Edwards looked nervously to McCaffrey and the soldier nodded.
‘Go ahead,’ he said.
Edwards complied and handed it over.
‘OK, make it quick,’ Raine said. ‘He’s losing a lot of blood.’
‘We’ll be back in five minutes, tops,’ McCaffrey said.
Raine beckoned Salty back and whispered in his ear.
‘They try anything at all…’
‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ he whispered back.
2
McCaffrey made good on his word. By the time Ethan and Raine had carried O.B. back to Darla and the car, they only had to wait a couple of minutes for the van to arrive.
McCaffrey offered to accommodate O.B. in his vehicle where there was more room, but Raine refused and insisted he lay in the back of the Sedan with Darla. They managed to elevate his leg and readjust the tourniquet to help stem the bleeding.
Salty remained in the van with McCaffrey and Edwards to ensure there were no secret messages sent to anyone during the journey.
As Ethan drove along the 10 between the Ferris Lake Wild Forest and the Silver Lake Wilderness, Raine stared at the white van they were following, wondering if Salty was OK, and if he’d been able to get a better read on McCaffrey.
Darla was exhausted from the symptoms of her withdrawal, but when she’d seen that O.B. had been wounded, there had been a noticeable change in her behaviour. It had sobered her to some extent, and now she watched the injured young man with an eagle eye for any alteration in his condition.
There was nothing to see when they reached the small town of Pisceio. It appeared that the community had set the whole place alight before they’d left. Or perhaps they’d remained to burn with it. The only remanence left now were the scorched shells of their houses and the ash that carried on the breeze.
The van headed northwest and onto Pottersville when joining the 9. Not long after that they were on Highway 87, eventually turning off at Underwood.
‘I think I’m finally getting the hang of this left-hand drive lark,’ Ethan said. ‘It’s much easier to practice when there are no cars on the road. How’s our patient doing?’ He glanced into the back seat.
‘He’s doing just fine,’ Darla said as she held O.B., supporting his head in her lap.
‘I never learned to drive,’ O.B. said wearily, now soaked through with sweat. ‘My Papa was gonna teach me when he’d finished the construction job he was working on in Chicago.’
‘Maybe I’ll be good enough to teach you when you’re back on your feet,’ Ethan said.
‘No way some Brit is gonna teach an American to drive. I’ll show you how it’s done when you’re ready,’ Darla said.
‘You can drive?’ O.B. said.
‘I wasn’t born homeless, asshole,’ Darla said.
O.B. smiled through the pain.
‘You’re full of surprises,’ he said.
Darla shrugged and gazed out of the window, trying to take her mind off the familiar feeling of cramps that had started to stir in her lower abdomen again.
Raine didn’t take any notice of their conversation. She was too busy watching the van slow down as it hit the narrow trail for the Great Mountain Wilderness. She opened the passenger door before Ethan had a chance to brake to a stop and grabbed her rifle.
‘Stay in the car. Wait for my signal.’ With that, she strode to the van and reached it just as McCaffrey and Salty were getting out. ‘What’s going on?’ she said.
‘I never said the facility was easy to get to,’ McCaffrey said. ‘It’s an old nuclear command centre, leftover from the Cold War. The tougher it was to gain access to these places, the better. It’s better in our situation too, as long as we can get your guy there in time.’
‘It’s OK, Miller. I believe him—for now,’ Salty said.
McCaffrey opened the back of the van to let Edwards out. He blinked at the harsh sunlight as he climbed down. Inside the main compartment of the vehicle was a stretcher, which he slid out and laid on the ground.
Raine ducked her head in and noticed there were two empty body bags in there too.
‘What are those for?’ she said.
‘You’d be surprised just how difficult it is to get your hands on an unspoiled, uninfected cadaver these days. It’s a valuable commodity to our research team at the facility and essential for their ongoing work. One of the reasons I’m out here in the wilds risking my neck.’
