Aftershock

by Sam Fisher

  ‘Why?’ Danny asked.

  ‘Because that’s where the connecting tunnel to Beta is.’

  ‘If it’s still there.’

  ‘True,’ Harry conceded. ‘But put it this way, Danny. If it’s not there, or it’s impassable, we won’t have many other options.’

  ‘What have you got against going straight down?’ Alfred asked the actor.

  ‘Nothing, I guess. Let’s go.’

  The only source of light they had was the insipid glow from the top floor and that did not last long. After the third turn, the faint light disappeared altogether. They were in total darkness for two flights of the concrete access stairs. But then a new source of light appeared. It was a faint pinprick that grew rapidly as they took turn after turn of the stairs, descending through the floors of Dome Gamma. Approaching the light, they could see it was a dim single bulb illuminating the ground floor of the stairwell. It lit up a wide corridor. At the far end, they could see elevator doors, and beside them, a red rectangle of light, the call button. Harry took it slowly, picking his way forward, hugging the wall. It seemed to take an age to travel the 20 metres to the elevator doors, but they eventually all gathered there.

  Harry punched the button forlornly. To no one’s surprise, nothing happened.

  ‘There are some stairs over there,’ Nick said. ‘They go down one more floor to the linkway.’ He took a few paces to an opening in the wall on one side of the elevator. The steps were covered in dust and there were holes in the ceiling of the stairwell, but nothing lay in their way. Nick took the lead down the steps with Harry close behind. At the foot of the stairs, a narrow corridor curved sharply left and suddenly they were in the linkway between Gamma and Beta.

  It was an inspiring sight. The linkway was a tube of specially reinforced glass cradled in a metal support frame. Three metres wide and about 25 metres long, it connected the two domes. Red carpet ran along a channel in the base of the tube. Sheer walls of glass swept up either side and curved overhead. It created the impression that by stepping into the tube you were actually walking into the ocean itself.

  Huge multicoloured tendrils of coral and exotic ocean plants swayed in the current. On a normal day a bewildering array of sea creatures, anemone fish, blue ribbon eel and black tip reef sharks would dart and swarm round the tube. Some would peer into the glass as they swam by. Others were nervous and scattered as soon as there was any movement. For the moment, the fish had gone, scared off by whatever had rocked the hotel.

  Nick Xavier ran along the tunnel, barely giving it a second look. He had seen the hotel grow. The project had dominated his childhood. But the others were still in awe of it. They had only seen it once before, earlier that evening, en route to Dome Gamma and the grand dinner.

  ‘Come on,’ Nick called, bringing them back to painful reality.

  Harry was three-quarters of the way along the linkway when he heard the low rumble. They all stopped. The sound came again, much louder this time.

  ‘Oh fuck! Not another tremor,’ Jim exclaimed.

  ‘Run!’ Harry screamed.

  A sound like a thunder clap ricocheted along the tunnel and they could all see the glass crack, random lines slithering down the sides. The tendrils shot past them as they ran. Harry slowed, almost stopping as he encouraged them all on. Jim and Alfred were trailing behind. He ran back to give Jim a hand. ‘Come on,’ he shouted above the noise. ‘Just a few more steps.’

  He grabbed Alfred’s arm and helped drag the old man along the carpet.

  A tremendous crash shuddered along the linkway and they could feel the glass tube wobble on its cradle. They were close to the far side. Nick dashed into a corridor, then pulled up sharp. He glanced back to make sure everyone was through the linkway and looked for the red security button on the wall. Panicking, he punched it and a thick metal door started to come down from the ceiling. Harry was still a couple of metres inside the tunnel. He pushed Alfred and Jim hard from behind. They stumbled forward, Alfred landing heavily on his partner, both yelping in pain.

  The door was falling fast. Harry could sense it. His whole mind focused on propelling himself forward with every ounce of his being. Adrenalin shot through him like a surging wave, energising his muscles. He dived, slithering under the 2 tonnes of metal as it crashed downward. The door almost caught his feet, but he swivelled his legs round just in time. The steel barrier slammed to the floor, and Harry screamed involuntarily as it sliced through the heels of his shoes.

