O-Negative: Extinction (15 page)

“Tessa thank you for that extremely well spoken summary – I wonder that you haven’t gone into politics yourself? My thanks also to all of you present for admitting me into your thoughts like this.  I won’t lie to you I am somewhat surprised at the deeply felt and passionately presented views you outline.  You’all undoubtedly know that I already support in principle many of the points Tessa’s made here.  Nevertheless I would like to make it clear that I do feel very much an ‘American’ as opposed to say only a ‘Southern’ and would like to think that given the encouraging economic signs, which have already been outlined, that there is still an opportunity for all of us who have some influence to address the political and social issues that have prevented our country from progressing as it should.  I do also believe that we as a country and as a region remain vulnerable to both internal and external factors and that it would not take much to set us back once again - or even in a worst case scenario – to affect the overall cohesion of our society and political structures to such an extent that there would be no returning to our position as a superpower.  So with this in mind I very much support your efforts to assess, analyse, make plans and most importantly be prepared to defend our interests and the interests of our individual constituents.  I think I’ve already demonstrated my commitment through my relatively minor interactions with Chad and keeping him apprised of the developing situation in Antarctica.  Such a situation may well turn out to be nothing at all but it is perhaps symptomatic of some of the weaknesses in our current system that we do not seem to have retained the processes that we had in place during the cold war - processes that might have provided us with a greater level of comfort in feeling that we were at least prepared for an event such as this.  If this does turn out to be something worse than I believe it will be networks such as this that will need to step up to the plate - I will of course continue to support you wherever I can.”

Chad looked at him and nodded quietly, as did a number of others around the table.  Tessa winked at him – she was obviously glad she could drop the Southern belle act with him now.

Chad said “David I think we chose wisely in supporting your bid for congress and with regards to introducing you to this group.  Perhaps we may even have underestimated your potential usefulness to us.  I do hope that we can continue to reply on your support over the coming period?”

“Of course Chad.  I am not yet fully inured to the slothness of Washington politics that I’ll sit by while my country suffers”.

A flurry of snowflakes driven in by the wind woke him.  Momentarily he was disorientated as he appeared to be in darkness and all he could hear was the wind rushing about him.   Then he realised his inability to see was because his eyelashes were frozen together.  He pulled his gloves off and carefully scraped away the ice leaving the remainder closest to the eyelids to melt naturally as he’d been taught.  While he waited he checked the rest of his face; pushing the tips of his fingers against his lips, nose and cheeks.  Despite his worst fears his could still feel his fingers probing the fleshiest parts of his face.  Only right at the tip of his nose did he pick up any numbness or immediate signs of frostbite.   He opened his eyes.

He found himself on the floor of the cab lying on a pile of circular pieces of glass.  He was alive.  Somehow he’d survived the second most horrific experience of his life – the first had been when he’d been pulled out of class by his red eyed mother and told his father had been killed during the battle of Goose Green - no day could top one in which the father that he’d adored, the father that he’d been so proud was ripped from him so unexpectedly and at such a young age.   He reached up to pull himself onto the driver’s seat, which caused him to dislodge an empty aluminium drinks can.  As the can fell and hit him gently on the knee he spasmed; the memory of thousands of metallic creatures covering him from head to foot flashing back to him in an instant.  He slumped back to the floor and waited for his heart to stop pounding.  His second attempt at getting up was more successful and he propped himself up on the cushioned seat.  Looking out through the destroyed front window the scene that greeted him seemed almost unreal.  The remains of the plane continued to smoke but the intensity of the rising particles had dissipated to a narrow black line which was being dispersed completely 3 or 4 metres above the plane by the strong wind blowing from the south.  As well as the scattered dead team from Rothera, the bodies of Sergeant Tucker and a number of the Marines he’d travelled with could now be seen lying on top of one another like a pile of discarded mannequins. 

In a sort of half daze Joe took his face mask from his left hand pocket and placed it around his mouth and nose.  He then put his gloves on, pulled his hood up and slowly exited the snow track.  The wind buffeted him as he dropped to the ground and the snow swirled around his face obscuring his vision.  He glanced around and could see the other two snow tracks remained where he’d last seen them, one in front and one behind.  He moved towards the latter.  Joe didn’t need to move far before he saw Jimmy Wentworth’s limp and quite obviously dead body slumped to one side of the driver’s seat.  Like Joe’s track the cab’s front and side windows were peppered with a series of circular holes.  He climbed the first two steps of the track’s entry ladder and pulled Jimmy’s body upright.  As he did so he saw that Jimmy had now been given a second smile; except this smile was underneath his chin and curved from one side of the neck to the other.  Joe hastily let go of Jimmy’s body and stumbled down from the cab.  He only just managed to tear his facemask away as he retched onto the pristine snow.  10 years ago he probably wouldn’t have retched but it had been a while since he’d seen such injuries and he was no longer so accustomed to these things.

