S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11)

by Tanpepper, Saul

  There came a deep and abiding sense of satisfaction in this knowledge. But there was also the insult of knowing that many people had kept the secret of her own immunity from her all these years— not just her own mother, but Kelly’s parents, too.

  “How?” she’d asked Kelly. She had tried to recall specific incidents when enough of her blood would’ve been harvested to treat Kyle. She couldn’t. Certainly not at the frequency it would be needed.

  As Kelly explained it, Doctor White had been purifying the vital prion protein out of the small samples taken from her whenever she went in for her twice-yearly allergy check-ups, the so-called routine blood draws her grandfather always insisted upon.

  Jessie had long suspected the tests weren’t what the doctors claimed they were; after finding out the inhaler wasn’t what she’d always been told it was, she figured the tests were to measure other things.

  Given Kyle’s small size and the fact that the protein, when purified and concentrated, was much more potent than when found in whole blood, only a miniscule amount was needed to counter his infection. Doctor White wouldn’t have needed very much of her blood at all, not like the crude, relatively dilute serum Jessie had received from Father Heall and which had been injected into her own spine.

  The purification process had been worked out by Doctor White, yet in a cruel irony, the method had been impossible for Father Heall to apply, since it required equipment and resources unavailable to him on the island. Arc had made sure of that. They didn’t want him developing anything that could jeopardize Reanimate technology.

  And yet he’d found a way to do it anyway. They defied the all-powerful Arc. No wonder the woman was obsessed with secrecy.

  “All those blood tests,” Jessie said, shaking her head in wonder. “A tube here or there. All this time, Grandpa knew she was harvesting my blood to keep Kyle alive.”

  “I don’t think he was even aware of it until quite recently.”

  But Jessie didn’t believe that. Not for a second. Nothing escaped her grandfather. Certainly nothing this connected to the very program he had championed. He had simply tolerated it because, like Arc, it allowed him to monitor things. Besides, how could he stop White without exposing the truth about his own granddaughter?

  “I wish I’d known sooner,” she complained. “I would’ve donated more blood. They could’ve made more of the protein, helped more people.”

  But Kelly had only shaken his head. “The protein’s not stable enough to store for very long,” he told her. “And it would have required more equipment, involved more people. Doctor White was already afraid of drawing attention to herself. If the secret ever got out, they would’ve taken you away. Kyle, too.”

  She was aware of how his words echoed exactly her mother’s own warning to her just over a week before.

  “Now that Father Heall is dead,” he told her, “we have to protect you at all costs. You’re humanity’s last hope to stop its total destruction. At least until there’s a cure.”

  “Don’t be so melodramatic.”

  Kelly swept his hand toward the window. “You think I’m wrong? This isn’t an isolated incident.”

  “So, now you’re admitting the rumors are true?”

  He pursed his lips and didn’t say anything.

  She sighed. “As if I don’t already have enough pressure on me.”

  They had stopped trying to have a conversation after that. It was too hard to keep shouting all the time and their ears ached and their heads felt full so that neither of them could think. Jessie was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to sleep. But how could she even think about closing her eyes with so much noise? How could she even think about resting?

  Kelly kept himself occupied by inventorying supplies. He’d periodically poke his head into the kitchen to check on her.

  The next time he passed the doorway, she turned away from the wooden spoon. He was carrying a cardboard box. “You knew,” she said. She had just made another mental connection. “You knew about my immunity.”

  Kelly stopped and raised his eyebrows but didn’t confirm or deny it.

  “That’s why you never panicked these past couple of weeks,” she said, “before I told you I was immune. That’s why you didn’t seem at all concerned about your infection coming back. Because you already knew by then that my blood was the same as Heall’s. That’s why you didn’t act very surprised when I told you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  The burden she’d bourn those first few days, the knowledge that they were going to die once the blood injected into their spines stopped protecting them, had been crushing. Afterward, when her mother told her the truth, made her see that neither she nor Kelly would have to die, she had felt so light.

  He nodded. “Doctor White told me after we returned the second time. I didn’t believe her and wanted to confirm it with you, but she told me I couldn’t. She said it would endanger you and Kyle, and especially the cure she was trying to develop.”

  He came over and sat down and put his hand on hers and looked into her eyes. She could see the pain in them, the sorrow for what they had put her through.

  “I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” she told him.

  He shrugged. “You had every right to.”

  “You wouldn’t have.”

  He peered into her eyes for a moment, then broke away and stood up again. “Let me make you a sandwich. You should eat.”

  She told him she wasn’t hungry, but he made it anyway. He couldn’t sit still. He rattled off a list of things he’d done: filled every bucket, can, and jar he could find with clean water from the tap, as well as both bathtubs; gathered fuel. They didn’t know how long they might have to wait for the outbreak to clear, and if it was more than a week they might not have utilities much longer than a couple days.

  She watched him, amazed that he could be so rational and responsible, despite the chaos swirling around them. He was so strong and focused, channeling his energy toward doing something useful, while she seemed unable to do anything but sit.

