Dawn Over Doomsday

by Jaspre Bark

  The looks on all the men's faces changed. They couldn't see a flaw in the plan. They stopped sneering at Greaves and in spite of themselves they all looked impressed.

  "Now you see why I keep him around," said Cortez.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Anna had given them every kind of bodily fluid. They'd taken her blood, urine, saliva and they'd even done something called a smear test. The man called Sinnot and his scientists buzzed around her with so much excitement they reminded her of the clients at the Pleasuredrome. Only they seemed more cowardly than those men and a lot more dangerous.

  Now they were subjecting her to something they called a CAT scan. She was strapped to a padded metal table that moved in and out of a revolving tunnel. In the next room she heard them discussing the images of her brain that appeared on a computer screen.

  "She's too old," Anna heard Sinnot say. "She's got too many defined neural pathways, we couldn't counteract them all. Besides the micro-circuitry is to small to fit an adult brain."

  "We can shut down any part of her brain that resists processing," said the man called Bennet. "Any vital functions that effects can be controlled by our CPU. We've already proven that."

  "Besides," said another man who she thought was called Roth. "We don't need to rebuild the micro-circuitry, just the bio-connector, which is the easiest part of the apparatus to replicate."

  "But we've never done this with a subject of her age," said Sinnot. "She's not pliable enough for our requirements."

  "She's the only hope we've got." Bennet said. "Our masters aren't taking our failure well, and we've got nothing else to bargain with."

  Anna could feel the Doomsday Virus elsewhere in the complex. It was writhing inside the super-cooled containers. It already felt like another part of her body. When she was back at the community Anna had once heard a woman who had lost two babies talking. She had said she could still feel both of them at her nipple a month after they'd gone.

  And there was Old Eli, a farm worker who lost a hand in a shooting accident. He told Anna once that the back of his hand still itched from time to time even though he couldn't scratch it.

  That's what the Doomsday Virus felt like to Anna. Like some kind of phantom limb that had been cut off at birth and kept in jar. Now she was here in the complex it had come to life. She could feel its excitement, its hunger to be joined with her again.

  Anna heard the doors to the lab hiss open and she craned her neck to see four guards burst in. "Sir," Anna heard a guard say. "You've to come with us straight away."

  "What the hell are you doing in here?" Sinnot said. "You've absolutely no clearance. We're conducting important work."

  "Sir we have orders to get you and your team to safety."

  "Safety? What on earth are you talking about? You're about to place our whole work in jeopardy!"

  "It's you and the other doctors who are in jeopardy. The prisoners have escaped and they're armed."

  "Armed?" said Bennet. "How did that happen? "

  "I can't tell you that now sir."

  "One minute," said Sinnot. "I'll get the girl and we'll leave. "

  "Sir, our orders said nothing about the girl. Only you three doctors."

  "Don't be ridiculous man," said Sinnot. "Don't you know how important she is to our whole work here?"

  "I am authorised to use force if necessary, sir."

  Off in the distance Anna heard gunfire. Elsewhere she felt the virus thrash with a wild longing.

  Ahiga was on point when the lights went out. The little guy disabled the fuse box and everything went dark. Ahiga switched on his goggles in time to see the rest of the group charging up the stairwell.

  Only Fitch and Golding were left. They were moving their heads from side to side in panic and bewilderment, with their hands stretched out in front of them. They couldn't see a thing, their goggles weren't functioning. Ahiga had removed the battery packs before handing them their equipment.

  "Wait!" Golding called out.

  Ahiga placed a hand on his shoulder.

  "Quiet. There are soldiers nearby, you don't want to give away our position."

  "Who's that?" said Fitch.

  "It's Tom. I've been sent back to get you."

  "I thought you were on point." Golding said.

  "I was. Until you two got left behind"

  "Our fucking goggles aren't working."

  "That's okay," said Ahiga putting his hands on both their shoulders. "I can probably fix them in a minute. We've got to get you to safety first."

