by Sean Platt
“Elijah?” Calla pleaded with the boy who was practically her older brother. “Please, let me go.”
Elijah looked at the doctor, then back at her. “Sorry, Calla, I agree with Oz. We can’t take the chance.”
She stomped her feet, staring at the speakers as though Sutherland was inside them. “We have to do something!”
She turned to Oz, meeting his half-human–half-robot gaze. He was usually a nice—and reasonable—man. Of all the people in The Station, Oswald and Father Truth were the ones she enjoyed debating most. They didn’t let feelings get in the way. They respected logic and would cede to a compelling argument. Until recently, they also treated her least like a child.
“What do you think happens if you don’t let me out?”
Oz thought for a moment. “I think they’ll gas us.”
“And what then?”
“Well, everyone in The Station will become infected, except maybe for you, Ana, and me. We should be immune, though anything is possible.”
“And what happens then?”
“The virus will immediately kill a certain number of people. Those not killed, and not somehow immune, will become infected: alive but mad with rage, more dangerous than the undead, if you ask me. They’ll start killing one another, trying to feast on whoever’s left. Pandemonium.”
“How long do you think you can keep me safe from either the infected or Sutherland’s men once they start tearing this place apart looking for me?”
Oz thought more but had nothing to say.
“Not long, I bet,” Calla said. “And then what? They’ll come and take me, maybe killing you and Elijah. Then they’ll take me anyway. Right? The exact thing you’re trying to prevent. But everyone will have died and for what?”
Oz swallowed. “I swore I’d protect you, Calla. And that’s what—”
Sutherland’s voice returned to the speaker, now like a nursery rhyme.
“Oh, Calla? Where are you? You’ve just two minutes to save your father . . . and The Station. You really don’t want to be responsible for everyone’s death, do you?”
Calla turned to Oz, begging with tears. “Please!”
“Oh, by the way, could you please bring that traitor Dr. Oswald as well? Immediately.”
Calla turned to see Oz’s one wide human eye. His mouth hung partly open.
Calla looked up at him. “Well, looks like we don’t have a choice.”
Oz swallowed. “I know.”
CHAPTER 49—ANA LOVECRAFT
Ana stared at Sutherland as he smiled back.
She’d had a feeling that he might have put two and two together and figured the only way The Station could be working on the cure was if Oswald was there.
When he asked for Oswald over the com, her shocked expression must’ve confirmed his suspicions.
“Please,” Ana said, “don’t hurt him. He’s trying to help. You say you want to bring down The State and give power back to the people; well, we want the same thing here. Dr. Oswald is working on a cure that could give us a tremendous upper hand in this war.”
“Yes, he can. That’s exactly what he was doing for me until you and your troublemaking loverboy showed up at Hydrangea and turned two of my top people against me.”
Ana had the definite feeling that something bad had happened at Hydrangea. Maybe a revolt. Sutherland didn’t usually go on raids with his men, at least from everything Katrina had told them over the last few months.
He had always seemed so calm and cool at the camp. So perfectly in control. Even when angry, Sutherland was a quiet sort of vicious. Now he seemed on edge, on the verge of snapping. Standing here, armed with a sword and blaster, men on standby to release the zombie toxin, the man appeared capable of anything.
Ana had to be careful not to push him too far, had to wait for the right moment to strike and take him out.
She looked surreptitiously around the room, trying to formulate how to best use the flash pouch to her benefit.
Sutherland was sitting at Egan’s desk.
Egan was sitting on the floor, per Sutherland’s request, in front of the desk.
Ana was standing, also per Sutherland’s request, in front of the desk where he could “keep an eye on her.”
Horrance was standing guard at the door behind her, with a holstered blaster and his left hand on a shock stick. Horrance was her best bet if she were going to strike first. He was strong but also dim and not likely to think at Ana’s speed.
However, Horrance had also been staring at her like a creep ever since he’d entered the room. With his eyes on her, she wasn’t sure how she could reach the pouch before he saw her. Perhaps, if she were fast enough, she could get close enough to kick him in the knee and break his leg. If she could then grab his gun, Ana could kill him, throw the pouch, then fire at Sutherland before he could regain his sight after the flash.
That was assuming that Sutherland stayed put once the flash exploded. The man was a warrior. He could drop and fire. Or she might accidentally hit Egan. Or Calla and Oswald once they arrived—assuming they were on their way.
She reassembled the pieces of the plan in her mind, but couldn’t put them together before the door opened. Calla and Dr. Oswald were on the other side. They surrendered their weapons, then Calla ran into the room and leapt into her father’s arms.
“Daddy!”
Sutherland stepped around the desk, walked past Egan and Calla on the floor, and smiled at Oswald. “So, Doc, how’s that research going?”
Oswald glared at Sutherland. “What do you want?”
“Want? I want for things to be like they used to be. You, me, Ana, Katrina, Liam, my men, all one happy Hydrangea family working to topple The State. That’s what I want!”
“Leave these people alone, and I’ll come with you,” Oswald promised. “I have no quarrel, Sir. I only want to find a cure. No reason we can’t do that together.”
Sutherland folded his hands in front of his waist.
