“Are you clear?”
“Yes. The trackers in their packs are in place. Monitor them, and let me know when they leave.”
In the neighboring lab, she heard clanging. She went to visit the thing in the cage. It slammed against the bars when she entered. It next pulled at the door and started trying to reach the latch with its narrow fingers.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better. Doctor M gives you a clean bill of health. You’re no longer sick. The treatment worked.”
She sat on the floor and considered her monster. The paper doll machine had done what it could. Ruben’s body had done the rest. The transformation was complete. Whether it would be permanent was unknown, but the sickness was gone with no trace of his cancers.
“You were fed this morning. But tonight, you leave. I would have left you a note, but I forgot.”
The skin of its hands and feet were white and raw in spots where it had worked at the unyielding metal of the cage. The garment it wore was now mostly shredded and did little to hide its bare legs or genitalia. The creature’s feet and knees looked knobby and twisted. Once out of the cage, would it be able to stand straight or even walk? If not, she guessed the pronounced muscles in its upper arms and shoulders would be enough to propel it along.
“Can some part of you hear me? Try to remember. You get to start a new life. I’ll follow, I promise. I love you.”
It growled. It ran a claw along the seam between the cage’s side and top. It then cocked its head and stared straight at her.
“I’ll leave the light off when I go. You prefer it that way.”
She returned to the White Room and considered the poison injector. This would be a mercy, some would say. Perhaps therein lay the solution to all of Nineveh’s ills. She placed the injector into a disposal.
She next logged on the terminal in the office. The paper doll program beckoned her. She put a finger to the screen, then closed the application. She ran a new program, a simple one. With no fanfare, it wiped the server of all traces of the program. A clean sweep of all the redoubt’s terminals would have been more complete, as data could be hidden in the recesses of the network, but the redoubt wouldn’t survive it. Its power, ventilation, and water, as well as a good number of doors, would stop working. She’d only considered that for a moment.
Nineveh would live to see another day, and was now open with new management.
“Dinah, are you there?” Dr. M asked. “Doctor Hel and Gregory…they just went up.”
“Are they outside yet?”
“They haven’t left the portal to the stairway.”
“We’ll give them a minute.”
A pause. “Dinah, you can’t do this.”
“I need to. It’s only fair.”
“Stay longer. They’ll need you. This place, it’s all too much for them to handle.”
“Thank you, Doc. That may be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. You will manage just fine. Now get ready, and wait for my signal. Don’t screw this up. And I’ll be leaving my com behind so you won’t be able to track me.”
She used the terminal to check on the hunters’ locations. They were all inside, most in the greenhouse and some on the floors below. None could access the east stairwell. She turned on all the exterior lights. She then logged out.
Propping the door open between the lab and the hallway proved a comical challenge, as every chair, box, and computer monitor she tried failed to keep the auto-closer from pushing the door shut. Finally, she found an actual rubber doorstop that did the trick.
The creature didn’t like it when she got close. The solid metal of the cage’s top shook and bounced as the thing battered it.
“Keep your shirt on,” she said.
She opened the cage door and ran.
There was silence behind her. She paused in the lab to look back. The thing in the cage just stared. It then looked at the cage’s door and slowly pushed it all the way open.
“Come on.”
It moved; so did she. Once out in the hallway, she crossed to a door that led to an empty lab. She used her card key and closed the door behind her. The room had rows of empty animal cages along its walls. She paused to listen, heard nothing, then screamed when the creature slammed into the door.
She had no idea if the door could withstand a prolonged assault.
“Doctor M, the lights.”
Between the triple blast of alarms came a scratching sound on the door, the slow drawing of a claw or claws down a long length of metal. A low growl vibrated through the door. She heard it sniff.
“Go!” she shouted. “You have to leave now. If you don’t, you’ll die down here. Follow your nose to the fresh air.”
If Dr. M had done as he was told, the lights beyond the research wing were now out. The creature would have a choice between the lighted corridor or the darkness.
“Please just go. Get out. You go, and I’ll follow. I promise. I’ll always find you.”
She heard nothing after that. She put her hands to the door as though she could sense the creature’s presence with some extranormal ability. But all she could feel was the cool metal.
The next ten minutes felt like the longest in her life. Doubt over what she was doing overwhelmed her. Even the modest comforts of the redoubt would be missed. But Ruben would need her.
Both Karl and Rosalyn called her on the com, but she ignored them. Dr. M had used a fire safety override she had shown him to keep the doors to this level and the east stairwell sealed. They would know something was wrong if they had tried to come down.
“Anything on camera?” she asked Dr. M.
“I saw motion just by the outer door. It’s hard to see with the lights off. Dinah, Redmon is calling me, she is asking—”
“Ignore her. Turn on the lights in the hallway and stairwell.”
“They’re now on.”
He began saying something else, but she shushed him. She pulled a prepped rucksack of her own over a shoulder and stepped out into the hallway.
The lights were all on as before. She hoped the darkness had lured the creature to the stairs and up and outside. The lights coming back on would discourage it from sticking around. It hated light, as all its kind did.
