Dawn Over Doomsday ac-4

by Jaspre Bark

  "I am authorised to use force if necessary, sir."

  Off in the distance Anna heard gunfire. Elsewhere she felt the virus thrash with a wild longing.

  Ahiga was on point when the lights went out. The little guy disabled the fuse box and everything went dark. Ahiga switched on his goggles in time to see the rest of the group charging up the stairwell.

  Only Fitch and Golding were left. They were moving their heads from side to side in panic and bewilderment, with their hands stretched out in front of them. They couldn't see a thing, their goggles weren't functioning. Ahiga had removed the battery packs before handing them their equipment.

  "Wait!" Golding called out.

  Ahiga placed a hand on his shoulder.

  "Quiet. There are soldiers nearby, you don't want to give away our position."

  "Who's that?" said Fitch.

  "It's Tom. I've been sent back to get you."

  "I thought you were on point." Golding said.

  "I was. Until you two got left behind"

  "Our fucking goggles aren't working."

  "That's okay," said Ahiga putting his hands on both their shoulders. "I can probably fix them in a minute. We've got to get you to safety first."

  Ahiga led them back into the main room of the armoury where the high explosive had been primed.

  "Hold on a minute," said Fitch. "This feels like the wrong direction."

  "You're just disoriented by the dark. It'll pass in a second."

  "Aren't we supposed to be going up some stairs?"

  "Not the first set we just passed," said Ahiga. "We need the next set at the end of this corridor."

  There was a burst of gunfire in the distance. Ahiga used the opportunity to steer Golding and Fitch into the front office. "We have to duck into here for a second. You can't see to shoot and we're pinned down."

  "Can you fix our goggles now?" Golding said.

  "That explosive is going to go off any second." Fitch said. "Are you sure we're far enough away to be safe?"

  "Trust me. We're in the perfect spot."

  Ahiga took Fitch and Golding to the far end of the office and positioned them so they were facing towards the door.

  "What's going on?"

  "Quiet!" Ahiga hissed. He moved the body of the guard that was up against the door and shifted a filing cabinet around to create a little nook in which he could shelter.

  "Now," Ahiga said. "Let's do something about those goggles of yours." He clipped both their battery packs back in and dived into the nook he'd made for himself.

  A second later the explosive went off.

  Ahiga was thrown forward by the force of the blast. It lifted him off the ground and rattled him around in his hidey-hole like a dried pea in a rain-shaker.

  The noise was like a bitch slap from a thunderclap. He didn't just hear it, his whole body felt the impact.

  The blaze was fierce, white and iridescent. It burned bright images on the back of Ahiga's eyes, even though he had them tight shut. He contented himself by thinking what the blaze would do to two sets of eyes made more light sensitive by night vision.

  Ahiga was too stunned for a while to realise it had stopped. The first thing he was aware of was that the walls and the ground had stopped shaking. He caught his breath and slipped his goggles on. He was pinned in by the filing cabinet he'd moved.

  Lying on his back Ahiga pushed the cabinet with his feet. It toppled back then disappeared from sight. There was a crash as it hit the ground twenty feet below.

  Ahiga stood and looked down. Where, seconds ago, there'd been a series of large rooms, there was now just a crater. No ceilings, no floor, just a gigantic pit filled with rubble. Half dead bodies writhed amid arcs of electricity that leapt between severed cables and shattered generators.

  He wasn't out of hell yet. He was just on a different level.

  All that was left of the office was a two foot wide ledge that had once been the floor, and the wall behind Ahiga. He realised his hearing was coming back when he started to make out the groans. Dying men calling for their mothers with their last breath, or cursing their God for letting this happen.

  There were groans right next to Ahiga. He turned and saw Golding and Fitch under a pile of dust and rocks. The blast from the explosion must have knocked them into the back wall and stopped them being crushed in the pit.

  Thank the Great Spirit they were alive. He wanted them to suffer so much more.

