Fallout

by Chris Morphew

  ‘Peter could do it,’ said Cathryn.

  ‘Right,’ I said, ‘because things went so brilliantly the last time you let him out.’

  ‘What do you expect? You want him to be grateful or something? You keep him locked up like a circus animal for a whole freaking month and then he finally gets let out and the first thing he sees is this guy –’ Cathryn jabbed a finger at Luke ‘– with his hands all over the girl he –’

  Tank banged his fist down on the table. ‘Both of you, shut up! We’re not talking about Pete. We’re talking about Soren.’

  ‘Right,’ said Luke. ‘No way are we bringing Peter into this. I’m not ecstatic about the Soren option either, but if those are the choices we’ve got…’

  ‘Jordan, all of this hinges on getting the word out to the guards about their families,’ said Reeve. ‘Soren will be with me the whole time. He’ll be unarmed. I’ll make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.’

  ‘He goes straight back to his room,’ I said, admitting defeat. ‘I don’t care if he finds Tobias and saves the world single-handed. As soon as it’s over, he goes back to his room and he stays there until it’s over. We’re not going to forget what he’s done.’

  ‘Sure, absolutely,’ said Reeve.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Mum from the other end of the table. She was lower than the rest of us, sitting on a chair that Tank had brought in for her. ‘What about everyone else in town? I realise we’re doing everything we can to convince security to switch sides, but some of the guards will still be loyal to the Co-operative, won’t they? Even without the threat to their families.’

  ‘True,’ said Reeve.

  ‘Well, they’re not just going to surrender. If we go ahead with this, won’t we risk putting everyone else in town in the middle of a fire-fight?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Reeve said. ‘Both sides have a vested interest in keeping the prisoners alive. They’ll keep them out of it as much as possible.’

  The room fell silent. And despite everything, despite Soren, despite the countless other ways this could fall apart, I felt the excitement rising inside me.

  This might just work.

  ‘All right,’ I said. ‘How soon can we leave?’

  ‘Well, first Miller and Ford need to set up our little distraction out at the mall. That’s no small job, and they’ll be doing it right under Shackleton’s nose. Still, Miller reckons they can get it done within forty-eight hours. We’ll move out as soon as they’re ready.’

  ‘Forty-eight hours?’ said Luke. ‘That’s the night before Tabitha is meant to be released! You don’t think that’s cutting it a bit close?’

  ‘Yeah, mate. I do,’ said Reeve. ‘I realise we’re down to the wire here but, look, this either works or it doesn’t. We’re not going to get another chance. This is it, folks. One way or another, this ends here.’

  TUESDAY, AUGUST 11

  2 DAYS

  ‘How is she?’ I asked, hanging the last pair of wet jeans over our makeshift clothesline just as Luke came in. Not that our clothes actually got clean anymore, but it didn’t hurt to wring out the worst of the grime once in a while.

  Luke crashed on the couch behind me. ‘She’s freaking out a bit. I mean, this isn’t exactly within Mum’s comfort zone. She’ll be fine, though. She’s gone into project-manager mode. She’s got a job to do and she’ll get it done if it kills her.’ He smirked. ‘Still can’t believe she put her hand up in the first place, though.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, coming over, ‘no offence to your mum, but I’m hoping this will all be over by then and Mum’s baby can be delivered by an actual doctor.’

  Luke pulled me in for a hug as I sat down next to him. ‘Pretty sure that’s what Mum’s hoping for too.’

  At some point in their lives, Reeve, Mum and Ms Hunter had all taken a trip to the delivery room, and between the three of them, they’d come up with a plan for how Luke’s mum was going to deliver the baby if Mum went into labour while we were gone.

  Part of the plan involved getting Cathryn to babysit Georgia. I wasn’t totally comfortable with that arrangement either, but at least it would keep Cathryn away from Peter.

  ‘Two days…’ said Luke, shaking his head. ‘How did that happen?’

  I curled my legs up on the couch, snuggling in closer. ‘Do you even remember life before this?’

