“Her?” Maddie asked, raising her eyebrows.
Lucas laughed. “And who’s this lucky lady? I’m guessing this might be the Amy that you mistook Frieda for?”
Kurt nodded.
“And she’s just a friend?”
Kurt nodded.
“Hmm,” Lucas said, his face theatrically screwing up in thought. “Hey, Frieda. Do we believe that Amy is just a friend of Kurt’s? Would a young, strapping lad such as himself wander out into the darkness in the middle of the night while feral creatures roam for just a friend?”
Frieda shook her head. Eyes like bulbs in the gloom.
“That’s my thinking. So maybe I’ll hazard a guess and say that Kurt’s got a little crush on someone, eh? A sweet little someone on the side that pulls his heart strings. Maybe a cute girl with bright red lips and flowy dresses—?”
“It’s not like that!” Kurt said suddenly, feeling his muscles pull tight across his chest. He took a couple of staggered breaths and laid back.
Lucas’ expression changed in an instant from mock laughter to frightful concern. “Woah, Kurt, relax. I’m just kidding. Look, whoever she is, she’s lucky to have you.” He turned to Frieda, “He’s an easy target, ain’t he?”
“Ignore him,” Maddie said. “Luke’s got a reputation for being a bit of a wind-up, but he means nothing by it. I’m sure whoever this girl is, she’s fine. Probably waiting for you somewhere safe. We can maybe even help look for her in the morning, right Luke?”
Lucas thought about it for a moment. “Sure. Although we do have one stop off first.”
Oh, here we go, Kurt thought. First, it’s one stop, then it’s several, before you know it you’re halfway across the country in the back of someone else’s car, separated from any hope of staying with the people you care about.
But who were the people he cared about? Was Amy really the only one? He had abandoned Steve a few hours ago without a second thought. Though, now, sitting in the dark with yet another group of strangers, Kurt began to wonder if he would ever really find a home, a place where he and Amy could reunite and be as one.
Kurt felt his eyes close as he thought of Amy, the darkness returning to his vision as the living room slipped from view.
“Oh no, not yet, buddy,” Lucas said, slapping Kurt gently across the cheek. Kurt groggily opened his eyes.
“Huh?”
“Rule number one of potential concussion. No falling asleep straight away. Who knows if you’ll wake up again? And I can’t keep bringing you round, I’m fresh out of voodoo.” Lucas held up the empty syringe.
“We’ll talk to you all night if we have to,” Maddie said, covering her mouth with a yawn.
“Yep, yep. Don’t worry though. You’ll have plenty of time to visit the in-between in the car when we roll out in the morning – if it works that is, you left a hell of a dent. But I reckon the Deadspace is full enough tonight as it is. Given this chaos, we’ve had these past few days.”
Wait a second.
He stared at Lucas. “Did you say the Deadspace?”
Even in the dark it was impossible to miss the look that Maddie gave Lucas.
40
“No, kid,” Lucas said, forcing a laugh. “You misheard… what I said was—”
“He did. I heard him,” Frieda chipped in. They all looked at her. She lowered her head, then looked back up at Lucas. “Don’t lie.”
Maddie found herself bringing Frieda to her chest and cuddling her.
Lucas shuffled awkwardly for a moment. “Well, you heard wrong. Both of you did.”
“No we didn’t,” Kurt said, sitting up. “You said it. The Deadspace. Didn’t he?”
“He did.”
Lucas turned to Kurt in the bundle of blankets, then to the little girl whose house they’d invaded, then to Maddie, silently begging for help.
“You did,” Maddie added, “and by the sounds of it, Kurt already knows a little about it. We may as well just tell him.”
For the first time since they’d arrived at Frieda’s house, Kurt found himself thankful to Maddie.
Lucas stared at Kurt for a long moment. His gaze was intense. Kurt did his best to match it but wasn’t sure how long he’d last. Luckily, a moment later, Lucas’ expression changed from studious to careworn. “You’ve been?”
“I have.”
