Among the Roaring Dead (2 page)

A young woman appeared on his screen.

“All networks appear to be down. The last recorded updates I was able to retrieve appear to be personal posts indicating an explosion or several occurring right across the continent.”

“Stop kicking me,” the youngest son, Dustin said.

“Keep your heads down,” Toni said. “And try to stay still.”

She had to sit outside the bathtub as it would not accommodate all three of them.

Michael was talking to his PAL, which Toni despised. Little blonde bimbo based on a real bimbo who was making a heap of money off the hyper-sexualized fantasies of teenage boys. They whispered to each other – it seemed Michael was still trying to figure out what was going on.

“Alicia says she’s got hold of a radio broadcast. Should I turn it up?”

Toni looked at the device suspiciously, like she always did, but succumbed out of curiosity. She wanted to know what was going on as well.

...secure your position. Again, the source of this accident or attack, the origins are still unclear but the effects seem all too evident. Fires are burning across the city. Tremors are being sensed below the surface so we don’t know if this is geologic, weapons of some sort or just a big technological bumbling. There are reports of explosions hitting the Toronto area. Large, damaging explosions. If in fact this is the result of a nuclear attack any survivors are recommended to get to the center of whatever structure you’re in. When it comes to radiation – that’s a true silent killer. It can’t be seen or heard or tasted, but it can travel through walls, although not very well. It may get through one or two walls but if you can put that third and fourth wall between you and the exterior, it may make all the difference. Radiation won’t last...

“I’ve lost the signal,”
Alicia said.

Dustin sat up a bit, looking at his mother with eyebrows that looked ready to climb up the height of his forehead.

“I said get down. Keep every part of you down below the bathtub walls.”

It was uncomfortable. They were both at least five feet tall with gangly arms and bony knees and shoulders and the bathtub itself was no mattress.

Toni was fraught with indecision. Three times she stood up and placed a hand on the doorknob but retreated due to the continued tremors she felt rippling through the building. The 15
th
floor seemed a height safe enough for all kinds of reasons except when it came to the fact that the building was now shaking like it was made of a tower of loose bricks.

Sweat was trickling from her forehead and it felt as though it was getting hotter and hotter, to the point where it was unbearable.

She turned on the shower – cold water.

“What the hell!” Michael said, sitting up.

“Stay down!”

When the boys started shivering, she turned the stream off.

It seemed as though an hour had passed. She tried the handle once more, realizing that they couldn’t stay put forever. It was incredibly hot – so much so that she worried there was a fire on the other side. Michael popped his head up from the bathtub, looking very much like his father, rousing confusedly from some deep foggy dream.

“I told you - stay down,” she said, pointing her finger at his face in warning. “We’re getting out of here. I just need to check things out first.”

Her sight had still not returned completely. Everything had a glow to it and her brain hurt directly behind her eyes.

The sky outside the windows was a strange orange colour. There were no signs that the building was going to crumble but as she walked around she noticed that some plastic items had been partially melted down into a glob of indiscernible shapes.

She grabbed backpacks and duffel bags and started filling them with toiletries and food. She was trying to move faster than her body would allow and she tripped and knocked things over. Food items spilled from shelves in the kitchen.

She had four bags filled and sitting at the front door of the apartment when Michael and Dustin showed themselves at the entrance to the bathroom.

“Let’s go, I have enough packed.”

Neither of them moved.

Dustin said: “Is my PAL in there?”

“No, it is not! This is an emergency not a vacation! Get over here and let’s go now!”

She opened the door and they went out into the hallway. The boys started heading for the elevator.

“Where are you guys going? We’re not taking the elevator.”

“But mom, it’s fifteen floors!”

“I don’t care if it’s fifty floors; we’re not taking the elevator.”

The building was L-shaped. The hallway went down to the far end and bent around a corner. Someone came stumbling out of the space towards them.

“Help! Are you there?”

It was the old man who lived at the end with his younger wife. He always wore, as he did now, a blue workman’s jumpsuit with his name stitched on the front.

“What is it Joe?”

“I can’t see and I think my wife is dead!”