The elevator made noise. Voices soon echoed from the opposite side of doors that weren’t cooperating with hunters trying to open them. Dinah imagined Rosalyn insulting their intelligence and virility as they struggled to get into the research wing.
The sound of the alert cut out. The red lights still blinked. If everyone stayed inside for the night, they would be safe.
Her pack felt heavy as she climbed the steps. She wondered if she would miss the stale air even as she could taste a fresh breeze coming down from outside. The water and food in her pack didn’t feel like enough, but if what she carried was any heavier she would tire quickly. She could also stay for a while longer, think her plan through more.
No more excuses.
She paused on a landing and listened. The stairway was quiet. She continued up the last flight of stairs.
The door at the top read “Emergency Use Only—Alarm Will Sound.” This door had always been locked when she was a kid. Even an emergency wouldn’t have opened it—she had tried. Now it was hanging open. She half expected to find blood on the ground from Dr. Hel or Gregory. A bright light on top of the door shined out across trees and scrub.
The exit when closed would be difficult for any casual observer to see, as it appeared to be just part of a wall to a larger edifice at the corner of one of the redoubt’s outbuildings. A triple row of scratches marked the inside metal of the door. She traced the gouges with her fingers.
She stepped out onto the dry dirt under the bright light mounted high above the door. The camera was up there somewhere. With one hand, she gave an “okay” sign. The light went out, leaving her momentarily blind, but her vision returned in moments. The night had a white glow from the greenhouse that filtered through the dark shapes of numerous trees. The air was warm. The mach
inery of the redoubt had a soft hum to it that rose from the ground around her.
“I’m out,” she said. “Lock it up.”
For a moment, she heard nothing over the com. Then the door swung shut behind her. Dr. M started to say something, but she pulled the com off her head and dropped it.
***
She walked for two hours, the sky behind her gradually turning a lighter blue. The day ahead would be hot, which was no surprise. She expected many things in those two hours, including ambush and violence, but the ones who had left before her had left three sets of tracks heading east.
Was it coincidence, or was her brother following Dr. Hel and Gregory?
Then she saw flashes of lights. A pair of trucks drove down a nearby road, their brilliant headlights cutting the early morning gloom. She wasn’t on the road, but she got down low into the tall grass to keep from being seen. The trucks soon split at a fork, one stopping soon after as someone got out to scan the hills with a pair of binoculars.
Dinah hadn’t left any notes. She wouldn’t have known what to say. Dr. M would fill them in and probably get an earful. He’d survive. That they would come looking for her was a certainty.
But she knew the redoubt didn’t need her. Women like Redmon and men like Karl could handle guiding it where it needed to go. Whether the redoubt continued to turn into a giant grave or transform into something that would contribute its technological gifts to the world would be determined by better minds than hers. She didn’t like what she saw in herself when it came to her brother’s network and what she had been willing to do to others. The walls of the redoubt housed so much pain, both past and present. Just being outside again relieved her of a pressure inside her chest she didn’t know was building. Besides, she thought she’d done quite well surviving on her own.
The person who would be most upset would be Rosalyn. Would her stepsister stay or follow? Perhaps she would surprise everyone and evolve into the type of leader that her intelligence hinted at. Dinah guessed if they let her torture a turtle from time to time she would pull it together.
But she couldn’t shake Gregory’s and Dr. Hel’s confidence in their own ability to survive. They knew something, and they had somewhere to go. Whether it was to one of the subservient villages or to another redoubt like Nineveh, she didn’t know. The network spoke of other places that had once been connected to it. Perhaps the gaps in the records were deliberate. She needed to know what else was out there.
But her priority was her brother. Would he stay changed? Had she saved him from his sickness?
She checked her device. It beeped. The LED was bright green, and the meter told her he was to the east. He was outside with her now, and he would need her.
The trucks both drove away. Nineveh would search for her again, but not like before.
I might return one day.
As she crouched in the grass, she looked back one final time, even though the facility was well out of sight. Then she put her device away and slung her pack over her shoulder. The way forward to her was clear. All she had to do was follow.
Acknowledgments and Author’s Note
If you enjoyed Nineveh’s Child, please leave even a brief review on Amazon and Goodreads.
Thanks to all for having read this far. I’m grateful to my editor Brittany Dory, who helped with structure, tone, and typos. Without her help, this would all be a big mess. She has a great eye for detail, consistency, and story logic. You can find her services here.
I also had help in quashing errors from my beta readers. The amount of effort some of these folks put into helping a new author is humbling. I’m especially grateful to Corey Steele, Paula Matsumoto, Dorothy Ross, and Kenneth Espaillat. You guys provided the right combination of critique and suggestions!
All the mistakes still here are my own.
And of course, none of this would be possible without the loving support and critical eye of my wife Abby, to whom this book is dedicated.
And I’m happy to hear from you! Click here for updates, freebies, and information on my mailing list.
Keep reading for a sample chapter of The Tin Bride, the sequel to Nineveh’s Child.
