by David Meyer
Don’t get sappy. You know damn well that eternal peace is just a nice way of saying he’s dead. And there’s no waking up from that.
“I can see the next station,” Beverly called out. “And still no sign of them.”
I spun around. Diane sat hunched on the floor in the middle of the car. Her face looked grim yet determined. Beyond her, Beverly pointed a flashlight out the far window.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I think I would’ve noticed if something splattered in front of me.”
She paused. “I hate to bring this up now, but what happens when we hit the next station?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does this thing have brakes? Or will we just shoot on through?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But if it stops, we’re in trouble.”
Beverly lowered her flashlight and edged her body to the side, taking cover next to the door. Mere seconds separated us from the next station. Seconds that could bring salvation.
Or disaster.
As I nervously fingered my gun, I ran the possible scenarios through my head. As long as the car continued to head south, we were safe. If it ground to a halt while in the present tube, we’d have two options. Flee back to the north or stay in the railcar and defend the door. In the worst-case scenario, we’d stop in the middle of the station. From that position, escape would be impossible and we’d be flanked on either side by Chase’s forces.
A loud screeching noise punctured the silence. My fingers tightened around my pistol as bright lights blazed through the side windows.
Abruptly, the car slid completely out of the tube and into the station. Glancing out the back window, I saw a dozen silhouettes gathered around the tube’s mouth. They remained immobile as we passed by them. Squinting, I saw the shock registered on their visages.
My gaze landed on the tallest person in the crowd and although I couldn’t discern his face, I knew it was Standish. There was no mistaking his giant frame, his broad shoulders, and his commanding presence. To his left, I saw the shorter silhouette of Chase.
I felt no intimidation, no fear as I stared at them. Nothing but cold, silent rage filled my soul. One way or another, a day of reckoning was coming. They would pay for their crimes.
The subway car bumped and I felt a surge of adrenaline. The car skidded into the next tube, slowing down in the process. I steeled myself, preparing for the worst.
I heard a rush of air. Beach’s car jolted.
Then it accelerated and we raced through the next tube.
“What happened?” Beverly asked.
“The pneumatic system.” I grinned. “When Cartwright fixed the first fan and turned it on, he must’ve turned the entire system on with it.”
Diane’s weak and halting voice spoke out. “Do either of you have another gun?”
I glanced at her. She looked even paler than I remembered. “Nope.”
“Do you even know how to use one?”
Beverly’s voice sounded skeptical and I didn’t blame her. To the best of my knowledge, Diane had never fired a gun in her life.
But she seemed to gain energy at the question. “Of course not,” Diane replied. “Why would someone like me know how to fire a gun, right?”
“I didn’t mean –”
“Save it. Do you have another gun or no?”
Beverly glanced at me and then turned back to Diane. Her hand reached to her belt. Removing a pistol, she twisted it around and offered the handle to Diane. “Don’t make me regret this.”
As Beverly walked away, I jogged over to join Diane. Her eyes shimmered under my flashlight and I saw both fear and fortitude within them. Gently, I reached for her shirt.
She slapped my hand away. “I’m glad you find me attractive, but this is no time to mess around.”
“I need to look at your wound.”
“I know. And you don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are. Now are you going to lift up your shirt or do I have to tear it off you?”
She sighed. Then she slowly wiggled her bloodstained shirt up a few inches. Exhaling, I stared at the long, gaping wound across her belly. It was a nasty cut, oozing with blood and puss.
Standard medical procedures – cleaning it, removing the dead flesh, and dressing it – were outside the realm of possibility. Makeshift medicine would have to suffice until I could get her to a hospital.
Lifting my arms, I stripped off my tattered, bloody shirt. After tearing it into pieces, I tied the strips tightly around her body, enclosing the wound.
Diane looked at me. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“What did you get me into?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“At this point, I’ll believe just about anything.”
“Oh yeah? Would you –”
The subway car lurched. My body launched into the air and I slammed into something cold and hard. Dazed, I crumpled to the floor. I was hurt but alive.
I just hoped I wasn’t the only one.
I peeled my sore body off the floor and rose painfully to my knees. Fishing around for a few seconds, I managed to locate my flashlight. As I switched it on, a dim glow covered the interior of the car.
The Bell, which had stopped my movement, rested directly in front of the double doors. Beverly knelt on its left side, head in hands. I noticed a bit of blood dripping from her skull.
I shook my head, trying to free myself from my mental fog. “Are you okay?”
Beverly nodded. “What happened?”
“We hit something.”
I looked around for Diane and spotted her lying on the ground, feet splayed out across the floor. “How about you?” I asked. “Are you all right?”
“I’ve been better.”
I stood up. “I hate to rush everyone, but we can’t stay here. We need to move before Chase arrives.”
Diane pointed at the Bell. “We’re leaving that thing, right?”
“No. It’s coming with us.”