Ana studied every move, waiting for her moment . . . and slowly starting to second-guess herself.
What if peace could be had? If Sutherland was being honest and all he wanted was things like they were, her actions could cause a needless massacre.
What if he’s our only chance?
Heart pounding, she wished Katrina were with her.
“I’ll go with you too,” Ana said. “If you leave these people alone. It’s not like I have a reason to stay after Liam ran off with that whore.”
Ana said this both to persuade Sutherland and to let Oswald and Calla in on her lie, in case Sutherland started asking questions about Liam.
Holding Calla tight, Egan looked up at Ana. Neither spoke, waiting for Sutherland’s response.
Sutherland turned his gaze to Ana. “It’s so gratifying to see this sudden change of heart. You were both soooo eager to leave, fleeing my home like I’m some sort of monster. I serve retribution to City 1 and suddenly I’m the bad guy!”
Sutherland laughed.
Ana glanced back at Horrance, still staring at her as if she were lunch.
Do it now. Do it!
“Oh, how I wish things could be like they were. I suppose that would be nice, wouldn’t it, Ana? You could have your father back. Your brother could still be a good citizen inside City 6, and”—his voice went from faux merry-buoyant to weighted by hate—“my people wouldn’t have overthrown their leader.”
Now!
Do it now! He’s about to do something bad.
Ana began to reach back but couldn’t quite finish her too obvious move. She knew Horrance would be on top of her before she could reach the pouch, and she couldn’t take the chance while peace was a possibility.
Oswald asked, “Overthrown? What happened?”
Sutherland yelled, as he pointed to Oswald and Ana. “You, and you, and that cunt Katrina! And that pretty boy Liam! You all happened. You undermined my authority. You made me look like a damned fool. And that weasel Connor Vinson staged a fucking c
oup. That’s what happened!”
Sutherland turned, staring at Ana as if able to read her mind. He stepped forward.
Ice flooded her veins.
He was too close and the pouch too far.
He shook his head. “So I have no home, thanks to all of you. But . . . perhaps all is not lost.”
He paused as he stepped just inches from Ana, his eyes reaching into her soul, searching to discover her horrible plot.
Her leg began to shake uncontrollably. Keller was the last person to intimidate Ana with a gaze, back when he locked her up.
Sutherland’s stare was a hundred times hotter.
He continued, “Perhaps I’ve found a new home. Here.”
Do it! Do it now!
Ana reached back for the pouch, found it, and brought it up to throw at Sutherland’s face.
He was too quick, reaching out and seizing Ana’s hand, sending her pouch to the floor. It did its job anyway.
The bright white flash was immediate and with it came a loud, piercing whistle.
She tried to wriggle free of his hand. But even blind, Sutherland was a step ahead. He punched Ana hard in her chest. She landed on the ground gasping for air.
Seconds later a loud thump was followed by the sound of one of their blasters. Two shots.
The ringing in her ears subsided, replaced by Calla’s shrill scream.
Ana was still gasping, hand on her chest, trying to stand. Horrance shoved her down, then put a gun to her head.
“Don’t move!” he barked.
As blindness faded and shapes returned, Ana saw Egan on the ground, his head melted into the floor.
Calla screamed again and flung herself at Sutherland.
Ana stared helplessly as Sutherland backhanded Calla and sent her sprawling to the ground. Calla hit the floor hard enough that Ana heard the thud of her skull.
The girl stopped moving.
Ana cried out between gasps, squirming as she tried to get the beast off of her. The bastard must’ve weighed 450 pounds.
Sutherland aimed at Oswald, shaking his head. He looked down at Ana, his blaster still on the doctor. “I want you to take a close look at what you’ve done, girl.”
He reached into his pants pocket, retrieved a com, and said, “Release the gas.”
“Release it?” a voice asked.
“Yes. Release it.”
Ana found her breath. “No!”
She couldn’t look at Egan’s corpse, so she stared at Calla, lying on the floor, eyes closed, probably dead.
Please don’t die. Please, Calla.
Blaster still trained on Oswald, Sutherland went and locked the door. “Once the herd is thinned, we can discuss making this our new home and continuing our research.”
Oswald said nothing.
Ana could only cry at what she’d set into motion.
On the other side of the door, she heard the first screams.
CHAPTER 50—KELLER
Keller and Kern, both in full gray chem suits, approached the truck parked in the woods near the train station with blasters drawn.
Kern, a tall man with greased black hair and a body built by six hours in the body ring per day, looked back. “Open it?”
Keller nodded.
They opened the door and saw an undead young woman hunched over a dead man around her age, entrails and gore littering the floor. The girl looked up, guts dangling from her lips, looking as if she were trying to decide between pursuing the new feast or continuing with her current one.
The girl kept eating.
Kern quietly closed the truck door. Best not to expend ammunition or make unnecessary noise.
Keller looked down at his armband’s screen: footage from one of two hunter orbs he had called in to find Sutherland.
The orb floated over an entrance to something. A second later the screen showed a heat map with two men, in older City Watch chem suits, guarding the entrance. Another view showed a solid structure under snowy ground, what looked to be an old tunnel or network. Moments later, orbs identified the structure as a train station with several underground tunnels stretching for miles.
