Coldbrook

by Tim Lebbon

  As she went deeper, so the pressure of the core impressed itself upon her. She could not feel or hear it, yet it sang in her bones. It was only when she reached the narrow platform at the deepest part of Coldbrook that she realised why that sensation was familiar—it was the same as passing through the breach.

  Perhaps the multiverse was laughing at her.

  Holly had no time to rest. She opened her tool pouch, flicked the torch’s beam across the mess of control panels and boards, and found what she had come looking for. Even here, she felt realities hinging on one act or object. If this screw failed, realities might change. If this capacitor was faulty, stars might crumble.

  She got to work.

  * * *

  An hour later, after Holly had showered, she stood inside the doorway to the garage area, listening again to the sound from behind the plant-room wall. If she didn’t know what was in there, she might have imagined a thousand doves cooing softly in the darkness. The Hummer was still parked tight against the door. There were two people from Gaia standing watch with Hitch and another Unseen, chatting quietly, their fascination obvious.

  “We’re cool,” Hitch said when he saw her watching. “No movement from there, just that fucking awful noise. We need some Springsteen in here, drown it out.”

  “Springsteen?” one of Drake’s people said.

  Hitch’s face fell. “Dude.”

  Holly left the garage knowing that they could never be safe, and that it would take more than walls to separate them from the chaos that had smothered her world.

  But she felt happier now, because she had a secret.

  6

  Vic snapped awake at the screeching alarm, and déjà vu screamed in with it.

  Olivia sat on the bed wide-eyed, her arms hugging her knees. Lucy sat up, face grim, hair awry.

  “Oh, shit,” Vic muttered, standing, tripping over his discarded boots, sitting to slip them on again, and all the while his family did not speak. The alarm thrummed into them, that awful repeating tone that could mean nothing good.

  His satphone rang. “Yeah.”

  “Vic, they broke in,” Holly said. “The garage, the plant-room wall, it was just blockwork, and it cracked under pressure. Weakened by the Hummer impact, maybe. I was there an hour ago and it was all fine, but… Hundreds of them. I’m in Secondary, I can see them on the camera. Being held back in the common room right now. But I can’t reach Sean, he’s in Jonah’s room, you need to get there and—”

  “What are you doing in Secondary?”

  “Trying to adapt the breach. Doesn’t matter—you need to protect Jayne, Vic. It’s all about her now, and Marc.”

  “Where’s he?”

  “Here with me. Drake’s here, too. He said Moira and others are going to take the kids through.”

  She means through there, Vic thought, and his spine tingled at the thought. “Right. I can pick up Jayne and Sean on the way.”

  Gunshots, and he wasn’t sure whether they were from outside the door or had sounded over the phone. Olivia and Lucy looked at the door, startled. Outside.

  “Holly, gotta go, see you in Control in three minutes.”

  “Wait!”

  “Holly—”

  “Loved you, Vic.”

  “I’m not going through without you,” he said. “We’ll wait in Control.”

  “Okay. Now go.”

  “Holly…” I loved you, he wanted to say. But he didn’t, because he still loved her, and to say that in front of Lucy would have been too much. Holly disconnected and he pocketed the phone.

  “They’re in,” Lucy said.

  “Yeah. Okay, listen. We have to get through the breach.”

  “With Jayne,” Lucy said. “She’s our hope.”

  Vic grabbed his pistol; reloaded now, and with three spare magazines.

  “But won’t they follow us through?”

  “Holly’s doing something to the breach, I guess to prevent that. And we’ll be ready over there when it opens again. Defend it until we’re ready to come back through with a cure.”

  “And what’ll be left?”

  Vic couldn’t answer that, so he didn’t try.

  “Ready, princess?” he asked.

  “I’m scared,” Olivia said.

  “You follow close to me, keep your eyes on my back, turn when I turn. Remember how you’d follow my steps in the snow?” His beautiful daughter nodded. “Pretend we’re doing that now.”