‘Well, if our friend doesn’t get the treatment he needs, there’ll be more than one fresh cadaver,’ Raine said.
Aware that her patience was wearing thin, McCaffrey offered to pair up with Salty as a stretcher bearer. The two of them carried O.B., Ethan took the lead and cut down some of the undergrowth with Salty’s hatchet, while Raine loitered at the back with Darla and Edwards so she could keep a close eye on everything.
The journey down was a steep one, following the trail that Ethan cut into the valley.
The bumping around on the stretcher was not helping to stem the flow of blood from O.B.’s wound. Salty did his best to engage him in conversation just to keep him conscious.
When they eventually stopped to rest, Salty readjusted his tourniquet and McCaffrey poured some water into his mouth.
Edwards watched them tend to the young man, noting that he’d grown significantly paler since they’d ventured off-road. At that moment, he felt the presence of someone behind him. It was Darla.
‘So, you’re a preacher,’ she said.
‘I’m a Catholic priest,’ he replied.
‘I sure hope you’ve made right with your God. ‘Cause if anything happens to that kid, you’ll be meetin’ him real soon.’
Their eyes locked and Edwards could see that the dishevelled woman stood before him meant every word.
‘OK, let’s move out,’ Salty said, waving them on.
Darla broke their gaze and trudged on past Edwards.
The man stared at her for a while longer until he heard Raine’s footsteps right behind him and then continued to walk.
No sooner had they set off again, they were halted by Ethan. He’d worn himself out cutting back the dense vegetation and now could do nothing but breathe hard against a tree.
‘I’m… sorry… I just… Can’t anymore.’
‘Damnit, Twilight,’ Salty said. Before he was able to call to Raine, Darla ghosted past and took the hatchet from Ethan’s weak grasp.
‘Go rest at the back. You’ve done enough,’ she said.
Ethan looked at her matchstick frame and remembered how sick she’d been when they’d stopped on the road.
‘Are you sure you…’ he prevented himself from finishing his sentence when he saw her look of disapproval. ‘Right—sure.’ He did as she asked and left her alone.
They continued for another ten minutes, and then the ground steepened further.
Once Darla had cut down the latest section of tall grass, they saw the dark waters of Ausable Lake. It stopped Raine in her tracks. She stood and watched the others reach the lakeside.
‘OK, put him down here,’ McCaffrey said.
Salty lowered the stretcher in unison and O.B. groaned as his legs touched the flat earth.
McCaffrey caught his breath and gazed further along the shore. About a hundred and fifty yards northeast, two inflatable boats bobbed on the water, anchored to land by mooring posts.
‘I thought I calculated that pretty well—all things considered,’ he said.
He felt Raine’s boot connect with the back of his leg joint and he fell to his knees. She forced his head forward and pushed the barrel of her rifle into it.
‘What the fuck is this?’ she said.
‘Our way in,’ McCaffrey said, gritting his teeth in response to the pressure of the gun metal pressing against his skull.
‘First, it’s by road, then you take us on a trek through the woods, and now you want to get us on the water?’
; ‘Look, if there was an easier route, I’d take you that way, but this is the only access point to the facility right now.’
‘The kid ain’t got all day,’ Salty said.
O.B. was still lucid, but he’d started to turn a rather unhealthy shade of grey.
‘How do we even know if he’s taking us to where he says he is?’ Raine said.
‘I ain’t sayin’ this is a smart move, but if we’re backin’ out now, it’s gonna be a hell of a lot harder to save him than it was back on the road,’ Salty said.
Raine’s eyes darted back and forth to the young man slowly bleeding out on the stretcher, and McCaffrey, her finger caressing the trigger of the rifle.
‘Alright then,’ she said, pushing the barrel harder into the thin layers of flesh surrounding McCaffrey’s skull. ‘When we get onboard, you’re gonna tell me every little detail about this facility and the people in it. And if you hold out on anything I think is important later on, I’m going to slice open your gut and let the dead feed on your insides while you’re still breathing.’
