Earthfall (8 page)

Over time, he became adept at moving around the city undetected, as he learned the layout of the sewers and started to only venture out on the streets at night. He even made a more permanent home for himself in a maintenance room next to one of the giant sewer cisterns. His focus shifted from daily scavenging to longer-term survival and he began to read any book that he could loot from abandoned bookshops or libraries that might contain useful information. It was the books that kept him from going crazy with loneliness; it wasn’t the same as having people to talk to, but it was the next best thing. His life became a never-ending cycle of furtive looting and foraging, always hungry, always scared, but still alive. There were times when he teetered on the brink of despair, but he never gave in to it. Instead he just got smarter and faster, managed to stay just one step ahead of the Drones. There was no alternative really; it was that or simply curl up and die.

5

‘Any improvement?’ Rachel asked as she looked down at Sam’s deathly pale face. He lay on a camp bed with a drip feeding into one arm and a dressing covering the wound on his chest. The fine tracery of pale green veins still covered his torso.

‘Same as yesterday,’ the boy kneeling beside Sam’s bed said as he removed the blood pressure cuff from Sam’s arm. He had a bushy mop of blonde hair, wore a pair of thick-rimmed spectacles and his thin face bore an expression of tired resignation. ‘He’s not getting any worse, but he’s not getting any better either. Stirling’s running some tests, but I get the impression that he’s as puzzled as the rest of us. He just does a better job of hiding it.’

‘OK, thanks, Will,’ Rachel said with a sigh. It had been three days since she and Jay had brought Sam back with them and he had been in a coma ever since.

‘I’ll let you know if there’s any change, Rach,’ Will said, pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘But I’m afraid that it’s just a case of wait and see at the moment.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ she replied. ‘I’m not known for my patience, though.’

‘You know, I had heard that about you,’ Will said with a lopsided grin.

‘Visiting our patient again, I see,’ a voice with a deep Scots accent said behind Rachel.

She turned to see Dr Iain Stirling walking across the room towards them. He was tall, with short grey hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His brow was furrowed by the slight frown that never seemed to leave his face. Rachel had heard rumours that some of the others had seen him smile, but she wasn’t sure she believed it. He was also the reason that she and the others were still alive.

‘Yes, Doctor Stirling,’ Rachel replied with a nod. ‘Will was telling me that Sam’s condition hasn’t changed.’

‘I heard,’ Stirling replied, taking the clipboard with notes attached to it from the foot of Sam’s bed. ‘I also heard that William thinks I am hiding my own ignorance of what is happening to young Mr Riley and that I don’t really understand it at all.’

‘I didn’t mean . . .’ Will said quickly.

‘Oh, you’re quite right, William,’ Stirling said. ‘I really don’t know how he’s managed to survive this long. Besides which, there’s nothing wrong with concealing one’s own ignorance. I just wish you did a slightly better job of concealing yours occasionally.’

Rachel tried very hard not to laugh at the sudden look of embarrassment and mild indignation on Will’s face. Stirling pulled a pen light from the pocket of his lab coat and gently lifted one of Sam’s eyelids, shining the light into first one eye and then the other.

‘Pupil dilation is still good,’ Stirling said, ‘which hopefully means that there hasn’t been any neurological damage.’ He pressed lightly on one of the green veins covering Sam’s chest. ‘The spread of the toxin appears to have halted, but I’m still not sure why, or how he managed to resist its effects for as long as he did. Unfortunately, I lack the equipment I need here to really try and get any detailed answers as to what’s going on inside Mr Riley. I do have a theory that might explain it, but I need to speak to him to be sure.’

‘Do you need me to draw any more blood?’ Will asked.

‘No,’ Stirling replied. ‘I’ve completed my tests. I’m afraid that all we can do now is wait for our patient here to wake up.’

‘I should go,’ Rachel said. ‘Jackson wanted me on the range ten minutes ago.’

‘I’ll let you know if his condition improves,’ Will said as he walked with her towards the door.

Behind them, Stirling looked down at Sam.

‘What did you do to him, Daniel?’ he whispered under his breath.

Suddenly Sam convulsed, his back arching off the bed and his arms thrashing wildly.

‘Help me!’ Stirling yelled at Rachel and Will as he fought to hold Sam down. They ran over to the bed just as Sam’s eyes flew wide open, staring at the ceiling. He let out an unearthly howling scream. Will lay across his legs while Rachel and Stirling took a firm hold of an arm each, trying to pin him to the bed.

‘Good God,’ Stirling said, staring wide-eyed at Sam’s chest. The green veins that covered his torso were vanishing as they watched, retreating rapidly towards the site of the original wound. Within just a few seconds the traces of the toxin had almost completely faded and Sam relaxed, settling back on to the bed, his eyes closed again and his breathing ragged.

‘What happened?’ Rachel asked, eyes wide with amazement.

‘I have no idea,’ Stirling replied, shaking his head and relaxing his grip on Sam’s arm. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Moments later Sam’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Rachel with a confused frown.

‘Morning,’ Rachel said with a worried smile.

Sam lifted his head from the pillow and looked slowly around the room.

‘Hate to sound corny,’ Sam said after a few seconds, his voice croaky, ‘but I have to ask. Where am I?’ The room he was lying in had bare concrete walls with no windows and was lit by fluorescent lights protected by wire cages mounted on the ceiling. There were a couple of other camp beds against the opposite wall and at the far end of the room was a long bench that was covered with medical equipment.

‘Safe,’ Rachel said. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘Safe, that’s good. You’re real too. Also good.’