He moved forward with uneasy steps, a hand propped against the wall to keep him balanced. When he got close enough to them he tried to reach out, perhaps to grab on to a shadow he thought he saw but he missed and would have fell had Toni not stepped forward to grab his arm.

He seemed more confident with her now and stood straight up. His hand closed around her wrist and he started to walk back to his apartment.

“You need to come,” he said, “and see my wife.”

She looked back at her boys who stood there not knowing what to do.

“Just wait one minute – I’ll be right back.”

When their mother and the man were out of view from having turned the corner at the end of the hall, a nearby apartment door opened very slowly.

Half a man’s head peeked out.

“Hey kids, what’s going on?”

Michael shrugged his shoulders and said: “Umm, in case you haven’t noticed, the building’s shaking and there’s some other stuff happening.”

“Where are you guys going?”

“I don’t know,” Michael said, “to our car I think.”

“Wow, that’s a courageous move.” He opened the door a little bit further and looked down the hall. A cigarette dangled from his hand and instantly wafted out and touched their noses. “There’s definitely some weird things going on. Right after the flash happened I called down to the office. The Super has some kind of a HAM radio or something. Heard a message before the power went out about NORAD having a safe command centre in North Bay.”

Michael’s face scrunched up as he tried to digest the news.

“The place can’t handle millions of people.”

“I don’t think it will have to. Haven’t you heard all the screaming outside?”

There was a sound coming from the inside of the man’s apartment – like someone crying.

“Oops, gotta go.”

He closed the door.

The old man waved his smartcard at the door of his apartment. Miniscule little red lasers came out from the circular black orb in the middle of the door. Toni tried to help position him toward the scanner.

“Open your eyes,” she said.

The scanner issued an error statement – it could not scan his eye.

A voice issued from the orb:
Are you here to visit the occupants?

“What wrong?” the man said, turning to Toni.

His eyes were bloodshot, possibly from the blast. She wondered if this was what her eyes looked like.

The man was quite short – a good head shorter than Toni and she always felt like that gave him an excuse to stare at her breasts in the elevator. She noticed some white blisters on the back of his neck, each about the size of a dime.

He finally held open an eyelid with his fingers and the scanner was able to authenticate him and open the door.

“Hurry, hurry, come here,” he said.

Toni slowly stepped forward into the apartment and noticed the smell. There were odours probably related to cooking but there was something else as well. His young wife was sprawled on her back on the floor in front of them. Blood had streamed down her face from a wound that was apparently somewhere on top of her head.

“What happened to her?” Toni said.

“She fell, when the building got hit.”

Toni noticed a big metal wrench lying on the ground not far from the body.

“Is she breathing?”

“I don’t know. Can you check? Aren’t you a nurse or something?”

“I can’t leave my children. We’re going downstairs. We’ll send you some help.”

“What? You’re not going to help?”

“I can’t leave my boys alone.”

“Fucking bitch! You’re going to leave me too?”

It was clear he wasn’t blind. Like Toni, his eyesight had probably partially returned but he seemed in worse shape than she did. He reached out at the general area where Toni stood but he swiped at thin air about a foot away from her arm.

She ran out the door and into the hallway. The boys were still there. She heard a door slam.

“In the stairwell, now!”

They went down the stairs quickly, but not recklessly.

“Did someone come out of their apartment while I was gone?”

“The neighbour,” Michael said. “The smoking guy. He said the Superintendent heard something about a safe place up north.”

When they got to the parking garage, they noticed that the car entrance was closed – indicating that there may have still been some power present in the building. About half the amount of cars normally present were missing. Toni unlocked the doors to her car and told the boys to get in.

“Keep your heads down,” she said. “I’m going to go up to talk to the Super for a minute and I’ll be right back.”

She dropped her smartcard on Michael’s lap and looked at them for a minute.

“It will be okay,” she said.

She leaned in and kissed them both on their foreheads. She always loved smelling their hair.

Her smartcard vibrated as she walked up the stairs. She pulled it out of her bag and looked at the screen. Her father’s face appeared there. When she took the call all she could hear was crackling static.

