The Immortality Virus

by Christine Amsden

  “He said Matt would keep immortality for himself and return mortality to the people,” Grace said.

  “He probably would,” Alex said. “So would Mr. Edgers, I imagine. And a great many others. I think that’s the biggest reason most want to quash this–not because they’re afraid of finding answers but because they’re afraid someone else will find answers.”

  “And your uncle?”

  Alex shrugged. “Maybe he really does think the world is better off this way. He doesn’t exactly live in it.”

  An interesting way to put it, but probably true, especially given what he had said to her during their talk. Strangely idealistic and honest, even if it was misguided.

  They sat there for a while, not speaking. Grace didn’t do much thinking, either. Her brain felt out of tune and it hurt to push it.

  The building shook a few more times.

  “We need to get clean,” Alex said. “You’d be a little conspicuous naked and covered in vomit.”

  Grace couldn’t find the strength to blush, though a part of her thought it would be an appropriate response. Instead, she nodded mutely and rose to her feet. She felt dizzy and nearly fell.

  Wordlessly, Alex went to her side and helped her into the shower. Then he stood there next to her while she scrubbed herself clean with her remaining hand.

  The water could never wash away the pain of the last few days, but it did at least wash away the smells and remind her she was still alive. She stood there longer than she should have, perhaps. They had no idea how long they would have to get out of here and needed to move soon...at least she thought so...or she could just plunge into oblivion. The longer she stood under the water, the more likely oblivion became.

  Alex helped her change into a spare farmer’s uniform, the nicest thing she had worn in many days, and then she waited while Alex took his turn in the shower.

  Somewhere in there, she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew Alex was shaking her awake. For a second, she didn’t remember where she was and then she sat bolt upright. Every square inch of her body hurt beyond reason.

  “How long–”

  “Just long enough for me to take a shower,” Alex said. He did smell clean and fresh and his hair was slightly damp. “I’d love to let you sleep longer, but...”

  “Yeah, we have to move.” She had decided that, hadn’t she? Or had Alex? She couldn’t really remember now. Whoever had decided, they were right. They had to leave under cover of the attack. They had to hope that if someone did capture them, it wasn’t Ethan.

  Alex handed her a moist hand towel. “Cover your arm with this.”

  Grace took it and then stood, leaning heavily on the desk for support. She spotted a spare disruptor there and shoved it in her pocket, more as a security blanket than because she thought she could use it. Even if she weren’t weak, she was a lousy shot with her left hand.

  Up the stairs. Into the closet. Grace braced herself for anything as Alex peered through the door.

  Unlike the basement, this level was not still at all. Farmers ran in every direction, shouting orders to one another.

  There were no slaves in the corridors. The farmer’s uniform had been a good choice.

  They didn’t dawdle. They pushed their way out into the crowd and started heading for the stairs that would lead them to the garage.

  “Move,” said a short blond woman with unexpected strength as she pushed them aside.

  “They need more men on the roof,” they overheard someone say. “They’ve almost broken through the domed shielding.”

  “I didn’t sign up for this,” they distinctly heard another farmer mutter as they flew past. He was not heading for the roof.

  They rounded the stairs on the second level. This was where the man Alex had trusted tried to shoot them in the back.

  Grace pushed the memory from her mind as they made their way up to the third floor.

  “Alex,” someone whispered.

  They both spun in the direction of a woman’s voice–Alex’s sister, Margaret. She motioned to them to follow her into a nearby empty office and they did, Grace somewhat warily. She had no idea who Margaret really was or what she wanted in all of this.

  Margaret closed the door. “You won’t get out the way you’re going. There aren’t any hovercars left. They’re all out fighting.”

  Crap. Grace fell heavily into a gray armchair.

  Margaret pointedly looked away from her. “I noticed the escae alarm going off a little while ago and waited here for you. Carl is trying to get people interested in finding you, but too much is happening. William Edgers has sent a small army and most of the farmers here think the new owner should surrender.”

  “Why isn’t he?” Alex asked.

  “Pride, I think,” Margaret said. “He always was an idiot like that. I swear old Mr. Cooper said he was going to turn the farm over to someone else, but I guess in the end the nostalgia of letting his eldest son inherit was too much for him.”

  “Or he hid the will,” Grace said.

  Alex and Margaret looked at her.

  “What?” Grace said.

  Alex shook his head. “It doesn’t really matter right now. Roy’s in charge and he’s not surrendering. How long will the farmers fight for him, do you think?”

  Margaret shook her head. “Not long. A bunch of them headed out the utility tunnel that leads to town.”

  “And Mr. Edgers is just letting them?” Alex asked. “There’s no way he doesn’t know about it.”

  “Probably doesn’t care, if they don’t want to fight him. He’s not after them.” Margaret turned her eyes on Grace, who was surprised by how steely they could look. “Who are you?”

  “She’s my friend,” Alex said firmly, putting an arm on Margaret. “And we’ve got to figure out how to get out of here.”

  “The utility tunnel’s your only way, but you may have to fight on the other side.”

  “Not on this side?” Alex asked. “It’s usually sealed and guarded. Only a handful of people know the code.”

