Karma City

by Gardener Browning

  They walked to the eastern edge of the roof and gazed as far as they could see. The sunrise threw streaks of orange, pink and yellow light behind the silhouetted cityscape. From the height of Sable Tower, every corner of Karma City could be seen. The East River sparkled with Oasis Hospital rising behind it. Central Karma was a cluster of blighted buildings surrounding Greely Park. There, thin columns of black smoke stained the colors of morning. Beyond the city limits, the ravaged and hostile Void Lands rolled outward in all directions. Jameson could see the cruel highway, Route 88, running far to the west and vanishing over the horizon. Luna stood beside him.

  “Look at that sunrise, Jameson. Whatever the world has been reduced to, whatever people hold on to, it matters. Every new day is a chance for something better. It’s why we go on.”

  “I’ve seen a lot of sunrises.”

  Luna smiled. “But this is a good one.” She took Jameson’s hand. “I need to tell you something. This might be the last chance I get to give you something better.”

  “What is it?”

  “Your father is alive.”

  Jameson’s stomach knotted from her words. “How is that possible? You shot him…the vessel exploded.”

  “I shot him off you, hitting him the shoulder, and carried you both from the ship. You were so delirious from the Malad-X that you had no idea what was going on. Albert treated you both in his lab that night but your father slipped off while everyone slept. He was probably afraid. He probably thought he was about to be tested on again. I don’t know. But we saved him and he’s alive. He’s out there, Jameson. I didn’t tell you sooner because we’ve been going through so much and you’ve been suffering. I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you, Luna.” A renewed hope ignited in his heart and he knew it wasn’t because his father still lived. It was because of her. He held her face in his hands and looked deeply into her aqua-green eyes. “Luna Briggs…I love you.”

  Tears rolled down Luna’s face. “I love you, too.”

  On the edge of the rooftop, with the Karma City sunrise burning before them, Luna and Jameson kissed long and hard. The small tears on Luna’s lips tasted sweet and perfect. Jameson never wanted the kiss to end but in the far corner of his mind, he worried about holding her too tight. She banished the fear with her own crushing embrace. Her strength was incredible. Her hold on him, unbreakable. As his lips melted with hers, Jameson knew that Luna was right…whatever people held on to, it mattered. Nothing mattered more to him than her.

  The clopping of hurried footsteps sent Jameson and Luna hiding behind a large air conditioning unit standing on the south facing edge of the roof. They listened and heard Dr. Marcus Graves speaking to Dr. Carmen Victoria.

  “This is the real cure,” said Graves. He ushered Carmen to the center of the rooftop where the vat of Malad-X loomed, effervescing with milky white bubbles. Graves gripped her hard above the elbow, keeping her close to his side; with her hands tied behind her back, there was little she could do to defend herself. “Malady proved stronger than mankind. And as you’ve seen, Malad-X is stronger than Malady. Malad-X is superior to all!”

  Jameson clutched his head in both hands when Brighton’s presence sharply returned in his mind. “He’s right,” said Brighton. “Malad-X is superior.”

  Luna took Jameson’s hands in hers. “Fight it,” she whispered. “Remember who you are.”

  “I really hate that burn-faced bitch,” snarled Brighton. “I’d like to throw her off the roof.”

  “Stay focused, Brighton,” said Jameson. “You’ve got bigger problems.”

  “Oh?”

  “Don’t you smell that?” Jameson sniffed.

  “I do smell it! Malady! Who is it?”

  “Dr. Graves. And he is in control of the last vat of Malad-X. Doesn’t it just piss you off that a Malady-head is controlling your family?”

  “Yesssss!” hissed Brighton. “I won’t stand for it! Kill him!”

  “I plan on it, but you can’t get in my way. Leave this fight to Luna and I.”

  “But you want to destroy the Malad-X. I won’t let you!”

  “Relax, worm. We can figure out what to do with the Malad-X after Graves goes down. Deal?”

  “Swear to me that you will not harm my family.”

  “I won’t. I swear it.”

  “Very well. Kill the enemy swiftly.” Brighton went quiet and released his mental grip on Jameson.

  Jameson sighed in relief.

