by C A Bird
“I’m not so sure how good our best will be.” He said.
“Come on Aaron, you and Jim have taken excellent care of everyone. What happened to Mrs. Claret wasn’t your fault.”
He turned to her, anxious for her to understand, “Chris, I’m scared. I don’t know if I should be a doctor here, be responsible for the health of these people when I don’t have the skills.”
“Please don’t start questioning your abilities or your worth to the remnant. You just need to approach it from a different perspective, learn old fashioned methods.”
“Yeah, just call me Marcus Welby.”
She put her hand on his cheek. “You’re not going to be able to save every person in every situation, but we need you.” She paused. “I need you.”
He looked at her blankly, and what she said finally penetrated. He leaned over and kissed her, and they moved farther back into the shadows.
Mark stood for another minute; his heart breaking as he finally realized that Chris and Aaron were about to become lovers. Gaining control of his emotions enough to escape, he quickly took the opportunity while the other two were preoccupied.
January 23, 2:20 p.m.
“Turn on the flashlight you dork!” Garrett chided him. The door closed before Jeremy could turn the light on and they were plunged into darkness. He heard the other children suck in their breath as he fumbled nervously with the switch and finally clicked it on. A circle of light spread out into the cave and illuminated the nearer wall on the left.
“Gimme the light, Jeremy.” Garrett grabbed the flashlight from him and moved further into the cave, urging the younger children to follow. “Come on you guys, you chicken?” They followed him to avoid being left in the dark. Jeremy marveled at the natural strata of the rock, ancient rough limestone, never worn by water in this underground cavern. He wished that Dr. Whitehorse were here to tell him about the rocks. He had listened with rapt attention to all of the lectures about the geography of their home. To the right of the door behind them, boxes were stacked three or four high and stretched beyond the light’s range. They were in one of the many storage areas in the shelter that had been left in their natural state except for a door installed to allow access.
The children were both frightened and excited by the prospect of exploring these areas. Garrett had been bugging Jeremy and the other kids for two months before he convinced them to go with him. Besides Jeremy, Ashley and Kevin Arnaud, Tucker’s little brother Sean Price, Darian Spears and Kelley Barkley had taken the challenge. They agreed to go when Jeremy’s Uncle Pete gave him a flashlight for Christmas. Armed with the light they decided to try the door in the back of the animal cave since it was the most remote. They sneaked through the farm and animal caves undetected and rushed through the door before anyone discovered them. There was a light switch next to the door but they left it off, fearing the crow’s nest would monitor it and find out they were beyond the boundary. They were unaware that the light on Micah’s panel had blinked red momentarily and returned to green when the door closed but no one had noticed. Besides, the overhead light would only illuminate this immediate room and they wanted to go farther into the labyrinth. Garrett took out a marker pen and removed the cap. He made a small arrow on the wall where a tunnel led off to the left. ”If we get separated, follow the arrows back to the door,” he told the others.
“Wha… what do you mean. We’re going to stay together aren’t we?” asked Darian. “You said we would go together.” Darian was ten years old, two years younger than Garrett, but a full head smaller. His mother hadn’t encouraged independence in him and he hung back as though he would bolt for the door with the slightest provocation.
“It’s just in case. We don’t wanna get lost. We’d be in big trouble.” He went around the corner into the tunnel and the others followed closely. The ceiling of the passageway hung low over their heads, varying in height as they progressed. In places they were forced to stoop or to squeeze through narrow passages to continue forward.
Each time they approached a side tunnel Garrett made an arrow on the wall. Jeremy figured Garrett was the one that would be punished if anyone found out what they were doing. He was the oldest.
This part of the shelter was far to the rear of the entrance. As they went farther into the cave Jeremy could feel a tiny vibration from the water in the penstocks that fed the power plant turbines. Kelley tripped and fell against Garrett causing him to drop the light and little Kevin, who clung tightly to Ashley, started to whimper. “I wanna go back.”
