Fever (13 page)

            I turn to Jack. “We could stop the Fever. We could do what we came here to do. If we manage it, we might even be able to go home. I mean, we have the Fading machines.”

            “We’d
have
to go home,” Jack says. “We’d have to check that the future changes the way it is meant to change.”

            Even Grayson seems to agree with that. “If we don’t, then we could th

            I nod, though the truth is that we’re getting a long way ahead of ourselves. First, we still have to destroy the creatures, and even with what we know, that won’t be easy. After all, we still haven’t thought of anything that will be enough to terrify a huge, part reptile, part insect creature to death.

            I try to focus on smaller things. “Dr. Cook,” I say to Sebastian, “can you get what we’ve learned to other Faders? I assume that there must still be some out in other areas of the world. Plus, there will be the populations who made it to the shelters. If they at least know about this weakness, then maybe they can find ways to exploit it so that they aren’t all killed by the creatures.”

            “We have satellite communications again, as well as more advanced signaling equipment. If there’s anybody listening, then we should be able to reach them without a problem.”

            An idea comes to me. I don’t know if it will work or not, but it has to be worth a try.

            “Can we use the satellite to create more visual effects too?” I ask.

            “It’s not what it was designed for, but I guess if we reprogram some of the onboard circuitry, we could probably do it.” Sebastian looks at me. “What are you thinking, Celes?”

            I’m thinking that there’s one thing in the world that is guaranteed to scare every living thing on it. One thing that these creatures definitely know about, and which even they must surely be terrified of.

            “It’s very simple,” I explain. “We’re going to do the one thing that might scare even these things enough to get their hearts beating. We’re going to re-create the apocalypse.”

SEVENTEEN

I
n a control room deeper in the rock spur, Sebastian stands in front of the controls for the Faders’ satellite. I’ve been watching him and some of the other scientists there working for hours now, as they try to make the necessary modifications for this plan. Some of them have seemed a little reluctant, saying that it might damage parts of the satellite that sound important, but Sebastian has been able to keep them working. He’s still their boss, apocalypse or no apocalypse.

            “
Will
it destroy the satellite?” I ask.

            Sebastian shrugs. “It probably won’t go that far, but we’re using it for a purpose for which it was never intended, effectively using it as a giant projector, with the clouds as our screen, while simultaneously sending out signals to every functioning TV and radio that we can find. It probably won’t last for more than a day or so before burning out.”

            “I’m sorry,” I say. “It seems like you’ve had nothing but trouble since I showed up.”

            Sebastian shakes his head. “It’s what we’re here for, Celes. This moment is what the Faders are about. And this is for my son, too.”

            “Even though Jack isn’t your son?”

            “He is in every sense that matters. Mechanical things can be fixed. I can put a new satellite up. We’ve even rebuilt the Fading machine. People matter more.”

            With that, he flips a switch on the control panel and stands back.

            “There,” he says, “it’s done. I just hope you know what you’re doing, Celes.”

            “So do I,” I admit.

            We go to watch the screens in the main common room. They’re picking up fragments of news feeds as well as data from Faders around the world. Most importantly, there’s a feed from the cameras Location Thirteen has pointed at the outside.

            Those cameras let us see it as it starts, the sky seeming to turn red all at once, flames appearing to dance across it. I know it’s just the cloud formations above us shifting, but even so, my heart is in my mouth. It looks so much like what happened before. Then I see the flames seeming to pour down from the sky.

            On the news feeds, there are pictures of people screaming and running, in those cities that still have a meaningful population left. There are a few images of the creatures that have been burning people, and those look almost as frightened as the people. More frightened, because suddenly, some of them are being targeted with flames.

            “Faders with flame throwers,” Jack explains, as on the screen the strange, hybrid creatures start to run about in utter terror. “I thought it would be a nice touch.”

            Nice is probably the wrong word for it, but it works. I see the first creatures fall as they run, bellowing inhumanly and then collapsing to the ground as their hearts give way. There are so mThewroany people running by that point that they just trample the creatures, mashing them down into the dirt beneath their soles.

            “It’s working,” I say. “It’s
working
.”

            Slowly, though. The satellite can only be over so much of the world at a time. Its coverage is limited, and to stop the Fever, we need to eliminate
all
the creatures. We can’t risk leaving some of them behind. I think we all know that, because all of us who aren’t doing anything: me, Jack, Grayson, Johnny and more, find ourselves stuck in front of those screens, watching what the few news services still running are calling the Obliteration. They’re right, but it’s the Obliteration of the creatures, not of humanity. It might just
save
humanity.

            That’s when I glance back to the screen for the outside cameras, and I see what’s coming.

            “Jack, Grayson, Sebastian! We’re under attack!”

            There are helicopters on the screen. One is a very familiar shape that chased us down from the research facility. Others seem to be transport helicopters. It seems like Hammond didn’t lose us after all. He was just going to get reinforcements.

            “Everybody to their stations,” Sebastian orders. “We have to defend the base. There is nowhere else to go.”

            Faders hurry to grab guns and flak jackets as outside, heavily armed men start to rappel down from their helicopters. Hammond’s attack chopper fires missiles and I can feel Location Thirteen shaking.

            Faders rush to guard the entrances, and outside the room I can hear the chatter of gunfire. A couple of soldiers burst in carrying automatic weaponry. Jack and Grayson bring up their own guns at almost the same moment to drop them, before moving forward to grab their rifles. Shots rip through Grayson in that moment, and Jack drags him back while I gasp at the thought of him being hurt like that.

            Then he stands up, and I remember again why he’s the one person I
don’t
need to worry about.

            “The satellite is locked,” Sebastian says, working the controls. “They can’t change it now.”         

