Impetus (26 page)

CHAPTER
40
 

The same guards that had escorted Sid and Mick up from the sublevels also ushered them to the front doors. But when Mick arrived, he quickly realized these were anything but doors. They towered over his head, much taller than the secondary entrance they’d used only moments before. The doors rose twenty feet maybe and appeared to be made of solid steel. To Mick’s right was a display panel with a collection of numbers and digital buttons. A closed-circuit television display was affixed to the wall above that. It showed what was outside the door. And what was outside was their salvation with their possible demise holding a gun to his back.

Dr. Jones walked over to the panel. He signaled to the head guard.
“Keep these people back,” he instructed, pointing over Mick’s shoulder to the crowd of people that had begun to gather.

Mick looked back to see a group of maybe twenty or so people. All dressed in the same white jumpsuit with the same green circle with a helix atop it. These must all be people from
The Initiative. They all varied in age, height, and ethnicity. It was a melting pot of survivors. All of them appeared clean and well-groomed. Exactly how Mick remembered people looking before the meteorites. Mick felt like the one grain of brown rice in a bowlful of white.

Dr. Jones pressed the intercom button.
“Dr. Cole. I thought I had made it very clear that once you left, you would not be coming back?”

The display panel above their heads showed
Alex listening to Phillip. He then walked over to the panel in the parking meter and pressed a button.

“
This is Solomon,” Alex said, pointing. “He is immune to the virus. Want to let me in now?”

The group behind Mick collectively gasped. They then began to whisper among themselves. When Mick turned
, he noticed the group had doubled in size in only a matter of seconds. It was apparent that everyone there realized what was transpiring. To have this gathering of eyes and ears behind them was a part of the plan that Mick could never have envisioned, but it was one he was ecstatic to see happening. It would help to ensure Phillip could not sweep this away.

“
Are you certain he is immune?” Phillip asked.

Alex
said, “Very. We scanned him multiple times with a cellular scanner. He’s clean. Even after being injected with your—”

Phillip let the button go
, and the rest of Alex’s comments were muted.

More
whispers from behind them. A bit louder than before. Phillip’s suppression of Alex had apparently not gone unnoticed.

“
Aren’t you going to let everyone know, Dr. Jones?” Mick said. He turned toward the group of people that had just grown even larger. Maybe a hundred or so people. All of them listening intently to Mick. He figured now was as good a time as any.

Phillip nervously eyed the group.
“There is nothing to see here,” he said. “Please. We all have important work to get back to. This will all be over momentarily.”

The group went nowhere.

“Why don’t you tell them, Phillip?” Sid said. “Tell them how the test you sent out to your fellow man was no test at all?”

“
Sid,” Rebekah said, stepping out from behind the front of the group. “That’s a pretty serious allegation.”

“
It’s the truth, Rebekah. We’ve all been duped.” Sid turned back to Phillip. “Go ahead, Phillip.”

“
Tell who, Sid? All of your fellow scientists? They know what needs to be done at times in order for science to progress. You and Alex are the only two who don’t seem to understand that a few ants must be crushed on our walk to rebuild what we lost.”

“
Ants?” Mick said. “That’s what we are to you?” He turned to the group. “That’s what my children are to him. My children, who have suffered more than any father should see his child put through.”

“
No,” Phillip said. “That’s not what I meant.”

“
Then what did you mean?” Sid asked.

Mick saw the look in his eyes. It was fear. The same look they all had once they
’d realized their world was about to change for the worse.

“
Dr. Jones has been keeping secrets,” Sid said, first to the security guard to his left, then turning to address the rest of the group behind him. “Those
tests
he sent out to the population outside our doors were not tests at all. The auto injectors contained a special concoction he made secretly in his private lab. It was an accelerant. Once injected, the subject had at most five days to live.” The group gasped. Sid removed the note sent to Mick. He held it in the air. “This is what he sent out with the accelerant. A note. One that uses The Initiative’s name to push his own agenda.”

“
All right,” Phillip said. “I think we have all heard enough of your lies, Dr. Roth. Guards—”

“
No,” Rebekah said. “Let them continue.”

“
Sid’s not lying,” Mick said. “Our home, or, what we called home, anyway, was destroyed this past storm. It was nothing more than an old cluttered office building. But it was all we had after Impact. We didn’t know any of this existed. I also lost someone very dear to me at the same time. We were left with no other option than to inject ourselves in the hope that the note was true. That someone from The Facility”—he looked around—“one of you, would come to rescue us. I injected my children with that stuff. I sentenced my own kids to five more days alive because of this man.” He turned and pointed at Phillip. As he recounted, Mick found himself getting angrier by the minute. He then doubled over and fell to his knees, coughing, hacking. A small bit of blood fell to the polished floors. Everyone watched in horror. The only sound was Mick’s hacking at it bounced around the hall.

