Jeff was awake, and he gave her a quizzical look, the mask of horror and disgust on her face not what he expected to see. Everyone else was asleep, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long, Andy also coming round. He too could not deny the truth about the boy, the sins cast for all to see. Nothing could be hidden in the dream world, for they were all one.
“We have to stop the truck,” Jessica said, her voice low, her tone grave. She gave her brother a worried look, saw his sleeping head lolling against the canvas of the truck. Jeff was nearest to the driver’s cabin, opposite where Andy sat and he focused all his attention on Jessica now.
“What’s up?”
“Please, we have to stop.” Jeff trusted Jessica enough to know when she needed to be listened to. He could have questioned her further but chose to listen to his intuition. His own inner sense of danger had saved him more times than he chose to remember. It was, he felt, what made a good soldier and a good operative, the ability to just somehow know when a threat was about to present itself. He had seen dozens of men in his time who didn’t have that innate skill, and they had invariably been the ones who ended up either flying home in a body bag or on a hospital chopper.
“Nick, we’ve got a problem,” Jeff said into his personal radio. Those were words that changed everything.
***
A truck and a luxury car pulled over to the side of the road, detaching themselves from the main body of vehicles. The main convoy would continue on, Woolington not prepared to stop his retreat for anything. Stepping out of Woolington’s car, Nick was glad of the excuse to get away from the general’s company. To be fair, Woolington was also glad not to be in Nick’s presence anymore, any conversation they could muster having long since dried up and replaced with a bubbling hostility. Nick watched briefly as the general’s ride re-joined the flow of vehicles before he walked around to the back of Jessica’s truck.
With the vehicle stopped, Jessica had managed to disentangle herself from the still sleeping Billy. Most of the truck’s occupants had been shaken awake by the braking of the transport, Jessica climbing down from the back, Tom not really suspecting anything. Sometimes people needed rest breaks, this wasn’t the first time.
“Stay back Nick,” Jessica ordered. “Tom, you need to get down from there.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do as I say,” she insisted. So desperate were her words that Tom felt compelled to comply. Another truck pulled up behind them, the one carrying the SAS.
“Tell me what’s happened, Jessica,” Nick insisted.
“Tom may be infected.”
“How?” was all Nick said. Despite himself, he felt his feet stepping back. There was no way Jessica could hold back the tears, and they flowed freely, the plight of her brother now exposed to everyone. She’d lost so much, and it would never end. Even if they got to Iceland, people would still die. Her mother, Nick, maybe even the child she was carrying. It was too much, beyond anything she thought she could deal with. They had done everything right, and still they had failed.
“Now hold up a minute,” Tom said in protest.
“Billy.” There, she had said it, had condemned a child. She should have seen it, should have known the damage within the boy’s heart. “He infected Tom...he may have infected them all.”
27.08.19
Underground monorail, USA
There was the generalised murmured chatter of people who were suffering the relief that comes with realising they might have escaped death. The train carriage was full, several people standing up. Howell was one of them, making sure that Reece and Lizzy had somewhere to sit. He clung to a ceiling suspended railing, although he really didn’t need to. Rosenbaum also sat, taking a journey he could never have envisaged. When they reached their destination, the tunnel they were travelling in would be detonated, sealing off Site R completely from the rest of the underground network. Unlike Fort Detrick which dealt routinely with infectious diseases, there was no quarantine protocol to seal off Site R. The tunnel they were in would need to be destroyed by manually placed explosive charges. They had time which was something so many people didn’t.
Word had reached them that nobody else had survived from Site R, the undead overwhelming it. Any soldiers left were in full retreat. There wouldn’t be any trains, and the country, as it was, was presently without a civilian leader, the President dead.
“Schmidt said we were useless,” Reece said. They barely felt the motion of the train, so smooth was the ride. She had no idea what speed they were going, but it was likely faster than any surface train she had ever travelled on. She briefly found herself wondering why this technology hadn’t been used on the surface, but then she knew why. This underground realm was the true country, the one where the leaders kept their secret world. The elite, whoever they were, could move unseen and undetected below the surface of America, never even needing to rise above ground if they didn’t need to. When you had that kind of power and privilege, you didn’t care about the fate of the average man or woman.
“To her, you probably were,” Rosenbaum confirmed, “but I don’t think she was as smart as she thought she was.”
“How did she even get into that position of authority? Surely people could see how insane she was.”
“From what you have told me of her, those who mattered most likely just saw a driven woman who got results. Remember, there is a high preponderance of sociopaths at the top of the political tree, so her ethical oversights wouldn’t have meant much to them so long as the secrecy held.”
“Did you ever work with her?” Reece asked.
“Once. Once was enough. I would have liked to have had her removed from the Lazarus research, but she had become too influential. Plus, I’m no great genius myself. The only reason I rose to head the project after her death was because there was nobody else.”
“You shouldn’t put yourself down,” Reece warned.
