High Pressure System: First Season Underground

by K. D. Kinney

  I left before they could fuss at me about the situation. They were good at that. All the time.

  The 3D printer was located below the Community Floor. I far preferred going down stairs at the moment. I hoped Aaron and Micah were still there.

  It didn’t matter how many stairs I went down, bot bits covered each step. Perhaps I was getting use to them. No, I changed my mind when a few crawled on the banister towards my hand. Smashed them.

  I could still feel my tight leg and butt muscles as I jogged down the hall looking for the room with the printer. I’d never actually been there before.

  When I paused in the hall wondering if I had already past it, I heard the hum and whine of a machine at work. It was farther down. There weren’t any bot parts anywhere.

  “I don’t think the wands on the vacuums will get them all out of the ducts. Even if we fabricate the longest ones we can find, the duct work is too long between vents,” Micah said.

  I peeked through the doorway. I sure had a lucky streak going. Aaron and Micah were there with the 3D printer master and the sidekick security guy.

  “Hey,” I waved at everyone.

  “You ready for some underground weather or something?” Sidekick asked. His face was flushed.

  I hooked the facemask over my ears. “What are you talking about?” I looked over my clothes. “What I’m wearing has done a good job of making sure I’m not going to get as sick as you.”

  Micah looked healthy with the exception of his aggravation over the limited use of his hand. Aaron wasn’t looking so good. His complexion was already fair but his face was pasty white and shiny with sweat.

  “I’m sure the docs are going to want to see you all.” I leaned against the wall to stay clear of what was starting to ail them.

  “Did you hear how my buddy, Frank is doing?”

  “Actually no. He’s actually your buddy?” I asked.

  “He drives me crazy. But, yeah, he’s my buddy.”

  “The medical clinic was kind of overwhelmed with people. I was one of the few that wasn’t covered with welts. I guess I’m the new gopher.” I snickered at my own joke.

  Micah shook his head while Aaron laughed.

  “That was awful, Rachel.” Micah kept shaking his head.

  “Where’s your sense of humor? Honestly though, you guys don’t look good.” Just by watching them I could tell they were sinking fast.

  “We’ve created some new boxes to collect spiders that are still intact. But so far no luck. The vacuum blades destroyed them all.”

  “Oh, I clogged this one with a rag thinking they could escape. They sure run at the sight of this thing though. Nice thing to have.” I set my vacuum on the floor.

  “Aaron thinks we should capture some of the ones that are left,” Micah said.

  “Why would we want to do that?” I asked.

  “Cause we can analyze them and come up with some way to use them against that NALA thing.” Aaron tossed the parts he was looking in a trash can.

  “What, like virus it back?” I shook my head.

  The guys all looked at me as if they had light-bulb moments at the same time. They were probably delirious.

  “That is it,” Master printer guy said.

  “It is,” Aaron agreed.

  “How do we capture bots without destroying them and keep them from making us sick?” I waited for their response. Guys and their bright ideas.

  “I guess that’s something we’ll have to think about.” Aaron sneezed several times.

  “Okay, I might need to leave now.” I glanced over at Micah. He was picking through robot parts.

  “Maybe we can figure out how to piece them back together,” Aaron said.

  “Nah, that’s a lot of work,” the printer master said. “Maybe we could try printing some out.

  “You want to make more? We still need to get them out of the vents.” I got a shiver. “I don’t think I’ll sleep decent until I know they won’t slip in my apartment during the night.”

  Micah took my vacuum and emptied it.

  “I need one of those for the moms and kids in the school. They might be the only ones that don’t get sick if we can keep them free of spiders.” I hovered near his shoulder. He wasn’t sinking as fast as the other three.

  “You’ll have to find a vacuum that hasn’t been used to collect spiders yet. I’m sure the viruses or whatever ailments they are carrying are all over the inside of these and will blow all over them when they try to use it.” He shoved the hose back on and set it on the ground in front of me.

