Tom wished somebody would speak. He felt adrift and alone. A man apart. He concentrated on his body and his breathing, trying to keep calm, be clinical. Scientists hadn’t experimented on themselves since the twentieth century. He tried to imagine the braver that those pioneers had felt, if only to bolster his own failing confidence.
He could take the silence no more. It felt like he was the corpse at a wake.
‘How long has it been now?’ he asked.
‘Three minutes.’
‘It’s long enough. Take some blood. See if there’s been any change.’
The team trained their weapons on Tom as the doctor drew some blood. Tom didn’t flinch. He didn’t want someone to jump and to take his head off by accident.
The doctor left the room, carrying the syringe carefully, so carefully. He knew better than to take foolish risks.
Tom waited, uncomfortable, strapped to the bed. He had an itch, but he knew better than to ask anyone to scratch it. Nobody would come near him now. He could be infectious. Even though the end was in sight he understood all too well how insistently the human body wants to go on living. He could sense it in the room, the refusal to accept defeat, the will to live.
But the vampires would be through soon, and the gunfire would start again. Tom knew they could not stand for much longer. He could almost feel the minutes passing with each beat of his heart. Soon the vampires would break through, and chaos would reign. They only had enough explosive to collapse one more level. They could retreat to hub and hope to hold it long enough to blow the vampire’s prize to pieces, but by then everyone in the complex would know it was over. The end of all hope.
At least Tom could have a future. These people had none.
The doctor returned.
‘It’s amazing. It has taken. The virus is attached to the blood. I do not have time to run full tests, but his blood has definitely changed.’
Tom noted how the doctor had stopped speaking to him. They all knew the next step. From now on, he was a non-person. It did not bother him. People had been ignoring him for years. He knew they thought he was an old fool, even if they only spoke the words behind his back. He was the one who had warned them the vampires would evolve, eventually by necessity forming a society of their own, even if that society would be unrecognisable by human standards. He was an old fool, there was no doubt about that. Even now, when he was the most important person in the whole complex…
‘What’s funny, Tom?’ asked Jean.
‘Nothing, Jean. Nothing.’
And always full of pride, he told himself.
‘Inject me with the cure. I’m ready. Be prepared. I might be wild. You know what to do.’
The doctor didn’t waste time asking if Tom was sure. Tom was glad. His resolve was wavering. But he gritted his teeth and said a small prayer.
Then he felt the cold needle against his arm. It sank into his vein, pumping the virus through his blood, into his heart. FE612. The cure. Mankind’s salvation. The end to all disease, but at such a price.
Marie watched carefully for signs of the infection taking hold. She unstrapped her weapon and held up a hand for the others to back off. As she had once before, she waited for him to change. If he was going to, she would be the one to end it. She owed him that.
Tom’s mouth opened wide and he roared, suddenly, incoherent words jumbling out of his mouth. He bucked against the restrains and the leather and the silver filaments running through them creaked and stretched as Tom’s power and strength suddenly grew. The strap holding his head snapped and his head began to whip from side to side.
Everyone was wearing full protective suits, but they stepped back just in case. Marie trained her weapon on Tom’s heart. She shook her head at Jean’s unvoiced question.
Not yet.
They waited and watched, their hearts hard as Tom screamed and gagged. His hair began to sprout where it had thinned. The remaining hair began to darken. An old crown fell from his mouth as he bucked from side to side, the tooth beneath, long filed and deadened, growing back. He spat out fillings. There was a loud crack as Tom’s long ago broken leg healed itself.
The pain must be immense, thought Marie. Even from his teeth mending themselves, repairing dental work and filling in cavities for which there had been no cure for the last forty years. The body was repairing itself. Tom was getting younger before their eyes.
It was a by-product of the cure that ageing was often reversed. The cure removed genetic abnormality and rewrote human structure after its own ends. It was a parasite, yet it seemed to improve the host, rather than withering the body as so many other parasites did.
Tom’s screaming began to quieten. His breath came in ragged gasps. He let out a long burst of breath. Then he turned his head and looked at Marie.
He smiled and she knew it was OK. What came after wouldn’t matter. She was loved, and, she thought, in these last days there was nothing else that mattered.
‘I’m ready,’ she said, and put her weapon down. ‘Let him up.’
Jean still looked suspicious, but Tom stalled his question. ‘I’m fine, Jean. The pain is phenomenal. Can you imagine your body healing the hurts of life? Perhaps you can, Jean. We can’t delay any longer. This is the last thing. We need to know.’
‘OK, Tom,’ said Jean. He laughed, his voice cracked and shaking. ‘I never thought I’d see the day. Tom, you’re a vampire. Jesus, I’m having a conversation with a god damn vampire.’
‘Better get over it quick, Jean. I can smell them. It’s like I’ve been asleep all my life, and I’ve just woken up. I can smell them even through the security doors, even through the rubble and steel and earth. I believe they can smell us, too. Come on, do it. We haven’t got time to waste.’
Jean motioned at the security team. Warily one of the men approached Tom and freed him. Three of the team covered their friend. They were prepared to shoot. Tom took no chances. He rose gingerly on what to him were new legs.