Sid
put his hand on Mick’s back. “This will happen to us all eventually. We are all going to die from this virus. You all know that. Only Phillip here chose to hurt these people further in secret.”

“
You’re a naive man, Sid,” Phillip said. “Do you really believe that without my intervention any of this would have happened?” He punched in his long string of digits. The red Close button turned into a green Open. “If I hadn’t done what I had, would you have found your new sense of purpose and ventured outside these walls? If I hadn’t been the one to come up with a solution to our problem—”

“
A problem you created, Phillip.” Sid turned to the group. “I wish the accelerant was the worst thing I had to tell you all.” Sid turned to the head of security. “Jon, how long have we known each other?”

Jon shrugged.
“Probably fifteen years. Around there.”

“
Have you ever known me to lie? To anyone about anything?”

“
No. You’ve always been a stand-up guy.”

Sid smiled at him for the reassurance. He then moved away from him and toward the middle area between th
e ever-growing group and Mick. “Then I need you all to listen carefully to what I am about to say.”

“
I think we have heard enough,” Phillip said. “Guards. Take them to the holding cell until I have cleaned up this mess outside that Dr. Roth has brought to our doorstep.”

The guards stood their ground.

“Go ahead, Sid,” Jon said.

“
The virus was not brought to this planet by the meteorites as we all have been told. No. The virus existed here this entire time. In Dr. Jones’s head. That is, until he created it in his lab.”

“
That’s insane,” Phillip said. “The outside air must have screwed with your mind.”

“
It helped to clear my mind, actually. Being outside allowed me to see what I could never have in here. I saw the truth.”

“
Is this true, Dr. Jones?” asked someone from within the group.

“
Of course it’s not true. These people are suffering from some sort of neurological impairment. The virus must be more powerful outside of our walls.”

“
It’s the same virus, Phillip. You should know that, considering it was you who infected all of us, as well.”

Gasps.

Sid stared at Phillip.

Phillip stared back. He looked paler than he
had a moment ago. His forehead began to perspire. He gulped. “The virus was never meant for those of us inside The Facility. I assure you all. It was simply a terrible accident.”

“
So it’s true,” someone said.

“
He infected us,” someone else said.

Phillip held up his hands to calm the crowd.
“It was an accident. A very unfortunate turn of events. One of the test vials that was used for the strand had a stress fracture. It broke. The virus was released that instant. I tried to contain it the instant it happened.”

“
By locking Dr. Shaker in the lab, you sentenced him to death,” Sid said. “That’s how he died.”

“
He was a clumsy fool.”

“
Don’t you dare blame him for what you’ve done. He trusted you, Phillip. We all did.”

“
What I have done?” Phillip said. “I have kept you all alive for the past ten years. We have made great progress in so many fields. Once we rebuild, our civilization will be light-years ahead of where it was just ten short years earlier.”

“
All the progress we have made will mean nothing if the virus were to run its course,” Sid said. “And the simple fact that you created the virus means you doomed us all with your own two hands. The deaths of all those that have already succumbed are on your head.”

“
Progress isn’t always a clean process,” Phillip said. “Do I need to remind all of you what we are up against? Or have you all become too accustomed to living at The Facility? Outside these walls is a war zone of unimaginable proportions. Outside these walls—”

“
Are people,” Mick said, getting back to his feet. “People you may have passed on the street ten years back. People with family’s. People like me. That is what’s outside the walls. And every minute of every day is a struggle.”

Phillip turned to the group again.
“The virus was never meant for any of you.”

“
And who exactly was it meant for then, Phillip?” Sid said.

“
If we are to ever rebuild, we must start with a clean slate. We are the future of this world. We are the best and brightest. We give humanity the best chance of regaining a foothold. We must take this opportunity that has been given to us. We must use it to better ourselves. Weed out the weak and let the strong grow stronger.”

“
A new society built upon the bodies of the murdered is no society at all,” Mick said. He began coughing again. “It’s called genocide.”

“
You’re a self-righteous fool,” Phillip said.

“
No, Phillip. You are the fool,” Sid said. “What happened to you? You used to be such a brilliant mind. Now you are a delusional murderer.”

“
Enough!” Phillip shouted. “I’ve heard enough. I will not have my motives questioned.”