“Don’t be a baby,” Garrett told him as he retrieved the light. “Watch where you’re going, Kelley.” He swung the light around to see what tripped her. There was a pile of rocks and dirt that appeared to have fallen from the ceiling. He swung the light around and noticed several other areas where debris had fallen from the ceiling or the sidewalls of the tunnel. One of the small side tunnels had caved in almost entirely. They heard a rumbling sound behind them and swung around just as some more rocks fell from the ceiling, several of them hitting Kelley.
“Let’s get outta here!” yelled Darian. “This place is falling apart. Come on, Garrett, I don’t wanna stay here. We’ve seen enough.”
Jeremy didn’t want to appear scared but he was worried that the tunnel behind them would cave in. “Come on Garrett, let’s go back aways and take another tunnel. This one’s boring anyway.” Garrett smirked at him but he pushed through the others and started back.
They had retraced their steps approximately half way when a large section of the tunnel wall suddenly gave way. Garrett was thrown forward by the rocks hitting him in the back and the flashlight smashed against the side of the tunnel. Plunged into darkness, the other children panicked and screamed. The tunnel filled with choking dust. Darian was more directly in the path of the rockslide and was partially buried with only his left arm and head uncovered. He had been pushed to the left side of the tunnel and a larger rock that had fallen directly in front of him had kept the others from crushing him completely. Panting and barely able to breathe, he began to whimper softly, being unable to cry for lack of air. Ashley and Kevin, following behind had escaped injury but were sitting on the ground holding each other and crying in shear terror.
Jeremy climbed to his feet with his hand against the wall to get his bearings. He heard Darian wheezing just behind him and went to his knees. “Darian, can you hear me? It’ll be alright.” He felt for Darian, and feeling his arm sticking out of the debris he realized how completely he was buried.
“Garrett,” he called out, “Darian’s buried in the rocks. I think he’s hurt!”
Garrett bumped into Jeremy in the dark, “Darian, don’t worry, I’ll get help. Hang on, okay? I’ll be back. Hey you guys!” He tried to quiet the other children. “I’m going to get help. Everybody just stay here and I’ll be right back.” He felt for the wall and slowly crept through the dust and the darkness toward rescue.
Jeremy heard him shuffle down the tunnel and he heard Darian’s strained breathing. He started shoving the rocks aside, to the other side of the tunnel. The other children had stopped crying and Jeremy sensed another person along side of him in the dark, helping to clear the rocks.
“Don’t get too close to him.” The other child was Sean Price. “We might cause the rocks to crunch him.” They passed the rocks to Kelley, Ashley and Kevin and they in turn pushed them toward the rear of the tunnel. When they had cleared the lighter rocks Jeremy inched toward Darian.
“Darian? If the rocks move or it hurts you, tell me, okay?”
Darian moaned softly. Jeremy took it as a yes and very carefully began to move some of the dirt clods and rocks covering the boy.
They worked in the dark for an eternity, until they had cleared all but the larger stones around Darian. Jeremy was afraid to try and move them fearing the others would shift and crush him. Darian’s breathing seemed a little easier so they decided to leave the others alone and wait for help. Occasionally there was the sound of
minor cave-ins mixed with the sounds of children whimpering in the dark. This would cause new anxiety but the utter darkness had created a dreamlike atmosphere and they sat in the passageway hoping that Garrett could find his way in the dark.
January 23, 3:00 p.m.
“Come on Sandi, you could be a little friendlier. I just want to talk to you.” Clay followed Sandi into one of the tunnels that dead-ended in a dragon door. She had left the multi-purpose room heading for the machine shop, looking for Pete to tell him she had won the dart tournament. When she left the stairwell on the third floor she noticed Clay following her. Slightly unsettled, she’d turned into the side corridor and stopped against the dragon door.
“I’m sorry Clay, I didn’t see you. I’m kind of busy. Could we talk later?” She started to walk past him to regain the main corridor but he took her arm, “No, I’d like to talk to you now. You’ve been avoiding me for weeks.”
