Mass Extinction Event (Book 8): Days 109 to 116 Read online

  “Elizabeth.”

  “I'm thinking!”

  “Elizabeth, we have a problem.”

  I turn and see that he looks worried, and then I realize that he's staring at something behind me. I turn the other way, and I immediately see three soldiers with their guns aimed straight at us.

  Behind the soldiers, Charles Bloom is grinning. When we make eye contact, he raises a hand and gives me a little wave.

  “You killed Natalie!” I scream, rushing toward him, only for Toad to grab me from behind.

  “Are you insane?” he hisses.

  “He killed her in cold blood!” I shout, struggling to get free. “I saw him do it!”

  Bloom smiles and shakes his head.

  “Let go of me!” I yell, with tears streaming down my face.

  “You'll get your chance,” Toad whispers. “Just wait. I promise, somehow you'll get your chance.”

  I open my mouth to tell him that I can't wait, but then I realize that he's right. A moment later, the soldiers start making their way toward us.

  “It's been fun,” Bloom says, “allowing you the run of the place. You didn't actually think that you'd managed to sneak on without being detected, did you? Please, credit my men with a little intelligence.” He steps closer as Toad's rifle is taken away. “When I was told that you'd all been spotted boarding at the station,” he continues, “my first thought was to have you all dragged off and shot. But then I thought, well, why not have you onboard as a useful distraction?”

  “Don't panic,” Toad whispers to me. “Whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements.”

  “You and your friends have already attracted Patterson's full attention,” Bloom continues. “Why, I believe he and most of the soldiers are at the rear of the train now, dealing with Doctor Carter. That's very convenient for me, because it allows me to get on with certain matters without having to hide my actions from Patterson and his men. I don't mind Patterson, not really, and he's been very useful to me. But at the end of the day, we can't both gain access to Project Atherius and, well, I know he's planning to double-cross me at some point. I'm just going to get in a little early.”

  “What are you going to do with the children?” I ask.

  “What do you think I'm going to do with them?” he replies. “I'm going to trade them.”

  “For what?”

  “For information. For access. Most of all, for the chance to get closer to the Project Atherius site.”

  “You can't trade people!” I reply, horrified not only by the idea but also by his seeming comfort with the scheme. “They're not things you can give to whoever you want!”

  “Of course I can trade people,” he says. “That's been a basic part of human society for thousands of years. And those children aren't really going to amount to anything, anyway.”

  A soldier steps closer, aiming a gun straight at my face.

  “I thought you might be useful, Elizabeth,” Bloom continues, “due to your ability to get into your father's head, but -”

  Suddenly I lunge at the soldier and grab his gun. I almost manage to pull it from his hands, but at the last moment he manages to slam his elbow into my face. I fall back, and then the butt of another gun cracks down against my shoulder and I slump down to the floor as a sharp pain ripples across my chest.

  “For a girl with only one foot,” Bloom mutters, “you're not too helpless. But that was a very unwise move.”

  I try to get up, but the pain is intense and for a moment I can only wait for the worst to pass.

  “I told you not to do anything like that,” Toad says, kneeling next to me. “Did you seriously think that was going to work?”

  “It was worth a shot!” I gasp.

  “I thought you might be useful,” Bloom says, towering over me now, “but I have my limits and I rather think that your worth as a distraction for Patterson has come to an end. He'll be easy to finish off now. I could have you both thrown from the train, but I'm a merciful man and I don't want to make either of you suffer unnecessarily.”

  He turns to the soldiers.

  “Execute them,” he orders. “The girl's a terrorist and the man's a sympathizer. But do it humanely. Make it quick.”

  Thomas

  “Well?” Patterson asks, stepping past me and then stopping to watch as the soldiers approach Carter's lifeless body. “Is the bitch finally dead?”

  “We blew off a chunk of her head,” one of the soldiers points out. “It's hard to think of how anyone could be more dead.”

