“Copy, Q-team Beta suiting up. ETA fifteen minutes.”
“Roger. Officer Kembrey will be waiting for you with a report.”
The radio went silent. The faces around the gloomy turbine room were solemn but calm. One by one they peeled off and went back to work.
“They’re just jumpy, Boss. Probably seeing symptoms where there aren’t any because they heard about this morning. Can’t blame them, they spent the most time with Pazzo,” said Paul. Dan nodded, but he kept the radio with him.
Sevita could hear tools drop every once in a while or a distant swear as someone banged a thumb and she wondered how many were just nervous and how many were about to succumb to the illness. A series of sharp pops made her jump and then a loud shout from the radio. “Q-team Beta to dispatch. Come in.”
“Dispatch here, what’s the situation?”
“We need back up. Numerous In— numerous exposures, including Officer Kembrey. The hea— the unexposed guards are shooting them and refuse to let us in.” There was a shriek in the background. “Shit,” said the voice.
The woman’s voice returned. “Refusing to let you in?”
“They think we’re here to liquidate the entire prison. We won’t be able to retake the prison without some casualties. We need back up.”
“Negative,” said the woman smoothly, “Q-team alpha is handling the power plant exposures. No one else is trained for this. You will have to find a way to talk the guards down.”
There was a long silence. Another burst of exploding pops echoed through the turbine room and the soldier said hesitantly, “And if we can’t?”
The response was immediate. “You are authorized to use all necessary force to contain this.”
“Understood,” said the soldier and the radio went silent again.
After a handful of silent seconds, the workers went back to their tasks. But most of the people were only pretending to work at that point, each eyeing their neighbors or analyzing their own little episodes of clumsiness from the previous weeks. Dan’s soldiers were tense and kept glancing at the radio. Sevita was torn between the pull of the radio and missing something or fleeing to the upper levels for a breath of unsuspicious air with no one watching. She picked up the lunch trash, trying to decide. Curiosity won out in the end, she delayed bringing up the crumbled remnants of bread and ancient butcher paper back up to the kitchen long enough to hear the radio spark to life again. “Power Plant security team, this is dispatch, come in.”
Dan picked up the radio and watched the people around him turn toward him. He caught Paul’s eye, who subtly signaled the other soldiers. Sevita watched them slowly move into position around the back of the crowd and felt her skin tighten into goosebumps. Nobody else seemed to notice.
“Sergeant Wilson reporting. What’s our situation?” he said at last.
“Dan, it’s Barb. I wanted someone you know to tell you. We’ve just sent a Q-team to the prison. One of the nurses attacked a guard. A few minutes later, when Officer Kembrey was notified of the situation, he went berserk. The other guards tried to hold off both the Q-team and the— the exposed in a shootout. There are several guards injured and Kembrey... well, Kembrey was shot. The nurse will be on her way to qu— the hospital shortly.” There was a long pause. “Dan? Are you there?”
“I copy,” he said. “Are the tests conclusive?”
“They haven’t come back yet. The Military Governor isn’t waiting for confirmation. He’s ordered a curfew while Q-teams go door to door to track exposure. And the City gates were closed an hour ago... He wanted me to ask about restoring power.”
Dan glanced at the plant manager. The thin, nervous man shrugged. “Half power for emergency purposes— another day, maybe?” he squeaked.
“Another 24 hours, Barb,” said Dan into the radio.
“Understood,” the voice popped and sputtered. “A supply drop from the Farm will be delivered to your Q-team in the morning. Just hang tight and keep cool in there. We have people notifying families. I’ll call again when I have more info.”
“Thanks, Barb.”
“I’m— I’m so sorry Dan.”
“Me too.”
The radio went silent. No one moved. Dan looked up at the crowd of faces. “If— if you need to take some time...” he started and trailed off. “There’s still a chance—” he tried again.
