Empire Of Salt (35 page)

Yet another showed the view across the seawall, all the way from sump pump #1 to #2. Metzger could see where the wall had been breached, dirt on the road showing where the zombies had climbed over and slid down.

Another view ran south down Isle of Palms Avenue.

The last screen gave them a view of the entrance to the town. A semi-truck had been pulled across it. On either side of the road was an impassable ditch.

"The other cameras have been found, I'm afraid," Dr. Gudgel said, joining Metzger in studying the screens. "Hopkins spied the first one on a telephone pole along the access road to the plant, and he's been looking for them ever since. I used to have this town completely covered. Now..."

"So you were always expecting something like this to happen?"

"It couldn't help but happen. Cut backs. Putting the military in charge rather than scientists." He shrugged and shook his head. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"This is how you knew it was us coming." Metzger turned around to look at the rest of the room. Veronica sat on the couch between Natasha and Derrick, speaking quietly, trying to console them.

But for all the attention Veronica was giving her friends, she kept glancing at the screens. She wanted to check on her aunt and uncle, and the kids of the woman who ran the Laundromat. She'd wanted to check on them on the way to Dr. Gudgel's, but Metzger had convinced her to postpone it, stressing that Natasha and Derrick needed her right now.

"Did you see what happened at the Space Station?" Metzger asked Dr. Gudgel.

"I saw them come in, and I saw Hopkins come out wounded, but I didn't see anything else."

Natasha swallowed. "I killed my father."

Metzger strode over to her. "No, you didn't. You killed a zombie. Hopkins killed your father."

"But I saw something in his eyes."

"Nothing more than spastic synapse firing, Ms. Oliver." Dr. Gudgel pointed to his own head. "All the neuron patterns that comprised memory - that which really makes us human - were ruined in the re-making. What you saw wasn't what you saw."

"How bad was Hopkins wounded?" Metzger asked.

"Pretty bad. He had to pull himself into one of those Suburbans in order to return to the plant."

"You know he killed Deputy Todrunner, right?"

"I didn't know.
Damn
." Gudgel pointed to the screen with the semi blocking the entrance to the town. "Which makes
that
a lot more significant."

"Why?" Derrick asked.

"It means he's going for the 'scorched earth' solution," Dr. Gudgel said. "He's going to kill everyone, then concoct some sort of accident to cover it all up. With no communication or traffic in or out, he can do it without anyone stopping him."

"Except for us." Veronica sat, her elbows draped over her knees. "We have to stop him."

"And how are we going to do that?" Dr. Gudgel said.

"I don't know. That's for the smart people to figure out. But what I do know is that if
we
don't then
he's
going to find a way to stop
us
. So what are we going to do?" Metzger pointed at the boy. "It was his idea to come here. He figured you had a plan."

"I found the crib," Derrick said. "It was
Space Station
." Derrick spelled out the words.

Dr. Gudgel nodded and chuckled. "It's always something obvious. Did the book go into great detail?"

"It has everything. It has dates and times of the green lights flashing, natural phenomenon, and missing people or mysterious fires in trailers."

"But it doesn't have anything about zombies?" Dr. Gudgel persisted.

"No. But Hopkins found out about it and now he wants the book," Derrick said.

Metzger shook his head. "I think we're past that. The book was a momentary interest. If Hopkins is going to destroy the whole town, then he'll destroy the book along with it."

"Do you still want to see it?" Derrick asked.

Dr. Gudgel waved his hand. "No, I don't need to see it. Mr. Metzger is right. There's nothing stopping Hopkins from destroying everything. Whatever power the book might have held over him vanished when he decided to kill everyone."

"So now what?" Metzger asked.

"I've been dreading this moment for a long time, but like I said, I knew it would come. There's only one thing to do when your back is against the wall."

Natasha looked from one man to the other. "And that would be?"

"Attack," Metzger said.

"Take the fight to them," Dr. Gudgel said.

"I suppose you have a plan for this?" Metzger asked.

"I do." He gestured towards the couch. "Derrick, Veronica, Ms. Lin, could you come give me a hand, please. I need some supplies from the lab."

After they left, Metzger walked to the couch and stood in front of Natasha. Her hair, even tangled and wind-blown, held chestnut curls he'd love to run his hands through. He liked her. He liked her a lot. She'd been through more than anyone should be allowed to go through. He just wanted to make sure she came out the other side as whole as she was when she went in. He sat on the couch beside her. "Hey, are you going to be okay?" he asked softly.

Her eyes were puffy from crying, and her cheeks were red. She stared at her hands.

"You're a terrific girl, you know? What you did out there..."

"My dad told me about this movie once and I never really understood it until now. We were always watching movies, growing up, and my dad said they were nothing like the ones he watched. He talked about the old times when characters were real, before they became space alien monsters and talking animals." She spoke in a monotone.

