by SD Tanner
‘So, who’s down there?’ TL asked. ‘Farrington, Tessa and Jen?’
‘Yeah,’ Mullen replied grimly. ‘What’s your story?’
Unhappy with Mullen’s briefing, he replied, ‘Me and my brothers, TL and Pax, were Army trainers when this happened. About to retire. We found Ip wanderin’ about lost and she’s been with us ever since. We gave ourselves the mission to destroy all the hunters and restore order. Now we got a cruise ship and about three thousand people out on the water. We plan to get an island so people can be safe and start farmin’ the land, then the real work of clearin’ out the hunters starts. We’ve got a doctor and a few lab techs, at the CDC Ip came from, tryin’ to replicate the counter virus. It’s the only way we’re gonna clear out the hunters.’
Looking first surprised and then hopeful, Mullen said, ‘Maybe we can help one another. I need to get Tessa and Jen out of this lab and away from Farrington.’
Lydia asked, ‘How is Jen fragile?’
‘The designer virus damaged her lungs, she can’t breathe well and it’s getting worse,’ Mullen explained. Looking worried, he added, ‘Plus she’s getting really vague. Some days she’s not really with us anymore. I think she’s dying.’
He’d heard enough and standing up, he said, ‘Let’s go see Farrington and get this sorted. Bottom line is we need the counter virus to work.’ Turning to Lydia, he added, ‘With all due respect, Lydia, we need Farrington’s expertise.’
Nodding in agreement, Lydia and said bluntly, ‘Yes, we do. This is beyond our skills. Without him we won’t achieve your objective. We might not even achieve it with him.’
Mullen and Ben led them to the underground lab. It was significantly larger than their lab with about eight observation rooms for patients, two rooms full of various test equipment, two examination rooms, MRI and three sleeping quarters. There was a combined lounge and kitchen with a large supply room at the back with a generator and a separate area for medical storage. There was also a security room with banks of monitors showing the surrounding area, but he noticed a number of the screens were now blank.
They found Farrington in one of the test rooms. Lydia put her hand on his arm and said quietly, ‘Don’t punch him in here. We need the equipment.’
Looking at her quizzically, he realized she was right. He was probably going to punch Farrington at some point. Farrington was a short, skinny man with glasses wearing a white lab coat. Finely featured with greasy, flat, black hair peppered with grey and a face that was drooping with age. He was one of those guys who looked like they failed to develop an adult physique and were a perpetual child.
Farrington fussed with whatever he was doing with his equipment and then asked abruptly, ‘Who are you people? What are you doing here? How did you get in? What do you want? Go away.’ His final statement was accompanied with a wave of his thin spidery hand, which he noticed shook slightly.
Seeing the size and frailty of the man, he wasn’t sure he should hit him after all. He looked like he might break. Farrington stood up, scuttling rapidly until he was standing in front of Ip and said excitedly, ‘Oh you brought test subject seven from Hattiesburg. Thank you. She’ll be a great help. Excellent benchmark for Tessa.’
Farrington was practically clapping in delight and he reached for Ip, who immediately snarled and sharply slapped him across the head. Ip was slender, but the hunter in her gave her good muscle development, plus she was quite fierce. The blow was hard enough to knock his glasses from his face and he stumbled against the lab table. Ip was about to follow her slap by launching herself at Farrington, when he wrapped his arm around her tiny waist, lifting her feet off the ground.
‘Not now, honey. Ya can kick the crap outta him later,’ he said mildly.
He heard Lydia mutter behind him, ‘They’re as bad as one another.’
‘Grab that asshole, TL,’ he said calmly. ‘We’ll let Ip slap him about, but not in here. Don’t wanna damage the equipment.’
Grabbing Farrington by the scruff of his lab coat, TL frogmarched him to the lounge area. Mullen and Ben followed behind and he heard Mullen say, ‘I miss the Army.’
TL tossed Farrington into a chair and he pulled up another chair, sat down facing him and said, ‘I hear ya been torturin’ women in ya lab.’
Farrington didn’t look upset about being manhandled. He suspected this was a guy who was bullied a lot at school, and handling him roughly wasn’t going to get them what they needed.
