There were other things inside the rucksack, including C-4 and blasting caps, but these would not be needed. At Fort Detrick, they destroyed the entire building because they didn’t know exactly where the virus was hidden. But here, Ben was mere feet from the infernal matter.
He moved over to the medical freezer and carefully opened the door. Inside were two shelves, and on each was a metal tray with several glass vials of what could only be the virus and the still-untested vaccine. He removed the trays with care and placed them on a nearby table, then removed the shelves before unplugging the freezer and sliding it to the middle of the room. He flipped the freezer over so that the door faced the ceiling. With the freezer door hanging open, he placed the glass vials inside, one at a time.
There were three tables in the room, each with various stacks of paper and notebooks, along with a laptop: all containing notes and documentation compiled by the Fixers during their months of research. Moving faster now, Ben gathered the notebooks and every single sheet of paper and placed them all inside the freezer. Lastly, he removed the hard-drive from the laptop and threw it on the floor before striking it multiple times with the hammer. The warped drive was tossed into the freezer as well. After one final check of the room, he poured the gasoline and the two bottles of nail polish remover inside the freezer.
He opened the door to the room and placed his rucksack and rifle inside, using the latter to prop the door open. Then with the bundle of balsa wood, he wrapped the wool fabric around one end and secured it in place with the rubber band. Lighting the end to create a torch, he backed toward the door and threw the torch into the freezer.
Flames erupted to the ceiling. Ben dashed through the door and slammed it shut. Peering through the small glass window, he watched as the fire raged. The heat alone would kill the virus. Satisfied, he grabbed his rucksack and gun and rushed through the series of empty rooms until he reached the waiting room.
Jim was there with just the guards, their feet bound and their hands tied behind their backs. No longer wearing a hazmat suit, he was now holding a radio that had belonged to one of the guards. A near-continuous stream of chatter could be heard from the speaker.
Ben hurriedly removed his helmet. “It’s done.”
“Good, because we need to go. There’s a bunch of guards that just showed up at the security gate.”
Ben groaned as he yanked off the rest of his suit, and then he looked at the guards. “Where are the others?” he asked Jim.
“I let them leave. But not these two.”
Ben nodded and then they both left the room. They backtracked through the cellblocks. When they emerged outside, they discovered that the temperature had dropped substantially and that the earlier rain had returned in the form of sleet. It stung their cheeks and obscured their vision.
“This way!” Jim cried out once he found his bearings.
Only the faintest amount of daylight remained to permit them to find their way back to the prison wall. Ditching both rucksacks and with his weapon dangling from his back, Jim climbed the rope first. Halfway up the wall, however, a moving flash of light caught the corner of his right eye.
“There they are!” someone shouted. When Ben turned to look, he saw three people with flashlights approaching fast.
“Hurry!” Jim called down from the top of the rope.
With the pursuers not more than ten yards from the bottom of the rope, Ben scrambled to the top of the wall as a searchlight from the closest tower was directed onto him. Straddling it, he grabbed the hook at the end of the rope and dropped it to the ground just as the first pursuer grabbed at it. Then he flew down the ladder.
Waiting at the bottom, Jim had been listening to the chatter about their location over their stolen radio. “Everyone knows we’re outside the perimeter.”
“Fine, let them chase us.”
They ran to the forest and found their path. Using a pencil-thin but powerful flashlight, Jim led the way. As the rock with the X drew closer, they heard voices as flashes of light danced behind them. Jim swerved around the right side of the rock as Ben followed with lightning-quick footing. Seconds later, a loud cry was heard. Ben’s closest pursuer had just fallen through the hidden, six-foot-deep hole he and Jim had meticulously dug into the path where the X-labeled rock sat. If lucky, another one would fall in after.
As they cleared the forest and raced to the airport, Ben deftly retrieved his radio from his belt. “Get the cars started…we’re being followed!” he shouted into the speaker between breaths.
“Got it!” Charlie responded over the radio.
They ran through the field and across the runway. Ben chanced a look over his shoulder and saw more shadowy figures chasing them, the beams of their flashlights bouncing in the dark. More than halfway to the hangar, he stopped as Jim continued running. Ben lifted his rifle and squeezed off two rounds to scare their pursuers off. But the pursuers maintained their speed like determined predators hunting their prey.
Ben turned back and closed the distance between himself and Jim. As they approached the hangar, he saw Charlie pull his car outside. Jim reached the passenger’s door and hopped inside.
Seeing them hesitate, Ben yelled, “Go!” and waved them off. They sped toward the airport exit.
Andy pulled up in the second car. “Get in!” she cried and leaned over to open his door. Ben hurtled himself inside, and the moment he was seated, she pressed hard on the gas. The forward acceleration slammed his door shut.
“What happened?” she asked breathlessly as she rounded the corner and followed the hazy taillights of Charlie’s car in front of them.
“We destroyed it but couldn’t get out without being seen.” Ben looked back through the rear window but his pursuers were no longer in sight.
“But it’s gone?”
“Yep, burned to Hell. Forever.”
Andy gripped the wheel hard and roared the engine. The road had become slippery with sleet, and she nearly skidded off it.