  He pulled on his boots and stood by the door. Last time I ran from here, I turned right.

  Vic opened the door, paused at the corridor junction, checked both ways, and headed left.

  7

  “We’ll take Marc with us,” Drake said.

  Holly nodded, her heart thumping, looking from Drake to Marc. I can’t say goodbye. It might slow them down.

  “I need everything,” Marc said, picking up piles of printed material. He glanced at the laptop and satphone, frowned.

  “No use over there,” Holly said. “You need to go.”

  One of the screens showed the garage, block wall tumbled from the pressure of zombies massed in the high duct behind it, hundreds of them now pressing forward against the wall below the camera where the short corridor to the common room began. Earlier, Holly had caught a brief glimpse of Hitch’s slack face in the mass. The middle screen showed the common room. It was empty of kids now, and a tide of zombie bodies was flowing through the door like a slow wave. Several people—from Holly’s Earth, and from Gaia—were systematically shooting any new one that managed to force its way, through, adding to the pile of cadavers. Gunshots flashed, crossbows whispered, gun smoke hazed the air. It could not last.

  The fourth screen showed hundreds more zombies gathered around the parked bus and open duct. If she watched long enough, Holly knew that she would see them drop out of view on one screen and appear again, eventually, in the garage.

  “Moira’s leading the kids,” Drake said to Marc. “You need to come with us.”

  Marc nodded, looking around the room as if he’d forgotten something important. He’s scared, Holly realised. She held his arms, catching his stare.

  “I’ll see you soon,” she said. Marc offered a brief smile.

  “You’re not coming?” Drake asked.

  “I need to close the breach for a while, until we’re…” She trailed off, pointed at the screens. “Make sure Vic picks up Jayne on his way.”

  Drake nodded, and behind him Moira stared at Holly. Smiled. Holly smiled back.

  They left Secondary, and Holly closed the door behind them and locked it. Then she returned to the desk and sat back, placing her pistol beside her laptop. She tapped a few keys and brought up the program she needed. Deep down by the core, an electronic switch the size of her thumb waited to trip.

  On the screens she saw more zombies forcing their way through into the common room, and the defenders had fallen back from the frenzied things. One corpse crawled, peppered with bullets and bolts, reaching beyond the camera’s view before staying still. Others rolled down the pile of bodies, stood, and stumbled out of sight.

  Holly flicked the image to a corridor view, just in time to see Vic and his family disappearing around a corner towards Jonah’s room. She wanted to call Vic, tell him to get a fucking move on, but that might distract him and slow him. So she switched cameras again, flipping through several before she saw Vic, Olivia and Lucy outside Jonah’s door.

  Vic reached for the handle and pushed the door open.

  On another screen, she saw zombies flooding into the common room.

  Holly’s hand hovered over her laptop. She offered up a prayer, knowing that with a few keystrokes she would change this world. Marc will be safe soon, he has the knowledge, he has Mannan, and if I have to sacrifice Vic and his family and even Jayne… if I have to kill them…

  There was still time for them to reach the breach. Minutes. Maybe seconds.

  But time.

  8

  He’s going to
fucking shoot me! Vic thought, and then Sean lowered the gun.

  “We have to go,” Vic said.

  “Where?”

  “Through the breach. Now!”

  The gunfire had ceased, and from the direction of the common room two junctions away he heard an ominous rumbling.

  “Daddy?” Olivia said, and Lucy was calming her, shushing her. I should have sent them on! Vic thought, but it was too late now. Much too late.

  “Where’s—?”

  “I’m here,” Jayne said from behind Sean. She sounded weak and looked so slight, and Vic could barely credit that the future of their world might lie within her.

  “Footsteps,” Sean said.

  “Come on.” Vic ushered his wife and daughter towards the staircase, touching his pocket to make sure he had the spare magazines for his pistol. One in the gun, three in his pocket, thirty-two bullets, and Holly had said there were hundreds of zombies.

  Sean and Jayne were following.

  “Ammo?” Vic asked.