Farrington cleared his throat and replied simply, ‘We need a cure or we’re all dead.’
Lydia said, ‘That’s true, but we’re not having any success replicating the counter virus Ip carries. It keeps mutating too quickly.’
Scoffing, Farrington said scornfully, ‘Of course you can’t replicate the counter virus! We have to correct the designer virus!’
‘What?’ Lydia asked in shock. ‘The designer virus destroys the host. You can’t stay on that path.’
Rolling his eyes, Farrington replied, ‘Yes I can, and we have to.’ He explained, ‘The hunter virus is like a really bad cold. The designer virus is like an immunization against the cold virus. The immunized person creates a competitive virus that overwhelms the hunter virus. Ip, and the others like her, are effectively immune to the hunter virus. The counter virus they carry mutates right alongside the hunter virus and they can never catch the hunter virus because they kill it on contact.’
‘That’s a funny way of looking at it,’ Lydia observed. ‘I get what you mean, but you have to create a version of the designer virus that doesn’t damage the host.’
‘Exactly!’ Farrington replied excitedly. ‘Then we immunize anyone who’s left, and then they’ll be like Ip. They’ll kill hunters on contact and the hunters won’t be a problem for anyone.’
He knew Farrington was an asshole, but he was an asshole who shared their objectives. He felt torn. On the one hand, he wanted to kill the sonofabitch for being cruel, but he supposed the man was just responding to the cruelty of nature. Even so, the man didn’t seem to have any awareness he was harming people to save people.
‘Hey asshole!’ He said sharply to get Farrington’s attention. Sticking his face just a few inches from Farrington’s, he said menacingly, ‘Ya don’t get to kidnap people and experiment on ‘em without their consent!’
Looking nonplussed at his statement, Farrington said, ‘I didn’t know where those people came from or why. By the time they arrived the CDC, the Head Office was gone. I decided my job was to find the cure to the hunter virus. I directed the other CDCs, and we did what we had to do. I can’t find the cure without testing it, and I can’t test it without live hosts.’ Farrington sniffed and said bluntly, ‘Probably not enough people left worth saving now anyway.’
Shaking his head at Farrington, he said dourly, ‘Ya not normal.’
Interrupting them, TL said, ‘Look, we need a cure and you need test subjects. To be honest, I think when this happened six months ago, no one would have agreed, but times have changed. People have lost pretty much everything and I think some people will agree.’
Looking at TL as if he had gone mad, he said, ‘Really, TL? That’s the solution?’
TL replied wearily, ‘It’s this or nothing, Gears. It is what it is.’
Much to his surprise, Lydia agreed and said, ‘We should move our CDC research to here. And Farrington is right. We’re working on the wrong end of the problem. We need to rebuild the designer virus so it has less impact on the person, but still gives them immunity.’
He wasn’t sure he agreed with the logic, but he couldn’t think of another option. Lydia and Farrington were the experts. Resignedly, he said, ‘Okay, but here are the rules. Lydia you’re in charge, and I’ll hold ya accountable for anythin’ this asshole does. I dunno about usin’ humans as lab rats. Lydia ya need to get a fix on this and get back to us. And Farrington, Tessa and Jen are no longer ya test subjects. They’re comin’ back to the ship.’ Turning to Mullen, he said, ‘We have medical suppo
rt there and they’ll take care of Jen.’
Farrington nodded and said candidly, ‘As long as I can keep looking for the cure, I’ll agree to anything.’
Turning to Lydia, he said grimly, ‘Ya have my permission to shoot this asshole any time ya want.’ Turning back to Farrington, he added bluntly, ‘You’ve got no moral compass. You’re a bad man doin’ a good thing, but it don’t make ya right.’
Farrington didn’t bother to reply to his observation and looked away, but Mullen turned to him and said grimly, ‘You need to meet Tessa and Jen.’
They followed Mullen into an observation room where a young woman was lying on a hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask. Another older woman, with long white hair, was sitting next to her reading aloud from a book. He assumed the older woman was Tessa and said, ‘Hi Tessa. I’m Gears.’
To his surprise, Tessa replied, ‘I know. Jen told me.’
