Interlude: Journey Part 3
“Fuck it! I give up! Next flare hmu!” - Anon, 3:57 UTC, 18th of March 2034 on the popular messaging board ‘6tan’ two minutes before Yellowstone erupted.
Her ears still ringing with shock, Denise first glanced at Max to make sure he was ok, then frantically turned her head to where Matt was. ‘It had to be me,’ he had argued. ‘Jeremy’s in no condition. Sarah’s recognised as a combatant and Peri might mistake you for her. We need Alex to get back.’
God, why did she listen to him?
She saw it unfold, almost in slow motion. Matt stepped towards the soldier and a cloud of orange exploded from the ground and enveloped both of them.
She screamed and her voice fell on deafened ears. No one heard her, for no one could hear. She scrambled towards her son, tears dripping from her eyes.
But where hearing failed, sight succeeded, Jeremy grabbed her with the one good arm he had left. He shouted something as he pulled her back, moving in front of her. Something was hastily shoved into her face, plastic- no, a gas mask. She tore at it, her son was in there! Yet as she scratched and kicked at the old soldier, he remained standing and his grip didn’t waver. Jeremy simply stared at the same place she was. As the smoke dispersed, she saw her son on the ground, a mask shoved into his face, held on firmly by a gloved hand. Alex was over him as if attempting to shield his tiny body with their own.
The ringing in her ears was lightening, and she started to hear words.
“... Alex!” Jeremy yelled beside her, “Speak to me!”
“Don’t come close!” they yelled back, “It’s the stripes!”
Jeremy gripped tightened on her shoulder, he swore but Denise couldn’t hear it. “-MATT!” she finally yelled. “MATT!”
Jeremy grabbed her by both shoulders, “Ma’am I need you to calm down now!”
“Denise calm down!”
“But- but-” she blubbered, her son was hurt! She needed to-
There was a feeling of something. A rattle that permeated within her very bones. She barely saw the barrel of the crab in its death throes, its head just barely poking above the water, before she was shoved away. The three of them fell to the ground in a tangle but in his haste, Jeremy let a single-arm poke out behind them.
Sarah’s arm turned to pink mist and the crab was finally consumed by the dancing waters.
Red splattered on her face. Her red. Sarah’s. And with it, a moment of clarity. Denise made this happen. She was the cause of this. If she wasn’t screeching like an idiot they might’ve noticed that the crab still barely functioned. They could’ve gotten out if it weren’t for her.
Above her, blood leaked from Jeremy’s mouth. The soldier fell forward, landing between them.
There was swearing somewhere, Alex. She noticed them standing, but didn’t come near them.
“Denise I need you to listen very carefully,” the soldier said. “There’s medispray and gel in his belt, but it’s likely not enough. You should have some in your own pack. Take it out and tend to his back.”
She sat up, finding the aforementioned gels. She saw the torn remains of Jeremy’s back with a blank expression. Her mind and body suddenly numb. Simply tired as she used the gel. She shouldn’t have relented to Sarah. Even if living in the Metros was hard it was doable. Even if it was no place to raise children, it could be done. She shouldn’t have relented to Matt. Even if making it out was harder, it was still possible.
She was a pushover, dragged along by other people’s dreams of a better path. And what did that lead to?
They lay halfway across a ruined continent, the soldier who led them here missing two sides and his spine exposed. Sarah lost an arm while Matt lay infected with an unknown weapon. Meanwhile, Max was quietly huddled in the background, crying or paralyzed with fear.
Denise numbly applied the same medispray to Sarah’s arm.
“...Mum?” she heard Matt weakly call, “Are you ok?”
She didn’t know what to answer, because she didn’t want to hurt him with truth or lie.
“Don’t move Matt,” Alex said, “I can’t look after your foot, I don’t know if the nanites in the spray might have a reaction with the one in you.”
That stirred something within her.
“There’s a stim in his leftmost pouch,” the soldier continued, voice forcefully calm, “take it out and inject it into his neck.”