  “Oh, that’s true. I don’t know if there are any vacuums left on their floor. Are there any extra boots I can take up there so they can go get food from the kitchen?” I tugged on my zipper.

  Aaron crossed the room and sneezed all over the place as he did. He rummaged through a pile in the corner and held up a pair. I hesitated before claiming the boots and made sure I grabbed them where he hadn’t contaminated with sneeze spray.

  Security guy sat down and rested his head on the table.

  “You all need to go up to the medical floor. All of you. Like right now.” I pointed at the door.

  Aaron didn’t argue as he helped the security guy up. “Come on Steve.” Aaron waved for the printer master to follow.

  Micah waited for them all to leave before he headed for the door. However, he stopped in front of me. “You know where you’ll be safe if you really are worried about those spiders getting to you.” He tugged on my hood strings.

  I nodded and my cheeks warmed.

  He smiled. “Rachel’s trademark sweatshirt is not only a fashion statement but survival gear underground. Who knew?” He gave my arm a squeeze. “You know where to find me.”

  “Medical floor?” I asked.

  He swung an empty vacuum canister over his shoulder and didn’t answer as he walked away.

  “Your place?”

  He raised his arm over his head and gave me a thumbs up.

  Once I had rummaged through a few closets, I finally found a vacuum and briefly stopped at the school with it along with boots and gloves. The adults were all agitated with me for taking so long. Everyone was hungry.

  “I didn’t want to bring you a vacuum that would make you all sick. Make sure you’re careful and don’t come in contact with the spiders if you suck them up in the vacuum or you’ll all be sick too.”

  I got out of there as quick as I could. Running up to the medical floor, I checked to see how Brandon was.

  My mask was over my face before I even walked through the door and a good thing too. There were people lying on the floor in the hall. Everyone was coming down with sickness and there was nowhere else for them to go while they waited.

  “What are your symptoms?” a worn out nurse asked me with a tablet in front of her face.

  “I’m actually fine. I came to see how Brandon is doing.” I was really wishing I hadn’t stopped on the floor with all the illness that had already hit everyone pretty hard. “Whatever they got, it came on fast.”

  “You aren’t kidding. I believe the worst is a flu that has a rather accelerated exposure response. I’ve never seen one hit so fast. Kind of like the illnesses that happen on cruise ships. Confined area with a contagion that is easily spread in the air. Who knows what else those spiders were carrying. We’ve had to smash numerous ones that were hiding in patients clothes. Some of us have been exposed and poked as a result.”

  “I had a few too. It seems the ones that were poked the most are the sickest, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “It’s too early to tell. You could have something that just takes longer to show its true colors.”

  “Don’t tell me that. Everyone that isn’t sick is depending on me.” I followed her to Brandon’s room. She stopped outside his door.

  “Brandon is the sickest person on the medical floor right now. His vitals are all over the place. His restlessness isn’t helping. The doctor wants to sedate him a little so he can get some rest.”

/>   “I doubt I’ll be much help. But I’ll try and see if I can reassure him some.” I waited while the nurse let him know I was there. Just in case he wanted me to go away.

  I peeked in the room when the nurse called me in. Brandon’s eyes were puffy with dark rings around them. He was sweaty and clutched a tissue box. One of those lovely kidney shaped trays was resting on a table in front of him.

  “Is everyone sick?” Brandon asked. He started coughing so I couldn’t answer right away.

  “Not me. The mothers that stayed with the children in the school are all healthy for now. They are able to stay put until the worst of this is over.”

  “I don’t think it will be over for some time with all those bots in the ducts.”

  “I covered my vent in my apartment and filled in the cracks under the doors. They are scared of vacuums. We can hold them off.”

  “I’m sure NALA will send more. Everyone is too sick to stop them or do the work needed to seal the lobby doors. The acid rain did enough damage washing the concrete away around the secure lobby doors to make it easier to infest us with a plague.”

