by RM Brewer
"No, my dad says he works here."
Noah noticed the look on Fester's mom's face. She looked around the room, not at anyone in particular. Noah thought she must be embarrassed because her husband was part of all this. When she turned her head, he noticed a bandage on her neck. She spoke in a barely audible voice.
"Evan said to give you this," Fester's mom said, handing an envelope to the man who brought them to Fester. Noah realized this must be Isaiah, the same man Jodie talked about when they were at the cabin.
"I ... we ... Tim and I didn't know anything about this place. I'm sorry for what you've had to go through to get here, but you have to stay out of sight. They'll kill all of you. They've been disposing of people since we got here." Her eyes filled with tears. She reached over to the bed to touch Fester.
Isaiah opened the envelope and pulled out a plastic film. "This will get us through security at the elevators." Pointing to the bandage on Fester's mom's neck, Isaiah said, "They hurt you too, didn't they? They put trackers in you and Tim, right?"
Fester's mom nodded. "David ... my husband ... he told us we couldn't leave or the device would become radioactive or something. He said we'd die."
Noah's stomach started to roil at the thought of Fester and his mother not being able to leave.
"Nick, we need your help," Isaiah said. "Tim and Bonnie have disc-shaped tracking devices inserted in their necks. I don't know anything about these discs other than they start to emit radiation when they're taken a distance from some sort of source signal. In other words, they can't leave unless the devices are removed. I need you to take them out."
Nick stood, with help from Noah's mom. He wavered on his feet. "I don't know how to do something like that. And we have no meds or anesthesia. What are you asking me to do?"
"You know exactly what I'm asking you to do. We have no choice. None at all. I'm going to look for Jodie. Her father brought me down here to find all of you. Now it looks like he's gone looking for Jodie, himself. I'm going to try and find everyone and we’ll all get out of here together. Be ready for us." Isaiah turned to leave the room and ducked down abruptly. "Everybody, get down. Someone's coming. Grab Hunter."
Noah scrambled across the room and ducked down next to his mother, who crouched behind Nick. Nick shoved Hunter over to him and Noah grabbed onto the dog's collar, holding tightly. Noah pushed Hunter away slightly when he realized the dog had blood on his fur. He could still see the scene he'd peeked at while being carried out of the room by Nick. Bob lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Noah desperately wanted to cry again. Seconds later, he wanted to hit something, but couldn't do that, either. He felt defeated.
Noah could hear footsteps coming in their direction and saw Isaiah spring up from his hiding spot and grab a man entering the room. Nick jumped up and knocked the man to the ground, pulling a gun out of his hand.
"What the hell?" the man blurted out.
Fester's mom stood up and pointed. "Isaiah and Nick, this is my husband, David."
"Let me go, you idiots," Mr. Martin commanded.
Hunter barked and growled low at Fester's dad. Noah realized Hunter felt danger from this man. For some reason, he did too. He'd only seen Mr. Martin two or three times over the entire time he knew Fester, but knew he didn't like him for the way he treated his family. Now, it looked like there were other reasons not to like him.
Mr. Martin looked back and forth between Noah and Christy. "Why are you here? What business do you have coming here?"
Noah’s mom held up her hand to stop Noah from responding. "We came to find Tim and Bonnie," she said. "Noah was worried about Tim after he went to your house and found the door broken and your wife and son gone. You people … your people tried to kill us. They killed a police officer who was with us and forced us down here. They murdered our friend ... what is so important down in this hellhole that they would want to do that?"
Mr. Martin was silent for a moment, then said, "You have no idea what you’ve stumbled into."
Nick moved over abruptly and grabbed Mr. Martin's arm. "I don’t know about you, Isaiah, but I’ve had enough of this bullshit."
Isaiah nodded and the two men led Fester's dad back out of the room and into the hallway, where they sat him down against the wall. Nick reached over and pulled the door shut, but Noah could still hear their voices and stood up to see what was going on. On the other side of the room, his mother was speaking loudly. Noah thought she might be trying to keep Fester from hearing what was happening in the hallway.
Isaiah stood in front of Mr. Martin. "Where is everyone?"
