The Dark Rift: Redemption (24 page)

The camper skidded to a stop next to him. “Evan, get in,” Christy yelled from the opened side door.

He leapt into the camper and Nick took off, barely missing a car pulling in front of them.

Leaning into the front seat, Evan said, “Better slow it down, Nick. If we wreck this thing, we’re on foot.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah. . . yeah,” he said, slowing the camper as he drove toward the exit.

As they passed by the incinerated van, Evan gasped at the sight of John Fitzpatrick’s charred body lying on the pavement. 

“We shouldn’t have come here,” Christy said. “We put all these people in danger.”

Evan shook his head. “No, we did not, my dear. The responsibility for this is on the Gypsum Corporation, alone. They’ve turned into unrepentant murderers.” As the words came from his mouth, Evan felt guilt start to seep into him, regardless. In a way, Christy was right. They would have to stay away from people to avoid bringing the wrath of Gypsum down on everyone around them.

Turning to the back of the camper, Evan sat down at the dining table, wondering what odor was wafting through the stale air of the camper. It took a few moments, but then he realized what it was. It was ham. Baked ham.

“I knew there was a reason I was starting to agree with you on everything,” Jodie said, feeling a smile form on her lips.

“Pretty crazy, isn’t it?” Chuck asked. “We’re like, well, like brother and sister, now.”

“Well, not quite,” Hana said, a laugh escaping her mouth. “Being exposed to the super soldier replication formula means you have a virus in your system that contains Jodie’s DNA. It doesn’t exactly mean you’re twins.”

“How did my mother come to use my DNA for this experiment, anyway?” Jodie asked. “I mean, there were thousands of people down here. She had her pick, I would assume. Why mine?”

Hana sighed. “We performed trials for years, all of which failed. Your father brought her a blood sample. It wasn’t until we were successful that he told her it came from you. By then, we were too far along to stop.”

“My father?” Jodie asked. “My father gave her a blood sample? He wouldn’t do that without my permission.” Jodie wondered what this woman wanted her to believe. Certainly her father would’ve told her about this. Or would he?

Hana moved her chair closer. “Jodie, I know your dad quite well. The reason I recognized you is because of the dozens of times I saw your photos. He was always showing them off. I could tell things weren’t right between the two of you. He seemed so sad when he would talk about you.”

He's been lying to me, Jodie thought. Lying about his role in the Gypsum Corporation. “And how, exactly, did he obtain a blood sample from me?” she asked.

“He didn’t. Someone else did,” Hana said. “Remember the annual blood drive at the FBI? You donated every year.”

“And, someone from the FBI stole the blood I donated?” Jodie was waiting to hear who had done such a despicable thing. She felt like she knew already, but needed to hear it. “Who?”

“Ted Renfro. Do you remember him?" Hana asked. "He used to be a good friend of your father’s. You have to realize, your dad thought of it as a way to get back at your mother. Once the trials were so successful, he realized what he'd done. He'd actually put you in danger.”

“I didn't remember who Ted Renfro was until recently, although I saw him at the office one day, too. But what do you mean, danger?” Jodie asked.

Hana sighed. “Jodie, yours was the only DNA in over ten thousand trials that was compatible with alien DNA. You're the reason Chuck is still alive and that a super soldier even exists. You're both extremely valuable to Gypsum.”

Her mother’s reasons for forcing her into the tunnel when the whole nightmare began were finally starting to become clear to Jodie. Her mother needed her. Not out of love or loyalty, but for her science experiment.

Hana touched her hand. "You’re in danger right now because they need more DNA from you … and killing you wouldn’t prevent that from happening."

"Hana, I need to know where Mei is," Jodie said, feeling like they'd wasted way too much time talking already.

Hana's gaze lowered to her lap. "She's with Ted. They took her because they thought they could control you if they had her captive."

"Took her where?" Jodie asked. "David Martin told his son something about taking her on a spaceship or something. Is that true?"

Hana looked directly at her, then stood up and went to her desk, coming back with a schematic of the installation. She sat down and placed the schematic on her lap. "From what Chuck told me, you came in through this utility shaft," she said, pointing at a location on the drawing. "You walked into this hallway, eventually coming upon a ship that was being prepared for takeoff."

