The Hallowed Cure, page 39
Mia walked for the door with my hand clutched in hers. “I still want to meet him.”
“You really don’t,” I said, before I glanced back to find Caitlyn staring at the empty tank.
I stopped. “Cait?”
She looked my way. “I’ve never influenced you any time other than the times we’ve already discussed. I do, however, promise never to do it again. So ... are we okay?”
Was she really going to bring that up right now? “Can you give me time to sort that out? I had people trying to kill me most of the day.”
“Of course,” Caitlyn said.
Mia gripped my arm. “Wait.”
“What?” I asked irritably.
Mia glanced at Caitlyn. Caitlyn shook her head, but that only made Mia’s features harden. I knew that face.
Caitlyn had just told Mia not to do something, and Mia had decided to do it anyway. She turned back to me. “Before we go back up, there’s something you need to know.”
An alarm I recognized from Cloud Nine Engineering erupted above. It was the same alarm we’d heard back in Dios when we got a Mute sighting. Had an army of Mutes come to join the party?
“Fuck,” I muttered, and pulled my arm away from Mia. “Talk later.
Upstairs now.”
We all piled into the elevator. As I tapped the button for the ground floor more times than I needed to, I also tapped the comm now embedded in my ear. “What’s the alarm?”
“Zombies!” Lincoln shouted. “Get up here now!”
“Calm down, Jeff,” I ordered as the elevator ascended. “How many?”
“All of them! It’s a horde!”
How had Lincoln ended up with the communicator? Reese was supposed to have it, but she obviously didn’t. I didn’t know how to adjust the frequency on this ear communicator like the one in my helmet, so I was stuck with no more information until we got topside.
That took longer than I liked, given the alarm was still going, but the doors eventually rumbled open. We stepped out onto the main base grounds to see a bunch of clones of us in black Hallowed armor running toward the southern tip of the facility. As I rushed around the corner and looked that way, I saw more people than I could count walking up the road in the distance.
“Don’t fire!” I shouted, before I realized no one was paying the smallest amount of attention to me. “I need comms. I need armor.”
“This way,” Mia said, and darted off.
It was only once I chased after her that I realized Caitlyn was keeping pace. At least her head wound wasn’t physically slowing her down. We reached an armored shed.
Mia pulled the door open. Inside was the suit of black Hallowed armor I’d taken off before I went down to the lab. It still smelled like ass, but I needed comms.
I grabbed the distinctly fragrant helmet and popped it on, then flipped to the frequency the facility had used for its own Hallowed.
“Captain Sato, this is Riven. What have we got?”
“Which Riven?” she responded.
So this wasn’t Captain Sato, but her clone. “The real one,” I said.
“Ouch,” Dean added over the same frequency.
“Just tell me what’s happening with the zombies,” I said, grinding my teeth. “And keep comms clear if you’re not in the command chain.”
“We don’t have an accurate count of the incoming,” Sato said,
“but scout drones are still counting. So far as we can tell, the line continues to the city. They’re all headed here.”
As I remembered the antlike behavior the zombies had demonstrated back in the city, I felt new dread. “Can they get over the walls?”
“With that many? Yes. I’ve already retasked the anti-aircraft batteries.”
“Now hold on!” I said. “We can’t just massacre them.”
“Why?”
“They’re still people, just like you were before we took care of the mind control. We didn’t massacre you, and it’s possible we can still find a way to bring them back.”
“This is actually me, Riven,” Hahna said calmly. “The other Sato is at the gates.”
“Right, okay.” God, this was confusing! “Don’t we have a non-lethal way to stop them?”
“Taser batteries?” Hahna asked dryly. “I’ll ask around.”
As I looked around at the open facility and at least six unoccupied Cloudhoppers, I saw another way. “Order everyone to fall back. Get everyone to the helipad.”
“You want us to evacuate?” Hahna asked doubtfully.
