Adam Baker: Terminus

‘I’m here to do a job. I’m going to see it through.’

‘This place is killing us,’ said Lupe. ‘We’re dying by degrees. Every minute we sit here shooting the shit a little more radiation seeps into our bones. Admit it. The mission is a bust. Send for the chopper and get the hell out of here.’

‘No.’

‘You guys volunteered for this kamikaze deal. Jumped at the chance to pull on your boots and run into the flames. But I wasn’t given a choice. I was dragged here in chains. What gives you the right to throw my life away? Answer me that.’

‘Do you understand what’s at stake?’ asked Nariko. ‘Humanity reduced to a few pockets of survivors. Little outposts. Humans are an endangered species. We’re on the edge of extinction, about to join the fossil record, our time on earth reduced to a geologic layer, a vein of compacted garbage. We’re ready to bequeath the world to rats, roaches and scorpions. Get the picture? Maybe Ekks was full of shit. But research teams around the world studied this virus for months, with no sign of a vaccine or cure. If Ekks made progress, if he came close to understanding this fucking disease, then we have to roll the dice. We have to find his documents, his research, whatever the cost. It’s our last chance.’

‘And why should I give a shit?’

‘Flesh and blood, aren’t you?’ said Nariko. ‘Not exactly immune. You might be a hard-ass in the prison yard, but right now you are nothing on your own.’

‘And when we are done here?’

‘We’ll take you back to Ridgeway. That was the deal.’

‘And then what? Think your Chief will shake my hand and send me on my way? His guys will keep me as some kind of pet. A slave. Someone to mop the floors, empty out the latrine bucket. Tie me to a bed and set up some kind of fuck rota.’

‘Not everyone is as sick as you. Some people try to do the right thing.’

‘Unchain me. Let me go. I’ll take my chances outside.’

‘There’s no way off this island. No bridges, no tunnels, no boats.’

‘I’ll swim, if that’s what it takes.’

Nariko stood and began to walk away.

‘I can help you find Ekks,’ said Lupe.

‘You know where he is?’

‘I know exactly where he is.’

‘You can take us to him?’

‘I’ll show you on a map. If you want to chase after the guy, it’s up to you.’

‘He’s close by?’

‘Yeah. He’s real close.’

‘Tell me where he is.’

Lupe held up her ankle chain.

‘Uncuff me. I’ll give you Ekks if you set me free.’

‘Fuck you.’

Lupe shrugged. She leaned back, head against the pillar and closed her eyes.

‘Come on,’ demanded Nariko. She kicked Lupe’s foot. ‘Enough games. Where the hell is Ekks?’

Lupe smiled. A gold incisor.

‘Can’t say I know much about radiation. But you guys are on a clock. All of you. You’ve taken on a shitload of rads already. Few hours from now, you’ll feel the first effects. Few hours after that, the sickness will take hold for real. The longer you stay, the worse it will get. How long before the damage becomes irreversible? How long before you shit yourself blind? Puke your entire digestive system over your shoes?’

‘You’ll get sick too.’

‘Then I guess we’ve got ourselves a standoff.’

‘Want me to talk to Galloway?’ asked Nariko. ‘Maybe I could arrange some time alone, just you and him. Pretty sure he could engineer a little attitude adjustment.’

Lupe smiled and shook her head.

‘You won’t do shit. Haven’t got the cojones. Face it, girl. I’m holding all the cards.’

Cloke’s watch beeped.

‘Meds,’ he shouted.

He distributed potassium iodide and anti-nausea capsules. They passed round a bottle of mineral water and knocked back pills.

He reset his watch and started a four-hour countdown.

Nariko unzipped a backpack and shook out the contents. Toiletries, fresh underwear, fresh T-shirt. Each member of the team had brought personal possessions, stuff they might need for the duration of the mission.

She took out a battered leather fire hat. She polished the captain’s badge with her sleeve and set the helmet on her head.

‘Nice hat,’ said Cloke.

‘Belonged to my stepdad.’

‘They’ll burn it, once we get back to Ridgeway. You know that, right? They’ll have us strip naked for a decon shower. Probably shave our heads. And while we get hosed down, they’ll scrub down the chopper and incinerate our clothes. Torch everything. Your watch, your earrings. They won’t let you keep a thing.’

‘I’m going to wear this hat into the shower. If they give me any shit, I’ll break their arms.’

Cloke crossed the hall. He shouldered the fire exit door.

Jammed.

He kicked until he forced a six-inch aperture, then shone his flashlight into the stairway. Steps and door blocked by massive chunks of concrete.

‘How the hell did you make it through?’ he asked.

‘Whole lot of squirming.’

‘Got to be six, seven tons of debris.’

‘This whole place is a death trap.’

Donahue climbed the steps to street level. She unzipped a backpack. She unfolded a tripod antenna and set it facing the curtained entrance. A mesh dish supported by a skeletal rod frame.

‘Hey, babe.’

Tombes watched her work.

‘Bitch to get a signal down here,’ said Donahue. ‘Schist bedrock capped with reinforced concrete. Smothers any transmission stone dead.’

‘How did Ekks and his team get coverage?’

‘I heard they used steel cable. Ran it out the gate into the alley. Tethered it to a fire escape, turned the ladders and balconies to a big antenna. Ingenious.’

‘Maybe we should pull the same trick,’ said Tombes.

‘You want to go out there? Take a plutonium shower? Be my guest.’

Rain crackled against the opaque polythene sheet lashed across the entrance gate. They could hear ragged fingernails rake the plastic.

‘Check it out,’ said Tombes. ‘It’s got our scent. Trying to force its way inside. Tough motherfucker. Must have absorbed a dose strong enough to kill ten men. Just won’t quit.’

‘A few of these infected fucks might crawl from the rubble,’ said Donahue, ‘but they won’t last long. They might be tough, but nothing can survive that level of radiation. Anything out there in the street will slowly dissolve in the toxic rain. Fallout will burn away their skin, strip muscle from bone. The bomb is doing its job. It might take a while, but a few weeks from now, there will be nothing left. A dead city. Jumbled bones lying in the street. Ribs. Skulls. Tufts of hair.’

‘Fine by me.’

‘I don’t know how these things communicate,’ said Donahue. ‘I can’t figure it out. They seem dumb as rocks. They don’t talk. They don’t gesture. Ever looked one in the eye? Nothing there. Not a glimmer of awareness. No thought, no memory. Maybe they’re telepathic. Maybe they release some kind of pheromone. Soon as one of these bastards senses fresh meat, every infected shithead for miles around perks up and joins the hunt.’

Tombes inspected the gate, checked the bolts that anchored the iron frame to cement.

‘Is this one of Galloway’s handcuffs?’

‘Cadmium steel. It’ll hold.’

‘Not sure about the frame. The ironwork is pretty corroded. If enough prowlers show up and try to force their way inside, it might give way. Better keep watch. We might need to cull a few, keep the numbers down.’

‘Wish we had those SWAT guys.’

‘No use wishing.’

Donahue spooled flex down the steps, across the tiled floor of the ticket hall, to the IRT office.

She sat on a metal folding chair and unboxed the radio. A military transmitter with a resin case. US ARMY SIGNAL CORPS. She flicked an on switch. Green light. Intermittent power-up hum. She turned a heavy black dial. She tapped glass. A signal-strength needle twitched and rose.