  “She's a slippery customer,” Patterson replies. “Be very careful around her. I want to be absolutely certain that she's gone, before we toss her body. In fact, I think maybe I might have her set on fire before she's thrown out the back.”

  Staring at Carter as a soldier prods her corpse with a gun, I realize that we've lost. She had a plan, but it obviously involved getting Patterson through here. She told me over and over that she could manipulate him, that she could predict how he'd react, but I guess at the end her predictions let her down. Patterson might have been easy to read once, but he must have gotten to know Carter pretty well by the end. And when she tried to trap him with one final game, he was no longer willing to play.

  Reaching into my pocket, I feel the edge of the envelope, but then I remember that Carter warned me to keep it safe. I don't know what's inside the envelope, but I need to make sure that it doesn't fall into Patterson's hands.

  “Her brain isn't even intact anymore,” one of the other soldiers says, peering at Carter's head. “There's a lot of blood on the floor, too.”

  “Remember she's part zombie,” Patterson points out. “Simmons, do you still have that big-ass machete?”

  “Right here.”

  “Then you know what to do. Make sure that even if she did re-animate, she wouldn't be able to do much more than wriggle.”

  I watch as one of the soldiers steps closer to Carter, and then I see him take a large knife from a hook at his waist.

  “What are you going to do?” I whisper, before taking a step forward. “Hey! You can't -”

  Before I can finish, the soldier swings the knife down and decapitates Carter's body with one clean strike, sending her head rolling a little way across the floor. Then, without even reacting, the soldiers shifts around slightly and hits the body again, this time chopping off one of Carter's arms.

  Too horrified to watch the dismemberment, I turn away, but I can still hear the chopping sounds.

  “Got a weak stomach, boy?” Patterson asks, nudging my arm. “Maybe it's a good job you chickened out of the fight in Boston. You probably couldn't have handled all the blood.”

  “You don't have to do this to her!” I say firmly, with tears in my eyes. “She's dead!”

  “Forgive me if I don't take any chances this time,” he replies. “I'm sure you'll recall the previous time when I thought she was out of the way. Sarah Carter always had a way of springing a nasty little surprise.”

  I hear another chopping sound, and finally I force myself to look. Sure enough, Carter's arms and legs have been removed, leaving her torso resting where it fell. The sight is sickening, yet for a moment I can't bring myself to look away. Whatever plan she might have had originally, I'm pretty sure it didn't involve her body getting hacked to pieces.

  “Is there any gasoline here?” Patterson asks with a chuckle. “Come on, you guys, I want to make extra sure that this bitch is dead. Someone must have something.”

  “I don't see any gasoline in here, Sir,” one of the soldiers replies.

  “Well, that's a shame.” Patterson pauses, smiling as he stares at the various body parts. “Okay, open a door and toss her remains out.”

  “She said something about her back pocket, Sir.”

  Patterson turns to another soldier.

  “Right as she died,” he continues, “she said he had something for you. In her back pocket, Sir.”

  “And what was it?” Patterson asks.

  “I do
n't think we checked.”

  “Well, it has to be some kind of...”

  Patterson's voice trails off as he stares for a moment at the dead body. Nearby, a soldier has opened one of the train's doors and looks to be getting ready to start throwing out body parts.

  “It's a trick,” Patterson says finally. “There's nothing she could possibly have, that I could want.”

  “You can't be sure of that,” I point out, hoping that maybe there's still a chance if Carter left a back-up plan behind. “Maybe it's to do with the cure.”

  “I already have the cure,” he replies, but then he looks again toward Carter and I can tell that the suggestion is starting to irritate him.

  “Can you really live with never knowing?” I ask.

  He pauses, before taking a couple of steps toward Carter's body and staring down at her.

  “Should we start throwing her out, Sir?” one of the soldiers says, standing near the open door as the train continues to speed along.

  “It can't be anything useful,” Patterson mutters, lost in thought as he stares down at Carter's dismembered torso. “It has to be a trick.”

