Mass Extinction Event (Book 8): Days 109 to 116 Page 6

  “You assumed I was dead?”

  He pauses, and then he nods.

  “I got left behind by the convoy,” I tell him. “It's complicated, for the past week I've been busy somewhere else. I'll tell you all about it later, but right now -”

  Before I can finish, I hear footsteps nearby and I turn to see that Doctor Carter has come over to join us. I'd hoped that she might leave me alone for a few minutes, so that I could talk to Toad without her constant interruptions, but I guess that was never likely to happen. I just hope she doesn't try to be nice to him. She's not good at that.

  “So who's the bozo?” she asks.

  That's better.

  “Toad,” I say with a sigh, “this is Doctor Sarah Carter, she's a...”

  I pause, trying to find the right word.

  “I'm his new best friend,” she says suddenly, putting an arm around me and grinning. “Thomas and I get on like a house on fire. We talk, we share our deepest thoughts. One thing he's never mentioned, however, is that he has such a handsome friend.”

  “This is Toad,” I tell her, as I pull away from her grip.

  “That can't be his real name,” she says. “Not unless you had some very mean parents, Mr. Toad. Besides, Thomas, you're forgetting that I've met your buddy before, a week or so ago. I just never really bothered to notice him before. Mr. Toad is certainly an interesting name, though. And very memorable.”

  “It's a nickname,” Toad tells her, before turning to me. “Thomas, what's going on? Where have you been?”

  “I promise I'll tell you later,” I reply, “but right now we just want to ask you a few questions about the train station you're guarding.”

  “I can't talk about it,” he says firmly.

  “Interesting,” Carter says. “So you've been banned from revealing anything about the place.”

  “I didn't say that!” he replies.

  “Then tell us about it.”

  “I can't!”

  “So you've been banned.”

  He sighs.

  “Do you know about Project Atherius?” I ask, although I immediately see a flicker of recognition in Toad's eyes. “Do you know what it is, and how it's linked to this train?”

  “Where did you hear that word?” he replies edgily.

  “We have our ways and means,” Carter tells him. “We know how to extract information from the tightest of places. I'd be happy to give you a demonstration some time.”

  “You can't be here right now,” Toad tells me. “Things have been crazy ever since the battle died down. Now there are rumors that something happened to General Patterson, and all we really know for certain is that we're rushing to get this train up and running before the end of the week. That's our only focus right now. We're not even attempting to push out and reclaim the rest of the city.”

  “Why not?” I ask. “And if Project Atherius is -”

  “Don't say that name too loud!” he snaps. “Most people aren't even allowed to hear about it.”

  “Meanwhile people are starving to death,” Carter points out. “There's not much of an effort to stop the spread of disease. I thought the idea was to take control of Boston and establish it as some kind of base, but instead it's being treated as if it's completely unimportant, as if it's just a base for something else and it'll soon be abandoned. I don't know you very well, Mr. Toad, but I find myself wondering whether that's really what you signed up for.”

  “I need you to leave,” Toad replies. “Both of you. Now.” He turns to me. “Thomas, tell me where I can find you, and I'll try to come later. If I get the chance.”

  “We're staying in some kind of old bank building,” I explain. “It's near -”

  “A large white place with a statue of a lion outside?”

  “How did you guess?”

  “That's where a lot of the main decisions are made,” he replies. “I was guarding the place a few times, before I was shifted over here to the station. How did you get invited inside?”

  “It was because of my friend,” I explain. “I met her about a week ago, her name's -”

  “This is all very fascinating,” Carter says with a loud, theatrical sigh, “but there are more pressing matters.”

  “I've already told you, I can't speak freely here,” Toad replies, glancing around as if he's worried that we'll be spotted. “Thomas, I promise I'll try to come and speak to you. Maybe I'll get a chance this evening, or it might be tomorrow, or it might even take longer. But for now, please listen to me and get out of here.”

