Hopper stood away from the console and nodded at them both. “It’s done. The departure lounge and airlock is all systems go again. The Hermes should be back online.”
Boss grunted. “Then it’s decided.”
Lexi sprang forward and threw her arms around her father. “I love you, dad.”
“I love you too, sweetheart. I’m sorry I dragged you up here. I honestly never thought… I was told only to assemble a squad I trusted and who could keep a secret. I thought of you, but if I’d known…”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s only okay as long as you get back to Earth.”
“I’ll get her home,” Hopper said confidently.
“Good, now get out of here before I blow this place up with you in it.”
Hopper holstered his gun and saluted. Lexi decided to do so, too. “It’s been a pleasure, Commander,” she said.
“Dismissed, Lieutenant.”
Lexi smiled at her father for the very last time and left.
Chapter Fifteen
The journey down the multiple floors of the Astronomer’s Finger was much easier than the one up it, but it still left each of them out of breath by the time they reached the bottom. Hopper sat Lexi down on a bench and went to go fetch her a drink from a nearby snack bar. The exhaustion didn’t come only from her muscles and bones, but from her mind, too. She had witnessed hundreds of deaths, and knew that the actual number totalled thousands, but now she had just left her father to commit suicide. Her mind was being pulled in a dozen different directions and each and every yank threatened to snap her psyche in two.
Hopper returned with two coffees. It was steaming hot and the smell instantly brought back Lexi’s focus.
“The machine was still on,” Hopper said. “I literally could not ask for anything better right now.”
Lexi took a sip of the hot beverage and burned her lips, but didn’t care. She exhaled with pleasure. “Wow, I needed that.”
“You okay?” he said. “I mean, considering…”
She nodded. “It is what it is. We have to get out of here. I’ll save any breakdowns for back on Earth. This isn’t the place.”
“Your father is a hero.”
“No, he’s not. Placing weapons at Grand Galaxies put every single guest here at risk, and he knew that. We should be moving past all this bullshit. It’s almost the 22nd Century and countries are still trying to one up each other. I think that’s why I must have become a cosmonaut; to get away from all the bullshit on Earth. Well, that, and trying to get closer to my illustrious father. If I hadn’t joined the corps I probably would only have ever seen him at Christmas. Maybe that would have been better.”
Hopper nodded understandingly. “The world needs men like your father, but when they come along it’s their families who suffer. The future never stops arriving, Lexi. Tomorrow is always just out of reach, and as long as that’s true, there’s always the chance that things will get better.”
“There won’t be a tomorrow if the League of Joa release the virus back home.”
“We won’t let that happen, Lexi. We’ll warn everybody. They’ll find a way to fight it if it ever happens.”
She smiled mirthlessly. “Wish I could be the unflappable hero like you. Were you the same way when you took down that Russian Destroyer all by yourself?”
Hopper looked away and down at the floor. “I never took down that Destroyer. It surrendered.”
“What?”
“The Russians on board were defectors. They wanted to give themselves up but were afraid of their own Government. They wanted asylum. I was only there to communicate with them, non-threateningly in my little Warrior, and take their demands. They asked for the British or American Space Corps to take them into custody, but we refused. I was there to track them, make sure they didn’t disappear. They never fired on me once and I never fired on them. Eventually they were so desperate that they begged me to turn back and just let them flee, but I refused. I was young and naïve, eager to impress my superiors. I believed that the Russian Government would deal with its defectors humanely, but when the convoy arrived it stormed the Destroyer and killed every last man on board. I watched their corpses jettison into space.”
Lexi blinked slowly. “Why did the Russian men surrender to their Government if they were so afraid?”
“Because when the Russian convoy arrived, it was accompanied by a British ambassador. Our man assured the defectors that they would be treated well and that Britain would oversee their sentencing and ensure their rights were maintained. It was a lie – a favour to the Russian President. The Russian Space Navy was welcomed aboard with open arms, but they slaughtered every last man. To ensure my silence, SABA covered me in medals and made me the most senior pilot in the corps with a heroic story to match. My entire career rests on a foundation of blood. Nothing I ever do will change that.”
“Why did you agree to keep it secret?” Lexi wasn’t judging, just curious to see why a man as unflappable as Hopper had not done the right thing.
“It was made very clear to me that I either took a medal for living courageously or a bullet for living carelessly. They made me piss my pants like some green recruit, Lexi. From that day forward I made sure I was the best damn pilot SABA had. If I became an institution, like your father, then they would have no threat great enough to cow me. If they ever tried to force my silence again, I would expose their secrets, and people would listen because I’m the most decorated pilot in the corps. I protected myself by being the best. Maybe they sent me here to get rid of me. Maybe SABA knew what we were walking into.”
Lexi shook her head. “My father would never have brought me here if he had any idea.”
“I suppose you’re right. Still, I don’t intend on dying up here. I’m going to make it back to Earth so I can finally be the thorn in SABA’s side that I always should have been. I used to think that those Russian defectors died because of me, but after seeing what’s happened here, I’ve realised that the people controlling who lives and who dies are wearing ties and sitting behind large desks. Perhaps it’s always been that way.”
