doctor. She’s rather narrow-minded these days, obsessed with death you might say.”
“Death?” Jeremy asked.
Ian nodded, waving his hand effeminately as if dismissing Jeremy’s concern. “You’ve heard about the wave, I’m sure. It broke apart when it hit the earth, you see, and our good doctor is worried that a piece of it will hit the sun. If it did, it could disrupt the fusion reactions inside the star like it did the energy sources here; it would start a chain reaction and act as a booster as well, causing even our tiny sun to become a supernova. The sun would simply explode. It would be the end of our solar system. Of course, given our limited resources at the moment, it’s impossible to know where the fragments of the wave are headed.”
Jeremy blinked, stunned to silence. Ian laid a hand on his shoulder. “Carpe diem, young man. Don’t worry about the future, only be concerned with the time you have now.”
“What brings you out of your private coffin, Ian?” Geoff asked.
“Coffee, my good man, Coffee. I was just on my way to the mess to brew a pot while we still have some left. Would you two care to join me?”
“I think we’ll pass,” Geoff said without giving Jeremy a chance to respond.
“Have it your way then.” Cheerfully, Ian continued along on his quest.
“Come on, kid.” Geoff literally pulled Jeremy out of the control room. “Let me show you to your bunk.”
They rode a nearby lift down to the military living quarters, a row of twenty-four rooms lining a long corridor. According to Geoff, only three of the base’s survivors lived down here: himself, Troy and the repair tech Wade. Nathanial, Dr. Sheena Leigh (when she could be pried away from her projects), and the base’s communications officer, a woman named Toni, stayed on another level in the civilian section, whereas Ian made his home in makeshift quarters he’d set up inside the armory, despite all the available space. Ian had been the CIA liaison and was, in Geoff’s opinion, the only complete psychopath left in the complex. There was also a woman named Lex, who was in a coma, Geoff explained. She was kept in the medical labs so Sheena could keep a close eye on her; they weren’t sure whether she would wake up normal or be affected by the wave.
For the time being, Geoff assured him, Jeremy could stay with the “normal” people in the military quarters. The room he gave Jeremy was rather Spartan. It contained only a bunk, a small bathroom, and a single table supporting a computer tied into the mainframe.
“It’s not much,” Geoff said, “But it’s a hell of a lot safer than living out there with those things.”
A memory of Luke’s deranged, hungry face flashed through Jeremy’s mind and he shuddered.
“The creatures don’t come around here much. It’s rather secluded and very few people knew there was even anything up here in the mountains. We do get a few wanders now and again. Nothing we can’t deal with so far. Besides, even if the things flocked up here in droves, there’s no way they could get inside the complex proper.”
Jeremy nodded as he shrugged off his backpack and placed it on the bunk.
Geoff headed for the door. “You look like you could use some rest, so I’ll leave you to it. We’ll worry about finding you a job tomorrow. Everybody here contributes somehow for the good of us all—except maybe Ian. We have to work together if we want to stay alive.”
As the door slid closed behind Geoff, Jeremy slumped into the chair at the table and rested his head in his hands. It was true: he felt safer here than he had in days, and it was good to see people again, no matter who they were, but he still wondered if coming here had been the right thing to do.
Jeremy awoke to someone pounding on his door. He rubbed his eyes and climbed out of the bunk as a short, hideously muscled man entered the room. The man’s bald head gleamed from the light shining through the open doorway behind him.
“Time to go, new boy. We’ve got work to do.”
“Who… who are you?”
“Name’s Wade. I keep things working around here, but today I’m going into town and you’re going with me.”
“What? I just got here. Why me?”
“You’re not that dense are you?” Wade walked over and rapped his knuckles on Jeremy’s skull. “Hello in there.”
Jeremy backed away, and Wade glared at him.
“None of us other than Geoff have really left the complex since the wave. Hell, you lived through the shit out there. I need a guide, Jerm, and you’re it.”
“But I don’t know anything you don’t,” Jeremy argued.
“Daylight’s burning, new boy. Get your shit together or get out.”
Jeremy had slept in his pants, so he pulled on his Rush T-shirt and reached for his .38.
Wade saw him. “Leave that piece of crap. Here.” He shoved a .45 automatic into Jeremy’s hand. “We’ll stop and get you a real weapon on the way out too.”
Minutes later, Jeremy sat inside the garage with Troy, Geoff, and Wade. He held an Uzi in his trembling hands and watched as Wade worked underneath the hood of a military issue jeep that had seen better days.
Troy held an M-16 and took continuous drags off a cigarette. “I still don’t understand why you have to do this, Wade,” he commented between puffs.
“You want to keep breathing?” Wade shot back, his voice muffled by the hood. “If I don’t get the parts to fix the ventilation systems from where you idiots shot it up, we’re all going to be headed out of here, and I sure ain’t trustin’
Troy chuffed. “Next time a bunch of flesh-eating crazies get loose in the base, Wade, maybe you should have a talk with ‘em, huh? Tell them not to get near anything important as we blow their freakin’ brains out.”
Wade popped his head out from under the hood. “Fuck you. You think I want to go out there into Hell?”
“Look, Wade.” Geoff moved closer to the jeep. “Troy and I could do it. Just tell us what you need. You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do,” Wade said. “Jeremy here’ll be all the help I need; besides, the boy has to contribute somehow. Why not this way?”
Geoff raised his hands in surrender.
Wade tossed Jeremy the keys to the jeep. “Get in and crank her up.”
Jeremy did as he was told, and the jeep’s engine roared to life on the first try. Troy tossed aside his smoke and went to push open the building’s main door.
“Catch you later, guys,” Wade said. “We got some shopping to do.” Then he motioned for Jeremy to get on with it, and they drove out of the complex and down the gravel road towards Canton.
“So just how bad is it out there, really?” Wade asked.
Jeremy glanced over at the burly little man. “Everyone I saw on my way here was dead, crazy, or both. The power’s off everywhere.”
“No shit, Sherlock. I knew
“No. But I know where you’re talking about.”
“You think we can get in and out of it without getting our asses chewed off?”
“I don’t know. Those creatures… some of them are pretty fast. If they’re inside the store…”
Wade picked up the twelve-gauge shotgun from the seat between them and pumped a round into the chamber. “Shit,” he said, “just another day in paradise, huh, Jerm?”
On their way through town, Jeremy had to floor it twice as the creatures poured out of the ruins of buildings and shops, attracted by the sound of the passing jeep, but he and Wade managed to get by without any real close calls.
When they pulled into the large parking lot of the hardware store, only two creatures were milling about. Jeremy parked the jeep directly in front of the store’s Plexiglas entrance and grabbed his Uzi. He started to open fire on the creatures, but Wade smacked his weapon down.
“Don’t do it. You saw how the ones in town reacted to the jeep. The noise will just bring more of them.” He pulled a pistol out of the jury-rigged holster on his tool belt and screwed a silencer onto its barrel. As the creatures came snarling towards them, Wade dropped each one with a single shot to the skull. “Geoff taught me a few things,” he explained, tucking away the gun.