“When? How long ago?” Maddie asked.
Kurt puffed his chest. “No. Not until you tell me what you know then maybe we can swap stories. You two know something. You’ve pumped my body full of… stuff. Whatever the hell that was. I deserve to know what it was. I deserve to know what’s going on…” He trailed off, feeling suddenly overcome with emotion.
Just as Maddie was about to reply, Frieda wriggled free from her arms, exploding with, “What’s going on?!” Her hands balled tightly, her throat open to the ceiling. She looked from Maddie to Lucas. “What’s a Deadspace? What’re you all talking about?”
Maddie looked to Lucas for help. Lucas knelt in front of Frieda and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Let’s take you to bed, shall we? You look tired, it’s been a long night for all of us. We’ll come wake you in the morning after you’ve had some rest.”
Frieda looked ready to protest. Even from across the room Kurt had to admit she looked exhausted. Her hair was untidy, her lower lids looked bruised, and Kurt could hardly believe that when Lucas wrapped his arms around Frieda and picked her up, within seconds she’d closed her eyes and was gently snoring on his shoulder.
Lucas carried Frieda upstairs. Maddie did offer, extending her arms to take the girl, but Lucas shrugged her off and whispered for her to stay with Kurt.
“He’s a natural,” Maddie said, more to herself as she sat on the edge of the coffee table watching them disappear from the room. They waited in silence, listening to the creak of the stairs followed by bed springs as Lucas laid Frieda down in one of the rooms on the far side of the house. He came back down the stairs as quietly as he could, poured himself a drink, and rejoined Kurt and Maddie back in the living room, offering a second glass which Kurt gulped greedily.
“I’m fine, thanks,” Maddie said, feigning annoyance.
Lucas thumbed his eyes with a grimace, before taking a deep breath in, and out. Kurt sat patiently waiting.
“Where to begin?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, humble leader.”
“Right,” Lucas said, perching next to Maddie and leaning forward. “What I’m about to tell you is maybe the biggest secret you will ever have been told. So secret that, until recently, only six people have ever known. Are you good at keeping secrets, Kurt?”
Kurt nodded. Of course, he was good at keeping secrets. Up until now, he hadn’t told anyone of his journey into the Deadspace, nor that he’d heard his sister, nor of the cracked smoky boy that guided visitors through the hidden realm. He felt his tiredness fading in an instant as his heart began to thump. Finally. I’m going to get answers.
“The Deadspace is an impossibility, Kurt. An abstract concept without explanation. A place that we, as humans, shouldn’t be allowed to go. You’ve heard of the light at the end of the tunnel? Well, a good friend of mine once explained the Deadspace as the tunnel, the long stretch of road you find yourself in before you die. The opening, miles before you get anywhere near the light. I think that suits fine for the religious types. For me, it’s just a place outside of our usual scope.
“See, we have all these senses in our bodies, but there’s so much out there that we’re simply not built to experience. You know how dogs can sometimes detect people’s illnesses? Animals can sense when disaster is going to strike? When we enter the Deadspace we are hacking our bodies and forcing our way into this other realm of existence.”
“Right.”
“And that’s your scientific explanation?” Kurt’s eyebrow raised.
Lucas grinned. “How many times have you been?”
“A few.”
“When was your first?”
&
nbsp; “Just before I met you. At the reenactment field.”
“You’ve met before?” Maddie said, her voice growing louder from shock.
Lucas nodded. “Briefly. Kurt and I bumped into each other in Colonial. Ain’t that right?”
Kurt could sense Lucas didn’t want to go into the logistics of how they met. Not just yet, anyway. And besides, Kurt didn’t want to jump off this train of thought and backtrack with the story of a meet-cute. “Something like that. Lucas found me and took me home.”
“Home? So your family didn’t…”
“What did you see? In the Deadspace?” Lucas interrupted.
“The same world but… darker. The shadows were thicker. And the people were still, like old photographs.”
