The zpocalypto book bund.., p.76
The ZPOCALYPTO Book Bundle (#1 of 4), page 76
I don’t know why he expects me to have the answer. I did my job. I escaped. I killed Mabel. I rescued them.
But I couldn’t rescue Kelly. I couldn’t stop him from going back. I should’ve been the one to do it, not him. I might as well have killed him myself.
He doesn’t deserve this. I do.
I lean my head back against the wall and stare at nothing. I don’t want the responsibility anymore. I’m done.
“Jessie? Come on, I need you.”
I hear Kelly’s ghost telling me the exact same thing.
“Jessie?”
“Go away.”
“You got us—”
“Into this?”
“No. I was going to say you got us free from that bitch. You must have a plan for what to do next. I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, I don’t. Just leave me alone.”
“You can’t give up now. If you do...” He doesn’t finish.
You’re our rock.
Well, Kelly was my rock, and now he’s gone.
“He’s right, Jessie,” Jake says, stepping over. “We really do have to move. All our clothes, our stuff, it’s all here. We need to get out of here.”
He kneels down.
“You,” I snarl at him. “It’s all your fault. You’re the reason we had to go back. If you hadn’t hesitated back there, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. You’re why Kelly’s gone. You need to tell me right now what happened to him! I’m not moving until you do!”
Jake’s face blanches.
“Now!” I scream.
“You better start talking,” Reggie warns.
“Okay. Okay.”
“And make it quick!”
“Okay. Yes, it was my fault. I was a coward. Is that what you want to hear? If I hadn’t choked, or panicked, or— If I’d just gone back to the tunnel the next day, we wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. But if what you guys say is true about the bombs, then if I had been there when Kelly arrived, we’d have been in the tunnels when they bombed them. So, that would’ve been worse, right?”
“Stop trying to find excuses, Jake,” Reggie says. “What the hell happened to Kelly?”
“By the time Kelly found me, it was late afternoon, almost evening.”
“Where the hell were you?”
“After getting back, I had to hide. The plaza was still full of them, the undead. I finally found this car. It was about a quarter mile away, parked in an alleyway. I spent the whole night in there. I couldn’t sleep. The next day, I was sick and exhausted. And scared.”
“You stayed in the car?”
He gulps. “Even when the sun was directly overhead and the inside of the car was almost too hot, I couldn’t make myself leave. I should’ve gone back then. But then the sun passed over the next building. I must’ve fallen asleep. The next thing I knew, Kelly’d found me.”
“When was that?”
“Late afternoon. Kelly said we needed to head back. He said there was still time. But I hadn’t eaten in teo days. I didn’t think I would make it. So, we spent the second night in the car, and then went back to the tunnel the next morning. The IUs were gone by then. Kelly said we should gather up the bags that were still there in the water, but...”
“But you couldn’t do it.”
“No.”
“You knew you’d have to get in at some point.”
“We fought about it. I told him he should just leave me and go.”
“You little shit,” Reggie growls. “You knew he wouldn’t do that. You just needed to man up.”
“I know. But I kept making excuses. I told him the tides were wrong.”
“Yeah, that tide theory of yours was totally wrong. It was wrong straight from the beginning.”
“That’s what Kelly said, too. He figured the currents must be affected by how the tides interacted with the rivers and islands, making them unpredictable.”
“Is that when you suggested taking the Harlem tunnel instead?”
“I never mentioned the other tunnel.”
“Then how’d you end up there?”
“These two guys found us.”
“What two guys? IUs?”
“No. Warm bloods.”
“Sorry?”
Jake winces. “That’s what they called us, these guys. And themselves. Anyone who hasn’t transitioned.”
“Transitioned?” I ask, snapping my head up.
“Resurrected. We’re warm bloods. IUs and CUs are cold bloods.”
“And who were these two guys?”
“They said they were Arc employees. They were surveying, hoping to expand the arcade to cover the whole island.”
“But they weren’t?”
“Well, it seemed plausible. They had all this survival gear with them, EM guns, real shotguns, machetes, body armor. They told us we should go with them, or else we’d end up like one of them, the undead.”
“That doesn’t sound like surveyors,” I say.
“And EM doesn’t work on IUs,” Reggie points out.
“Maybe they’d been inside Gameland, too. I don’t know.”
“What’d Kelly think about them?”
Jake shrugs. “He was suspicious from the very start. He didn’t want us to go with them. I should’ve been more skeptical, but you can’t imagine how glad I was to see people who actually looked like they knew what they were doing.”
“You didn’t think Kelly knew what he was doing? He went back by himself to rescue your sorry ass!”
Jake shrugs.
“So, you disregarded him and threw in your lot with these total strangers.”
“It’s not like we had any choice,” he whines. “These guys were really well armed, and they promised to get us off the island. Kelly told them we already had a way off, but they said that whatever it was, theirs was foolproof and safe.”
“They’re the ones who brought you to the Harlem tunnel?”
“I keep telling you, that wasn’t our destination.”
“But that’s as far as we tracked your signals before they disappeared.”
