by R. Brewer
Jodie sensed the feeling slowly coming back to her arms and legs as she lay on the gurney. She tried not to move, not wanting to alert Gypsum that the drug was wearing off. Maybe she'd be able to surprise them yet.
"We're ready to move her now," a man said. "It'll be some time before takeoff because the cop messed up the command module, but we can put her in storage for the time being."
Jodie wondered what "put her in storage" meant. She hoped it didn't include another shot of whatever cocktail they'd given her previously. She felt the gurney moving ahead and traveling down a ramp. Tilting her head ever so slightly, she could see the black outline of the ship she'd seen earlier. Chuck was nowhere in sight.
"Want her to go to medical or right to the cryo room?" a man asked.
"Better take her to medical," Hana said. "I need to take some blood and run a few tests while we're in transit."
Jodie felt someone squeezing her hand and lowered her eyes to see Hana gripping onto her.
"I'll go get help. We'll have to carry her in there," the man said.
"Okay, I'll wait here," Hana said. A few seconds passed and then she leaned down closer to Jodie's face. "Whatever you do, don't let them know you can move. I'm going to get us out of here, but you have to stay absolutely still. Do you understand?"
Jodie nodded, just enough so Hana would know she understood. Yet, she didn't really understand. Why had Hana drugged her to begin with if she was going to help her escape? And where was Chuck? What had they done to him?
Hana backed up as two men approached. "Be careful with her. She's very valuable."
"Yes, ma'am," one of the men said as she felt her body being gently lifted and placed on a stretcher. "You better feed her before cryo. She doesn't weigh hardly anything."
Hana nodded. "What have you done with Officer Wending?"
The man grunted as they moved up the ramp leading into the ship. "He's still in storage. We couldn't figure out anything else that could hold him. Before we take off, we'll tranq him again."
"Storage?" Hana asked. "The one next to cryo?"
"That's the one," the man said. "Don't worry. He can't get out. That room's made of the same metal he's made of. He couldn't even make a dent."
* * *
Chuck woke up, feeling like he'd been on an all night bender. His face was sticky and he reached up to find that the skin had been torn off of his cheek. He pulled his hand away, seeing a white, gooey substance instead of blood. "God, that's gross," he said, flicking his hand to rid it of the goo.
Chuck sat up, trying to remember what had happened to him. The pain in his neck brought back his memory. Running his hand along his skin, he felt a raised area where the dart had penetrated. He pressed down, feeling soft tissue beneath his fingers, probably the only place on his body he had a sufficient thickness of flesh to allow a dart to penetrate deeply enough to allow the chemical to enter his vascular system. If he had one anymore, that is.
Looking at his hands, he found that he had no skin on any of his knuckles, the result of beating on the door. I'll have to find another way out of here, he thought. Chuck lay on his back and tried to think. Then, he looked up at the vent cover in the ceiling, feeling a smile creep across his face.
* * *
Christy held onto the seat as Nick pulled into the rutted campground and parked.
"Stay here. I'll go see what I can find out," he said as he jumped out of the camper.
"I'm coming with you," Evan said. He stepped toward the door, then turned back. "Christy, my dear, in the event that we need to leave quickly, maybe you'd better keep the motor running."
"But, Evan," she said. "The fuel. We need to --"
"I won't be long," he said, closing the door.
"Should I go, too, Mom?" Noah asked, standing up and moving to the door.
"No, honey. Stay put. I don't know what they're up to, but I think it's probably no good. They'll probably need your help when they get back."
Christy wondered what Evan was doing, but thought it was safe to guess it had something to do with the dirt bike strapped on a trailer up ahead. She pulled out her notepad and started to write, scrawling down whatever she could remember from their ordeal that had started only a few weeks ago, yet had changed every bit of life as she knew it.
Evan had convinced Nick that he needed to get her back to civilization where she could report on the story of Gypsum. She would tell the story of their plan and the conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of government, worldwide. He'd talked passionately about it being the only thing that would keep them safe. To topple Gypsum once and for all. To send those alien bastards back to where they came from.
