Tesla Evolution Box Set

by Mark Lingane

  Michael wiped his hand over his face. “I understand your feelings, Sebastian. But the other question is, how long will she last anyway? With her like this, we can’t go fast. We don’t know the condition of the research labs at New Toowoomba. It could end up being a fruitless journey. And, on top of that, we have all the emotions. There’s only one answer, and it’s the wrong one when dealing with emotions.”

  Sebastian slumped down on the ground. “We need to talk about this.”

  43

  THEY HAD ALL collected around the back of the SUV.

  “What’s the issue?” Nikola asked.

  Peter’s face was grim.

  Sebastian folded his arms and glared at the ground. His face said it all. “The fluid in the vial is an antidote,” he said, “but it’s not very good.”

  Michael continued. “We don’t have enough to give it to Melanie as well as use it for mass reproduction. In fact, I don’t even know if there’s enough in the vial to cure her. Maybe a child, but not an adult.”

  “Can you reproduce it?” Nikola asked.

  “Do you need to ask?”

  Everyone exchanged nervous glances.

  “Well, yes, I do,” Nikola said.

  Michael looked annoyed. “Of course I can. I was always whipping up antidotes to various snake bites, spider bites and the like, and poisons for putting beloved pets to sleep. That’s how I know this is poison and this is the antidote. I recognize the symptoms. But we have no facilities so it’s a pointless question. I understand the importance of saving Melanie, but if we use it for her and one of us gets attacked or she gets cut again, it’ll mean certain death. And as you can see, it’s not a pleasant one.”

  “We’re not going to let her die,” Sebastian shouted.

  “We’re going to do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Nikola replied. “Believe me, none of us wants to see her succumb to this.”

  “She’s in a bad way,” Michael said. “She’s going to have to travel in the SUV, and it has to be slow and gentle.”

  Nikola looked pensive and crossed his arms across his chest. “New Toowoomba’s too far and those warnings sounded bad. Is there anywhere nearer? Albert?”

  The scientist examined the great sheets of paper.

  “Nothing fancy, Albert. I just need to know the nearest.”

  “Vell, there’s the ’Siro, but it’s been abandoned for many, many years.”

  “What’s a ’Siro?”

  “It’s short for the CSIRO,” Michael said. “It’s an old government research facility at Four Trees. It eventually fell into disrepair due to government cutbacks, and all the world-changing developments were lost forever so some fat cats in the capital could keep their wine cellars stocked.”

  “A sore point?”

  “It should sicken every scientist,” Albert said.

  “Is it close?” Nikola asked.

  “It’s closer than New Toowoomba,” Albert said. “Southeast. Toward Four Trees.”

  Sebastian and Michael glanced at each other.

  “I’ll go,” Michael said. “And I’ll take Sebastian. I’ll take half the antidote and I’ll do my best.”

  Nikola agreed without further discussion. “Fine. It’s a safer place to be than here with these creatures. We’ll meet you in New Toowoomba in … three days?”

  “Yes. Now, excuse me, but I have a life to save.” Michael grabbed the vial, sucked out half the mixture into the syringe and ran over to Melanie. Her breathing had returned to normal, and she was beginning to stir. He injected the remaining antidote into her arm above the infection. He pressed down on the point of the needle and gently withdrew it.

  Melanie stirred. “Ow,” she whispered.

  Sebastian bent over her. “Melanie, you’re not well. Michael’s given you some antidote, and he’s going to try and make some more. I’m going with him.”

  “Please come back.” She reached up for his hand.

  He clasped it and held it to his chest. “Even death won’t stop me coming back for you.”

  She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

  Michael and Sebastian stripped down the bikes to the bare minimum, strapping a few days’ supplies on the back and removing everything else. With the light load, they would be able to get a long way before they needed to stop.

  Nikola placed his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “Be careful.”

  “Be fast,” Peter added.