‘I’m happy to say that, yes, I am in fact one hundred per cent real,’ Rachel said as Sam lifted his head from the bed and looked around. ‘You had us worried for a while there.’

‘Indeed you did, Mr Riley,’ Stirling said. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I got beaten up,’ Sam said with a slightly pained smile. ‘By a gorilla.’

‘Well, you appear to have made a truly miraculous recovery,’ Stirling said with a slight frown. ‘The problem being that I don’t believe in miracles.’

‘How long have I been out?’ Sam asked, rubbing his eyes.

‘Three days,’ Rachel said.

‘Really?’ Sam said. ‘I don’t remember anything after we headed down into that Tube station, to be honest.’

‘You passed out just after that,’ Rachel said. ‘Me and Jay managed to get you back here in one piece, but you’ve been unconscious ever since. It’s nice to see you with your eyes open again.’

‘Allow me to introduce myself,’ Stirling said. ‘I’m Doctor Iain Stirling and this is my assistant, William, and we’ve been looking after you for the past few days.’

‘Hello,’ Sam said, ‘and thank you.’

‘You’re quite welcome. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to take a look under here,’ Stirling said, pointing at the dressing on Sam’s chest.

‘Help yourself,’ Sam said, letting his head fall back on to the pillow. Stirling carefully peeled back the dressing.

‘How extraordinary,’ he said as he examined Sam’s injury. The wound, which had been showing no signs of improvement just a couple of hours ago, had now fully closed and scabbed over, as if it had been healing for days.

‘That’s impossible,’ Will said, shaking his head.

‘Clearly not,’ Stirling replied, raising an eyebrow. ‘William, would you be so kind as to take another sample of Mr Riley’s blood for me. I believe that I might have some more tests to run after all.’

‘Of course,’ Will said. He picked up an empty syringe from the tray on the table next to the bed and turned towards Sam. ‘Is it OK if I just . . . ?’

‘Go ahead,’ Sam said, extending his arm. He winced slightly as the needle went in, watching as Will drew a small quantity of blood. ‘So how far did you and Jay have to carry me?’ he asked Rachel as Will busied himself with taking the sample.

‘A few miles,’ Rachel replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. ‘It could have been worse – at least you don’t weigh
that
much.’

‘Thanks,’ Sam said with a smile. ‘I think.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Rachel said. ‘There’s not many of us left with minds of our own, so we kinda have to look out for each other, you know.’

Will finished taking the blood sample and Sam sat up in his bed, holding a tiny square of gauze to the pinprick in his arm. He watched as Will took the sample tube over to Stirling who was seated at the long bench. He took a pipette and placed a single drop of Sam’s blood on to a glass slide, which he then put under a microscope.

‘So this is the rest of the gang,’ Sam said quietly to Rachel, nodding towards the others.

‘Some of them,’ Rachel said. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get to meet everyone soon. They’re all very keen to meet you. It’s been a while since we found a new recruit.’

‘Recruit?’ Sam asked. ‘You make it sound like I’ve joined the army.’

‘Actually,’ she replied with a half smile, ‘you kinda have.’

An hour later Sam was sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on his battered boots as Dr Stirling walked back into the room.

‘Now, you must promise to take things slowly,’ the doctor said as Sam finished tying his laces and slowly stood up.

‘I told you. Honestly, I feel fine,’ Sam said. ‘In fact, I feel fantastic.’

‘Be that as it may,’ Stirling said, ‘you are still recovering from the effects of a toxin that has proven invariably fatal to all of its previous victims. Until we have a clearer understanding of why you have not suffered the same fate, I would like you not to exert yourself. You don’t want anything to interfere with your full recovery.’

‘I understand,’ Sam said with a nod, ‘but I’ve not spoken to another human being for a year and a half. I thought that I was the last person on earth that hadn’t been turned into a mindless zombie, so there’s no way I’m just going to lie here in bed. I want to go and meet the others.’

‘Of course,’ Stirling said, ‘that’s perfectly understandable, but if you begin to feel unwell again or even if you just start to get tired I want you to come back here immediately. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ Sam said with a nod. Behind him, the door opened and Jay walked into the room.

‘How you doing?’ Jay asked with a smile.

‘Not too bad,’ Sam said. ‘Considering what was supposed to happen to me.’

‘Yeah, you look pretty good for a dead guy,’ Jay said. ‘He good to go, Doc?’

‘Yes, Jacob, he appears to be well enough to meet everyone,’ Stirling replied, ‘and please don’t call me that.’

‘Sorry, Doc,’ Jay said, ‘force of habit. So, Sam, Rachel asked me to show you around. She’s on the range at the moment, but she told me to tell you that she’d see you later. You ready?’

‘I think so,’ Sam said. ‘Let’s go.’

He followed Jay out into the corridor. It was as featureless as the room they’d just left, with the same grey, concrete walls and caged lights.

‘So, you ready for the tour of our luxurious accommodations?’ Jay asked as they walked.

‘Sure,’ Sam replied. ‘What is this place anyway?’

‘Closest thing we’ve got to home,’ Jay said. ‘The Doc brought us all here. Apparently we’re underneath the place where he used to work. Don’t know much about it, to be honest, just that it was some kind of government research laboratory. He doesn’t talk about what he used to do.’

‘How long have you been down here?’ Sam asked as they walked past a door leading into a dormitory lined with bunk beds.

‘Jackson found me about a year ago,’ Jay said as they reached a set of double doors at the end of the corridor.

‘Jackson?’

‘Yeah, he’s the Doc’s right-hand man. Taught us how to fight, proper bad ass. He used to be in the special forces – Royal Marine, I think. Do what he tells you and you’ll both get along just fine.’