The Darkness

by Matt Brennan

  There's a great deal of comfort in that. More than I care to admit.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Lyssa and I walk onto the bridge of the boat and gasp as we see the ship’s controls moving by themselves, steering it. The automation is impressive and more than a little spooky. I can’t help but feel like I’m on a ghost ship.

  I stand in front of a big screen and see Doctor Sanderson sitting there.

  “Hey Doc,” I say.

  Doctor Sanderson smiles from ear to ear. “Mr. Whitney, I must tell you, I’m delighted to see you. Once we spotted those men hunting for you, we were more than a little panicked. That’s why we ordered the ship to increase its speed. Very fortunate we did.”

  I smile. “I’m really glad ya did Doc. Doc, this is Lyssa. She survived The Darkness, too. I figured if one was good, two is even better.”

  He frowns a little. “Yes, well, since we don’t have her medical records or scans, her presence, while useful, is not as vital as yours Mr. Whitney. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll certainly take samples from you both, but it’s your antibodies that are the most valuable.”

  I chuckle. “Doc, all I care about, is getting into some clothes and taking a shower right now. Can this wait?”

  Doctor Sanderson looks very serious. “I’m afraid not Mr. Whitney. There’s been a complication.”

  I don’t like the sound of that. “What sort of complication?”

  He puts up his hands up to try to calm us. “Well, we don’t want to panic you, but the boat is sinking.”

  I look at Lyssa and I can see she’s feeling the same blind panic that I’m feeling in my heart. “Well, you failed doc!”

  “Mr. Whitney, you are in no immediate danger. It’s just, we no longer believe the boat will make it all the way to San Francisco... We’ll have to alter our plans.”

  My heart begins beating a little slower. “Well, how much time do we have before we go down?”

  Doctor Sanderson shifts a little. “Well, we’re not entirely sure. But the waters offshore are especially rough this time of year and our engineers feel quite certain, that even if we can stay ahead of the leak, the damaged pontoon will not survive it.”

  “What happened?”

  He sighs. “Unfortunately, that RPG knocked a huge hole in the pontoon. Who was that man?”

  “All I know is his name is Jacques. I overheard some of his men call him that, last night.”

  I don’t know why, but I omit the part about him claiming to work for the UNN. I’m not sure why, but there is something about all this that doesn’t smell right. And I don’t want to show my hand just yet.

  Doctor Sanderson tries to stare me down to see if I’ll flinch, but I don’t. “What? That’s all I know. Didn’t you tell me to avoid people? I assume he was one of the people you meant.”

  I hope that takes him off the scent.

  Doctor Sanderson sighs, and says, “Actually, I meant people like your friend. What is your name again?”

  Lyssa clearly didn’t like the way he said that, but she replies anyway, “It’s Lyssa.”

  “Lyssa? Lyssa what?”

  “Just Lyssa for now.”

  I try to change the subject. “Okay, so what is the new plan? You coming to get me with a plane or something?”

  Doctor Sanderson is still staring at Lyssa with a look of mistrust. “I’m afraid not. We are limited in our ability to move around. None of us have what you have Mr. Whitney. I’m afraid the plan right now is to pilot the ship to Olympia. From there, you’ll have to make your way to us over land. You’ll have to get on highway five. We estimate that you’re looking at a 700-mile journey. At the best case, it would take you over two hundred and seventy-five hours to reach us if you walked. Not a very promising situation. But our hands are tied I’m afraid. This ship, which we are about to lose, is all we have at the moment that is capable of transporting passengers.”

  The whole time Doctor Sanderson was speaking, I had been listening with rapt attention—until he said we had to walk to San Francisco. I stopped. Slowly turning to Lyssa, as she did me, our faces said it all.

  “Wait, your brain trust’s big idea is that I walk seven hundred miles to San Francisco?”

  Doctor Sanderson sighs. “We had another plan, but it entailed docking and having you repair the ship. Sadly that won’t work.”

  Lyssa jumps in, and says, “Hell yes it could! I can fix anything!”

  “I wish it were simply just a question of ability, Lyssa. But the men on the dock are tracking this ship, and our drones are tracking them. They are coming after you. It would take several days to repair the vessel—and you just don’t have the time.”

  “Doc, there is no way we can stay in front of them on foot! They have horses!”

  Doctor Sanderson sighs again. “There I’m afraid you are also wrong. Our drones tracked them to a semi-tractor trailer, where they exchanged horses and met up with reinforcements. They are heading south. We are sailing at full speed so we should be able to give you a healthy head start. There are also two motorized vehicles on board. Well, they’re actually called four wheelers, I think. Each has a trailer. We recommend limited equipment; just load it up with fuel. You might be able to stay ahead of them if—”

  “Might?” I interrupt.

  Doctor Sanderson sighed again. “Trust me, this is coming from someone who made a career out of telling people worst case scenarios. This is pretty much the lousiest news I’ve ever had to deliver.”

  I sigh and look at Lyssa. She nods. “When do we start?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I step out of the bathroom clean and shiny.

  I keep drying my hair with a towel and sit on the couch. The Doc told us it would take a day at least to reach Olympia. So we’ve been assigned cabins and clothes. I stare at the screen in front of me, without moving. I have never dreaded anything in my short life more than what I am about to do. It was just a kiss? Ellie will understand, it’s not like I planned it.

  She’s gonna kill me!