He marvelled at the change. Even now he could recognise the advance that the inhibitor along with the cure could have made for man. Had these people time they could have become a new race, the first new humans. Better, faster, stronger. With none of the problems of the cure. The hunger was there, lurking in the background, but it didn’t mean much to Tom. It was just something that went along with the firm limbs, the straight back, his healed heart pumping slowly and steadily within his chest.
‘Do it,’ he said to Marie.
Tom pulled the sleeve of his shirt up to the elbow. Marie took the knife she wore at her hip from its sheath. Before Tom could flinch she slashed him across the forearm.
Tom gasped. It burned. His skin sizzled around the cut, but he grimaced and took the pain. It was his own fault. He had forgotten that all their blades were augmented with silver.
Even so, the wound began to close. He watched in amazement as his blood took control. The hunger seemed to amplify, but it was still controllable. He said nothing. If they knew of the hunger this would all stop now. He could control it. He could not let them know.
‘It works, Jean. I wish we had time, but we need to get moving. Marie, are you ready?’
‘I am, Tom. Make it quick.’
She hopped onto the bed and the security team once again strapped a person into the vampire’s bed.
She closed her eyes for a moment and pictured her family. Then she opened them and saw Tom looking down at her.
His eyes were soft and shone with an inner light. She closed her eyes and she felt his lips on hers. A father’s kiss. It could easily be a kiss goodbye.
If the inhibitor did not jump hosts along with the cure, it would mean Tom’s life. And her own.
But then, whatever happened, they were dead anyway.
*
Chapter Forty-Seven
Fallon Corp.
The pain came and she bucked and writhed against her bonds.
Tom watched, fascinated. It wasn’t the first time he had seen the infection, but
it was always amazing. The cure was the most virulent infection he had ever seen.
Marie was screaming and it hurt Tom’s heart to watch her. He prayed under his breath that she would come through. She had to come through. She had to.
It was mankind’s only hope. To be watching her struggle now, the focus of mankind’s evolution, only to know it could all be a waste of time…
Marie’s screaming stopped and she looked up at the ceiling. She took a deep breath.
‘My god,’ she said. ‘Is this how they feel all the time? Every day? I feel like I’ve been born again.’
Tom laughed and hugged her. For a few seconds he forgot that she had been born eternal only to die.
He began loosing her bonds as Jean’s walkie-talkie squawked.
Tom’s hearing was now acute. He had no trouble making out the indistinct words.
‘They have broken through,’ said the voice on the other end. It was punctuated by the crackle of gunfire and then, nothing.
‘Go,’ said Jean.
‘Come, too, Jean. We need you.’
‘No. I’ve done more running than a man with no legs has a right to. I’m done running. Marie, take the team and go. You don’t have much time. We can only hold them at the second floor for so long. You have to get to the gateway. Marie, you will have to shut it down. I’ll evacuate the survivors your level. At least they’ll have time to say goodbye to their loved ones. Rather they die in the explosion than get made into one of them.’
‘We could infect all of us.’
‘And give us false hope?’
‘Infect us,’ said one of the soldiers. ‘We’ll last longer.’
‘It won’t help…’
‘Don’t treat us like idiots,’ said the soldier. ‘We know what’s going to happen. We understand what needs to happen, too. You need time. We can give it to you.’
‘Jean? Would you? Just to know?’
‘Never. I will die as a man, even though I may not be whole. Do not seek to persuade me, Marie.’
Tom laid a hand on Jean’s shoulder. He understood. To be given the world, even for a moment before death, was a pain more than most men could bear.
Marie kissed the soldiers on the mouth and whispered goodbye to them. She had fought by their sides before, but there was no time for lengthy goodbyes. What words could express what she felt? The joy at this new burst of life, only to have to throw it away to save a world that had already passed? Would they cry when they realised the power they could have, but only for so short a time? No, they would not. Mankind was harder of heart in this new world.
She wasted no time. As soon as she had kissed the last soldier she left at a run by Tom’s side. She could feel explosions through the thick steel and deep earth, smell a new scent – the elder vampires, way above on level two.
They ran to the stairwell. They knew the soldiers would hold the third floor as long as possible. But it could only last so long. Even with the four vampire soldiers on their side they could not hold back the vampire army for long. There were too many of them.
They pushed the door open and ran through onto the third floor. Tom raced Marie along the corridor to his father’s room. He pulled on the painting on its plinth. Waiting for the elevator to rise was painful. He could feel every moment ticking by. He felt like laughing, despite what was happening around them.
He hugged Marie and stepped into the elevator.
‘Bring them down when they come. Make sure you close it after me. There isn’t time to get everyone through. You can’t be weak now, Marie.’
‘I know, Tom. I hope in whatever world you go to, I’m there, and you’re my father.’
‘I wish I’d had you as a daughter, too.’
He looked like he wanted to say more. Marie wished he would say more. But she knew all the words they needed to say had long ago been said. She press the button to send the elevator to the secret level and turned her back on him so she wouldn’t have to see him go.