“I’m not. I’m a realist.” The conversation petered out then, small talk pointless. Howell had hardly spoken since they had left Site R. He just stared off into a world of his own. Reece could understand that. He obviously had stuff that needed to be processed, and she knew from experience that it was better to leave a man to it and let them come back to the world in their own way.
Lizzy’s eyes opened. Reece could understand the child sleeping whenever she could. It was part of the healing her mind demanded.
“She’s in danger,” her pained voice said.
“Who?” asked Reece.
“Jessica,” Lizzy elaborated. Rosenbaum listened with frightened curiosity. Was this another example of the telepathy the immune all shared? “They are going to Iceland, but someone they tried to help has infected them all.”
“Shit,” Reece uttered.
“It’s worse than that,” Lizzy said in a hushed voice. She beckoned Reece to her and whispered the revelation in Reece’s ear.
“Can you share each other’s thoughts now?” Rosenbaum enquired.
“That would be silly,” Lizzy answered.
“Only in the dreams,” Reece mumbled, her mind churning with the betrayal by one of their own. If with everything they had been through, the immune could turn on each other, then what hope was there? This time it was Lizzy who comforted Reece, the child noticing the way her guardian’s heart had sunk.
Nobody said anything more for the next thirty minutes. It was Lizzy who broke the ice.
“What’s Iceland like?” Lizzy suddenly asked.
“Cold, sweetheart, and sometimes covered in snow.”
“Are there polar bears?”
“Probably.”
“And penguins?” Lizzy actually sounded excited, as if this was some exotic holiday destination.
“I don’t know about the penguins.”
“I like penguins,” Lizzy advised, “they make me giggle.” Laughter, the one thing that had been absent from everyone’s lives the last week or so.
“No,” Rosenbaum said. “Penguins only li
ve in the Antarctic.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s fair for the penguins,” Rosenbaum said with a wink. The Antarctic was probably now the safest place on the planet. It was unlikely the virus would ever reach there because it was so difficult for man to venture to that isolated and barren continent.
“Are we safe now?” Lizzy asked after a moment’s pause. The question bit into Reece who hugged the child into her.
“Yes,” Rosenbaum said. “I think we are.”
“I think we made it, kid,” Reece added. They would be some of the last people to make it off the American continent. When they did, they would leave behind an irradiated hell in which the undead would thrive.
But they would be alive. With all that had been done to them, Reece couldn’t believe they would actually make it.
27.08.19
A1, UK
Billy wasn’t asleep anymore. He kept his eyes closed in the hope that the truth that had been revealed would go away. He could hear people, a curse thrown out by Tom, feet moving away from him in the truck.
“Open your eyes, kid,” a voice said. It was safe for Andy to remain behind in the body of the vehicle. He had nothing to fear from the virus. Billy pulled himself up into a ball even tighter, his hand thrust deep into his pocket where he still held on to the severed finger.
“I said, open your bloody eyes.” Andy didn’t expect what happened next. Billy exploded, unravelling his limbs, jumping up to his feet, weak arms thrashing at Andy who easily held the kid off, but not before something sharp had scraped against his face, nearly cutting into the left eye. Andy grabbed the hand holding the finger, forced the kid to drop it, Billy kicking and even trying to use his teeth. The infected appendage fell to the floor, the exposed bone visible. Andy’s injury would heal, but the injury in Billy’s mind clearly wouldn’t.
Andy wasn’t a big man, but he easily obtained dominance over the ten-year-old who was rapidly running out of energy. The madness was transforming into a series of desperate sobs. Now would come the excuses, the blame game. Right then Andy knew that there was no future for the kid.
“Keep Billy in there,” Nick ordered. Andy could see that the colonel was stood well back, soldiers piling out of the second truck. Someone was going to have to deal with this kid. In the time before there would have been psychiatrists and counsellors galore to try and get to the depths of Billy’s crimes. There wouldn’t be any of that here.
“I need you all to stand separate from each other,” Nick was saying. Natasha and Jeff instantly complied, but Tom and Judy were almost mad with the truth that was being revealed. Andy watched from the truck as people’s worlds fell apart.
“Stay away from Tom, mum,” Jessica implored.
“But he’s my son,” came Judy’s response.
“He’s infected,” Jessica begged.
“We don’t know that.”
“We do, mum,” Jessica said, “we do.”
***
Any chance to get out and move about. When the truck he was in stopped, Tommy was the second to last to jump out. The first was his captain who had been riding with them since the first stop. He didn’t realise what the problem was, but his senses soon picked up the drama that was unfolding. Tommy saw Haggard coming towards him, a hand slapping itself down on his shoulder and he turned his head to look past. Tommy needed to know what the fuck was going on here.
“Tommy,” Haggard said gravely, “stay out of this.”
“The fuck you say? What the hell are they doing to the kid?” Tommy demanded, the vision of Andy clinging onto a child unsettling. Tommy made to pull away, but Haggard pushed him back.
“Get back in the truck.” That was a direct order, and Tommy knew he was going to defy it.
