Swarm (Book 4)

by Alex South

  “Flip it a million times, and this becomes all but impossible. Tails must surely come. Furthermore, tails and heads are more likely to become equal. The more coin flips, the more opportunity for expression and balance.

  “We saw that the ocean in which we lived worked this way. It was huge. So big we couldn’t explore it all. With countless plants. With countless grains of sand. Countless everything. We couldn’t even count ourselves, there were so many of us.

  “We were a race united by one idea, that we existed through the power of huge numbers. As did everything around us. We understood numbers had no limit. That an immortal being could count forever, with no end. That was our God. Our God was the great equalising power of infinity. The endlessness of numbers, and the opportunity that lay within.

  “It was simple. It didn’t give us all the answers. But it was enough. It worked for us. We believed our purpose was to continue the march of huge numbers. To reproduce, and preserve. To avoid destruction, limitation. To multiply, not deplete.

  “However something happened that changed our history forever. Human beings, your race, they changed everything for us.

  “We had humans on our planet too. In fact, that is where the human species originated from. Not your planet as you may currently believe.

  “Humans evolved on our planet’s surface whilst we remained underwater. As time moved on, they began to master certain elements of their environment, to manipulate it, and develop sophisticated tool use. We were aware of their progress as something negative. Mostly humans were a threat. They would hurt us for food. As they grew more skilled, we became more at risk of being caught.

  “However they were intelligent, as were we. And we were able to open communication with them, and to form an agreement that we would co-operate. We understood they were resource hungry, and so we provided them with things from the ocean that they could not easily access. We understood that if they wanted to, they could destroy us. So we simply became as helpful to them as we could be.

  “In return they shared information and knowledge with us. At first regarding land. And then regarding space, as they learnt how to leave the planet. Many of their actions we hated. They were destructive, dangerous and short-sighted. And, on the other hand, they seemed to have the opportunity to do many wonderful things. But they did not take these opportunities. This was something we had no power over. Indeed it was something that they didn’t have power over. Their nature was their nature, as a result of their origins.

  “Overpopulation became a problem for them. This made them more unstable. More destructive. At first there were huge famines, because there wasn’t enough food to go around. Then wars broke out. Countries that produced the most food were attacked by those that didn’t. Although it was never admitted, these wars also became an attempt to reduce the population of humans. Battles were planned so as to maximise casualties.

  “We reached an agreement that we would be left out. That we could not be killed as a strategic act of war, or hunted for food. That we were not affiliated with any specific side. We suffered casualties regardless, but not as many.

  “These wars were complex, involving fragile relationships between countries. Allegiances were broken often. As a result, peace never came close, and the killing continued.

  “In an attempt to bring it to an end, we drew out a plan to bring peace, and convinced them to agree to it. It was an ambitious plan, and required us to all make sacrifices.

  “We promised them more food. We already brought them ocean plant life. But there was an underwater cave system that had existed since before our species evolved. It had its own ecosystem. We believed it to be rich with food, although no sunlight reached it. There was a separate form of energy there. We had never been able to explore it, because of the deathworms, an extremely quick moving animal that dominated the cave system and that occasionally would leave to attack us.

  “With the humans’ help, we equipped ourselves with weapons, and began to explore it. We were against killing of all forms. But this was the lesser of two evils. Deathworms proved to be inedible, but the cave system itself was so dense with life, as we expected, that we were able to farm the plants that grew there. We began to produce food at unprecedented levels.

  “This helped, but only a little.

  “To improve the situation further, we began constructing human cities that stood upon the surface of the water. They were capable of two things. One, of providing a closer connection between our world and their world, a way for us to more efficiently transport food from ocean to the land. Two. They allowed us to house many of the displaced. Freeing up more land for traditional human agriculture.

  “Whilst doing this, we tried to find ways to get them to reproduce less. However this is hardwired into human instinct. It soon became clear that this would be very difficult.”

  “Okay Laura,” Adam’s voice sprang up in the room. He sounded high pitched, and annoying against the hypnotic tones he had replaced. “That’s the end of the first lesson. I don’t want to overload you. We’ll go through more tomorrow. There’s some documents over there, please study them. Make sure you learn all the salient information. Do you want anything more to eat or drink?”

  Laura shook her head.

  “You should eat Laura, I insist. I’ll send up a little selection for you to choose from. Just take your time. I’ll be back in about half an hour, and then it’s question time. Anything you want to ask me, anything at all, just say so. Okay?”

  Laura nodded slowly. She moved to the other side of the room. With a little ding, a door rotated open, revealing a tray of cheese, olives, salami and some bread. She took the plate and began to eat. She thought about searching the room, looking for ways out, but instead she moved over to the two tables. Upon them, several folders had been laid out – each one an equal distance from the next. She picked the first one up and flicked through it. She scanned the pages and quickly realised that this was a repeat of what the voice had already told her. She read a little more, making sure there was no new information.