She pulled out the cylindrical object. She noticed her hands were shaking in the same way a person might note the weather was cloudy. Denise put the stim next to Jeremy’s neck and pressed the button.
The soldier let out a hacking cough, he pushed himself up, “... Alex…” he spat out blood, “...Fuck… Status Alex!”
“Stripes landmine,” the other soldier muttered, his eyes glued to the shallow river, “crab is gone, visual confirmation.”
“Is it SANs?” Matt asked, his voice trembling…
Alex shook their head, “Unlikely, that was an old mine, markings say it’s at most from the fifties, way before SANs usage.”
“Infection status?” Jeremy rasped.
“Both of us at least,” Alex said and Denise felt her heart clenched. “You’re upwind from us so you’re unlikely to be infected.”
The soldier pulled out a small rectangular device with three glass bulbs and buttons. They pressed one of the buttons and the bulb lit up for a brief moment before the glass exploded. “Still within Perimeter range,” they said with clenched teeth. “Jeremy you need a medivac.”
“I’ll be-” he groaned, his arms giving out under him as he fell. Sarah caught him, catching him by his still present side. A normal person would’ve died thrice over by now, but no living soldier was still normal. It was a statement of the effectiveness of the modifications that flesh and blood humans held off the Perimeter for so many years with little more than analog equipment.
Alex stood, the orange smoke long dissipated, gently they picked up Matt. “We can’t stay here Jeremy,” he said, not unkindly. “My database on pre-sixties nanite weapons is incomplete but trends and design philosophies make it unlikely for it to be infectious unless in close contact. Either way, we need to split up.”
Denise noticed Matt’s left foot was a mangled mess. No blood because it was scorched, he was missing toes. Could he ever walk again? If he made it out, then probably. They needed to make it out.
“Jeremy, we needed to get out of Perimeter range yesterday.”
“Give me another stim,” the soldier said, his breathing heavy and laden, “and a pain killer.”
Sarah looked at her, still supporting the old soldier from falling down completely, even if her arm was gone, she didn’t cry, she was holding it in, Denise realised. Max was curled up, appearing so… small. She heard soft sobbing coming from him. And what was in her? Numbness even as her family bled and cried?
Why was she here?
She knew.
When Sarah talked with her, all she could think of was something that happened several months ago. A video she saw passed from a friend.
It showed Matt and a gang of older boys beating a man till he had to be admitted to what passed as a hospital down there.
She never confronted him about this. He never changed at home, he was as kind to them as he always was. Some days he came back home with some bruises, other days he left money on the table and it… helped. It helped when the jobs they worked weren’t enough. Sarah probably knew about it, she still had her family which helped her out in small ways even if she said she cut ties.
Denise had no illusions of what the Metros were. It wasn’t the last remnants of a defiant Europe, it wasn’t one of the last bastions of freedom in the world. They were an unorganised and terrified mob clinging to old ideals and artifacts as the world above them burned. Hiding in massive bunkers never meant to be lived in. And Matt took to it like a fish to water, he was liked, he had connections even as a child, she’s seen him dismantle people with smug casualness and some days he brought back more money than either of them earned working a nine-to-five. They would’ve cracked ages ago if it weren’t for him. Matt was born and thrived in a world like this.
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And yet, at night Denise couldn’t help but think, what kind of person was she, to let Matt, a boy who she called her son, walk this path? The same path that killed Sarah’s father, that killed so many more before they grew old.
What kind of person was she?
She didn’t know, but she knew one thing.
They could do better than this.
She took the stim and pain killer, injecting both into the old soldier’s arm.
“Thank you…” Jeremy rasped, his breath stabilising.
“We need to split up, I can’t risk you guys as vectors of an unknown nanite,” Alex said, piggybacking Matt, “I can lead you to Évreux but I can’t risk close quarters in a place like a tunnel. You guys need to take a route down there and call a medivac with Jeremy’s spare-”
“What about Matt?” She cut.
