Dead Hunt (20 page)

“Step back, sir, or we will shoot,” the
sergeant ordered.

Michael tried to force his way through, and
the other man in the Haz-Mat suit said, “We can’t let you pass. We
will shoot. Do you really want your girlfriend to watch you get
shot?”

Michael stopped fighting as he watched them
usher Lucy across the Causeway.

“Lucy!” Michael yelled as the guards pulled
her away.

She tried to tell them that he wasn’t
infected, that he was the cure, but they would not listen. Soldiers
with guns were trained to ignore pleas from panicked and crying
people. Soldiers followed orders.

“Lucy!” Michael yelled again, and she looked
at him.

He wrapped his arms around himself, imitating
being cold, pointed to little Robin, then yelled, “I will be
cold!”

Lucy struggled free of the guards long enough
to wrap her arms around herself in the same fashion and nodded that
she understood.

Michael turned, ran to the Jeep and sped
away.

Lucy turned to see little Robin looking up at
the “Welcome to Cape Breton” sign above the Canso Causeway and
heard Robin singing, “Farewell to Nova Scotia, the sea bound
coast.”

“No, honey,” Lucy explained, “we’re still in
Nova Scotia.”

Robin smiled, handed a water bottle back to a
soldier and danced away singing the same song. It all seemed so
surreal. Lucy wiped the tears from her cheek as she looked back at
the deserted island. Deserted, except for Michael who was racing
against time. Lucy turned to say something to little Robin, but she
was gone. Panicked, she looked around and watched little Robin tug
on another soldier’s arm and say something she couldn’t hear. The
soldier gave Robin a drink of water from his canteen.

“Robin, what are you doing?” Lucy asked,
confused.

Robin ignored her and skipped along, stopping
at another solider. Again, Little Robin said something to the
soldier, and he passed her his canteen. Lucy froze.

“Oh, my God!” Lucy yelled.

She was about to yell “Stop her!” but she
knew it was already too late. She remembered what the Robin 1
Computer had told them:

“If one infected person gets off the island,
the entire continent will be lost because there will be nothing to
stop the spread.“

Lucy ran to the nearest soldier. “When do
they drop the bomb?”

“Excuse me?” the soldier said, wrenching his
arm free from Lucy’s grasp.

“The bomb! When do they drop the bomb?”

“In about two hours. Why?”

“I need some paper and a pen!” she
screamed.

“Now hold on, little lady.”

“Get me some goddamn paper now, or this
entire fucking continent will be infected!”

For a soldier who could have easily subdued
her without breaking a sweat, her sharp words startled him. He ran
to a table and returned seconds later. Lucy wrote down what she
knew as fast as she could and handed it back to the solider.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I was there. I
saw it happen,” she pointed to the paper. “This is the only way to
stop it!”

The soldier looked at the paper in disbelief
as Lucy jumped into a nearby Jeep and raced back across the
causeway. She didn’t see any warning signs about getting shot
trying to get back on the island, and she wasn’t exactly sure if
stealing an army Jeep warranted getting shot, but she had to get
back to Michael. The confused soldier finished reading the note,
shook his head, and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Anybody see that little girl?” he yelled as
he placed his canteen to his lips and took a long drink.

Lucy raced the Jeep as fast as she could go
without crashing. When she saw the tail lights of Michael’s Jeep
she started wailing on the horn. Michael stopped, and Lucy nearly
collided with him.. She ran to his jeep and jumped in.

“Lucy, what are you doing here? Go back!”

“It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not. You still have time.”

“It’s too late, Michael!” Lucy yelled. “The
virus has crossed!”

“What? How?”

“Robin,” she said trying to catch her breath.
Michael looked at her, puzzled.

“Robin is the host!” she explained.

“What? Why would the computer do that?” he
asked.

“To complete her father’s work.”

“I-I don’t get it.”.

“She’s Heslin’s perfect child. She will never
grow old, she will never get sick, and she will never die! The
virus will keep her alive!”

“Oh, God!” was all Michael could mutter.

“Will that cryo-canister thingy hold two
people?” Lucy asked.

“Yes,” he answered, “But there’s just one
small problem.”

“What’s that?”

“You were supposed to come thaw me out when
the smoke clears. Kinda hard to do that if you’re frozen next to
me.”

“Oh,” Lucy said. “I never thought of
that.”

CHAPTER 22 – Cold Storage

Lucy and Michael raced into the lodge and
down the cellar stairs. His fingers danced across the computer keys
as Lucy stared at the opened canister.

“Is this going to work?” Lucy asked as a
small tear trickled down her face.

“It should,” Michael said absentmindedly, his
fingers not slowing.

“Should?” she asked incredulously.

“Sorry, wrong word. It will work, Lucy. I
just have to make a few adjustments. I don’t know how long it’ll
take for that nuclear shit to clear so I can’t program this thing
to automatically let us out. We could wake up in the middle of the
radiation.”

“So how do we get back out?” Lucy asked
him.

Michael stopped typing and turned to face
her. “We don’t.”

“We don’t?!” her eyes widened in
disbelief.

“Don’t worry,” Michael told her. “That
professor guy built this system like a tank: dedicated solar
panels, redundant backup systems, you name it. He made sure that
come hell or high water, Robin would remain safe until he was
ready. We will be perfectly safe in there.”

“But?” Lucy asked.

“But, we stay in there until somebody finds
us.”

“That could take forever!” Lucy felt panic
racing over her entire body. “We could be in there for years!”

“It’s too late to turn back now, Lucy,”
Michael placed a finger on her lips, silencing her. “It’s either
cold storage in there and hope for the best, or find some really
strong sun block.”

Lucy sighed. Michael pulled her to his chest
and hugged her.