  I wait, and after a moment he crouches down and reaches out toward her. Holding my breath, I watch his hand as he prepares to roll her over, but then at the very last second he hesitates again. Then, slowly, a smile crosses his face and he gets to his feet.

  “Nice try, Doctor Carter,” he continues, “but you're not going to get me so easily. If it were anyone else, I'd fall for the trick and take a look, but I simply don't trust you. Whatever you've got in your back pocket, I can live with never knowing. Sorry, but not even you can reach back and get me from beyond the grave.” He glances at the soldiers. “You know what to do.”

  Still smiling, he turns and steps toward me, just as two of the soldiers reach down and start lifting Carter's torso from the ground.

  And just as everything feels completely hopeless, I hear a sudden, loud click.

  The next second seems to last forever. Patterson is still smiling at me, but behind him the two soldiers seem to have noticed that something's wrong. I look down and see that Carter's body was resting on a circular metal object, and then in a split second I also notice the empty backpack nearby. It's then that, as my mind continues to race, I recall her going back to the truck and gushing about how so much useful equipment had been left behind. And then, just as the clicking sound returns and becomes more frantic, I remember that she mentioned the landmines.

  The explosion is instant, ripping the entire carriage apart.

  I don't have time to turn and run through to the next carriage, but I'm able to duck down and lunge toward the door. There's a huge, hot blast behind me, and the whole world seems to tilt on its axis as I'm sent crashing into the door and then everything goes black.

  Elizabeth

  “No,” Bloom says with a sigh, as the soldier aims the gun at my face, “shoot the man first. I want Elizabeth to see him die.”

  “This won't work,” I say through gritted teeth, as the gun swings over and aims at Toad. “You're not -”

  Suddenly there's a loud boom in the distance, and the entire train shudders and jolts. I'm sent toppling over until I hit the wall, and then the carriage seems to swing around to the other side and I slam into the opposite wall as one of the soldiers falls and lands on top of me. At the same time, there's a brief burst of gunfire as one of the rifles falls, and a window shatters and sends glass crashing down.

  The train's brakes let out a loud squealing sound and I feel the entire carriage juddering along the rails.

  “What was that?” I gasp, before turning just as Toad punches one of the soldiers and then turns to attack another.

  Startled, I look around and spot a rifle on the ground. I scramble over and grab it, before standing up and turning just as a soldier rushes at me. Instinctively, I pull the trigger and shoot at him, missing him by inches. The wall behind him takes the hit instead, but the soldier pulls away.

  Suddenly I sense someone coming up behind me, and I turn just in time to see Charles Bloom lunging at me.

  I step back, but at the last moment I see that he's holding a knife. And that's when, almost without thinking, I squeeze the trigger and blast Bloom square in the upper chest, sending him tumbling back as blood sprays across the wall and ceiling.

  “Elizabeth?” Toad gasps. “Did you...”

  Shocked by what just happened, I keep hold of the rifle as I look down and see that Bloom is down on the floor. He's moving, but his entire right shoulder has been blown away and there's blood all over one side of his face. He tries to turn away, and then a moment later he lets out a loud, guttural scream.

  Hearing a thudding sound over my shoulder, I turn and see that Toad has just punched the last soldier and knocked him out.

  “What just happened?” he asks breathlessly, stepping toward me.

  “I didn't even think,” I stammer, turning to look as Bloom cries out again and drags himself into the far corner, leaving a trail of blood. I aim the rifle again, keeping it trained on him. “He came at me.”

  “We must have hit something,” Toad continues. “For a moment there, I thought the entire train was going to come off the tracks.” He hurries to the window and looks out. “I don't see anything.”

  Bloom screams again, as he leans against the wall and turns to look at me. Blood is running freely from his wounds, despite his vain attempt to stem the flow by pressing a hand against the side of his neck.

  “Help me!” he snarls. “Get someone who can stitch me up!”