  “Nice work,” said Luna. “Ready to save the world?”

  “Let’s finish this. Cut behind them, to the left, and make for Carmen. I’ll get Graves head on.”

  Luna slipped away, dashing silently to the west edge of the roof. Jameson watched Graves.

  “I’m going to infect you, Carmen,” said Graves. The white light from the Malad-X tank washed the shadows from Graves’ face, smoothing his skin like a plastic mannequin. His marble eyes were wild with genius, crazed with scientific passion, hollow from designing murder, and lit by lust. “I’m going to study the effects that Malad-X has on a genius as beautiful as you. Will you go mad and seek to kill me? Or will the parasite awaken in you to serve me?” He caressed her frightened, tear-soaked face. Carmen tugged at the binds on her wrists. “Wolfgang was a lucky man. How I’ve longed for you to join me in my tower. To dine with me, to dance, to lay with me and—”

  Carmen spat at him. “You’re a fraction of the man that Wolfgang was and even less of a scientist. You’re a disgusting monster!”

  Graves wiped the spit from his face and smiled. “There is a sting to your words, Carmen. And it only thrills me. Imagine the ecstasy that minds like ours will know when evolved by my parasite. Imagine what you’ll feel…what we will feel.” He lowered his mouth over hers. She pulled away and kicked him under the ribs. Graves buckled from the blow and shoved her down. He pulled a long syringe from his black coat and leaned over her.

  Jameson stepped out from hiding. “Leave her alone!”

  Graves whirled around. “There’s nothing worse than unexpected company. You must be Jameson. Tell me, where is your train-loving girlfriend?”

  Luna’s rifle fired into the air. “Right behind you, asshole.”

  Graves laughed. “You’ve come to kill me?”

  “It’s about time someone did.” Jameson aimed his shotgun and slowly approached Graves. “Release Dr. Victoria. Now!”

  “I don’t think so.” Graves pulled a black pistol from his side. Jameson paused. “Call off your partner and drop your weapon or I’ll shoot Carmen.”

  “Do that, and we blow up your Malad-X. You’ll have nothing left at all. No girl, no worms. Wouldn’t that just suck?”

  “Another step and I’ll kill her!”

  Carmen screamed in terror.

  Jameson, only a few feet from Graves, lowered his gun.

  “Drop it!” shouted Graves. “And call off your partner.”

  “Luna,” said Jameson. “Do what he says.” He dropped his shotgun in front of Graves.

  Graves grinned. “Very good.” He kept his firearm aimed at Carmen and the needle pointed at Jameson. Luna appeared with her rifle down. She slid it to Graves, who kicked both guns out of reach. “I do believe,” said Graves, “that I’ve got enough parasites in this syringe for the three of you. It will be interesting to see what Malad-X turns you into, Jameson.”

  “I can show you right now!” Jameson’s eyes became electrically charged emeralds. With blinding speed, he snatched Graves’ wrist and lifted him off his feet. Graves’ pistol flashed and boomed. The shot struck Carmen in the chest. She cried out, falling to her hands and knees, blood slowly raining to puddles beneath her.

  Luna ran to her side and applied pressure to the wound. “Hang in there, Carmen. This will be over soon.”

  “His eyes…” gasped Carmen. “I saw his eyes!”

  “Don’t be afraid. We’re going to get you out of here.”

  “Too much blood.” Carmen’s eyelids fluttered. “I don’t hav
e long.” She gripped Luna’s shoulder tightly. “Listen to me…. tell Albert he was right. Jameson’s genetic chemistry is the answer. Albert can cure the people.” She closed her eyes and wilted silently in Luna’s arms.

