by RM Brewer
"Thank you," David Martin said, tears streaming out of his eyes.
"Ready to fire up the old oven?"
"Just do it, okay?"
Nick pulled the disc out, severing the wire completely. "Where would you suggest I put this little miracle of science, now that it’s going to turn hot?"
"There’s a container in the next room. Drop it in the slot in the top and it will be sealed in lead and stored. That deactivates it."
"Okay. I’ll be right back and then we can start sewing class, using your red scrawny neck." Nick realized his behavior toward David Martin was abusive, but his despair over Bob’s death and the ordeal they endured over the past several days was fueling an outrageous amount of anger. At moments, he wondered if he would be capable of killing David Martin out of revenge. The thought scared him. He hadn't been aware of his capacity for hatred. "Just sew him up, Nick," he said to himself.
He walked into the room and spotted a metal container with a radioactive symbol on it. He dropped the disc into a slot in the top. The container emitted a humming noise for a brief moment as the device was sealed in lead.
Nick returned to the operating room. After stuffing a new wad of gauze in David Martin’s mouth, he cleaned the incision and put four stitches in. "You’re good to go. Get up and I’ll get your wife and son in here, now that I know what I’m doing." Nick pulled the gauze out of David Martin’s mouth and untied the bindings holding his hands. He led him to a chair; where he started tying him up again.
"Is that really necessary? You know there’s nowhere to go now. They’ve likely already left."
"No, I don’t know that. And yes, it is necessary," Nick said, pulling tight on the gauze. "I don’t trust your kind of people. No regard for anyone but yourselves. So, I’m gonna keep you close because if you’re covering your own ass, you’re likely going to be helping us by association." Nick left the room. Moments later, he came back with Bonnie and Tim Martin. Tim was a little wobbly on his feet. "You up for this, buddy?" Nick asked.
"Yeah. I guess I have no choice, right? I want that thing out, anyway." Tim walked over and lay down on the bed. He turned to stare at his father, expressionless.
"Don’t worry, son. It doesn’t hurt much," David said.
"Oh, he won’t feel a thing," Nick said, holding up a syringe. "Only a little pinch on your neck and you’ll be numb."
David looked up at Nick. "What’s that?"
"Just local anesthetic," Nick said, trying not to smile too broadly.
"Anesthetic? You had that the whole time? You--"
"Now, watch your language, David, or I’ll have to get more gauze," Nick said.
David’s face turned a shade of bright crimson. Nick thought his eyes looked like they were filled with pure venom.
"Okay, Tim. I need you to turn on your side," Nick said. He changed his gloves, assembled the surgical equipment, and placed the signal booster on a tray. "I heard you like to be called Fester. Is that true?" Nick examined the back of the boy's neck, finding an incision that had recently started to heal.
"Yeah. Noah calls me that. He gave me that name after my leg got infected from a fishhook."
"It’s a great name. A fishhook, huh? I guess you’re a pretty tough guy, then. This should be a cake walk for you," Nick said.
Tim shook his head and smiled as his mother sat in a chair next to the bed and stroked his forehead.
"Mrs. Martin, I’m going to give Tim a shot to numb him up and I’d like you to go and sit in the chair next to your husband, okay? This should only take a minute." Nick knew Bonnie Martin had been through a lot. She didn't need the trauma of seeing someone cut into her son's neck.
"Okay. Tim doesn’t need me here, anyway. He’s my brave, brave boy."
Nick administered the anesthetic and Bonnie Martin nodded to him as she got up and moved to the other side of the room. He gave the drug time to work and then moved quickly, initiating the same procedure as he had on Tim’s father. As he was making the small incision, Nick asked, "You doin’ okay, Fester?"
"Yeah. That stuff worked really good. I can’t feel anything. What are you doing?"
"Well, right now, I’m pulling that thing out of you and I’m gonna give it a jump so we can cut the cord, so to speak. You let me know if I’m hurting you in any way. I can always give you a little more of that juice."