Lexi nodded. “But as long as there’s a tomorrow, there’s a chance it might not always be that way.”
“Hell, yes.”
Lexi finished her coffee and stood up. “Let’s go home.”
They decided not to set off back through the Ice Lands, for they knew for sure that there were dead people somewhere within the amusement park, including the large pack that had swarmed Miller. They chose to travel from the base of the Astronomer’s Finger into the hotel and recreational grounds of Grand Galaxy. The first place they entered was a garden area outside of a spa and swimming pool facility. They stayed outside the buildings and kept to the gardens. The well-cultivated lawns and plants made it almost feel as if they were back on Earth. The ceiling overhead even had a blue sky projected onto it with fluffy white clouds drifting across it.
There were no obstacles as they passed through the garden and Lexi even felt herself begin to relax, which was probably the whole point. By the time they left the area and entered into the courtyard of one of the park’s hotels, they were unprepared for danger, which was why Hopper was caught completely off guard.
The bellhop leapt out from behind a pillar and fell on top of Hopper. Hopper was caught mid-stride and tripped over his own legs, tumbling onto his side. The bellhop would have taken a bite out of him if not for the fact Lexi wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him away. She fought to hold the dead man still while Hopper climbed back to his feet and aimed his pistol.
“Get clear,” he shouted.
Lexi shoved the bellhop in the back and sidestepped out of the way. Hopper lined up his shot and placed a round right through the bellhop’s eye. The gun’s report wasn’t particularly loud, about the same as a door slamming, but it was enough to encourage movement from inside the hotel.
Lexi was the first to notice. Inside the glass-fronted lobby of the hotel, several bod
ies appeared. Followed by dozens more. Before long there were a hundred more guests gathered inside the lobby, and all of them were dead.
Hopper stepped over the bellhop and pointed his pistol again, but he lowered it when he realised his intention of shooting them was farcical.
Bodies continued appearing in the lobby and the entire mob began moving towards the courtyard.
“There must be a thousand people crammed inside there,” Hopper said, overestimating a little but not by much.
“That’s where all the guests have been this whole time. They’re all packed up inside the hotels.”
Hopper was already walking backwards, poised to turn around and run. “When the shit hit the fan, people must have made for their rooms. Maybe security even called for the guests to do so. They must have been slaughtered like cattle.”
The first bodies pushed through the entryway and moved out into the courtyard. When they set eyes on Lexi and Hopper, they picked up speed.
Neither of them bothered to shout, “Run”, for they both knew the drill well enough by now. They fled the courtyard and moved into another garden area. When they reached the end of it and neared the next hotel courtyard, they were faced with yet another mob. The noise of the gunshot had travelled.
“We’re screwed,” Lexi said.
Hopper started letting off shots, taking down a few bodies, but it was a drop in the ocean. His gun soon ran dry and Lexi knocked it out of his hand. “That shooting will have just attracted even more.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, just be fast.”
They ran for their lives, dodging between probing hands and chattering teeth. At one point, Lexi fell into the grasp of a skinny woman in broken heels, but Hopper leapt up and kicked her away. Luckily, the woman’s heels were such a mess that she tottered over and let go of Lexi.
They carried on through the crowd, picking up an entourage of the dead as they tried to find safety. If the courtyard were any more cramped, they would be done for, but luckily it was a large open area and the dead tended to bunch together in small groups. For the time being there was still opportunity to cut a path.
Eventually the way ahead became blocked. There were just too many bodies now to navigate through, and a parked people mover lay right in their escape path.
Lexi ran into the people mover and put her back against it. The clean white electric vehicle had a small driver’s compartment at the front and an affixed carriage with four rows of benches at the back. Dead men and women closed in on all sides.
“There’s no escape,” Lexi said.
“Nope,” Hopper agreed.
A woman made a grab for Lexi and reflexively she grabbed the driver compartment’s door and swung it open by the handle. The aluminium edge struck the woman in the face and opened up the flesh from her left eye all the way down to her chin. Opening the door also did something else; it presented an option.
Hopper jumped inside the compartment and dragged Lexi in backwards after him. Understanding, she hooked the door with her foot and pulled it closed again.
Dead hands and teeth battered the windows immediately.
Hopper grabbed Lexi and pulled her up into a sitting position. “Are you okay?” he said. “Did any of them get you?”
“I don’t know.” She patted herself down. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Good, because I don’t drive with no zombie woman.” He pulled out the zipline from his comms unit and inserted it into the dashboard. Suddenly the cabin came to life with a dozen blinking lights.
Lexi smiled. At least Hopper was still thinking clearly. She would have sat in the cabin and wept, completely forgetting that the people movers at Grand Galaxies had computers that could be accessed and overridden.
Hopper pulled the lever and put the vehicle into drive. There were several bodies in front of them, trying to bust in through the windscreen, but by keeping their speed slow, Hopper was able to gradually shunt them out of the way. Once clear, he pulled the lever again and picked up speed. But it appeared that top speed was not much faster than a brisk jog. While it got them away from the murderous mob, the faster of their pursuers were able to keep up and even run alongside the vehicle.
