“Keep an eye on them. God only knows how the Gamma residents managed to bring this down. Probably just drove straight at it while the Guardians were sitting back getting high. They wanted to block us off, do you see that, Delta? Without the road network it would be impossible to control this tower. The tube doesn’t run underneath here.”
Zack was about to ask what he meant by that when he heard the familiar creaking of a building under strain.
“Wait! Wait!” James was standing right next to the wall, ready to pull an exposed beam out from underneath the debris. “Leave that there. And you,” he called to the man next to him, “leave the closest sections in place. We don’t want it collapsing on top of us.”
“Good work, Delta. Keep an eye on these boys,” Duke said, loud enough for the team to hear him. A couple of them turned around, sneered under their breath. “We need this road. We have to keep this tower under control. It’s essential for the peace of the land.”
“For the peace of the land?” Zack asked. He had never heard Duke talk of peace. To be seeking peace suggested that they were still at war. Zack knew that the life they were living was far from perfect, but he had never considered that they were still in the midst of a war.
“Yeah, peace.” Duke made a forward facing V-sign with his fingers. “I know that all sounds a bit far out coming from a guy that spends his days with a gun in his hand, but it's not such a crazy idea. You've only been here for a while, Zack, but I've spent years here now. It gets tiresome.” He stood up with his hands on his back, stretching out like a pregnant woman. “It gets tiring watching this day after day, Zack. Don't you see that?”
Zack inspected a section of the rubble with the toe of his boot. “What choice do you have? It doesn't look like anything is set to change.” This was the first time he had spoken freely with Duke, and more importantly, that Duke had spoken freely with him. It was the first time that Duke had suggested a level of discontentment with his current situation, and that he too was striving and aiming for something else.
“It looks like that, Zack, but don't be fooled. Even the quietest, most tranquil of rivers is a torrent beneath the surface. The surface is just what you can see, what the river wants you to see. But there is depth to it, things happening that you can't see unless you reach underneath the water and search amongst the mud and the reeds.” Duke draped an arm across Zack's shoulders. “These guys will be fine for a while. Let me show you something.”
Duke guided Zack towards Gamma Tower. Zack could see more orange boiler suits standing around the perimeter like stewards at a football match. But they were numerous, as if Duke's team had multiplied like gremlins when they got wet. There were at least thirty to forty of the orange boiler-suited workers standing with guns in their hand, and he had no idea where they had come from. There were several who were piling up bodies from the gunfight. Some of them were wearing Omega uniforms. Some of them normal, pre-war clothes. As Zack's gaze followed the line of workers he found the entrance doors. They were made of thick glass just like they had been in Delta, but this time they were not covered or barricaded. Zack could see in as clearly as those inside could see out.
The crowd in the lobby of Gamma Tower was energised, surging forwards towards the door, shouting and beating their fists against the glass. The people inside were wearing the uniform of New Omega, the uniform that Delta tower had been promised but which had never arrived. But they didn’t look like Omega Tower residents. Their hair was long and unkempt, their faces grey and tired. There were a few splashes of colour which Zack assumed were children scurrying amongst the baying bodies. The Guardians nearest to the door had their guns trained upon the heads of those beyond the glass doors, following the moving targets as they pushed back and forth. Zack heard the wheels of a large vehicle approaching behind them. It was a type of van he hadn't seen before, rusty, covered in patches of dirt and dust. It was once white, and on the side there was a black Omega sign. Underneath there were three words in paintwork that was almost worn away. Zack knew what it read, even though he couldn’t see the letters well. PROVIDING YOUR FUTURE.
The side door slid open and from inside the van a series of Guardians, just like those he recognised from Delta Tower ran forwards with their Assisters at the ready. The crowd in the lobby of Gamma Tower quietened, and some of them began pushing their way backwards, desperate to get away from the door. The orange boiler suits stepped aside. One of the Guardians punched a key code into a side panel and as the doors opened the Guardians surged inside. Zack couldn't bring himself to watch and instead dropped his head away from the crowd. Screams criss-crossed across the land from women, men, and children. Panic. He repeated the same words over and over in his head so that he had something else to listen to other than the screaming of Gamma Tower. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you.