  Ahiga led them back into the main room of the armoury where the high explosive had been primed.

  "Hold on a minute," said Fitch. "This feels like the wrong direction."

  "You're just disoriented by the dark. It'll pass in a second."

  "Aren't we supposed to be going up some stairs?"

  "Not the first set we just passed," said Ahiga. "We need the next set at the end of this corridor."

  There was a burst of gunfire in the distance. Ahiga used the opportunity to steer Golding and Fitch into the front office. "We have to duck into here for a second. You can't see to shoot and we're pinned down."

  "Can you fix our goggles now?" Golding said.

  "That explosive is going to go off any second." Fitch said. "Are you sure we're far enough away to be safe?"

  "Trust me. We're in the perfect spot."

  Ahiga took Fitch and Golding to the far end of the office and positioned them so they were facing towards the door.

  "What's going on?"

  "Quiet!" Ahiga hissed. He moved the body of the guard that was up against the door and shifted a filing cabinet around to create a little nook in which he could shelter.

  "Now," Ahiga said. "Let's do something about those goggles of yours." He clipped both their battery packs back in and dived into the nook he'd made for himself.

  A second later the explosive went off.

  Ahiga was thrown forward by the force of the blast. It lifted him off the ground and rattled him around in his hidey-hole like a dried pea in a rain-shaker.

  The noise was like a bitch slap from a thunderclap. He didn't just hear it, his whole body felt the impact.

  The blaze was fierce, white and iridescent. It burned bright images on the back of Ahiga's eyes, even though he had them tight shut. He contented himself by thinking what the blaze would do to two sets of eyes made more light sensitive by night vision.

  Ahiga was too stunned for a while to realise it had stopped. The first thing he was aware of was that the walls and the ground had stopped shaking. He caught his breath and slipped his goggles on. He was pinned in by the filing cabinet he'd moved.

  Lying on his back Ahiga pushed the cabinet with his feet. It toppled back then disappeared from sight. There was a crash as it hit the ground twenty feet below.

  Ahiga stood and looked down. Where, seconds ago, there'd been a series of large rooms, there was now just a crater. No ceilings, no floor, just a gigantic pit filled with rubble. Half dead bodies writhed amid arcs of electricity that leapt between severed cables and shattered generators.

  He wasn't out of hell yet. He was just on a different level.

  All that was left of the office was a two foot wide ledge that had once been the floor, and the wall behind Ahiga. He realised his hearing was coming back when he started to make out the groans. Dying men calling for their mothers with their last breath, or cursing their God for letting this happen.

  There were groans right next to Ahiga. He turned and saw Golding and Fitch under a pile of dust and rocks. The blast from the explosion must have knocked them into the back wall and stopped them being crushed in the pit.

  Thank the Great Spirit they were alive. He wanted them to suffer so much more.

  Anna had gotten her arms free of the straps when the lights went out. The whole room shook. All the windows cracked and Anna heard several panes crash to the ground. There was no sound and no light. As she tried to find a way to undo the straps her eyes got us
ed to the dark. She began to hear voices off in the distance.

  Though her arms were free, Anna's chest and legs were still bound. Anna had hardly any room for manoeuvre and she couldn't find any way to release the remaining restraints.

  The voices from the corridor outside started to get closer. She saw the flicker of torch beams.

  "Wait, it's over here."

  "See I told you."

  "Shit. I never knew there was medical equipment on this floor. You think there's drugs?"

  "One way to find out man."

  Two men entered the room. Anna blinked as torch beams found her.

  "This must be her then. All trussed up and ready for us."

  "Our orders were to take her to quarters and lock her up. Sooner we get that done, sooner we can sneak out of here."

  "Fuck our orders! I ain't got me none for months. Might be months before I get my next chance. We don't even have to pay for this. She's tied down and everything."