  Anna had gotten her arms free of the straps when the lights went out. The whole room shook. All the windows cracked and Anna heard several panes crash to the ground. There was no sound and no light. As she tried to find a way to undo the straps her eyes got used to the dark. She began to hear voices off in the distance.

  Though her arms were free, Anna's chest and legs were still bound. Anna had hardly any room for manoeuvre and she couldn't find any way to release the remaining restraints.

  The voices from the corridor outside started to get closer. She saw the flicker of torch beams.

  "Wait, it's over here."

  "See I told you."

  "Shit. I never knew there was medical equipment on this floor. You think there's drugs?"

  "One way to find out man."

  Two men entered the room. Anna blinked as torch beams found her.

  "This must be her then. All trussed up and ready for us."

  "Our orders were to take her to quarters and lock her up. Sooner we get that done, sooner we can sneak out of here."

  "Fuck our orders! I ain't got me none for months. Might be months before I get my next chance. We don't even have to pay for this. She's tied down and everything."

  "What if she's just a kid though? Or one of those things they make out of the kids?"

  "Don't matter. She can be anyone you like in the dark."

  It was just like being back in the Pleasuredrome. Pathetic men and their disgusting appetites. Only this time Anna didn't feel violated, or victimised. She felt mad as hell. Her anger became eager movement in the vats of the Doomsday Virus. Like she was flexing a huge muscle. One that was waiting to be a part of her.

  The man undid the strap that was holding Anna's legs down. She tried to kick out at him but he grabbed her surgical smock and yanked. "Hey quit pushing," the man said. "You'll get your turn…"

  His words trailed off in a choking gurgle. The man put his hands to his throat. He was still holding his torch. For a brief moment his face was caught in the beam. A knife was sticking out of the front of his neck.

  He dropped and Anna heard more footsteps enter the room.

  "Hey wait! It's okay man, we got orders we're supposed…"

  The voice was cut short by the sound of a jaw fracturing. The man's cries were soon muffled by the sounds of boot leather colliding with flesh.

  "Anna, are you hurt?" It was Cortez's voice.

  "I can't find the release for these straps. I'll have to cut them." Anna felt the knife touch her as Cortez hacked through her restraint. It was sticky with the blood of the man who'd tried to rape her.

  "How is she?" said Greaves. "Did they hurt her?"

  "I'm fine," said Anna without hiding her annoyance. "Thanks for asking me."

  "I'm sorry. I just didn't know if you were conscious or not. We've got to get you out of here. The virus is up on the next floor."

  Anna's emotions were in conflict as they helped her down from the table and out of the room. Greaves handed her a pair of goggles that helped her see in the dark. Outlines appeared, drawn in a ghostly, green half-light.

  She wasn't angry at Greaves specifically. He just reminded her of the scientists who had pawed her then left her strapped to that table. He'd spoken over her as though she wasn't there, just as they had. Now he was desperate to get her to the Doomsday Virus so he could finally finish this little experiment of theirs. In many ways Anna was more of a piece of meat to this man than she was to the men who had tried to rape her.

  Maybe it was unfair to say that of Greaves. He had tried to c
onnect with her. He just wasn't any good at it. Uniting her with the Doomsday Virus was like an article of faith to him. As though it was going to save his and humanity's soul.

  He didn't even seem to realise that about himself. For a man who had amassed such an incredible amount of knowledge on so many things, Greaves was totally lacking in self knowledge. You didn't find the sort of redemption he wanted in a test tube.

  "Damn it," Anna heard the man called Colt say. "Where are Fitch and Golding?"

  "Great Chief, Ahiga is not with us either."

  "Do not worry," she heard the Chief say. "Ahiga is a resourceful man. I am sure he knows exactly what he's doing."

  Ahiga had opened the shutters on the front office and led Fitch and Golding out into the empty corridors beyond. Golding's face was badly burned from the explosion and both men were now totally blind.

  Ahiga stood behind them, steering them with a hand on each of their shoulders. He guided them into a dead end and up to a wall. "That's far enough. Now I want both of you on your knees."

