by Cross, Amy
Finally, somehow, I manage to make my way along the corridor.
Everything's going to be fine.
I keep telling myself that.
Stop assuming the worst.
Reaching the door, I head through and then I look at the spot where Bob's body fell.
He's gone.
The blood stain is still there, and it's clear that no teams have been here to tidy up and remove valuables. As I take a step forward, however, there's no mistaking the fact that Bob's body – which has been here for months and months, ever since I killed him – has suddenly disappeared. As voices yell and holler outside, I stare at the spot where Bob fell and I feel a sense of horror starting to creep slowly but surely up though my chest until it reaches my throat and seems to expand until I'm not even sure I can still breathe.
And then, a moment later, I hear a growling sound coming from over my shoulder.
Thomas
We reach the farm late, just before sundown. I thought the journey would take a little longer, but in all the chaos I guess I got my geography a little mixed up. And as the car comes to a halt at the end of the dirt road, I feel a sense of fear in my chest.
When I left this place, almost two hundred days ago, I wasn't sure that I'd ever make it back.
“You okay, Tommy?” Katrina asks finally, after the others have sat in silence for a moment.
“Yeah,” I reply, opening the door and stepping out.
I swear, I recognize the feel of the ground under my feet. Of this ground. Edgewater family farm ground, the same ground I walked on and ran on and played on while I was growing up. I recognize the smell in the air, too, and a moment later the trees rustle gently in a high breeze as if to remind me that they're still here.
The house, however, is gone.
I knew that would be the case. After all, I set fire to the place before I left, to get rid of any chance that Mom might come back. She was sick toward the end, and there was no way I could have allowed her to become one of those things. I can see a dark patch on the ground, where the house used to stand, along with a pile of rubble. In the low light, it's difficult to make much out, but I guess Mom's bone are in there somewhere. Lydia's bones, too. Maybe I can pull them out some time and give them a proper burial. Mom would definitely like that.
“I don't see any sign of anyone,” Riley points out after a moment.
“Me neither,” I reply, before stepping around the car and starting to make my way toward the ruins of the farmhouse.
I glance around, but there's clearly no-one here. In my heart of hearts, maybe I knew that finding Martha here would be a longshot, but I still clung to the hope that maybe a miracle would happen. Now, as I reach the edge of the rubble, I realize that my search is going to continue. A moment later I hear footsteps nearby, and I turn to see that Riley and Katrina have come over to join me. Even Mikey has left the car, and the guy has finally stopped yelling threats and insults.
“So this is where you grew up, huh?” Katrina mutters. “Nice. A little bit out in the middle of nowhere, but I guess I can see the appeal.”
“It's... rustic,” Riley adds. “How did you not go out of your mind with boredom?”
“We kept ourselves busy,” I reply, although those days feel so long ago now. I pause for a moment, wondering what to do next, but finally I realize that there's no point being here.
I need to leave a note for Martha, and then I need to carry on to Kansas and then find a way to get to California from there.
“Okay,” I say, turning to head back to the car, “does anyone have -”
“What's that?” Riley asks suddenly, looking past me.
I turn, not expecting to see much, but then I realize that there's a very faint orange glow in the distance, flickering deep in the forest.
“It's a fire,” Katrina says, stepping closer to me, “but it looks... contained.”
I start making my way toward the forest, while reminding myself that there still aren't going to be any miracles. I can hear Riley and the others hurrying behind me, but I start running until finally I reach a small clearing. Sure enough, there's a tent set between two of the trees, while a fire burns gently in a small pit. There are various pots and pans nearby, and a moment later I spot what looks like some skinned rabbits hanging from a line. When I take another step forward, I spot a small pile of books next to the tent, and then I see that a little further off thereæs another line with various items of clothing pegged into place.
Someone has been camping here.
“Thomas?”
Startled, I turn around and see a silhouetted figure watching from nearby. There's a pause, and then she takes a step forward until the light from the fire reaches her. A dancing orange glow picks out her face, but I see that one of her eyes is missing, and a moment later I notice that her right arm has also been severed just above the elbow. She's wearing tattered clothing, and there are multiple thick, recent scars criss-crossing her throat and the top of her chest. She's staring at me with her one remaining eye, as if she can't quite believe what she's seeing, and frankly I feel the same way. In fact, it takes several more seconds before I'm finally able to say her name.
“Martha!”
Epilogue
Several years ago
“I'm so glad you came!” Maddy yelled at Joseph, struggling to be heard over the music in the diner, which had turned out to be more of a bar. “I kinda half expected you to not show up!”
“Why wouldn't I show up?” he asked, shocked by the suggestion.
“I don't know.” She paused, as the band on the stage continued to play. “I guess I'm not used to people wanting to talk. Most of the other workers at Project Atherius are very much loners. They tend to shuffle away at the end of the day and avoid any contact at all.”
