by Sweet, Dell
Joel raised his eyes to Haley and Scott. They both nodded. He looked back at her. “Guess you're in, Pearl,” he told her. He tossed the gun and she caught it in one hand.
“I like it, but here,” Haley said retrieving a rifle from the back of the truck. She tossed it to her lightly.
“Zero to sixty?” Pearl asked as she looked over the rifle.
Haley pulled a clip from a pouch at her side. She frowned. “Guess so,” she said as she tossed the clip to Pearl. “I guess so.” Pearl socketed the clip home as she nodded.
“Okay,” Joel said. “Looks like we need another truck.”
Haley nodded and they all piled into the truck. Joel turned it around and started back out to the strip.
Project Bluechip
Richard Pierce
Richard pierce watched the two trucks pick their way around the wrecked pavement. Lately he had found himself wondering what the outside smelled like. Was it sterile the way the air here smelled? Slightly burned? Something like that. It had a constant smell of hot steel. He really didn't notice it unless he concentrated on it.
He had watched the three become four. So Pearl had made her way out. He could only hope she would remember what he had done for her. How he had cut her loose. Anyone else in this place would come unglued to find out he had not only let someone go, but that the natural containment of the project, encased over a mile deep in stone was now breached. He had let her out through the air ducting. It had taken two days of looking over the schematics to be sure that there was a way out and where it was, but he had found it and sent her on her way. She had found her way out, and that could only mean that project Bluechip was not a secure facility any longer. Air was being exchanged with the outside. Air sucked in from that same ducting, directly through the opening she had cut into the duct work, and then drawn in to their clean air supply. So, he thought now, why does it still smell like hot metal? He had no answer, except, maybe it took time. Maybe the small amount of air was not so noticeable. No matter, he knew it had been breached, he knew the truth.
Of course they would know. He had very little time, maybe only minutes before she was discovered missing. He felt cowardly about the way he had worked it out. He had sent her first, she had made it and so he knew it was safe for him to go. He had no intention of going along with the ones she had found though, He had his own plans, His own ideas, He had waited a long time to get out of here and he had, had a long time to think about what he wanted to do once he was out: Where he wanted to go. He punched up a camera view in one of the tunnels. The hole was obvious immediately. Ragged sheet steel curled away from the side of the pipe. So she had done it. She hadn't found some other way; she had done exactly what she was supposed to do. The duct was breached. All he had to do was go.
He leaned forward and punched a series of numbers and letters into his keypad. Hiding it with the forward movement of his body. A second later the system switched over to a camera loop that it had released no more than a few minutes before, and once more the tunnel looked untouched: The duct piping solid and whole once more. He stood from his console and stretched.
“Christ,' he complained loudly, as he fisted his hands and worked at his eyes. “This shit is about to put me to sleep, Graham.”
Graham looked up and smiled. “Not you. Usually you're a bear for this shit.”
“Yeah, yeah, but not today. Not enough sleep. I'm going to the cafeteria... Get some of that shit that passes for coffee,” Pierce told him.
“Yeah, but what if Weston comes around?” Graham asked. He seemed alarmed, Pierce thought, and well he should be. There was no leaving the monitor station during a shift.
“Cover for me... Tell him I had to use the can,” Pierce told him quietly. When he looked doubtful Pierce added, “Come on, man, I'd do it for you, Graham. You know I would.”
“Yeah. I know.” He looked around the room quickly. “Okay... Just not too long, okay?”
“Not too long,” Pierce agreed. He clapped Graham on the back as he walked past him. “Not too long at all, buddy.”
SEVEN
Joel And Haley
Mannsville New York
They were pinned down in the remains of a pole barn, in a field just a few miles outside of Watertown off route 11 south. The rains had been so hard, and so frequent, that the fields and roads were completely flooded. They had been forced to stop after twice driving into water far too deep for the trucks.
The field they were in was higher ground that most of the others. They shared one wall and the partial metal roof of the collapsed pole barn with a few wild cows they eyed them suspiciously.