“I’ll have to get him out myself,” the soldier replied, “we’re both infected and I don’t know how long we have but I swear to god I will-”
She let go of the other soldier, standing tall and calmly but firmly demanded, “Swear to me.”
The soldier stopped.
Alex’s old and hard eyes met hers, a moment of silence passed, only the wind howling in this godforsaken place. The soldier stared into Denise’s eyes and found them harder than theirs.
“I swear ma’am,” they replied, putting a hand on their heart. “Even if I have to die trying.”
Denise nodded. She turned, kneeling next to Max and gently ruffled his hair, “Are you ok?” she quietly asked.
“No.”
“It’ll be alright.”
He turned his small face to hers, wet tears drawing small lines in the grime, “And if it isn’t?”
“Then we can only hope for the best.”
----------------------------------------
Matt gave one last wave as he watched the far off forms of the others walk away. Only the light of the glowstick signalling they were there at all.
Next to him, Alex sorted a bag. Taking what they could from supplies Jeremy couldn’t use and left behind. Ammo, rations, water and… medspray.
He unintentionally glanced at his foot, his shoe was destroyed, leaving only a hastily wrapped mess covered in gel.
“I’m sorry about that,” Alex said, standing back up.
Matt tried to get up on his one good foot, not finding leverage until Alex brought him up. Where he balanced with his hurt foot’s heel.
“Don’t be,” Matt answered. It wasn’t their fault anyway.
“I still am,” they replied, taking the rectangular device out of their pocket. Two bulbs left. Alex flicked the switch and the light was only on for a moment before popping. One.
“I’ll carry you again,” the soldier said, glancing at the darkening skies, “I fear we’ll have to make the journey topside. I don’t want to contaminate what usable tunnels are left for other people.”
Matt agreed in theory, but who cared about the people that came after? Only the thought that his family would have to turn back into tunnels that they might’ve infected stilled his tongue.
“You still have no clue what it could be?”
The soldier shook their head, Matt examined their face closely and found little. That was the problem with people like Alex, a bunch of unnecessary facial muscles were removed so they became a lot harder to read.
Alex passed their largely emptied pack to him and knelt down. Matt put it on, before wrapping his arms around the soldier’s neck. He tucked his legs around their waist as they stood up. What a stupid pair they made. A kid barely older than twelve clinging to a grizzled veteran like a koala.
Every now and again, Alex looked up to the sky, Matt tried to follow it the first few times but found that his eyes were probably significantly worse than theirs since he never saw anything. Regardless, Alex kept trodding, following a route only they seemed to know. Sometimes walking on clear paths and roads, sometimes pushing through destroyed or hollowed out buildings. They never seemed to need to rest, which was rather possible. He only had the vaguest idea of what soldiers of that era were capable of.
As they walked, Matt inadvertently became a tourist, his eyes wide as he stared at the world they passed. That endless horizon that never seemed to end. Here and there were patches of red and violet plants. He’s heard of green plants before but hasn't seen them on the way here. Some were an extremely dark sort of green, but he felt it was different from the much lighter colours from before the twenty-first century he sometimes saw in pictures.
He was surprised when he heard his first bird. Eyes turning almost in panic at the chirping sound. Before the small greyish bird that made it quickly flew off. The flutter of its wings was still in his mind long after it left.
“We’ve left most of the bioweapon territory,” Alex began, “life isn’t as dead here.”
“You think it’s still chasing us?” Matt asked.
The soldier shook their head, “Unlikely, even if we took out a crab we’re both low priority targets. It has a drone on us but that's fine.”
He felt the hairs on his neck rise, he resisted the urge to look into the sky again, “Fine?”
“If the Perimeter knows where we are,” the soldier began slowly, “it knows we aren’t near anywhere important to mount an actual response. The drone will eventually withdraw. If I shot it down then it would just start sending wolves to sniff us out.”
Matt nodded, “And what about Max? Sarah and Denise and your partner?”
“They’re off the grid,” the soldier answered, “the Perimeter was never tasked with taking care of tunnels, only their entrances. If the subways are still intact they should surface in Rouen, far from its defensive border.”