"What do you mean, where is everyone?" Mr. Martin laughed. "They're already on their way. I need to take my family right now or we'll miss our train."
"Really?" Isaiah said in a sarcastic tone. "Taking a trip? Where are you headed?"
"You wouldn't understand. You and that useless FBI."
"What do you know about the FBI?"
"We all knew about you as soon as you started your investigation. We knew when they got in the vent, too," Mr. Martin said, pointing to Nick and addressing him. "How do you think you got down here so easy? You weren't a little suspicious when a maintenance train showed up to pick you up?"
Nick grasped the front of Mr. Martin's shirt. "And the welcoming committee that met us, was that your idea?"
Mr. Martin didn't respond, but Noah could see the slight smile on his face, even from a distance. The look on his face made Noah angry as he thought about what happened to Bob. Noah wondered if Mr. Martin was really smart enough to work at a place like this.
"I should kill you, you son of a bitch." Nick's hands moved up to the man's neck.
"Nick, back off." Isaiah pulled on Nick's arms, trying to pry them off. "We need him. He can tell us how to take out the tracking devices."
Nick shifted his view to Isaiah, and released the pressure on Mr. Martin's neck. Noah lost sight of Nick as he slumped to a sitting position against the wall behind him.
Mr. Martin coughed and spat. "You need me ... for what?"
"Your wife and son both have tracking devices inserted in their necks. You'll show Nick how to remove them."
"Now, why the fuck would I do that? You don't seem to understand. We're leaving and there's nothing you can do about it."
Isaiah moved close to Mr. Martin's face. Noah could barely hear what they were talking about and put his ear against the window. He felt hatred for Fester's dad building in him.
"I'm aware of your plan, David," Isaiah said. "What I can tell you is this. We're also leaving, but we're going back up to the surface of the planet. I don't really care if you come with us or not. In fact, if you don't work with me on this -- if you don't show Nick how to remove those tracking devices -- I'll stuff you in maintenance closet and handcuff you to a shelf. Then, I may or may not shoot you in the head. Now, you'll get up off this floor and go in the next room. You'll show Nick where he can find medical supplies. You'll tell him what to do to remove the tracking devices. Otherwise, the shot in the head will come first. Are we clear?"
Mr. Martin turned and spat again. In a raspy voice, he responded, "It won't matter anyway. We're all going to die. We probably missed the train by now."
Nick reached over and grabbed Mr. Martin's shirt again. "How would you like to feel extreme pain until you die? The only reason I'm not snapping off your fingers right now is because your son is in the next room. You'll do as Isaiah says or we'll take a little walk down the hall and I'll break your bones one by one until your body is the consistency of sawdust. Your choice."
"I don't know that much about it, other than they're disc-shaped implants placed under the surface of the skin. I have one, too."
"Well, if you cooperate, maybe Nick will take yours out. If you don't ... well ... maybe that scalpel will slide right down into your spinal cord." Isaiah stood up and helped Nick off the floor. Noah watched through the window as the two men pulled Mr. Martin up and dragged him into an adjacent room. Nick pushed him
down onto the bed and started to tear a pillowcase into strips.
"What the fuck are you doing, now?" Mr. Martin said.
Nick didn't respond. He bent over and began tying the man's hands and feet to the bed rails with the cloth. "Where are the supplies?" Nick said.
"I'm telling you, it won't do any good," Mr. Martin said.
Nick took hold of Mr. Martin's hand and selected a finger, gripping it tightly and twisting. "We'll start with this one, okay?"
"Okay, okay. In the next room, there's a door at the back of the room. There should be some medical supplies in there. Jesus. You fucking Neanderthal," Mr. Martin yelled, trying to pull his hands through the bindings that held him to the bed rail. Noah watched the man trying to escape from the bed. Even though he was Fester's dad, Noah thought he might run into the next room and hit him in the head if he managed to free himself.
"Good. And the anesthesia?" Nick asked.
"I don't know where any of that is."
"Okay. We'll start with you first and see how it goes. Pretty delicate surgery, right next to your vertebrae and all. Too bad you made me so angry. My hands are shaking now." Nick smiled as he turned to leave the room.