  “Not much.”

  Jayne was slow. She groaned as she tried to run, crying, cursing, and when Vic caught her eye he saw the desperation there, and how hard she was trying. She didn’t want anyone’s death on her conscience.

  Shapes moved behind them, and Vic paused, ushering Jayne and Sean past him. For a second he thought these were fellow survivors fleeing the zombies, because they were running so hard, arms pumping and feet pounding the corridor’s floor. Then he saw the blood.

  He braced, leaned forward, aimed and fired. The first man’s head flipped back and he fell, tripping those behind him. They stood quickly and ran on, less than twenty feet away. Vic fired again, and again. A biker went down, face shattered, his arms bleeding from bites. The gunfire was deafening, but Vic could still hear his daughter’s screams.

  Sean was by his side, firing five times in five seconds, and now there were ten bodies down, twelve.

  One woman jumped, and Sean shot her in the eye in mid-air. She landed and slid almost to their feet.

  “Ammo!” Vic said, and he changed magazines while Sean continued shooting.

  “Go!” Sean said.

  “Fuck that.” Another shot, another. Fifteen down. The others had to slow now, climb, step over dead people who’d been made dead again.

  “Your family!”

  Vic glanced back and Lucy, Olivia and Jayne had gone, towards Control and the breach. But he wanted them with him. He’d vowed never to leave them again.

  “We’ve got time,” he said. He grabbed Sean’s arm and pulled, and Sean saw the sense. He’d made his own vows, Vic realised. He’d rescued this special young woman, and in doing so had attached himself to her for ever. If a sacrifice was needed, Sean would make it without a second thought.

  As they ran, someone screamed. Vic couldn’t tell which direction the sound had come from and he put on a burst of speed, slamming through a set of double doors and gasping with relief when he saw Lucy and the others beyond.

  “Block these!” Sean said. The doors swung both ways, making them difficult to barricade.

  “Daddy!” Olivia pulled the belt from her jeans—pink with the word Angel written in glitter—and handed it to Vic.

  “Clever girl,” Jayne whispered.

  The scream came again, much quieter now. Back the way they’d come.

  “Who’s left back there?” Sean asked.

  Vic was looping the belt through the doors’ handles. “Holly’s in Secondary.” He paused, knowing that if he tied it too tightly—

  The zombies crashed into the doors, shoving them back. The belt halted their movement, and three arms reached through the narrow opening. Vic and Sean leaned hard against the doors and Vic pulled the belt tighter, slipping his own through the handles as well.

  “Daddy,” Olivia said, tears breaking her voice.

  “Come on, sweetie.” Vic held her hand and ushered Lucy and Jayne ahead of him. Not far now, he thought. Thirty seconds down to Control, then through the breach, then—

  The belts snapped and the doors burst open. Behind him, gunshots.

  “Go!” Vic shouted, shoving Olivia after Lucy, turning, firing three quick shots. Five bodies fell, others were trampled. The zombies’ numbers were slowing them down. But Vic knew he might not be that lucky again.

  “Not far,” he said to Sean.

  “I’ll stay and give you time.”

  “Fuck you will.” He grasped Sean’s arm, pinching skin, eliciting a brief yelp. Vic laughed, high-pitched and crazy-sounding.

  They ran, entering the staircase and securing the doors behind them. These were stronger; they might last longer. Down the staircase, veering around the slow bend towards Control, and when he saw the glass wall Vic put on a burst of speed, glancing through, terrified that he’d see the dead staring back. But Marc was there, standing defiantly just outside the breach containment and arguing with Drake. Several more of Drake’s people stood poised, their crossbows pointed at the open doorway.

  Vic stood in the doorway and winced, realising his mistake, braced for the impact of a bolt. “We’re fine!” he shouted. No one fired.

  “About fucking time,” Marc said.

  “Come on!” Drake waved them down to him, and Vic stood back to let Sean and Jayne pass. He snatched Sean’s gun as he went by, and the older man paused only for a second.