Clay put his hands on the wall on either side of Sandi’s shoulders.
“You know what? I’m getting tired of you ignoring me. Do you think you’re better than me or my friends?”
She tried to duck under his arm but he pressed his body against her. That’s when, feeling his hardness, she realized this was becoming a serious problem.
“Clay, I like everyone living here but I’m involved with someone. Let me go, okay?” She put her hands on his chest and pushed gently at first but more insistently when he didn’t budge.
Her resistance seemed to excite him. He reached over with his left hand and slapped the button that opened the dragon door behind her. She stumbled as the door slid aside and Clay reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to him as he forced her through the open door into the dimly lit cave.
“You’re going to get in trouble. You can’t just push people around.”
“I can do anything I want. My dad owns this place, remember? Besides who’s going to stop me? Your Petey boy?”
She tried to shrug off his hand but he had an iron grip that hurt when she tried to pull loose.
She was losing her temper. “Get off me! You’re hurting me Clay! You don’t seem to understand. I want nothing to do with you. Now, let go of me.” Her voice was rising as she became angry and more than a little frightened. She found it hard to believe he would actually assault her.
The lightweight, cotton clothing they wore in the shelter ripped easily as Clay tore open the front of the blouse and began to grope her. Definitely scared now she pleaded, “Clay, please. Leave me alone, please don’t do this, I’m pregnant.”
He paused, “No wonder the little bitch is getting heavy. I thought you were just getting fat. Well, Petey boy’s been busy, the little prick.” He put his foot behind her and tripped her landing half on top when she fell heavily to the ground.
She struggled futilely, his weight pinning her down and both her wrists held above her head in his one hand, while he jerked her shorts down with the other.
“Clay, stop it! Somebody help me!” But she knew no one could hear her. With a final effort she tried to roll him off her, bringing her knee up in an attempt to catch him off guard, but he was far too strong.
As her shorts were jerked down around her knees she tried again to convince him to stop, struggling, she began to cry, her voice becoming hysterical, “I’ll tell them you did this, they’ll believe me. You’ll be punished.”
He pushed the shorts to her ankles and slid over her forcing her knees apart. “No, you got it wrong. I’m gonna do you, and no one will even believe it happened, you little slut, with you being pregnant and all. According to several of my friends I’m at the pub right this minute. There isn’t any DNA testing in this place.”
She screamed at him, struggling to throw him off, felt him slip his shorts down, felt him about to enter, when suddenly his weight was completely gone. Instinctively she pulled her shorts up as she heard a furious, booming voice, “God damn you, you fucking son of a bitch!”
She scooted back against the wall clutching the edges of her torn shirt together. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Walter Thompson heave Clay heavily against the wall. Clay pumped iron every day and was extremely well muscled but the blow against the wall disabled him and he was no match for the raging man Sandi previously thought was the gentlest person she’d ever known. She had never even heard him swear.
“You fucking asshole, think you can get away with anything you want?” He backhanded Clay full across the mouth sending him flying back into the wall. Clay fell forward to his knees, barely conscious, and Walter hit him again. “Think you’re a big man, do you? If that little girl’s hurt I’ll personally kill you, after I rip your cock off!”
“Mr. Thompson, please stop! If you hurt him you’ll be the one to get in trouble. Please don’t.” She came to his side and grasped his arm.
She was worried about Walter after Clay slumped to the floor unconscious. Walter was starting to kick him, fury in his eyes, when her tugging at his arm caused him to regain control. He turned and gathered her into a bear hug. “It’s okay honey. He’s the one in serious trouble. If you hadn’t yelled at me just then I would’ve killed him right here and now.” He let her go. “I was getting supplies from farther back in the cave and heard the noise.” He held her at arm’s length. “I heard Clay say you were pregnant. Is it true?”
She leaned against him, nodding her head. “These baggy shirts hide it well.”
“Let’s get you to the doctor then. He could have hurt you.”
