Rhett nodded. “We used to have a working TV here,” he said. “So we kept following the story of the virus. And then there were the internet articles.”
“You had a computer?”
“Uh, yeah,” Rhett said, as though Adam was an idiot. “And tablets, and we all had our phones. We read things online. There was this blogger, this crazy guy. What was his site called again?” he asked his brother.
“End of Days.”
“Right. End of Days. I think he used to be some kind of preacher. Anyway, he wrote about how the wicked were being punished for their sins, and the virus was God’s way of cleansing the human race…” He shook his head. “Crazy stuff. Then one day he just stopped writing.”
“We think he got the virus,” Langley said, and Adam was shocked to see him chuckle.
“He was an idiot,” Rhett said, noticing the look on Adam’s face. “He was fearmongering. Making people feel like they were to blame for getting sick. Like there was something they’d done to deserve it. No one ever deserved that virus more than he did.”
“I guess,” Adam said, “but have you ever seen what it does to people?”
“We saw a guy die of it on the news,” Langley said. “He was some kind of scientist, and he was trying to explain how it could have started, but he must have been exposed, because suddenly he was puking blood everywhere. I thought the newscaster was going to have a coronary.”
“He must have realized he was exposed, too, the moment it happened,” Rhett said.
“You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to the city,” Langley said.
“Anyway, that End of Days guy was a lunatic, acting like God sent the virus to weed out sinners,” Rhett said. “The virus was man-made. It was obviously humans who wanted to thin the herd.”
“Hang on,” Adam said. “You think the creators of the nanobots knew they would evolve to function as a virus? You think they did it on purpose?”
“Whoever designed that tech isn’t stupid,” Rhett said. “They must have been aware of the risks. Maybe it wasn’t the designers themselves behind the deployment of the tech. Maybe they sold it to someone, or someone took it from them. Either way, there’s definitely someone at the top who made all this happen. Probably a group of them. A cabal.”
That sounded like what Ella had said—that when something major happened, someone was probably behind it. But Rhett was taking that theory one step further.
“Who would do something like that?” Adam asked. “What could they possibly stand to gain?”
Rhett shrugged. “People do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons,” he said. “My theory is that they were probably planning world domination. Unite all the people under a single government, maybe even a single ruler. That would be way too hard to accomplish in a world with billions of people. But whittle that number down a bit—or a lot—and it suddenly gets much more realistic.”
“But all those people…” Adam stopped, unsure how to articulate what he wanted to say. So many had died of the virus. So many lives had been lost, and it had happened so quickly and violently. Could anybody’s thirst for power be that desperate? Would anyone really go to such extreme measures?
“You have to admit, if you want to drastically reduce the population, it’s a pretty good way to go about it,” Rhett said. “And it worked, didn’t it? All they had to do was set off the EMP when the right number of people had died, neutralizing the bots and ending the threat.” He reeled in his fishing line slightly. “You mark my words. In a few months we’re going to hear that someone has seized control of the planet. They’ll either figure out a way to restore power or else someone will come out here on a boat and let us know. And either way, you’ll see I was right about all this.”
“You’re out of your mind,” Langley said mildly.
Adam felt a rush of relief. So he wasn’t the only one who thought Rhett’s theory was a little extreme.
“What makes you think so?” Rhett asked.
“Easy,” Langley said. “If there was a secret cabal of rich people seeking world domination, we’d already know about it because Dad would be a member.”
Rhett laughed. “I guess you’re probably right about that.”
They were laughing about it, but Adam remembered what Ella had told him about the Birkins being connected to people in positions of power and wondered. If someone was planning on taking over the world, how likely would Richard Birkin be to have an in with that person? It was a sobering thought.
“Rhett’s always been a conspiracy theorist,” Langley said to Adam. “He doesn’t get that sometimes things just happen.”
“This virus didn’t just happen,” Rhett countered. “Someone made it. Someone released it.”
“Yeah,” Langley agreed. “The human race did. Read a book, Rhett. This is how planetary regulation works. When a species is too dominant, something invariably happens to cut them back. If deer overfeed in an area, the plants they eat become scarce and the deer start to starve, or else a predator moves in and thins their herd. That’s what’s going on now. Humans just got too smart for our own good, and now our herd is being thinned.”
Adam frowned. “That doesn’t sound too different from what you told me the preacher was saying, Langley.”
“It’s completely different,” Langley said. “The End of Days website was all about how individual sinners were going to reap what they’d sown. My thing is about the human race as a whole. Our numbers got too big for us to continue to survive. But now that our continued existence is in jeopardy, it’s survival of the fittest. Those of us left alive were just the best fit to survive.”
“Then how do you explain the McTerrells?” Rhett snickered.
“Well, they got lucky,” Langley said with a smirk.
“So you think the golden age of humanity is over?” Adam asked. “We outgrew ourselves and the virus cut us down, and now we’re no longer the dominant species on the planet?”