  “Usually,” was all Margaret would say.

  Alex hesitated for a few seconds, waiting for more, but it didn’t seem forthcoming. “Thanks.” Then to Grace said, “Let’s go.”

  Margaret stepped in front of him. “I want to go with you.”

  Alex shook his head. “If they find you with us, they’ll assume we told you and then your life is in danger too. They can’t think we even ran into you.”

  “Told me what?” Margaret said.

  “Mags, I mean it.”

  Margaret stood her ground. “What will happen to me when this is all over? The older Mr. Cooper only let me stay here because of you, and the younger one would only let me stay here if...well, that’s not going to happen. So, what should I do?”

  “You can leave if you like, but not with us,” Alex said. “Go to my daughter’s house. She’ll let you stay there for a while, even if she isn’t talking to me.”

  Margaret sucked in her breath, but when she slowly let it out, she shook her head. “I can’t. Someone’s got to watch out for the slaves. They’re getting caught in the middle of all this, and I’m afraid when it’s all over that the new owner...”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

  “I’ll survive,” Margaret promised. “I guess I just got scared.” She turned to scowl at Grace one more time. “Whatever you’re up to better be worth it.”

  “Yeah,” Grace agreed. Then she thought of something else. “If you get the chance, can you help a young woman named Megan–Meg get out of here? She’s in barracks 79.”

  “You owe her a favor or something?” Margaret asked.

  “Several.”

  “You owe me one, too. You’re taking my brother from me.”

  Grace glanced at Alex, who was already rounding on his sister. “I make my own choices. And as it happens, you owe me several favors. If we’re suddenly keeping score, then you can take a few from me.”

  Margare
t looked as if she’d been slapped, but Alex did not bother to say anything else. He grabbed Grace by her good arm and steered them both out of the room.

  Chapter 22

  By the time they reached the underground tunnel, Grace could no longer feel her brain. A million little spots were in the way. She could feel something next to her, half holding her upright, but most of what she felt was one foot in front of the next. They felt like mush. Like a million balls of mush. Spotty soft....

  Get a grip.

  Alex had a hold of her. He seemed to know she needed the support. She leaned into him out of purest necessity.

  Nobody paid any attention to them as they entered the underground tunnel. Half a dozen other farmers rushed in ahead of them. One looked vaguely familiar.

  From behind them, someone shouted, “Barb!”

  The familiar farmer paused and turned. Grace turned with her and recognized Cohen, but he only had eyes for Barb. “Barb,” he continued, “if you leave now, they’ll never let you back.”

  “If I don’t leave, Mr. Cooper will get us killed. Maybe there’ll be a new owner in a few days.” Barb turned back around and sprinted down the tunnel.

  Cohen stared after her for a few seconds, but then the entire building shook as it had not done before. It threw Grace off her feet and Alex nearly toppled over her.

  “Damn. The shield’s down,” Alex said. “This’ll all be over soon.”

  “Barb! Wait!” Cohen ran past them, apparently having come to the same conclusion.

  “Time to run for it,” Alex said.

  Grace didn’t need telling twice. She accepted his help getting to her feet and then broke into a loping run in what she sensed was the direction of downtown Coopersfield. Her feet didn’t quite seem to meet the ground with each step, but she kept moving them. Left. Right. Left. Right.

  They exited the underground tunnel in a swell of bodies, retreating farmers packed together in such a tight knot that it was impossible for Grace and Alex to leave the crowd. They clasped hands to help stay together and tried to pass through the sea of solid bodies.

  Something was penning them in.

  “I think they’re checking ID at the gate,” Alex murmured.

  Grace lifted her stump of an arm and stared at it for a few seconds before something still working in her brain reminded her that she had her ID chip in her left wrist. She lifted that instead and stared between the two. “Um...maybe we should leave.”

  “And go where?” Alex asked.

  Grace looked around but saw nothing but bodies. “We can fight our way out.”

  “I don’t think so.” Alex took her by the elbow and led her to the perimeter, where she could finally see what was going on. Edgers’s men had the section of town outside the tunnel blocked off with a portable electronic shielding device. They were letting the farmers out, but only at one point and only one at a time. They had to be checking IDs there, although Grace couldn’t quite see.

  “There’s only one way out,” Grace edged closer still and saw the farmers were checking their weapons before they even got outside the dome. “If we go this way, they’ve got us.”

  But there was nowhere else to go. They were trapped.

  “I don’t suppose you can disable ID chips?” Grace asked.

  Alex laughed. “I could if we turned back, but it won’t do any good unless Edgers’s men are being sloppy.”

  They could hide again. Maybe Grace could take something for the pain and get a good night’s sleep. She was having more and more trouble thinking. In fact, she couldn’t remember if she’d said any of that out loud.

  Alex looked like Grace felt–like a trapped animal ready to bite and claw his way out. He hadn’t exactly had enough sleep or food lately to think this through rationally, either. Assuming there was a rational solution.

  “No.” Alex shook his head–responding to his thought or hers? “It’s time to face what’s coming. There’s no better way out. We could hide on the farm for a while, but eventually we’d be caught, and in the meantime it might lead to even more bloodshed.”