Jodie's heart sank. She knew what Hana was going to tell her, but it was almost too cruel of a coincidence to be true. She stood up. "Did it leave yet?"

Chuck stood up and came to stand next to her. "It hasn’t left, but you can't go there. That area is filled with Gypsum guards."

"Not for long," Jodie said. "Chuck, we need to let the horde in."

Chuck stared at her, not saying anything.

"What do you mean, the horde?" Hana asked.

"The mutants. Surely, Chuck told you what's waiting on the other side of the installation. We need to let them get in and let them take care of the Gypsum guards while we find Mei. As soon as she's safe, we'll blow this place."

"Yes, he told me about the people who were exposed to God only knows what mixture of human and alien viruses, but, you can't do that," Hana said. "There are good people down here. People who don't deserve to be caught up in that."

Jodie wondered how these so-called good people could stand by and watch as Gypsum's plan unfolded. Then she realized something. "You don't know, do you?"

Hana looked confused. "Know what?"

"About the dark rift," Jodie said. "That's what. Where did you think that ship is headed?"

Hana frowned at her. "Well, I assumed it would be Nellis Air Force base."

Jodie turned toward Chuck. "We don't have time for this,” she said, pulling the tape off of the needle in her arm.

Hana reached out to stop her. "That's an antiviral solution. You need the rest of it, Jodie. Believe me when I say you won't make it without it."

"I'll go, Jodie," Chuck said. "If I let the horde in, it won't be safe for you there anyway."

"I can't let you do that," Jodie said, already feeling light-headed from standing for a few moments.

"You have to," Chuck said. "You have no choice. Besides, someone has to help Hana get everyone else out."

Realizing Chuck was right, Jodie plastered the tape back over the needle in her arm. "How many are there? How many people do we need to round up?"

"There's six on my team," Hana said, counting under her breath, "And seven more on another team. So, thirteen."

Lucky number, Jodie thought. "Can I see that?" she asked, pointing to the schematic Hana held.

"Sure," Hana said, handing it to her. "What are you looking for?"

"The chemical supply room," Jodie said, hoping it would hold enough material to create the size of explosion it would take to level Gypsum's operation.

"Well, that's a different wing," Hana said, going to her desk and taking out a file folder. She pulled out a map and handed it to Jodie. "This is it."

"I don't understand," Jodie said. "Where is it on this drawing?"

"All of it," Hana said. "The whole wing is for chemical storage."

"The whole wing?" Jodie asked, almost thinking that was too good to be true.

"Yes, there's quite a need for denatured alcohol around here. We manufacture it there."

Jodie felt a strange sensation as a smile worked its way onto her face. She hadn't smiled in so long, it almost hurt. "Chuck, after you get Mei, you'll have to come and help me set the charge. We should meet right here," Jodie said, pointing to the entrance to the chemical storage wing. "Hana and I will round everyone else up and send them to safety." Turning back to Hana and pointing at the IV bag, Jodie said, "I'll need to get this to go.”

* * *

Fester felt rage boiling up inside his gut. Ever since leaving the Gypsum installation, all he could think about was revenge. Revenge for the loss of his parents. Revenge for what Gypsum had taken from him so long ago. His father, forced into a life he didn't want and dying by the hand of the things he had helped create. His mother, brutalized in a way he didn't want to understand and didn't want to acknowledge.

Steeped in anger and filled with hatred, Fester knew one thing. When he had the chance, he would get his revenge. He stared out the window, watching the blackness of night pass by as the camper snaked its way up in to the mountains, groaning and creaking as Nick navigated the hairpin turns.

It was September now. In any other year, in a year in which the whole world hadn't fallen into chaos, in a year in which he hadn't had to run for his life, in a year when he still had a family, he would head off to school in a few days, unaware what was underground, just beneath his feet. A world filled with machines and mutants, death and devastation unknown to him or anyone just trying to live a decent life.

Fester gripped hard to the hand rests and gritted his teeth. He promised himself he wouldn't cry. Instead, he'd find a way to get back at them. He'd find a way back to Officer Wending and help him kill every last one of those Gypsum people. Then, the world would be right.

Somewhere in the far reaches of his mind, Fester heard a voice calling his name. Struggling against responding to it, he gritted his teeth harder. Something touching his arm pulled him back to his seat in the camper.

