Inside her mother and Diego were moving carefully through a large crowd of skin covered skeletons. Diego looked back at her, his face was pale and sick. Kizzy surveyed the awful sight of the room. What had happened here? The plague had gotten them in horrific fashion. They were all naked and intertwined with one other. The air smelled thick and old.
Kizzy could hear Iris’s steps quickening. She could probably smell the musk from the room. Kizzy jumped to the floor and quickly tiptoed over the bodies. The apartment was decorated for a party. A banner stretched across a wall. “The First Night of Forever! #ENOCH”. Did the plague get them before they could get their pills? Kizzy closed her eyes as she slid across the edge of the room.
She followed her mother and Diego out the front door, taking the hallway to a staircase. They descended towards the ground floor. At every landing Kizzy eyed the apartment doors, half expecting Iris to come bursting through them. Hopefully the apartment full of bodies kept her busy.
They ran from the building and across the open street. The gray light of morning was breaking. Kizzy noticed that her mother still had the black blanket wrapped around herself like a cape. She led them to the stairs down into the earth and the underground rail tracks. She took the flashlight from her pocket and illuminated the dark cavern.
Their steps were quick and frenzied over the wood and stone and iron. Iris could be right behind them.
“Is this the way to the Enoch building?” Kizzy asked.
“Yes,” said her mother. “But if we get there and that Morrigan is there, we run. No questions asked. You understand?”
“Yes,” said Kizzy.
Soon they came upon a station. For a short while they walked in a world of distilled sunlight. But then they entered into the darkness of another tunnel. Twenty minutes more they followed the floating glow of the flashlight.
All of a sudden her mother stopped and turned off the light. What was happening? Up ahead Kizzy noticed lights on the platform at the next station. They froze in the darkness. Her mother pulled her to the side of the tunnel, where there was an opening in the wall. The lights shined down towards them, searching. It must have been the police. Kizzy sat in perfect silence. The sound of her heartbeat felt like it was echoing off the walls. Perhaps the police had some sort of audio detection gear that could sense even the slightest sounds. She kept her breathing low and tried to calm the pounding of her heart.
Bah-bump went her heart. Bah-bump. She breathed deeply and tried to still it. Bah-bump. She felt a strange vibration on the wooden tracks beneath her feet. It was solid and fast like a galloping horse. What were they doing? She squinted at the lights up on the platform. They didn’t seem to be doing anything different, or have any type of machinery. The vibrations continued. In the distance she heard a metal clanging sound that matched the galloping of the vibration. Cling-cling, cling-cling, cling-cling. The sound was getting more pronounced.
“What’s that noise?” she whispered.
“It’s coming from behind us,” Diego said. He gasped and backed all the way to the wall. “It’s Iris.”
The police up on the platform must have heard the noise as well and were coming down the tunnel. Kizzy looked back the other way into the darkness and imaged Iris galloping towards them, like a brass stallion from hell.
“What are we gonna do?” Diego asked.
“Either Iris kills us or we leave with the police,” Kizzy said.
Diego was silent for a moment. “Are the police even after me, Kizzy?”
Her guts became filled with guilt. Now that the end was here, it suddenly became clear to her what she had done. She had lied to save herself and now Diego was about to die because of it. If she told him the truth, that the police were never interested in him, he would live but she would lose him forever.
“No, they aren’t. I needed your help to get to find Enoch. That was the only hope for me. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
She could feel him stiffen in the dark. “What?”
“I’m sorry Diego,” she said. For the first time in her life she could feel her heart breaking. And it was from facts that she already knew to be true, but had just never faced. She began to cry. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve to die. I do. We have to run for the police. It’s not too late.”
The clinging of Iris’s footsteps came ever nearer. She was getting so close now.
“You won’t be able to outrun that machine,” her mother said.
Kizzy tried see through the tears in her eyes. They made the policemen’s lights look stars.
The stars grew brighter and brighter. The galloping stallion grew louder and louder.
“We have to,” said Kizzy. “He shouldn’t even be here.”
“No, I shouldn’t be here,” her mother said.
Kizzy looked to the light. Diego looked to the darkness. Her mother threw the blanket over both of them. Kizzy could hear her running in the direction of the police.
“What’s she doing?” gasped Diego.
Kizzy covered his mouth and pulled the blanket down tightly over the two of them.
“Help!” her mother yelled, her voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Stop there,” a police officer shouted.
A second later Kizzy heard Iris’s metallic steps clanged past the alcove. The flamethrower erupted. The voices of the police officers turned to shouts and screams as many gunshots were fired. The flamethrower continued to spray and the bullet blasts roared through the tunnel.
Kizzy’s heart bounced around in her chest. Her mother, was she ok?
The sound of the fire fight continued, moving further and further away, towards the station.
What should they do? Should they stay hidden? Diego grabbed Kizzy’s hand and pulled the blanket down. The tunnel was completely illuminated with orange fire.
“We have to run back to the other station,” said Diego.