“I think it’s because we’re so close to the wall. You can feel it, can’t you, that slight buzzing inside your head? I think it might mess up the signals.”
“Did you at least try to get away?”
“Kelly argued with them for a bit. He didn’t like the fact that their plan meant traveling farther away from our two tunnels. But they made it very clear we weren’t going anywhere without them. They told us that we should be glad they found us, in fact, and not NCD or anyone else, because otherwise we’d be in serious trouble. They promised to get us off the island without anyone knowing we were ever there, if we told them how we got here in the first place.”
“How did you travel?” I ask. “On foot?”
“Yes.”
“The whole way, for five miles?”
“Oh, it was a lot longer than that. In fact, they made us run. Kelly asked why they didn’t have vehicles. They said it was too dangerous. After the first survey teams were attacked years back, Arc banned their people on the island from using anything with a motor. Apparently, loud noises, even vibrations, can attract the undead.”
“Go figure.”
“I’m surprised they were so eager to help you. Weren’t they even a little concerned about you being there?” I ask. “Why would they offer to help you get out?”
“I thought it was because we’re so young. But no, they didn’t seem as surprised or concerned as you’d think. Not until we told them we’d come through the tunnels. One of them got on his Link. He was pretty agitated. Kelly overheard him tell his partner that the tunnels were being shut down.”
“Who’d he ping?” I ask. “The EM barrier would’ve blocked anyone from connecting from the outside.”
“I don’t know. I never got a chance to find out, because after that, they pretty much kept us running. There wasn’t much of an opportunity to talk. And the further away we got, the more we realized they weren’t looking to get us out. During one of our very brief water breaks, Kelly told me to be prepared.”
“For what?”
“He didn’t say. There wasn’t time. Soon after that, we arrived here at the terminal.”
“Here?”
Reggie and I exchange glances as the truth settles in. We’re back on Long Island, not on the mainland, as we’d presumed.
Jake nods. “They brought us inside and told us to rest while they scouted ahead for cold bloods. All of a sudden, Kelly punches one of the guys in the face and shouts at me to run.”
“Did you?”
“I wasn’t... No,” he replies, shamefully. “Before I knew was happening, the other guy tackled me. He must’ve been ex-military or something, because I didn’t stand a chance.”
“Yeah,” I grumble. “That must be it.”
“He had moves. He jumped me.”
“So, it wasn’t a fair fight.”
He winces.
“What happened to Kelly?” Reggie asks. “Did he run?”
“He tried to. I could hear the other man chase after him. There was a gunshot. I was already on the ground when I heard it. That was the last time I saw him. I’m sorry, Jessie.”
“You choked,” I growled. “You choked, and it delayed your coming back through the tunnel. You choked and—”
“If I hadn’t, we’d have been bombed.”
“Kelly warned you to be ready, and you froze, just like you always do.”
“I screwed up, I know. Twice.”
“Not twice. Every time. And now Kelly’s dead.”
“We don’t know that,” Reggie says, stiffly. “Jake heard a gunshot. Doesn’t mean anything.”
The man’s words echo even louder inside my head: We lost one of them. Well, the rest of the gang’s here, alive, and he’s the only one unaccounted for.
“It means everything,” I whisper. “I heard them say one of us died.”
“Who said that?”
“The man that was here last night. I overheard him talking with Mabel. He said they lost one of us. There were supposed to be five of us, but they lost one. They had to find a replacement.”
“Lost doesn’t mean dead. Lost could be missing.”
He stands up and goes over to the woman in the second bed.
“In fact, I’m willing to bet that whoever this is, they probably know something. Because it’s obvious Jake doesn’t know shit.”
Chapter 22
Lost.
I let the word bob around in my head, like a beach ball in a swimming pool. It’s suddenly three dimensional, no longer singular in meaning. I inspect its different facets from different angles, and it suddenly takes on so many other meanings.
Lost. Gone. Not necessarily dead.
All this time I’d assumed they’d meant one of us had died, not that we’d gotten away. A flicker of hope rises in my belly, but I push it back down again. I want to believe that Reggie’s right, that Kelly somehow escaped and is still alive out there, somewhere. But what if he’s wrong and lost really does mean what I’d thought?
I heard a gunshot.
And he’s not here. Either he escaped, or he was killed.
I can’t bear going through this all over again.
“Jess?” Reggie says to me, as if he expects me to suddenly take charge, now that the possibility of Kelly being alive is back on the table. How can I have a plan when I’m still processing this new information?
“We should try to wake her up.”
When I don’t move, he shakes his head in frustration. He picks up several of our backpacks and tosses them out into the hallway, then follows them out. I know he’s frustrated with me. Well, screw him.
He returns minutes later. “Ashley’s on her feet. She might be able to walk on her own.” He glances at Micah. “If we weren’t back on this fucking island again...”
“Do you know which airport we’re in?” I ask.
“The old LaGuardia,” Jake replies.
I can see Reggie’s jaw throb. He’s also doing the calculations. The problem has suddenly grown a magnitude more complicated than I’d thought it was just a few minutes before. Besides having to figuring out how to get Micah out of here with him being as seriously hurt as he is, now we have to find a completely new way off the island.