“Why? What is it anyway?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“It’s a particle accelerator.” I took a deep breath. “It creates a substance called Red Mercury which can be used to fuel hydrogen bombs.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Forget I asked. How are we supposed to move it? It’s got to weigh a couple hundred pounds at least.”
I winked at Beverly. Then, I bent down and put my hands under the lip of the Bell. “I’m sure I can manage it.”
My grin vanished as I found myself struggling to lift the Bell off the car’s floor. Finally, it lifted into the air for a few seconds. Oddly, it had gained significant weight since being unplugged. I found it curious.
And troubling.
“Nice trick,” Diane said. “What’s it made out of?”
I shrugged my shoulders, deliberately removing my hands from under the Bell in the process. “Who knows?”
Her jaw dropped as the Bell remained floating in the air. Quickly, I opened the doors. Then, I pushed the Bell out of the car and into the tube. Looking around, I noticed that one of the running rails had cracked, presumably under the weight of Beach’s subway car.
I reached up and helped Diane out of the car. Her face looked flushed and she seemed to move with more energy.
“How…?”
“Don’t ask.” I shook my head. “I don’t have the slightest idea.”
Beverly hopped out of the car. “There’s no lock on the other door. And unfortunately, there’s nothing to barricade it with either.”
“What if we shoot out one of the seats and use it to block the knob?”
“Honestly, I think we’re better off saving our ammo. By the time we finished setting it up, they’d be right on top of us.”
“We don’t have enough time.” The realization hit me hard. “Without the car, we’ll never escape with th
e Bell. We need to destroy it.”
“How do we destroy it?” Diane asked.
I pulled Hartek’s journal out of my satchel. “Hopefully, this will tell us. I’ll push the Bell forward to give us some more breathing room. I need one of you to read this book and figure out a solution.”
Beverly shook her head. “You’re our best chance. You’ve read far more of that book than either of us. You read, we’ll push.”
I didn’t like it. It made sense but I still didn’t like it. I looked at Diane. “How’s your stomach?”
“I’ll manage.”
Glancing back at Beverly, I shrugged. “Let’s get to it then.”
Beverly and Diane threw their combined weight behind the Bell. Soon, it started to shift forward through the tube. Although it still floated, its growing weight was cause for concern. What happened when it finally fell victim to gravity?
As the two women pushed the Bell, I focused my attention on Hartek’s journal. I flipped through page after page, scanning them with my flashlight, searching for clues.
Red Mercury is a superconductor.
I stopped on the page and quickly read the surrounding notes. I saw something about a property called the Meissner effect. I flipped a page and read some more. Although I didn’t understand everything, it appeared that the Bell’s anti-gravity properties were due to Red Mercury itself, which was subjected to extremely low temperatures and manipulated with magnets inside the Bell.
I read more. It seemed that when the Red Mercury and magnets moved together, they started to both attract and repel each other. The magnets, which were positioned above the Red Mercury, levitated. As they rose, the Red Mercury rose with it.
I turned it over in my mind, trying to understand the inner workings of the particle accelerator. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I almost missed the sound of splashing water.
But as it grew louder, it grabbed my attention. I realized we were nearing the giant alligator’s home.
My ears perked. Pounding footsteps. And they were running toward us.
Not now! I need more time!
Stuffing the journal under my arm, I leaned my back into the Bell and helped push it through the tube. Fifty feet separated us from the next station. But it was a temporary refuge at best. We couldn’t stay ahead of them forever, especially not with the Bell gaining weight with every passing second.
We lumbered into the station. Something whizzed over my head and slammed into the opposite wall. Immediately, I veered to the side, pushing the Bell away from the tube’s mouth.
Beverly turned and fired a few shots over her shoulder. The footsteps retreated.
I looked around, trying to formulate a plan. We couldn’t reach the opposite tunnel, not without stepping in the path of gunfire again. And the station itself offered no means of protection.
My eyes crossed the space. We needed to destroy the Bell and escape. But how?
A crazy idea popped into my head.
Immediately, I spun to the side of the Bell and shoved it across the station. The abandoned tube lay in front of us, its metal grating warning us away.
By entering it, we could buy ourselves a few seconds. And if I could figure out how, we could destroy the Bell and escape into the underground river. It wasn’t a great option.
But it was the only option.
There was nowhere else to go.
Nowhere but back into the monster’s lair.
Chapter 62
“Are you out of your mind?” Beverly shot me an amazed look. “We can’t go in there.”
Grunting, I turned around and shoved my back against the Bell. It felt strangely warm against my bare skin. “We don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Not this time.”
“We can hole up in the corner,” she said. “Use the Bell as a shield. With a little bit of luck…”
“We’re as good as dead if we stay in here.” Sweat poured down my face. “And you know it as well as I do. We’d be cornered with no means of escape.”
“We’ll be cornered in there too.”
I grinned at her.
She frowned. “Wait, you’re not thinking…”
“I hope you know how to swim.”
“I do. Unfortunately, so do alligators.”