McCaffrey nodded immediately.
‘Speak up!’
‘I think he gets the message, Miller,’ Ethan said.
‘I’ll decide when he’s got it,’ Raine spat back. She released McCaffrey from her grip and his head snapped back again. He blew hard, his body trembling from the shock.
The others stared at Raine, the same way she was stared at after she’d killed the intruders in the Management Centre of the nature preserve. She avoided their eyes and stooped to pick up one end of the stretcher.
‘Get to the fucking boats,’ she said.
3
The rigid-hulled, inflatable boats skimmed over the surface of the lake. McCaffrey operated one and Salty the other.
The centre of the valley was a world all of its own. The steep, forested walls of the mountains on either side projected their majesty onto the reflective waters, only for the images to be washed away in the swell from the outboard motors.
Just as she had done in the car, Darla sat beside O.B. and held his hand. The motion of the speeding boat intensified the pains shooting through his wounded leg and made it even more difficult for Darla to keep it elevated.
‘Just hold on, Oswald. We’re on the home straight,’ she said.
‘Only my Mama ever called me Oswald,’ he said wearily.
‘Sorry,’ Darla said.
‘Don’t be. It makes a change from fat ass anyway,’ he said. His smile soon turned to a grimace when the boat took a longer than usual bump on the lake.
‘Hey! Watch what you’re doin’ back there,’ Darla said.
Salty scowled at her remark as he continued to steer from behind, keeping pace with the other vessel.
‘You focus on him and leave this to me,’ he said.
Raine watched them from the second boat. She was standing, hanging onto the T-bar to keep her balance. She had her back to Ethan and Edwards so she could watch McCaffrey.
‘So, talk,’ she said. ‘What are we looking for?’
‘There’s a cave entrance about half a mile away. That’s our way in,’ McCaffrey replied, raising his voice over the sound of the motor. ‘There used to be a point of access by road, but that was overrun by the dead a while back.’
‘Who can I expect to meet when we get there?’ Raine said.
‘Myself and Major Crawford are the only two military personnel left in the facility. Then we have what’s leftover of the scientific team. Doctor Osgood, Foster and Grant. Isiah Grant is the head of the operation.’
‘And that’s everyone?’
‘There’s one other guy. Jason Schaffer. He’s a civilian I picked up on the road. Only been with us a week or so.’
‘Anything else important you want to tell me?’
‘Look… Miller, isn’t it? I don’t know the science stuff. If you want it to make any sense to you, the doctors will be more than happy to answer any of your questions once they have seen to your friend.’
Raine paused for a moment, then nodded.
‘Do you want me to at least call ahead so they can prepare to operate? It’ll be better for him,’ McCaffrey said.
‘You remember what I said?’
‘I haven’t lived this long just to die of my own stupidity.’
‘OK. Do it,’ Raine said.
McCaffrey reached for the onboard radio, grabbing the transmitter and stretching its coiled wire until it reached his mouth.
‘Crawford, come in. Over.’
‘I’m here. Where the hell did you go, Donny?’ came the female voice through the GPS receiver.
‘I ran into some folks. Listen, there’s been an accident. One of them has been injured. A gunshot wound to the leg. How far are you from the facility? Over.’
‘I’m just coming up on it now. Over,’ Crawford said.
‘Great. We’re on the water, so you should see us.’
‘Alright then. I’ll head over and tell them to prepare the medical bay for your arrival.’
‘You do that. Over and out,’ McCaffrey said.
‘How’s she gonna get there?’ Raine said.
‘You’ll see—any minute now,’ McCaffrey said.
Sure enough, within a minute or so, Raine heard the distant whir of rota blades. The chopper approached from the west and banked to fly over their heads as it headed towards the mountains. It flew low enough to see that it was the same helicopter they had encountered on the road earlier.
4
As the boats drifted through the entrance to the cavern within the mountain, it seemed more like a secret passageway into a medieval stronghold than a government facility. Moisture dripped onto their heads from the limestone and the soft swell of the water beneath them intensified when they were inside its confines.