Metzger kept his mouth shut and listened. She needed to talk.

"I forgot the title of the movie he talked about. I remember that it was about this boy who had a dog. His dad didn't want him to have it, but there's no saying no to a kid when they have a pet and they want it, you know? So the boy, I think his name was Travis, bonds with the dog and they become best friends. Then the dog gets rabies and it begins to attack the family. The father could have taken care of it, so could the mother, but instead he made the kid shoot the dog."

"If he hadn't," Metzger added carefully, "it would have hurt the whole family. People could have died."

"Exactly. I was like, what's the big deal? The family is more important. I thought it would be easy to pull the trigger."

"Pulling the trigger
is
easy."

She shook her head. "No, it isn't. It's the hardest thing in the world."

"Living with the consequences is what's hard," he said. "Especially when it's someone you love."

"Especially." She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. She grabbed his hand.

"The movie was called
Old Yeller
," Metzer said. "I think it was a Disney movie."

"Those fucking Disney movies."

"I know. They can be really hard."

"Fucking miserable is what they are."

Metzger laughed. "That would be a great marketing campaign for today's youth. Watch Disney movies. They're fucking miserable."

Natasha smiled and closed her eyes. He held her like that until the sound of the lift descending made them stir.

Derrick, Veronica and Dr. Gudgel returned from his laboratory carrying several boxes. They put them on the table, and the doctor had Veronica and Derrick back away.

"Okay. What we have here is Semtex. It's terribly explosive and I'm afraid a little past its expiration date."

"What does that mean?" Natasha asked.

"It means that it's been sweating," Dr. Gudgel explained, "and when it comes to explosives, sweating is definitely not a good thing. The sweat from TNT is called nitroglycerine. One drop can blow your hand off."

Dr. Gudgel fixed everyone with a firm gaze. "Right. We know there's no turning back, so we need to destroy the plant. Are we in agreement?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Because I'm going to volunteer to drive the truck that's going to do it."

"What?" Metzger grabbed the older man by the shoulder. "Like a suicide bomber? You can't do that!"

Dr. Gudgel looked at Metzger's hand, then grinned. "What they are doing is wrong. The project has changed from a scientific ideal into an utter nightmare. We never meant to hurt people. It was never meant to be something evil."

"But you don't have to kill yourself," Derrick said.

Dr. Gudgel chuckled and put his hand on Derrick's head. "You're a smart kid. You're going to grow up and do something special. I'm sure of that. But my time," he paused and licked his lips, "My time has passed. My purpose is gone and there's nothing else I want to do with my life."

"But you shouldn't have to die," Derrick said.

"I'm doing what I want to do."

"For the record, I hate suicide bombers," Metzger said.

"I bet you never had one on your side before," Dr. Gudgel countered.

D
errick, Metzger, Veronica, Auntie Lin and Natasha sat on the couch glued to the screens. They'd helped the Mad Scientist prepare his pickup truck for the assault. The explosives were attached to the front grill, ready to be detonated by remote control; a video camera installed on the back of the seat provided a view of the road from just over the driver's right shoulder. There was no sound, but the image was clear.

The plan had been argued
ad nauseum
for half an hour until the Mad Scientist let everyone know in no uncertain terms that his mind was set. The plan, such as it was, entailed the Mad Scientist driving his truck through the barrier and ramming into the front of the building. The ensuing explosion should make a decent-sized hole in the plant. Then it was only a matter of time before someone came to investigate, and when they did, Metzger, Derrick, Natasha and Veronica would ascend to ground level to inform the authorities about everything that had happened.

Each of the four sitting on the couch watching the screens now had a 9mm pistol with an extra magazine. Metzger had showed them how to load, chamber and fire the pistol. He'd also shown them where the safety was on the weapon.

Natasha hadn't wanted to touch a weapon, remembering what had happened last time she'd held one. But Metzger had said "
Old Yeller"
as he'd handed it to her
,
which helped to put the pistol and its use into perspective.

But for now they sat back and watched the silent movie called
The Mad Scientist Blows Up the Zombie Factory
.

The rearview mirror was positioned so that they could see his face in the reflection, which made for an interesting visual experience.

Dr. Gudgel got in the truck and started the engine. The vehicle was one of those big Ford pick-ups with extra large tires.

Gudgel put the vehicle in reverse, backed out of the yard onto Second Street and headed toward the short block to Isle of Palms Avenue. The rain had let up somewhat and the windshield wipers kept the view clear.

"Wait a minute. What's that?" Metzger stood and pointed at the screen showing Isle of Palms Avenue itself. A white Suburban had turned onto it about a hundred meters down, heading north. The vehicle would intercept the Mad Scientist in no time.