  “Vic?” Lucy asked. She grabbed Vic’s arm as Olivia tugged at her other hand.

  “Mommy, Daddy, we’ve got to go!”

  “Come on!” Drake said. He was pushing Marc towards the breach, gesturing for Sean and Jayne to follow. The Gaians withdrew in a tightening circle around the breach.

  He heard them pounding against the staircase doors one level up.

  “Holly,” Vic said.

  “Vic…” Lucy gasped.

  “She’s in Secondary. Shutting the breach for a short time. Otherwise the bastards’ll run straight through after us, and we won’t be ready.”

  “No,” Lucy breathed, her eyes searching Vic’s face. He blinked.

  “I’ve got to help her,” he said, but they both knew that was only part of the truth. The other part—the greater part—was that he could never leave Holly behind.

  “Damn it, Vic,” Lucy said. She picked up Olivia and carried her down towards the breach.

  “Daddy!” Olivia screeched. Vic watched them go. His wife’s hair was dirty but still looked gorgeous, and he wanted to run his hands through it one last time.

  “We’ll be the last ones through!” he shouted. “Three minutes. Don’t shoot us.”

  Before he ran, he tried to smile at his wife. But she did not once turn back.

  9

  Holly watched the group passing into the breach, but Vic remained behind.

  “Shit.”

  Her finger hovered over the keyboard.

  There were no longer minutes left. Only seconds now. She was closer to God than ever before, and yet Vic stood between them.

  Holly grabbed the satphone and dialled.

  Vic left Control and she lost sight of him. His phone rang but he did not answer.

  “Okay, then, Vic,” she whispered. A thrill went through her. Although the truth was painful, right then the fact that Vic was coming for her meant everything.

  She watched Control on the lower level, the corridors of the main middle level flooded with zombies, and she flipped the other two views to Secondary’s dedicated staircase. Clear—for now.

  But the second she saw them in Control, she would type the code and press enter. Three US states was a huge sacrifice, but it was nothing compared to the cure that Marc might find.

  Jonah sat here and watched me going through the breach, Holly thought. She wondered where he was now, if he had succeeded, and whether he was alive or dead. Or neither.

  10

  Vic could hear the zombies banging and hooting, and he could smell them, their curious dead stench filling Coldbrook and promising a similar fate for him.

  His chest
burned as he ran, and a deep sense of shame burned inside him.

  He passed the staircase they’d just descended and the doors bowed out, creaking. As he raced around the core towards Secondary’s staircase, he held the guns—his M1911 and the one he’d taken from Sean—in both hands, ready to aim them the instant he saw shadows coming at him.

  Holly switched off the alarm. Just me and her left, Vic thought, and he ran harder.

  The staircase was clear, though the zombies were pressing against the doors on the middle level. Dead eyes followed him as he dashed past, eyes belonging to people he had perhaps once known, and he looked away.

  The corridor above was also clear, and moments later he was at Secondary’s door. He tried the handle—locked.

  “Holly!”

  The lock snicked open and he shoved at the door, falling into the room, seeing the zombies on the screens, and Control was still clear.

  “Holly, we haven’t got a fucking second so we’ve—”

  “I’m not leaving, Vic.” She was sitting at the desk again, gaze flickering across the screens, back to Vic, screens again.

  “What?”

  Holly was crying. Smiling. “You came back for me.”

  “To help. Are you done? Come on, let’s get the fuck—”

  “I lied,” she said. “You never did understand the core. I could adapt it, but that’s a long process, takes days. So I’ve bypassed a load of shit, rigged the containment to shut down instead. And that’s manual.”

  “No,” Vic breathed.

  “One code away, Vic. Core exposure. And you know what that means.”

  “It means no one ever comes back,” he said.

  “Back to what?” Holly nodded at the screens. She could barely look at him.

  “But the cure,” he said. “Everything we’ve been fighting for.”

  “There are other worlds to save.”

  No, Vic thought. No, no, this isn’t why I came back, this can’t be—