“No, I don’t think that, exactly,” Langley said. “We’re still going to dominate. But we’re eliminating the weakest members of the species. We’re going to rebuild society with the strong as our foundation. Two hundred years from now, the human race will be made up entirely of powerful people. Consummate survivors.”
“That would be a hell of a thing to see,” Rhett said.
Langley nodded. “In a way, it’s a good thing this happened,” he said. “The nanobots have pushed humanity to grow, to reach new heights as a species. The virus will probably be written about in history books as the galvanizing force that took us to the next stage in our evolution.”
Rhett looked impressed.
Adam felt sick.
Who were these people? How could they talk about the virus that had killed millions of people in this cavalier way? Langley’s primary feeling about the nanobots seemed to be pride that he personally had survived them. As for Rhett, he almost seemed gleeful every time there was talk of violence, grinning and even laughing at the descriptions of people who had died.
Adam had seen the deaths of people he cared about, and he had witnessed the deaths of strangers. Every one of them haunted them. Every life lost weighed on his soul. His mother and stepfather, whom he’d had to leave behind when he’d boarded the yacht. His best friend, who had saved his life. Even the perfect strangers who had died in front of him and the people he’d failed to help, knowing that they probably went to their deaths. Every one appeared in his dreams.
Rhett and Langley, though, were unburdened. They talked about the virus like it was something they’d seen in a movie. Like it was something that couldn’t hurt them.
He didn’t understand.
Even if they thought they were safe from its reach—and they probably were now, thanks to the EMP—hadn’t they thought about the people who must have died? Hadn’t they had any friends or acquaintances who weren’t on this island, and didn’t they realize the odds were overwhelmingly in support of those people being dead now? The Birkins were wealthy
. Adam would have been willing to bet that their social circle was full of early adopters of nanotech. How could Langley sit here talking about survival of the fittest when the “weak” people he was referring to included people he’d known? How could Rhett think any of this was funny?
He couldn’t say anything, he knew. He couldn’t object. Santa Joaquina Island was their territory, not his, and two days ago they had been willing to shoot him where he stood. He couldn’t risk making them angry.
“Hey!” Rhett’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “I think you’ve got a bite!” He grabbed the top of Adam’s fishing rod and gave it a good hard yank. “Oh, yeah, something’s on there. Reel it in!”
Adam reeled. The line fought him, and he knew Rhett was right—there was definitely a fish on there.
“It’s fighting me!” he yelled as a violent tug dragged him off the bench he was sitting on and onto his knees.
Langley took hold of the pole too. “Oh, that’s a big one,” he said. “You reel, Adam, and Rhett and I will try to hold it.”
The twins’ muscles bulged. Adam spun the reel as hard as he could.
“Careful,” Rhett counseled. “You don’t want the line to break. Go in little bursts. There you go. Here he comes, I think we’ve got him now.”
The fish emerged from the water, sunlight glinting off silver scales. It had to be at least as long as Adam’s arm, he thought. “What kind is that?”
“Halibut, I think,” Rhett said. “See how it’s flat?”
Langley pulled the fish onto the boat. “We’re eating well tonight!”
The twins turned the boat and headed back to shore, still gleefully exclaiming over the catch. Adam was quiet.
They’d given him plenty to think about.
Chapter 8
The halibut arrived at the table in a stack of fillets that gave no impression of the actual size of the fish Adam had caught. It looked like a bunch of small fish, not one big one.
He swept his eyes over the fillets, counting. Fourteen. More than enough for everyone around the table. Some people would be able to take two.
Adam thought he had a fair idea of who those people might be.
Ella had made some rice to go along with the fish, and had placed a bottle of lemon juice on the table for flavor. Adam dished a bed of rice onto his plate, placed a piece of fish on top, and squeezed some lemon over everything. He took a bite. Once again, it was reminiscent of a real meal. It didn’t feel like they were eating survival rations.
Was it just like this because the Birkins and the McTerrells were wealthy? Would everything he experienced with them feel like a luxury? The dining options on the yacht hadn’t been this good, and Cody had been rich. But then, Adam thought, he had probably been eating much better than almost anyone else left in the world. He wondered what most people were doing for food. Nothing too appealing, I’ll bet.
“I did some laundry today,” Kathryn announced.
“Oh, I wish you’d said something,” Marsden said. “I have some shirts that need washing.”
“I was really just cleaning my own family’s clothes,” Kathryn said.
“That’s not how we’ve been doing it,” Marsden said. “Whoever’s had laundry duty on a given day has always rotated everyone’s loads through the machines.”
“Well, that was different, wasn’t it?” Kathryn said. “That was when we had machines to help us. I don’t much care to wash your dirty shirts by hand, Mr. McTerrell, nor do I think I should be required to.”
“So we have to assign two people to laundry now?” Charles asked. “That seems excessive.”
“It’s going to be a lot more work now anyway,” Richard said. “It makes sense to have more people working on it.”
“Besides, I’m not sure I like the idea of other people handling my things,” Kathryn said.
“For God’s sake, Kathryn, we’ve all seen your bras.” Marsden rolled his eyes.