"Nick, I'm going to look for Jodie," Isaiah said. "Christy, do you feel comfortable taking Nick’s gun?" Isaiah called out to the next room. "You'll have to watch for those security guards while I'm gone."
"Okay, but what should I do if they come? I'm not sure I could shoot anyone," Christy called out from the next room.
"I don't think David was lying when he said everyone is gone. But it might come down to you or them, so you'll need to be ready to protect yourself."
Noah saw the expression on his mother's face. He remembered that same look from a day last winter when she had the flu and wondered if she was going to throw up.
"I'm sorry, Christy. There are no other choices left." Looking over at him, Isaiah said, "Noah, help your mom out, okay?"
"Okay," Noah said, wondering what Mr. Martin meant when he said it wouldn't make any difference. He felt like he just wanted to go fishing and never think about any of this again.
* * *
Evan watched his daughter sit down hard in the chair, apparently in a state of shock. His ex-wife just finished an elaborate story and he felt more committed than ever to the idea of putting her plan to an end. Evan saw Jodie grip the armrests of the chair tightly, her face turning crimson. He hadn’t seen her this angry about anything, ever, in her life.
"Where are my friends? You said you knew. You said you saw us when we came here. I’m assuming there are cameras or something. You must know where they are now." Jodie’s anger was boiling over. "What did you do with Mei and Leah? They were with me on the train. You put those tracking devices into them, didn’t you? Tell me where they are."
No response came from Helen. She simply stared down at the floor with an odd expression that seemed to convey contentment. Seeing her lack of response to Jodie's desperation made Evan even angrier.
"She’s not letting anyone out of here," Evan said. "If your friends aren’t dead by now, they will be shortly. We’ve got to stop all of this. There's still time, but we have to stop that explosion from happening, first, before we go and look for anyone." Evan held his gun up, pointing it at his wife. "Tell me where car 49 is and we’ll stop this insanity."
Helen said nothing and Evan moved closer. "Tell me now or I swear, I’ll--"
"You’ll what, Evan? Shoot me? Be a man for once in your life and stand up for something you believe in? No, not you. Put the gun down before you hurt yourself. Don’t be stupid. Save yourself. I’ll take you both with me. We can leave right now."
"And let the rest of the world go to hell in a hand basket? I don’t think so. We like it here." He moved up to Helen, pushing himself against her body, boring the barrel of the gun into the side of her face. "And, don’t think you know me any better than you know Jodie. You know nothing about what I will or won’t do."
"Sounds like you better tell him what he wants to know," Jodie said.
"Okay, okay. Get that Goddamn gun out of my face and I’ll tell you."
Evan pulled back from his ex-wife and waited.
"You’ll never be able to catch it, anyway. You don’t know the extent of the plan and you’ll never get there in time. It’s in the east tunnel. It’s first in line."
Evan backed away from Helen. "No … no, Helen. What are you saying? All those people?"
"What do you mean, Dad? What did she do?" Jodie's face wore an expression mixed with anxiety and anger.
Evan felt the bile creeping into his throat. He looked at his ex-wife as he responded to Jodie. He gazed deeper into Helen’s eyes, looking for answers as to why she would make such terrible decisions. The sadness of the situation overtook him. He thought of their lives, ruined by this delusional scheme, the sacrifices Helen made to achieve something that would never be as good as her life could have been with her family. He saw no regret in Helen’s face. He realized his hatred for her was overwhelming him. "She’s put the explosive into the first car. All of the evacuees are behind it, so when it goes off, they’ll all be killed."
"It wasn’t ever part of the plan to bring them along," Helen said. "The only people going are from the genetics team. There is no way to take that many people. Certainly, you must have known that, Evan."
Evan had nothing left to say to his ex-wife and everything to say to his daughter, yet there was no time left for that. "I have to go now, Jodie. I know a way to get to the tracks. Just in case I don’t make it in time, you better get out of here." Evan yanked a framed floor plan mounted on the wall down and handed it to Jodie. He pointed to a location on the drawing. "I left some people you know back here in medical. Your friend, Isaiah, and a boy named Tim, with his mother, Bonnie. I’m not sure if they’re okay. When I left, there was some gunfire going on, so be careful."