He turned and looked at Jen, but she didn’t appear to be conscious. The younger woman looked to be in her twenties with long dark braided hair. The tail of her braided hair was long enough to curl down the sheet and onto the light blue blanket covering her clearly frail body.
‘You can speak.’ He observed. ‘Can Jen speak too?’
‘Only a little,’ Tessa replied sadly.
Mullen walked over to Tessa and rested his hand lightly on her shoulder, and he could see there was a close bond between the two. Tessa said, ‘I have no telepathic ability, but Jen has a lot. She and Ip have been communicating.’
‘How is she today?’ Mullen asked Tessa gently.
‘She’s not having one of her best days,’ Tessa replied looking at Jen. He could see she was worried about her.
‘These guys have a helicopter, and they can take her to their cruise ship if you’re happy for her to go,’ Mullen told her.
Looking back at him, Tessa asked, ‘Thank you, can we go today?’
Not understanding the full extent of the damage the designer virus had done to either woman, he turned to Lydia and said, ‘It’s your call, Lydia.’
Lydia stepped forward and said to Tessa, ‘I need to understand what health issues you both have.’
Tessa replied frankly, ‘Jen’s organs are deteriorating. Although they’re all breaking down, it’s her lungs and heart that are causing the most problems. I’m physically fine, but my brain glitches and I…’ Hesitating and clearly searching for the right words, she added. ‘I seem to lose track of myself. When I get back I find hours or even days have passed, but I don’t know what’s happened.’
Lydia looked up from her examination of the medical equipment surrounding Jen and asked, ‘What are you doing during the times you black out?’
Mullen answered for Tessa and said, ‘She seems normal. We only find out later that she can’t remember the time period.’
Looking puzzled, Lydia said, ‘I assume there are MRI results for you Tessa. Do you know what they show?’
Farrington was standing in the doorway and he said, ‘She does have the right lobe development for telepathy, but I think when she’s communicating telepathically, her conscious brain forgets about it.’
‘So she’s communicating with other telepathic people, but she doesn’t remember?’ Lydia asked.
Farrington nodded. He could see that Tessa and Mullen didn’t like Farrington being near Jen and he asked, ‘Lydia, can we move Jen?
Lydia replied, ‘We can, Gears, but it’ll always be slightly risky. That said, I think it would be best for both of them to be out of this place.’ She turned to Farrington and said bluntly, ‘I want all their medical files. Get them now.’
Farrington nodded again and scuttled out of the room and he was satisfied that Farrington would do whatever Lydia told him to do. He was relieved the man seemed to have quickly accepted his new position in his own lab. They needed this guy, and his obedience would make their life easier.
Turning to TL, he said, ‘Go talk to Hatch and make sure he knows we have an injured passenger to transport back to the ship.’
Ip was sitting with Jen, chirping softly and stroking her braided hair. Tessa sat watching them together and she smiled tenderly at the pair.
CHAPTER FOUR: Paradise undone (Gears/Ip)
Hunter ruler: There you are my little love. Still lost with those you should give the shove.
Ip: You again following me. I am happy here with my three.
Hunter ruler: You will concede you have no choice. If you did you would not hear my voice.
Ip: Go away you bore my mind. I grow tired of you and your kind.
Hunter ruler: And what kind are we? Do you know or do you still need to grow.
Ip: I have grown enough to know you well. Demon creature go back to hell.
Gears was sitting in the casino room getting an update on the boats. Ip, Pax, TL, Kat, Lydia, Mackenzie, Benny and Captain Ted were sitting with him at the table.
Feeling tired and pissed off, he said grouchily, ‘Gimme the breakdown.’
‘Approximately 2,700 people across about three hundred boats.’ Kat replied.
‘Anyone we need?’ He asked tiredly, rubbing the scar on his face.
Kat nodded and said, ‘Got some pilots for you, couple of doctors, quite a few boat engineers, another two comms specialists, some aircraft engineers, one with helicopter experience and some ex-military with weapons experience.’
Frowning, he asked, ‘Got any farmers or vets?’
Looking surprised at his question, Kat said, ‘I think so, but I’d have to check again. Why?’
Sounding as frustrated as he felt, he said sternly, ‘We gotta set up farms on an island, Kat, and we need different skills for that.’