“If you can hear me, I’m with the boys. We’re okay. We’re coming to you.”

She hung up and tried calling Jess. The call couldn’t be made. The signal strength was completely dead.

There was an emergency backup light on in the lobby. The office was unlocked but no one was inside. The doors at the front entrance were open as though someone had just activated the electric door opener.

Toni stood for a moment on the front lawn watching clouds blacker than she had ever seen before racing across the sky. A single grey particle floated down and landed on her arm. She raised it to her face to inspect – it had almost fluttered down like a snowflake though this was way too early in the season for a freak snowstorm.

In the low light, Toni spied five small white blisters on her arm. On her other arm, there were even more.

Her ears picked up a rumbling sound and then she began to feel it in her feet as well. She turned to run back to the building and saw that the automatic doors were starting to close. By the time the wave – whatever it was – hit, she was five feet from the entrance and it was like she was picked up by unseen hands and thrown against the nearby garbage can. Her head hit a bench on the way down and she lost consciousness.

“What time is it Orson?”

“6:30.”

“God! Another two hours!”

Jess stood in the middle of a subway platform. Escalators ground around and around nearby like giant metallic teeth. A faint breeze came down one of the tunnels, indicating that a train was soon to arrive.

“The rush hour service has ended so at least the traffic will be less frequent.”

“Great, because I have to pee. How’s your battery doing?”

“Oh, I’m fully charged. It was a nice sunny day so the solar sensors were able to give me quite the boost today.”

“Wish I could say the same.”

The train roared into the station and metal brakes screeched the machine to a stop.

“You see that Orson?” A couple passengers almost lost their footing with that crazy stop. I used to be able to run the train down the station faster than that and I was still able to do a nice gentle stop.”

“The statistics seem to favour the automated system. The number of accidents and delays has decreased dramatically in the last five years.”

The doors opened and a synthetic voice said:
Thank you for riding The Rocket and have a nice day.

Hundreds of people came out the doors since this was the last stop on the line and made their way, eagerly, to the escalators.

“Okay people, nice and orderly – be respectful!”

A teenager turned to Jess and nodded at the PAL watch on his wrist.

“Nice antique grandpa.”

“It’s an Extreme4 – and it still works great!” Jess yelled after the kid, but he was already halfway up the escalator, lost in a mosaic of jeans and shirts.

“Don’t take that personally, Orson.”

“Of course I won’t,”
Orson said
. “I know there are newer PALs with faster processors and better hologram technology but think about all the learning I’ve done in the last 15 years. I know that has to count for something.”

“Of course that counts. Besides, the kids these days don’t have an attachment to anything. Today’s toy is tomorrow’s garbage. Just turn on the printer when Daddy goes to sleep and you’ve got the latest and greatest. But you know I’ll never get rid of you Orson.”

“I should say perhaps that I’m not adverse to the odd hardware upgrade.”

“Nice pitch, I thought you were on my side, or do you agree that I’m cheap?”

“That’s entirely dependent on the angle of perception. I would say generous, Sir. Very generous.”

“How long until the next train?”

“Eight minutes.”

“All right. Let’s dump our cache.”

“Help yourself,”
Orson said.
“I’m good.”

Jess walked to the end of the platform and stood before a thick red door.

“Access code?”

“Lynch – 4327.”

The door clicked and gave way from its latch. Jess pushed open the door and walked inside the staff room.

“I don’t think this room has changed in 50 years.”

“Probably because no one uses it anymore.”

“Thanks for calling me nobody.”

Jess put his jacket down on the middle table, which was really all there was to the room. Some cleaning supplies sat unused in the corner. An old microwave and coffee machine were off to the side of the room.

“There are still coffee capsules loaded,”
Orson said.
“Should I load one to brew for you?”

“Nah, it’s too late,” Jess said, and walked towards the door to the men’s bathroom.

He had spent the last 10 hours with a small vial of condensed vodka in the back pocket of his pants. Even when he urinated into the toilet he could feel it pressing against his buttock – reminding him of its presence – teasing him to the possibility of a taste.