“All the Jacks are dead now,” I told her. “We destroyed Sharpe’s data, and there’s nothing the zombies can use. There’s no reason to hold this facility. It has no value any longer.”
“Sato One, this is Sato Two,” the other Captain Sato said. “Is your order to evacuate?”
So our two Satos had settled on a command structure as easily as that? It figured. Captain Sato had more seniority than her clone, so they’d probably worked it out in seconds.
“Hahna,” I said. “They’re people.”
Saul chimed in. “For what it’s worth, I agree with Grant. Many of those who avoided infection have family members among the panacea drones. I did promise to do my best to save them, and I am confident we’ve destroyed all data storage elements in this facility.”
“Sergeant Riven makes a good point about the value of fighting for ground we don’t need,” Hahna agreed. “Pull back. We’ll use the Cloudhoppers to evacuate all personnel.”
I liked that Hahna included the clones in her orders. We’d killed more than a few of them, and a couple of them had tried to kill me, but they hadn’t been themselves at the time. I had no more desire to wipe them out than I did to slaughter everyone in Neo Tao Payoh.
Like the people charging the base in a zombie horde, none of this was their fault. Still, even with six Cloudhoppers, I imagined the flight was going to be a bit cramped.
“Cait!” someone shouted. “Time to go!”
I glanced behind me just in time to see Amber run in wearing black Hallowed armor. Her armor was cracked in several places and had at least one hole, but not in any vital area. Amber halted at seeing me with Caitlyn, then glared my way. “Which Riven?”
I flipped her the finger.
“You’re all flying out with me,” Amber said.
“And the package?” Mia asked.
“It’s already on the Cloudhopper,” Amber said. “Sato’s confident we have enough hoppers to evacuate everyone, but we need to go now.”
“Right,” Caitlyn agreed. “Grant, let’s go.”
I tossed the smelly helmet away and followed Amber out of the facility. We all hurried for a Cloudhopper whose engines were already idling, and a quick look over the open facility showed me at least twenty other people in Hallowed armor doing the same. So many of us.
More Hallowed than this had died in the war, but still ... this was a lot. I never thought I’d see this many armored Hallowed soldiers again. Worse yet, all these kids had known was fighting. Our memories of the war were the only memories they had, which wasn’t great.
Lincoln leaned out from the Cloudhopper as he approached.
“C’mon!” he shouted.
Amber hopped in first. I made sure Caitlyn got on next, followed by Mia. I looked around for anyone else that might be headed our way, but the other Hallowed were all heading to other hoppers. We could still carry a couple more.
I climbed into the now very cramped troop compartment and gripped a hang bar. “Where’s Saul and Frank? Where’s Caley?”
“All on other hoppers,” Amber said. “We’re already at our weight limit. I’m lifting off.”
The sound of metal bending echoed across the helipad. As I glanced again to the southern end of the facility, I saw what had once been people pushing against the fence. They were clambering all over each other, trying to get inside, and they would be. Soon.
My stomach dropped as the Cloudhopper lurched into the air.
These aircraft were designed to carry five suits of Hallowed armor plus a pilot, and even with a few extra people, I didn’t see how we were already at the weight limit. That, of course, was when I finally noticed the giant fucking vat sitting in the back of the Cloudhopper.
I belatedly remembered what Amber had said about Reese loading a package.
“What’s that?” I shouted.
No one answered. The rotors were louder than I was, at least when taking off, so I’d just wait until we were steady before asking again. I didn’t like that we’d brought along a vat and no one had told
me. That felt suspiciously like Caitlyn was trying to hide something again.
I turned my gaze again to the helipad. At the southern end of the facility, the gates broke open. Zombies rushed inside.
I watched in worry as the last few Hallowed clones hopped onto Cloudhoppers. Most were already off the ground, but the last one barely rose before the horde of zombies reached it. Yet the zombies coursed right under it, moving like they wanted into the facility.
What was in there? Why were they going inside? Had I missed something?
