The biotech. The parasite. It’s still inside me, it’s like a weed, its roots run deep. The fucking NSA’s legacy. It’s in me, Flynn, Rose and Tawny… and Annalise—
“Do you remember when you asked Constantine if we could get the biotech removed? Back on the aircraft carrier?” Mercy said, finally.
Flynn nodded, “Yes—”
“And Constantine said if we captured DC, her people might be able to use the Cobalt Biotech facilities to reverse what the NSA did to me, you, Rose and Tawny—”
“Yes, she said something like that, I remember—”
“Well, DC is now nuked. So that’s not going to happen. Me, you, Rose and Tawny… and Annalise have these NSA parasite things living inside us. Are we linked to the NSA cloud? Are we linked to Mitchell’s uploaded consciousness somehow? Are we ever going to be normal again? Free again? Can we get this shit removed from us? Can we make it go back to the way it was? I want us to be normal again Flynn. I want a normal body, I want a future without this fucking… biotech—” Mercy’s voice cracked, she sobbed into Flynn’s chest.
Flynn held her tight, closed his eyes and said nothing.
The next morning dawned cold. Mercy woke early and dressed, leaving Flynn asleep in bed. She checked her watch; 5:23 am.
Another bad night. I feel haunted, it’s like there’s a ghost in me. The ghost of what I used to be, of what I want to be again—
Mercy left the bunkhouse and crossed what used to be a carpark, to the lodge. Rose and Brody were at the long table, drinking coffee. The wood stove was lit and the room was beginning to warm up.
“You’re up early,” Mercy said.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Rose replied.
Mercy noticed the dark rings under Rose’s eyes, “Yeah, I know the feeling.” Mercy poured herself a cup of coffee and crouched down in front of the stove, absorbing its warmth. She took a sip of her coffee and stared through the stove window into the flames.
Nature’s TV—
“Winter’s on its way,” Rose said, “the trees are bare, there’s a cold wind running through the mountains—”
Mercy closed her eyes, “I keep thinking of all the people who helped us get here; the kids we fought with, the kids who died—”
“I know,” Rose said, she paused, “after winter, spring comes. New growth, all that good stuff—”
“Yeah Rose, but I want that good stuff now. I’ve seen so much bad stuff. I’ve got so much darkness inside me, it’s like a poison eating away inside me. I need a fix, a cure—”
Brody shifted in his chair, “We’ve all got our own shit to deal with, some make it, some don’t. Just get through each day as best you can. That’s all you can do.”
Tawny opened the door and headed to the coffee pot. She spoke without looking at the others, “I just bumped into Jethro, he said he’s managed to repair the radio you guys captured from the island. Barnes is with him now, I thought you’d be interested—”
Brody stood up and stretched, “That Jethro’s a wonder kid when it comes to tech, not much use at anything else though. I’m going over to see what he’s managed to do—”
Brody left the lodge, allowing some of the morning chill into the room as he opened the door. Mercy shivered and cupped the steaming mug in her hands. Tawny sat at the table and the room returned to silence.
“Do you think about it? The future I mean—” Tawny said, after a while.
Rose shook her head, “That way lies madness—”
Mercy sighed, “The only way I’ve got through… all of this, is to only think of now or maybe the next twenty four hours. I’ve never stopped long enough to consider the future, about life, about plans. It all seems so pointless, so hopeless… the way the world is—”
“What we need is news, hope that there’s progress somewhere,” Rose said. “We need the bigger picture. We’re in the dark. We ain’t heard from Constantine, we’ve no idea what the Resistance is doing, even if there’s a resistance left. After we saw DC nuked… I don’t know… something changed. I lost hope—”
Tawny looked up, “That’s it right there. Me too. It’s like we’re coming down from a big high, all this running and hiding and killing. We’ve gone from a hundred miles an hour to a complete stop. We’ve crashed… we’re drained. It’s broken—”
“Yeah, it sucks—” Rose said.
The door opened and Flynn stepped into the room, “Hey guys… you might want to see this. Something’s cropped up—”
Mercy looked up, “What?”
