“Are you going to stay with us?”
Kurt didn’t answer, didn’t want to answer. He looked up the ward to see the adults standing, talking. Lucas rocked on his back foot as he tried to make some sort of conversation with David and Gina. He was probably talking about that Donny Oz-Man music he was obsessed with.
“They’re not perfect are they, the adults?”
“We’ll have to look out for them,” Kurt said as he turned back to her. “Keep them safe from the world outside.”
Here Amy smiled and a tear fell down her cheek. She leaned forward and kissed Kurt on the cheek.
“Stay in touch?”
Kurt hugged her back, so tight her head might pop. He kissed her on the cheek and felt her warm, living breath on his head.
“Love you, sis.”
She said she loved him too and knocked three times on the bedside table as he left, unsure when they would see each other again.
Knock knock. And once for luck. Knock.
EPILOGUE
Lucas sat in the old dusty ‘war room’. A nickname Sammi had given the place after he had performed a terrible impression of Winston Churchill all those years ago. He was working on one of Sammi’s many secure laptops. His hair untidy, his beard in need of a shave. Yet, for the life of him, he couldn’t care less. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the screen, flicking through images and articles, trying desperately to ignore the throbbing coming from his chest, growing since his return from the Deadspace.
They probably shouldn’t have taken that flight out to see Kurt’s sister but a promise is a promise is a promise.
A part of him had wondered how people would cope after the news of Ira’s return. But it seemed that old habits died hard (and friends died harder), and there was still a fire in the old Revivers to pursue the trail of adventure and seek new truths. He rubbed his eyes and wondered what there was still to lie ahead on the road.
After finding nothing of interest on any of the monitors (or at least anything that stood out), he yielded, unbuttoned his top and observed the permanent mark that the yellow had left on him – on all the Revivers. Even Kurt now. He had always tried to monitor its progress, to ensure that the ink splat of blackened veins hadn’t grown any more than they had years ago. Before, that had been easy. That had been one of the deciding factors in locking the formula away and resisting the urge to re-enter the Deadspace. The last thing he wanted was to look like a goddamn Rorschach test. Yet, even after more than a week since he had surfaced, the damned thing was still growing. Slowly. Ever so slowly. But the cold ruler that measured from his heart to the furthest stretch of black indicated that it had grown another couple millimetres overnight.
Damn, he thought, hanging his head.
“It happens to every man,” came a voice behind him. He turned a second later to see Anita step into the room, taking the chair to his right. “One day they all start measuring their parts.”
“Didn’t realise you were one for peep shows,” Lucas grinned, leaning across to hug her.
“How you doing?”
“Getting there slowly. Almost forgot how much that place can take out of you.”
“You’re not as young as you used to be.”
“Speak for yourself!” They laughed. “Not that you’d know anything about that, eh?” Anita’s face levelled. Lucas gave her a comforting look. “Thanks again for saving me, us. Sammi told me it was hard for you. Didn’t have you down as a pistol-popper.”
Ani blushed.
Lucas watched her, shaking his head with a wry smile. “I still can’t believe it, though… ten years and you’ve never seen it. Never even dared to come close to see what lies beyond. It’s a measure of control I could never imagine.”
“I’ve seen what the Deadspace can do to people.” She nodded at Lucas’ open chest. He quickly buttoned back up.
They exchanged small talk for a short while. Anita informed Lucas that Sammi and Maddie were working hard on the next move, after the funeral that is. The news of Fred had deeply saddened all of them, but none more than Maddie. She was going to need time, but at least her husband died in an attempt to save those he cared about most, and without Lazarus back there to hold his soul, he should have moved on by now, on to the next adventure.
All of them, Lucas thought then, the Revivers, old and new, would be able to heal now. Things are going to start getting better.
He shuffled around in his chair, and Anita, for the first time since arriving in the room, noticed the computer screens and the litter of windows opened. Black and white articles, flashing videos, images of the Reviver crew poking through from his desktop background.
“Any news?”
“Nothing solid. Just a couple entries here and there from Bible-bashing bloggers looking to walk in the footsteps of the great Lazarus from stories old. Beyond that, there’s nothing more on the site at Williamsburg or anything on the potential identity of the bomber. It seems that neighbour states are keeping it all hush hush, trying to make it seem like a freak accident that left a large hole in a town. Everything’s just gone… quiet.”
“And what about the kid? What about Kurt?”
Lucas leaned back, took a large breath and shrugged. “No idea. The most I can say is his immunity is somewhere in his genetics. The same way there are diseases that only affect the smallest percentages of the population. Seems Ira’s plan was to filter out the Kurt’s of the world somehow and bring them under, but we’d need to go into a full genetic mapping of Kurt to discover anything.”
“He’s not ready for that,” Ani stated.
“No.”
Ani rubbed her eyes, the dim yellow lights always had a tiring effect on her vision. The glare of the screen was almost painful to look at, but something caught her eye. “What’s that?” Anita asked, leaning over Lucas and pointing at a conversation thread underneath an article titled, He Shall Come.
“Oh. That’s the strangest thing,” Lucas replied. “These bloggers seem to be getting a lot of interest from people who seem to be recruiters for some church or other. Look here, ‘We understand the pains of what life can bring, if you ever want to serve the Lord and bring him joy then simply private message us’. Seems a bit fishy, don’t you think?”
Anita commandeered the mouse. She clicked between articles seeing similar messages, some with kids’ replies, some without. “Keep an eye on it. If anything more develops, be sure to let me know.” She stood, as if to leave, then thought and sat back down. Anita reached into her pocket and pulled something out that she began playing with her fingers. “One more thing, Luke.”
“Yeah?”
“This fell out your pocket on the operating table. I completely forgot about it until I saw it on my bedroom floor today.”
Lucas took the photo from Anita, recognising it instantly. He had completely forgotten that it had been in his pocket the entire time. It was the six of them. The family, on a black and white photo. The original Revivers. His eyes went from left to right, scanning each member in turn. Their faces full of the beauty of youth. Fred, Maddie, Anita, himself, Sammi, and then at the bottom with the biggest grin he’d ever seen – Ira King… Lazarus.
“Look how happy we were. Look how … pretty we were.”
“It was a different time, Luke. A more hopeful one.”
Ani rested her head on Lucas’.
“What’s that?”
Lucas clicked.
A yellow bar with BREAKING NEWS rolled across the top of the screen. A montage of live footage appeared in a large box. The images showed people running in all directions, the cameraman shaking as he held the camera to look over his shoulder running from a thick cloud of yellow gas that had burst from somewhere offscreen. As a woman tripped and fell, and the camera cracked on the ground, the shot passed back to someone with a finger in their ear in the news studio. The strip read: ‘Breaking News: Mustard bomb explodes in Indiana. Victims flee.’
Lucas looked for Anita. But she was already on he
r cell, running out the room.
THE END
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