Dr. Beck occasionally stopped and stomped his feet, causing a shriek from the end of the corridor, before leading the others up a staircase and across, then back down another set of stairs.
“Sorry,” Dr. Beck said. “Needed to dislodge a Rage blockage.”
They continued that way, the journey never seeming to come to an end. Occasionally, they came across small pools of thick blood on the floor, hastily made footprints and dragged limbs, clutches of hair, even a misplaced eyeball in a pile of congealed blood.
“I hate it when I misplace things,” Fatty said when he saw the eye. “That guy’s going to kick himself when he realizes he lost it.”
Donny sidled up to Dr. Beck.
“How much longer before we get to the hospital?” he said. “We can kill some of these things if it speeds up the journey time.”
“Not if we don’t need to initiate them,” Dr. Beck said. “We can control the level of noise we make but not what they make. Best to avoid them completely if we can.”
Donny was disappointed. He wanted to unload his rage into these things. Dr. Beck was preventing him from doing that.
“You can kill as many Rages as you like once we’re outside,” Dr. Beck said. “Not in here. It’s too risky. Okay. Down here.”
They entered a room none of them had seen before. It was pitch dark. Jamie caught sight of an odd bump in the middle of the floor before Dr. Beck shut the door behind them, extinguishing the light.
“There’s a hatch right there in the floor,” he said. “Donny, can you lift it open? Be careful. I can’t see what’s down there. There are no cameras.”
“Where are we?” Jamie said.
“In the belly of the City unless I missed my guess,” Fatty said, shuffling from one foot to the other.
Jamie covered his brother as he turned a wheel and lifted the hatch, aiming at the hole with the business end of his rifle. Once it was open, Donny switched on the torch and swung it around, checking beneath the hatch.
“There’s a ladder,” he said. “But no Rages, so far as I can tell.”
“Good,” Dr. Beck said. “Climb down. We’ll be coming up under your father’s hospital room soon, don’t worry. This will give us not only the safest route but our way out afterwards.”
“All right,” Donny said. “It’s your party.”
The City was Dr. Beck’s domain. He knew more about it than anyone else alive. Who knew what shortcuts and secret passageways there were.
Donny headed down the ladder first. At the bottom was another dark room. He scanned it with his torch.
“Okay?” Jamie said, calling down the ladder.
“Yes,” Donny said. “It’s just a room. Chairs. Nothing exciting.”
“You go first,” Jamie said to Lucy.
She climbed down. Then Fatty.
“Do you want help getting down?” Jamie said to Dr. Beck.
“I’ll be fine,” Dr. Beck said. “After you.”
Jamie hesitated.
“Listen,” he said. “I wanted to thank you. For everything you did for us. Trying to give us a new home, somewhere safe to live. I want to apologize for the way I treated you. You never did anything wrong. You did what you thought was right for everyone.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Dr. Beck said. “We do what we think is best at the time. Right now, the best thing for you to do is go down that ladder.”
Jamie smiled, glad the conversation hadn’t turned awkward. The doctor reflected his own smile back at him. It didn’t convey the same warmth Jamie deliberately injected into his. It was warped somehow. . . By worry? Concern? Difficult to say.
The hair stood up on the back of Jamie’s neck. He couldn’t explain why. Then again, they should be concerned right now. Who knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next.
He climbed the ladder rung by rung to the bottom. The moment his foot touched the floor, the hatch above slammed shut. A grinding noise as the wheel was spun shut. Locked.
67.
“DR. BECK?” Donny said, calling up.
“Something’s wrong,” Jamie said. “Maybe the Rages got in the room or—”
The lights blinked on. Bright, fluorescent. The group formed a circle, guns aiming out for any surprise attack. Used to the darkness, they had to shield their eyes. It took a moment to grow accustomed to the light, the interior of the room exposed. Two dozen chairs in a pair of organized rows faced the same direction. The walls were large windows, made from some kind of thick plastic material.