Once he’d finished vomiting Joe had trouble standing and briefly considered lying down to rest.  However he knew that if he did this he’d be joining Jimmy sooner rather than later.  Joe had no idea why he hadn’t been gutted the same as Jimmy; as he considered this he was suddenly overcome with the thought that maybe others had to.  This feeling spurned him to turn into the wind and start to jog towards the left hand side of the plane where he’d last seen Lieutenant Taylor and his men.  Ten steps later he turned back realising that heading into a bitterly cold wind away from the snow track wasn’t the best idea he’d had.  He needed to see about his own survival first before looking for others.  His survival and that of anyone else depended almost entirely on one of the snow tracks being in working order.  Because of the devastation outside when he got back into his snow track he fully expected it to be lifeless and unresponsive.  In fact the engine burst into life as soon as he turned the key.  The relief and shock at hearing the familiar chugging sound – a sound that meant the difference between life and death was almost overwhelming; he found himself crying into his hands.  As he sobbed Joe knew he must be suffering from shock and that if he wanted to get himself out of this situation he was going to need to keep himself together.  He wasn’t safe yet by a long shot.  For a start the metallic creatures might come back and if they didn’t the Antarctic weather would finish him off without a second thought. 

He took a deep breath and carefully wiped the tears from his eyes to prevent them from freezing up again.  He decided he’d have a quick look for other survivors and then make a decision about what to do.  He slowly moved the snow track towards the plane zig zagging it back and forth to avoid the bodies of the Rothera personnel.  He reached Sergeant Tucker’s team and hopped down from the track to check each of the 9 or 10 marines lying on the ground.  Seeing all the weapons lying discarded around the dead soldiers Joe considered taking a rifle but in the end decided against it.  If the creatures came back no rifle was going to prevent them from killing him.  Sergeant Tucker was lying slightly apart from his men face up in the snow, when Joe brushed the sprinkling of snow covering the Sergeant he could see that Tucker had died the same way Jimmy had.  A deep cut ran across his neck cutting his carotid artery and by the looks of it his trachea as well.  He dry retched but as his body had nothing left to expel it soon subsided.  He left the bodies where they were and drove the track past the plane to where Lance Corporal Anderson and his men had valiantly tried to halt the unstoppable tide.  Most of Anderson’s team had died with their rifles gripped in both hands but one Marine had one hand outstretched in front of him.  In the hand was a smart phone.  Joe took the phone and put it into his snow suit before driving the track off to the left to find the last group of Marines led by Lieutenant Taylor.  They lay similar to the rest apart from one body that appeared to have drawn up its knees into its chest and had its arms wrapped around itself.  As he looked at the body he saw it violently shudder.  He jumped down and ran to the Marine grabbing the soldier’s snow suit and dragging him round to the back of the carrier still attached to the snow track.  It took him a few seconds to open the carrier door as he had to knock the ice away from the opening mechanism but once open he dragged the Marine inside and shut the door behind them.  The temperature in the back of the carrier was considerably warmer than outside.  He realised the heating system was still turned on he lay the Marine on to his back and unzipped the top of his snow suit.  Pulling the hood down he could see that the rescued soldier was Lieutenant Taylor.   Though the Lieutenant wasn’t looking too good his throat appeared untouched apart from a very small bead of blood on one side – almost like a pin prick.  He ignored this knowing that though Lieutenant Taylor was still alive he’d die if he didn’t warm him up quickly.  He left the Lieutenant’s snow suit on and dragged him as close to the carrier’s heating element as he could.  He then lay down next to him and placed his body behind the Lieutenant’s reaching his arms round to lift him away from the cold floor.  This was all he could think about doing before his own exhausted body and mind shut down and he fell into a deep almost semi-comatose sleep.

He awoke to find Lieutenant Taylor struggling in his arms.

“Get off, get off me, get off me”

He let go and moved away from Lieutenant Taylor who shivered briefly on the floor.

“Lieutenant it’s me, it’s Joe, Dr Harper.  You’re ok we’re ok we’re in the back of the snow track carrier”.

Lieutenant Taylor gave a start and then as if waking from a terrible nightmare sat bolt upright.