  42

  Dome Beta

  ‘You okay?’ Danny Preston was leaning over him. The air seemed to throb, a low hum. They could feel it rather than hear it. Then the corridor juddered. There was a great rush of sound, like nothing they had ever heard in their lives. It thundered down the corridor, the sound of tonnes of tempered glass shattering into millions of pieces.

  Harry looked up, and for a moment, he could barely remember who he was. Danny had a hand out. He helped Harry up.

  ‘So, what now?’ Kristy said as the sound subsided.

  Harry was about to reply when the walls started to shake again. He looked at the others, and then at the ground. The floor seemed to be buckling under his feet. It looked and felt utterly surreal, as though he were on a surfboard.

  ‘Look out!’ Alfred screamed.

  Harry span around and saw a metal beam cut through the flimsy plaster of the ceiling. It thrust downward at a crazy angle. He yelled and dived forward as the ceiling came down in one great rush. He landed hard, his head slamming into a solid object. He turned to see cascading plaster, and just caught a glimpse of Danny and Kristy at the other end of the corridor. They were near the door to the doomed linkway. Something huge reared up from the ground lifting Harry into the air. He felt himself rise up towards the ceiling. Then, whatever it was suddenly slipped away and he crashed to the floor.

  Jim Kemple was the first to recover. He opened his eyes and immediately started coughing. He sat up and looked around. Harry Flanders was next to him on his left, and he could see the young kid, Nick Xavier. The two of them were coming round. Where was Alfred? He suddenly felt a stab of panic. He stood up, took two steps and almost tripped over Alfred’s legs. ‘Al,’ he sputtered, his mouth filled with dust. He lowered himself on his good knee, beside his partner.

  ‘Jim,’ the old man said. ‘You okay?’

  He pulled a face. ‘I’m cool. What about you?’ He leaned close and saw Alfred’s shirt was ripped open, and a metal pole half a centimetre in diameter was sticking up from his abdomen. Jim started to gag, but managed to control himself.

  ‘I’m dying, Jim.’

  ‘No ... no, you’re not.’

  ‘No, listen to me, Jim, listen. I am dying. I’m hurt bad, but I was already on my way out.’

  Tears were welling up in Jim’s eyes. At the periphery of his vision, he could see Harry and Nick pulling themselves to their feet. But they were a universe away in time and space. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Leukaemia. Bad prognosis.’

  Jim didn’t know what to say. He glanced up for a second as Harry stopped a few paces behind him. When he looked back, Alfred was motionless.

  It took Jim a few seconds to realise what had happened, but even then, his brain could not process it. ‘Alfred,’ he said softly. ‘Alfred, don’t talk like that. We can beat this thing. We can...’

  He stopped and stood up. Harry went to put a hand on Jim’s shoulder but pulled back at the last moment. He simply watched him. Jim looked like a statue, completely motionless. Before Harry could say anything, Jim took a step back, looked down at his dead partner and then slowly walked away, lowering himself into the far corner of the corridor.

  ‘Nick? You all right?’ Harry said to the boy.

  ‘I think so. Just more cuts and bruises.’

  Harry turned and walked over to where the corridor had been cut in two by falling rubble. ‘We’re cut off from the others. Kristy and Danny are on the other side,’ he said.

  ‘How do
you know they’re alive?’

  ‘I don’t. Come on.’ He started scrambling at the barrier, lifting lumps of concrete and metal and tossing them to one side. Nick dug away at the foot of the barrier.

  ‘Stop!’ Harry yelled suddenly. ‘Hear that?’

  Nick held his breath. ‘What?’

  ‘Damn it.’

  Then they both heard it. A single word. ‘Help.’ It was muffled by the barrier, but they could tell it was a girl’s voice.

  ‘Kristy,’ Harry yelled.

  ‘Yes ... Yes. We’re trapped.’

  ‘Danny with you?’

  ‘We’re both caught between the door and the cave in. We’re okay though.’

  Harry threw himself at the piles of concrete and twisted metal. They cut into his palms, but he kept going. It was hot and stifling in the corridor. ‘Nick. See if you can open the door at the end, get some air in here, yeah?’ Nick sped off and Harry carried on, the sweat running off him. Just as the boy came back shaking his head, defeated, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Need some help?’ Harry turned. It was Jim, his face as pale as death.