“You don’t need to be rude,” Richard said.
“Well, this is ridiculous. If we’ve got two people washing clothes every day, that means we’ll have to take someone away from something else. It means less will get done around here. I mean, shouldn’t we at least try letting one person handle the day’s laundry by themselves before we decide it can’t be done?”
Adam leaned over to Ella, who was sitting beside him again. “I think it would probably be okay if they took someone off of lawn-mowing duty.”
She giggled. “I know, right? I sort of get their devotion to things like dusting and vacuuming, because that kind of cleanliness is good for everyone’s health. But I don’t think long grass is going to hurt us.”
“Here lies Adam, laid low by an unmanicured lawn.”
“Cut down in his prime because the grass wasn’t.”
Adam laughed.
“Langley told me you were the one who caught this fish,” Ella said.
“He’s giving me more credit than I deserve,” Adam said. “I’d never even been fishing before today. Langley and Rhett talked me through the whole process, and they even had to help me reel it in.”
“Well, that doesn’t surprise me,” Ella said. “I saw the size of that thing. When Langley brought it into the kitchen I was convinced he’d caught some new kind of shark.”
“Now you’re teasing me.”
She grinned. “It is impressive, though. Nobody’s caught a fish this big since our very first week here.”
“Who caught that one?”
“Chase. That’s why he’ll tell anyone who’s willing to listen that he’s the best fisherman here.”
“I thought Chase was supposed to be the best at starting fires.”
“Oh, Chase is the best at everything.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s the oldest or what.”
“He’s the oldest?”
“He’s twenty-one. The twins are nineteen and Olivia is seventeen. The older McTerrell men and Mr. Birkin are old enough that Chase is in objectively better physical shape. In the same way as Mr. Birkin considers himself the leader around here, Chase thinks he’s in charge of everything physical. You’ll see what I mean if you go out hunting or fishing with him. He thinks he’s the only one who’s ever held a gun before. He doesn’t even defer to his own father.”
“I bet that doesn’t sit well.”
“I don’t know. Mr. McTerrell sort of worships the ground Chase walks on, to tell you the truth. Thinks he can do no wrong. I think it goes hand in hand with being the oldest son. Chase is treated like he’s infallible in a way Rhett and Langdon aren’t, probably because neither of them is actually the oldest.” Ella grinned. “It drives the twins crazy every time someone says Chase is the best at something, even though Chase himself is usually the one saying it.”
“What about Olivia? She can’t possibly enjoy that.”
“Oh, I think she’s used to it. She grew up in that family, after all. She probably really thinks her brother is better than she is at everything.” Ella shook her head. “I’d hate to be a part of a family like that. You’d never know if you could trust what your parents told you about yourself.”
Adam thought of his own mother, who had always made him feel as though his worth as a person was dependent on his acting career. A difficult family was certainly better than no family at all, which was what he had now, but he did wish his mother had been a bit gentler with him when he was growing up. “I know what you mean,” he said.
Richard Birkin cleared his throat and waited for everyone’s attention. “I walked the perimeter of the island today,” he announced.
“The whole thing?” Rhett asked. “Isn’t that about ten miles?”
“I think so,” Richard agreed. “But I wanted to make sure there was no one else out there. Adam’s boat washed up on a shore we’re able to see from the window of our building, but there are other beaches, and his presence here made me realize that we ought to be checking regularly.”
“Good idea,” Kathryn said.
“No, I didn’t,” Richard said, “and there were no signs of any shipwrecks either. But I did see something strange while I was out.”
“What’s that?” Adam asked.
Richard paused, seemingly for effect. “A mutilated deer carcass.”
Olivia gasped.
Charles put his fork down slowly, eyes narrowing.
“Mutilated?” Langley asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“Part of the skin was stripped away,” Richard said. “And based on the blood spatter around the body, my guess is that the animal was alive when it happened.”
“How can you tell?” Adam asked.
“The blood hadn’t only pooled where the animal lay,” Richard said. “It had sprayed out, hitting trees. That suggested the heart was still beating during the attack.”
“It was probably another animal, right?” Olivia asked. “Something killed it to eat it.”
“No,” Richard said. “There are no predatory animals on this island. This is a privately owned piece of land. Even the deer aren’t here organically. They were brought in for sport hunters.”
“But there could be something we don’t know about,” Olivia persisted.
Richard shook his head. “The meat was still on the animal. Nothing had eaten from it.”
“It was probably Chase,” Rhett said, a smirk crossing his face.
Chase looked up from his dinner. “Excuse me?”
“You’re the best hunter here, right?” Rhett said.
“A good hunter wouldn’t maul a live animal and leave good meat to rot in the sun,” Chase said, his jaw tight. “And you better watch your mouth.”
“Well, it was definitely one of the McTerrells,” Rhett said, “because we know they don’t mind torturing innocent animals, do they?”
“Get control of your boy, Birkin,” Charles snapped.
“Well,” Richard said calmly, “did one of you do it?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Escape The Dark (Book 2): Fearful World Page 6