“Come on, there's no need for you to be here watching this.” Duke pulled Zack away and they began walking towards the side of Gamma Tower. By the time Zack stopped repeating the words over in his head he realised that the muffled screams were no longer audible. Control had been reclaimed.
“Follow me up here.” Duke began his ascent of a series of metal steps that ran along the side of the building. Zack followed, his weight shaking the whole structure. He passed missing steps, bent steps, mangled steps, trying to keep up with Duke who was moving at speed. They arrived on a wire grate platform which overlooked the river to the south. To the north he could see the flyover sections of the intact A13. It was the road they had travelled along to get here, and it skimmed over pools of water so tranquil he could almost forget about what had been happening only moments before. His eyes followed the course of the river all the way to Theta Tower. He had never seen it so close. It was larger than he had ever imagined. There was a tanker in the port.
“This is what it's all about, Delta.” From their elevated position overlooking the south eastern region of the Republic of New Omega Zack knew that on a clear day he would be able to see all the way to the coast. To the east he saw greenery, and to the south the blue flowing water of the Thames. “Follow the A13,” Duke said as he held his finger outstretched to the east. “Follow it all the way along until you see it, just to the south of the road.”
Zack followed the course of the road, keeping his eye open for whatever it was that Duke was telling him to search for. After a moment he saw something that he hadn't seen in years and he knew that must be it. He saw a series of buildings, all intact, all set within a ring of green land intersected by creeks and inlets. Some of the roofs had chimney stacks. If he thought hard he could remember the concept of a fireplace, smoke billowing up and streaking from a house in a gentle stream. The roofs appeared to be organised in rows, which meant that there was such a thing as a street. There was a small green area somewhere in the centre. A park? A football pitch? Towards the southern edge Zack could see the beginning of the sea.
Chapter Thirty Three
“Where is that?” Zack gasped, a heavy breath clogging in his throat. The Sun was rising higher and the extra light pouring over the horizon illuminated the land. His legs were like jelly from the climb so he gripped the barriers of the platform for stability. When he could no longer convince himself that he was catching all the details he pulled his goggles off and the scarf fell away from his face. As he stepped forwards the wind picked up and buffeted against his cheeks.
“If you are looking at what I want you to look at, that is Canvey Island.” Duke didn't say anything else for a moment, and instead stood motionless, allowing Zack to take in the vision from the past. “At least it used to be. Now it's part of New Omega. Phase Two.”
Zack snatched a glance at Duke. Perhaps this was a fantasy or dream from which he was about to wake up. But every time he looked back the town remained as it was. With each glance he picked up new details. A new stretch of water, a new building. Trees in full bloom with leaves and blossom. He wondered if his imagination was adding some of the details. But eac
h time he looked back they were still there.
“But,” Zack stuttered, fighting with his words. He was trying to coerce a coherent thought from his mind, but nothing would come out. It was as if he was looking through a porthole to the past at an idea of a life that didn't exist anymore. Like looking at an old photograph or a postcard, memories scribbled down to capture a moment in time. It was the 2028 equivalent of quaint cobbled streets and period dress. It was like his first day in Omega Tower all over again, watching the layers of truth peel away. He looked back at Duke who was standing with his tongue caught between his lips. The wind fluttered at the edges of his hair, ruffling it like the feathers of a bird hunkering down on a winter's day.
“It's a pretty impressive sight, isn't it? I know that the first time I saw it I couldn't quite believe my eyes,” Duke said, shaking his head as if he couldn’t quite believe his own memories. “It was just surreal.”
“What's down there?”