I push myself back to my feet. I do, in fact, feel like I’ve been released from the paralyzing grief and indecision that held me moments before. I still refuse to hope for the best outcome, but as long as there’s a possibility Kelly’s still alive, I can function. “What happened after Kelly took off?” I ask Jake. “Did either man say anything about him?”
“No,” Jake replies. “The first guy came back pretty quickly. Like, within seconds of the...” He purses his lips. “After I heard the gunshot. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn’t answer. They got me up and then injected me with something. The next thing I knew, I was waking up handcuffed to a bed, and there’s this bandage on the back of my neck.”
“They messed with all of our implants,” Reggie says.
“Did they remove them?”
“No,” I say, “but I’m starting to think we’ll wish they had.”
“What do you mean?” Reggie asks.
I quickly explain what I’d overheard Nurse Mabel and the mysterious man talking about. “I think they’ve replaced them with something experimental. I don’t know exactly, but I have a bad feeling about it.”
“Why the hell would they do that?”
“I wish I knew. The only thing I overheard them say was that they’re using new materials, and that they consider it a kind of upgrade.” I stop short of telling tell them that I think it’s all part of some unsanctioned experiment, and that we’ve probably been volunteered. Nor do I mention that if my body continues to reject my implant, I’ll be brain dead in a matter of weeks. We’ve already got too much on our minds. I need them to focus, because it’s the only way they’re going to get out of here.
I go over to the strange woman in the second bed and shake her. It doesn’t surprise me that she doesn’t respond at all. Her face is puffy with bruises, just like Micah’s, but there are no scrapes or cuts. I don’t think she’ll be giving us any information anytime soon.
“Okay,” I say, “there’s three of us who can function clearly. Four, if Ashley recovers in time. We can handle the other two.”
“We’re not taking her!” Jake says, pointing to the other bed. “We don’t even know who she is.”
“You’re right, we don’t. But she’s obviously in the same boat as we are. And I think Reggie’s also right that she might know something about Kelly. We just need to give her time to wake up.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“She’s going to slow us down.”
“No more than Micah will. We need wheelchairs. This is an airport, so there’s got to be some here.”
“Okay. And where do we go?” Reggie asks. “We’re still going to be on the island. The tunnels are closed, and—”
“The shuttle,” I say. “It’s the only way.”
“You think they’re just going to let us walk on?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“I’m working on it.”
“And what about Kelly?” Reggie asks.
I can feel his eyes boring into me. He probably already suspects what I’m planning.
“First things first,” I say. “Right now, our top priority is getting everyone up and out of these rooms. If we’re still here when they show up, we lose our advantage.”
I go over and unlock the girl’s handcuff and jiggle her shoulders. Surprisingly, her eyes flutter open. But there’s nothing there, no emotion or surprise or even a sense of self-awareness. I ask her if she can get up. She offers no response. Reggie hands me the extra set of clothes he and Jake found amongst our bags. They’re the only ones besides Jake’s that weren’t filthy and bloody, so they’re clearly hers. “We’re going to get you out of here,” I say.
But she just lies there.
I lean down to check the back of her head. She’s got a bandage on her neck, just like the rest of us. And it’s when I’m close to her that I realize I know her. I don’t know if it’s the faint smell of whatever perfume or lotion she used. Maybe it’s that I now see beneath the puffiness in her face, her swollen eyelids, her total lack of expression.
I back quickly away, gasping her name.
“What?” Reggie asks. “You know her?”
I’m too shocked to answer right away. It can’t be a coincidence that she’s here, too. But how?
“Jess?” Reggie says. He takes my elbow and tries to turn me to him. “Jessie, who’s Tanya?”
Chapter 23
“We met a few days ago,” I whisper. “On the bus from Hartford.”
“The day after we got back?”
“Yes. I was coming back from my interview for the lost Link. We shared a seat.”
“Okay, that’s... That can’t be a coincidence.”
“It’s not.”
“Okay, so... who is she?”
“Honestly? I don’t really know. She said she worked for Arc as a recording clerk, but that’s all I know about her.”
“Another Arc connection.”
“But why would they do something like this to one of their own?” Jake asks. “Did she volunteer?”
“I don’t think so,” I say. “And I don’t think it has anything to do with her job. I think it has to do with what happened that day on that bus.”
“Did you tell her what we did?”
“No! Of course not. In fact, she did most of the talking. All I did was—”
I gasp again, and cover my mouth. Suddenly a lot more that was said between Mabel and the man suddenly becomes clear.
We had forensics go through the Stream records. She popped up because she tried pinging the Corben boy.
“What?” Reggie asks.
“We were talking. I wanted to check on Kelly, to see if he was back yet. But the Link they gave me at Citizen Registration was— I couldn’t ping, so I asked to use her Link.”
“You think she’s here because you tried to ping Kelly with her Link? That’s a bit of a stretch.”
“I think they brought her in solely because of that connection. There were supposed to five of us, but when they lost Kelly, they needed to replace him.”