  “Trust me, there’s nothing more important to me.” Sebastian lowered his goggles and straddled the bike.

  Michael followed suit. He gave Peter a nod and the two took off into the hazy horizon.

  Melanie woke early. The sun hinted at the horizon and darkness still lay over the landscape. She felt oddly empty, still weak, but the burning pain had gone. She stoked the fire and hung the kettle above it, packed up her kit, and strapped it to her bike. She filled the tank with water and thought about igniting the starter.

  For a long while, she stared off in the direction Sebastian and Michael had gone, watching the sun rise. Pink shimmering light danced on the horizon, as the sun kissed away the land and rose into the air. Small birds tweeted nearby as Melanie toyed with the idea of chasing after Sebastian.

  Peter stirred and stretched loudly. He rubbed his eyes and looked around at the waking scenery. Seeing Melanie, he said, “I had a great night’s sleep. How about you?”

  Melanie mumbled.

  He got up and the blanket tumbled away. He noticed the bike in its ready-to-flee mode, then walked over to Melanie and stared into the fire.

  “What’s happening to me?” she said.

  “You’ve were poisoned, that’s all. It was probably affecting everything, mind and body. We gave you some antidote. You’ll be better now. Michael and Sebastian have gone to get more. Apart from myself, they’re the two people I would want to be doing it.”

  She looked apprehensively toward the east.

  “Are you still worried about your parents?”

  “If they’re still alive,” she said.

  “I know you’re still uncertain about going to New Toowoomba. Or are you more worried about Sebastian? Or is it an alignment of convenient coincidences, you having a need to go in the completely different direction?”

  “Make of it what you will,” she replied. She flicked some dirt into the fire with a long stick. “I swore an oath to protect Sebastian.”

  “You swear all the time, and that oath was a long time ago. You can let it go. You need to look after yourself for a while. That means you take it easy in the back of the SUV and enjoy the ride to New Toowoomba.”

  She glanced over to the tracks created by the departing bikes. “It’s just the two of them. I hope they can survive alone.”

  “What about us? We need to survive, too.”

  “Fine. What do I say to them, my family? How do I go back after being missing for years, when they would’ve been certain I was dead? How do I …” She bit back her words as they stuck in her throat. “How do I say sorry?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “How can it be okay?”

  “We’ll say it together.”

  44

  THE DAYS CAME and went as they crawled through the undulating landscape, mile after mile of unchanging vistas. Melanie lay in the back of the SUV, ignoring the constant science chatter from Albert, being gently rocked by the uneven ground. She faded in and out of sleep, as her condition started to deteriorate again.

  Nikola and Peter forged ahead, on the lookout for potential danger and often taking it on when they found it. As they neared New Toowoomba, the attacks became more frequent and the infected more able; they were faster and more vicious. Their appearance also changed. They became leaner, more powerful, and more driven.

  The group took to camping in deserted villages when they could find them. Nikola, Parker and Peter shared the night roster, and day-by-day each grew wearier. Angel assisted with many of the camping activities, with
the degrading inspection seemingly forgotten.

  They pulled into another abandoned village, which was nothing more than a post office and a couple of houses knocking on the door to condemnation. There had been a battle here. A big one. Dozens of bodies littered the ground; those of normal people, and the strange deformed ones.

  “We need to give these people a burial,” Nikola said.

  “Can we do a Viking one where we burn them? Digging graves is going to take forever,” Parker said.

  “Unless we can find a better solution, I think we have no choice.”

  Albert pointed out that there was a nearby graveyard. After exploring the area and establishing that none of the bodies had come from the cemetery, they found several freshly dug graves and stacked the bodies in them until they were full. There was only a handful of bodies left, so Peter and Nikola got to work with the shovels and buried the rest. Several hours later, as the sun was setting, they finally threw down their shovels, exhausted and drenched in sweat.

  Parker stacked up a pile of wood, while Angel prepared food and drinks. She lit the fire and stepped back. It bloomed as the wood caught, and before long, the fire was keeping everyone’s backsides warm and slowly cooking the food.