“Not me!” Joseph said with a grin. “I mean, I'm not exactly an extrovert, either, but I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to show up to a night like this. Even if this kind of music isn't exactly my favorite.”
“So last night,” she replied, “I might have said some things that I should have kept to myself. You haven't mentioned our conversation to anyone, have you?”
“Absolutely not,” he told her. “Anything you say to me, stays between the two of us.”
She looked around for a moment, as if she was searching for someone in the crowd.
“You seem nervous,” Joseph added.
“Project Atherius was a great opportunity for me,” she continued, turning back to him. “I came out of college and got head-hunted to come here, it was like a dream come true. And it still is, in some ways. It's just... I can't shake the feeling that maybe what I'm contributing to, what I'm helping bring into reality... isn't something good.”
“In what way?”
“I don't know, I don't understand, it's just a sense I get from little things I hear. For example, why are we working on propulsion systems that seem more like something NASA would be involved with?”
“I didn't know we were,” he replied.
“And why are we trying to develop some kind of highly contagious virus?”
“I assumed that was because we need to guard against these things,” he told her. “You know, sometimes you have to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.”
“But what if we're the bad guys?”
“We're not the bad guys,” he replied.
“How would we know?”
“Because we're just not!” he pointed out. “I mean, I'm not a bad guy. You're not a bad guy, are you? Or, rather, a bad girl?” He hesitated. “That sounded totally wrong, didn't it?”
“They're planning something,” she explained. “I keep seeing mention of a three hundred and sixty-five day program. Basically an entire year, with each day mapped out based on an expected rate of progress. It's like they're planning on starting something on day one and then following it through until exactly one year later.”
“That's not necessarily a sign that anything's wrong,” he pointed out.
“You don't understand!” she hissed. “This is a global conspiracy! If they were working to understand these viruses in order to counteract terrorists, they'd be sharing information with other major research centers. But they're not. The way they're acting, it's almost as if...”
Her voice trailed off.
“As if what?” he asked.
“It's almost as if they're planning to release this thing. As if Project Atherius itself is some kind of bio-terror attack. In part, at least. There's definitely more to it than that, but the bio-terror part seems to be key.” She watched his face for a moment. “You don't believe me, do you?” she added. “I've arranged a meeting with a guy for tomorrow morning. He's from the Boston Metropolitan Institute for Communicable Disease Prevention and Study.”
“That's something of a mouthful,” he pointed out.
“I think he might be able to help me,” she continued. “I need to identify the precise nature of this virus, but I have to hurry because this guy's starting a research program soon. After January, I won't be able to contact Leonard Cole for a whole year. He's going to be stuck underground somewhere near Lake Erie.”
“What kind of research project is that?” he asked.
“I want you to take this,” she said, reaching into her pocket and then taking out a USB stick, which she pressed into his right hand. “Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I want you to hang onto it. If anything happens to me, tomorrow or any time after that, look at the contents of that drive. But not before. Do you understand?”
“Sure, but -”
“And there's one more thing I want you to know,” she added. “I would never kill myself, Joseph. No matter how bad things get, I will never go that route. So if anything happens to me and people claim that I did, I need you to remember that it's not true. It means they suspected me. It means they got to me.”
“Maddy,” he replied, “I -”
“I trust you,” she said firmly, as she got to her feet. “I don't know why, but I can see it in your eyes. You're a good person. I walked past you when you were arriving for your first day, when you were with Mr. Carver. You and I made eye contact, and I immediately recognized a good soul.” She squeezed his hand tight, and then she leaned close and gave him a brief kiss on the left side of his face. “I'm trusting you,” she added. “I need you to trust me in return.”
“Of course,” he said.
“I need you to really mean it!”
“Of course,” he said again, a little flustered now by her insistence.
He waited, but she merely stared into his eyes for a few seconds before mumbling something and rushing out of the diner, pushing her way past the other customers.
“Hey!” Joseph called out, hurrying after her but quickly finding that his way was blocked. “Excuse me,” he stammered, trying to squeeze between the patrons. “Sorry, do you mind if I get past? It's important.”
By the time he reached the parking lot, however, Maddy was gone. He'd seen her arrive in her car, and now that bay was empty. She'd been so nervous, she hadn't even given him her phone number, so he had no way to contact her, and now he was left standing all alone in the cold night air.
“Great,” he muttered, as he looked down at the USB drive in his hand. “This isn't weird at all.”
***
The following morning, Joseph stepped into the main reception area of the Project Atherius building and immediately realized that something was wrong. People were standing around looking shocked, and several had tears in their eyes.
“What is it?” he asked.
Getting no answer, he turned to several other people, but nobody seemed able or willing to speak to him. Finally spotting one of his key colleagues up ahead, he made his way over.
“What's going on, Martin?” he asked.
“It's so terrible,” Martin replied. “Didn't you hear? One of the girls from the propulsion lab killed herself last night. Apparently she was found this morning, dead in her car. She'd gassed herself.”
“But...”