Their corner was reasonably dry, but several days of rain and boredom had blighted their spirits and they worked hard to keep off each other’s nerves.
“I learned to sew as a girl,” Pearl said now. She held Haley's hand and guided the needle as she repaired the hem of her jacket.
She had caught it on the ragged edge of one wall as she had run over into another part of the pole barn that had no ceiling. In her haste to get out of the rain she had caught the edge of the jacket and ripped out the seam. The seam also formed the bottom of the pocket on that side. Without it she had found herself slipping items into that pocket that then fell to the ground, or the concrete floor of the pole barn, or down between the seats in the truck. She focused and tried to keep her line straight. It wasn't so hard once you got the needle threaded.
“Just like that, good girl,” Pearl encouraged.
Haley smiled. “So,” she raised her eyes from the seam, “Where were you back there?”
The smile that had been on Pearl's face fled. “I was held... Held by mad men...” She seemed to consider a moment. “A mad man, perhaps. The rest were not quite so rabid.” She rubbed at her eyes and then raised them from the floor where they had sunk of their own volition.
“One of his own men let me go... I suspect, of course, that he let me go to make a way for himself to escape...” She shook her head. “He was not a virtuous man. No, he let me go and if I made it he knew that his chances would be likewise as good or better. Why, he could even say he was out looking for me if he got caught, could he not? Right.” She looked back down and then out at the falling rain.
“Sorry,” Haley said. “I didn't mean to make you relive it. It doesn't matter.” She looked back down at the hem, nearly half done, and took up another stitch.
“It's all right. It's not so bad. The bad part is this,” she raised her hand to indicate the world. “Who knew all of this was... Gone... Who knew?”
“I suspect your mad man must have,” Haley said quietly.
Pearl nodded. “I suspect, no, I know he had something to do with this. Played some part in all of it. His man, Pierce, near as well told me as much.”
“You mean, something to do with the whole world being messed up?” Haley asked surprised.
“I believe so... There is a base there, you know.”
“I knew that. My boyfriend worked there until he was transferred overseas,” Haley agreed.
“No,” Pearl said quietly. “Another... One far below the city itself.
Haley raised her eyebrows. “Below the city?”
“Sounds crazy, I know. But believe me it is there. That is where they held me. My mad man, Weston, Major Weston is all I know him by, commands it with an iron fist. It is sealed, or it was until I broke out... Supplies to last a very long time. I suppose he could grow to be an old man, if he isn't already, and die there hiding from... Well, whatever it is that he is hiding from there... Or waiting out.” She met Haley's eyes and they were dark, contemplative and sad.
Haley stayed quiet, she had questions she wanted to ask, but she held them back. She had the feeling if she pried that Pearl would close up again as she had been the first few days she had traveled with them. “Are you... Are you okay from it? … I mean did they hurt you? I know it's not my business. I know I shouldn't pry. Forgive me.”
“More than once. I really had no
hope of making it out of there alive. I knew, you see. I knew it was there. Sort of like that old joke where the man says, 'Yes, I can tell you, but then I would have to kill you.' Only, it was no joke.” She focused on her hands were they clutched one another and battled in her lap. She raised her eyes and tears threatened at the corners. “It's alright. I'm alright, or I will be alright. I just... I just need some time before I talk about it. Just...”
“Hey,” Scott said. “Is this a private party or can anyone come?” He and Joel had been across the road checking a small shopping complex that was mostly collapsed. They both had boxes in their arms.
“Yeah. We've been toiling away in the rain, but we bought you some good stuff.” He smiled a lopsided grin that lit up his face. His hair was plastered to his head, and his skin was overly white from the cool air and the constant rain.
Pearl smiled widely, sat up straight and tried to peer into Scott's box. “So what have you brought us then?” She asked. Her eyes were red, but no more so than Scott's own eyes from the rain and wet.