  I pause for a moment, before realizing that Toad's a guy who usually knows what he's talking about.

  “Come on,” I say, tapping Carter's arm. “He's right. There are soldiers everywhere, I really don't think we should be sneaking around like this.”

  “Wimp,” she mutters. “Mr. Toad, I hope you keep your promise to come and find us later. If you don't, we'll just have to track you down again and find other ways to make you talk.” She smiles. “To be honest, I can see positives with either approach.”

  “This way,” I tell her, leading her along the next street before she has a chance to cause any more trouble.

  “Your Mr. Toad has a certain charm about him,” she replies, still glancing over her shoulder as if she can't stop watching him. “I think I'll almost be disappointed if he spills the beans without too much pressure. I'd quite enjoy torturing a man who possesses such eye-catching muscle. Why, I'd bet he even has a muscle for a brain, in which case I wonder what his -”

  Suddenly two soldiers step into our path, blocking our way. I almost slam into them, and then I turn to go in a different direction, only to see that several more soldiers are coming toward us. I turn again and see that we're surrounded.

  “Doctor Sarah Carter?” one of the soldiers says, raising a gun toward her. “By order of the Transitionary Government of New Boston, you're under arrest for crimes against humanity.”

  Elizabeth

  “It's just at the end of this street,” Ringcroft says, sounding a little breathless as he struggles to keep up with me, “but I really want to stress one more time that this isn't a good idea. From what I've heard -”

  “You don't have to come,” I point out, marching toward the far end of the street. I can already see part of the square up ahead, and I can feel a crushing sense of fear in my chest. “I get it. You don't want to see this, and there's no reason why you have to. Just go home.”

  He doesn't reply, but – as I continue to walk – I realize I can still hear him huffing and puffing behind me.

  “I mean it,” I continue as I get to the end of the street, “I'm not -”

  Suddenly I stop as I see them.

  There are five dead bodies hanging from street-lights, silhouetted against the crumbled ruins of a building. From this distance, I can't make out any details of the bodies, except that their arms and feet seem to be bound, and that they're suspended quite a distance off the ground. For a moment, this macabre sight freeze me in place, and I feel as if I'll never be able to take another step forward.

  “It's monstrous,” Ringcroft says, stopping next to me. “For as long as men and women do this to one another, we're all doomed.”

  I swallow hard, and I swear I can feel my heart pounding in my chest.

  “You don't need to do this,” Ringcroft continues, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Would your father want -”

  “You don't know what my father would want,” I reply, shrugging away from his hand and then starting to make my way across the empty square, while keeping my eyes fixed on the dangling bodies. “He'd want me to face the truth.”

  Would he, though? After all, this is a man who lied to me in order to get me away from the fighting. It's been almost two weeks since that night, and I still feel like yelling at him when I finally get face-to-face with him again. As I continue to walk, I imagine myself finally being reunited with him. I'm going to hug him, and then I'm going to scream at him, and then I'm going to make sure that he never do
es anything like this again. If I'd been here, I could have protected him. I might not have been the best fighter, but I'd have learned the hard way. Deep in my heart, I know that I'd have been able to help out.

  Stopping in front of one of the street-lights, I look up and see a bloodied figure hanging from a rope. It takes a moment before I can really make out the figure's face, but I'm somewhat relieved when I realize that I don't recognize the person. At least, I don't think that I do, although it's difficult to be sure since it would appear that this person was beaten before being executed. I can barely even tell that this used to be a man.

  I make my way over to the next street-light, and this time I find myself looking up at another man. I can tell it's a man because, unlike the first body, this one has been stripped naked. One of the arms is partially missing, having apparently been removed just below the elbow. Was this man always like that, or did his arm get hacked away while he was being killed?

  I think I can guess the answer.

