Endurance (8 page)

Tom swung his
right hand towards Ken’s face. His knuckles struck the left side of
Ken’s jaw, forcing him to the floor. Tom knelt beside Ken and
gripped his collar, punching him again. After the second punch to
Ken’s shrunken face, Tom stood up and turned his back on
Ken.

‘
I guess I
deserved that.’ Ken wearily said.

‘
We are going
to finish this together, me and you Dad. Blow this place up… is
that possible?’

Ken breathed
heavily while pushing himself off the filthy ground. He stood
upright. His shaking, withered hand felt his bloody mouth and
nose.

‘
Well, yes,
but we wouldn’t make it out in time. It’s not much of a countdown.
It erases files and then releases the chemicals created and then
the building explodes.’

Tom searched
the room for a desk of some sort. He looked to his right and saw a
desk with televisions and buttons. He walked toward it. Ken
followed in his tracks.

‘
Tom, what
are you doing?’ Ken asked in desperation.

‘
Finishing
all this.’

Tom reached
the desk. The screens were showing CCTV footage. The building was
completely empty. He looked through all the images; one stood out.
The black and white footage showed a chamber, with Danni, chained
to a wall. She didn’t look healthy. She was trying to break out of
the chains. Some of her hair had fallen out, showing her scabby
bald head in places. Her skin looked sweaty and bloody.

‘
You said she
was dead.’

‘
I didn’t
want to worry or stress you out Tom.’

Tom chuckled
to himself at the irony of his Dad suddenly caring about his
feelings. He moved his hand over a pair of scissors that were on
the desk and secretly slid them up his sleeve. Ken continued to
speak.

‘
She is
pretty much dead anyway isn’t she? Like us, we’re dead, how are we
ever going to survive this? That’s why I don’t want to waste my
work. All these years, I’ve worked on this and now you want me to
waste all those years and all the risks I’ve taken by blowing this
place up?’ Ken began to sound hysterical.

‘
So...’ There
was a pause as Tom positioned the scissors up his right sleeve with
his finger tips, ‘Are you going to help me Dad?’

Ken ignored
what Tom said, pulled him away from the desk and separated Tom from
it by standing in front of him.

‘
Don’t do
anything silly, now, Tom.’ Ken snarled.

Tom let the
scissors slide down to his fingers into his palm. He gripped the
handle and prepared for the worst.

‘
Dad, don’t
be stupid. Blow this place up or I’ll have to do it
myself.’

‘
Tom, son, I
am not going to do that and neither are you.’ Ken lowered his voice
to a whisper, ‘This has taken me years to build. Don’t ruin it
now.’

They stared
at each other, eye to eye. They weighed each other. Thinking what
to do and what consequences there could be.

‘
Dad, you’re
not like I remember you. You have changed into a heartless control
freak.’ Tom stared at his father’s emotionless face. ‘Mum will be
turning in her grave and I wish you were dead.’

Ken’s smug
look turned into one of irritation and fury. Ken raised his hand to
grab Tom by the throat. In one quick motion, Tom grabbed Ken’s arm
with his left hand, and with his right hand, stabbed the scissors
into Ken’s throat and kicked him in the stomach. Ken stumbled and
fell on his back; he jerked the scissors out of his neck and tossed
them aside. He looked frantic, trying to stop the blood gushing
from his neck. It spilled out at a rapid pace, but that didn’t
bother Tom. He was so used to death and blood now.

‘
You belong
in hell. You won’t be joining Mum in heaven and I’m sure she’s
ashamed of you.’

He continued
to watch his father struggle and squirm on the floor. Ken removed
his bloody hands from his neck and stared at Tom. Ken slowly began
to lose air, his breathing slowed. He gasped and struggled to get
air. He wriggled on the floor in desperation; he looked at Tom and
reached his hand out to him. Tom pushed Ken’s hand onto the floor.
Ken’s breathing stopped. His body looked rigid, his eyes wide open
and full of fear.

Tom stared at
the corpse that lay before him. He calmly turned to the computer
and searched for a button. It didn’t take long, he found a plastic
lid. He lifted it up and a red button was underneath. His hand
hovered above it. He paused for a moment.

Is there any
other way to end this?

Tom didn’t
hesitate for long. He pressed the button and a loud alarm sounded
repeatedly, his ear drums almost burst at the sound. Red warning
lights turned on at the double doors that were chained and locked.
He took a last look at Danni. She saved his life and now he wanted
to put her out of her misery. He walked away from the desk and
stood next to his father’s bloody body. His dead eyes were still
open. He wondered why his father turned into a sociopathic monster.
Tom thought back to the time he, Ken, and his mother, Sarah, had
spent at Disney World in Florida as a child. It was his happiest
memory of the three of them together. In his mind, Sarah smiled and
held Tom’s hand while Ken held a camera to his face nonstop, taking
photos of Sarah and Tom and their surroundings. He imagined himself
in the parade, smiling characters and smiling spectators and his
feeling of joy; an emotion which now felt rare to him. He stared at
the castle, and the memory faded. Tom returned to the unknown
warehouse where he was faced with his father’s lifeless eyes. He
continued to stare for a moment. He walked toward the chair where
he was recently tied up. He sat down casually; his back slumped and
his legs wide open. He awaited his death.

He thought of
Anna and how different his life could have ended. He could have
gotten married, had children, moved into a big house, gotten a job,
and more importantly, had a great life and died a happy man. He
thought of Anna at her best, he had flashbacks of the day at
Jubilee Gardens. As he does, the room began to shake.

Should I let
myself die or should I try and get out of here? I’m cured; I could
leave London alive and maybe try to move on from all of this. Meet
someone new, make a family, create the dreams I have dreamt of.
Lucy or Dan could be alive? I might reunite with one of
them.