“But my mother...”
“We can’t do anything for her now.”
She stood up and with the blanket wrapped around them they sprinted back into the darkness. Their feet stumbled over rocks and wood and concrete. When they arrived at the other station they climbed out from the ditch and up the steps, emerging from the staircase into the daylight. Kizzy turned and they began to run down the street in the direction of the other station. Soon she could see the pillar of black smoke belching from the ground. She hoped with all her soul that her mother was alright. She couldn’t face the thought of losing her too.
Even though the daylight had come and it was no longer cold, Kizzy kept the black blanket wrapped around her and Diego. It was the only thing keeping them together. They ran in the quietness that only an exposed secret brings about.
They approached the stairs to the smoking station. But through the black cloud Kizzy noticed a four story office building made of brown stone and black glass. Five silver letters and one tiny number hung on the facade - (E)NO2Ch.
“Look, there it is,” Diego said and began to step towards the building.
But Kizzy stopped. Her mother was down in that smoke. She couldn’t just leave her to die alone in the depths of the earth. She began to pull Diego towards the staircase.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“My mother.”
“She’s gone.”
“We’d be gone if it wasn’t for her,” she said.
“She tried to kill you Kizzy,” Diego said.
But Kizzy didn’t say a word, because she couldn’t think of anything to say. The love she had for her mother was unconditional. She pulled the blanket from Diego’s shoulders and wrapped it around herself. She entered the staircase and descended amidst the billowing smoke.
21
Leo coughed the smoke from his lungs. What in the holy hell was that thing? He gl
anced back at his men. Tommy Benson and Frank Marinelli pulled another officer’s charred remains from the subway station. Meanwhile half of his men were almost choking to death, the ones with any air left in their lungs helping the others who had passed out. They must have lost ten men in the skirmish. What had he done? None of those men deserved to die.
“We’re calling this off,” he said waving his hand. “We’re going back to the city.”
Tommy walked over and grabbed him by the arm. “A word sir?”
Leo nodded.
“That officer over there is my best friend. He died because of that thing. And I’m not going to just walk away from this.”
“It’s suicide Tommy. I unloaded three rounds on that thing and it didn’t even make a dent.”
“Well, we’re going to find a way to destroy it.”
“No we’re not. We’re going home.”
“Well, I’m deliberately going to disobey that order sir.”
Leo sighed. “Is this just male hubris Tommy?
Tommy shrugged. “You tell me. Do you want to go home with your tail between your legs?”
Leo spit on the ground and shook his head. “I’ll call for reinforcements.”
He walked to the cruiser and flipped on the two way radio. “Officer Cartwright to Yanloo City PD do you copy?”
“Yeah we copy. We’ve been trying to contact you for the past hour sir. There’s been another bombing.”
Leo groaned. “Where at?”
“The pill distribution center.”
“Anybody hurt?”
“Henry Fairchild. He’s in the hospital. We’re not sure if he’s going to survive.”
Leo nodded. He had to be back in the city to appoint the next in line to take Henry’s place on the committee, otherwise Morrigan could convince Dr. Patel to appoint whoever the hell he wanted. He could probably even talk him into that freak in the green suit. “Noted. Send out all the reinforcements you can spare to our location.”
“How many is that sir?”
“As many as you can lose without the city descending into anarchy. I’m coming back.”
∞
Kizzy’s feet were steady on the concrete steps as the smoke filled her head with strange feelings. She pressed forward as her eyes began to burn. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she climbed over the metal turnstile. The fire was raging all over the floor and the pillars that supported the roof. Lumps were burning on the ground. Kizzy covered her mouth in horror when she realized they were the bodies of the policemen. Burnt and disfigured.
“Mom!” Kizzy screamed. “Are you down here?”
Down on the tracks she heard moaning. She crawled to the ditch and hopped down.
It was her mother. The flashlight was still shining in her hands. Her clothing and skin were badly burnt, but she was still alive. She groaned and writhed in pain on the merciless wooden tracks.
“I’m sorry,” Kizzy said, putting her hands on her mother’s face. “I’m so sorry.”
Kizzy lifted her up but she shrieked in pain. She tried to pull her to the platform and lift her out of the ditch, but she couldn’t do it. Her mother was too heavy. An arm came down on Kizzy’s shoulder. She gasped and turned. It was Diego standing amidst the smoke. He pulled as Kizzy pushed and together they were able to get her mother up onto the station floor and carry her out of the burning cavern. When they reached the top of the stairs and the open daylight Kizzy inhaled the clear air. She watched helplessly as her mother continued to moan in pain.
“How is she?” Diego asked.
“We have to get her help.”
Diego looked to the Enoch building through the smoke. “We’re so close.”
“I know,” Kizzy replied. “But she’s going to die if we don’t do anything.”
“Who knows how long we have,” Diego said. “The Enoch building is right there. What if we find Dr. Enoch? He could help her.”
Kizzy looked down at the woman she held in her arms. Half of her clothes had been burned away and the skin beneath was red and black. Her eyes were now closed. Kizzy cradled her in her arms.