“Wow, she turned on that English accent hardcore. I think she wants what you have in that box, Scott,” Joel laughed.
Haley took a deep breath to clear her own head. Joel leaned close. “Okay?” He asked. His eyes were still smiling but had a hint of worry in them. Haley was pretty sure he had realized how he felt about her and was having a hard time dealing with the emotions that had come with it. She would have liked nothing more than to lean forward and kiss him hello. See how that smoothed out the worry lines embedded in his forehead. But, they weren't at that place yet. She offered him a huge smile instead. “I'm fine, I really am okay, just bored. How's that leg? Don't overdo it,” She cautioned.
He smiled widely. “Oh, it's nothing. It's good.”
“Good? You nearly got that leg shot off. I'll take a look at it later on. Now, what gives? What's in the boxes?”
“Yes, what is in the boxes?” Pearl added.
Scott tipped his box forward and Joel followed suit. Jugs of sports drinks, candy bars, and several cans of canned meat.
“Get out,” Haley said as she grabbed a candy bar and a can of the meat. “I love this stuff!”
“The candy?” Pearl asked? She had pulled out a candy bar for herself.
“The meat,” she laughed. “I know we all say we hate it, but fry this stuff up and it's golden.” She looked at the candy bar. “This too, although it will give me about seven hundred pimples probably.” They both laughed.
“Why is it so unfair?” Pearl asked. “A few ounces of sweetness and days of paying for it?”
“Proof that God was a man. A woman would have taken care of that!” They both laughed again and Haley saw a real smile surface and settle onto Pearl's mouth.
“Hey,” Scott said. He held up a box of pancake mix and a jar of peanut butter.
Beside him Joel lifted another box of pancake mix and a jar of grape jelly. “We got both,” He said reverently.
“Oh my God,” Haley said. Her eyes rolled comically. “Okay, Pearl, we best get the frying pan and get dinner going. The mighty hunters have returned with provisions.” She looked down at the cows that were watching them. Mistrustful of the sudden outburst and the laughter. “Hmm, do you think one of you could get us some milk? That one cow is nursing and if she is nursing that means she can give us a little.”
“I tried to get close the other day and she was none too interested,” Joel said. He looked over at the cow and she shifted her weight and stared him down as though she had understood what Haley had asked him.
“See that?” Scott asked. “She knows. That is no dumb cow, right there. No dumb cow at all. She'll kick your ass right back to Watertown.”
“That's what I'm worried about,” Joel agreed. “Well, you get a rope and I'll get a pail and let's see if we can convince her.”
“Well... Be careful, of course,” Pearl said.
“Yeah... It was a suggestion, but don't end up getting hurt,” Haley added as they walked away. She turned to Pearl.
“I am sorry... I hope you can be okay.”
“I will be,” Pearl said. She turned back to Scott and Joel. “Those two will surely get themselves kicked about.”
“Think so?” Haley asked. “I hope that they would be smart enough to call it off if it looks dangerous.” She broke off as Joel and Scott walked over to a sack of grain that had probably been in the barn for a while, Haley judged, by all the dust that rose when they picked it up. The two of them carried it over to the cows that still watched them carefully and stopped about twenty feet away.
“Here cow,” Scott called. He ripped open the top and spilled some grain onto a reasonably clean space of concrete.
Haley sniggered and Pearl raised one hand to her mouth to stifle her own giggles. “God,” Haley said.
Scott looked over and made a face.
“Come on cows... Come on girls,” Joel encouraged. He picked up a handful of the grain and walked slowly to the cows with it. One cow lifted her head and then wagged it up and down. Joel stopped. “What's that mean?” He asked.
“Um, I think it means, hey, bring that shit a little closer, Man,” Scott said.
The cow tossed her head and then trotted the few feet to Joel. She looked at him warily, extended her neck far longer than Joel had thought was possible, and then lipped the grain from his hand. Two other cows, too curious to stay still, trotted over, and a second later they were licking Joel's hands with their rough tongues. A second after that they hurried past him as though he didn't exist and began to eat from the pile on the floor. Joel looked up at Scott amazed. “Get the pail and the rope, Man,” Joel told him.