The Tin Bride
3. Lottery
She watched the camp for the duration of the afternoon. Several people came and left with carts, goods, and a few animals. This told her they weren’t under guard. But she did see a pair of men at a large tent near a chain-link gate. They no doubt watched the camp and kept people away from the further structures of a fenced compound. Finally, all the activity died down.
Dr. Hel had come this way. She was either in the camp or had passed the guards and continued through the gate. Whether Gregory was still with her was unclear, but Dr. Hel’s tracks had been impossible to miss. The woman had been in a hurry, walked heavy, and rested often, leaving footprints and other signs of her passing. She had bypassed several villages where she could have stopped for shelter or aid. Perhaps these places had been subservient to Nineveh, and now anyone coming from there was less than welcome.
But if Dr. Hel had another place to be, Dinah wanted to know. She worried that Nineveh’s tentacles ran deep. She had put a stop to Nineveh’s experiments and wouldn’t allow them continue in a new location. Perhaps Rosalyn was right. Maybe they should have killed the doctor, or not allowed anyone to leave.
Dinah left the cover of thick brush and walked toward camp. In her hands were the four rabbit pelts. Motion behind her caught her eye. She turned in time to spot a figure under the shade of a distant willow. Her shadow was back. The figure froze at that moment, and Dinah stared, trying to make out a face. She fought back panic. Whoever it was had kept up with her as easily as she had kept up with Dr. Hel and didn’t seem to mind that Dinah knew.
She made up her mind. She had to go to the camp. She was already in plain sight. Whoever was following her would see her head there, but if they had meant to attack her, they had passed on previous opportunities.
The tents formed a rough lane that ran along the fence line. This proved to be the most level ground of what might once have been a road. Between tents, a few shanties had been built from scavenged wood and metal sheets. These looked flimsier than the woven canvas shelters secured with guy lines and stakes, and none looked like they would withstand more than the slightest breeze. She guessed they could only be temporary structures at best. Where the tents were open, she saw two or three people sheltered under each, their occupants finding refuge from the unyielding sun. A few were out in front of their makeshift homes, cooking on small wood fires.
Enough eyes were on Dinah as she approached. She was used to the hard stares given strangers, but what was typically prudent wariness in other communities was here unmasked antipathy.
“Hi,” Dinah said with a forced smile. “Good afternoon. Hello.”
Each person she greeted and made eye contact with broke it first, returning their attention to their cooking or the ground or sky. She received no replies.
Dinah wasn’t sure what she disliked more, their hostile looks or being ignored. Even though none of them spoke, they seemed to rouse, as if a silent alarm had gone through the camp. She began to feel worried that coming here in the open daylight was a mistake.
A young girl no older than thirteen was pulled into a tent by an older woman. Dinah approached the still-wavering flap.
“Hello? I’d like to trade some furs for a bowl of stew or whatever you have on your fire.”
She waited. There was no way they hadn’t heard. She could smell whatever was cooking, and it smelled surprisingly good. Herbs, vegetables, and meat were in simmering in a small pot at the side of a handful of gray coals.
Maybe it was time for an old Karl-ism. “Peace be unto your house.”
An older woman peered out of the tent and gave Dinah a hard look. Dinah held up her rabbit furs and pointed to the pot. Even a deaf-mute would understand the desired interaction. The woman touched one of the furs, looked again at Dinah, and nodded. She
held up four fingers. Dinah replied with one. They settled on three. Dinah handed over three furs, and the woman gestured to the pot. No flatware or dish was offered. Dinah saw a wooden spoon lying in the dirt.
Dinah sat by the fire and undid her pack. She slowly took out her own small pan, which doubled as her plate. A fork and spoon combo was inside. She placed this all front of her and retied her hair behind her head so it wouldn’t get in the way. With her sleeve, she removed the pot lid. It was closer to soup than stew. She ladled up a small helping and smelled it. Not bad, if a bit gamy. She spooned more up, as she was hungry and hadn’t expected to lose all but one of her rabbit skins.
“Delicious. Thank you.”
A few other denizens of the camp were watching her. The woman hadn’t moved. She still held the skins, as if considering whether the trade had actually been a fair one.
“I thought you’d take your trade and move along,” the woman said in a strained voice.
“Figured I’d rest a while and enjoy my meal.” Dinah chewed on a mouthful of stew, the meaty bits unyielding, small game judging by the earthy flavor. She noticed that the woman and her neighbors had little in the way of belongings. Nothing was planted. There was no livestock or chickens, no carts or bicycles, and no laundry. It was as if the place were temporary, like they were all camping there without any intention of staying long. Perhaps the people she had seen leave earlier had dropped off the things the camp needed.
“You’re late, if you’re here for the lottery.”
“What lottery?”
The woman said nothing. The young girl called for her mother from inside the tent. The woman disappeared, and Dinah could hear them whispering.
Dinah spoke in a raised voice so they could hear. “No, I’m not here for that. Just passing through.” She stirred at the last few bites of food. Once it was all gone, she had no excuse to stay. “I was wondering if you might have seen someone. A woman, maybe in her sixties. She might have been alone or had a younger man with a dark overcoat with her. Both had backpacks like mine.”
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