Sevita shook her head and turned around to face the others. “Look,” she said, “We all know what this means. We can try to deny it or get angry about it, but it won’t change what is going to happen. If you need a break, take it. But remember that we’re all running out of time. If we’re lucky, they’ve isolated it. But they’ll need power if they’re going to survive, if they’re going to find another cure. We can give it to them. You can be remembered as heroes, instead of just as Infected.”
A few of the Cured touched a scar self-consciously. The plant manager cleared his throat. “Maybe we can take a half hour coffee break and then reconvene,” he said meekly. Sevita smiled to herself. There hadn’t been real coffee in the City in almost five years. But invoking it still got people moving. She turned to Dan.
“I know you don’t want to cause a panic and maybe you don’t want to admit even to yourself what’s happening,” she said very quietly. “I don’t blame you. But time is going by whether you want it to or not. Some of these people have been side by side with Glist since his exposure. How much time until they turn too? Minutes? Hours? Days? You need to have a plan for when they do. Do you even have any orders?”
Dan shook his head. “We were relieved of duty when the Q-team showed up and determined we were exposed. They ought to have taken our weapons. They are only keeping radio contact with us because Barb is a friend. We’re just stuck in here like you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Sevita bluntly, “these people need someone to look to. You have to lead them or they will riot. And you need to tell your men what the plan is now, or it will be chaos when the time comes. Are you going to isolate the people that turn? Do you have enough room? Are you going to shoot them? Do you have enough bullets?”
He blanched as the reality hit him. “I— I can’t shoot them,” he whispered, leaning down toward her, “what if they find a cure?”
Sevita shook her head and then glanced around to be sure no one had wandered into earshot. “I went to Dr. Carton’s mansion with Dr. Rider to ask him about the second strain of Plague bacteria. He confirmed it was incurable. Nella explained it to me later— something about the outside of the bacteria. She told me that not only was there no cure, but that there never could be one. It’s an impossibility. So put it out of your mind.”
Dan stood up. “No offense,” he said, “but I don’t know you. You’ll forgive me if I don’t take your word for it.”
Sevita shrugged. “I just think you should have all the information, but it’s your choice. You’re in charge for as long as you can hold on to it.” She walked away with her tray back up to the kitchen.
She wasn’t going to sit in the dark plant and play waitress until the Plague made her insane or the others slaughtered each other. And she wasn’t going to wait for Dan to come out of denial. Christine was in trouble. The City was in trouble. A curfew and a lightly guarded front gate weren’t going to stop it from spreading. The first Plague had taken over a month to show symptoms. Was the new strain the same? How many people had the goldsmith come in contact with in the past month? What about the nurse? It wouldn’t take much, just a trip to the Farm. Once someone at the Farm got it, the entire City would have been exposed. It must have happened weeks ago. How many people had gone out of the City since then? How far had it spread?
She dropped the dirty tray onto the steel counter. The other woman jumped at the sound.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, “Are you— are you sick?” the woman made a grab for the knife rack. Sevita was too deep in thought to realize it. The City was fairly isolated, people kept to themselves and the walls. Chances were, the only people tha
t had been beyond the large concrete Barrier, had been the scavenging teams and they routinely stayed away from other outside people for their own safety. Maybe the rest of the world was in luck. Maybe it hadn’t spread outside yet.
“I asked if you were sick,” said the woman, inching her way forward, the knife shaking in her hand. Sevita was half turned from her, looking toward the doorway.
It WILL spread, she thought, as soon as anyone finds out, they’ll try to flee, gate or no gate. They’ll get in the boats at the harbor or go through the smuggler’s niches or overwhelm the gate. Unless someone prevents it. Unless WE prevent it. Sevita sprinted for the cafeteria door, intending to get to the turbine room and Dan’s men. But the other woman leaped after her, convinced Sevita had turned.