  Look, there is no harm in not telling her right? What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Telling her, now that would hurt her. In fact, there’s no need for her to even know anything about Lyssa. I can just keep the whole subject to myself until we get to San Francisco and figure out how to cure everyone. Then when I go to give Ellie the treatment, I’ll confess everything. Heck, she might be so happy about the cure that she just might forgive me about the whole stupid thing, but I doubt it.

  I tap the keyboard, type in the code the Doc gave me, and my screen instantly changes. I see Zack and Ellie.

  Holy crap.

  Ellie dashes to the desk and reaches out her left hand to me. “Oh, thank god!”

  “Dude! Man, am I glad to see you!”

  I smile. “Me too, pal. It’s been quite a trip so far.”

  “Are you okay?”

  I nod and smile warmly. I’m such a heel. Here she has been fretting about me for days and I’m off kissing girls.

  I suck so bad.

  “I’m fine,” I answer them, “don’t worry.”

  “How’s San Fran man?”

  “I’m not there yet buddy, I only just got to the boat in Vancouver.”

  “Well, I’m glad you made it. I was beginning to think you got lost. We get to keep you for a while now, right?”

  I swear I see Zack cringe at that, but I shake it off. “I’m afraid not. There was a problem with the ship. We’re not in any danger, but they are telling me, it won’t make it to San Francisco. So we’re going to have to walk.”

  Ellie leans back and asks. “We?”

  Big mistake.

  I squirm in my seat. “Yeah, I found a survivor on my way to Vancouver. A—um, a girl.”

  “Really? How’s that possible?”

  “She said she got sick like me and got better. Now, I don’t want you to freak out, but she’s not the only survivor I’ve found out here. There’s way more than I thought. Way more than anyone thought. Some of them
, well, they’re not so nice.”

  Ellie folds her arms in front of her chest and doesn’t blink. “What’s her name?”

  I’m dead.

  “Whose name? Oh, right! Her name is Lyssa. She’s fifteen years old. She’s been alone for more than a year. No Nexus, no UNN, nothing. She was a mess when I found her. Totally helpless. I have to take care of her Ellie.”

  Zack looks really happy. “Dude, you got a girl?”

  I hate Zack so much right then. “No, it’s not like that.”

  I know Ellie can see I’m lying. I have to come clean.

  Before I can speak though, she says, “Liar.”

  “Dude, you lying to us?”

  My mind is reeling. It’s a good thing I just got out of the shower, otherwise they’d both see me sweating. Finally, I make a decision. “Ellie, look. There is absolutely nothing going on. She is just a stray kid, I swear. When I found her she was living in the mud. Might’ve been covered with her own feces, by the smell of her, I wouldn’t have put it past her.”

  Ellie spins away.

  But Zack has a big smile across his face. “So you got yourself a girl!”

  Friggin’ Zack.

  If he were in the room right now I would have kicked him in the balls repeatedly until he passed out. “No Zack. I told you she smelled like a pig farm when I found her.”

  Zack starts laughing. “Look at him squirm! He’s got a girl!”

  “Zack if you don’t shut the hell up I’m cutting off your feed to Ellie and me. And you can spend the rest of your life counting dust mites till you slit your wrists.”

  Ellie spins back. “Dorian!”

  I look at Ellie and then back at the horrified look in Zack’s eyes.

  “Man, I’m sorry, Zack.”

  Zack is white as a ghost, and spits back, “You’re sorry? You’re sorry, that’s it? You threaten to sentence me to become death rolled over and I’m just supposed to say, ‘No worries?’ Good old reliable and lovable Zack, huh?”

  I lower my head. “Look, this doesn’t excuse what I said, but I’ve been through a lot the last couple of days and I’m not quite myself.”

  Zack laughs. “Really? Dude, I’ve been slowly starving to death for the last six months, so I’m not quite myself either! Or has it been nine months, I can’t keep track.”

  I rest my head in my hands. Maybe I should just come clean. Just come right out and tell Ellie the truth. I’ve already dug myself a big enough hole trying to lie. Seems logical that the only way out is through the truth.

  I sigh. “Look—” I start.

  I raise my eyes and I see the anger and concern on Ellie’s face and lose my resolve.

  “Look, all I can say is I’m sorry. Not only would I not do that, but even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know how.”

  Zack folded his arms across his chest and spun so his back was facing the camera. Simple but effective.

  “Ellie, I’m sorry. Can you talk to him. The Doc said I could only talk to you for a few minutes. Something about how redirecting coverage was challenging over water, I don’t know what he meant. But I have to go now.”

  Ellie’s eyes bug out of her head. “No!”

  I sigh, feeling like a complete heel. The Doc didn’t say anything about redirecting coverage. I needed to escape and it was the only thing I could think of.

  I keep telling you, I suck.

  “Ellie I have to go. They’re telling me to hang up. I love you. We’ll be together soon baby, I know it.”

  Ellie’s eyes were pleading as I hit the “Power” button. Then all I saw was my reflection in the blank screen. The guilt was leaking from my eyes and oozing from every pore on my face. I had never even thought to lie to Ellie before and now in the span of two minutes I lied to her twice. And it was easy. Much easier than the truth. Besides telling her the truth would only have made me feel better. It would have been selfish to tell her. If it truly meant nothing, then not telling her was the only option.

  She just doesn’t need to know.

  It was only a kiss... right?

  To be continued...