“Everything you could ask for in a free, simple life. The work they are doing around the tower, sure, that needs doing too. The Resource Centre for example. The wall you're building. But once they get control of London Bridge they can control anything coming in from the North West, and once your wall is complete the south blockade will be complete. And they already have the A13 under control.”
“What are you talking about? South blockades and controlling the North? This sounds like some kind of fantasy story? What is that place down there?” Duke took a few steps forwards and pulled his goggles onto his forehead and leaned against the railing, mirroring Zack’s stance.
“Gamma was never supposed to be this complicated. I don't know everything, Delta, and you should remember it's not like anybody sat me down to explain. But I know what I see every day, and I know what I hear in the whisperings of those disenchanted with the life they have.” For as rough as Duke seemed around the edges, Zack could see there was a side to him that was capable and educated. He seemed like a man able to judge his surroundings, and every now and again Zack got a hint of that capability in the words he used or the opinion he offered. “The Conservators want something outside of the city. Back before the war, I guess you could call Gamma Tower an insurance policy. I know this is a power station, and yes, we do use what they produce here, but don’t think for a second that Omega relies on this place. What they wanted was people. Lots of people, because they knew everybody was going to die when the nukes tore through our country.”
“So what, this place is like some kind of holding bay?”
“Kind of,” Duke said, taking his goggles from his head. He inspected them before cleaning the lens against his trousers. “They had this place in mind, knowing just how many were in here. Mostly young fertile men at that. It survived, just as they predicted. I heard that some of them were relocated to Theta Tower, and some to Beta,” Duke said, shrugging his shoulders to indicate that he didn't really know whether that was true or not. “When they got down here and realised that the blast had pretty much missed the whole of the Eastern peninsular, they started looking for somewhere where they could recreate some kind of normality. Most of the people had died; those who hadn’t were easily taken care of.”
Zack understood what he meant, and if he didn’t, he only need think about what had been happening minutes ago in Gamma Tower. What wasn’t needed was dealt with. Duke could see the disapproval on Zack’s face, but he continued regardless.
“Let’s face it, Delta, when you have the option of living in your own property, the community of Omega Tower doesn’t look so attractive, does it? Living in some sort of glass tower isn’t exactly normal, and in the beginning some people just couldn't accept it. They went a bit crazy. That's when they came up with the idea of the Renunciation Pledge. And, for those who still couldn’t get on board with the programme, the Denunciation Ceremony.”
“I haven't seen one yet.”
“You will. And the land down there is where most of The Drifters come from. Most of them died during the nuclear winter that followed the war. It was a harsh son of a bitch, Delta. You don’t know how lucky you were being stuck in that tower you used to hate so much. They tried to move. Faced with starvation they took a choice that they had to try to find some place better. They did. They found New Omega.” Duke spoke with bitterness, his words resentful of that which he had witnessed. He spat a glob of saliva to the floor. “President Grayson announced an immediate barricade and isolation of the southern perimeter, and later instructed teams to go north in search of other survivors. There wasn't much chance of anybody surviving up there, but he didn’t want to take a chance. He was spooked, and he didn't want anybody to upset the delicate balance that he had created. That's when he made a trade with Denmark. He offered to take their worst prisoners if they sent us supplies. I'm still not sure whether they really know what we're doing with them. They come from all over now. Germany, Austria, Italy. There are a few Polish as well.”
“So that's when they started killing the survivors?” Zack asked. Duke reached into his pocket and pulled a pack of cigarettes. Marlboro. He tapped the base of the box and a cigarette popped out. He used his teeth to pull it out. Such a simple act that Zack had never imagined being able to see again. Duke held the box out in Zack's direction and he took one. He twiddled it around in his fingers before placing it in his mouth and lighting it on the flame that Duke offered him.