  Grace wanted to argue, but couldn’t think of anything to say against him. So she waited in line with everyone else, knowing their outcome and hers would be markedly different but not knowing how.

  She still didn’t know the time, but out here they had the sun, something she hadn’t seen in too long. Clouds partially covered the amber disc as it bid farewell to the day.

  Time passed quickly. Before she knew it, the moon blinked down at her from between shifting clouds and she was at the checkpoint.

  “Weapons in the box,” said a bored voice.

  Grace looked down and saw a small hole in the domed force field where she could pass out a weapon. She hesitated, wondering what would happen if she kept it.

  “Scanners indicate you are each carrying one 84x disruptor with stun capability. Place them in the box.”

  Grace gave up and put her weapon in the box. Alex followed suit.

  A thin bit of the force shield opened and they went through to the other side. It closed behind them.

  “ID bracelets, please,” said another bored voice, this time a woman’s.

  Grace took one last look at her options. She was so tired that with the sun setting, her eyes could barely stay open. There were a dozen men and women watching with weapons trained on her.

  Grace held out her wrist and let the woman run her scan. Something flashed in the woman’s eyes as she read the results and she suddenly looked less bored.

  Here it comes.

  “You’re cleared to go.”

  “What?” Did she say that out loud?

  “Mr. Edgers didn’t want to hurt anyone, but the late Mr. Cooper’s will made him the rightful owner and Junior refused to allow him access. He hopes to make restitutions to your families for this horrible incident and offer you your job back.”

  “Uh–”

  “Come on,” Alex said, pushing her in the small of the back. She moved away from the force field, away from the farm, away from her cage, and out into open space.

  “Something weird is going on here,” Grace said, “but I’m too tired to think about it. I’m going home and sleeping for a very long time.”

  “Not before we get to a doctor.”

  “We?”

  Alex didn’t answer.

  She hadn’t been sure if Alex would come with her or if she wanted him to. She thought of trying to convince someone–Alex or herself–that she worked alone but the line just seemed too cliché to give voice to. He had been useful and now he didn’t even have a place to go.

  They boarded the train to Kansas City together and fell asleep as soon as it pulled out of the station.

  Chapter 23

  Grace didn’t know where she was. She blinked her eyes several times, adjusting to a dim overhead light source, and then looked around. Nothing appeared familiar. She lay in a bed, covered with pale blue sheets and a thick wool blanket. To her left, several machines binged in steady rhythm. Long wires and tubes stretched like tendrils towards her. One ended in a sharp needle that dug under the skin of her left forearm. The others ended in suckers attached to her chest.

  Alex sat in a chair at the foot of her bed, eyes locked on a news report shimmering in functional 3-D from a holoset.

  “All transportation both in and out of Kansas City is indefinitely delayed,” the reporter was saying. “Any attempts to leave the city will be met with deadly force. No air traffic will be permitted during this crisis. Any vehicles in the air will be shot on sight without warning. Able bodied men and women are to report to staging areas immediately to aid in the defense of the city.”

  Alex sucked in his breath.

  “What’s going on?” Grace asked.

  Alex leaped to his feet and whirled to face her. For a second, his face registered panic, but then it softened into a smile. “How are you?”

  She had to think about that question for a minute. She didn’t feel any pain. Her head felt re
latively clear, though she could not precisely remember the events of the last few days. Perhaps that was her mind’s way of coping. What she did remember made her shut her eyes and try to block other thoughts from creeping into her mind’s eye.

  That’s when she remembered her hand. She looked down at her right arm, still handless, but now wrapped in some kind of gauze. For some reason, her hand itched like crazy. She scratched at the stump, but withdrew her hand immediately when she felt the unfamiliar shapes. “It itches. It’s not even there.”

  “That’s normal,” Alex said. “The nerves are still sending random signals to your brain. They gave you some drugs for the pain. You’ve been asleep for a while.”

  A while? That didn’t sound good. There were too many people who might want her killed if she fell off the radar for too long. Captain Flint had made it clear that her only chance to live involved undertaking his little investigation. “How long?”

  “Almost thirty-six hours,” Alex said.

  “Thirty-six...” Grace started to swing her legs out of bed, but Alex put a hand on them, stopping her. “What?”

  “No one knows you’re here. Relax.”

  “Where is here, exactly?” Grace asked.

  “St. Luke’s.”

  “That’ll eat into my profit,” Grace muttered. “I’m surprised they took me in unconscious. It’s not like I had cash on me.”

  “I paid. Besides, I needed a little help, too. It was all I could do to carry you here from the rail station.”

  Now that was an image. Alex, her knight in shining armor, had rescued her again. She didn’t know which was worse, that she needed so many rescues or that Alex kept stepping up when she did.

  “How did we get out?” Grace asked.

  “We walked out.”

  “Edgers let us go?”

  Alex turned toward the holoset. “I don’t know.”

  She listened to the reporters telling people to stay inside their homes, and she put it together. “Edgers is attacking the city.”

  “Yeah.”

  “He wasn’t supposed to come here next. They said St. Louis or maybe Memphis. Here he’s got enemies coming from the east and west.”