  The three of them made more rapid headway, clawing at the heaped rubble, pulling out smashed chairs, chunks of metal, wooden table legs, papers and strips of carpet. Harry climbed into the hole they had made and scrambled at the detritus, passing it back to Nick and Jim. Pulling a lump of concrete aside, he saw a flicker of light.

  ‘Kristy? Danny?’

  Kristy’s face appeared in the opening. She was sobbing.

  ‘Clear your side,’ Harry shouted. ‘We’ve made a hole you can crawl through this end.’

  The barrier was no more than 4 metres thick, but it was made from a motley collection of smashed and shattered wreckage.

  ‘Who’s going first?’ Harry yelled through the hole. ‘It’ll be dangerous. Be very careful.’

  Danny’s face appeared. ‘I’ll try it.’ He pulled himself up onto his side and clambered, head first, into the hole.

  ‘Take it slowly,’ Harry warned.

  ‘Don’t you worry, son. I will.’

  Danny was surprisingly nimble and flexible. He clawed his way into the opening.

  Harry reached in and took the old actor’s wrist, and with his spare hand, Danny pushed against the sides of the opening. In a moment, his head emerged through the hole. Harry and Nick gripped him under each shoulder and helped him through the last metre or so.

  ‘Jesus!’ Danny exclaimed, dusting himself down.

  Harry poked his head back into the hole. ‘Okay, Kristy. Your turn.’

  There was only silence from the other end of the opening.

  ‘Kristy?’

  The young woman’s face appeared. She looked panic-stricken. ‘I can’t ... I can’t do it. I’ll fall through and be impaled or something,’ she said slowly, almost inaudibly. Then she dissolved into tears. Her face slid out of view.

  ‘Shit!’ Harry spat.

  The others looked at him, confused.

  ‘She can’t do it. She’s panicking.’

  ‘All right,’ Danny said, stepping towards the hole. ‘I’ll go back. Get her out. Then I’ll crawl through.’

  ‘What? You’re crazy!’ Jim burst out.

  ‘Yeah, maybe I am,’ he said, and moved Harry aside so he could reach into the opening. ‘Wish me luck, though.’

  They watched Danny disappear into the chasm and heard him crawling slowly and carefully over the jagged, twisted wreckage. Harry peered in and watched him descend the other side of the barrier. Then he saw Kristy’s face appear again.

  ‘You okay?’ Harry called through.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Come on, Kristy. You can do it. You weigh nothing, after all.’

  She was shaking, her face lathered with sweat.

  ‘It’s cooler this side,’ Harry lied.

  ‘Come on. I’ll help you up,’ Danny said, and put a gentle arm around the girl’s shoulders. ‘You’ll be through in no time and I’ll be right behind you.’

  Kristy pulled herself up into the hole. They could hear her whimpering, her breath coming in irregular gasps.

  ‘That’s good,’ Harry said. ‘Great. The worst is over. Now, just put one hand in front of the other. Watch where you’re putting your knees.’

  She was moving incredibly slowly, so slowly it felt as though she would never emerge the other side. She stopped and let out a little cry.

  ‘Nearly there,’ Harry said gently. ‘Three more steps.’

  At first, the crashing sound seemed far off. Then it came roaring along the hole towards Harry, Jim and Nick. Kristy screamed and scrambled through the cavity, collapsing in a heap on the floor of the corridor. Harry clambered up the side of the barrier and dived for the opening as it filled with dust.

  ‘Harry! Don’t!’ Jim screamed.

  Harry pulled himself along the tunnel of debris, cutting his hands as he went. He put his knee on a length of plastic and he felt it slide away from him. The whole structure swayed. He stopped and tried to steady his breathing. Sweat ran into his eyes.

  Harry waved at the air to try to see where he was going. But it was useless. His eyes were streaming and the dust felt as though it was cutting into his eyeballs. A metre further on he looked up and saw the opening into the far end of the corridor. And there, sprawled in the concrete and chunks of rubble, lay Danny’s limp body, his head crushed under a slab of concrete.