Ip thinks: My man is tired that much I know. The people that surround him can be slow.
‘We’ve identified an island that could work.’ TL said.
‘Have we reconned it yet?’ He asked.
Captain Ted looked at him in disbelief and said sarcastically, ‘Nah, Gears. We thought we’d recommend an island we ain’t looked at because we’re just that fuckin’ stupid.’
Rolling his eyes, he decided to ignore his sarcasm and drawled, ‘What did ya see, asshole?’
TL replied for Captain Ted and said, ‘Land looked viable, no buildings, plenty of fresh water, no animal life left, but no signs of hunters. I’m guessing they starved already.’
Grunting, he said dourly, ‘Sounds viable.’
‘It is,’ TL replied. ‘But we’re going to need to ship everything in. Housing, equipment, generators, initial supplies, animals…the lot. There’s no hunters, but there’s nothing much else either.’
‘That sounds like a shitload of work, TL,’ Pax commented.
He agreed, ‘Ya gonna need transport ships.’
‘Need to raid the Naval base in Mayport for that,’ Captain Ted said. ‘How fast can we get this done?’
‘We can’t shut down the supply runs,’ Pax warned. ‘We got more mouths to feed, and I’m still tryin’ to work out who I gotta train and how.’
In a rare moment of sanity, Hatch said seriously, ‘Gimme the pilots. If we can get more birds in the air, we can ship shit to the island faster.’
‘This is a big job,’ Gears observed. ‘We need more functional leads. Someone who can take control of the sourcin’, set up and survivor transport. It’s a big logistics problem. Any suggestions?’
‘Lucie, Mom and Pop can take care of the ship and I can take lead on keeping the survivors on the boats stable, plus I want to rotate about 500 between the boats and the ship,’ Kat said.
Captain Ted added, ‘I’ll sort the transport ship and work with Pax to scavenge supplies.’
Pax nodded at Captain Ted and asked, ‘Who’s gonna give me and Fagan the supply manifest for the island?’
Not a single person at the table knew anything about setting up a farm and when no one answered, TL turned to him and said, ‘We need Pop. He set up the Ranch to be self-sufficient.’
‘Alright get on with it,’ he
said, still sounding tired and fed up. ‘I’ll talk to Pop and get him sorting out manifests and land set up. Meantime, TL, we gotta find more survivors on land. Lydia’s leading the virus research, and Gerry is on comms tracking down any other groups on the radio. That just leaves findin’ more of Ip’s people to help the land bases and, if we ever get the time, we still gotta start killin’ the super hunters.’
Ip thinks: So much work to create the divine. So many willing when life is on the line. But do they know who they fight. If they did they would know they need more than might.
‘I wanna see this island, TL,’ he said. ‘We’ll head out this afternoon and take Pop, Lydia, Kat and bring Benny to take some footage for us.’
With the meeting concluded, he got up to leave to go and find Pop. ‘Whatdaya think honey?’ He asked her, as they headed down the corridor together.
Ip thinks: You miss the point so very well. You act as if this is not hell.
‘Ya know I didn’t think it was gonna be this hard, honey.’ He said tiredly. ‘I guess Pax is right. We didn’t think this through.’
Ip thinks: The noisy one is no smarter than you. None of you ponder life through. You thought the enemy was the bald and now you think the super hunters are to be appalled. Your world is bigger than you think. If you do not wake up you will sink.
‘I guess it’s doable but everythin’ takes so damned long.’ He muttered.
Ip thinks: Time is not your enemy here. Why do you never see the world clear? The hunter ruler and all his demons are the ones who make this not even.
‘Hey, Pop,’ he called to his father. ‘How ya doin’?’
‘Doin’ fine son,’ Pop replied. ‘Whatdaya need?’
‘Turns out we got no farmers,’ he replied. ‘Can ya help TL, Pax and Captain Ted with the supply manifests? Then Kat’ll need help sortin’ out how to train the survivors to farm.’
‘Sure, I’ll talk to ‘em,’ Pop replied.
‘We’re takin’ a run over the island this afternoon,’ he told him. ‘You should come.’
They arranged to meet later and he headed off to find Gerry and asked her, ‘Ya spoken to Isaac lately, honey?’