Maddie looked closer at the image, recoiling when another thing that was still vaguely body-shaped thumped against the side of the orb. She pinched the space between her fingers and thumbs, effectively zooming in on the section she’d been watching. Blood was running up the surface, as if it was feeling its way along. She increased the magnification still further. “I wouldn’t mind being sick right now,” she said.
“Fuck me,” Jenny said. “It’s never going to give up, is it?”
The splash of blood was almost animalistic in its behavior. They watched in close-up detail as what could only have been a droplet began to morph and mutate. It became a hand-like shape with infinite, millipede-like fingers that scratched at the smooth surface, feeling their way along. Then, when it realized it couldn’t get through, it abruptly changed tack. The finger-like protrusions began to lengthen and narrow, becoming needle-sharp extrusions with which it tried to drill through the orb.
Elsewhere, the Bleed resembled a spider web of slimy crimson strings. A short distance away, it had attached itself to the orb and was growing outwards like a plate fungus. It was adapting…changing…trying all possible permutations and deformations until it was successful.
Until it bled through.
And from what Jenny had seen in the days since her innocence had been stripped away and normality destroyed, the Bleed always bled through.
10
SURFERS PARADISE, AUSTRALIA
The intent of the crowds in the streets around the hotel was impossible to read. Jenny couldn’t tell if it was a massive lynch mob or some kind of congregation. Although much of the time the orb was barely visible to the naked eye, there was little question that this random building was, inexplicably, the source of its power, and people were tirelessly gravitating towards it like they were on some kind of life-affirming pilgrimage. The clockwork room’s observation system revealed the extent of the gigantic gathering in the streets. The camera or lens or whatever the hell it was swept fast and low over endless bodies, unseen by any of them. Many held their arms up as if reaching for Heaven.
The viewpoint abruptly shifted up and out, revealing still more crowds. The roads into the Gold Coast were clogged with crawling traffic, and the roads leading onto those roads were equally busy. Across the country, the National Highways had been opened up to allow all lanes on all carriageways to flow east. From Jenny and Maddie’s perspective, it looked like the entire population of Australia was now migrating in their direction.
“You’re going to have to talk to them, you know,” Maddie said.
“What? But there’s thousands of them out there.”
“You’ve already been seen by millions.”
“I know, but this…this is different.”
“Is it? Look, put yourself in the shoes of those poor bastards out there. They’re terrified. Hell, I’m terrified, and I kind of know what’s going on, but them…they’re completely lost, scared shitless. The only thing they’ve got left to lock onto now is—”
“Me.”
“Exactly.”
“You could do it.”
“I’m not the public face of this, in case you hadn’t noticed. I’m more back-up than leader.”
“I’m not sure…. What do I say? What do I tell them?”
“You tell them the truth. We’re doing what we can to find a way out of this mess. Until then, we’ve just about got the Bleed held at bay.”
“I don’t know…I think it’ll just make things worse.”
“Worse? How can this be any worse?”
“What if they rush the place?”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m not even sure if this room’s really here.”
“That’s a mind-fuck too far, even by your standards.”
“Think about it. There are tens of thousands of people outside. The hotel’s probably already full of them. But none of them have been able to get in. It’s configured to you and me. I doubt any of them could open the door, and that’s if they can even find it. Now stop whining and talk to them. Get your head out of the sand, Jenny, and give them something to hold on to.”
“You think I should go out there?”
“You can broadcast to them from the room.”
“How?”
“Like this.”
As if appearing to suit need, Maddie manipulated a hitherto unseen section of the console, and, though the view of the world outside the hotel remained, a close-up of Jenny’s face also appeared alongside it. “Is this thing on?” she said, and she could tell both from the instant reaction of the crowds and the booming echo of her voice that she was now broadcasting live to what was left of the human race.
She took a second to compose herself. When she walked around the clockwork room, the images walked with her. Her face remained perfectly framed. She knew that all she had to do was talk and they’d be able to see and hear her.
“Hi everyone, it’s me, Jenny,” she began, not knowing how else to start. “Most of what I’ve been through over the last few days and weeks has been played out in front of you all, so I guess you pretty much know what happened and how we got to this point. I know you’re scared—we’re all scared—and you want answers. I’m going to do what I can to explain.
“The Bleed is doing everything it can to destroy the planet, and I’m doing everything I can not to let that happen. We have to face facts, though, we’re fighting a losing battle. The reality is that too much damage has already been done to save our planet. Our home is dying, and there’s no point beating around the bush and trying to sugar coat this for you all…I don’t know how much longer we can hold out.”
She paused and studied the images of the endless thousands of people hanging on her every word. There were so many of them that she’d long since stopped being nervous. Instead she tried to pick out and