  I step closer, while keeping the rifle aimed at his face.

  “That's an order!” he shouts. “Put that thing down and get me some help!”

  “Keep the gun trained on him,” Toad says, as he heads to the other window and looks out at the other side of the tracks. “Maybe we didn't hit anything at all. It's almost like something exploded on the train. The drivers are getting out and looking toward the rear carriages.”

  “I will not let that bastard beat me to Project Atherius,” Bloom gasps, as more and more blood drains from his body. He raises his right hand, and for the first time I see that he's holding a small device, about the size of a cellphone. My finger flexes against the trigger, but I'm pretty sure that the device isn't a gun. “If I don't get there, none of you will.”

  “What is Project Atherius?” I ask. “Where is it? You might as well tell us now.”

  He stares at me, and then he smiles as he clicks something on the device.

  “What are you doing?” I continue, taking another step toward him.

  “You'll see soon enough,” he replies. “They were supposed to go to Boston and finish the place off, but it's simple enough to re-direct them. It shouldn't take them too long to get here, either. The signal has already been changed to a beacon. Don't worry, soon you'll have all the company you could possibly want.”

  “What exactly are you talking about?” I ask. “Tell me the truth about my father. Is he alive?”

  He rolls his eyes. “Who gives a shit?”

  Before I can finish, I see he's reaching for something in one of his pockets. I see the butt of a gun, and I flinch before pulling the rifle's trigger again. This time I blast Bloom straight in the face, not only blowing his head apart but also knocking a chunk out of the wall. Blood splatters all around me, and the device falls from Bloom's hand.

  “This is for Natalie,” I say, as his body continues to twitch slightly.

  And then I shoot him one more time, just to be sure.

  “Nice work,” Toad says, stepping past me and reaching down, then picking the device up and taking a closer look. “That asshole had it coming.”

  “I shot him,” I whisper, and for a moment I can't quite believe what just happened. “I actually...”

  My voice trails off.

  “You did a good job,” Toad says. “Whatever this thing is, it seems to be out of power now. I don't know what Bloom just did, or what he thinks he did
, but hopefully it's nothing too much for us to worry about.” He sets the device aside and heads over to one of the doors. “Come on, Elizabeth, we have to see what happened to the train. We're sitting ducks out here right now.”

  I hear him jump down out of the train, but for a few seconds I can only stare in horror at Charles Bloom's corpse.

  “Elizabeth!”

  Turning, I see Toad gesturing for me to follow him.

  I hesitate, before limping over and then – still holding the rifle – I let him help me down onto the rocky ground outside. Once I'm down, I look toward the rear of the train and see that several of the last carriages have jumped the tracks, while the last carriage itself looks to have been completely blown apart.

  “What happened?” Toad asks, as a soldier and two other men come over to join us.

  “I have no idea,” one of the men says. “We were in the cab at the front and everything seemed fine, then suddenly there was an explosion.”

  “Could it have been something on the track?” I ask.

  “We'd have seen it,” the other driver replies. “It's almost as if something exploded inside the train, but what would that be?” He looks at Toad, and then he turns and looks at me, and after a moment his gaze shifts and he seems that I'm holding a rifle. “Who are you guys, anyway? Where's Mr. Bloom?”

  “He got a little over-excited,” I tell him.

  “Carter and Toad were heading to the last carriage, weren't they?” Toad asks.

  Turning to him, I realize that he's right. I feel a shiver pass through my chest as I look toward the back of the train, and now I can see that the final carriage appears to have been completely destroyed.

  “Thomas?” I whisper, before starting to hurry toward the remains of that carriage. “Toad! Run! Where's Thomas?”

  Thomas

  “You know what really sucks?” Joe asks as he throws another stone into the glittering river. “Not getting all the answers. Like, there's never gonna be a big explanation for what happened all around the world when this thing started. There's never gonna be a reckoning. It's just gonna be chaos from here on in.”