  ‘It’s so weird,’ he said, playing with one of my hands. ‘Like, four months ago, we were just – Everything was normal. I thought Mum and Dad getting divorced was the most traumatic thing that would ever happen to me. And now…’

  We sat there for a while, the familiar torn-apart feeling swelling in my stomach. Yet again, my mind returned to Kara’s surveillance tape, replaying Luke’s twenty-year-old murder in a grainy, black-and-white loop.

  It’s not going to happen, I told myself. You’re going to stop it. You’ll find a way. Even if you have to keep Peter tied up and sealed away until all of this is over…

  But even as my mind started running through ways of keeping Peter and Luke apart, I couldn’t escape the feeling that it wasn’t going to be that simple. Luke’s murder wasn’t just a thing in the future. It had already happened. I was fighting to save someone who had already died.

  Forget about it. Forget what happened before. He’s not dead. Not now. Deal with what’s in front of you.

  And there was Luke, right in front of me. He shifted on the couch, shot a furtive glance out the door, then leant forward, his lips closing softly on mine. His hand brushed my face, fingers slipping into the mess of my hair, and I closed my eyes, arms lacing around his, a tear running down my cheek and over his fingers, and for a moment, all the clutter and chaos in my mind seemed to fade a little.

  When we finally broke apart, Luke’s face was serious. ‘Jordan…You know I love you, right?’

  I sat bolt upright. ‘Why? I mean, yes. Yeah, I do. But why are you saying that? Why now, I mean?’

  ‘Because,’ said Luke, holding my hand, ‘Jordan, we’ve got two days. I’m running out of time to –’

  ‘No you’re not,’ I said. ‘You’re not. Don’t talk about it like that.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like it’s already over! Like you’re just going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it.’

  Luke stared at our interlaced hands. ‘And what if there is nothing we can do about it?’

  ‘I could go down there right now and shoot him through the hole in his door,’ I said. ‘That would change everything.’

  ‘Could you?’ said Luke. ‘How do you know he wouldn’t throw you across the room with his brain again? Plus, we both know you wouldn’t do something like that.’

  ‘No, I know, but –’

  ‘And what if we can change it? If I don’t go back? Then what? The only reason we even know to look for Tobias is because I went back and told Kara about it. If I don’t go back – I mean, if the future changes, won’t that mean the past changes too? Won’t that mean we never get the warning about Tobias in the first place?’

  ‘I don’t know!’ I said. ‘I don’t know how it works. None of us do. But I’m not going to let you roll over and die just because some surveillance tape says you have to.’

  ‘Listen,’ said Luke, ‘I am more than happy to avoid the dying part. But I can’t just act like that tape doesn’t exist. And anyway, you’re the one who keeps saying there’s a reason for all of this.’ He took my hand again, his grip almost painful. ‘What if you’re right? If I really am here for some kind of bigger purpose or whatever… then what if this is it? What if this is what I have to do?’

  Chapter 24

  TUESDAY, AUGUST 11

  2 DAYS

  I couldn’t sleep.

  I sat alone in the surveillance room, everything dark except for the grainy glow of static from the monitors. Everyone else had gone to bed hours ago.

  I should have been excited. After all this time, we were finally confronting the Co-operative head-on. But all of th
at was crowded by the screaming dread that churned through my insides every time I thought about –

  I stood up, finally coming to a decision. I couldn’t do this anymore. I wasn’t just going to sit around, waiting for Peter to snap. I had to confront him. Make him understand what was going on here.

  He’s still a person, I told myself, turning to the bank of old computers along the wall to see what Peter was doing before I went charging in. He’s still in there somewhere. There has to be a way to get through to him.

  He was awake, standing in the middle of his room, staring out through the gap in his door.

  A face stared back from the other side. Bill.

  I raced back to the bedroom, grabbed the sedative pen I’d been holding onto since Kara left, and then ran all the way to Peter’s room.

  Bill was gone.

  ‘Peter…?’ I said hesitantly, approaching the door. The barricades were in place. He should still be –

  ‘Jordan!’ Peter’s face appeared in the window and my heart skipped a beat. ‘Hey, listen, I am so sorry about before. You know, when we were –’ He dragged his hands through his hair. ‘I shouldn’t have – I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I just thought –’

  ‘Peter,’ I said, biting down on a rush of revulsion. ‘Why was Bill here? What was he saying to you?’

