Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 (20 page)

  "Are you okay, Caitlin?" Thorn motioned, with a gentle hand on my shoulder as I sat there on my knees; embarrassing myself with the puke dripping from my lips.  I finally stood up and gathered my composure and we all checked ourselves for signs of contamination; any clothing or gloves with trace amounts of blood had to be discarded.  The men gathered up brush and made a fire to burn the infected clothing since we didn't want this hybrid germ getting loose or chance what harm it might do if it got released into the ecosystem.

  Wearily, we gathered ourselves after making the bonfire, and made our way around the hills towards the welcoming sound of a stream.  We only had two shock pistols with a few charges of ammo left.  I was begrieved to have lost that energy rifle, but it wasn't worth the chance of being infected either by all the blood Kane had splattered onto its muzzle.  Regardless, we weren't going back for it, nor were there any controls topside to speak of that could call the lift again.  We were stuck up here in the middle of nowhere, and were determined to find our way back to find Roy and the others.  The problem was, we didn't know where the hell we were or which direction to go.

  We had to keep an eye on Betty, as the old woman was the only one left in the group who was a liability and lacked the endurance for surviving on the surface.  She had spent nearly the last decade being fed and clothed and using others to toil for her needs.  That life came to a sudden halt with the end of Kane's reign.  She had been at his right hand for more years than she could remember, having exploited the residence of the shelter to promote her position and control, just as Kane had done.  Now that had all been swept away, and she stood there gazing out at the cloud filled skies, watching the sunset over the hills for the first time in what seemed like forever.

  As darkness fell, the night air was starting to become bitterly cold and they were ill equipped for this season clothed only in their thin colored jumpsuits.  With no rations or warm clothing and only their wits, they had little chance of surviving topside for more than a few days if they failed find supplies and better weapons.  An abandoned house or town would do well to protect them from the elements come nightfall, but they were at an ill disadvantage if they ran into a horde of Weepers.

  Haiti attempted to give the old woman some pointers for surviving in the wilderness and how to scavenge for supplies on the road, but it seemed of little use as Betty didn't seem to absorb half of what he was saying.  At least the conversation helped pass the time as we tried to find adequate shelter before night finally fell and left us stumbling in the darkness.

  The stream we had heard echoing from the distance grew louder as we circled the barren hills.  Below us, we saw what looked like an old mill at the corner of a lake, and could make out a road between the forest trees that sprouted along the riverside.  The problem was this landscape and foliage looked nothing like that around the facility where we had left our friends.  We inquired with the old woman if she had known how far the hydrogen generators were from Fallhaven, but she claimed to have little to no knowledge regarding the full extent of the underground network.

  "Most of the citizens who lived the bunker were wealthy enough to have purchased a spot for their families, or had either government or high ranking military connections as a guarantee for their reservation to reside there," Beatrice relayed as we made our way down the edge of the hill towards the lake, noting it would be wise to reach the cover of the trees before the sun fully set, "the rail system connected several such shelters across the country; some far larger than ours I was told," she stated.

  "How many shelters?" Thorn inquired, just as boggled as both Haiti and I were at her claim; admitting to her that none of us had ever gotten wind about such an extensive underground network.

  "Oh, and you wouldn't," the old woman snapped in reply, "there were over two dozen I knew of.  These facilities are top secret, and not available to the common folk," she ended without realizing her flagrant insult towards the three of us.

  "So you're saying that rail system crossed the entire section of this country and its existence had been kept secret from the public ...how is that even possible?" I asked, just as shocked as my friends were to her revelation.  It was a tall tale we would have not believed, had we not seen it for our own eyes.

  "Yes, quite so.  Many intersect and there are parts of the subway system also extended beyond foreign borders into neighboring countries.  The transport network was designed to function independently by vacuum pressure in the event there was a failure of the electrical grid," she answered, "There were actually several redundant power stations much like the one you mentioned, where you descended to gain access to the subway system," she added, "they were originally constructed over the past several decades beneath key military bases, crucial governmental facilities, even private resorts.  All paid for by the clueless taxpayers for these black operations and secret programs that were funded without a trace of their expense."