  Nikola rubbed his eyes. He could have sworn Angel hadn’t had anything to light the fire with. Worse, this was the second time he had had this thought.

  They stood around in silence. Finding the bodies had unsettled them. Mosquitos buzzed around their heads, and they swatted them away wordlessly.

  When it was time for sleep, they all went into the post office, the most easily defensible building.

  Parker took the first shift. There were several attacks during the next few hours, but he found them no challenge. He found them almost enjoyable. When his shift was over, he woke Peter, who stood up wearily and prepared to face the next few hours of darkness.

  Peter stood inside the main door, listening intently for movement. Sleep constantly nudged him, tempting him.

  Melanie grew listless in her sleep. She opened her eyes, then sat up, surprised to see his outline.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s just me.”

  She looked around the small room. She had no recollection of how she had gotten there. The sound of slumbering bodies filled the room.

  “Where’s Angel?” she asked Peter sharply.

  “She requested her own room. For privacy.” He indicated a small room to the right.

  Melanie sagged, weighed down by the embarrassment of her thoughts. The moonlight illuminated his exhausted features. “You look tired,” she said.

  “It’s getting tough. Those … attackers come in waves about an hour apart.”

  “How many in a wave?”

  “Not too many, but the numbers are increasing. There were seven in the last one.”

  “I feel so useless. I should be taking a turn on guard duty.”

  “You need to rest. We’ll be in New Toowoomba in a day or so. If all is good, Sebastian and Michael will either be there or arrive soon after with the antidote. Then you can kill as many of them as you want. I’ll be happy to have a lie down for a few days and let you do all the work.”

  “I’ll only let you if I can be next to you.”

  He smiled. “Get some rest.”

  He turned around to face the dark unknown. He relaxed a little as Melanie drifted back into her unsettled sleep. He heard scrabbling against the door. He sighed. It had only been twenty minutes since the last attack. He took a sip of water from his hip flask and inhaled deeply. The scrabbling became more urgent as deformed hands wrapped themselves around the door handle on the other side.

  He checked the number of bullets in the clip of his pistol. He was getting low. He looked over his shoulder at the sleeping people behind him. He hesitated for a moment, then gripped his sword. The scrabbling stopped and the door handle twisted.

  Peter stepped back and pointed the blade toward the door. It slowly and silently opened. The disfigured head of a boy with lanky dark hair peered in. He sniffed then opened his gaping mouth. The sight of the horrific mouths still sent shivers down Peter’s back.

  The boy spotted him and started to hiss as the point of Peter’s blade sank in between his eyes. Peter put his foot against the boy’s head, pushed him off the sword, and kicked him out the door. He tried to slam the door closed, but a leg was jamming it. He cautiously eased himself around the open door and kicked the dead body away.

  There was the faintest of sounds from above. Before he could get back inside and close the door, another boy leaped down from the roof. He soon found Peter’s sword buried deep in his chest. Peter slammed him down onto the ground, where he thrashed briefly before letting out a high-pitched hiss. Peter spun around and ducked as a boy and girl came slashing in from behind. He brought his sword around, slicing into the boy and simultaneously battering the girl away with the pummel. He then brought the sword around again and severed the girl’s head. Peace was restored.

  “Let’s hope they never get weapons,” he muttered. He made his way back inside.

  A rustle from Angel’s room had him turning quickly, his nerves still on edge. He crept over to the room and peered in.

  Angel gasped, sat upright, and then relaxed when she recognized the dark shape. “Peter?” she whispered. “You don’t need to be some kind of stranger who hesitates undecided at the door.”

  “I was taught you only enter a lady’s boudoir when invited.”

  “It’s not much of a boudoir, but you may enter.” She beckoned him in.

  He sat on the floor next to the bed. Angel positioned herself against the wall. She struggled to get a pillow behind her back.