Flynn stared at her, “Dimitri came over to the bunkhouse… he was looking for you. He told me to come and get you. They’re all over at the workshop… it’s Jethro. He’s got the radio working—”
“Yeah, we know,” Tawny said. “We’ve tried that shit before and it’s always the same… a big fat nothing. Barnes needs a satellite phone to reach Constantine and we ain’t got no satellite phone—”
Flynn pulled a face, “Dimitri said they’ve picked up a signal, it’s weak but it’s definitely there—”
Mercy sat up and looked at the others, “A signal? What signal?”
Flynn looked exasperated, he shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, he said something about shortwave… whatever that is. Come on, let’s go—”
They left the lodge and crossed the overgrown carpark to the workshop on the edge of the campground. A stove pipe and a makeshift radio aerial protruded from the workshop roof. They entered the small shack and squeezed in around Barnes, Brody and Dimitri. A shaggy, bearded youth wearing headphones was sitting in front of a modern military radio set.
Dimitri glanced at Mercy, “It’s Jethro, he’s been up all night. He’s found a shortwave transmission. It’s fading in and out, something to do with atmospheric conditions. He’s just trying to find it again, he’s going to try and boost the signal—”
Mercy looked at Rose. Mercy’s heart quickened.
No, it can’t be, that was… so long ago—
Jethro took off his headphones, “Here, I’ve found it. Have a listen guys, see what you think—” Jethro removed the headphone jack from the radio and loud static filled the room from two speakers on the floor. Three electronic beeps punctured the static and were followed by a woman’s voice:
“THIS IS A RECORDED MESSAGE FROM THE FREE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. I AM SPEAKING TO YOU FROM NAVAL BASE VENTURA COUNTY, POINT MUGU, 34.1127° NORTH, 119.1055° WEST. WE ARE BROADCASTING ON 12,579 KHZ DAYTIME ONLY. THIS MESSAGE IS FOR SURVIVORS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. WE NEED YOU. WE ARE A COMMUNITY OF TWENTY THOUSAND SURVIVORS. WE HAVE FOOD, CLEAN WATER, AGRICULTURE AND POWER. WE HAVE SCHOOLS AND MEDICAL FACILITIES. WE HAVE PROTECTION FROM THE INFECTED. COME, FIND US, AND JOIN US. WE WILL WELCOME YOU. THIS MESSAGE WILL REPEAT AFTER A FIVE MINUTE INTERVAL—”
Three beeps signalled the end of the broadcast. A stunned silence filled the room. Then everyone began talking at once.
“Free State of California? I thought they went by Republic of California back in the day—” Dimitri said.
“Yes, you’re right… it was in 1846, the self-declared Republic only lasted for twenty five days. It covered an area north of San Francisco—” Brody replied.
“How do you know that stuff?” Tawny asked.
“I used to teach history in high school,” Brody answered.
“Twenty thousand survivors? Did you hear that?” Rose said, tugging at Mercy’s arm.
Mercy nodded, “They’re on a naval base… and they’ve got medical facilities—”
“Do you think they could—?” Tawny said, her face animated.
“Remove our biotech?” Mercy finished for her. “Who knows? But if there’s a chance—”
Mercy reached between Barnes and Brody and tugged Jethro’s arm, “Hey, Jethro, can you speak to them using that thing? We need more information—”
Jethro shook his head, “This is a recorded message, it’s all one way traffic as far as I can make out. A lot of those automated messages packed up a year or so after
the Fall when the survivors died. I don’t know… I can try but it’ll take some time—”
They could all be dead. It could be a ghost transmission. But then again… they could be alive—
“What about Constantine? Can you hail her on that thing?” Mercy asked Barnes.
Barnes shrugged, “Sure, I can try but my in was via the sat phone. This… this is old school, but yeah me and Jethro can give it a go—”
Brody shook his head, “Wait. Is there a chance the Charlottesville militia could track our signals, triangulate our position?”
Barnes shrugged, “Very unlikely but not impossible, they’d have to be really on the ball and extremely motivated to find us—”
Mercy held up her hand, “Wait, I don’t want to endanger Brody and his people. Not after what we’ve all been through. If we’re to do all this communication we need to do it off site, away from here.”