  43

  ‘You stupid little bitch,’ Harry screamed as he emerged from the hole close to where Kristy Sunshine lay in a heap, crying.

  She pulled herself up and whirled on Harry, her face a mask of fury. ‘How dare you talk to me like that ... you ... you ... useless nothing!’

  Harry’s face turned pale. He looked at the floor for a moment and then to everyone’s surprise, he laughed. It was a bitter laugh and it came from a seething rage. ‘I feel genuinely sorry for you, Kristy. You are so deluded. You think you’re something really special. But actually, you’re just a silly little girl. You might think I’m a nothing, but you’re certainly a something ... A FUCKING AIRHEAD!’

  Kristy flew at Harry, her fists flailing around.

  Jim stepped in. ‘Okay, guys. Cut it out.’ He grabbed the singer’s arms and pulled her back. Harry shook his head and laughed again, which only made Kristy Sunshine more angry. ‘You retard!’ she squealed and tried to pull away from Jim. He pinned her against the wall. ‘Stop it! Stop it ... NOW!’

  She suddenly erupted into tears and slid to the floor, burying her head in her hands, her shoulders heaving.

  Nick was looking on, confused. ‘Shouldn’t we get out of here?’ he said quietly.

  ‘At last. Someone talking sense,’ Jim said. Then he walked over to his dead partner whose body lay close to the exit in the west end of the corridor. He knelt down beside him while the others kept a respectful distance. ‘I have to go now, Al,’ he said softly, and ran a hand through the old man’s sparse white hair. Then he turned and walked towards the door.

  The others were there in a few moments. The door was closed. Jim kicked at the lock, but it was useless. Harry ran back to the barrier and found a large chunk of concrete. Returning to the door, he heaved the concrete at the handle. After three blows, he was exhausted. Jim grabbed the lump of debris and slammed it against the wood of the door above the lock. It gave on the second attempt. The wood shattered, sending small shards into the air and revealing a ragged hole about 3 centimetres in diameter. Jim went to raise the chunk of concrete again. There was a loud crack and the door sheared in two. Water thundered through, sending wood and metal hurling towards them.

  Harry landed on the floor and saw the other three fly through the air. Before he could even draw breath, a great wave of water crashed over them, propelling them along the corridor, back towards the barrier of rubble.

  Somehow, they all managed to grab hold of something solid in the wall of wreckage that had cut the corridor in two. The water slammed into them, then it rolle
d back, giving them time to draw breath. It churned around the walls of the corridor, losing some of its momentum. It came up to Harry’s waist. Nick had pulled himself up onto the barrier, his head a foot clear of the surface. They were all shocked into silence, grasping at the barrier for dear life, none of them knowing what to do next.

  The flood began to slow.

  ‘It’s not a hull breech,’ Harry spluttered. ‘Water must’ve built up in a cavity.’ He pushed away from the barrier.

  ‘What’re you doing?’ Jim asked.

  Harry said nothing, just waded through the waist-high water towards the shattered remains of the doorframe. Another corridor lay on the other side. It was narrower and shorter. At the far end stood another doorway. The door was gone, but the opening was completely blocked by rubble that had slid through from the far side.

  It was then Harry noticed the water level was still rising.

  He took a deep breath and ducked under the surface. He swam to the wall and pulled himself along, keeping his head under, trying to find where the water was coming in. He reached the blocked doorway without finding the source of the leak. Standing up, he waded over to the other side of the passageway and ducked under the surface again to inspect the far wall.

  Three metres from the doorway, he found it. It was a roughly circular opening about a metre and a half wide. The flow had diminished thanks to a steel plate that had been pushed against the wall on the other side, blocking 70 per cent of the hole and leaving a gap about half a metre wide.

  Harry’s heart sank. They were trapped. They could try to block this hole but they couldn’t just stay put in the corridor in the hope someone would rescue them before they died of hypothermia. The doorway at the end of the passageway was blocked, but water was gushing from an adjoining room. That meant that room must also be filled with water. Then he had a desperate thought. He resurfaced. The water was up to his chest now. Without wasting a second, he took another great gulp of air and dived under the water. He was just able to squeeze through the gap at the top of the opening in the wall. Once through to the other side, he swam a single stroke and reached for the surface.