As she wrote, she wondered who would believe her story. She'd need to find a paper willing to publish it. If Gypsum wasn't derailed by then, they'd come after her full-force and try to discredit her. Somehow, she'd need to provide evidence of what they'd seen and she knew she didn't really have anything except the word of her son and Nick. But, public sentiment against Gypsum was very strong, as they’d seen firsthand at the truck stop, and that would play in her favor.
"Mom, I think we need to get going," Noah said, pointing out the front window.
Christy dropped the notepad and clipped her seatbelt on. "Noah, hang on to Hunter," she said, putting the camper in gear and slamming her foot down on the accelerator.
Evan and Nick ran toward her, Evan carrying a helmet and a gas can, Nick running, pushing a dirt bike in front of him. She slowed to a stop when they met on the roadway and Evan opened the side door, handing the helmet and gas to Noah.
Evan jumped in and pulled on the front wheel of the bike as Nick pushed the heavy bike in through the side door. Once it was loaded, Nick jumped in the passenger side of the camper. "Drive out of here normally. Nice and slow," he said.
"Do you mean to tell me you stole that bike?" she asked, putting the camper in gear and traveling at a crawl as they made their way out of the site.
"Well . . . yes. Sorry," Nick said, managing a sheepish grin.
"Good for you, honey. Let's get out of here."
CHAPTER 29
Fester's hair blew in his eyes as they careened down the highway. He'd caught a ride in the back of a pickup truck with a group from a UFO network, wanting to see what all the fuss happening around Area 51 was about. Only, they hadn't been able to get near the site. Roads were blocked off in all directions. Fester worried he'd never get back inside to find Chuck.
Earlier, one of the people riding in the truck talked about his friend having seen creepy, zombie-like things walking around the desert as he was eating his cherry pie at the diner in Rachel. He said his friend had called this morning and now he wasn't able to reach him at all. His phone just rang and rang, with no answer.
Fester knew what was happening. The alien hybrids, mutants and virals they'd let out were running rampant over the desert landscape, likely infecting everyone they came into contact with. He was terrified that Chuck and Jodie had been overtaken by the things. Going in to find them might mean he'd never come out again, but he had no choice. He knew what he had to do.
The truck pulled onto a gravel road, sending plumes of dust into the air as they travelled. About a mile later, the driver slowed down and stopped. Fester turned, seeing the men in the truck pointing at something. One turned and opened the back window.
"Hey, kid, we’re thinking you might wanna get out here. It looks like the fence to Area 51 is down. That's definitely not normal. You might not wanna go any farther."
Fester shook his head. "No, I'll keep going." He could see helicopters circling on the eastern horizon. Up ahead, closer, he spied the garage they'd come out of. The nearer they could get him to it, the faster he could get inside. But, he wondered, what had knocked the fences down?
"Okay, kid. Let us know if you change your mind," the man said, sliding the window shut.
Fester wiped the grime from his face, seeing he was covered head to toe in dust from the gravel roads. He shiel
ded his eyes as they kept moving, trying to keep sand from working its way under his eyelids. The truck stopped again and Fester turned to see the passenger window rolling down. A long camera lens protruded from the window and the click, click, click of the automatic aperature repeated over and over.
Wondering what they were taking photos of, Fester stood in the bed of the truck and looked out. To his right, the fence lay down, crushed. Bloodied and battered bodies were strewn everywhere, tangled in the chain link for as far as Fester could see. Clad in lab coats and work attire, it was clear by the footprints in the sand that these people had probably been running for their lives. They were likely trampled as they piled up against the fence.
"Holy fuck," the UFO investigator said.
Fester jumped down out of the truck. "You guys better get out of here," he said, heading toward the installation.
"Where are you going, kid? You can't go in there," the man yelled after him.
Fester didn't answer. He took off at a trot, his single-minded mission running through his head. He heard the wheels spinning in the sand as the truck drove away. Time to get revenge.