  “Let me help,” Peter said.

  She leaned forward and he placed the pillow against the wall. She leaned back into the pillow and turned to face him. The tiny room had no windows, making it nearly impossible to determine its contents, yet her face glowed in the ambient light with an outstanding beauty.

  “Have you been valiantly defending us?”

  Peter shrugged. “It’s hardly valiant. It’s messy and it needs to be done. Valiant in the same way as a toilet cleaner.”

  “You underestimate your importance. I don’t think you’re appreciated enough. If you were mine, I would appreciate you night and day.”

  The way she drawled the phrase made him feel uncomfortable. He shifted uneasily, drawing away slightly.

  She sensed his mood change. “Don’t you trust me? I can let you examine me, if it helps. You don’t need to be a tesla to do that.”

  He smiled. “Of course I trust you, and an examination isn’t required.”

  “Don’t you find me attractive?”

  “There’s no denying that you are truly beautiful. Even a blind man could see that.”

  “All I’m asking is that, if things change, you’ll at least consider me.”

  He gently touched her shoulder. Angel gasped, but he shook his head.

  Melanie lay on her bed, eyes open, tears flowing. She hadn’t heard him say no.

  45

  THE SUN ROSE and Nikola went back into the post office. Everyone began to stir. Peter stretched blearily.

  “Do you want to catch another hour?” Nikola asked him.

  Peter shook his head. “I’ll be all right after about twenty coffees. In fact, don’t make any, I’ll eat it straight from the can.”

  Nikola laughed. “When I was your age, we’d be out quaffing all night, grab an hour or two’s sleep, and then head off into battle.”

  Peter yawned, gave him a rude sign and lay back on his bed, crushing the pillow over his head. Nikola left him in peace as the others quietly made their way out.

  Peter emerged as the others began to eat breakfast. “Were there many attacks on your shift?” he asked Nikola, yawning widely.

  “With a mouth that big, you’re beginning to look like them. I had six, but four of them were in the first hour. Then it quieted down.”

  “How many?”
/>
  Nikola’s eyes flickered up. “Thirty one,” he calculated.

  “Where are the bodies?”

  “I’ve put them out there.” He indicated a small group of trees. Behind them was a sizable mound. “I put yours there, too.”

  “The ones that were out the front?”

  “And the three around the side.”

  “Hmm. Side? I can’t remember that. I must be tired.” He rubbed his eyes.

  “Maybe those three were Parker’s.” Nikola looked thoughtfully at his friend on the other side of the fire. “Maybe he forgot to tell me.”

  As Peter grabbed the kettle off the fire and poured himself a bucket of coffee, Nikola wandered over to Parker, who was talking to a despondent Melanie.

  “Parker, did you neutralize any targets on the side that you didn’t move?”

  Parker shook his head. “I cleared them all. Anything wrong?”

  “No, but we have a few more dead than we should have. Our accounting is slipping.”

  Nikola spotted Albert, eternally buried in the science equipment in the back of the SUV. “Albert, can you set up a field to monitor EM flux, positive and negative?”

  The wild hair attached to the old face appeared from behind the vehicle’s door. “You suspect something?”

  Nikola nodded. “I think we’re being followed.”

  “I could set up a simple EM gate ahead. It vill pick up anything suspicious that passes through. Then ve only need to collect the results.” Albert glanced around furtively as he handed over the equipment.

  Nikola leaped on his steambike and roared back onto the road. An hour later, he returned and kicked Peter awake. After packing up, they all made their way back out onto the road.

  Once the desolation of Three Rivers had faded in their rear-view mirrors, everyone’s spirits began to lift. And by the time they set up camp, with only a few skirmishes on the way, some were nearly smiling, or at least not crying openly with desperation.

  “This is it, folks,” Nikola said as they gathered around the small fire. “Tomorrow we hit the outskirts of New Toowoomba. Once we’re there, let’s never speak of this journey again.”