"What? Isaiah is down here?"
"Yes, I brought him. He came to find you and the rest of your group. I--"
The blaring of an alarm rang in his ears. Evan turned to see Helen flipping switches on a panel. "No, Helen. Stop," he yelled. The sound of the alarm was drowned out by the blast of his gun. He could feel the kickback as the weapon fired. He watched the bullet tear through Helen’s dress, penetrating her skin, ejecting a spray of blood into the room. She slumped to the floor.
Evan fell to his knees and crawled to her. "Oh my, God … oh my, God … what did I do?"
Jodie stepped around him and knelt by her mother, placing her hand over the ragged hole in Helen's chest, applying pressure. "Oh, God. Dad, what did she do? What is that buzzer? Dad, answer me. What’s happening?"
Sadness and regret swept over Evan. He sobbed uncontrollably, gulping in air and cursing himself.
Helen looked up at Jodie. The smile broadening on her face, she said, "It’s starting. I started it without me."
The realization that Helen was sending thousands of people to their deaths jarred Evan back into action. "I have to go, Jodie. I love you. I always have. I need you to know that. I never wanted this to touch you, ever." Evan reached over to Jodie, pulling her close, then jumped up and rushed to the door. "Get out. Get out now." He looked back for an instant, seeing Jodie and Helen, the two most important people in his life. One barely alive, the other in grave danger. He knew he had to hurry. Before Jodie could formulate a response, he was gone.
Chapter 26
Nick held the scalpel tightly and looked down at David Martin’s neck. "Well, uh, David? You mind telling me where to start looking?" Nick checked the cloth he used to tie the man to the bed to make sure nothing would come loose during the procedure. He could hear David Martin’s breath spurting out in short, rapid bursts.
"I told you, in the fleshy tissue between the cervical vertebrae. C1 and C2, to be exact. Remember, if you don’t sever the node of the lead entering the spinal cord and attach the signal booster to provide a temporary charge, the disc will activate. It was insurance … the thin
g that kept people from trying to take them out of each other."
Nick loved the idea of continuing to torture this man, but knew he had to stop and get to work fast. He needed to remove the discs in Bonnie and Tim Martin’s necks too, before Isaiah returned, hopefully with Jodie, Mei and Leah in tow. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from causing David a little more grief. "Now, is the C1 on the top or the bottom? I can’t seem to remember."
"Jesus, man. The C1 is at the base of the skull. The numbers get higher as you go lower. Christ." David began to whimper a bit.
"I wanted to ask. Why do you have one of these things, anyway? I got the impression you were part of planning this," Nick said, motioning around the room.
"They put one in everyone who was supposed to get on the transport. No one had a choice," David said.
"Transport to where, exactly? You’ve been whining about that since we met you."
David Martin didn’t answer.
That was okay by Nick, who really didn’t want to hear his story, anyway. He pressed down on David’s vertebrae, feeling for a sign of the device, and found it, just underneath the skin. He could see a feint scar, left over from the incision when the disc was inserted. "Okay, I’m going to put something in your foul little mouth. Try not to choke on it. Also, try not to scream so loud that you scare your kid in the room next door. Seems like a nice kid, by the way. You couldn’t have spent much time with him."
Before David could respond, Nick shoved a wad of gauze in his mouth and pushed down on his neck. "Now hold still, or it’s likely you’ll regret it."
Nick started an incision close to the edge of the disc. He could hear David Martin screaming, the outburst muffled by the gauze in his mouth. "I can see it, now. I’m going to have to do a little searching for that lead," Nick said, widening the incision.
David Martin’s breathing was rapid and sweat poured down the side of his face. His sounds of agony continued to fill the room.
"I’ve got the lead now. I’m attaching the signal booster. What you people won’t come up with ... discs and signal boosters. All this junk. For what? I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been planning. Okay, I’m going to sever the lead. Let me know if you smell anything charbroiling inside your head." Nick pulled the gauze out of the man’s mouth.