  “You make it sound like this is the end.” I pulled up a chair. The stairs were doing a number on my poor legs.

  “Rachel, the big spider Frank caught killed him. The acid rain killed Travis. Hopefully Micah and a few of the others that came in contact with the water can keep their fingers.” Brandon held a hand up in the air as if he wanted me to stop talking as he sat up in bed and clutched the bowl in front of his face. I really hoped he wasn’t going to throw up. I wasn’t sick but I sure was sympathetic to that sort of thing. It took him a minute before he leaned back on the bed. That just brought on more coughing. “NALA made it sound like everyone but us was dead. Now we are like her little playthings. You know how cats will play with mice until they traumatize them to death?” His eyes were wide.

  I nodded.

  “That’s what she’ll do. Play with us until we all die.”

  “We need to send it right back to her.”

  “What are you talking about? The computer is miles away. We aren’t capable of sending it back to her.”

  “We need to send a virus back at it. All the guys in the printer room thought that was a great idea.”

  “I can’t send anything back.”

  “The spiders. If she sends more on the drones, we capture them, send them back.”

  “Hmm…” Brandon was quiet as he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling.

  “Brandon?” I wondered if something was wrong with him and touched his shoulder.

  He covered my gloved hand with his. “Sorry, I was thinking. That could be a good idea. Still very complicated. That computer is very adaptive and it’s not easy to gain access to its components to send something like a virus to bring it down.”

  “You don’t need to figure it out right now. Wait until you’re better.”

  “I can’t wait while the bunker is compromised.”

  I leaned a little closer so Brandon would look at me. All he could really see of my face was my eyes, I squeezed his hand. “You have to rest to get better. Stressing out will make you even more sick and you are already the sickest in the bunker. You’ve even outsicked Jim now. Listen to the doctors for everyone’s sake so you can get better fast. I really need you. We won’t manage for long without you. Jim is scared but he knows he’s safe for now. He feels he can’t run the control room as well as you can and you can’t run the control room until the doctors say you’re well.” I held his hand tight with both of mine and pressed the back of his hand against my chest. I was as sincere as I could possibly be. “Please. You need to rest now more than you ever have.”

  I blinked several times so I wouldn’t let what welled up there fall out. When I looked at Brandon and saw how emotional he was, I had to let a couple tears fall.

  He only nodded and squeezed my hand tighter. I waited until he relaxed his grip before I let the need to leave overtake me again. “I should probably go before I catch this thing.”

  “Is there anyone left that’s healthy that can help you?”

  “I don’t know.” I chewed on my lip.

  “I’m confident you will do just fine. You already have.”

  “Like you said, it could be a long time before this is over and I sure hope I’m not the only one here that is able to deal with another round of creepy crawlies.”

  “That won’t be good.” Brandon struggled to sit up.

  “Hey, you aren’t going anywhere.” I gently pushed his shoulder down. “Rest up. I’ll find out if there is anyone left that is healthy enough to help me.” Why was I such a sucker for the vulnerable? There was an ache in my chest and I really hoped he would get better soon. He was not one that could handle being down. When I was sure he wasn’t going to follow me out of the room, I slipped out. He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore.

  I rested my back against the wall once the door shut. The ache turned into a gripping pain. Closing my eyes to subdue the panic rising up into my throat, I wondered how Brandon carried the load worrying about all of us clueless people for so long. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage to keep everyone safe all by myself.

  “Are you coming down with something?” a nurse felt my forehead.

  “Just responsibility-itis.” I sighed.

  “You’re feeling all right otherwise?”

  “Mild closing off of my throat, heart palpitations, flushing cheeks. Burning, watery eyes. Just a standard panic attack.” I smiled as best I could to reassure the nurse I really was feeling all right. Except my flushing might not have been from anxiety, or worry about Brandon. I didn’t have time to be sick. Too many people depending on me. “I’ll be fine. Is there anyone that hasn’t checked in?”