“Not until someone tells me what the hell is going on.” When Tommy had found Billy hiding away, he had felt like he had saved something in a world that was full of failure. Now he saw a return to that failure, some of the civilians lining up as if they were about to be shot. Another man stood next to Tommy, one of his mates, a good guy to have in a fight, but right now he was there to make sure Tommy didn’t do something that would condemn them all. The grip on his shoulder tightened.
“I’m sorry Tommy, but the kid deliberately infected someone.”
“No,” Tommy protested, “that can’t be right.”
“When have you ever known me to lie?” Haggard’s words broke through to him. Who was he to trust here? A ten year old child he had known less than a day, or a man he had fought besides and who he trusted implicitly. Haggard might have been an officer, but he had earnt the men’s respect.
“I need to know,” Tommy stated. “I need to know why he did it.”
“Yeah,” Haggard agreed. “I think we all do.”
Another truck pulled up, Captain Beckington stepping out of the back. He was a doctor, so he had been issued with a batch of the remaining test kits and was now complying with a request made by Nick over the radio. Before he approached though, he put on his respirator and thick gloves. Beckington made his way over to Nick, noticing the four people standing separate from the group.
“I need you to do the field test on all four of them, Tom first.” Beckington felt his heart sink. He liked these people, had gotten to know them over the past few days. Well, perhaps not Tom, the farm’s owner always stayed kind of aloof and distant, but Beckington could appreciate why that was.
“You’re not sticking me with that thing,” Tom shouted. He stepped forward, his anger rising only to find a gun pointed in his face. Nick stood there, his hand never wavering, the determination in his eyes telling Tom everything he needed to know.
“I will shoot you, Tom.” The two held each other’s gaze. Nick knew that if Tom took a single step forward or made any threatening action, there would be no hesitation in pulling the trigger. “You have been a pain in my arse from the first moment I met you. Don’t give me a reason to end you.”
“Jessica, please,” Tom begged, looking at his sister. She just shook her head, resigned. She was clearly upset, but she couldn’t deny the reality of what they were dealing with. Maybe Tom was immune like she was.
“We need to know, Tom.” Jessica turned to Beckington, who stood there waiting for instructions. “Give me the testing kits, Captain,” she said. “Let me do my own family and Nick’s team.” Beckington didn’t hesitate, and he rummaged around in his medical bag until he found what he needed. He only had ten of the kits left, and he handed over four.
“Just so you know, I’m getting low on these.”
The kid squirmed again to try and get out of Andy’s grasp, but Andy held fast.
“You alright there, Andy?” Nick enquired.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got him.” Andy bent down and whispered in Billy’s ear. “You quit it now, you hear me. Any more of this and I will hurt you.”
“Let go of me, you bastard,” Billy hissed, although Andy could tell much of the fight in him had been expelled. With an arm across the child’s chest, Andy pulled Billy further into the truck. It blocked much of what was happening outside, but he didn’t want to risk Billy getting free and causing mayhem. There had been enough of that already.
Outside Jessica performed the testing. The kits were easy to use, and with the gun still pointed at Tom, she did her brother first.
“You know there’s no choice here?” Jessica pleaded. Tom’s only answer was his betrayed glower and the steady hand he offered.
There was no evidence of any infection in Jeff, who didn’t visibly react when told the news. It wouldn’t be right for him to celebrate when others’ lives were hanging so precariously in the balance, so he kept his relief to himself. Natasha wasn’t so fortunate, the test kit condemning her.
“I suppose it was inevitable,” Natasha said, holding Nick in her gaze. If she was honest, she never thought she would get this far. Ever since Brody had been killed, she had the feeling that she was living on borrowed time.
“How d
o you want to do it?” Nick asked. This was the woman he had considered executing days before. He had chosen not to, and now she was dead anyway. Perhaps there was no way for them to escape their fates.
“I think I’ll just find somewhere quiet and let nature take its course,” she said, tapping the pistol in the hip holster she wore. The kits didn’t test for immunity, but it was virtually impossible to think that Natasha would be capable of fighting off the virus. It was only right that she be given the chance to take her own way out. She looked around at the open fields. “I can think of better places to do it though.”
“Is there anything you need?” Nick asked. The temptation was to let her know he had discovered her previous betrayal and had forgiven her, but there was no point to that. It wouldn’t serve her in her last hours. He wouldn’t tell anyone else either, better to let Natasha’s legacy go out untainted.
“Vodka, if you’ve got any.”
“I’m sure we can scrounge some from somewhere.” Satisfied, Natasha stepped back further from the group. She was surprised by how easily she had accepted the news. To be honest, Natasha could feel a kind of peace descending over her. The last few days had been filled with uncertainty, and now all that was over.
Jessica looked longingly at the final two test kits. They were resting on a wall in the order they had been applied. You really didn’t want to mix these results up. She had already decided that the only way to deal with whatever happened was to endure what the tests showed. She was already past most of the stages that her grief would demand. Jessica knew she was probably about to lose her family here, but that made her no different than anybody else in the world.
The Lazarus Strain Chronicles (Book 5): The Last Page 37