  Peter cocked his head, like he couldn’t understand why I was changing the subject. ‘He was – It didn’t really make sense. Like, first it was about a room or something. Something he was looking for –’

  ‘The room he’s digging to out there.’

  ‘Digging?’ said Peter, looking slightly confused. ‘Yeah, okay. Yeah. He didn’t tell me anything about it, though. He was just really set on making sure I knew where it was. And then the rest was like he was trying to warn me about something. “Get back faster.” That’s what he kept saying. “Get back faster.” But then he totally veered off again, like he was arguing with himself. Just, “inevitable, inevitable,” over and over again.’

  Inevitable. He’d said it to us as well. That was the last word I wanted to hear right now.

  He’s insane, I reminded myself. He’s worse than Peter. Don’t read into it.

  ‘Anything else?’ I asked.

  Peter frowned. ‘No, that’s it. He bolted when he heard you coming.’

  I stuck Kara’s sedative pen into my pocket, hoping Peter hadn’t had a chance to spot it.

  ‘Peter –’ I paused, steadying myself, realising I was shaking. ‘There’s something I need to talk to you about. If I come in, will you promise me –?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said eagerly. ‘Of course. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.’

  I pulled the barricades away from the door and eased it open. Peter reached out to grab me, then thought better of it and sat down on the bed, looking up expectantly. I brought his chair over and sat on it.

  ‘What did you want to talk about?’ he asked, leaning forward to touch my leg.

  ‘You care about me, don’t you, Peter?’ I said, gently taking his hand and lifting it away again. ‘You wouldn’t do anything you thought was going to hurt me.’

  Peter’s mouth fell open. ‘No, of course I – How can you even ask that?’

  I took another deep breath, forcing my voice to stay even. ‘A few weeks ago, the day after we broke into the medical centre, Kara and Soren came to Luke and me with an old surveillance video from the day this place was destroyed. We don’t know how, but you – you were in that video. You and Luke.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Peter, putting his hand on me again. ‘They, like, edited us in or something?’

  ‘No. You were there, Peter. This thing opened up. Some kind of – I don’t know – like a portal, I guess. Luke appeared out of it. And then you came through after him, and you –’ I stopped, seeing it all over again. I could feel the tears coming, but I held them off long enough to finish. ‘You killed him, Peter.’

  Peter didn’t respond. If anything I’d said had reached his brain, it didn’t register on his face.

  ‘Did you hear me?’ I shouted. ‘I said you killed him! You stabbed Luke through the chest and you left him back there to bleed to death!’

  I buried my face in my hands, breath coming in gasps, suddenly overwhelmed with the weight of it all. In a few seconds, I was sobbing openly.

  And still, Peter kept silent.

  ‘Please,’ I said, looking up again, hardly getting the words out. ‘Please, Peter. Don’t do it. Don’t hurt him. If you really care about me – If you really –’

  ‘Why him?’ he asked, voice low.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why Luke and not me?’

  I brushed the tears out of my eyes. ‘Peter…’

  ‘It’s not like you didn’t know how I felt,’ he said coldly. ‘Admit it. I had you first. And then Luke came and –’

  ‘That’s not how it works!’ I said, standing up. ‘You don’t get to call shotgun and then act like you own me!’

  ‘Like it was all me!’ Peter jumped up too, eyes flaring. ‘You think I didn’t see how cut you got when you saw Cathryn kissing me, back at school? You think I missed all of your –?’

  ‘All of my what? Peter, in case you’ve forgotten, Cathryn was trying to kidnap you!’

  Peter balled up his fists, growling in frustration. The chair I’d been sitting on bounced up and smashed into the wall behind me. ‘He’s not even supposed to be here!’

  ‘Stop!’ I said, backing off. ‘Please, just listen to me. Hurting Luke is not going to fix anything!’

  ‘He took you,’ said Peter, advancing on me. ‘We were fine without him, but he –!’