"Okay. I wish you could put that stuff on my burns, too."
"Well, we’ll see what we can find for that when we’re done here. There’s a lot of medicine in the next room that might be useful." He laughed silently at the understatement. There was an entire stockroom filled with first aid supplies, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. He never saw anything like before in his life. He wondered why no one had done more for this boy. The door to the room opened quietly and Christy poked her head in.
"Anything I can help with here, Nick?"
Nick thought she looked positively pale. "No, thanks. But you might want to sit down. You don’t look so good."
"I was watching you from the next room ... but it doesn’t look like I would be of much assistance, anyway."
"Well, actually, you know what you could do? You and Noah can go in the next room and grab whatever supplies you can carry. We need antibiotics and gauze, tape and scissors, you know, that kind of thing. I thought I saw some bags in there. Why don’t you fill ‘em up while I finish? Fester’s all done here. He could use something for his burns and some pain killers and bandages, too."
Christy nodded. "Let's get moving, Noah. We've got our orders," she said, smiling.
"I’m all done? Really? Cool. Thanks," Fester said.
"No problem. When I’m finished helping your mom, we’ll see what we can do to tone down the pain from those burns without making you sleep so much, okay?"
Fester nodded in approval. Nick’s anger started to return as he walked into the next room and dropped the disc into the slot. He listened to the whir of the machine, thinking of how much the two boys had to endure, needlessly. Nick figured that maybe he wasn’t done with David Martin yet. He made his way back to the operating room. One down, one to go.
Bonnie Martin helped her son off the table and led him back to the bed in the adjoining room. She came back and sat down in front of Nick. "Thank you so much, Nick. For what you did for Tim --"
Nick jumped back at the sound of a blaring alarm. Strobe lights in the corner of the room flashed, distorting movements into jerky sequences. Christy and Noah burst into the room. Noah ran to comfort Hunter, who crouched in the corner of the room, shaking.
"What happened?" Christy yelled over the sound of the blaring alarm.
Nick looked out the window of the room and into the hallway. "I don’t know, but I’m guessing we don’t have a lot of time to get out of here. I need to get this done. We better be ready to move. David, why are those alarms sounding?"
"They're starting. I told you. They're leaving," David said, lowering his head and shifting his gaze to the floor.
Nick could see him straining against the bindings on his hands, realizing he was right to keep him tied up. Obviously, he was lying earlier when he said everyone left. He would need to keep a close watch on David Martin.
* * *
Jodie held her mother in her arms, pressing down on her chest wound with paper towels she found in a cabinet, trying to stop the inevitable from happening. She wondered if she should waste time waiting for her mother to die, or just leave her there, alone. Thinking of her father and letting what he said to her finally sink in, the realization that she might never see him again burned inside her. She thought about Mei and the rest of the group, who were caught up in a nightmare, apparently created by her mother. "Mom, I need to know where my friends are. There was an Asian woman named Mei and an older woman, Leah, with me on the train. Where are they now?"
Jodie’s mom fought for breath. "They’re in with the others who were directed to the auditorium ... a waiting area for the docking station. Jodie, if your father is succ
essful, if he explodes the train in a different area … then you’ll really have something to fear."
Jodie was becoming infuriated from trying to figure out her mother’s vague responses. Besides the frustration over not getting the answers she needed, she felt sympathy and loss at the thought she could lose both her parents and her friends all in one cataclysmic event. Then, she realized she was in just as much danger. The confounding emotions paralyzed her for a moment. She shook her head, trying to find some clarity. "Speak clearly. What do you mean?"