“Sure, sure. We always start where we transfer but space and time doesn’t work in the same way there. A single minute in this world could be a year in there. Sometimes the opposite. A single step forward could take you from one corner of the Deadspace right to the other. As long as there’s intention and a mode of transport, most commonly a door.”
“There is a door,” Kurt said. “There’s a door, but I can’t open it.”
He regretted talking almost instantly. Maddie and Lucas’ faces changed.
“Why do you want to use the door?” Maddie asked.
Kurt kept quiet. He thought of David in the Cooper’s living room, how at ease he had felt discussing his journey, his hunt for his sister. Look how well that had gone.
Lucas sensed Kurt’s hesitation and sidestepped. “We use doors as a way of communicating with each other in the Deadspace. If you enter the Deadspace, concentrate on someone and walk through a door, it will bring you to the person you seek. Like I said, distance ain’t a thing in there. The only hold back being that the person needs to be in the final throes of death to be able to be found there.” He paused a moment, contemplating saying more, but settled with, “Is that everything you saw?”
“No,” Kurt resigned. “There were people, too.”
“People?”
“How many?”
In the dark corner across the room, Kurt thought he saw shadows shifting. Whether it was his tired mind or not, he did not know. He saw the faded outline of Lazarus form, the wisps of smoke curling and dancing to the ceiling. The vision looked at him, eyes ablaze, and raised a single finger to its lips. A reminder. If Kurt was to find Amy, he wasn’t to tell anyone about Lazarus. If he did then he wouldn’t take him to the door.
“Amy?” Lucas asked suddenly.
Kurt nodded. “Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Erm… Some man I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure how to explain him; I think he was latino? He came through a door and left soon after. He was looking for someone.”
“Looking for someone? Lucas, do you think it might’ve been…?”
“Did he say who he was looking for?”
Kurt shook his head. “No. Just told me that the place wasn’t safe.”
“Unbelievable.” Lucas stood up, rubbing his chin, lost now to his thoughts. Kurt watched him, heard him mumbling. He caught words here and there but Lucas was clearly talking to himself at that moment. Kurt lay back and let himself really remember what had happened in the Deadspace. It was a strange feeling, dipping in and out of that world, almost like a dream. But with each visit, that wall, the divide between the two worlds seemed less solid. He needed to get back. He needed to work out how to open that damned door. He needed to get Amy out of there. Lucas’ words had struck him, and now rang in his head: ‘the person needs to be in the final throes of death.’
Did that mean that Amy was dying?
Lucas seemed to reach a checkpoint with his thoughts. He looked Kurt up and down. “I don’t suppose you carry an inhaler?”
“No.”
“Oxygen mask?”
“Nope.”
“Nasal blocker? Breath filter? You’re not a smoker are you?”
“No, no, and definitely not.”
“Okay, then I don’t get it at all.” Lucas resigned, catching Maddie’s eyes, and smiling.
Maddie had clearly seen this look on Lucas before as she began to smile too. “Oh, here we go.”
“What don’t you get?!”
“You!” Lucas said, a level below shouting. Maddie slapped his arm and shushed him. “I don’t get you, kid. We’ve seen a lot of shit these last few days, visited a lot of places, taken a lot of pit stops, and all I’ve seen are ferals and chaos. Empty streets, abandoned truck stops. Everyone who has in some way been touched by the RevitaGo mist has become infected with some strain of the toxin. You saw it yourself on the battlefield, how many people did you see who were fine? Who were walking around as though it was another day in the country fog?”
Kurt thought of James Powell, his mother, Sabrina, the many poor folks turned away at the ferry. He could see their dark veins, their vacant eyes.
“That’s what I thought. There’s something special about you, and I don’t know what it is. But out of the hundred or so people that I saw before the cloud dissipated, you’re the only one unscathed. I mean, besides the broken bones. And now you’re telling me that you’ve been to the Deadspace? Not once… but twice?”