The wristwatch illuminated and Orson’s face could be seen on the screen. His big fat head and piercing eyes reflected the intensity of his voice.

“The next train is about to enter the station.”

Jess walked over to the red door and drew the padlock across the opening, rendering the voice-activated entryway useless.

“So much for technology,” he said. “I just need a few minutes. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Jess you know I can’t approve of this, It could lead to disciplinary action.”

“It’s a good thing that you’re just my assistant and everything that comes out of your speaker is just advice then.”

“Sound advice, I might add – always designed to factor in the level of risk.”

“I won’t be long,” Jess said. “Just need a quick break.”

He found a plastic cup in the cupboards nearby and filled it with water. The condensed alcohol expanded when mixed with water. The contents fizzed slightly and the water twirled like some invisible spoon was stirring the contents, which Jess always found odd.

He tilted the cup and let half the contents run past his tongue and down his throat. The effects of this new strain were almost instantaneous if you didn’t mix in the recommended amount of water and this caused local politicians to call for its banishment.

The mayor though – he looked at it differently.

Store employees and shopkeepers need to make sure they’re not selling to minors, as is law and that only leaves adults left – whom I hope are either responsible enough to read directions or sensible enough to know that perhaps they need help.

Jess lifted the glass in his hand.

“Here’s to you, prick.”

The room was like a prison cell, Jess thought. Giant rectangular bricks lacquered over with thick beige paint. For the last 100 years, subway workers had spent lunches and breaks and dinners in here, far below the surface without a window or any real connection to the outside world.

“The next train will be entering the station in three minutes, Jess.”

Jess groaned and got to his feet. His back hurt.

“What’s going to happen if I don’t go out there? You and I both know that everything will be fine. The train will pull it at exactly the allotted time and the people will herd themselves to the escalators just fine without the token shepherd. Let’s face it Orson, in a few years they’re going to realize that even I’m not needed. The only people this committee will need to employ are the suits and ties up in their skyscrapers.”

Jess rubbed his eyes, as if this might clear them of this tension that had built up in his vision.

“Jess, something is happening to my reception. It’s quite odd – something is interfering with every signal I have and my usual sources are being bombarded with alerts.”

“What are you talking about? Maybe it’s finally time to upgrade you, old-timer.”

The lights went out.

Jess stood about five feet in front of the locked door, though he could no longer see it.

“Orson?”

“I’m not getting any signals.”

There was a low grumble from somewhere on the other side of the walls. Jess stood absolutely still but couldn’t determine where it was coming from. The staff room he was in was located at one end of the tunnel. The sound gradually grew in volume until it became almost ear-splitting. It was like a giant explosion and the ground beneath his feet seemed to shake slightly.

Then it stopped, as quickly as it had peaked, it was gone.

“Let me know if you get anything Orson.”

He waited there a few minutes, listening. Then he took a few slow steps forward until his hand touched the door.

“This door is warm.”

“The temperature in here has gone up about two degrees in the last few minutes.”

“Maybe it’s a fire.”

“I would still get signals from the surface if it was a fire.”

“Jess tapped the smartwatch on his wrist and brought up a light that cast out like a lamp. A glance around the room showed that there was no smoke or fire within.

There was a bang against the door, followed up by three solid thumps. So loud was the noise that Jess momentarily imagined a monster behind the door; some gargantuan beast with fists the size of basketballs.

But then a voice followed the noise at the door and so timid and scared was the tenor that the vision vanished instantly.

“Help! Help me! Is anyone in there?”

“What’s wrong? What’s going on out there?”

The person, its gender undeterminable, shouted and screamed garbled sentences and generally made it sound like something terrible was happening behind the door.

Jess took four steps backwards, until his back came up flush against the table in the middle of the room.

After about a minute the screaming stopped. The temperature appeared to be dropping to normal temperatures too. He made his way back to the sink and poured himself another drink in the light of the smartwatch. An hour later and he had emptied the container of condensed alcohol.

It was probably for the best, since the room had become a blur and Orson was unable to establish a connection anywhere.

He fell asleep, his back propped up against the sink cabinet.