Her mother's breath was short and her expression distant. "You have to get out of here. When he explodes that car, it will trigger the release of IDM400. It’s 400 of the most infectious diseases and mutations…ebola, naegleria." Jodie thought it wouldn’t be long before her mother was gone. Her words came out in a raspy growl as she fought for breath. "They made us test … DNA combinations … cloning experiments … hybrids. The blast … it was meant to release IDM400 into the remaining population, if anyone was left …"
Jodie was completely overwhelmed by the thought of the carnage her mother was willing to impose on innocent people. "Hybrids? Hybrids with what? What are you saying? You used viruses to experiment on humans?"
"At first. Then, hybrids, with the others. After we saw what it did … we converted to experimentation on a cellular level. You'll be better off … you’ll be better off if your father doesn't succeed."
"The others? What do you mean by that?" Jodie shook her mother, trying to jar a response out of her. "Better off dead, you mean? Is that what you're telling me? Our options are death right here or being infected with this concoction you've created? What gave you the right?" Hearing a loud noise behind her, she jumped sideways, trying to keep her mother’s head from hitting the floor. Jodie was flabbergasted at the sight of Isaiah in the doorway.
"Jodie. I’m so glad I found you … what happened? Who is that?"
"Thank God you’re here, but no time for explanations now, Isaiah." Returning her focus to her mother, Jodie said, "What waiting area, Mother? Where are they? Mother?" She shook her mother from side to side. "Where are they?" Jodie shook her mother’s lifeless body again. Finally, she let her mother's head slip carelessly to the floor and stared at her. "Goddamn you," she screamed.
She remembered the schematic her father had shown her, and jumped up to grab it. The sound of the blaring buzzer was even more deafening now. The reflection of the security lights blinded her temporarily, but Jodie was able to make out a pathway to an area labeled docking station on the map. "They’ve got Mei and Leah locked up in a staging area. We need to go and get them and get out as fast as we can. My dad … he went to trigger an explosion … there’s more. I’ll tell you on the way," she said, moving toward the door. Jodie glanced back at her mother’s body momentarily, long enough to realize the only thing she felt about her death was apathy.
* * *
Mei woke up, groggy and confused, to find herself still with Leah, but Jodie gone. A few minutes later, Gypsum Security came into the room and grabbed them. Mei could still feel the tenderness on her arm, where the security guard grabbed her and pulled her toward the door. They were taken down a series of winding corridors, eventually ending up in an auditorium. She and Leah were pushed into the room and detained with a large group, what Mei estimated must be almost five thousand people. They sat at a table off in a corner of the room. For some reason, they both had bandages on the backs of their necks. Leah said she thought they might have been drugged or immunized, but Mei felt the back of her neck underneath the bandage and realized an incision had been made. She was terrified they would never be able to find Jodie if they didn’t get out of the room they were in.
"They put something in our necks, Leah. I think we’re in trouble," Mei said, noticing several armed guards positioned by the only set of doors she could see. On the opposite side of the auditorium, meals were being served from a cafeteria. Mei wondered what was going on, watching the jovial atmosphere and the sheer volume of food being produced and provided to the detainees.
"What in the world do you think they're celebrating?" Mei asked.
Leah shrugged.
"Why don't I try to find out?" Mei stood up and approached an older woman sitting at a nearby table. "Say, can you tell me what's going on today?"
"Well, honey, don’t you know? They’re starting the roll call soon. We’ll be boarding."
Mei realized she would be bringing attention to herself by continuing to ask questions, but thought she’d push a little further. "Boarding? What are we boarding? A train?"
"Well, of course, sweetie. We take a train to the boarding area. You’re quite a joker, aren’t you?" The woman looked at Mei, apparently bewildered.
Mei decided she pushed her far enough, so responded, "Just a little travel humor," and giggled, not stopping until the woman joined her in laughter. She walked back to Leah and sat down, speaking quietly. "I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but apparently, we’re going for a ride. First we're taking a train. Then we're getting on something else. My guess is probably not on a train, plane or automobile, though." No response came and Mei looked over at Leah, who appeared to be in extreme pain. "You know, they’ve got everything else here. Why don’t I see if I can round up some pain meds for you?"