Scott came over with the pail and the rope. “Well, which one you want to do?” Joel asked him.
“Um, I'll hold the rope... Yeah, I'll hold the rope,” Scott decided.
Haley watched as Scott slipped the rope over the cow's head and Joel carefully reached under her and grasped her udder. The cow did nothing: Intent on eating the grain. Joel's head popped back up a second later. “Uh, how do you get the milk to come out?”
Pearl laughed, jumped to her feet and dusted off her jeans. “Let's go show them,” she told Haley.
Haley laughed. “How about you show them, because I don't have a clue... Doesn't it just come right out?”
Pearl laughed. “Nearly.” She reached Joel, slipped by him and fastened one hand around a teet and pulled down as she squeezed lightly. “Not hard. Slow and easy.” The milk made a load noise as it squirted into the plastic bucket. A few seconds later Haley and Pearl had retreated to start dinner while Joel and Scott took turns milking the cow.
Joel, Haley, Pearl and Scott
Joel sat across the fire and listened as Dale Johnson talked. They had met up with his party earlier in the day. Six total, they had been heavily armed, and the meeting had been tense, a standoff in the shattered doorway of a grocery store on the outskirts of Syracuse. Pearl had broken the tension by lowering her rifle and offering her hand. Sink or swim, she had said later, and they had all managed a laugh about it. She had a way with words, or at least a humor in her words.
Dale, Bonny, Sammy, Ariel, Liv and max. Max and Liv looked like characters straight out of an end of the world sci-fi novel. Leather pants, ribbed sleeveless t-shirts, crossed holsters slung low, hair cut short on the sides, spiked on top, and they had a way of looking through the person they were talking to, as if they really didn't matter at all. Max rolled a never ending supply of wooden toothpicks from one corner of his mouth to the other. They were both restless, watching the sky, the roads in and out of the parking lot they had camped out in.
The others were more laid back. Followers, but they followed Dale rather than the other two, and that made Joel wonder at the strangeness of that. Two type A personalities that no one was following, and Dale, a take it as it comes sort of guy, that everyone including the type A's were following.
“This place is over in Kentucky, maybe Tennessee. We overheard
others talking about the place a few times now, guiding others in. It's small now, but it'll grow. It will have to grow, I mean, they have got a set up there they say... Plans, you know.”
Scott cleared his throat. “But you haven't talked to them at all, right?”
“Well, no. But we have talked to people that have talked to them,” Bonny said. Dale nodded.
“They have a place that has existed for as long as this country has existed. They just had someone who knew how to get to it.” Max this time.
Joel nodded. “But it's still a maybe... I can't go on a maybe... We're headed to the city... A large group there we've talked to. Probably south from there.”
“How do you know that is real? I mean, couldn't that be as much of a pipe dream as what we're following?” Dale asked.
Haley nodded. “Well, you're welcome to stay here tonight, but in the morning we're heading down along the thruway and following that into Manhattan... You're welcome to come with us... Strength in numbers,” she smiled.
“Can't do it,” Dale said. He turned to Pearl. “You're welcome... Plenty of room.”
Pearl had been quiet, listening to the conversation go back and forth. She was not interested in New York. Her personal belief was that Manhattan would be nothing but death and destruction on a larger scale. The people that Joel and Scott had talked to had pretty much confirmed that. And there was sickness there, something strange, something new. She got the idea they were heading there because there was a group of survivors there, nothing more. And she didn't feel they would stay there long, Joel had talked about heading south as soon as they got the chance; Manhattan was not going to be his final destination. She sighed.” I don't know.” She looked at Haley. They had become close over the last few days, but she would go wherever Joel went. Joel might not realize that yet, but he would. As far as herself, she just wanted to be out of the fight. She wanted somewhere to start over. Someplace safe.