  Luna stared into the eyes of the dead woman in her arms. They looked like polished jewels reflecting back the light of the world but offering no light of their own. Carmen’s death, was the death of an era and it stirred Luna’s heart to sorrow. I came so far, Carmen, fought so hard; I believed in better days. But here I am, at the top of the world, and way up here where there should be peace, there’s only suffering. She held the body tightly, the way her sister probably held her dead husband, and Luna felt all of the sadness in the world crash over her. The wave of despair wanted to wash her away, it came to claim her, to devour her hopes and plans for a bright tomorrow. Her plans. The plan. The fight isn’t over. Jameson is fighting Graves right now. He’d win, she knew he would, and in that knowing proved a hope that even the greatest wave of soul-crushing heartache could never steal away. Keep moving, Briggs. The details of their attack plan resurfaced, once more claiming the forefront of her mind. The final explosion would be next. She lifted Carmen and carried her away from the Malad-X cistern, taking cover inside the roof access bulkhead. There, in the enclosed stairwell, she’d be safe from the destruction of Dr. Marcus Graves’ genetically altered parasite. Luna hunkered down, listening and waiting for the end.

  Graves brought up his gun, but Jameson tore it from his hand, throwing it across the roof. The weapon slid over the edge. Graves thrust the needle toward Jameson’s neck, but Jameson swung a tremendous punch that sent the scientist into the air.

  Graves fell to his back, then rolled over spitting up teeth. He wiped his bloodstained mouth and lifted his head. He stared at Jameson, astonishment bulging his eyes. “What are you?”

  “Shut up!” Jameson kicked Graves in the face, spraying blood over his boot “That was for my father.” He kicked him in the stomach, cracking ribs. “And that’s for the rest of the city.” Graves, bellowing in pain and wheezing for air, clawed his way to the edge of the roof. Jameson followed the slithering scientist. “Too many innocents have suffered,” barked Jameson. “Too many have died because of you. No more!”

  Graves choked a laughed as he propped himself to his knees. “People suffer and die anyway. The city kills them or they kill themselves. You can’t change the world, Jameson. Only science can do that!” Graves sprang forward and stabbed the needle into Jameson’s thigh. Jameson cried out and lunged to grab the scientist, but Graves rolled to the side and kicked Jameson off the roof.

  Jameson caught hold of the ledge, gripping it tightly with his Malad-X power, but numbness crawled up from the stab in his leg, coursing around his waist and tingling into his arms. The injection felt like Quell, and he couldn’t guess how much longer his strength would last.

  Graves appeared over him, holding Jameson’s shotgun in his hands. Dark blood dripped from his shattered mouth. His greasy hair spiked from his head like the tangled feathers of dead crow. He knelt down, pressing the short barrel to Jameson’s forehead, his finger lowering near the trigger.

  The deafening whirr of the bush plane’s propeller became thunder in the sky.

  Graves’ eyes widened in confusion.

  Jameson seized the moment of distraction, yanking the shotgun and pulling Graves over the edge of the roof. The collar of Graves’ black coat snagged on the roof’s eave. He screamed, hanging helpless and frightened. The shotgun fell from view.

  An earsplitting explosion shook the tower.

  Volcanic, orange fire burst in all directions.

  Shards of glass, chunks of concrete, and a hot spray of white Malad-X rained down as a plume of heavy, gray smoke swirled across the morning sky.

  “What have you done?” screeched Graves as he dangled like a marionette.

  “It’s over. I told you…no more worms. Malad-X is gone.”

  “Is it?” Graves reached into his pocket and revealed a small, white vial.

  Jameson noticed something black and metallic glinting on the eave near his right hand. Graves’ pistol. He reached for it, fighting the numbness draining his strength and hooked the gun with his fingertips. He twirled it around in his hand, aiming it at Graves.

  A terrible, crushing pain made Jameson scream. He looked up at his hand holding the roof. There, an apparition of Brighton loomed. The parasite in his mind ground his black boot atop Jameson’s fingers. Hate and rage became a veil of betrayal.

  “You swore that you would not harm my family!” yelled Brighton.

  “And I didn’t.” Jameson snickered through his pain. “I wasn’t the one who dropped the bomb, you stupid son of a bitch! How does it feel to lose control?”

  “I cannot let you kill Graves. He holds the last of the Malad-X. I warned you that I’d die for my family.”

  “Then say goodbye!” Jameson focused the gun on Graves and pulled the trigger. The blast ripped through the scientist, knocking him off the building.

  Jameson watched Dr. Marcus Graves fall to the city street one hundred and eight stories below.