  This really burned us.  The common citizen paid for all these costly and lavish programs from their own toil and labor, but were never actually meant to be included to benefit in their use or protection.  It was the elite skimming off the sweat and tears of others. 

  "I find it hard to believe they built all that for the event of war decades ago?" I breathed, disgusted with what I was hearing, as we hit the tree line and cautiously made our way towards the abandoned mill.

  "That's what I thought when I saw the bunker for the first time, its entire underground ecosystem had been planned out and the years of supplies that had been carefully stockpiled by the engineers," Beatrice admitted, "but we began to discover that it had been created specifically for the apocalypse caused by the meteor, not some frivolous war."

  That admission stunned us.  My friends and I shook our heads in disbelief.  A plan of that nature carried out on such grand scale as this had been scrubbed from all web and news media sources so that everyone in the general public would never be the wiser.  We weren't blind nor stupid; we had seen the hologram videos about the inevitable consequences and fallout in the event of international thermonuclear war, but it seems the powers that be knew of this approaching calamity and were only interested in protecting their own sorry necks.  Apparently, everyone else was thrown under the bus. 

  Their contingency plans failed on the first tier when the MN4 virus introduced itself into the environment.  The government and military entities had only been prepared for heightened levels of devastation resulting from earthquakes or tsunamis from the impact.  The electromagnetic pulse that threw most of the world back into the Stone Age was a quaint surprise, but the alien pathogen that spread like wildfire was the cherry on top of the cake.  They had underestimated the responses required on a fatal level. 

  Had the public worldwide been informed of this fate, many more might have been better prepared for the cataclysm that followed; but there was also the calculated chance of wide spread panic and unbridled chaos that could have destroyed our civilization long before Apophis ever entered our orbit.  Humankind had a habit of being selfish and self destructive on its very own.  Thus, on one level, the secrecy made sense; but on another, it was a complete moral failure.  Personally, if it had been my sole choice to make, it would have been better to let everyone have a chance.  Certainly, things would have likely fared far better than the way they had turned out.

  "Oh my, you believe in people too much, Caitlin," Betty declared, "from what I've seen in my long years, survival has no sense of ethics or honor, young lady."

  I didn't want to place any value in her harsh words, even when I knew what she had said was entirely true on many counts.  Maybe I didn't want to hear the truth, realizing it hurt too much; so I kept it at bay.  It was my one character flaw which made me hate myself at times.  Like a bigot, I would ridicule others for not facing reality, yet did it myself most of the time.  I just tried not to notice when I was doing it. 

  As vulnerable as we were, we took every precaution as we approached the old mill even though the light was fading fast.  It was widely reported that mammals in particular were the most susceptible to the MN4 virus; so even the smallest rodent could be a carrier.  I had also seen cases were wild deer had aggressively attacked people as if they had gone rabid.  The truth was that most mammals that became exposed to the disease would pace about aimlessly or curl into a ball and starve to death as if they were in a paralyzed trance, having lost all concepts of instinct and self-preservation.

  Earth had been long overdue for a plague, but the magnitude of this disease was of the likes humanity had never seen before.  It was astounding how many people died from committing innocent mistakes to outright acts of stupidity.  Cats and dogs were one of the most dangerous of all the factors, since most everyone wanted to save their damn pets during the initial outbreak during the evacuations, which only managed to spread the germ beyond any scope imaginable.  It was an all too common occurrence, that some idiots would try to smuggle their stupid cat or tiny rat dogs because they were small enough to carry or conceal in their bags, even though they knew it was a risk; only to end up infecting their entire family while contained in quarantine. 