  She put the folder back down and walked over to the glass window. There was something sad and unreal about the trees. Like she was staring at a picture of a dead relative.

  Chapter 16

  Zack had been led by the group, and their carnage, down silent tarmac roads and past empty houses. The back garden of long grass he now found himself in gave them yet more targets: discoloured fences, back-facing windows, a shed. They spread out eagerly – moving to all sides of the secluded rectangle of land as if the fences were pulling them.

  Behind Zack – connected to the garden by an uneven concrete path – lay the street. It held a trail of destruction, evidence of the hours that he had sunk, unable to get a second unsupervised, unable to find any way to question the people around him, or their motives, unable to take Macy away from them.

  Never had they entered the houses. Zack guessed they were focusing on exteriors first.

  He approached a shed to his side and hit it with his bat.

  Thud.

  He looked at the area of impact, he had only scratched the paint. His hands ached slightly from the blow. He glanced around and moved to a fence. He didn’t want to choose something that required a lot of effort.

  The hours continued the delicate pretence. As they moved back out of the garden, and further and further into the village, Zack struggled to find a balance between looking enthusiastic and conserving energy. These people had to sleep, he thought, night time would bring his best chance of escape. The group’s work continued with no sign of ending – until it abruptly did, broken by one of the men shouting, “Let us pray!”

  Everyone closed their eyes and bowed their heads. Zack held Macy’s arm, flashed her a wide-eyed look to do the same, then closed his eyes too.

  “Oh mighty sun,” said the man, “Oh mighty moon. Thank you for another day. Thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for the guidance. Let it be.”

  ‘Let it be,’ they all cho
rused.

  The man continued: “Thank you for allowing us to destroy the devil’s machinery. Thank you for allowing us to fight him. Let it be!”

  ‘Let it be,’ and this time Zack joined in, and heard Macy do the same.

  “Forgive us for the sins of our ancestors. Forgive us for our weakness. Carry us forward. Carry us on towards paradise. Towards the world that you have waiting for us. Let us wake up each day with joy. With energy. With the path to paradise in front of us. Let it be!”

  ‘Let it be.’

  Everyone cheered. Zack opened his eyes and saw them returning to their destruction. He shared a look with Macy and took his bat in both hands.

  Chapter 17

  “Hello Laura. I’m back. It’s time to move on,” said Adam, pulling Laura out her thoughts.

  Laura wondered if he had noticed she hadn’t revised.

  A door opened revealing the guard, this time standing some way back in the corridor. As Laura headed towards him, she saw that there was another open door. She entered the corridor and moved through it into another room.

  It was windowless, containing just a chair.

  “What are you doing?” said Laura.

  “This stage is quite time consuming. I can’t say what we’re doing yet, I’m afraid. It’s going to come up in the next lesson – he will explain it better than me. I’m afraid we’ll have to do this quite a lot.”

  “If I sit on that chair, I’ll pass out.”

  “Yes, it’s something that requires you to be unconscious.”

  Laura stared at it. “I want to stay awake. Does it hurt?”

  “Sorry Laura. It can’t be done like that I’m afraid.”

  …

  Adam watched the guard slowly lower Laura into the yellow plasma – ripples spread out from her unconscious body, bouncing off the light and making white, flickering reflections on the walls and ceiling of the small box-shaped room. What if she woke up? If she could respond so poorly to the crystals, how would she respond to this?

  He debated with himself. Should he watch her manually? Could he trust the system to notify him if something went wrong? What about the guard? What if… What if… He stopped himself. He had to trust in the process. He took off his goggles – the light and shape of his office streaming into his eyes. He rubbed his forehead. He remained still for a few moments before putting the goggles back on, returning to the yellow plasma.

  Chapter 18

  “Macy, you have to hit harder than that.”

  Zack shot a glance at the man who had just spoken. He had a square jaw, huge dark circles under his eyes and had wandered over just seconds earlier. A wide alley had forced them all closer together. Fences ran on both sides, topped by whatever plants were tall enough to grow over from the gardens behind.

  Macy didn’t look at him.

  “Harder. Harder,” said the man.

  Zack felt something stir in his gut – he had to keep Macy out of their minds.

  “I was thinking…” said Zack. “How do you hold the bat? I mean… you put your hands here…? Or here?”

  The man turned and looked at him, clearly confused.

  “I… put them here,” he said, demonstrating on his own bat.

  “And how far back do you swing? Show me.”

  “It’s not about how you swing. It’s about how hard you hit the devil.”

  “Yeah b-” but before Zack could finish the man turned back to Macy:

  “You are not hitting him hard enough.”

  “Well she’s only little, I mean…” said Zack, pulling the man’s eyes back to him “What about me… let me show you this, hang on.” Zack turned the bat in his hand, so that he was holding it like a battering ram. He thudded the handle into a fence panel.

  “See that?! I think it does more damage. Try it.”

  The man moved over to the fence and inspected the hole. “It’s better the other way,” he said.