Keller pressed a button on the screen and ordered the second orb to join the first, but for both to stay out of view until he and Kern were in position atop a hill 400 yards south of the entrance.
Keller and Kern reached the hill. Keller stared down through his gun’s scope at the entrance.
Although the two men at the tunnel were wearing old City Watch gear, the orbs did not recognize either man’s ID chip. These men must’ve been Sutherland’s terrorist “Patriot” group.
The orbs could locate no other heat signatures at the entrance or nearby.
Keller pressed a button and ordered the orbs to fire, then watched as their blue blasts snuffed the men in an instant.
“Come on.” Keller raced toward the entrance, hoping the rest of their pursuit would go as easily.
CHAPTER 51—ANA LOVECRAFT
Ana cradled Calla’s head in her lap, watching the girl’s pulsing neck, the only sign that she was still alive. Her head had pounded the floor. While there was no blood, Ana couldn’t possibly gauge the internal damage.
Oswald sat beside her as Horrance stood in front of them, blaster rifle ready to fire. Sutherland was on his com trying to reach someone.
Chaos ensued outside the room: screaming, gunshots, and blaster bolts. A few times someone tried to get inside their locked room—she didn’t know if it was a sad soul seeking escape or the already damned trying to enter—only to eventually stop or die outside the door. Ana tried not to imagine the people she’d eaten breakfast with that morning now turned into monsters and massacring one another—or shot dead.
All my fault. If only I had waited for peace.
Five minutes in hell already felt like an hour.
“They’re not answering,” Sutherland said to Horrance. “I don’t like this. They had one job—to guard the entrance. How do you fuck that up?”
Horrance shrugged. “I dunno, boss. Maybe they turned into zombies?”
“Are you stupid?” Sutherland asked. “We all took the antitoxin, which will keep us safe from the virus for a couple of days.”
“Want me to check?”
Sutherland nodded, then said, “No. Stand here and watch them. I’ll go.”
Sutherland slipped on his helmet, checked his blaster rifle, then the energy clips on his belt. He looked down at Ana. “Obviously you don’t want to go out there. But if you try and escape, Horrance will kill you.”
Ana said nothing, eyes down at Calla.
Sutherland said to Horrance, “If they move, kill the little one first.”
“Yes, boss.”
Sutherland left, immediately firing shots into people on the other side of the door.
Ana listened to Horrance’s heavy breath for a few heaves and bellows before she opened her mouth.
“You don’t have to do this, you know.”
Horrance turned to Ana. His eyes were curious.
“Do what?”
“Any of this. You don’t have to listen to Sutherland.”
“Why wouldn’t I listen to Sutherland?”
“Because he’s not a good person, Horrance. Not like you. And me. We’re good people, Horrance. Sutherland is bad. He likes to do bad things. Bad things make him happy. Do you understand?”
“Sir likes bad things because they make good things happen later. The end is very good.”
“That’s what he says, Horrance. But it’s not true. The bad makes him feel good, so he wants to keep it around. You can’t let him continue. You can stop him. You’re stronger than he is.”
“No.” Horrance shook his head. “I don’t like that. My job is doing what Sutherland says, so that’s what I do.”
It looked like Horrance wanted to say more but didn’t know the words or how to make them come out in order.
“I do the right things,” he finally said. “There is honor in following orders.”
Oswald stepped in. “Letting them go is the right thing to do, Horrance. You know that inside. Let Ana take the girl, get the two of them to safety. You can do that.”
“No.” The giant shook his head slowly.
Oswald continued.
“You’re not a bad guy, Horrance. We spent time together at Hydrangea. I know who you are. I helped you when you tore your leg in the forest. I was also there when you brought me the little girl in the red dress. Remember her?”
The memory’s weight pushed the giant’s gaze to the floor.
“You brought her to me, Horrance. When those men were drunk, you stood up for her. You were the one who brought all three of the men to me. You dragged them across the base and down three floors, beaten to pulp, with five broken limbs between them.”
Oswald continued, “I remember treating the men. I felt angry because you couldn’t just kill them. They were bad guys, but you weren’t allowed to do what should’ve been done. You were following orders. You remember what happened after that, right, Horrance?”
Horrance looked back up at the sound of his name.
“Her body was found mutilated a few days before she was going to testify against them. No one ever found her killers, but I think you and I know who was responsible for that. Don’t we, Horrance?”
The giant nodded, slammed his fist into the opposite palm, and snarled, “Fuckers!”
Oswald stood and walked toward him. The giant lurched forward, his whole body on full alert. “Stay back, Sir!”
Oswald raised his hands in the air. “I don’t mean any harm, Horrance. I just want to talk.”
Horrance looked uncertainly at the doctor. Oswald held his hands higher and somehow made his scarred robot face seem kind.
“Do you ever wish you could do things over, Horrance? Has there ever been a time when someone else has had the last word, and later you think of something you wish that you had said back then, when you were actually having the conversation. Do you ever wish you could do stuff over, Horrance, so that you could have the last word?”