  “If you’re not going to eat,” he advised, “then at least go lie down.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. Maybe in a few days, if the warning sirens hadn’t already burnt themselves out by then, then maybe she’d be able to drift off for a quick nap. But not right now. Not like this. Not while her Link might ping at any moment.

  But it just sat there.

  † † †

  Hours passed. Kelly puttered around in the basement. The sun snuck across the sky and managed to get itself snared in the tops of the tallest trees at the end of the block. Heat flooded into the kitchen and left Jessie drowsy. She put her head down on her arms.

  Kelly had wanted to draw the heavier heat-blocking curtains over the filmy lacy ones, but she had protested. Shutting them made her feel claustrophobic. She needed to see outside, even if it was just the side of the neighbor’s house. She wanted to know the moment the Undead were there.

  She wondered, how would they react to such noise as this? Would it drive them away like an annoyance, like the EM irritation produced by the Gameland wall? Or would the racket whip them into a frenzy?

  Would they even care?

  “Stomach still bothering you?”

  Kelly sat down with a grunt. Jessie lifted her head and eyed the uneaten sandwich. Sweat ran down his face and dusty cobwebs dangled from his hair. She reached over and pulled them out and shook her head.

  The nausea that had plagued her for the past couple of weeks was gone, vanished just as suddenly as it had come. Maybe it had been caused by her anxiety over returning to school. She certainly hadn’t relished going back and seeing the people there. People like Siennah and the Anderson twins, who made her life hell.

  A different kind of hell, anyway.

  Would she ever see them again?

  Or maybe it had just been a bug that had finally worked its way through her system, a stomach flu or something. She picked up the sandwich and took a bite and chewed the dry b
read without tasting it.

  Kelly was scrolling through his Link, checking the list he’d made. “The way I figure it, if we’re judicious with our supplies, we could survive for a week without having to leave the house; ten days if we’re really careful. That’s assuming you actually eat your rations. Two weeks for me if you don’t.” He winked at her but she didn’t laugh at the joke. “Perishables should go first, obviously. If Eric shows up . . . .” He shrugged. “Of course, he might stop by the Golden Dragon for take out.”

  He paused again, then sighed. “You’re not even listening, are you?”

  “Sorry?” she said, turning. She’d stood up without realizing what she was doing. All she knew was that she was done sitting. She needed to move, to do something.

  “Where are you going?”

  She looked down at herself and her eyes widened for a moment at how skinny her arms and hands looked, how bony she had become in recent days. “I was . . . .” she drifted off.

  Kelly shrugged and reached down for the box he’d brought up from the basement. “It’ll be dark soon. The good news is, if the power goes off, we’ve got a ton of candles. Never knew you guys were so into them.”

  Jessie recognized the faded scented candles her mother had once been so into, and the sight of them made her stomach clench. Where the hell was she?

  “I can’t just sit here.”

  She drifted into the living room and her eyes alit on the gaming gear. She reached down and turned the control console on. The strobe lamp on the projector began to warm up.

  “We still don’t know what’s wrong with it,” Kelly said, appearing beside her. She hadn’t heard him come in.

  Worry creased Kelly’s brow, and he seemed more agitated than a moment before. Jessie shrugged it off. How else should one act when the world is tearing itself apart?

  Like normal, her brother’s voice whispered to her beneath the noise.

  She reached down for the goggles.

  “Don’t,” Kelly said. He laid a hand on her elbow.

  “I have to get grandpa’s Link,” she told him mechanically. “I need that key.”

  But he shook his head. “What good is it going to do now? With all that’s going on now, nobody’s going to come and take you away for having a faulty implant. Not anymore. It’s too late for that.”

  She realized he was right. The federal mandates had been put into place a few weeks too late.

  But then, as if to mock them, the sirens cut off.

  ‡ ‡ ‡

  Chapter 36

  Captain Harrick was pacing in her office. She was on hold to Arc headquarters in Manhattan, waiting for their Director of Crisis Management, when the early outbreak alert system abruptly shut off.

  “Bastards!” she exclaimed. Although relieved to finally be free of the alarm, it did nothing to temper her displeasure.

  Her Link chirped to let her know there was a ping waiting. She checked the screen and saw that it was the town’s mayor.

  “Castle!” she shouted out into the nearly-empty stationhouse. Then, when no one answered, “Who’s out there?”

  Officer Hank Gilfoy Jr., Albert Castle’s younger partner, stuck his head through the open doorway. “What do you need, Captain?” He pulled a ball of cotton from his ear.

  “Where’s Castle?”

  “Right here,” the other officer said. He struggled with the zipper on his pants before finally wrenching it closed.

  “Jesus, Al!” Harrick snapped. “I hope you at least washed your hands. Come in. Sit down.” She turned to the junior police officer. “Anything back from downtown yet?”

  Gilfoy shook his head. “Daniels’s team is on it. He’s got Baskins and—”

  “Never mind. Just let me know when he reports back.”

  She pushed him out and closed the door on his back, then handed Castle the Link she was holding. He put it up to his ear and gave her a querying look.

  “Assholes at Arc have been giving me the runaround for the past hour,” she explained. “Now, instead of telling me why the alert system was activated, they can tell me why it’s been shut off. And that arrogant prick Henry Davenport has been breathing down my neck since this whole god damn thing started, demanding that I keep him apprised.”