  Burn barrels were set up in lines to such camps.  Every so often you would come across one while scavenging around; finding a burnt dumpster full of charred pets.  The horrible part is that these poor animals were usually tossed into the incinerator cans while they were still alive, for fear of getting infected blood sprayed on the handlers if they were shot or clubbed to death.  It was a horrible sound to hear, especially for a child who would see their beloved pet thrown into a glowing fire; its grisly cries as it burned would forever haunting their dreams.  It was logical measure though, to fend off the spread of the sickness.

  Birds appeared to be immune to the alien virus, as did most every reptile; so doctors turned to those species for research and experimentation.  Fish was a suspect carrier, which seriously dented food stocks in the early years of the outbreak when stockpiles of canned meats were being incinerated as a precaution.  Enormous greenhouses popped up in an attempt to help curb starvation when the paranoid doctors and scientists instructed people to turn to vegetarian diets just to be safe.  Although, as it ended up, they were just grasping straws out of desperation and didn't really know what the fuck they were talking about.  The public wanted results, and they were thrown lies and misinformation in return, just to sate them.

  At least, that is what they told the public.  The truth was that most all suspect canned foods were actually confiscated by the government departments and health organizations; but instead of being disposed of as they had so claimed; those food supplies were rerouted and horded in storage facilities for secret bunkers such as Fallhaven.  Actually, it was an ingenious ploy; which effectively robbed food stocks from the public right under their noses with their submission.

  At least Doomsday turned out better than it would have in the event of a nuclear holocaust and a radioactive winter of ash that would have encompassed the planet.  Even the dire devastation of a colossal solar flare that would have scorched the planet with cosmic radiation would have killed off all plant life.  Those apocalyptic style movies were great entertainment, but reality was far more somber.  The dinosaurs and reptile species once had their day in the sun and were taken out by a rogue asteroid; now mammals were getting their getting their dues. 

  Approaching the lakeside, we edged our way towards the old wood building.  Surrounded by a rusted fence, the mill itself was in decrepit condition.  There did not appear to be any breaks in the barrier, and so we let ourselves way in through the front gate while noting that the lock had already been cut.  The wood was aged and the warped floorboards creaked under our feet.  Considering the age of the building, we soon realized that any attempts at making a campfire here might risk the whole structure itself to go up in a ball of flame. 

  Chains dangled from the high ceiling above piles of cut logs, which were now cracked and split from years of exposure.  Investigating the service rooms, we were lucky to find some canned food that sat unmolested in a dark cabinet.  Many places I had seen over the years had been infested by rats and mice, these vermin could chew through almost anything if they were hungry enough.  Thorn knew the method of opening a sealed can without the convenience of a can opener by grating the lid edge on a flat brick.  It was an odd find since most packaged goods had pull tabs for easy opening, which pointed to the fact that these cans were likely older than most.  The contents seemed edible, in fact, I don't remember cold beans ever tasting so good.  We were all so hungry, we didn't bother to complain.

  Haiti couldn't believe our luck when we found an actual oil lantern and some kerosene still in it.  It took longer than we had wished to spark up some dry sawdust which was plentiful, to get the wick lit.  The lamp was smoky from the old condensed oil, but it was a welcome relief from the darkness.  Betty looked out to the lake in all its eerie stillness while we all sat staring at the flickering lamp light in the center of the mill; wondering what tomorrow might bring. 

  She had been locked away in that bunker for so long she had forgotten the chirp of crickets, the sound of river life and the buzzing of dragonflies.  The dark waters lapped upon the edge of the posts in the room that overhung the shore of the lake.  The four of us bunked in the small bay that overlooked the lagoon, which had one wall open to the water line.  We were tired and worn out from the morning’s events, and proper protocol would have been to keep an eye on one another for symptoms, but we were so tuckered we didn't care.  If any one of us had been infected during our escape from Fallhaven, the mutant germ would have been exposed itself by now.  We were finally free of that place and that is all that mattered.