“Dr Harper.  Why am I in the back of the carrier?  Where are the rest of the men?”  He stopped as his brain caught up with him.  “Oh my God, the men, the creatures what the hell’s happening.  Where are the rest of the men?  We need to get out of here”.  Lieutenant Taylor tried to stand and then fell back hitting his head as he did so on the edge of the heating element.

He gave a shout of alarm.  “Lieutenant you need to lie down, you’re suffering from hypothermia”.  He realised the Lieutenant was out cold again, he must have knocked himself out when he hit his head.  He moved the Lieutenant's body back as close as he could to the heating element and then sat for a minute deciding what he should do.  He didn’t think staying where they were was a particularly good idea so that left two options.  One continue on to Amundsen-Scott or two turn around and head back to the airstrip.  He was pretty sure that heading on to Amundsen-Scott was a poor idea.  He now had a pretty good idea about why they hadn’t heard from the central bases.  They’d more than likely been wiped out like the Marines.  Even though there may be survivors like himself and the Lieutenant he realised it didn’t make sense to continue onwards.  They only really had one option.  They needed to head back to the airstrip and get themselves out of danger.  He left Lieutenant Taylor in the back of the carrier and then got in the snow track and drove back the way they’d come. 

2 hours later the GPS signal came back on, though he felt some relief at this it was tempered by the fact that even with goggles, gloves, facemask and his snow suit zipped up to the top it was becoming too cold to continue.  Though the track had an effective heater the holes in the front and side windscreens meant the increasingly strong wind was blowing the hot air away before it warmed him.  Similarly he’d found that if he went over about 25 mph the wind chill meant he started to lose the feeling in his face and hands.  He stopped the track and the heater blasted warm air in his face.  Enjoying the warmth he racked his brain to come up with a solution to the problem of no functioning windows.  In the end all he could think of was to pick up the circular pieces of reinforced glass and try to fit them back into the windows.  The pieces were all exactly the same size and despite the speed in which they’d been cut they fitted back into the glass like a jigsaw.  The only problem was that the circumference of the glass pieces was incredibly smooth so as soon as he tried moving the track the pieces fell out again.  It wasn’t until he saw the pool of melting snow at his feet that he had a bit of brainwave.  What if he dipped the edge of the pieces in water and then replaced them in the holes?  He tried it first on the side windows which were straighter and so didn’t require him to hold the pieces in place. Success.  Within about 5 minutes the water on the edges of the glass had frozen thereby expanding and locking the glass pieces in place.  Working rapidly Joe soon had all the other holes filled and the temperature in the cab became noticeably warmer.  Initially he was concerned that with the heater on and the temperature rising the glass pieces would fall out again but he needn’t have worried, even when he jerked the track back and forwards none of the pieces fell out.  The temperature outside the windows was cold enough to keep the edges frozen.

He was just about to start moving off again when he heard a banging coming from the carrier.  The Lieutenant must have woken up.  He got out and went and opened the back of the carrier.

He poked his head in.  “Lieutenant.  How you doing?”

The Lieutenant rubbed his head. “Well apart from coming under attack from an unknown enemy, getting hypothermia and then knocking myself unconscious I’m good”.  His tone belied the seriousness of his expression – he was also as white as a sheet.

“Listen it’s good to see you up, do you want get in the cab while I fill up the track and then we can talk through where we’re at.”  He paused for a second.  “I’m afraid there weren’t any other survivors Lieutenant and I took the decision to drive us outside of the 500 mile danger zone”.

“No survivors?  Fucking hell what the shit was that?  You think the Russians have developed some new military tech out here?”  He shrugged at the Lieutenant’s question “Could be but if I’m honest I don’t think so, here you look dreadful let’s talk some more in the cab.”  The Lieutenant got up shakily, are you ok to fill up on your own Dr Harper?”

“Yep I’ll do this.  You need to keep out of the cold.  Hey any maybe it’s time to stop the Dr Harper bit - Joe will be fine”.

The Lieutenant nodded and said “ok Joe, and I’m Dominic by the way”.  Dominic then gingerly climbed out of the carrier and shuffled round to the cab while Joe lugged the barrel of diesel out of the back of the carrier.  Once he had unsealed the fuel barrel he took a piece of rubber pipe, provided for just this purpose, and put one end in the top and the other in his mouth.  When he sucked on the pipe the diesel flowed straight up into his mouth and he quickly lowered the pipe to the ground and let the diesel flow for a second or two before placing the pipe in the fuel tank outlet.  He spat the mouthful of diesel out and tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the taste by rinsing his mouth out with snow.  Once the barrel was empty he put it back in the carrier and joined Dominic in the cab. 

Dominic was frowning at the windows.  “I’m assuming the new ventilation feature wasn’t your idea?  What happened?”