” Renfield called up from the hold.

  I curled my arm around Nora’s shoulders and urged her to kneel down beside me. She did, her face close to mine in the darkness. I could feel the heat of her breath on my skin, and marveled at it. My senses were amazingly attuned to her, even now. She reached out and gripped my knee as we bumped against the side of the building, and I took blatant advantage of the opportunity to pull her closer, if only for a moment.

  “Are you sure you want to go down there?” I asked.

  Nora nodded. “I have to. She’s always come for me—maybe not like this, with guns and armor and all, but she’s been there for me in ways I couldn’t be there for myself. I don’t care what happens to me, as long as she’s safe.”

  I knew the feeling exactly. Whatever happened to me, I’d get Nora out. I had to. There was no way I could die peacefully, knowing she had been hurt. “You don’t need to worry. I’ve got you.”

  Nora laughed a little. “Yeah, you do.” She looked into my eyes, her expression quieting, although a funny smile still haunted her lips.

  As soon as the rocking of the ship calmed down, I stood up. Nora took my hand and pulled herself to her feet. The rest of the crew, minus Renfield, climbed up the stairs to join us.

  “Ren’s going to stay with the ship,” Tom said as he activated his beacon.

  I pulled my mask out of my pocket and rolled it on. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Just as Tom and Coalhouse kicked out the gangplank, the stone lion in front of us vanished. The glow from the city lights that had surrounded us, weak as it was, dissipated. I pulled out my rifle, although I kept it pointed at the sky.

  “The electricity’s gone out,” Nora said. “That’s all. Maybe they had to abandon the stations.”

  Chas hit the electric lantern on her belt, and the others followed suit. The yellow light did little to chase back the yawning darkness. “We’d better hurry, then. ’Cause if they’re still inside in the dark …”

  Nora sprinted down the plank. The others followed her, drawing their own weapons. I stayed where I was, though, looking at the city below in horror. All down the street holograms were going out, their halos of light melting away. What had been, from the air, an impressive-looking city with grand columned buildings and intricately painted storefronts was reduced to rows of ugly concrete shells, endless aisles of blank rectangles, like preplanted and uncarved tombstones. It was a shudder-inducing vision, and it enthralled me longer than it should have.

  “Bram?” Tom called.

  I pushed what I’d just witnessed to the back of my mind and rejoined the team. Nora was watching me with concern in her eyes, but I didn’t stop walking until I reached the service door that would let us into the museum. A few bullets took care of the lock. “Nora, back of the line. No buts.”

  “I’m not arguing with you this time.” She let Chas go ahead of her and pulled out her shotgun.

  Once our lineup was established, we started in, weapons at the ready. We took the stairs slowly, almost in unison, remaining close together.

  We hadn’t gone ten steps before we heard screaming.

  “Hey!” I heard Chas exclaim, and I figured Nora’d gone racing forward and been caught. “You’ll get yourself killed!”

  “I can hear them!” Nora cried.

  “Calm down. They’ve gotta be nearby.” I raised my voice. “This is Captain Abraham Griswold of Company Z! We’re here with Nora Dearly! Can you hear me?”

  My voice echoed so loudly in the stone corridor that I was afraid it’d all come back to me. I was about to try again, cupping my hands around my mouth to project it, when I heard a little, “Nora! It’s Nora!”

  “Pamma?” Nora shouted.

  “Where are you?” Pam rejoined.

  “Near the roof!” I yelled back. “We’re coming down! Keep making noise!” Returning my voice to a conversational level, I called back, “Nora, I’m not attempting to embarrass you or single you out. I know you’re capable. But stay behind Chas, okay? You die, you die permanently, and for various reasons that we’ve already gotten angsty about together, I don’t want that to happen.”

  “Okay, okay,” she sighed.

  “Angsty?” Chas asked. “Ooh! Later, details!”

  “Yes, later.” With that, I waved the team forward.

  We pounded down the staircase a little more quickly than before. Pam and her crew either took direction well or had good reason to shout, because they made plenty of noise. Soon we’d run out of stairs and found ourselves in a darkened attic storeroom with rows of muslin-draped shelving. I could hear Pam’s group on the other side of the room from where we’d come in, behind yet another door. It was thumping softly, like a beating wooden heart. They were trying to break it in.

  “Stand back!” I yelled, taking aim. “I’m going to shoot the lock!”

  I waited until their voices had retreated before pulling the trigger. I kicked the door open and found four people waiting on the other side. They lost no time in joining us. A dark-haired girl in trousers panted out, “You might want to start running.” I recognized her voice from the com unit.

  As if on cue, I heard the unmistakable sounds of the dead coming from the hall outside.<
br />
  “Grand idea,” I said, waiting until the newcomers had passed me before pressing everyone forward. “Okay, back to the ship! First one who gets there, jump down into the hold and tell Renfield to go nuts!”

  No one needed me to ask twice. Behind us the evil dead started crashing through the storeroom, tall shelves and cases full of priceless artifacts falling down like dominoes in their wake. When he could, Tom fell back to run beside me. Like me, he understood that the last line of defense had better be undead.

  Once we got outside and got those in front of us started up the gangplank, Tom and I turned around and shouldered our guns. We blew away the first comers, their fallen bodies becoming an obstacle course for the second wave. Neither of us relented until we heard the others shouting and saw that they were ready to go. We ran like hell to catch up with them. Tom, putting up his gun, started directing everyone into the hold. I turned and pulled up the gangplank as Renfield got us airborne again.

  Below us, on the rooftop, the mad zombies screamed and made futile attempts to leap for the ship. One fell to his final death, landing with a sick splat on the asphalt below.

  “Inside.” I felt Nora’s hands on me and turned to look at her. She was tugging on my jacket. “C’mon, we’re going to floor it. Better blown up than eaten.”

  Inside the hold, Renfield was preoccupied with his buttons and levers, his back to the newcomers. Coalhouse took my place near the window to steer. Pamela’s group was still trying to recover from the race to the airship, all of them seized over and breathing hard.

  Nora pushed her way past Tom and Chas and took Pam into her arms. Pamela clung tightly to her in turn, as if Nora embodied every form of salvation imaginable at the moment. “Everything’s okay now.”

  Pam’s shoulders began to shake. “No, no, it’s not,” she whispered. “My family is locked up, with no idea when to come out. And Isambard was bitten.”

  I looked sharply at Pam. “What?”

  Pamela untangled herself from Nora and wiped at her eyes. She kneeled down beside the youngest boy, who was seated on the floor. Her voice was thick. “Show them, Issy.”