“Pretty much. In the beginning it was hard to control people. When you take someone's freedom away, the ability to get up and go out, make their own choices, they start to go crazy. Surely you must be able to appreciate that. Even though people knew there was no other option they still wanted to get out of the tower.” Zack could appreciate it ten times over. It was easy to remember the early days; the chaos, the fear, the arrival of the Guardians with their Assisters. He nodded again to encourage Duke to carry on with the story. He took a drag on his cigarette and felt his head spin.
“The Omega Manifesto helped. It gave people a purpose. The uniforms, the haircuts, the tattoos. Everything was to make people feel like they belonged. They managed to make everybody feel like a cog in a wheel. They made everybody feel responsible for each other. Whatever you want to say about President Grayson, he got things under control. Then he introduced the family benefits. Some were families already, just like the president himself. But everybody else was alone. Men and women in the prime of their working lives suddenly had nobody, and they were burdened with memories of the people that they had left behind. People couldn't move on. So he gave them an incentive. Find a partner, get married, get pregnant. That will make your life better. We'll give you more freedom. A better place in the tower, something to strive for. But it wasn't enough. What people wanted was the past, or at least a semblance of it. It was only our generations when people started marrying for love. Before that people married for other reasons, and so people started doing the same again. So they found Canvey Island and started planning for a future. They gave people an incentive.”
“A new city.”
“Exactly. The open-air. Your own house. A garden. Don't try to tell me that that's not an attractive aspiration for somebody stuck in Delta for ten years.” Duke moved closer to the edge and held up his hands like a conductor about to commence a symphony. Zack couldn’t shake the image of Sarah. “It is virtually isolated, just like Omega Tower. They destroyed the bridges to the south, and everything north of the A13 is a mess. We never even heard back from the teams who went north. The whole of that little island is enclosed by a wall. There were floods years ago so they built them as sea defences. And anything we need, Denmark will provide. It's the trade-off. We take their murderers, rapists, and child molesters, and they throw in food and clothes and medicines. I guess you could call it a package deal.” Duke looked back to the orange bodies in clothing below their elevated grid-like platform and flicked his cigarette towards them. They snaked the whole way around Gamma Tower like a ring of control.
“You've been down there?”
Zack asked, motioning towards Canvey Island. He took a final drag on his cigarette before dropping it over the edge of the railing. He watched the orange cherry fall to the floor and sizzle out in a small puddle of water on the floor.
“Yeah, I've been. There are people down there now, working in the buildings, the houses. Nobody in Omega knows about the place yet, and neither should they. By that I mean for you to keep your mouth shut. All they knew of is an idea. Aspirations. If they knew this place existed they would want out of the tower and into that town as quick as possible, but it's not ready yet. You never know, if you manage to get Sarah pregnant you might be one of the first.”
“I'm not trying to get Sarah pregnant.”
“You had sex with her yet?” Zack wished he still had his cigarette. He could see why people smoked when they were stressed. It had nothing to do with the drugs, and everything to do with the distraction it offered. He nodded. “Like I said,” Duke smiled, “you might be one of the first.”
Just as Zack allowed himself to consider the concept of once again living in a house that he could call his own, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of smashing glass. He turned around to see more glass objects flying through the air, raining down on the ground. Others had already landed and had broken into hundreds of pieces releasing puddles of flames which were rapidly spreading out across the perimeter of Gamma Tower. Another one whizzed above Duke and Zack.
With Duke in the lead they raced down the stairs as fast as they could. Three more petrol bombs landed between where Zack and Duke were standing and the rest of the team, each bursting into pockets of flames. Then another struck. It hit what must have been a ring of petrol which had gone unnoticed on the floor.
“It’s a trap,” shouted Duke as he waved his arms forwards to round up the troops. As the flames rose and fell, between them Zack could see that the crowd inside the lobby of Gamma Tower was pushing its way forwards again, moving as a unit like a human battering ram against the door. Amongst them were Guardians desperate to flee. More glass bombs fell through the sky from the roof, and the ring of fire intensified as the flames chased the petrol.
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