They entered the hallway where there was an intercom terminal on the wall. Walter pushed the button and it patched him in to the crow’s nest.
“This is Walter Thompson. Send a medical team and some security folks to the dragon cave by the machine shop. The one on the other side from the farm.”
“Uh, Mr. Thompson?” came the reply. “I don’t think we have any security people but I’ll notify the infirmary.”
“Call Mark or Will then, but tell them to bring two or three big guys. I need them to keep me from committing murder.” He smiled at Sandi and she smiled back, the first time he had seen her smile in a long time.
January 23, 3:20 p.m.
Mark watched Terry Berkowitz pipetting various liquids into test tubes as he worked on synthesizing one of the drugs needed by the residents. Terry, a biochemist and a registered pharmacist had been working for Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, when his device had gone off. He wasted no time leaving for the shelter and brought his wife, two daughters and son with him.
Since their arrival he’d diligently studied everything he could get his hands on to try and learn to make simple drugs. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the equipment or supplies to do anything complicated. Many modern drugs were made using complex manufacturing techniques or even biological methods that utilized genetically altered bacteria, things the shelter lacked. On the other end of the spectrum, he couldn’t use old-fashioned methods since they usually made use of natural plants that weren’t available to him either! He referred to himself as the apothecary and joked that he was practicing pharmacy, circa 1910.
Mark found he had an interest in Terry’s work and helped out every morning. Not much use in the shelter for an old pilot he reasoned.
“How’s our supply of prepackaged drugs holding out?” Mark asked Terry.
“We’ll be okay for a while.” Terry said. “Someone did a pretty good job of selecting the antibiotics and other drugs with longer outdates. Fortunately we haven’t had a big need for most of our formulary. We have one person taking insulin and when it’s gone he’ll have to start on the oral glycemics and really watch his diet. Once they’re gone, he’s in trouble.”
“Is there anything we can synthesize?”
“When we leave here I should be able to use plants to synthesize some of the drugs we’ll need. Didn’t you read Clan of the Cave Bear?” Terry said everything with an absolutely straight face and Mark never knew when he was kidding.
The intercom crackled and anno
unced, “Mark Teller, are you out there?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” he yelled back. He always yelled even though the intercom had a very good pick-up.
“Report to the dragon door by the machine shop. Walter says it’s a security thing and to bring some big guys. I don’t have any details but he sounded pretty upset.”
“I’m on my way.” He turned to Terry, “Sorry, can you take over here?”
“Are you kidding? Micah said to bring along some big guys. I’m going with.” Terry was all of 5' 8".
The machine shop was across the hall from the chem lab. Mark stuck his head inside, recruited some big guys and went around the corner into the next hall. The dragon door was off the corridor in a dead-end side tunnel. Turning into the side hall he spotted Walter Thompson and Sandi Baker, Sandi holding the front of her shirt together where it appeared to be torn.
Walter said, “Glad to see you Mark. Can one of these guys escort Sandi to the infirmary? I couldn’t leave, I have a rat cornered in the cave.”
“What’s the trouble?” Mark motioned to one of the men and he led Sandi away.
“We’ve got an attempted rape here.” Before Mark could hit the button on the door Walter took his arm. “Mark, hold on. The guy is Clay Hargraves.”
Terry asked, “You said attempted. How do you know he was going to rape her?”
“The son of a bitch ripped her clothes off, was on top of her and was getting his dick out, that’s how I know!” Walter said angrily. “I was in the back of the cave. The bastard didn’t know I was there. I heard him tell her he was going to do it.”
“Oh Jesus,” Mark said. “This is going to kill Will. Come on.”
He hit the button.
***
The two biggest guys, David Cunningham and Tom Galloway hustled Clay along the hallway almost lifting his feet off the floor. He initially resisted but realized they were totally pissed off, and unless he wanted to get seriously injured, he’d better cooperate. Walter had messed him up pretty good, his left cheek and eye were bruised and swollen, and a good sized goose bump was rising through the hair and blood on the back of his head.