“We have to hide her someplace,” Kizzy said finally.
They carried her to a nearby grocery store. The glass door had been shattered by looters a long time ago. Diego climbed in through the opening first and they carried her mother inside.
They laid her down in an aisle that was lined with cereal boxes. Diego took the flashlight from her hand and went to check the back door for another exit. Kizzy searched each aisle for something soft to lay her mother’s head down upon. She found a large bag of what appeared to be fluffy white underwear for small children in a pink plastic wrapping. She looked at the strange picture of the child. Had that really been what she looked like? All fat and hairless. It was strange and foreign to her. Kizzy brought the bag to her mother and laid them under her head. She took the black blanket and covered her.
“Do you need water?” she asked gently.
Her mother nodded.
Kizzy grabbed a water bottle from one of the shelves and popped it open. She carefully poured the water into her mother’s mouth and she swallowed with effort. Kizzy wiped the sweat and ash from her forehead.
“We’ll be back soon mom,” she whispered as she caressed her cheek.
She looked up at Kizzy in a way that begged her not to leave.
It broke Kizzy’s heart. Within a few minutes she had drifted off to sleep and Kizzy leaned down and kissed her cheek. She hoped they could find help for her.
Diego came walking down the aisle, glanced out the window, then dove to the floor.
Kizzy craned her neck to see what he saw. Iris was waiting out in the street. She stood perfectly still amidst the smoke, dust and ash that pumped its out from the subway. Her nose raised into the air.
Kizzy ducked down and crawled to Diego.
“Do you think she can smell me?” he asked.
“Not with all that smoke,” Kizzy said. “Is there another way out?”
“No, the back door just leads to a garage. All the doors in there are locked.”
“Think we can outrun her?”
“No,” said Diego, shaking his head. “Not with her new leg. You heard how fast she was.”
“We could try to trap her someplace.”
“Like where?”
“Like down a hole or something.”
“And have you seen many holes lying around?” Diego hissed, raising his eyebrow in sarcastic doubt.
“What do you suggest then?” Kizzy snapped. He was cynical of every idea, but offered none himself.
“Maybe we can try and crush her?”
“How?” Kizzy asked.
“Drop something on her,” he said. “Something heavy.”
“Like a car,” said Kizzy sarcastically, showing how stupid she thought the idea was through her tone of voice.
“Yeah exactly,” said Diego, looking back out the window, ignoring Kizzy’s sarcasm or maybe too tired to notice it. “We could push a car off the roof of a building or something.”
“Maybe there’s something in the garage,” Kizzy said.
Iris remained still out in the street, trying to pick up a scent.
“Just so you know, I’m out of here as soon as possible,” Diego said as they walked towards the back door. “If it weren’t for Iris, I’d be gone already.”
“I understand,” Kizzy answered. It made her sick. Diego had meant everything to her mere hours ago, but now it was ruined. It felt like a fine vase had been smashed. She would have given anything in the world to just hear him sing “My love kills me” one more time. But he didn’t. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
In an awkward silence they snuck through the store and went through the back door b
ehind the cash register. It opened to a large concrete parking garage. It was pitch black when the door closed behind them. All except for the silver beam cast by the flashlight. To their left was an elevator, to the right was a staircase with stairs leading up to the second floor and stairs going down to the basement.
Out in the garage was a construction site that the plague had left forever unfinished. Part of the concrete floor had been removed and sheets of plywood covered the hole that led down to the basement. There was a large vehicle that looked like a white box parked besides to the hole. It had blue lights on top of it. Across the front were the letters ECNALUBMA printed backwards.
“What’s that?” asked Kizzy.
“I don’t know,” said Diego. “Some sort of police car maybe?”
“Why are those letters spelled backwards?” she asked.
“No idea,” he said. “Decoration?”
“Did you look down in the basement?” Kizzy asked.
“No,” said Diego.
“It’s too bad the elevators don’t work,” she said as they descended the steps. “I’m getting pretty sick of these stairs.”
“Wait, we’ll use the elevator,” Diego said.
“What? We can’t...”
“No, I mean we can trap Iris in the elevator shaft,” he said. He looked to Kizzy. “Couldn’t we?”
“And then drop something down on her,” said Kizzy. “Like a car or something.”
“Or the elevator itself,” said Diego.
“Is that even possible?” she asked.
“You just have to cut the cables,” he said. “I’ve seen it done in some old movies.”
Kizzy looked at the elevator door. “So we pry the doors open. And we get her inside somehow.”
“How can we do that?”
“She’ll have to think you were in there.”
A nervous look spread over Diego’s face. “Let’s hurry then. She could be here any second.”
They searched the construction site for something to pry the elevator’s door open with. Kizzy found an old tool bag hidden under a work truck’s rear wheels. To her surprise there was a pair of wire cutters inside. She pried them open. They were a little rusty but were still in working order.
The Enoch Pill Page 22