  The third body is also a man, and he's much less badly damaged than the first two. He's been beaten, and there's blood on the front of his uniform, but other than that he looks as if he could get up and walk away. His eyes are shut, almost as if he's asleep, and the only real evidence of death is the series of bloodied marks all over his chest. I guess those marks were caused by the firing squad.

  Wait, have I seen this guy before?

  I look at his face for a moment longer, and finally I realize that this is Doctor Lando Marcus, who worked closely with Dad and the members of the Council.

  “They even killed a doctor,” I whisper.

  “They claimed that the killings were carried out by ordinary people,” Ringcroft says, coming up behind me. “They said it was the mob. I know people who were here, and they tell a very different story. Soldiers were ordered to bring the five prisoners out and line them up, and then they were executed by firing squad, one-by-one. Then they were hung up like this. I guess it's simply convenient to say that an angry mob was responsible.”

  I open my mouth to say again how awful this is, but the words catch in my throat. After all, what's the point? It's so obvious, there's no need to say it again.

  Instead, I walk over to the next street-light, and I look up to see a semi-naked woman hanging from a rope. Her clothes are torn and bloodied, but her face is less badly beaten than the others and, after a moment, I realize that this is another person I recognize.

  “Diane Clark,” I whisper, and a shudder passes through my chest as I think back to the last time I saw her.

  Wasn't that when she was with Dad? I was horrified that they seemed to be getting close, and I remember really disliking her. Now she's dead, hanging from a light in a square in the middle of town, her body riddled with bullet-holes. For a few seconds, all I can do is imagine what her final moments must have been like. Was she noble to the very end? Did she refuse to beg for mercy? Or was she down on her knees, sobbing and screaming, desperately trying to find a way to survive? She was never my favorite person, but I'd like to think that at the end she at least managed to find some dignity.

  But if they got Diane, that means some of the highest-ranking members of the Council were captured. Which, in turn, means that they could have got Dad as well.

  I step over to take a look at the final body, but I immediately flinch as I see that this person – a man, I think – looks to have been beaten far more savagely than the others. He's naked, and every inch of his body looks bloodied and swollen, and I can even see some bones poking out from tears in his skin, glinting in the afternoon light. From down here, it's impossible to really get a good idea of this man's body shape and size. He looks a little larger than Dad, but that could be due to the swelling. The body doesn't really seem to be Dad, but I want to say that it's definitely not him and I can't do that.

  “Is it your father?” Ringcroft asks.

  I pause, before turning to him.

  “I don't know,” I say finally. “I don't think so, but...”

  My voice trails off.

  I look back up at the body, and suddenly – somehow – I feel much more certain that it's not him. I can't be completely sure, of course, but this particular body looks to have belonged to a shorter, stockier man, and the burned head looks a little too round.

  “No,” I say after a few more seconds. “I'm pretty sure it isn't, which means he wasn't captured.”

  “He could have died during the fighting,” Ringcroft points out.

  “Or he could have escaped,” I say, turning to him. “He never would have run, but maybe at the end he realized he had to leave Boston and try to regroup. My father wasn't a coward, but he also wouldn't have sacrificed himself in some grand gesture. If he thought he could still be useful, and if he knew the battle was lost, I think he would have left Boston with a plan. Which means that he's out there somewhere.”

  “For your sake, I hope you're right,” Ringcroft replies, as we both look up at the bodies. “And I hope that these are the last poor souls I ever have to see strung up like this.”

  Thomas

  “I'm sorry,” Caitlin says as we stand in the bank foyer, “but even if I could get that kind of information, I wouldn't be able to share it with you. Military matters are -”

  “But where would she have been taken?” I ask. “They wouldn't tell me.”

  “There are several locations where -”

  “You must know!”

  “I honestly don't,” she replies, and it's clear that she's struggling to keep from losing her cool. “Thomas, I don't know why your friend was arrested, but I think you should be relieved that you weren't taken along with her. If they thought for one moment that you were fraternizing with a traitor, they'd have hauled you in.” She pauses. “I really should tell someone that you were friends with her, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt this time. Please, don't let me down.”