Tawny looked up, “What about back at the silo? There was a radio mast there—”
Rose pulled a face, “No way am I going back there, no fucking way—”
Mercy shook her head, “I agree with Rose. Yes, there was a radio mast, but there were also tropes and that place is too hooked up to the NSA’s AI in the cloud. I think we did well to get out of there in one piece—”
Flynn tapped the map on the wall, “What about here? Or… here? Harrisonburg? Or Staunton? To the west of the mountains. They look about a day or two’s hike from here, well away from Charlottesville. We could do a scavenging trip, we need more medicine. I know we’re low on antibiotics and painkillers. These two towns look big enough to have radios… maybe even an airfield. We could try from there—”
“I can do you one better than that,” Brody said, he jabbed his finger at the map. “Here… Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport, it’s just off exit 235 on I-81 in Weyers Cave. It’s closer than Staunton or Harrisonburg, it’s only about sixteen or seventeen miles from here if we use Browns Gap Road. We’ve been meaning to do a scavenging raid on Weyers Cave, there’s a medical facility there and we should be able to get some food. We’ve been keeping away from the larger towns because of the trope infestation but with your biotech you could get in there easy—”
“What about NSA or their militia? Are they operating west of the mountains?” Barnes asked.
Brody scratched his chin, “Not that I’m aware of, they’re mainly concentrated around Charlottesville. Now that DC’s been taken out of the equation and Mitchell’s gone, they’re a spent force. They’ll probably fight amongst themselves for what’s left, some new warlord will no doubt emerge and take over. That’s just how it is, we aim to give them a wide berth whatever happens—”
The room fell silent. All eyes fell on Mercy. She looked at the map. “Yeah, well, I reckon we need to know what’s going on in the world. It’s a no brainer. When can we go—?”
“We’ll get the horses saddled up,” Brody said, looking at his watch, “it’s still early, we could set out in a couple of hours. On horseback we could be there in three hours—”
“Let’s do it. Me, Rose and Tawny… and Annalise will go into the airport. Barnes you’ll need to come to work any comms we find. Brody will you or Sledge guide us?”
Brody smiled, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Sledge is out trapping at the moment, sometimes he’s gone for days… so you’re stuck with me.”
Mercy looked around the room, “Where’s Annalise? I’ll need to run this by her, she might not want to do this—”
Dimitri coughed, “Hey, you didn’t mention me. I can come to check out any aircraft. You never know when you may need to make a quick exit—”
Always keep your eye on the exit—
“Sold Dimitri, you’re in… if you feel up to the journey—” Mercy said.
Dimitri raised a hand, “I’m good, I’m healing up. I wouldn’t miss any trip to an airport, flying’s in my blood—”
Brody nodded at Mercy, “Annalise was watching over Shay last night, in the infirmary. Stomach ache, something he ate, poor kid, he’ll be fine. Some of the tinned food we find is bad, we’ll be running out of options in the months ahead, that’s why we’re concentrating on growing our own food up here and rearing the longhorn cattle—”
“Makes sense,” Mercy said. “I’ll go find her, I suggest the rest of you get yourselves ready for the trip—”
Mercy made for the door.
“Wait up. I’ll come with you. I know Shay, he’s a good kid—” Rose said, stepping in behind Mercy.
They went outside and walked across the campground. The morning was damp and chilly, the ground soggy underfoot.
“What do you think, Mercy? California? I thought we’d end up in DC or maybe someday back in New York… but California? Do you think they could remove the shit the NSA put into our bodies?” Rose said, her voice quiet.
Mercy stopped in her tracks and held Rose’s arms, “This NSA parasite inside me has to come out, if it’s the last thing I do. They’ve violated my body, your body… all of us. It’s part of the violence and degradation they deal in. No, we’re going to find a way to get this done, otherwise I don’t think I can move on with the rest of my life—”
Rose sighed, “I figured you’d say something like that.”
“You want the same… you’ve told me before, so why the long face Rose?” Mercy asked.