“What’s going on?” Fatty said.
A TV monitor at the front blinked on. Dr. Beck’s face on the flat screen.
“Can you hear me?” Dr. Beck said. “See me?”
“Dr. Beck?” Jamie said.
“Ah, good,” Dr. Beck said. “There’s nothing to worry about. The Rages have overrun the City. There can be no going back now. The City’s had its day.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Fatty said, looking at the others in confusion.
“You need to get to Denver City,” Dr. Beck said. “Get there, and speak with Dr. Vassal. He’s in charge. Tell him to fire the cannon at the Bug ship. It’s our only hope now.”
“What are you doing?” Donny said. “We need to get Dad. In the hospital.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Dr. Beck said. “He’ll never survive if you try to move him.”
“He’ll die for sure if the Rages get to him!” Jamie said. “Let us grab him.”
“I’ll ensure he has an easy passing,” Dr. Beck said. “It’s the most any of us can hope for in this day and age.”
“No!” Donny said.
He cocked his rifle and aimed it at the screen.
“Let us out!” he said. “Right now. Or I swear, I’ll blow the whole damn City to hell.”
His eyes were fierce, raging pits. He meant it. Jamie knew he was more than capable of it.
“I can’t,” Dr. Beck said. “You’re too important to perish now. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I fear things may get worse for you before they get better.”
“We never should have trusted you,” Jamie said, venom dripping from his lips.
“You were right to trust me,” Dr. Beck said. “Please know I do this for the right reasons, even if they’re not immediately clear to you now. Good luck on your journey. Oh, and I’d take a seat if I were you.”
Donny fired his rifle. With half a dozen bullets in it, the screen turned black.
There was a low whining noise, like an engine powering up. Donny cast around, taking in their surroundings.
“Oh God,” he said.
“What?” Jamie said.
“It’s the hyperloop,” Donny said.
“Hyperloop?” Jamie said. “What’s that?”
“It’s a high-speed rail system to Denver,” Donny said. “Built before the Fall. Unfinished. It was the City’s emergency evacuation system.”
The engine roared, loud in their ears now. Like a powerful weapon charging up. They began to drift forward. The floor moved unsteadily beneath them.
Fatty took a seat.
“What are you doing?” Jamie said.
“Taking a seat,” Fatty said. “Like the doctor said.”
“You trust him?” Jamie said.
“No,” Fatty said. “But I trust my instincts.”
Donny took aim at a window.
“Stand back,” he said.
“What are you going to do?” Jamie said.
“Blow a hole in this thing and get out before we travel too far,” Donny said. “We have to get Dad. I’m not leaving him alone with that madman.”
He took aim at a window and squeezed the trigger. The train suddenly jolted forward. The bullets sailed harmlessly into the roof of the pod, biting out two fluorescent lightbulbs and thudding into the metal ceiling, forming inverted boils.
“Please don’t do that again,” Fatty said.
The train lurched forward, increasing speed. It was pitch bla
ck outside their little pod, the rough earthy insides of the tunnel visible, whizzing past.
Donny lay on the floor, gun out of reach. He gripped the plastic floor with the palms of his hands. Shifted to take hold of the metal frame bolted to the bottom of the seats. Jamie and Lucy jolted back, pushed into the rough fabric.
The train kicked up another gear and the pod bolted forward even faster. Donny was thrust violently back, grunting as his body struck the wall. Earlier, Donny had driven a sports car with incredible speed and acceleration, but it had nothing on this thing. It seemed to go faster and faster, never letting up.
Jamie felt the G-force first hand, forced into the welcoming embrace of his seat, pressure mounting. It was a struggle for him to even raise his neck off the headrest. He decided to relax and let the pod do what it would. There was nothing he could do to stop it now anyway. It sped faster and faster, to an unbelievable speed. The earth outside the windows blurred.
And then the pod went even faster.