            “You’re saying that like we can’t hold them here,” Dr. Florence says. He looks as scared as ever. “If Mr. Hammond takes us…”

            “We’re losing people,” Sebastian snaps back at him. “This is not the time for you to be a coward.”

            There’s a burst of gunfirerst

            “We need to fall back,” Jack says. “Everybody out.”

            “Where are we heading though?” I ask. “If Hammond is inside, where is there that’s safe?”

            Jack looks at Sebastian. “You said that you’d rebuilt the Fading machine?”

            Sebastian hesitates, and then nods. “It’s ready. It will work.”

            “Our mission’s done, Celes,” Jack says. “The creatures are gone. There won’t be a Fever. We need to go back.”

            “What about Hammond?” I demand. “What about all the people here?”

            “You’re our priority here, Celes,” Grayson insists, taking over from Jack. “You and the machine.”

            “They’ll destroy it if they can,” Johnny says, standing awkwardly.

            I try to answer that, but Grayson and Jack nod to one another. They grab one of my arms each, turning back to fire bursts of automatic fire as Hammond’s men try to come into the room. I see one of the Australians, Ray I think, go down.

            “We need to go
now,
Celes,” Jack insists, and now I’m ready to listen.

            We run, all of us. Jack and Grayson keep me ahead of them, leapfrogging one another as they fire back at the soldiers who pop out behind us around corners. Sebastian and Dr. Florence help Johnny. There’s no sign of any of the Australians. They’re gone. Probably dead. There’s something tragic about that thought; that they could have come thousands of miles through the apocalypse just to be shot in a corridor somewhere. But I know that they’re all Faders, and it’s what they have signed up for. The way I signed up for a mission that might soon be over.

            Between us, we keep moving in the direction of the room they’ve rebuilt the Fading machine in. When we get there, Sebastian throws the doors open, letting us all pile inside, then locks them behind us. Jack and Grayson wedge a bench behind them.

            “That won’t hold them for long,” Jack says. “We need to go.”

            The Fading machine is everything I remember it being. A large chair with a much larger device looming over it, straps on the chair bringing back memories of the time they tried to Fade my identity. There’s no time to think about that though, because already there are thuds as booted feet slaoots on m into the door.

            “We need to hurry,” Jack says. “If they destroy the machine again, we might never get back home. Grayson, go first and make sure it’s safe.”

            Grayson lets Jack strap him in. I move over to Grayson while Jack works on the control panel. I kiss him, because I can’t
not
kiss him at a moment like this, when he’s about to be disintegrated, effectively killed in this time so that he can be remade in the future.

            “It’s fine, Celes,” Grayson says. “I’ll see you there.”

            The machine hums as power draws up through it, then whines as its energy flashes through Grayson. Blue light seems to run through Grayson, and then he’s gone. Just… gone.

            “Johnny,” Jack says, “you’re next. We’ll have to risk it and hope that you’re strong enough to survive.”

            Johnny nods and Jack straps him in. Jack sets the controls again. There’s a crack from the doors and they burst open, revealing Wilson Hammond. His normally handsome older features are twisted by anger, and his expensive suit is torn.

            “No! You will not take my son!”

            He lunges for the machine. For Johnny. It’s too late. The machine flashes, and Johnny is gone too.

            “No,” Hammond says, and in that moment there’s the glow around him that there was before the apocalypse. The shape of another, larger creature shifting around his. “You cannot have Johnny. His destiny lies here, as my son. He is the one who will help me create a new world. One with beings in it suited to rule it. One that is strong, not weak, like the one you create.”

            He stares at me while he says that.

            “He’s gone, Hammond,” I say. “You can’t get him back.”

            “Then you won’t be
going
back,” Hammond replies, and lunges for the machine. Jack intercepts him with a punch, but Hammond spins and smashes him aside. Jack bounds back, tackling Hammond low and bearing them both to the floor.

            “Celes,” he yells, “get in. Dad, set the machine!”

            I don’t want to leave him, but Sebastian pushes me back into the chair, setting the straps so tight that I can’t break free without destroying the Fading machine. I see Jack flipping past Hammond’s legs, moving to pin him down while throwing punches. Hammond grab. Ho tight ts him and throws him off, but Jack charges in again to control him. I realize that’s all he’s trying to do. Just slow Hammond down long enough to let me get away.

            Sebastian is working the controls by now, setting them again the way he did for  Johnny, his face an intense mask of concentration. Jack, meanwhile, is barely managing to hold Hammond. It shouldn’t work like that. He’s younger and fitter, not to mention a skilled fighter. Yet with the strength of the Beast in him, Hammond is so much harder to stop.

            “Hurry!” Jack yells over.

            “Jack!”

            “Celes, I love you! Go!”

            Unlike Grayson, I don’t even get to kiss Jack goodbye. He’s too busy fighting with Hammond. He’s done this so many times now, staying behind to keep me alive. I told him not to do this. I
told
him not to. Yet ultimately, I’m not sure anything could stop him. Jack is Jack, and he’ll always do whatever he needs to do to protect me, whatever time period it is.

            I just hope, as I hear the whine of the Fading machine, that he’ll be able to do it in the future too. I strain against the straps, wanting to help him, but Sebastian throws the switch in that moment. The light is blinding, and there’s a moment of agony as every cell of my body rips apart. Then there’s nothing.

EIGHTEEN

I
blink and slowly, the world comes back into focus. I can see people standing around me, and the first of them I see is Grayson. He’s the way he was. Still a teenager, not a man. How did that happen? The Fading machine, I realize. When it sent us back, it sent us back as babies, because it didn’t have the ability to add in the effects of aging. Now that it has returned us… well, no one has ever returned. How were we to know what the effects would be?