  “Yeah? Yeah you’re right… okay, so like this?”

  Zack swung normally.

  “Yes,” said the man.

  “And um… you ever tried just using your hands, like to just punch stuff, or you ever break things over your knee?”

  The man stared at him blankly. A long silence passed. Zack knew he had gone too far.

  “It’s um… I don’t know. In case the bat broke,” Zack said. He looked away from the man, readying himself and swinging as hard as he could. The man stayed unnaturally still, burning a hole in the side of his head. Zack searched for something to say. The man turned and began smashing the fence too. Zack felt the tension dissipate a little.

  Macy had regained some strength, but as the minutes passed, she grew slower again, her face scrunching up in pain.

  “You know…” said Zack. “I’m thinking that… we have a break, have something to eat, I saw some good food in a house… and-”

  “Eat?”

  “Yeah…”

  The man looked at him, a strange confusion passing over his face. “Eat,” he said slowly, “To… to… put it in your mouth… how do you find these words?”

  “Just um… just you know, just to build up our strength. To fight the devil.”

  He stared at him for a while, then nodded slowly, “Everyone! Come here!” he said. The group stopped what they were doing and gathered around. The alley felt much smaller with all of them so close.

  “Eat,” he said, drawing out the word.

  They exchanged glances.

  “Whose word is that?” said someone.

  “His,” he said pointing at Zack.

  A silence passed between them.

  “We have never ‘eat’!” said one of the group.

  A ripple of agreement spread through everyone.

  Zack glanced around.

  “‘Eat’ must be made by the devil!” said someone else.

  They all agreed and began to move away. Zack gripped his bat with both hands, trying to dissect what had just happened.

  They had seemed to know the word, sort of, but the meaning had confused them.

  Then it clicked.

  They’re zombies.

  He held the bat still and stared through the fence, for a second losing all sense of his surroundings, hit only by the profoundness of his idea. A creeping sense of danger brought him back. He forced himself to refocus. Lifting his arms back up to swing again. He searched for a reason he was wrong. But it made perfect sense. Where else had they come from? Why else would they have no memory of the old world? His bat smashed forward, again, again, again.

  Still, he couldn’t truly accept it. He had spoken with them… he had been touched by them… he had worked with them. They were zombies… he was right in the middle.

  He looked at their faces, somehow seeing them for the first time. Their dead eyes. The mindless way they worked. He looked at Macy at his side. And Stones who lay on the ground. A feeling of utter doom passed through him.

  Chapter 19

  Laura woke up squinting. She was in the room where Adam had played the voice to her. Beyond the glass the sun had dropped to the horizon, transforming the sky into a simmering red and lighting up the back wall.

  “Laura, I think that’s enough for today.”

  Laura looked around though she knew she wouldn’t see him. A door opened revealing the guard. He stared at her. Laura removed herself from the huge beanbag chair that had swallowed her, walked towards the door and followed him. Pale white light surrounded her as she left the room behind.

  The corridor felt more like a tunnel, burrowing away from nature with unreal regularity, with windowless, stretching sides. They ended up at the room she had first woken up in.

  She passed the guard and stepped inside, back into the red sunset.

  “Laura, take some time to relax. You’ve got a bathroom and a games room here, and also some clothes. I’ll leave you to look around. I’ll be back in the morning if that’s okay? Good night,” said Adam.

  Laura looked at the other doors, “What if
I need to speak to you?”

  “Um… I’ll be asleep. But you’ll be fine, I promise. Everything you need is right here.”

  “… Okay.”

  “Night Laura.”

  Laura decided to look around. She moved to the closest door. It opened upwards silently. She entered the corner of a square-ish room. The huge glass wall extended into here too – the other walls were lined with long cabinets full of clothes.

  She kept moving, going through another door and finding herself in a bathroom. Once again, the glass wall was there, along with a Jacuzzi, a bath, a shower, a toilet.

  She turned and went back to the main room. Only one door was left. She walked over and opened it – revealing the downwards staircase she had noticed earlier in the day. Her feet took a few steps, then a few more. She reached a bend and turned ninety degrees. A few more steps and then it ended. Earlier, she had seen that this glass column descended to the level of the trees – but she could see, now, that the staircase inside only went down one level.

  Entering a huge open space, she saw a pool table. Pinball. A huge screen with a sofa. Through a door-shaped hole – she could glimpse what appeared to be a mini-golf course.

  She stood for a second in the dying sun’s light, thinking. Whoever these people were, they at least wanted to give the illusion of hospitality.

  Chapter 20

  Zack had a dull pain across his shoulders. He swung slowly. The sun had crept closer to the horizon, leaving the air to grow colder. The group had taken him away from the village’s centre and into a residential area. The houses all looked the same and the roads were darker and newer.

  Macy worked at his side, pushing over bins and hitting them. She frequently succumbed to huge pauses – in which her shoulders slouched and her body bent. But then she always fought on, surprising Zack – her cheeks red, her hair stuck with sweat.