  Officer Castle stared sympathetically at her.

  “I’ve already spoken with him a half dozen times this afternoon. Just because he’s the mayor and is cozy with Arc doesn’t mean he’s got a direct line to me.”

  “He is the mayor. And he did help you get elected.”

  Harrick grunted. “Don’t remind me.” She plucked another Link off her desktop and typed in the mayor’s number. “Maybe now that the sirens are off, he’ll be able to tell me what the hell is going on. The amount of money he spends on their stupid game, Arc should be licking his feet.”

  “You mean like you do?”

  “Shut your fucking mouth, Al, or you’ll be answering that ping through your asshole.”

  The Link in his hand chirped. He pulled it away from his ear. “Speaking of assholes, it’s Daniels.”

  “About time!” Captain Harrick thumbed the disconnect on the second Link just as the mayor connected. She winced, then threw it to Castle and gestured for hers. “Kid’s got impeccable timing.”

  “What’s going on out there?” she asked Eric. And then, leaning over and whispering to Castle: “If the mayor pings back, don’t disconnect! Apologize for hanging up, then tell him I’ll be right with him.”

  “Arc’s still refusing me access,” Eric said. “They say they need to secure the site.”

  “Secure it? If it’s not secure, then why the hell is the damn alert off?”

  “They claim there’s sensitive technology down there and they don’t want anyone stealing it. They won’t even let Public Works down into the hole, and they’re the ones leasing the CUs.”

  “Son of a bitch! Last time I checked, we don’t have to ask for access!”

  “If there’s risk to the public,” Eric corrected. “The site and all CUs are contained, so technically there’s no risk.”

  “You’ve got eyes-on?”

  “Video only. What’s the protocol?”

  “The protocol is you tell them you need to get in so you can verify there’s no risk.”

  “That’s the first thing I did, Captain. It’s a no-go. Apparently, Arc’s put out an agency-wide memo instructing all employees to deny access to any of their CUs, their network, or any site under their auspices, without a federal warrant.”

  “They can’t do that! Did you threaten to arrest them? Do it!”

  Eric frowned.

  Captain Harrick’s face was bright red. She sighed. “Belay that order. Shit. Fine. I’ll go over their heads, then. I’ll ask the governor to grant law enforcement emergency powers.”

  Eric looked doubtful.

  “What else do you have for me?” Harrick snapped.

  “The initial report was seven lost CUs, but now they’re claiming they had them the whole time. I managed to question one of the tower techs before he was muzzled. He told me the connection’s back up but it’s spotty. Ten minutes later, he’s claiming the system never lost continuity. Pretty sure someone’s pulling his strings. Baskins is my tech guy, and he’s done a little snooping and says the signal strength is fluctuating like crazy, spiking one minute, then below baseline the next.”

  “What’s your take on this?”

  Eric shrugged. “Arc’s trying hard to blind us about why the alarms sounded to begin with, but I don’t think they’d turn them off if they thought the situation was still volatile. If anything were to happen, they’d completely lose public trust, and right now it’s not that great.”

  “So, you think the situation is contained?”

  “There are no casualties. The CUs in question are fully quarantined with no access to the general population. So, from their standpoint, yes. From mine?” He shook his head. “We’re walking a tightrope. Have been for weeks.”

  “
After the sewage plant and the break in at their server site near Frye Lake, you’d think they’d want our help.” Captain Harrick shook her head. “Sign over responsibility to whoever their incident commander is, then report back here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She put the Link down on her desk and drummed her fingers for a moment before remembering that Officer Castle was sitting there. She looked up. “Davenport ping back yet?”

  He shook his head. “So, we all clear?”

  The captain exhaled and nodded. “For now. But whatever this shit Arc is pulling, I don’t like it.”

  Castle stood up. “It’s certainly keeping the Daniels kid busy.” He was smirking. “He and his team of losers.”

  “Whatever your personal feelings for the man,” Harrick growled, “keep them to yourself, Al. Don’t make me have to chastise you.”

  “Like you chastised me last night?”

  She smirked at him.

  “Oh, and that implant trace Daniels requested? I got the report back.”

  “And?”

  “Nothing on the open network. No signal at all.”

  “So, not in the country?”

  “I did a little snooping on my own. Got a friend with a friend in ArcTech’s Jersey operation, has access to the secure networks. The target, he says, is on Long Island. In Gameland.”

  Captain Harrick looked startled. “Implant status?”

  “Full latent mode.”

  “Alive?” she mused. “That’s interesting.”

  “Alive and kicking. Should I give him the report?”

  The captain thought for a moment. “No,” she decided. “Let me deal with this myself.”

  ‡ ‡ ‡

  Chapter 37

  Even before the last echoes of the siren receded away, Kelly and Jessie had risen to their feet. In the hours that it had filled their world, the sound had assumed an almost physical aspect, pressing them down, weighing upon their bodies as much as their minds. But now that it was gone, the vacuum which followed felt just as stifling.

  “I’ll check the streams,” Kelly said. He stumbled over to the television, looking dazed. “See if there’s an update.”