“Once the dust settles,” Michael reassured
her, “they will come back and search the island for the source of
the problem. You said you told a soldier what she is…”

“I don’t think he believed me.”

“He will when the virus starts spreading.
They will stop her. Then they will find this place. I programmed it
to keep flashing a message on the monitor that we are in there, so
they will know to let us out. We’ll be okay, Lucy.”

“ Okay.”

“Good, now take your clothes off.”

“Excuse me?” she blinked in disbelief.

“Your clothes,” Michael repeated, “take them
off. Underwear too.”

Lucy stared at him as he started to undress.
He paused to look at her.

“Lucy, the process of preserving us is fast
and very, very cold. Thawing us out is basically the same thing in
reverse, only a bit slower. We cannot be wearing any type of
clothing or it will interfere with the whole process. Clothes will
damage our skin.”

Lucy started undressing with a silly smirk on
her face.

“Something funny?” Michael asked as he
watched her undress.

“Really, Michael, the things you will do to
see me naked!” she laughed.

Michael started to laugh but was distracted
as the last of her clothes fell to the floor.

“Ummm, look on the bright side,” Michael said
trying to collect his thoughts. “When women get cold, their nipples
stick out. When men get cold, we shrink.”

Lucy smiled then lowered her gaze.

“I see you don’t have a shrinkage problem
right at this particular moment.”

Michael looked down at himself and his face
immediately flushed a bright red. Lucy crossed over to him and
hugged him, pressing her warm, naked body into his.

“It’s Ok, Michael” Lucy reassured him, “if
you didn’t get excited, I would be the one embarrassed.” She paused
for a moment then added, “I really do love you.” She hugged him so
tight.

“I love you too,” Michael said as he returned
her hug then led her to the canister.

Lucy curled into his chest and wrapped
herself around him as the lid slowly closed.

“Michael, I’m scared,” Lucy started to say as
a loud hissing noise drowned her words.

She never finished her sentence.

Michael never answered.

EPILOGUE - 3 Months Later

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome
to Air Australia, my name is Betty. I would like to tell you about
some important safety features on board this aircraft, the Boeing
747. In case of an emergency, there are two exits towards the front
on either side, two over the wings on either side and two at the
rear of the aircraft on either side.

“Each exit has a safety slide that will
automatically deploy once the door is open. If the slide does not
deploy, please pull the tab down to release it. In the rare event
of a loss of cabin pressure, face masks will drop down from the
overhead bins. Place the mask over your nose and mouth. Please put
your own mask on first, and then help your child. Please be advised
your seats are a floatation device and there are child lifejackets
available should you need one.

“Please ensure all seats and trays are in
their upright position and that your seat belt is properly secured
as we prepare for takeoff. Air Australia recommends that you remain
seated throughout the flight.

“Please remember that all Air Australia
flights are non smoking. We thank you for flying Air Australia and
hope you enjoy your flight.”

The massive engines of the 747 fired to life.
Passengers fidgeted nervously. None of them had any carry-on
luggage for the overhead compartments or personal effects. They did
not even wear their own clothing; it was strictly forbidden.
Dressed in bright orange jumpsuits they looked more like a group of
convicted felons, not the last surviving members of the continent
once known as North America.

As the huge bird took flight, its orange-clad
passengers silently wondered what their new lives would be like:
Where would they live exactly? Where will they work? How will they
survive? How many did survive?

The dinging sound that signifies the
Captain’s announcement startled them back to reality.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is
your captain speaking. We are under way and should arrive in
Australia in approximately eighteen hours. We know this has been a
trying time for all of you, but please, rest assured, Australia is
completely virus free.

“As you are well aware, there was a very long
process involved just to get aboard this flight. We needed to be
sure that there was no chance of anyone flying to Australia being
infected. As most of you know, every continent in the world has
been infected due to improper security procedures, and the
infection quickly spread until entire continents were lost. It is
because of our strict security measures that Australia is the last
safe haven in the entire world.

“You can take confidence in the fact that
only non-infected people can pass our security checks and get on
this plane.

“Australia is plenty hot, but there’s plenty
of room. Welcome to your new home.”

As the captain finished his announcement the
flight attendants began walking the aisles to make sure everyone
was as comfortable as possible for the long flight.

One of the attendants smiled warmly as a
little girl sang…

“Farewell to Nova Scotia, the sea bound
coast.”

###

DEAD HUNT is currently available as a Free
Audio Drama on Podiobooks.com, iTunes and on the
Official Dead Hunt
website
.

Narrated by

R.E. Chambliss

(Author of Dreaming of Deliverance)

And starring the voice talents of:

Kimi Alexandre (Guardians)

Brian Brown (Quirky Nomads)

Ry Stevenson (Dead Robots Society)

Kim Butler (Between the Lines Studios)

Erk & Judy (Erk Pod)

Melissa Bartell
(Escribition)

Nobilis Reed (Nobilis Erotica)

Neil Stringer (Variant Frequencies)

Tom Storms

Andrew Ball (Between the Lines Studios)

Lisa Tobias (Hypersensitive Podcast)

Arlene Radasky (The Fox)

Clay Robeson, Randall Carruthers, Lindsey
Burns, Kristopher Lamont

and Featuring

Rick Stringer of Variant Frequencies

as the voice of Professor Patrick Heslin

and introducing

“Robin” as herself

Robin's singing role and Little Robin
performed by KC

Music by

Farrell Jackson, Tom Storms, Gregory Cain,
Doug Millaway and Kenn Crawford

“Neil Gow’s Lament” performed by Matt
Earhart

Visit
deadhunt.kenncrawford.com
for show notes and links to all the talented performers who helped
me turn Dead Hunt into a podcast audio drama

Connect with me online

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