  "What if she's just a kid though? Or one of those things they make out of the kids?"

  "Don't matter. She can be anyone you like in the dark."

  It was just like being back in the Pleasuredrome. Pathetic men and their disgusting appetites. Only this time Anna didn't feel violated, or victimised. She felt mad as hell. Her anger became eager movement in the vats of the Doomsday Virus. Like she was flexing a huge muscle. One that was waiting to be a part of her.

  The man undid the strap that was holding Anna's legs down. She tried to kick out at him but he grabbed her surgical smock and yanked. "Hey quit pushing," the man said. "You'll get your turn..."

  His words trailed off in a choking gurgle. The man put his hands to his throat. He was still holding his torch. For a brief moment his face was caught in the beam. A knife was sticking out of the front of his neck.

  He dropped and Anna heard more footsteps enter the room.

  "Hey wait! It's okay man, we got orders we're supposed..."

  The voice was cut short by the sound of a jaw fracturing. The man's cries were soon muffled by the sounds of boot leather colliding with flesh.

  "Anna, are you hurt?" It was Cortez's voice.

  "I can't find the release for these straps. I'll have to cut them." Anna felt the knife touch her as Cortez hacked through her restraint. It was sticky with the blood of the man who'd tried to rape her.

  "How is she?" said Greaves. "Did they hurt her?"

  "I'm fine," said Anna without hiding her annoyance. "Thanks for asking me."

  "I'm sorry. I just didn't know if you were conscious or not. We've got to get you out of here. The virus is up on the next floor."

  Anna's emotions were in conflict as they helped her down from the table and out of the room. Greaves handed her a pair of goggles that helped her see in the dark. Outlines appeared, drawn in a ghostly, green half-light.

  She wasn't angry at Greaves specifically. He just reminded her of the scientists who had pawed her then left her strapped to that table. He'd spoken over her as though she wasn't there, just as they had. Now he was desperate to get her to the Doomsday Virus so he could finally finish this little experiment of theirs. In many ways Anna was more of a piece of meat to this man than she was to the men who had tried to rape her.

  Maybe it was unfair to say that of Greaves. He had tried to connect with her. He just wasn't any good at it. Uniting her with the Doomsday Virus was like an article of faith to him. As though it was going to save his and humanity's soul.

  He didn't even seem to realise that about himself. For a man who had amassed such an incredible amount of knowledge on so many things, Greaves was totally lacking in self knowledge. You didn't find the sort of redemption he wanted in a test tube.

  "Damn it," Anna heard the man called Colt say. "Where are Fitch and Golding?"

  "Great Chief, Ahiga is not with us either."

  "Do not worry," she heard the Chief say. "Ahiga is a resourceful man. I am sure he knows exactly what he's doing."

  Ahiga had opened the shutters on the front office and led Fitch and Golding out into the empty corridors beyond. Golding's face was badly burned from the explosion and both men were now totally blind.

  Ahiga stood behind them, steering them with a hand on each of their shoulders. He guided them into a dead end and up to a wall. "That's far enough. Now I want both of you on your knees."

  "Hey, what is this?" said Fitch. "I thought you were gonna get us out of here."

  Ahiga put a pistol against each of their temples. "I said on your knees."

  Both men did as they were told.

  "Do you remember a guy called Frankie McKenzie?" said Ahiga. "Used to run with us back in Lomont. Good man to have in a fight but lacking in smarts. Which is why he always got pinched. Guy became a three time loser thanks to a man called Robert."

  "Robert! Is this about that faggot fucking parole officer?" said Fitch. "What, you're finally gonna get sore with us?"

  "I'm not getting sore. I'm getting even. Why else do you think I led you down here and got your eyes burned out?"

  "C'mon Tom," said Golding. "I mean what did you expect us to do when we found you was carrying on with another man like that? You're lucky we let you live. You practically forced us to do it."

  "Way I recall it," said Ahiga. "You forced me."