Jamie didn’t know how long they’d been travelling nor how fast they were going. He certainly had no idea where this Denver City was. What he did know was they were heading at an unconscionable speed away from everything he had ever known and loved. Leaving their father behind to die, in the hands of the most duplicitous man he’d had the misfortune of meeting. His father was as good as doomed, while his children were being whisked, for all he knew, hundreds of miles away.
Tears streamed from his eyes. He wasn’t sure if they came bidden by the incredible speed or the fate of his poor father. His body couldn’t take it any longer, and he passed out.
68.
“WAKE UP.”
Jamie jolted upright, peering left to right, finding his bearings. He was still inside the small pod, Lucy and Fatty already awake and wandering around. He was the last to stir from his imposed slumber.
“Oh God,” he said. “It really happened?”
“Yes,” Donny said. “It wasn’t a nightmare. We’re living it.”
He had a large knot on the top of his head from where he’d struck the pod’s back wall.
“Are you all right?” Jamie said.
“I’m fine,” Donny said.
They were no longer moving. That was something. It was still pitch dark outside. When Jamie got up and wandered around, he found it hard to find his feet, needing to brace himself on the chairs.
“Take it easy,” Donny said. “The trip scrambled your brains. Get your bearings.”
“Where are we?” Jamie said.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Donny said. “Although, Denver City seems a pretty safe bet.”
“Denver City?” Jamie said. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“I saw it once, on an old map,” Donny said. “Then I heard it again a few days ago. I think the good doctor wanted me to know about this place. That’s why he mentioned it to me.”
“What are we supposed to do here?” Jamie said. “Something about a cannon? What was he even going on about?”
“I don’t care what he wants us to do here,” Donny said, chin jutting out. “I’m going to figure out how this pod works and get back to the City. Back to Dad.”
“I’m with you,” Jamie said.
He turned to the others.
“Are you all right?” he said.
“Fine,” Lucy said.
“Sick as a dog,” Fatty said. “Why do these things keep happening to us?”
“Because the universe hates us,” Donny said. “I guess we should be getting out of this fish tank to see where we are and how we can get back home.”
He opened the door and listened to the darkness. He, like the rest of them from the commune, had highly attuned senses. Their very survival depended on it. There was a single sound: a low drone, distant, from some unseen source. The wind. No hurried Rage footsteps, no reeking odour, only that endless drone.
Donny hopped outside and aimed his gun left, then right. Checking for hostile forces, whatever shape they came in. He shouldered his rifle and began probing at the pod.
“You guys give me a hand with this thing,” Donny said. “See if you can figure out how to make it go in reverse.”
Fatty was already walking away, to the fringe of the shadows.
“Where are you going, Fatty?” Jamie said.
“Taking a leak, if that’s all right with you,” Fatty said.
“Do it in the light so we can see you,” Donny said.
“You want to see me?” Fatty said. “Pervert.”
“So we can see you’re all right,” Donny said. “If you prefer to accidentally fall off a cliff, be my guest.”
“There’s no cliff around here,” Fatty said, opening his fly and relieving himself.
A healthy splatter of urine. The sound bounced off the walls, making it sound a lot louder.
“Can you guys feel anything?” Donny said. “Something that might open? A compartment with controls? Anything?”
“No,” Jamie said.
It was perfectly smooth and didn’t have much they could get hold of. Even if they did find the controls they would be complicated, and what did they know about computers?
“Uh, guys?” Fatty said, back still to them.
The continuous stream of water had ended.
“Will you hurry up and help us?” Donny said. “And at least wipe your hands on something.”
“I can’t,” Fatty said, still not turning around.
“Why not?” Donny said.
“Because a bunch of people are staring right at me,” Fatty said.
It wasn’t the strangest thing Fatty had ever said. It was his tone that really made their ears prick up.
“What?” Jamie said.
“And they’re armed,” Fatty said.
“Fatty, stop screwing around,” Jamie said.