"Fester, man, were you sleeping with your eyes open?" Noah said, punching him in the arm.

Fester wanted to tell his best friend how he felt. How he knew he needed to go back in the tunnel and what he had to do, but now wasn't the time to share his thoughts with Noah because he knew Noah would try to stop him. That was something he was certain of. "Yeah, I guess so," he said.

"Want some of these?" Noah asked, holding out a bag of pork rinds. "I found them in a cabinet. They're kind of gross, but at least they're not stale."

The smell of the greasy pork rinds made Fester want to throw up. He'd never understood why people became vegetarians before, but, after what he'd seen in the tunnel, he was starting to get a good idea. The fried chicken he'd eaten at the truck stop had set like a rock in his stomach. No one had noticed when he’d excused himself to use the bathroom. No one had heard when he’d stuck his finger down his throat and made himself throw up. "Uh, no, thanks. Is there anything to drink, though?"

"I'll check," Noah said, getting up and wobbling over to the small refrigerator, hanging onto the counter as the camper made yet another switchback turn. "Let's see, there's Pabst Blue Ribbon, prune juice . . . wait, here's something else . . . Gatorade."

"Which color?" Fester asked.

"Blue. There's only blue," Noah said.

"I guess I'll have blue, then," Fester said.

Noah made his way back to his seat and handed Fester the drink. "You okay? I mean, you look kinda green," he said.

"Motion sickness, probably," Fester said.

"You'll be happy to know we're stopping soon, then," Nick called from the front. "From what I can tell from the sign back a ways, there's a gas station up ahead about five miles. Probably the only one between us and a lot more road. If it isn't open, we'll have to park there and wait until morning."

Evan yawned loudly and sat up from the couch seat, gently pushing Hunter to the side. The dog briefly lifted his head and then went back to sleep. "Whereabouts are we, Nick?"

"About ten miles from the turnoff to King's Canyon."

"Not sure you'll want to go in there," Evan said. "There's only one way in and if it snows early this year, we might not get out until spring."

"I guess we'll need to look at a map when we stop. Maybe we should just keep going north and east until we're out of this area altogether."

Noah's mom turned around in the front passenger seat. "Evan, who did you say you bought this camper from? What was his name?"

"Elton somebody. I can get out my checkbook and look. Why do you ask?"

"Because this is a rental. All the paperwork's in the glove box."

"Can I see that?" Evan asked.

Noah's mom handed him a bundle of paperwork. He slipped off the rubber band and thumbed through it. "Well, I did have my suspicions when he took my check so easily. I daresay that he got the worse end of the deal if he didn't have transportation out of there."

"Can't even trust people in the apocalypse. Now, that's a sign the neighborhood's gone bad," Nick said.

Fester noticed that everyone seemed to find that funny except him. Instead, he found himself deep in thought, formulating a plan. If they were going to keep moving farther away, he'd have to make it happen soon, too.

* * *

Jodie watched through the office window as Hana pulled bottles and small bags of fluid from a refrigerator and placed them in a cooler sitting on a cart. She'd said she wanted to take a full array of antivirals along just in case Mei was infected.

"You're sure you want to do this by yourself?" Jodie asked. "There's going to be a lot of them."

Chuck nodded. "I'll take care of the Gypsum people first and then find Mei. I can outrun the other things and block off the door so they won't bother us while we get our fireworks going."

Jodie nodded, realizing she was going to feel a lot less safe while he was gone. "Thank you, Chuck," she said, reaching up and hugging him. Even though he looked like a normal man, she could feel the extraordinary power in the way he held her. She gently pushed away and looked into his eyes. "If things were different, I --"

Chuck put his hand up to her mouth, softly touching her lips. "Don't, Jodie. I know you don't feel what I do. But I love you. I want you to know that."

Jodie pulled herself back to him and put her head on his chest. "I love you, too, Chuck," she said, realizing it wasn't the kind of love he wanted, but she wanted him to know she cared for him.

Chuck rubbed her back. "Don't worry, Jodie. I'll be fine. I'd better get moving," he said, pulling away, then turning back to her. "Do you remember high school, you know, that big game when all the football players got sprayed by the irrigation system during the middle of the game?"