“
So have we,” Jon said. The head guard nodded to the other two. They quickly went over and took Phillip by the arms.

“
What do you think you are doing? Let go of me. We have work to do.”

“
I think you’ve done enough,” Jon said. He then led Phillip away from the crowd that clawed at him as he passed down the long white hall.

CHAPTER 41
 

“What’s taking them so long?” King asked.

“
They are probably debating even letting us in,” Alex said from a nearby piece of upturned pavement he had taken a seat on.

King
looked up toward the camera. “Well, they better hurry.”

“
Or w-what? You’ll sh-shoot us?” Solomon said. “Th-then you d-d-die, too.”

King
nudged Solomon with the barrel of his gun. “Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought, boy.”

The large steel doors began to open.
It became instantly clear to Solomon that their plan had worked. Mick stood next to Sid in the middle of a very large group of people dressed in white lab coats. Two guards each held their scoped rifles out. Both of them were aimed at King.

“
It’s over,” Mick said, breathing more labored than ever. “Let him go.”

King took stock of a situation he clearly did not expect.
“Very clever, Mick.” He nudged Solomon closer to the door. “But this little plan of yours must revolve around me doing what you ask. No? And, as it turns out, I have no desire to do that.”

“
This is the end,” Mick shouted. “No more lives need to be lost because of your thirst for power.”

“
Again, you act as if I care what you say. What you do. This,” King said, looking around, “is all mine. All of it. You hear me!” He began to cough. “And nothing you can do will take that from me.” He coughed again.

Another
two guards came running up. One took the same position as the other two, his gun aimed at King’s head. The other stopped next to Sid and Mick.

“
Dr. Roth,” the guard said. “The group you told us to expect has arrived. We put them in the infirmary.”

“
Thank you,” Sid said. He patted Mick on the back. “Your kids are safe now.”

A tingle ran the length of Mick
’s body. He smiled. It was a genuine smile. Something he had not done in what seemed like forever. Robert had kept his word. A surprising twist of trust that was never guaranteed. And it appeared that Sandeep was as proficient as Mick had figured he would be with the tracking device used to get them to The Facility. Mick’s blue tracking dot thankfully still had a bit of light remaining in it.

“
This is your final warning,” King said. “Let us in or the boy dies.”

Solomon spun to his left,
catching King off guard. His right arm grasped a hold of King’s gun as he turned. He tore it from his hand with his bearlike strength and tossed it aside. Solomon then clubbed King against the side of his head with his stiffened arm.

King
dropped to the rubble he claimed as his own.

Solomon jumped on top of him and
whaled on his face while pinning King’s arms down with his knees. He then grabbed him by the throat. Solomon felt the anger of all the years of torment culminate in his hands. He choked King like he had Clyde. Only this time Ms. Stella was not there to stop him. But even though she wasn’t there, he heard her voice. Her soft words pleading for him to stop. “No, Solomon,” he heard. “A life as pure as yours does not need a death to soil it.”

Solomon stared out past King. He ignored his bluish face and his gasps. He thought of only Ms. Stella. What she had taught him through the years. He remembered her love at that moment.
He would not do anything to hurt her wishes. Her love for him was the only reason he let go of King’s throat. He would not disappoint her, even in death.

King
panted to regain his lost breath. He brought his own hands up to soothe his reddened throat.

“
Good, boy,” King said through gasps. “Now help me up.”

Solomon smacked him across the face.
“I’m n-nobody’s b-boy.” He then rose to his feet and started to walk toward The Facility’s entrance.

“
I wouldn’t do that,” Mick shouted, holding his rifle toward King.

King
stopped inching toward his gun and looked up. “I guess you win, Mick.”

“
You just don’t get it. There are no winners here. The fact that you can’t already see that is all the more reason to pity you.”

“
Pity me? I am King.”

Mick nodded to Sid, who in turn entered a code and pushed the
Close button. The doors slowly began to shut.

“
Rule your kingdom,” Mick called, not breaking eye contact with King. “Make the days the best of your life. Because they will be your last.”

King
wasted no time. He must have realized that he was watching his own death certificate being signed. He broke for the closing door, sprinting faster than he had ever probably run, trying to save a life that had already ended.

Mick watched. His face unflinching. His pity absolute. Even though he wanted
King dead, he could not help but feel human sympathy for even the most inhumane of people.

“
No!” King shouted.

The doors had only inches left
to go when King reached his gun. He fired round after round. The first two Mick heard hit the outer doors. After that, it was silent.