  “Let’s see. All the children. Sarah Haines, Melinda Marshall, Pamela Sharp, and Christa Anderson.” She scrolled through the list.

  “Those are the moms with the children. I know Jim is in the Control Room. Anyone else?”

  “Umm, Andrew Cooper just checked in. His parents are sick already. I haven’t seen his sister Marjorie. Let’s see… Micah Stoddard… T.J. and Britta Harper.”

  “Okay. That gives me something to go on. You all are busy, but how is the medical staff? Anyone sick?”

  “I think a couple of nurses that were poked while checking patients are feeling a little off. The doctors are faring okay. Not sure though what everyone has and how rapidly that might change. We are sending everyone to their apartments after we assess their symptoms and record the length of time it took for the illness to show. One of the doctors feels that the stress from the latest news might be what made everyone extra susceptible to what they were infected with. Brandon’s high stress level is probably why he is as sick as he is. This is easy for me to say and I’m not the one trying to protect the bunker, but try not to stress so much that you fall ill too. I would hate to see the little kids be the only ones left to protect us.”

  I nodded because I couldn’t speak. It took a moment before, “Okay, thanks,” escaped my mouth and I made my way out of the sick floor. I sure hoped I wouldn’t need to stay there anytime soon.

  24

  Getting a Grip

  As I returned to my apartment, it really concerned me that Micah had not gone to the medical floor. He told me to look for him at his apartment. However, I thought for sure he’d get checked out first.

  There were a few straggler bots in the hall when I returned to my apartment. I smashed them as I went and wished I had a vacuum when I entered my living room. I dropped to my knees and stuffed a towel under the door to fill the crack while the dogs romped around me.

  Leaning against the wall, exhaustion washed over me and I let the dogs lick my face. I slumped a little lower. They were looking for cuddles until Yodel yelped. He backed away and started barking.

  I felt a pinch through my jeans. I jumped up and smashed the little bot. The apartment search was on. I found a few stragglers under the sofa cushions. A couple in
the cupboards. I stripped the bed and found a few more there and under my mattress.

  “This is unbelievable.” I climbed on the table to check my vent. It was still covered. They must have wiggled through the towel under the door while I was gone. I sat in my chair and rubbed my temples. Lots of little clicks and tapping were coming from the vent. I got the shivers. There was no way I was staying put.

  I called Jim on the thumbpad.

  “Rachel? What’s wrong?”

  “I was wondering how you were doing.” I kept scanning the room for bots. Smashed two on the wall.

  “I’m good. There’s nothing brewing out there. The longest stretch of clear skies I’ve seen in some time.”

  “That’s good to hear. I wonder if it’s staying that way because of the drones.”

  “That and I’m sure that computer wants to give those little spiders a shot at doing their thing.”

  “They are doing their thing all right.” Stomped on one more before the dog tried to bite it. “They are all over my apartment. I’ve been so busy taking care of everyone that my home has been invaded.”

  “Are the dogs all right?”

  “They stung Yodel but I think it was because it was after me. Generally the bots don’t seem interested in them when I’m in the room. They only want me.” I batted one off the table.

  “Do you need to relocate? The control room is safe.”

  “I believe there is a place I could go where the dogs and I will be safe.” Micah would be upset with me if I told Jim about his secret garden. I stayed silent about my plans. However, I wasn’t going to have Jim worry about me if he wanted to know.

  “Get there as soon as you can and check in so I know where you are.”

  That’s right, he’ll know where I am. It will probably reassure him if I was with Micah. He won’t know the real reason why I wanted to be there.

  I packed a backpack with dog food and nuts for Rocky. After coaxing the dogs in the carrier, I tucked Rocky in the backpack, covered the carrier with my favorite blanket, and headed for Micah’s apartment. At least there was only one way into his cave room, no vents, and he had invited me there. There were bees though. I wasn’t going to think about that until I had a reason to worry.