“Hopefully, it’s somewhere else. We’re going to figure out a way to destroy this thing and escape into the water. With any luck, it’ll take us clear out to the East River.”
“I swear to God this is the worst plan I’ve ever heard.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Diane limp to the grating and begin fiddling with the metal wires. A few seconds later, metal screeched against metal.
As the grating creaked open, Beverly slid to the side and helped direct the Bell toward the abandoned tube. We passed through the gate and Diane hobbled in behind us. I heard a light swinging noise followed by soft rattling. Moments later, her silhouette appeared at my side.
“I retied the wires,” she whispered. “As tightly as I could. It should give us another minute or so. Now get back to that book. I’ll push from here.”
I had to give her credit. When Chase arrived in the station, he’d find it empty. Between the closed grating and the darkness of the other tube, it would take him a few extra seconds to realize where we’d gone. If we were really fortunate, he might even divide his forces in order to search both tubes.
As she took my place, I grabbed Hartek’s book from under my arm. Silence fell over the tunnel and I began to read. But my mind drifted and I had trouble concentrating.
The Bell was many things to many people. It was a particle accelerator to Hartek. An object of reverence and fear to the Sand Demons. A tool of revenge for Chase.
It could create Red Mercury. Red Mercury, of course, had its own multiple identities. It was a superheavy metal. A ballotechnic explosive. A superconductor.
But that last identity was collapsing before my eyes. With every passing second, the Bell appeared to sink closer to the ground. I guessed that it was only a matter of minutes before it touched the bedrock.
As I flipped through the pages, it became increasingly apparent to me that Red Mercury’s superconductivity was not only the key to the Bell’s anti-gravity properties.
It was the key to everything. Red Mercury first became dangerous when it entered a superconductive state. But since it existed as a superconductor within the Bell, I knew that wasn’t enough to cause an explosion.
So, how did it become a superconductor in the first place? And what triggered it to detonate?
“Cyclone!”
Chase’s voice roared through the passageway. I sensed his rage, his hatred. He was close.
I couldn’t let him have the Bell. But I didn’t have the slightest idea how to destroy it. A vague notion came rushing into my brain. The underground river was deep and its current was powerful. Even better, it ran at an angle, descending steeply into the earth. If I could get the Bell into its clutches, it might drag the particle accelerator far below ground. When it inevitably exploded, the additional space and bedrock that separated the Bell from the surface could save lives.
Of course, that assumed that the river led deep underground. In which case, Beverly, Diane, and I were royally screwed.
“Enough with this nonsense, Cyclone,” Chase shouted. “This is a waste of time and energy. Leave the Bell and your weapons behind. Come out here and I promise I’ll let you live.”
Beverly glanced at me, her face glistening with sweat. “You know he’s lying, right?”
“Yup.”
It wouldn’t have mattered to me if he’d been telling the truth. I wasn’t about to run away. Not again. Not ever again.
For three long years, I’d been haunted by those poor souls who’d died under my watch. I’d tortured myself. I’d given up everything and everyone I’d held dear to me. I’d left home, undergone a career change, and pledged myself to doing good works.
But as I
looked back on that time, I no longer saw myself as someone who sacrificed or sought forgiveness. Instead, I saw someone who ran away from his past. I supposed that was the reason for my recurring PTSD episodes. And the fact that I hadn’t experienced one since I’d stopping running only bolstered my theory.
I needed to stop the Bell from hurting anyone ever again. Then I needed to figure out a way to save Beverly and Diane. If I could accomplish those two things, maybe I could finally put my guilt to rest. Maybe, just maybe, the nightmares would end.
This time for good.
Assuming I live that long.
“I see the river,” Beverly announced breathlessly. “It’s about twenty feet away. No sign of the gator.”
At least one thing had gone our way. Now, we just had to get the Bell into the water and hope the current carried it underground. Then we could swim after it and hope for the best.
It wasn’t much of a plan but it was better than nothing.
“Stop. Don’t take another step.”
I froze. A strong beam illuminated my body, casting my shadow onto the ground. Turning around, I saw Chase. He stood twenty feet away, the Smith & Wesson in his hand.
No.
Not now.
I could hear the gushing water of the river behind me. It sounded like it was just several feet away. We’d come so close.
Only to fail at the last moment.
I shoved the journal discretely into my satchel. Two soldiers stepped forward and quickly disarmed us, throwing our weapons in a small pile on the ground. Then they steered us toward the western wall. As my body was shoved into the bedrock, Chase walked forward.
He stopped in front of the Bell and studied it for a moment. His trembling fingers rose into the air and caressed its side. The Bell appeared to flinch at his touch. Silently, it dropped another eighth of an inch closer to the ground.
Chase glanced at me with awe written across his face. “How is it floating like that?”
I shrugged. “Magic?”
“Very funny, Cyclone. Now, before I let you go, is there anything else I should know about it?”
You prick. You know you’ve got no intention of letting us leave. You just want to know everything we do before you kill us.