  "Hey, what is this?" said Fitch. "I thought you were gonna get us out of here."

  Ahiga put a pistol against each of their temples. "I said on your knees."

  Both men did as they were told.

  "Do you remember a guy called Frankie McKenzie?" said Ahiga. "Used to run with us back in Lomont. Good man to have in a fight but lacking in smarts. Which is why he always got pinched. Guy became a three time loser thanks to a man called Robert."

  "Robert! Is this about that faggot fucking parole officer?" said Fitch. "What, you're finally gonna get sore with us?"

  "I'm not getting sore. I'm getting even. Why else do you think I led you down here and got your eyes burned out?"

  "C'mon Tom," said Golding. "I mean what did you expect us to do when we found you was carrying on with another man like that? You're lucky we let you live. You practically forced us to do it."

  "Way I recall it," said Ahiga. "You forced me."

  "You were getting above yourself," said Fitch. "What else was I going to do when I found out? You had to be brought back to earth."

  "Put on a leash you mean."

  "If you like, yeah." said Fitch. "Like Golding said, what do you expect? You get turned out in prison fine. You do what you gotta do to get by inside. You don't carry that sort of thing on when you get out though."

  "I didn't get turned out when I was inside. I didn't let a single man in there lay a finger on me."

  "So what, you suddenly develop a taste for it when you get out? That's sick."

  "I fell in love. I didn't want to. I fought it for a long time. It started after my parole finished. Robert was my officer. He dropped by to check up on me a few times and it went from there. I knew what it meant if we were found out. Robert would lose his job and I'd end up in some alley with a knife in my back.

  "Except what happened when you found out was a lot worse. See, Frankie went away for the last time on a parole violation. So you got the 57th St bangers all good and stoked on crack and bourbon and told us you knew where the parole officer who sent Frankie away lived. Told us we should go down there and sort him out, as payback for what he did to Frankie. Wasn't till I got there that I realised where I was. Then it was too late, I wasn't going to say anything.

  "So I went along. We broke in, we dragged Robert out of bed and we knocked him about. He recognised me straight away. He knew that if he gave anything away it would be the death of me. So he kept his mouth shut and took everything you gave him. Then you put the gun in my hand. Told me to put it in his mouth and kill the only person I ever loved. I did it too. Because I was a coward.

  "Not an hour goes by when I don't regret it. Right up until the very end Robert kept his mouth shut. To save my life, even when I took his. I killed Robert to prove my manhood and my bravery to the rest of you. But in dying the way he did, Robert proved he was far braver and far more of a man."

  "Enough with the speeches already," said Fitch. "If you're gonna kill us just get on with it. Don't expect us to beg."

  "I'm not going to kill you. Not unless you force me to. Now lie down. You this way, and Golding like that."

  Ahiga arranged them so that both men were lying on their sides facing each other with their feet in opposite directions. Fitch's face was right up against Golding's crotch and Golding's was in Fitch's. Ahiga pressed a pistol to each of their temples. "Now I want you to get each other's weapons out and you can guess where I want you to put them. Just think of that pistol and how Robert took it."

  "Go fuck yourself," said Fitch. "Not even a bullet in the head will make me do that."

  "I'm not gonna put a bullet in your head. I'm gonna fire one up your ass if you don't do what I tell you. Now this is a small calibre pistol. That bullet's gonna bounce around quite a lot before it stops. Do a lot of damage. Even still it's gonna take a long time before you die. Hours and hours of unending agony. Blind and trapped all the way down here, with the rats gnawing on your face as you shit out your own innards. I reckon there's nothing you won't do to avoid that. You ain't brave enough.

  "So now, in order to survive, you're both gonna do something that you'll have to live with for the rest of your lives. Something you'll never escape and never live down. Something I'll always have hanging over your heads. Just like you did with me. Now quit stalling and open wide."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  "Tell me child," Hiamovi said to Anna. "What tribe are you from?"