  "You were getting above yourself," said Fitch. "What else was I going to do when I found out? You had to be brought back to earth."

  "Put on a leash you mean."

  "If you like, yeah." said Fitch. "Like Golding said, what do you expect? You get turned out in prison fine. You do what you gotta do to get by inside. You don't carry that sort of thing on when you get out though."

  "I didn't get turned out when I was inside. I didn't let a single man in there lay a finger on me."

  "So what, you suddenly develop a taste for it when you get out? That's sick."

  "I fell in love. I didn't want to. I fought it for a long time. It started after my parole finished. Robert was my officer. He dropped by to check up on me a few times and it went from there. I knew what it meant if we were found out. Robert would lose his job and I'd end up in some alley with a knife in my back.

  "Except what happened when you found out was a lot worse. See, Frankie went away for the last time on a parole violation. So you got the 57th St bangers all good and stoked on crack and bourbon and told us you knew where the parole officer who sent Frankie away lived. Told us we should go down there and sort him out, as payback for what he did to Frankie. Wasn't till I got there that I realised where I was. Then it was too late, I wasn't going to say anything.

  "So I went along. We broke in, we dragged Robert out of bed and we knocked him about. He recognised me straight away. He knew that if he gave anything away it would be the death of me. So he kept his mouth shut and took everything you gave him. Then you put the gun in my hand. Told me to put it in his mouth and kill the only person I ever loved. I did it too. Because I was a coward.

  "Not an hour goes by when I don't regret it. Right up until the very end Robert kept his mouth shut. To save my life, even when I took his. I killed Robert to prove my manhood and my bravery to the rest of you. But in dying the way he did, Robert proved he was far braver and far more of a man."

  "Enough with the speeches already," said Fitch. "If you're gonna kill us just get on with it. Don't expect us to beg."

  "I'm not going to kill you. Not unless you force me to. Now lie down. You this way, and Golding like that."

  Ahiga arranged them so that both men were lying on their sides facing each other with their feet in opposite directions. Fitch's face was right up against Golding's crotch and Golding's was in Fitch's. Ahiga pressed a pistol to each of their temples. "Now I want you to get each other's weapons out and you can guess where I want you to put them. Just think of that pistol and how Robert took it."

  "Go fuck yourself," said Fitch. "Not even a bullet in the head will make me do that."

  "I'm not gonna put a bullet in your head. I'm gonna fire o
ne up your ass if you don't do what I tell you. Now this is a small calibre pistol. That bullet's gonna bounce around quite a lot before it stops. Do a lot of damage. Even still it's gonna take a long time before you die. Hours and hours of unending agony. Blind and trapped all the way down here, with the rats gnawing on your face as you shit out your own innards. I reckon there's nothing you won't do to avoid that. You ain't brave enough.

  "So now, in order to survive, you're both gonna do something that you'll have to live with for the rest of your lives. Something you'll never escape and never live down. Something I'll always have hanging over your heads. Just like you did with me. Now quit stalling and open wide."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  "Tell me child," Hiamovi said to Anna. "What tribe are you from?"

  Anna had been quite shocked to see Native Americans and Neo-Clergy fighting together to help Greaves and Cortez rescue her. She was still getting used to the idea.

  "I'm very sorry, erm... Great Chief," Anna said. "But I don't know. I have no memory of it but I was conceived and grown in a test tube, in a hellish place like this. I've hardly ever met any of your... our people. I was raised in a Christian community. I suppose you could say my tribe are, were, the Amish."

  "Hear that Hiamovi?" said Mr Colt. "Girl's a Christian. Don't hold with your pagan superstitions."

  Hiamovi glowered back at him but didn't answer.

  He was a strange man this Native American chief. The hard emotional front men of power hide behind did not sit comfortably with him. He seemed to Anna like a good man who was learning to be bad. The duplicity and ruthlessness of wielding power did not come naturally to him.