“Infected!” screamed the woman and tackled Sevita, who fell face first onto the dirty linoleum. The knife twisted out of the woman’s hand with the impact and clattered away after slicing the loose sleeve of Sevita’s shirt. She struggled to turn over and push the woman off, but the woman grabbed her arms and kept screaming. She could hear the frantic thud of booted feet running up the stairs nearby. She realized nobody would believe she was healthy if she continued to fight, so she went limp and tried not to grunt as the woman pressed down on Sevita’s back painfully with one knee.
Dan’s soldiers surrounded her, she was in a tight circle of gray boots. She knew if she turned over and looked up, half a dozen guns would also be pointed at her. Sevita didn’t want to see.
“She slammed a tray. I asked her if she was turning and she wouldn’t answer. She hasn’t said a word— it’s the turn, I know it!” the woman was alternately sobbing and screaming as Dan pulled her gently off of Sevita. She had a second to feel pity for the woman, who was obviously terrified. She hadn’t meant to scare her. She twisted slowly onto her back, her arms raised to show she was still rational.
“I’m not sick,” she said calmly, “I’m sorry if I frightened anyone.”
The room was becoming crowded as more and more people piled in. The man who had caught her tray on the stairs poked an accusing finger between the shoulders of two soldiers. “She is, she tripped on the stairs, I saw it. There wasn’t anything to trip on. She’s got it, she’s Infected.”
The soldiers looked at each other but didn’t move. “Well?” asked the man, “you can’t let her go on like this, she’s going to rip someone’s throat out any minute. What are you going to do? Let her infect us all?”
Sevita sighed. “Yes, I’m infected,” she began and she heard the crowd behind the soldiers gasp, “And you’re infected. And everyone around you is infected. We’re all infected. We’re all going to turn. But I just had lunch and I’m not craving anyone in particular right now, so could I get up, please?”
Paul reached a hand down to help her up and Dan motioned for the others to put away their weapons. The man who had pointed at her spluttered. “I’m not infected, I’m perfectly healthy. How dare you?”
“Listen,” she snapped, growing impatient, “you all worked side by side with Glist every day for weeks after he was exposed. You’ve got it. I can’t infect you any more than you already are. Make your peace with it.” She brushed herself off as the soldiers herded the crowd out of the room and back to work. Dan stayed behind.
“Were you testing me?” he growled, “wanted to see what I’d do?”
“No,” said Sevita, “I’m not stupid enough to risk my life betting on you not shooting.”
“Then why didn’t you answer her when she asked if you were sick?”
“I was distracted with more important things.”
“More important than a knife in your face?” he asked, picking the blade up from the floor.
“You aren’t stupid. Neither are most of these people. There’s no way this infection is contained. And if they haven’t realized that yet, it’s only because the adrenaline hasn’t worn off. Once they do, they are going to believe they and their families are immune. Every single one of them is going to think that they are the one healthy exception. And they aren’t going to wait in here while they believe their family is in danger of being attacked out there. They will escape whether you want them to or not.”
Dan shook his head. “The Q-team won’t allow it.”
“You sure? Do you have any idea how many buried electric lines are in this city? I bet there are some workers leaving through the tunnel system right now. The Q-team didn’t do a head count before they left. They have no idea who has left or how.”
Dan darted toward the door. “Why are you bothering?” called Sevita. He looked back at her. “Whole City is already infected, remember? What do you care if they go home?”
He came back hissing a whisper at her. “I don’t care if they go home, I’d go home to my own wife if I could. I care if they go outside the City. We have to keep it behind the Barrier. What if they go to that new Cured colony? They’ll infect everyone there. I’ve got a son out there, left with the first wave. Maybe he’s safe. Maybe they’re all safe.”
Sevita nodded. “Now you’re getting it. No matter how tight a lid the military keeps on gossip, people are going to start noticing that something’s wrong. I figure we have a few days at most.”
Dan snorted. “You’re one to talk. You’ve been filming this whole time. You’re just waiting until the power gets flipped back on to broadcast it everywhere.”