“I can pee faster than this,” Hopper said, growling.
“Just keep going. At least it’s bought us some breathing space. Most of them are falling back.”
They made it onto a wide paved area that seemed to be for both pedestrians and people movers, for it contained both benches and abandoned people movers. Some of the pursuing dead people collided with the benches as they ran and fell to the ground, but there were still several dozen still giving chase.
A sign at the side of the road announced: TRANSPORTATION CENTRE.
“Head for that,” Lexi shouted.
“I hear you.” It would have been a good time to pick up speed, but as they were already maxed out, Hopper just kept them on the road and followed the correct path when the way forward split in two. The road ahead narrowed and was lined on either side by two grassy banks. It had the added bonus of corralling the pursuing dead and reducing their speed as a whole. Lexi and Hopper began to gain a little distance.
Ahead, the road split again. They had the option of continuing to the Transportation Centre, or heading right towards NEW ARRIVALS. Hopper took the right path, knowing where it would lead them.
“We’re almost back to the Hermes,” Lexi said. “We’ve almost made it.”
Hopper gritted his teeth and said, “You can rely on Space Hopper Airways to cover all your travelling needs.”
Lexi chuckled. She was almost giddy at the thought of reaching the terminal and getting back into the Hermes. Once they were back inside that cockpit, there would be no stopping them from making it back home.
But getting to the Hermes was not going to be as easy as they hoped. When they reached the terminal, someone was there waiting for them. Cog.
Chapter Sixteen
Hopper narrowed his eyes. “Cog!”
He slammed on the brake and brought the people mover to a stop in the middle of the road. The way it sat, slightly at an angle, meant that it blocked the entrance and would prevent the dead from getting through into the terminal. Lexi wondered if he did it on purpose. Even if he did, it wasn’t going to matter very much, for Cog was perfectly capable of killing them on his own.
Or not exactly on his own.
Standing with Cog was a line of humanoids, five in total. They stood to attention, somehow under his command.
“Get out of there,” Cog shouted at them. He still had the revolver from earlier and was pointing it right at them.
Lexi looked at Hopper. Hopper looked at Lexi.
“What should we do?” Lexi asked.
“I guess we do as the lovely man tells us.”
Lexi swallowed and then opened her door. She could hear and feel the banging from the rear of the people mover, and as she looked back she could see over the benches that there was a mob of dead people trying to get past the obstacle in their way.
“Come closer,” Cog said. “I want to talk to you.”
Lexi frowned, but did as she was asked. Both she and Hopper walked over until Cog stopped them about eight feet away. From this close the diseased man was disgusting and smelt absolutely foul. Lexi eyed his robotic companions cautiously.
“Don’t worry about them,” Cog said in a slur. Drool escaped his swollen black lips as he spoke and one of his eyes was dead and unmoving. “They been behaving very strangely since you brought them back online, but I assure you I have these ones under very strict control.”
“How?” Hopper asked. “Weren’t you just a warehouse monkey?”
If the comment annoyed Cog, it did not show, for his face was now covered in the little black tendrils of his diseased veins. No expression came to his face except one of suffering.
“I was a team leader, but that is beside the point. I took the comms unit from your dead soldier left in the canyon.
”
Lexi groaned. “Miller.”
“Yes, well. I took his comms unit and was quite delighted to find that it contained overrides for…well, just about everything. Allowed me to hack into my humanoid friends and have them follow me. Good thing, too, because you can’t possibly leave.”
“Screw you,” Hopper said. “We’re getting out of here.”
Cog shook his head. A wound opened up in the crease of his neck and began bleeding. “Don’t you understand? Surely, now, you must. This disease can’t make it back to Earth. It has to die here, with us.”
“We’re not infected,” Lexi said.
“No way to be sure. It’s too much of a risk. It could be on your clothes, your hair – anywhere. You might be carriers. I admit to not knowing much about diseases, but I know it’s too much of a risk for anybody to leave here. The security team understood that. I saw them massacre hundreds of guests trying to contact home. Communications were shut off pretty quickly after that.”
“You mean the jamming wasn’t you?” Hopper said.
“No. The security team understood the need to contain things. I overheard them talking about what this place really is – the secrets contained here. Once the disease reached here, it was only ever going to end one way. When they cut the power to the terminal, shortly after you arrived, I grabbed a radio and tried to warn you that there was no leaving here. Still, you gave things a good go. I expect a team from Earth will come and put a torch to this place soon.”
“My father is destroying it,” Lexi said. “He’s going to turn the orbital lasers inwards and destroy the facility.”
Cog let out a sigh that sounded very much like relief. “That is…very good to hear.”
“Why do you want to see everyone dead so badly?” Hopper said. “Are you really that worried about Earth? You think you’re some kind of martyr?”
“I have an ex-wife and two children back on Earth. I may not have been the greatest father, but I love my family. I would rather die for certain than take the smallest risk that they might instead. This disease started with me the moment I opened that blasted crate, but I will make sure my children never have to suffer the way I have.”
The BIG Horror Pack 2 Page 110