  ‘No, he didn’t!’ I shouted. ‘None of this is his fault! If you want to blame someone, blame me. But if you do anything to him, you can forget about me ever even speaking to you again. Understand me? I will never –’

  ‘You will!’ Peter grabbed hold of my arms, fingers digging into me. ‘I won’t let you leave me!’

  He started shoving me towards the bed. I jerked one arm free and ripped the sedative pen out of my pocket. Peter thrust his hand out to grab me again but I knocked it aside, lunging forward and jamming the sedative into his leg.

  Peter reeled away, howling, and I got shakily back to my feet, tears still flooding down my face.

  ‘YOU CAN’T DO THIS!’ he screamed, coming after me again, unsteadier now as the sedative kicked in. ‘You can’t just walk away like nothing ever –’

  I sidestepped him and he fell down against the bed. He barked out a string of obscenities and wheeled around again, diving at me, grabbing my leg. I kicked him off and he collapsed on the ground, cursing some more. He rolled, trying to get up again, but his body wouldn’t co-operate.

  I stood there, watching Peter until his body gave out completely, reeling at the realisation that I’d just made everything much, much worse.

  The door creaked behind me and I whirled around.

  Bill was standing just outside, staring down at Peter’s unconscious form. His eyes drifted up to meet mine.

  ‘You’re too late,’ he said, with a hideous smile. ‘Both of you. It has already happened. All of it. It will happen again. All of this – All of this is inevitable.’

  Chapter 25

  WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12

  1 DAY

  Mum groaned, gripping the sides of the mattress, eyes squeezing shut. The sound echoed off the laboratory walls. It was happening. Right now. Right as we were leaving.

  My mind kept circling around my vision from a few weeks ago of security storming into the Complex, but what was I supposed to do about it? There was no way Mum was giving birth down in the panic room.

  Georgia was in my arms, clinging to me, staring at Mum with a look of terror on her face. I hugged her back, not much calmer than she was.

  Mum looked over from the bed as the contraction passed, obviously struggling to keep us in focus. ‘It’s okay, sweetheart. Mummy’s fine.’
She took a couple of heavy breaths, and her eyes fluttered shut.

  I felt a jolt of panic. ‘Mum?’

  ‘That’s normal,’ said Reeve, coming in from the surveillance room, rifle hanging from his shoulder. ‘The drowsiness. My wife did the same thing when she was in labour with Lachlan.’

  ‘She’s three months pregnant with a full-term baby!’ I said. ‘Like we have any idea what “normal” is!’

  Georgia whimpered, fingers clawing my back.

  ‘Sorry,’ I whispered. ‘I didn’t mean to yell. Mum’s fine. She’s fine.’

  ‘You’re scared too,’ said Georgia accusingly.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Yeah, I am. We’re all a bit scared. But everything’s going to be okay.’

  Luke and his mum bustled into the room, lugging the old bathtub we used for laundry, splashing hot water onto the floor. They set it down beside the bed.

  ‘Okay,’ said Luke’s mum frantically, smoothing down her hair. ‘Okay, I think that’s everything.’

  Luke put an arm around her. ‘Breathe, Mum. You’re doing –’

  But then her head snapped up. ‘Towels!’ She ran out of the room, almost bowling Cathryn over as she and Tank arrived from the hall.

  Tank had the other rifle slung over his shoulder. It made me kind of uncomfortable, but I trusted him not to do anything Reeve didn’t order him to do. Better Tank than Soren.

  Cathryn came over and held out her hands to take Georgia from me.

  ‘All right, Georgia,’ I said, trying to ease her off me, ‘Cathryn’s going to look after you while I go up to –’

  Mum jerked in the bed, wide awake again as the next contraction hit. She let out another groan and Georgia seized hold of me again. ‘No, you’re not going!’

  ‘Georgia –’

  ‘Hey,’ said Luke, coming up behind me and brushing a hand over Georgia’s hair. ‘It’s all right. I’ll look after Jordan for you. I’ll make sure she’s okay. Hey, have you got any paper left for your crayons?’

  Georgia looked up. ‘It’s on my bed.’