He looked to
Anna’s body and calmly walked over to her and knelt, balancing on
his toes and then squatted back, on his heels. He stared at her
face; he can hardly tell the face belonged to Anna, but the facial
structure was the same as ever. Tears began to roll down his
face.

He had a
dilemma and didn’t have time to think. He looked around for an
exit, the double doors were chained and locked but to his right, he
saw a floor with an open hatch.

An inferno
blew through the warehouse; it smashed its way through the wall.
The wall exploded and the full blast of the fire entered the room.
It neared Tom at such a speed that he was forced him to dive toward
the open hatch. The heat hit him quickly; it became hotter by the
second. As he dove, he reached as far as he could, and hoped his
reach was long enough. The hatch looked like a mirage, as it
shimmered from the heat. The flames reached his toes and began to
crawl up his body. He screamed. His throat became numb from his
shrieks and he ran out of air. His skin peeled from his
muscles.

His burned
body fell closer. He was close enough to see what was down there.
It was either an emergency exit or an underground
tunnel.

The flames
overtook him and the building was blown to smithereens. The
building collapsed and became part of the destruction around it.
Smoke, ash and flames floated into the atmosphere; the soaked skies
became darker, filled with smoke and ash creating a dust cloud over
London.

Silence
echoed throughout the city.

Part
2

10

I attempt to
open my eyes. My upper eye lid is stuck to the lower. I force them
shut; then force them open. They become unstuck, but my lashes
stick to my cheek. I use my index finger and thumb to pull my upper
eye lid away from my eye, which allows the lashes to return to
their natural position.

I try to
focus, my sight is blurry. I’m welcomed to an uncomfortable burning
sensation.

My sight
regains some of its clarity. As I continue to stare straight up
from my position, I identify a fierce ball of light, burning my
eyes. I remember, the hover craft shooting at me, chasing me,
trying to kill me… It killed Anna!

Tom screamed
in fear. He reached to his right and grabbed the nearest object. A
pint glass of water sat on the table beside him. He clutched the
glass, using his stomach muscles to sit on his knees with the heels
of his feet on his backside to balance him, which allowed him to
throw the glass up at the light. As the glass smashed on the
ceiling, the light disappeared and water flicked onto his
face.

Tom looked up
to the ceiling and saw the remains of a light bulb.

Confused and
disoriented, he looked down to his clothing; he wore a white suit,
an all in one paper suit. He looked at his surroundings, staying
still on the bed he was on.

The walls and
all the objects were white. The walls were plain; the bedside table
had a vase and a dead plant. The leaves from the plant were
scattered on the top of the table. They were brown and looked like
ash. The stem in the glass was a lifeless green and
yellow.

In
frustration, Tom wiped the water off his face, but as he did, he
stopped himself. He felt his face, it felt different. He used his
fingertips to stroke the side of his head, from his forehead down
his cheek to his chin. It felt lumpy and uneven. Tom jumped out of
the bed and looked at his arms. He had severe burns. As he felt his
burns, he had a flashback of killing his father. He saw his father
squirming on the floor in desperation, scissors poking out of his
neck, blood running out like a river. His father’s death left his
mind and a smouldering inferno entered, it destroyed the walls
around him, it blasted toward him, the heat was
excruciating.

He jolted
from the memory. He felt his face again, feeling the right side and
then the left. The right felt lumpy, whereas the left didn’t. He
felt his nose, which was nonexistent on the right side with some
remains on the left. Tom let out a cry of resentment.

‘
What the
fuck? What the fuck is this? Where am I?’ Tom shouted and continued
to scream.

He moved
toward the corner of the room to his left and leaned against it
with his shoulder, facing the corner. There was a thunderous knock
on the door.

‘
Mr.
Williams, are you okay?’ asked a female voice behind the
door.

Shaking, he
lifted his right trouser leg; there were some brown burn marks and
no leg hair. He lifted his left side up, it was a mess. Although
his leg felt normal, it wasn’t. Holding his prosthetic leg in
disbelief, he used his muscles to tense the leg that no longer
existed. It felt as if it was still attached to him. He then moved
his big toe, followed by the others. As he moved parts of the leg
that no longer existed, he looked at his prosthetic leg which
didn’t move in the slightest.

Tom began to
scream and to punch and head butt the wall repeatedly.

‘
Mr.
Williams, calm down right now!’ the woman said sternly.

Tom continued
to punch and head butt the wall, harder and harder.

‘
Right, Mr.
Williams, you’ve given us no choice, we’re coming in.’

An unlocking
sound came from the door; it swung open, hitting the wall. Two men
quickly entered the room. They wore white jackets with blue
trousers. At the entrance stood a woman, she wore the same type of
clothing.

Tom turned
from the wall and swung his right fist at the first man and hit him
on the left side of his jaw. The speed of the man’s pace and the
strength of the punch knocked him onto the floor. Tom saw the other
man pull out a police bat from the back of his trousers and charge
towards Tom. Tom kicked him with his prosthetic leg in the stomach;
which winded the man, he remained standing as he hit Tom on his
left cheek and his nose which knocked Tom forcefully to the side.
Tom looked up, his eye watering and his nose bleeding. The bat
neared his face again; Tom ducked and ran toward the man. Tom
grappled with him, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist,
digging his shoulder into his lower stomach, and forcing him into
the wall.

Tom heard the
bat bounce off the floor behind him. He grabbed the man, pulled him
away from the wall, shoved him forcefully back into it again, and
punched him repeatedly in the face. As the man slanted down the
wall, unconscious, the other man began to stand. Tom grabbed the
bat off the floor and walked toward the man who struggled to stand.
Tom hit the man on the top of his head, and knocked him out. He
landed on the floor face down.