“Careful!” Ben reprimanded.
“I’m trying!”
She regained control and saw Charlie make a sharp left out of the airport. She prepared to follow him when a second car suddenly went flying by from the right just as she approached the turn. The car was trailing Charlie and was immediately followed by a second vehicle. Upon seeing her headlights, however, the second one screeched to a stop, swerving in the process, and began to turn around.
“No!” Andy cried as she yanked the wheel to the left and T-boned the rear of the vehicle before it could complete its turn. She kept driving as the other car spun around on the slick road.
“I’m going after them.” She pushed hard on the accelerator. The car chasing Charlie was in sight.
“Get up close to it and I’ll try hitting the tires,” Ben instructed as he slid half his body out the window and steadied his rifle.
Andy sped up while, but when she came within a few car lengths of the pursuing vehicle, it skid ninety degrees and blocked the road.
“Go right!” yelled Ben as he pointed to a quickly approaching intersection.
Andy yanked hard on the wheel to turn north along the country road. The vehicle that had been chasing Charlie soon began chasing them and was quickly followed by another car, presumably the one she had T-boned.
“Does Charlie have the other radio?” Ben asked in desperation.
Andy glanced at the cup holders between their seats, in which sat her radio. “No, I have it.”
“And I have the other one.”
“Aw, crap!”
Ben leaned out the window again and aimed back at the vehicles chasing them.
“Slow down!” he yelled to Andy.
She eased off the accelerator to close the gap. Ben fired several shots. The front vehicle swerved but maintained course. He fired again, this time releasing every round he had left, but the vehicle still advanced.
Andy, meanwhile, reached into her backpack with one hand and found another magazine. “Here!”
He released his empty magazine and grabbed the full one. He skillfully replaced it and took aim again. “Slow down and move left!”
Andy applied the brakes and veered over.
When he fired again, he hit vital components, including the front left tire. The car swerved out of control and was soon struck by the second vehicle behind it. Ben dropped back into his seat and caught his breath. “Nice driving.”
“Nice shooting.”
They continued heading down a road they didn’t recognize.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“No idea.” Ben pulled out the map and turned on the overhead light.
The sudden glare prevented Andy from seeing a deer crossing the road until it was almost too late. She swerved and missed the creature but soon went into a tailspin. Her attempt to recover was futile. The car careened off the side of the road into a shallow ditch. “No, no!” she cried and put the car into reverse, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Wait, I’ll get out.” Ben rounded the front of the vehicle. As Andy slowly applied the gas, he pushed as hard as he could, but after five attempts, the car was nowhere closer to breaking free of the muddy trenches that had formed around its tires. The rain had washed away any friction between them and the ground. Accepting defeat, Ben returned to the passenger’s side and began grabbing his things.
“We’re just going to leave it?” Andy asked incredulously.
“We’ve got no choice. Whoever’s chasing us will be here soon.”
She yanked off her seatbelt and grabbed her backpack and raincoat from the backseat. Throwing on the coat, she followed Ben to the other side of the road. “Where are we going?”
“This is a residential area. We’ll find somewhere to camp out for a while, but first we need to get off the road.”
Andy glanced around. He was right. On the road, they were vulnerable and needed to put distance between themselves and their car. After a quick look at the map, the only plausible direction was to head east.
Ben led Andy off the road and through a thick cluster of trees. When they emerged on the other end, they found themselves in a small neighborhood. But they didn’t stop. Still too close to the road, they continued to run in the cold and sleet, hoping to disappear into the night.
Chapter XXVI
Except for a scant handful of towers, the cellular network beyond the five boroughs had not been restored. To compensate, Sean had built a network of repeaters to extend the range of push-to-talk radios far outside of the city’s limits. While nowhere near as capable or complex as a cellular network, these repeaters allowed the Infantry to communicate as far north as Poughkeepsie, as far west as the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border, and as far south as Philadelphia, where the cellular network picked up again. The prison sat at the northern edge of this communication zone.
After getting word about the gunshots and flares, Sean ordered Luke to go to the prison immediately. But by the time Luke arrived, the trespassers had already escaped, and he then had the unfortunate job of breaking the news to Sean; not only had they escaped, but they had destroyed every last trace of the virus.
“So what are you doing to find them?” were Sean’s first bitter words to Luke over the radio.
“We think there were three or four of them. They left in two separate vehicles.” He paused briefly before adding, “We think one of them was a girl.”
“So what happened to the two cars?”
“We chased both of them and they got separated. One of them got away, but we found the other stuck in a ditch on a nearby road. But it was empty.”
“Empty? So they got out on foot?”
“Looks like it. I’ve got everyone driving around looking for them. They can’t be too far, especially in this weather.”
“I hope you’re right. I’m coming up there now to sort out this mess. Scan all the frequencies on this band and check for any transmissions that aren’t ours. They’re probably using radios to communicate. Out!”
***
For nearly an hour, they walked north through the dark, passing trees, roads, more trees, and houses tucked away in quiet neighborhoods. They continued on in the cold and rain; the need to increase their distance from Green Haven propelled them ahead.
