The sergeant runs his tongue across his front teeth while his dark brown eyes bore into William’s. Then he nods once, turns and walks back to his seat.
William bends down and tells Ozzy: “Stay.” Then he follows the sergeant, who’s standing by his seat, his thick arms folded across his chest.
“All right,” he says. “You have exactly one hundred twenty seconds to explain to me why I should drop you off. Time starts now.”
William glances at the other soldier, who’s also paying close attention. Then he takes a deep breath through his nose and begins talking.
“This isn’t a virus. It’s not a medical thing at all. I’m sure you already know that. Sure, it has symptoms like fever and all that, but there’s no treatment, because there’s no illness. It’s something else entirely, something that affects the soul, or whatever you like to call that thing inside of us. It’s more like a curse than anything.” William pauses briefly to check the faces of the soldiers. They’re both set in stone. “I believe voodoo started this thing. My friend was there, at a location in Denmark, right at ground zero. He saw the first dead person coming back to life. And he has figured out what happened. He’s down there, right now, trying to find a way to reverse it. And he needs my help. When you picked me up, I was headed back here. We got separated earlier on, and—well, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is, I’m convinced this is our best shot at stopping this thing—hell, it’s our only shot. So if you’ll please, please just drop me off, that’s all I’m asking for. It won’t put you at risk in any way, you can just hover above ground like you did when you picked me up. Please, that’s all I’m asking. Drop me off.”
William takes a deep, trembling breath as he stops talking.
The soldiers exchange one, long look before turning their faces back at him. The sergeant says: “Here’s the thing: If we drop you off here, you’ll be dead in forty-eight hours.”
William shakes his head. “That’s okay, I know the risk. If you’ll let me have back my rifle, I can—”
“No,” the sergeant interrupts him. “No, you don’t know the risk. Because I’m not talking about the infected getting to you. What I’m saying is, that in forty-eight hours exactly, there won’t be anyone left alive down there. In fact, that goes for most of mainland Europe.”
William opens his mouth, then shuts it again.
“That’s right,” the sergeant tells him, raising both eyebrows. “Since you’re being honest with me, son, I’ll be honest with you in return. What I believe you hinted at earlier is absolutely right. There’s a very good reason we’re taking these survivors away from Europe. Come Tuesday, there won’t be a Europe anymore.”
William feels his gut drop. “Holy shit,” he breathes. “You’re going to … you’re going to …”
“Don’t say it,” the sergeant tells him calmly. “I don’t want that word even uttered. You can think it if you like. But keep it to yourself.”
William feels dizzy and needs to look down at his hands for a moment. So it’s true. What they have been saying on the media. The Americans are going to nuke the entire continent. After the initial shock has died down, the first clear thought that comes to him is about his mother.
“My … my mom,” he mutters, looking back up at the sergeant. “She’s headed for the camp in Finland.”
The soldier takes a breath through his nose. “I’m very sorry about that, son. I truly am.”
William feels something wet against his hand. Ozzy is nudging him with his snout.
“I have a German shepherd back home, you know,” the sergeant tells him, a hint of warmth in his voice. “Looks just like your boy there.”
William clears his throat. “Look, if we … if we find a cure before the … before forty-eight hours have passed … would that change anything?”
The sergeant sighs. “I don’t want you going down there, son. This is your last chance to get out alive. Don’t throw it away.”
William bites his lip, glances towards the window. He can see the green open fields down there, under the perfect blue sky. He imagines that sky turning black and grey with smoke. He thinks of Dan being down there right now. And he recalls the promise he gave him.
“I need to do it,” he says.
“Excuse me?”
William looks at the sergeant. “I need to do it. I made a promise. I can’t leave my friend to do this on his own. Please drop me off, Sergeant.”
FOURTEEN
Dan sits at the bottom of the stairs, breathing through his T-shirt. It helps to keep the smell of gasoline from making him dizzy.
Dennis left the lights on down here—probably because he clean forgot—and Dan is thankful for it. Had he been left in complete darkness, it would have been a whole lot harder to keep from panicking.
How long has it been since Dennis locked the door? Dan is losing his sense of time. He has no watch and his phone is dead. Had it still had any power, he would have tried calling Dennis to get him to talk.
At first, Dan went back through the tunnel to the ladder. But even before he had climbed all the way up to the cover, he could hear the zombies up there, scratching away.
He called for Liv, then listened for a reply, but none came. She probably moved the van again and had parked it the place they originally intended to.
He called for her some more, hoping that she would hear him, but no reply came.
So, since opening the well cover would mean certain death, Dan instead went back to the secret door at the top of the stairs and tried to pick the lock. That endeavor soon proved