Rose kicked the ground, “Bloody horses, I was crippled for three days after our last trip on those things—”
“Oh, and the chafing, yes, the chafing, it was brutal—” Mercy laughed and put her arm around Rose’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go find Annalise—”
Chapter 39
Word
Mercy checked her watch; 1:49 pm. They had been riding for three and a half hours, Brody leading the way. She glanced back at Annalise.
I’m glad Annalise came, there’s something she’s holding back. We all have our ghosts. This biotech is affecting us all differently. Rose can see better at night… and she almost seems to attract alphas, Flynn is superfast when it’s needed, Tawny seems able to smell the undead better than any of us. I heal up quick, my pain tolerance is high, and my memory seems to be shit hot for maps and information. Annalise has never spoken about her time under the NSA in Richmond… she’s keeping quiet about something… or maybe not. Maybe I’m just overthinking everything—
They crossed over Middle River and continued along Weyers Cave Road. Brody stopped his horse a few minutes later and dismounted. They followed his example and led their horses off the road to a nearby stand of trees.
Brody tied his horse to one of the trees and stepped through the sun-dappled undergrowth. Mercy, Flynn and Barnes followed him, they emerged from the trees to find a rusting chain link fence.
“That’s the airport over there,” Brody pointed across a wide expanse of long grass and weeds. An airport terminal building was visible six hundred yards away. “I think we should keep the horses back here, we’re downwind so their scent won’t carry to any tropes that might be in there. I’ll look after the horses, we’ve got the radios so we can keep in touch. I suggest you biotech people go in there and do what you’ve gotta do. You’ve got plenty of daylight left… it’s only 2:15. See what you can find, if you think it’s safe we can spend the night in there with the horses, if not, that farm back before the river looked OK—”
Mercy nodded, “Sounds like a plan, we’ll cut the fence here and go straight across—”
Ten minutes later they were past the fence and pushing their way through the long grass and weeds. They reached the runway and held back, inspecting the airport terminal with binoculars.
“What do you think?” Mercy said to Barnes.
“Yeah, ideally we’d stake it out for a couple of hours but right now it looks deserted. There’s no control tower, so we’ll have to search the terminal building for the control room. There’s no sign of recent activity. You want to go in?” Barnes said, taking his binoculars away from his eyes.
Mercy t
urned to Tawny, “How are you reading this Tawny?”
Tawny nodded, “Yeah, no, it feels dead… good dead not bad dead. I’d say we’re OK to go in—”
Mercy smiled.
It’s like she’s just given us an undead weather forecast. Trouble is not all forecasts are accurate. No, come on, be positive, Tawny’s been spot on before—
Mercy unslung her M4 carbine and looked at the others, “OK, you know the drill, eyes and ears, situational awareness on max, safeties off. Let’s go—”
They crossed the runway and moved in on the terminal building. A row of abandoned Humvees lay to one side of the rear entrance. The entranceway itself was protected by a shoulder high wall of sandbags, topped with razor wire.
Barnes pointed at an insignia on one of the Humvees, “Virginia National Guard, looks like they used the airport as a base.”
“Check out the grime on the windshields, these vehicles have been here a long time,” Flynn said.
Mercy held up a hand, “Barnes, Dimitri you guys are trope magnets, you don’t have the biotech. Why don’t you hang back here and watch our six?”
Barnes looked unhappy, “I don’t know about that. It’s never a good idea to split the party—”
“Well there’s me, Flynn, Rose, Tawny and Annalise going in so we should be OK. We’ve got the biotech and Annalise and Brody said they’ve not seen any alphas in these parts… so we should be good—” Mercy replied.
Rose nodded, “And we’ve got comms, if we run into any problems we can radio you.”
Barnes ran his hand through his hair and sighed, “You strike a hard bargain Dawes. Well, OK. This place does look deserted and you’re right, you do have the biotech so—”
Dimitri pointed at a row of hangars two hundred yards away, “Hey, why don’t we go and check in there for planes? Who knows what we could find?”
This time Mercy looked unhappy, “OK… that seems like a good idea but you should take one of us with you to make sure the hangars are clear of tropes.”
Flynn stepped forwards, “I’m on it, come on guys, let’s go, airport terminals are boring, the real interesting stuff is in the hangars—”
The Survival Chronicles (Book 7): Hard Mercy Page 23