The sleet pelted Andy’s cheeks, turning them red and raw. Both she and Ben were completely soaked through to their jeans, and their shoes weren’t fairing much better. Their upper bodies were still dry, but they had grossly underestimated the temperatures. It felt more like January than October, and they hadn’t anticipated being outside this long. Andy began to shiver uncontrollably, the chill penetrating to her bones. As much as she wanted to keep going, she feared hypothermia would consume her body if they didn’t stop for shelter soon.
Ben was visibly cold as well, and without a word, he took hold of her icy hand and led her down yet another residential street. They had no idea where they were, and the map inside his rucksack was not detailed enough to show anything more than major roads and highways.
The fallen autumn leaves coated much of the sidewalks, and Andy slipped on them more than once before regaining her footing. Ben continued to hold her hand until they reached a two-story house at the end of a cul-de-sac. There were other houses on either side, but this one had a front porch with a stack of firewood sitting out of the rain. Hopefully, it was dry enough to ignite.
No lights were on, as expected, and the lock to the front door easily gave way with a strong push. Inside was pitch black and the air was stale, but it was dry and warmer than outside, which was all that mattered at the moment. Ben panned the entryway with his flashlight and led Andy down a hallway into the living room that had a large fireplace. A pile of wood, considerably smaller than the one underneath the front porch, sat beside it. He touched the top piece of wood. Though covered in dust and cobwebs, it was thankfully dry.
Soon, Ben was busy feeding a growing fire while Andy removed her wet jacket, shoes, and socks. Using her flashlight, she went upstairs and found a few blankets in a linen closet. Still shivering violently, she proceeded to remove her soaked jeans and sweater before wrapping herself in one of the blankets. With her wet clothes in one hand and extra blankets firmly grasped in the other, she returned downstairs to the living room and placed her clothes in front of the fire to dry.
Ben looked up from the fire to her. They hadn’t said a word since entering the house. “Here, sit down,” he said as he stepped away from the growing fire that soon became a roaring inferno.
Andy kneeled down in front and drew her knees into her chest beneath the blanket. Despite removing her wet clothes and the warmth of the fire, she continued to shiver violently. “God! I c-ca-can-t-t-t…ge-ge-t-t…wah-warm,” she stammered through chattering teeth.
Though chilled himself, Ben wasn’t shivering nearly as much. He quickly shed his own clothes down to his boxers. After placing his wet clothing beside hers, he picked up one of the other blankets and sat down between her and a large ottoman. Drawing up to her side, he wrapped the blanket around them both. “Body heat,” he muttered as he pulled her head into his bare chest. It felt like ice against his skin.
“F-fun-ny…”
“What is?”
“Th-this. L-like a b-bad roh-mance nov-v-vel.”
He let out a small laugh. “Andrea Christensen reading trashy romance novels? I’m shocked.”
“R-ran outta real b-books in Ber-muda.” She tried to smile but her lips kept quivering.
“Sounds like it…” Leaning against the ottoman, he rubbed his hands through her wet hair to warm her head. “Not to sound like a complete pervert, but if you let go of your blanket so that more of our skin touches, you’ll get warmer faster.”
She released her blanket immediately and wrapped it around them both, creating an additional layer of insulation. She then pressed herself against every possible inch of his skin as he wrapped his arms around her. In time, the fire and the heat from his body thawed the icy chill running through her until th
e shivering ceased. As she grew warmer, she didn’t pull away but instead leaned in closer as her body finally began to relax. With her left ear pressed firmly against his chest she stared at the fire. She could hear the steady beat of his heart. Her eyelids began to flutter as the rhythm lulled her into a welcome sleep.
***
Sitting in the dark, Sean stared down at the pistol in his lap. Green Haven was just a few miles away. For six years, he had managed to get where he was without killing a single person with his bare hands. Many people had died under his orders, but he had never actually killed anyone, himself. He’d never pulled the trigger or put a needle into someone’s arm. Or plunged a knife into a person’s chest as Chad had done to his mother. Sean admired the boldness of the act. The police report from the small Iowa town made no conclusive accusation that young Chad had killed his mother, but a quick skim over the file said it all: he had snuffed the life out of someone he was supposed to love. And he had done it with a knife—an intimate act that also required great physical strength. Sean couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous.
He gazed out the car window into the darkness. The rain increased until the windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the pace of the downpour. He exited the SUV the moment it pulled into the prison entrance. He spotted Luke and made a beeline toward him as he stuffed his gun into the back of his jeans underneath his raincoat.
“Well?”
Luke swallowed.
“You haven’t found them yet?” Controlling his anger, Sean threw the hood of his coat over his head. “Show me the map.”
Luke led him to the rear of his SUV. The back door was open and sheltered them from the rain. Spread out in the back was a detailed map of the prison and the surrounding neighborhoods.
“Where was the abandoned car found?” Sean asked.
“Here.” Luke pointed at a side road that ran perpendicular to the main road from the prison, Route 216, the same road that served as the entrance to the airport.
“And where were the cars first spotted?”
“Here, at the airport. It’s probably where they staged everything. I’ve got everyone searching five miles around the abandoned car, but so far, nothing.”
Schism Page 27