Sevita shook her head. “I’m not going to broadcast this. What’s the point? It would only cause more heartache and violence. That guy wanted you to shoot me because I tripped on the stairs. What would happen if the whole City was thinking the same things? No, this news doesn’t need me to spread it. Glist and the nurse must have gone to the Farm for groceries within a week of exposure. Which means the rest of us are at most a week behind them in the incubation period. Someone’s got to close off the City— or destroy it, before people start showing symptoms and before someone blabs.”
“Destroy the City? Not everyone will get infected. We don’t even know if it works the same way. Maybe not everyone who is infected will turn. Maybe instead of living with it for years, our bodies will fight it off. You can’t deny people a chance to survive—”
“Which is why someone needs to block it off instead. Destroy any means of exit. We have the Farm, we have the bay and the river. We can survive for a long time without the outside world. And nobody will have time to repair the exits until we’ve dealt with the infection, one way or another. By the time anyone gets in or out again, the Plague will have run its course.”
Dan stared at her for a long moment. “Do you understand what you’re saying? You’re saying we should trap healthy people inside the Barrier with the Infected and force them to fight and kill each other until the disease is beaten or everyone is dead. I have a wife in the City. What if she’s immune and I’m not?”
“Do you really think being inside the Barrier is going to change their fate? If we let people go outside, they’ll just bring the violence and the Plague with them. So instead of dying in the City, your wife will die outside. And your son at the Cured colony will die along with her, because the Plague will spread. The first places people will go will be where there are other people, because it seems safe.”
Dan shook his head. “Don’t you have anyone you care about here? Isn’t there some spark of feeling in you that wants to protect them?”
Sevita felt tears prickle in the corners of her eyes. She tried to blink them away. “I have a wife in the City, too. A pregnant wife. But sending her outside won’t save her. I have to hope she stays in a safe place until it’s all over. I have to hope they are both immune.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. It’s just—”
“That I’m gay?” offered Sevita with a bitter smile.
“No. It’s that you’re Immune.”
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“Some of you treat other people, especially people like me, as expendable. Even other Immunes. The governm
ent had to create an office to compel you to have children, to form basic family units. I just didn’t really expect you to care about anything except your own survival.”
Sevita was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry we seem so selfish. But I really can’t blame you for thinking it either. I’ve seen how Immunes treat you. I can’t even pretend I haven’t done the same on occasion. But Christine— well, I didn’t need the Department of Human Reproductive Services to tell me I loved her. And I owe her.”
“And blowing up the only escape routes out of the City is how you’re going to repay her?”
“It’s how I’m going to ensure there’s something of humanity left, even after she and I are gone. I hope she’s immune. I hope she makes it. But we agreed to the pregnancy in the hope that everything we’ve gone through wasn’t for nothing. She’d want something to survive, even if it’s not her or the baby.”
It sounded cold even to Sevita, and she blushed. Dan dropped it.
“How are we supposed to do this?” he asked.
“You’re asking me? I don’t know the first thing about blowing up stuff. I guess I could go try to burn all the boats in the harbor. Or try to launch them all to drift out to sea. I thought you’d be able to help with that part, you know, military stuff. Dynamite or something.”
“I don’t even know how we’re supposed to get out of the building without causing a panic,” said Dan.
Sevita shrugged. “We can leave through the tunnels.”
“That might work for you, I could cover for you if anyone asked where you were, but my men would notice if I went missing within minutes. And I don’t think you can do this on your own. Hell, I don’t even think we’re going to be able to do it together.”
“Do you trust your men?”
“Even with this.”
“The rest of the plant already thinks I’m Infected. If you let your men know the plan, I can pretend to turn and drag you down one of the exit tunnels. But if we just do it, they’ll shoot me. Or you. Or both.”
“Do you know where the exit tunnel is?” Dan asked.
Poveglia (After the Cure Book 4) Page 4