Joseph hesitated, but he was already starting to feel a sense of panic in his chest.
“Who?” he asked finally. “Who died? Tell me her name!”
“I didn't know her personally,” Martin replied. “Apparently she tended to keep herself to herself. Her name was Madeleine Crozier, she -”
“Maddy!” Joseph gasped, shocked by the news.
“Did you know her?”
Joseph hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to answer.
“Yes,” he said finally. “No. I mean, I don't... I'm not sure.”
“It's going to be tough for everyone,” Martin replied, “but we all understood from the start that working here wouldn't be easy. I guess the pressure was just too much for some people to take.” He patted Joseph on the shoulder and then turned to walk away. “Look after yourself. Remember, they have counselors available here if you ever need to talk. I know it can be tempting to try to go it alone, but that's not always healthy. With the kind of pressure we're already under in our day to day lives, even a little more can be enough to mess us up. Seriously, Joseph, don't feel that it's a weakness if you need to seek help. It's actually a sign of strength.”
“Maddy,” Joseph whispered, as he thought back to the previous night at the diner.
“I would never kill myself, Joseph,” he remembered her insisting. “No matter how bad things get, I will never go that route. So if anything happens to me and people claim that I did, I need you to remember that it's not true. It means they suspected me. It means they got to me.”
It was almost as if she'd known.
Stepping back, Joseph leaned against the wall, and for a moment he thought he might actually be throw up.
“Are you okay there?” a voice asked.
Turning, Joseph saw that a man had wandered over to check on him. He'd seen the man around a few times since his first day, although they'd never actually spoken.
“I'm fine,” he replied, “thanks. It's just...”
“Did you know the dead woman?”
“A little.” He hesitated, still waiting for the awfulness of the situation to sink in. “It's just so shocking.”
“I can imagine,” the man replied. “I'm afraid I'm the one who had to bring the news to the office this morning. I was involved in the autopsy in the middle of the night.”
“And she really killed herself?”
“There's no doubt about it whatsoever,” the man said. “Obviously we were careful to look for signs of foul play, especially given her role here at Project Atherius, but honestly there was nothing. It looks like she simply let the pressure build up until it was too much, and then she decided to end the pain. I've got to admit, it was horrible seeing her in the car. I've got a daughter myself, and a son too. I hate the pressures that people feel in the modern world.”
“She was...”
Joseph hesitated, and his mind was racing as he thought back to his previous conversation with Maddy.
“I have to go and take a meeting with Mr. Carver,” the man replied, “but I'll be around all day. If you need to talk to someone, don't hesitate to tap me on the shoulder, okay? I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.”
He waited for an answer, and then he held a hand out to Joseph.
“What's your name?” he asked.
“Joseph,” Joseph stammered, shaking his hand limply. “I... I work here.”
“I wish I could have met you under better circumstances, Joseph,” the man replied. “My name's Marter. Doctor John Marter. I have a feeling that you and I are going to be seeing a lot more of one another over the next few months.”
COMING SOON
Days 203 to 210
(Mass Extinction Event book 10)
ALREADY AVAILABLE
1. Days 1 to 4
2. Days 5 to 8
3. Days 9 to 16
4. Days 46 to 53
5. Days 54 to 61
6. Day 100
7.
Days 101 to 108
8. Days 109 to 116
9. Days 195 to 202
BOOKS BY AMY CROSS
1. Dark Season: The Complete First Series (2011)
2. Werewolves of Soho (Lupine Howl book 1) (2012)
3. Werewolves of the Other London (Lupine Howl book 2) (2012)
4. Ghosts: The Complete Series (2012)
5. Dark Season: The Complete Second Series (2012)
6. The Children of Black Annis (Lupine Howl book 3) (2012)
7. Destiny of the Last Wolf (Lupine Howl book 4) (2012)
8. Asylum (The Asylum Trilogy book 1) (2012)
9. Dark Season: The Complete Third Series (2013)
10. Devil's Briar (2013)
11. Broken Blue (The Broken Trilogy book 1) (2013)
12. The Night Girl (2013)
13. Days 1 to 4 (Mass Extinction Event book 1) (2013)
14. Days 5 to 8 (Mass Extinction Event book 2) (2013)
15. The Library (The Library Chronicles book 1) (2013)
16. American Coven (2013)
17. Werewolves of Sangreth (Lupine Howl book 5) (2013)
18. Broken White (The Broken Trilogy book 2) (2013)
19. Grave Girl (Grave Girl book 1) (2013)
20. Other People's Bodies (2013)
21. The Shades (2013)
22. The Vampire's Grave and Other Stories (2013)
23. Darper Danver: The Complete First Series (2013)
24. The Hollow Church (2013)
25. The Dead and the Dying (2013)
26. Days 9 to 16 (Mass Extinction Event book 3) (2013)
27. The Girl Who Never Came Back (2013)
28. Ward Z (The Ward Z Series book 1) (2013)