  Brighton wailed. The howling bush plane muffled his mournful screams. Jameson fought the searing pain in his hand as Brighton continued to crush his fingers.

  “Let the rope out!” yelled Jack.

  “It’s impossible! He’s going to fall! He’s going to fall!” cried Albert in hysteria, his face mashed against the window.

  “If you don’t let out the rope, he has no chance! Do it! Now!”

  Albert shoved open the aft door. The force of the wind knocked him back. He steadied and threw the coil of climbing rope into the sky. It unfurled, one end fluttering under the plane, the other tied off to one of the seats.

  Jameson’s fingers slipped. He’d fall any second. Jack’s approaching plane swallowed the heavens in a mechanical roar. He looked over his shoulder to see the silver aircraft streaking toward him and from it dangled the rope, the last risk he had to take, the final chance.

  “You ruined everything!” cried Brighton. “There’s nothing left to live for!”

  “I disagree.”

  “You can’t hold on much longer!”

  “I don’t need to.”

  Jameson let go, shoving off the building with his legs and arcing back twenty feet. He knotted his arm around the airplane’s rope. The plane lifted him upward and swooped low over the roof. Jameson saw Luna and reached for her outstretched hand; their arms locked.

  Luna and Jameson hung from the bush plane as it flew high above Karma City.

  Chapter 18

  One week later:

  Dr. Albert Walker and the hospital staff organized a memorial service where thousands gathered in Wolfgang Commons outside of Oasis Hospital to honor the passing of Dr. Carmen Victoria. In addition, Albert was honored for his scientific advancements and formally credited for the treatment against Malady by Victoria’s ASAM Team. His vaccine, derived from Jameson’s unique genome, acted as an antigenic, dual-strain primer, enabling the human immune system to build defenses against Malady and Malad-X.

  The new medicine ignited a wave of inspiration and drew people to Oasis from all parts of the city and the Void Lands. The Iron Tribe’s locomotive rolled in and out of Karma Station every day, loading and unloading passengers by the hundreds, all of them eager to finally be protected from the mind-altering parasite and learn whether they, too, were Malady-Born. While vaccines were administered, blood tests were also conducted on individuals born from infected parents. In nearly all cases, Albert’s theory of Malady-Born humans proved true. These people showed a natural resistance to common Malady.

  Albert stood in the office that once belonged to Dr. Carmen Victoria. The wide windows let in the sun and overlooked the green campus grounds, lined with gardens, ponds, and willow trees. The office was his now. The desk. The conference table. The books. All of it. He was in charge. He’d become Karma City’s final medical authority and lead scientist,
yet he hardly felt the weight of it. He moved around the office with light steps, as if afraid to snag a trip wire that might suddenly drop the load of responsibility on him. He sat at the desk, bouncing for a second in the plush chair. I got this. It’s much cleaner than Undertown. I’ll still run my lab there, though. Not gonna let this change me. There’s still more work to be done. A knock on his office door broke his thoughts. Jack Halligan and Donna Lynne stood together wearing warm coats and warmer smiles.

  Jack stuck his head in the room and whistled. “Nice digs, Al!”

  “Hey you two!” Albert chuckled, happy to see his friends looking so well.

  “You wanted to see me?” asked Jack.

  “Sure did. Thanks for coming by.”

  “No problem. How’re you settling in?”

  “I’ve been so busy that I haven’t really had a chance to get comfortable.” Albert stood from his desk and crossed the room to meet them at the door. “Donna, how are you feeling? How’s the arm?”

  “Just fine, Albert. Thanks to you and Jack.”

  Albert grinned. “We do make a good team, don’t we Jack?”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “Alright…what is it?”

  “Right, I won’t keep you; I know you’ve got plans.”

  Donna squeezed Jack. “I’m really excited to fly today. It’s going to be so beautiful up there.”

  Albert adjusted his glasses. “You won’t get me back in that thing,” he joked. “But in all seriousness, Jack, I’d like to put that airplane of yours to good use.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I want to send shipments of Quell and vaccinations out to the Void Lands. There’s a lot of sick people out there. The railways have been doing a good job at getting meds out, but we can go farther. Help more.”