Then she waited. Waited for the last of the humans to come. She would shepherd them to the depths. Then she would kill them all. If she could, she would take the vampires with them.
Would they scream their frustration as she killed them? She hoped so. She hoped they would feel the anguish she felt, standing there, knowing she would soon die.
*
Chapter Forty-Eight
Fallon Corp.
LHC/Hub One
Tom’s heart beat a little quicker as the elevator descended. He counted the beats.
Thirty per minute. He wondered how often his heart would beat if he were calm. Twenty? Ten times a minute? Did the elder vampire’s hearts beat just once a minute?
He imagined if his heart beat any faster he would pass out from sensory overload. As it was his eyes were burning from the bright lights of the elevator, the hum of the workings, hidden from him. He reached out and touched the cold steel, revelling in its smoothness.
Every sense was singing.
The ping as the door opened made him wince. There must be some way to deaden his senses, to close some of the input out. The elder vampires must have mastered the trick. The pain would be too much to bear, day in, day out, if every footfall sounded like an explosion, if even starlight burned the eyes.
He stepped out into the hallway and hub one came online.
‘Welcome, Tom. I have been waiting for you.’
‘Hub One, prepare the gateway.’
‘Gateway is online. Destination must be inputted manually at the central terminal.’
‘Then lead the way, Hub One. I don’t think we have long.’
‘I sense much seismic activity above us. As we are not subject to fault lines or geographical shift in this region, I can only hypothesise that there have been a number of explosions. Would this be correct, Tom?’
‘Yes, Hub One. It would. I think we need to hurry this up.’
‘Follow the indicators, Tom.’
Tom knew the way. He still needed to see, though. He couldn’t find his way blind. As it was he had to squint to keep as much of the hub’s unnatural light from burning his eyes from their sockets.
He hoped in opening the gateway remotely that his father had sown the seeds for his demise. It was all he could do.
The door to the gateway stood before him.
There was a painful moment of doubt as he waited for the scanner to complete its work. Then Hub One’s voice came over the speakers that surrounded the entire secret complex.
‘Tom, you have been infected. Are you aware of this?’
The door would not open.
‘I know, Hub, but it’s a cure. I’ve been inoculated.’
‘Please wait while I analyse this, Tom. I hope you understand the delay, but security is of the utmost importance. I cannot risk infection through the gateway.’
‘Please hurry, Hub. There isn’t much time. Other infected are coming.’
Hub did not reply. It had fallen silent. Tom imagined its huge computers, hidden somewhere and no doubt shielded from all interference, whirring and clicking as it performed complex calculation, assessing risks along with known facts, cross-referencing its vast research databases.
He didn’t have to wait too long.
‘Please enter,’ said Hub, simply. The heavy steel door clicked and opened. Tom pushed through without waiting for Hub to change its mind.
He couldn’t hear the battle overhead, but he knew the odds were stacked against the last of the humans. They would be dying soon, but they were giving their pain to allow him long enough to do what was necessary. Such a sacrifice must not be wasted.
He stepped into a control room. He had been here before, but he knew what he needed to do this time. And he had a chance. A chance that could not have been granted unless a thousand strands of fate had not aligned.
He wondered for a moment and then typed in his destination.
‘Accepted,’ said Hub. ‘Dimension one, two, three…confirmed. Please enter dimension four.’
Tom blew out the breath he had been holding and typed a date into the computer. It wasn’t a date he had picked at random. He needed to go back far enough to make a difference, but there was always risk. He had thought long and hard about the risks, taken each one out and examined it with a cold analytical mind.
He typed four digits for the year, followed by an arbitrary date and time. The date and time were unimportant, except Tom chose to arrive at midnight. He did not think he would be able to bear the light.
‘Parameters accepted, Tom. Please step through.’
Tom took a deep breath and stepped into the gateway room.
Before him was an impossibly bright anomaly. It was a shimmering light, suspended independently of all input, hanging in the air before him. Iridescent and beautiful beyond all imagination. That man had created such a thing Tom could not believe. That it had been his father was only a hint of pain, outside of himself. It was something, like all his hopes and fears, that was insignificant in the face of the moment of creation…no, not that…the gateway to creation.
It should have burnt his eyes and made him insane. As it was it stilled his heart for a moment, took his breath away. He was vaguely aware that he was crying.
Infinite possibility through the gateway to eternity. Whether he lived or died was outside of his control. The virus might give him a chance at survival. He had no doubt that mortal man could not take such pressures. A human could never survive what lay beyond the portal.
Could a vampire? Would he lose himself to the whirlpool of time? Did it even work?
Who knew? It was as unfathomable as all physics. Theorising the moment of creation, the shape of an atom, the weight of the universe…all was guesswork. What folly for man to think he could control such forces.
Folly was all mankind had left. The vampires had inherited the world. Mankind’s only hope was to go back to a time before the apocalypse and stop it before it began.
Tom was that hope. A mixture of the two. A man with vampire blood. A half-breed. An anomaly himself.
Vigil Page 17