“You’re sure we killed Jack?” I shouted in Caitlyn’s jack. “Like, absolutely certain?”
“I already told you I couldn’t be absolutely certain!” she shouted back.
I looked at the horde massed below. “At least we can still nuke the place.” Though that, I assured myself, would be the absolutely last resort.
Our Cloudhopper banked as it headed vaguely toward the city at the center of the island. Cloudhoppers didn’t have the range for international flight, so we were still stuck on the island until another airplane arrived. At least the zombies seemed to be focused on Sharpe’s facility.
I only then wondered where any airplane would land. This place had to have an airport, didn’t it? Or did everyone just come and go by boat? Did they have bridges between islands?
Once we were safely not zombie food, I motioned to the silver Hallowed helmet sitting in the corner of the transport area. Mia grabbed it and handed it over. I put it on, which somewhat cancelled out the blare of the rotors, and activated my squad’s frequency.
“Jeff?”
“Red Five, standing by,” he confirmed from the other side of the compartment.
He was still in armor, so I knew this conversation was between us. “What’s in the vat?”
“No idea,” he said. “Why? You think it’s bad?”
“Just tell me no one ordered you to bring up anything from deep in the facility. We didn’t go to salvage anything. We went to blow it all to hell.”
“I didn’t bring anything up,” Lincoln said. “Can’t we just ask Caitlyn what that thing is once we land? It’s not like it’s going anywhere.”
“I guess so.” It wasn’t like the vat was going to grow legs and eat everyone. That was too weird even by our standards.
Before I could look at the big vat again, I caught Caitlyn watching me with concern. Despite my earnest desire to forgive her, my skin crawled.
She could make me feel, think, or see anything she wanted. Even though she’d promised never to do that, I knew now I wouldn’t ever be okay with that. How could I be?
She’d asked me how I felt about her lying to and manipulating me. I knew, sort of. I’d still work for her, but whatever relationship we’d formed over the last few years was forever changed now, and not in a way I liked. Simply put, I no longer trusted her.
And if I did trust her, ever again, I’d worry she’d made me trust her.
After at least a twenty-minute flight, we reached the more modern portion of the city. All the brilliant skyscrapers still stood. In the light of the early morning, it was impossible to tell anything was wrong in this fine and gleaming city.
After what I assumed was some order wrangling from our Captains Sato, Amber set our Cloudhopper down on the top of a tall building with just enough space for us. I saw other hoppers settling down on other buildings, so at least everyone had made it out.
I’d been mildly worried that Jack still had more agents in the city waiting to shoot us all down, but they had no reason to shoot at their own Cloudhoppers. I hoped. When Amber spun the rotors all the way down, I realized we’d likely be here for a while. At least long enough for reinforcements to arrive, either from Singapore, the capital, or from Dios.
Amber’s voice echoed from the speaker in the ceiling. “Barring zombies, we’re grounded for at least four hours. Republic forces will
soon take control. They’ve politely asked us not to leave until they and our folks in Dios have ironed out all the little details about why we planted a secret facility in their backyard, then turned an island full of people into the walking dead.”
“We didn’t do that,” Lincoln said. “And they aren’t dead, just crazy.”
“Doesn’t matter who did this so long as the Republic’s concerned,” Amber said. “We’re all soldiers of Dios, and we’ll all have to explain ourselves to the country we invaded. So get comfortable.”
I glanced at Mia, then motioned with my head. “Want to get out of here?”
She nodded.
I hopped out of the Cloudhopper, then set my helmet on the seat inside. I walked to the edge of the building and heard Mia walking beside me. She still wore her silver Hallowed armor, everything except the helmet, so she was actually a bit taller than me. She was also alive.
Once we’d settled at the edge of the rooftop, with a terrific view of the city and the slowly rising sun, Mia bumped my shoulder with one of hers. I glanced at her.
“Knowing Caitlyn once manipulated you, even a little, really bothers you. Doesn’t it?”