The first boat bumped into the small jetty and McCaffrey jumped onto it to tie off. Everyone else disembarked and helped carry O.B. up a short flight of stone steps to a hydraulic elevator.
They travelled to the next level, which opened out into a reinforced chamber with a ceiling that reached up twenty feet. There was a roadway built through the middle of it, and a woman waited there. She sat at the wheel of a flat-bedded electric truck.
‘They’re waiting for us,’ she said, in what sounded like a heavy Brooklyn accent.
They placed O.B. on the back and climbed aboard. Raine went to sit up front with McCaffrey and the driver.
‘We cool?’ the woman said, staring at McCaffrey.
‘Cool enough,’ he replied.
She hit the accelerator and the truck quietly headed down the roadway, passing through the chamber, each section almost identical to the last.
‘This is our pilot—Major Crawford,’ McCaffrey said.
Raine nodded to Crawford.
‘Pleasure,’ Crawford said in a subtle but sarcastic tone. ‘Word to the wise; next time someone gives you a “heads-up”, I suggest you take it. Those forests are teeming with people who want to take what you have, and they don’t care whether you live or die before handing it over.’
‘Thanks, but I’m not in the habit of trusting military helicopters,’ Raine said.
‘Suit yourself. Could have prevented your boy back there from takin’ a bullet.’
‘Yeah, from one of yours.’
‘Hey, I told you. Edwards ain’t one of us. He’s a civilian, like you,’ McCaffrey said.
They drove for approximately half a mile until they saw two people dressed in lab coats—one male and one female. They readied the steel gurney as Crawford brought the truck in.
The male doctor approached first. He wore glasses with thick rims and a stern expression.
‘Who do we have?’ he said.
‘He’s a teenager,’ McCaffrey said.
‘Let’s get him down then,’ the doctor said. He moved around to the flatbed and helped with the others. ‘OK, on three. One, two, three.’
They lifted th
e stretcher and O.B. breathed hard through gritted teeth. They carried him over to the gurney and carefully placed him on it.
The female doctor immediately got to work, cutting the bottom of the young man’s pants to expose his leg and the weeping wound.
The male doctor pulled a pencil-thin torch from his top pocket and shone it in O.B.’s eyes.
‘What’s your name, son?’
‘Oswald,’ O.B. said. His eyelids were heavy and the doctor used his thumb to keep them open.
‘Not to worry, Oswald. We’re going to fix you right up.’ He looked down at his colleague, who was examining the injury. ‘What’s the damage, Doctor Foster?’
‘Well, the good news is it’s missed the tibia. It’s lodged pretty deep by the looks of it,’ Foster said.
The male doctor looked at Salty’s crude tourniquet as if deeply offended.
‘Doctor, please remove that monstrosity.’
Foster brandished the surgical scissors again and sliced straight through the material and darker blood came bubbling to the surface of O.B.’s flesh.
The male doctor watched it happen over the frame of his glasses.
‘Hmm, very moody. OK, let’s get him to surgery,’ he said.
The doctors pushed the gurney through the double doors in front of them and the others followed.
The wheels of the gurney squealed through the conjoining corridor and the mess hall before they reached another set of swinging doors. The male doctor stopped and blocked the rest of the group with his outstretched arm.
‘End of the line for you people, I’m afraid. No one but medical personnel past this point.’
‘The hell it is!’ Darla’s eyes flared and she made a more forceful play for the door, but the doctor’s arm stayed firm.
‘Look, I understand. You people have been living in less than civilised conditions, but in here, we still have rules—protocol,’ he said. ‘It’s what keeps us from losing our minds like the bandits out there. So, are you going to let us work, or shall we just watch Mr. Oswald bleed out on this fucking table?’
Raine reacted to his aggressive tone by taking a step forward, but McCaffrey grabbed her arm.
Everything Dies [Season Two] Page 5