  I open my mouth to beg her again, but I'm starting to realize that there's no point. When the soldiers took Doctor Carter, she immediately started accusing me of having been following her. At first I was confused, but finally I understood that she was trying to make sure that the soldiers didn't view me as being anything more than a passerby. In her own way, she was trying to save me, and I guess she succeeded. I can't just ignore that and forget about her.

  “I'll see what I can find out,” Caitlin says finally. “I can't promise anything, but if I hear anything, I'll let you know.” She pauses again. “Just try to stay calm, okay? And whatever you do, don't make anyone associate you with this Carter woman. If you do that, you're only inviting trouble.” She glances around for a moment and then she takes a step back. “I'll speak to you tomorrow, Thomas. I promise.”

  As she hurries away, I'm left standing all alone. I feel completely powerless, but I know Caitlin is probably right when she says that I shouldn't let people think I'm somehow working with Doctor Carter. I'm sure she's safe, at least for now, and hopefully tomorrow I can find out what's really happening. Carter's a woman with a lot of enemies, and I'm still worried that General Patterson might be alive. If that's the case, Carter might be in serious danger.

  “Thomas!”

  Turning, I see that Elizabeth is limping into the building, followed by a scarred man who's looking around nervously.

  “I think my father might have escaped,” she says as she reaches me. “I'm not certain, but -”

  “Carter got arrested,” I tell her.

  “Arrested?” She seems shocked for a moment. “Why? What did she do?”

  “I think they must have been looking for her for a while,” I explain. “I don't even know where they've taken her. To be honest, she didn't even seem that surprised. She's been acting weird, and she was getting fixated on this Project Atherius thing.”

  “Project what?”

  “It's a long story,” I reply. “Right now, we have to find out whether Carter's okay. I spoke to Caitlin, but she doesn't know anything. Can you ask that Bloom guy if h
e knows anything?”

  “Charles Bloom?” the scarred man says, taking a step back. “That's not someone you want to be messing with.”

  “This is Kevin,” Elizabeth explains.

  “I prefer to be called Ringcroft,” the man adds.

  “Fine, Ringcroft.” She pauses. “Thomas, if my father isn't here in Boston, that means he must have gone somewhere. I need to figure out where, and then I have to go after him. I guess there's a chance he ended up going to Philadelphia after all, or maybe there's some other place where people are gathering. I understand if you don't want to come with me, you've got your own thing going on, but I have to try to find my father.”

  “We can't just leave Carter,” I point out.

  I wait for Elizabeth to agree, but I'm starting to think that she's got other ideas.

  “I'm sorry, Thomas,” she says finally, “but my priority has to be finding my father. Sarah Carter seems like someone who managed to get herself into a lot of trouble. I'm sure she can look after herself.”

  “I'm certain that Patterson's still alive,” I tell her. “He must be the one who ordered soldiers to find Carter. I have two vials of the cure that Carter developed, and I don't know what to do with them. I need to give them to someone, but I don't know who to trust. I definitely can't trust Patterson, not after what he did to Carter.”

  “You'll figure it out, Thomas,” she replies. “It's been nice to know you, and I'll always be grateful for how you helped me, but you have to understand. I'm leaving. I'm going to find my father.”

  With that, she hurries past me and makes her way up the escalator, leaving me standing with the scarred guy.

  “In some ways,” he says after a moment, “I envy her. She has a goal, something she believes in, something to strive for. That keeps her going. We all need something like that. Don't you have any family you need to find?”

  “It's complicated,” I reply. “Right now, I need to figure out where Doctor Carter has been taken.”

  “If soldiers were sent to find her,” he explains, “I doubt she's got much of a chance. Trust me, I've seen how justice is dispensed in this place. There are rumors of people who simply disappear if their deaths don't need to be made public. To be honest, your friend might be dead already.”