  Anna had been quite shocked to see Native Americans and Neo-Clergy fighting together to help Greaves and Cortez rescue her. She was still getting used to the idea.

  "I'm very sorry, erm… Great Chief," Anna said. "But I don't know. I have no memory of it but I was conceived and grown in a test tube, in a hellish place like this. I've hardly ever met any of your… our people. I was raised in a Christian community. I suppose you could say my tribe are, were, the Amish."

  "Hear that Hiamovi?" said Mr Colt. "Girl's a Christian. Don't hold with your pagan superstitions."

  Hiamovi glowered back at him but didn't answer.

  He was a strange man this Native American chief. The hard emotional front men of power hide behind did not sit comfortably with him. He seemed to Anna like a good man who was learning to be bad. The duplicity and ruthlessness of wielding power did not come naturally to him.

  Colt on the other hand appeared to be a man whose conscience had just caught up with him. Like the gold cross he wore around his neck it had grown heavier with every vicious thing he had done in its name. Anna noted that they were both wrestling with the same dilemma, but in opposite ways.

  Anna also felt as though, in their own perverse manner, they were courting her. Like she was the only child of a wealthy land owner. Both men wanted to wed her to their cause. Both craved the power they thought she could give them. Once again it came down to men and their insatiable appetites.

  The doors of the lab were wide open when they arrived.

  "Oh," said Greaves in surprise. "How convenient, a flaw in their security even I didn't foresee." He stood in the doorway to block everyone's path. "There's a lot of deadly and infectious material in there that's about to get loose. Wait here a moment."

  Greaves appeared a moment later with his arms full of bio-hazard suits. "You're going to need these." He handed a suit to everyone but Anna declined hers.

  "I won't be needing that," she said.

  "No, of course not," Greaves replied.

  The doors to every room in the lab were wide open as they walked through. Only the hexagonal booth with the titanium containers remained shut. Anna felt a hole open up inside her, one that longed to be filled by the virus. She wanted to cradle it with her body and let it grow inside her.

  Anna, who had been leading the small war party through the lab, turned to stop them now. "I can take it from here."

  "Wait," said Greaves. "You have to check the thermostat before you release the container's lid. Otherwise the pressure could…"

  A
nna held up her hand to hush him. "That's alright. Like I said, I can take it from here."

  The door to the booth slid open as Anna approached and slipped inside. The air was still and cold but it also felt somehow turbulent. The lids to the containers popped open by themselves.

  The virus itself was doing this. Anna could suddenly sense it crawling on every surface.

  There is always a point of no return when we commit ourselves to a course of action, Anna thought. This is mine.

  As in all those moments, Anna felt a sense of dread for every unknown thing this might mean. And a sense of loss for everything it wouldn't.

  She opened herself up to the virus, took it inside her as though she was drawing breath through every orifice and every pore of her body. A million unseen microbes fell on her, hungry to feed. And like a mother suckling her young, she nourished them.

  Tears ran down Greaves' face as he watched through the visor of the suit. It was happening. Everything he had planned over so many years was coming to pass. Humanity's salvation, he had really made it happen.

  The moment was broken by the noise of footfall getting closer. It sounded like there were lots and lots of men heading their way.

  "They're on to us," said Colt. "They knew the first place we were gonna head would be straight for the Doomsday Virus."

  "You didn't think they'd give it us without a fight did you?" Hiamovi said.

  "No-one gives up a weapon like this without a fight."

  Greaves saw Anna fall to the floor. She was entering the transitional phase of symbiosis. The virus was attacking every single function of her body and mind. Breaking it all down so it could rebuild and replicate it. She would come close to a state of total death before it brought her back to eternal life.

  Anna was incredibly vulnerable. If anything happened to her in this state it could jeopardise the whole process.

  "We have to get them away from here," said Greaves. "We need to draw their fire to protect Anna. She needs time to recover. If anything happens to her now it could mean her life. Then everything we've fought for will be pointless."

  "What're you suggesting?" said Colt.