The soldier turned slightly to him, dark black eyes met his, “Don’t worry about them. They are a lot stronger than you think.”
“I know Sarah is,” he answered, a bit of pride swelling in his chest. She never told him she was such a good shot.
“The other too,” Alex answered.
Denise? “How?”
The soldier answered, their eyes no longer staring at him, but instead at a far off place, “It is easy… so easy… to lose resolve. To simply pass the days following whatever ordered you first.”
Alex seemed to shiver slightly, and Matt became aware of just how grey their short hair was. They spoke quietly, voice a whisper in the quiet wasteland, “It takes something else, to not lose it.”
They passed into silence, Matt wanting to ask the soldier to elaborate further but… it seemed sensitive. Something he shouldn’t prod at. Not for someone who risked life and limb to help them.
After a while, when the sun started to set again, on the second day of their journey, from Paris to Évreux and eventually to Rouen, Alex spoke.
“Tell me about them.”
“Who?” Matt asked, not sure who they were referring to at first.
“Your family,” Alex replied, “and how you met them.”
Matt thought about it for a moment, that was a long time ago. Back when Max was still an actual baby rather than the metaphorical one he was now.
“I…” he hesitantly began, recalling memories a bit too far out of his reach, “it was at an orphanage. They came in looking for a child to adopt, but for some reason… they took both of us…”
“... I thought they were pretty cool and they fed us…”
“... This one time when a guy broke into our house, Sarah hid us in a closet…”
“... she makes the best mushroom stew ever…”
“... Denise always passes portions to us saying she wants to keep thin even when she’s really hungry… don’t tell her I know this by the way…”
“... Sarah taught me how to git good at racing games…”
“... once Max got sick and Sarah did overtime for four days to pay for the medication… ”
“... Apparently they didn’t know each other was gay until way later and just got into an extended game of gay chicken…”
“... some asshole was harassing a Mrs Jones who lent us her washing machine and Denise put the fucking idiot in his place!...”
“... she can’t tell a lie to save her life though…”
“... and Sarah just kicked him right in the balls! That idiot was feeling it for four generations…”
“... they don’t appreciate some of my friends though… but that don’t matter…”
“... Denise is really good at making Max feel safe…”
“... and I beat the shit out of that guy who was shit-talking my ‘rents!...”
Before Matt knew it, the sun had risen all the way till midday. A night and a half, where he just talked, spoke stories and laughed and cried. The stone-faced Alex lightened somewhat, their face seemingly without the tiredness and hardiness Matt saw before.
When the sun began to set again, they saw it.
Lights in the distance, a city still intact.
As they walked, Alex took out that rectangular device and lit the final bulb. It activated and most importantly, stayed on.
There was a melancholic smile on Alex’s face as they pulled out their comms. “It was fun, kid. Let’s hope we make the next part.”
Matt was confused, “Hope?”
But the soldier simply kept walking as their communicator blared to life. “Mayday! Mayday!” they yelled. “Three-four unknown bioweapon! Mayday!”
Matt suddenly noticed his legs were numb, but not the sort of numb from inactivity, but one that seemed to keep clawing at him. Like a cold wind that permeated throughout his entire body.
“Immediate quarantine and medivac! Two infected! One’s a civilian!” Alex coughed, blood coming out. They stumbled, three steps, four steps, before falling to the ground.
As Matt fell off them and rolled onto the ground, he noticed he could not move. His body refused to answer. As if he were trapped in an inanimate doll. He could still move his neck slightly, his head flopped to the side and he saw it.
Alex's feet, still on the ground, the joint that connected them with his legs covered in a dark black… almost crystal-like substances.
‘Nanites,’ he realised, and complex ones at that. Ones that would’ve been shut down by the constant EMP the Perimeter emitted, either destroyed completely or made dormant. But not new enough to be immune to it like the later versions were.
And they were now outside the Perimeter.
Matt felt his sight slowly blot out as helicopters came with figures in white.