* * *
Chuck found the vent to be a very tight fit, even with his increasingly smaller stature. He realized he was almost his normal size now. He tried to be as quiet as he could, but found his heavy body kinking and bending the flimsy metal surrounding him. He was making a racket. Up ahead a few feet, light shown through another vent opening. If only he could make it that far, if he could find a way into another room, he could get out. Then, he heard her voice. That's Hana, he thought.
Not caring about making noise anymore, Chuck shoved off against the vent wall, pushing himself abruptly forward. He slid toward the vent opening and punched it out with his fist. Pulling himself through the hole, he dropped to the floor, landing in front of her with pieces of the ceiling showering down around him. Hana looked terrified. Chuck felt something odd on his face and reached up, finding his skin tearing loose from his metal frame.
Hana backed up. "Oh, my God," she said, looking at him.
"I know. Isn't he the handsomest thing you've ever seen?" a woman behind him said.
Chuck spun around. It couldn't be, yet it was. It was Jodie, lying on a gurney, smiling at him.
"Sure the hell took you long enough, Chuck," she said.
He stepped over, closer to her. “What did they do to you?” he asked. “Are you okay?"
Jodie reached out for his hand. “I'm drugged. I can't move very much. Hey, no crying. You've lost your eyelids again."
A stream of tears flowed down his cheeks, splattering his feet. Chuck noticed the reflection of the exposed portions of his glowing red frame shining off metal in the room. He turned to Hana. "You lied to us."
"I had to. Don't you understand? There are cameras everywhere. I would be dead if they knew I was going to help you."
Chuck wondered if this was another lie. "Help us?”
"Hana was just telling me how we can get out of here," Jodie said. "She's going to prepare a cryotube as if I'm in it and then we'll sneak out while they're getting ready to take off." Then, Jodie winked at him, as if to send a message.
He bent down closer to Jodie. "Don't worry, they're not going anywhere," he whispered in her ear. He turned back to Hana. "Okay," Chuck said. "What do we need to do?"
* * *
Evan hit another jarring bump in the road, thankful that he'd fathered a child earlier in his life. He was sure that by the time this ride was over, the potential for future offspring would be gone. He'd passed the truck stop a good long time ago and thought he'd be coming up on Area 51 soon. Ahead of him, a pickup truck tore across a gravel road, skidding sideways as it pulled onto the highway. Wondering if it was coming for him, he slowed, readying himself and the bike to turn around, if the need arose.
The truck slammed on its brakes as it neared him. He could see a logo on the side of the driver's door panel. Covered in dust, he was only able to make out UFO Investigations. Another UFO conspiracy nut. If only they knew how right they'd been all along. He desperately wished he could tell them, but Christy would do that soon enough. Her expose` would rock the foundation of science and government. It would change the entire world as people understood it. As the truck pulled up next to him, he lifted the helmet visor and rolled to a stop, face to face with a very pale, wide-eyed man.
"You don't want to go any farther," he said. "Something happened at Area 51. There're dead people everywhere."
"I'm looking for a boy. About thirteen, sandy colored hair," Evan said. "Have you seen anyone like that?"
"You mean that crazy kid we dropped off? He just went strolling in there like nothing was wrong."
"Where and how long ago?" Evan asked, wondering if Fester was already inside.
"The road we just came out of, where the fence is down. Maybe about twenty minutes ago," the man said. "You really don't wanna go there, though. Trust me."
Evan flipped his visor down and tore off on the bike, not waiting to respond to the man. There was no time. The bike dug into the sand, sending up a cloud of dust. He bounced along the undulating road, trying to keep his balance. His arms tired from maneuvering the bike, he was relieved as he finally spied the garage ahead. Relief turned to horror as he saw the carnage that lay along the side of the road in his path. He recognized the faces of people he'd known for so many years. People who'd worked with Helen, some of which he'd called friends before he knew the truth of what Gypsum had planned. The scene only added to his simmering anger.