I looked away. “Of course it does, but more than that, it bothers me that she never told me. It’s been almost a year. She should have said something.”
“You didn’t want to find out this way,” Mia agreed. “Which means I fucked up.”
I glanced back at her. “What?”
“I knew,” Mia said.
I watched Mia without really being able to think. For the first time, I noticed how nervous she looked. My balance felt off enough I took a step back from the ledge.
“Caitlyn told me six months ago,” Mia said. “She came to visit me and ask for my advice. Specifically, advice as to whether she should tell you what she could do and had done.”
“Don’t lie for her,” I warned.
“I’m not lying for anyone,” Mia said calmly. “I actually recorded an audio log of the conversation in case I changed my mind, or in case she made me forget about our conversation afterward. She never did. I’ll play the recording for you when we get back home. You can verify it’s six months old.”
I didn’t want to believe this. I didn’t want to believe Mia had kept this from me too.
“Caitlyn told me she subtly manipulated you into protecting her from Jack’s Morticians when you first met at the Gray Church,” Mia said. “Despite fearing innocents might die if she didn’t enlist your support, she still feels quite guilty about that. She asked if she should tell you. I wanted to strangle her.”
I breathed out as I accepted this painful truth. “And you didn’t?”
“Not after I considered all she’d done since. I need you to do that.
Consider everything Caitlyn has done since she took control of Cloud Nine. Think of all the ways she’s helped us and all the things she’s given up. Other than that one time, when has she ever acted against us?”
I didn’t want to go back over the last few fucked up years of my life, mentally, but Mia was asking. Even if Mia had kept this from me, she’d done so much else for me. She was still the woman I loved and who I wanted to spend the rest of my very short life with.
So I considered.
“Imagine what Caitlyn can do already,” Mia said. “She can influence both Hallowed and Mutes. She confirmed that as well. With armies that powerful, she could take over the city without an issue, even if Skye tried to stop her. So why hasn’t she done that?”
“Biding her time?”
“The signs would be fairly obvious,” Mia said. “She already has control of Cloud Nine Engineering, and she can also, so far as we can tell, influence anyone with panacea cells inside them to do whatever she likes. So how is she not already in charge of everything by now?”
I really didn’t have a good answer for that.
“In fact, if she truly wanted power, all she’d have to do is make you and me forget what we know now. Or make us not really think about it at all, like Jack’s clone did to the other clones. She doesn’t need us to trust her because she could make us trust her. She hasn’t.”
“Why did you tell her not to tell me?”
“Because I didn’t think it mattered any longer. She promised me she had no plans to ever use her abilities on any of us in that way again, and I believed her. We decided bringing it up would make you angry and make things awkward. So if you want to blame anyone, blame me.”
Could I blame Mia for this? Part of me wanted to. The other part was just happy to know she’d survived our crash landing. Given that, I’d forgive just about anything right now.
Mia looked away. “I understand how me saying I believe her sounds, given she could make me believe her. But she didn’t make me feel this way with anything but words. I truly believed I was making the right call six months ago, but I realize now I just didn’t want to have this conversation with you.”
I looked to the city again. I understood what Mia was doing, and more importantly, what she was risking. Us.
For me to forever distrust Caitlyn, I’d have to feel that way about Mia too. I could never do that. I could be angry with them both, like I was now, but I wasn’t ready to stop trusting Mia.
As much as I hated to admit it, the fact that Caitlyn had actually intended to tell me and been talked out of it helped. As much as I was afraid of what Caitlyn could do, all the facts at my disposal were telling me she was as true to her word as she’d always been. Except that one time.
“She didn’t tell me she’d told you,” I said quietly.
“Of course she didn’t,” Mia said. “She’d never betray my trust like that. She also didn’t ask me to talk to you about this. As soon as she mentioned you were upset with her, I knew it was time to bring this up. I was going to tell you this right after we killed that last Jack, but then someone hit the zombie alarm.”