“He’s not screwing around,” Lucy said.
Jamie first looked at Lucy, then in the direction she was looking in. Like an early morning mist, figures emerged on the edge of darkness. They were surrounded.
“The plot thickens,” Donny said.
69.
THE MEN wore suits, a little frayed around the edges, with clean shirts. Even a couple of top and bowler hats. The women wore full-length dresses with frilly lace at collar and cuff. They each carried weapons the like of which the commune members were very familiar with, as they still sported some of their own. Swords, crossbows, axes, and knives. They wore blank expressions. Fatty slowly turned to face his friends, but daren’t move toward them for fear of upsetting their hosts.
Donny moved to grab his rifle. Jamie touched him on the arm to stay his hand.
“They’ve got Fatty,” he said under his breath.
Donny, with hesitancy, lowered his hand. It remained at his side, his muscles tight, ready to spring at a moment’s notice. Jamie searched the strangers’ faces and costumes, attempting to identify the leader. It was impossible to tell them apart. They looked the same.
“What do you want with us?” Jamie said out loud.
They stared at him. Unmoving. Maybe they didn’t understand what he was saying.
“Do you understand me?” Jamie said.
“We understand.”
The voice came from their left. Presumably from the figure who now took a step forward to stand beside Fatty.
“We mean you no harm,” Jamie said. “We don’t even know where we are.”
“You’re beneath Denver City,” the man said. “The Land of Light.”
Fatty eyed the obvious darkness.
“A bit misnamed, don’t you think?” he said.
The speaker had a distinguished face, thin, gaunt, and strong. He ignored Fatty’s attempt at levity.
“Welcome to Station,” he said. “I am the Speaker. Are you the Son?”
“The son?” Jamie said. “The son of who?”
“The Son of the Father,” the Speaker said.
Jamie glanced at Donny, asking with his eyes if he understood what was going on
. Donny shrugged a shoulder.
“We don’t mean you any harm,” Jamie repeated, holding up his hands. “We want to get our pod to work so we can leave. We’ll never come here again.”
“You cannot leave if you are the Son,” the Speaker said. “You are the Promised One.”
Donny stiffened at that. Jamie placed a calming hand on him.
“We’re not promised,” he said. “We can’t be this Son you’re talking about.”
“You cannot decide that,” the Speaker said. “Only the Preacher can decide.”
“Preacher?” Jamie said.
“A holy man, I suppose,” Donny said. “Just what we need. We haven’t got time for this.”
“They’ve got Fatty,” Jamie said. “We can’t take the risk he’ll get hurt.”
“Damn your risk,” Donny said, stepping forward to address the men and women who surrounded them. “You want a promise? How about this.”
He held up his powerful rifle for them to see.
“I can slay all of you in seconds,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is say the word. My brother here tried to talk to you, tell you of our intentions. But if you won’t listen, maybe you will listen to my little friend.”
He raised his rifle at the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The curved tunnel walls enhanced the explosions emitted from the end of his rifle. The people did not appear to be afraid.
They’ve heard guns before. They might even have their own.
“Don’t do anything too. . . rash, huh?” Fatty said.
He drew breath when one of the figures aimed her crossbow at him, hissing through her teeth.
“There’s no need for violence,” the Speaker said. “We only ask that you come with us. To speak with the Preacher.”
“Come where?” Jamie said.
“To our village,” the Speaker said.
“No deal,” Donny said. “Listen up, Bub. We intend on getting on this pod and heading back to where we came from. All within the next few minutes. If you think we have any intention of going anywhere with you, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Thwack!
Something snapped against something solid. Donny stiffened, sensing an impending attack. Jamie’s head shot up at Fatty. He had that same fearful expression on his face, but he hadn’t been shot. Next, Jamie’s neck swivelled to Donny and Lucy. They hadn’t been shot either.
After the Fall- The Complete series Box Set Page 34