Trying not to look at the bodies, he maneuvered the bike past the downed fence, heading for the garage and the elevator and all the terror they would bring.
He cautiously pulled the bike into the garage and headed up the ramp, finding no one alive. Bodies lay strewn everywhere. Thinking, at first, they had been trampled like the people at the fence, Evan looked closer as he passed a body, seeing its torso riddled with bullet wounds. He passed more of the same. Most of them appeared to have been shot in the back multiple times.
Turning the corner, he came to the door leading to the elevators. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of going back in there with the mutants running rampant, but Evan knew he had no choice. He pulled the bike up near the door and shut the motor off. Looking around the garage, he could find nothing to arm himself with, so he walked over to the key cabinet and pulled down a set of keys for a Gypsum van. Opening the back of the van, he found a tire iron and stripped the parts off the jack post. He slid the keys in his pocket. Might need those for later, he thought.
Evan slipped the tire iron through his belt loop and approached the door. “It’s now or never,” he muttered to himself, grabbing the handle and pulling. All was quiet as he entered the installation. Evan crept down the stairs and approached the doorway leading to the corridor. He pulled it open a few inches and listened. No sounds, no movement, nothing. Could it be that all of the remaining infected were already wandering the Nevada desert? He knew his only chance to help Jodie was to move ahead.
The elevator was jammed in the shaft earlier when they’d escaped. Evan shuddered at the idea of taking the stairs to move deeper into the installation, but he realized he didn’t have a choice. He moved quickly to the stairway entrance and opened the door, listening. As the door closed behind him, he heard a funny noise echoing through the stairwell. It sounded like the hammer of a gun being cocked. Evan remained as still as he could, not wanting to give away his location in the dim lighting. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if it was him or someone else, but he could hear breathing coming from the flight below.
Stepping into the darkest shadow he could find, Evan raised his jack post. “Who’s down there?” he called out. “Come out and show yourself.” He could hear footsteps moving toward the landing below him.
“Evan?” a boy’s voice whispered.
Thank God, Evan thought. “Fester, is that you?” he whispered back.
“Yeah, don't make so much noise. There�
�s about a thousand of those things in the hallway on this floor. What are you doing here?”
“Well, come up here, boy, and I’ll tell you.”
“No way,” Fester said. “I’m not leaving.”
He’s very determined, Evan thought. That was good. He was going to need determination to get out alive. “I didn’t mean to suggest we would. Let’s find a different way in. I want to help Jodie.”
“For real?”
“For real, Fester. C’mon. Let’s go,” Evan said.
Fester ran up the stairs toward him. “Cool. Do you know another way?”
“Yes, I do,” Evan said. “From the looks of things up top, we might be able to walk in the front door unhindered. Let’s get back to the auto garage. Then, we can come up with a plan.”
* * *
Chuck couldn’t help but grin as he looked down at Jodie. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said. In the far corner of his vision, he could see Hana on the other side of the room, preparing injections.
“No such luck,” Jodie said.
“Here you go,” Hana said, handing Jodie a full syringe. “I’m afraid these will be our only weapons until Chuck has some time alone with the guards.”
Jodie pulled back the covers and slid the syringe next to her. “How fast will this act?” she asked.
“It should only take seconds,” Hana said. “They won’t be expecting it from you, though. They think you’re paralyzed.”
“I’ll be happy to disappoint them,” Jodie said. “You better hide, Chuck. They’ll probably be back soon.”
Chuck squeezed her shoulder. “Okay. I’ll be back here,” he said, pushing the ceiling tile debris behind a large cabinet and crouching down on top of it.
“Hana, I don’t understand your role in all this,” Jodie said. “I mean, why are you here if you have such disdain for what Gypsum is doing?”
Hana sighed. “Not sure I can answer that in a way that would satisfy you. At first, I thought I was doing the right thing. Then, I started finding out about what your mother was up to. They tried to get me involved and when I wouldn’t do what they were asking, they threatened me. Then, you came along and everything came to a screeching halt.”