Leah nodded and Mei got up from the chair and headed toward the cafeteria to see what she could find. Halfway there, a man stood up and started speaking. "Oh, happy day. We’re almost ready to go. Let’s get our inventory out of the way so we’re ready by the time they come to pick us up. Everyone get in your groups and we’ll come around with the reader."
Mei continued to make her way to the cafeteria, but watched as a group of Gypsum Security guards moved through the room with hand-held electronic equipment. As they approached people, they waved the equipment on the back of their neck. Mei assumed people were being scanned, like food at the grocery store. With each wave of the scanner, a name would appear on a large screen in the front of the room and cheers would erupt from the family and friends of the person. Mei was starting to feel like something was crawling inside her. She realized whatever was in her neck was part of the inventory process. They'd been catalogued. She continued toward the cafeteria counter and asked where medical supplies were kept.
"Did you forget your personal kit?" the woman behind the counter asked.
Mei thought she should just go with it. "Yeah, I’ve been so forgetful, what with today coming up and all the excitement."
"Don’t worry, we’ve got extras," the woman said, walking through a swinging door and returning with a medical kit about the size of a cigar box. "Here you go. Now, hang onto this one. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, you know."
"I will. I promise," Mei said, thanking the woman and turning back toward where Leah sat watching the names scroll down the huge screen. When she arrived at the table, she opened the box to find a variety of medications, none of which she recognized. Mei leaned over to a man sitting at the next table and asked, "When you’re in pain, which one of these works best for you?"
"Oh, I like that one," he said, pointing to a small foil package. "It lets you keep on your toes."
"Thanks for the recommendation, sir," Mei said.
The man leaned closer to Mei. "Of course, if you really want to feel good … not during work hours or that kind of thing … well, you know what I mean ... I would take that one," he said, pointing to a vial of small pink pills.
Mei nodded, smiling. "I know what you mean. Sometimes you need a little boost, right?"
The man laughed and nodded, turning back to the group at his table. Mei returned her focus to Leah.
"Okay, Leah, wanna take the edge off or get massively stoned?" Mei asked.
"Well, the time for taking the edge off has come and gone, so I’ll take massively stoned, please." Leah smiled.
Mei laughed and discreetly took out one of the pills. "Better try only one at a time. Who knows what these things have in them." She hande
d the capsule to Leah, closed the first aid kit, and prayed the medication would at least blunt the pain for a while.
They sat in silence for about twenty more minutes, Leah periodically smiling at Mei and nodding, then staring off into space. "Good stuff, huh, Leah?" Mei laughed, watching her drift in and out of awareness. Mei was starting to think she might benefit from taking one of those pills. Her anxiety was starting to peak again. She felt frustrated, not knowing what to do now. Yet, it was clear Leah couldn't really move at the moment, so there was nothing to be done. Besides, she didn't know what she could possibly do. The doors were guarded and she was aware Gypsum would go to great lengths to eliminate people. She resigned herself to wait and see what happened.
"You bet. Oh, here comes our scanner man. How wonderful," Leah said.
Mei hoped they wouldn’t be able to tell how stoned her companion was at the moment, but there was no need to worry as the scan was over for both of them in a matter of seconds. She worried she might hear an alarm or something when the scanner passed over her neck, but their names appeared, along with all the others.
"Wow, it’s kind of a nice feeling to see your name on the big screen, now, isn’t it?" Leah said.
Mei watched as their names scrolled toward the bottom. She was mesmerized by the hundreds of names that crept down the screen and wondered what the hell all these people were doing underground, seemingly elated to be part of something big that was about to take place. Mei sat in silence, not knowing what to do and feeling helpless in their situation. She stood up to stretch, looking over the people milling about in the room, and noticed a young red-haired woman making her way across the auditorium, steadily moving in their direction. The woman smiled as she picked her way through the crowd. She approached Leah, squatted down next to her chair and spoke quietly.