“Actually, it might be more than that…”
“More than…! Here’s something they don’t teach you at school, Kurt. The Deadspace is a secret, held only between a select group of people and the dead. These people are professionals in their fields and have only shared those secrets with their core group many years ago. And the dead ain’t tweeting about it, that’s for sure. Yet, you’ve been there. And you say you don’t know how? To me, that reeks of something amazing here.”
Special? Amazing? The words fell off of Kurt, the ordinary foster kid who had been passed from place to place.
“But you survived,” Kurt protested. “You were there when the bomb went off, and yet you’re absolutely fine. How come you were directly in the blast and haven’t turned yet? Are you special too?”
“He likes to think he is.”
Lucas flashed his best grin. “Well, that part’s easy.” He unbuttoned his chest, revealing the bullet sized black mark in the centre of his chest. The neat network of black veins snaking out, cutting off after five or six inches in all directions like a stone thrown at glass. “Because in a way, the mist was my creation. I was the first.”
“Always so modest,” Maddie added, revealing her own black mark.
Lucas wasn’t sure how much of it all Kurt really understood but he was stunned by his curiosity. Kurt had an endless amount of questions, and each one was smart, calculated, and Lucas couldn’t help but fill in the blanks. They talked for several hours about the Revivers – a cadre of medical scientists who stumbled onto the secret world that hovers between life and death – about Kurt’s visits and about what Lucas’ experiences had been when he had been there years ago. He explained about the limits of the Deadspace and the mechanics of how it should work.
“To visit the Deadspace a person has to be clinically dead,” Lucas had explained, now sitting on the floor, his back to Kurt’s sofa, and a bottle of something that Frieda’s parents used to keep in a locked cupboard. Maddie sat back on the armchair, legs tucked to her chest, fighting sleep. “That means no discernible heartbeat. No consciousness. Only the fizzling static of electrics firing around the pineal gland where the two halves of your brain meet.
“The person entering the Deadspace needs to walk that fine line. It’s an incredibly complex procedure and one that we did not take lightly in testing.” He offered the bottle to Kurt, when he shook his head he added, “Never had magic juice before? It’ll help with those aches and groans.” The next moment Kurt was spluttering behind him. “There’s a lad.”
“Another question…” Kurt said once he’d spat that foul taste from his mouth, whatever Lucas was drinking was nothing like what Karen had given him in their basement bunker. “How do you get people back? How do you bring back a person from dea
th?”
Lucas shuffled around, cropped an elbow on the sofa and looked at Kurt. “I won’t go into the science and the mechanics of it all – at least not yet. But it has a lot to do with these.” He held up his leather pouch, the used needles carefully replaced, a bright yellow concoction still in the chamber of the first needle. The syringe that held the blue now empty and idle.
“Woah. It’s yellow… it looks like… it looks like the mist.”
“Smart kid,” Lucas said, withdrawing the needle. “That’s the problem. As far as I can tell someone has taken my formula, the one we use to drop people into the Deadspace and… changed it, made it into something much darker. Weaponised it.”
“Which is one of the reasons we stopped the Revivers from meeting. To stop this thing from happening.” Maddie yawned.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say people were getting a little too nosy. The six of us used to work across different departments of the Aegis Science and Advancement Facility, specialising in different areas of biology, human chemistry, and neuroscience. As secretive as we tried to be, we always thought there might be a chance that what we had found could be turned to dangerous uses.”
“What were the other reasons?” Kurt asked, innocently enough.
Lucas sighed.
“A story for another time,” Maddie answered.
Kurt didn’t press further. “And the other syringe? What does that do?”
“You should recognise that one,” Lucas said as he pointed to the empty needle. “This is the needle that was in your body not too long ago. We call this the ‘reviver’, or simply, the blue. This is why we all got together and started working on this whole thing way back when. We were looking for a way to powerfully boost a cancer patient’s metabolism by overstimulating the ghrelin glands, vastly increasing their odds of living, and eventually leading to a permanent medical solution. Turned out it had more practical applications than we first realised. Without this, the other wouldn’t exist.” He tapped the empty needle.
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