The Dying of the Light: Interval (39 page)

I climbed out of the chair, pausing to lay a hand on Archer’s shoulder. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Our command pilot smiled and nodded to the rear of the plane. “Now, how’s about we let these folks out for a bit of sunshine?”

Shaw grinned. “Please! It’s getting kinda ripe down there.” He picked up the headset and activated the radio. “
Rescue One
,
Rescue Two
. Request permission to release the host— I mean, the survivors.”

“Wait one,
Rescue Two
,” replied Anderson, the colonel’s attempt at humor lost on the older man. “Our escort should be arriving any second, and I’d rather have them on the ground first.”

I glanced out the windows and saw the Humvees roll up, the soldiers we’d left behind spilling out to form a perimeter, with Gaines and Reynolds heading for Anderson’s plane. “All right, Colonel, let ‘em loose.”

“Yes, sir. Mr. Myers, if you please, patch me through to the passengers.” Myers flipped a switch and nodded at the colonel, and he spoke once more.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Air McMurdo. We ask that you please take care when disembarking,” We were all chuckling a bit but sobered quickly as he continued. “There may be walkers on the ground outside. Please stay away from the perimeter and as close to the plane as possible. We’re not going to be here very long, as we’re only stopping to refuel, and we don’t want anyone to get lost. Thank you.” He turned to Myers and nodded, and the younger man grinned as he flipped some more switches.

The alarm began sounding, ringing throughout the plane. As the flashing lights came on below, I could see them reflected in the metal of the stairwell. I felt a jolt through the deck plates, and watched, amazed as always, as the entire front end of the plane swung up to block our view. I could only assume the rear had done the same, since there were no warning bells and the breeze blowing through felt wonderful.

I didn’t wait for the others to follow, but headed down the stairs to the cargo bay, where excited scientists that hadn’t felt above-zero temperatures—at least outside—in more than ten years began stripping off their coats and stretching their arms wide, luxuriating in their new-found freedom. I noticed that there was quite a pile of refuse from the MREs that we’d brought along, as well, indicating they were more than a little happy to have some real food in their stomachs.

Fortunately for them, Doc Stirling had reminded them all that they shouldn’t eat everything at once, since they’d been on such low-calorie diets for such a long time, and although most of them complied, I did notice more than one clutching their stomach. I walked over to one of the soldiers maintaining the perimeter, and he nodded.

“What can I do for you, sir?”

“Well, Corporal, you see those folks there?” I asked, pointing to a small group clearly in pain and need of a restroom. “Any facilities they can use?”

He laughed. “Facilities? No, sir. We dug some latrines over to the side there, though,” he said, pointing just around the corner of the terminal. “Let me grab a couple guys and we’ll give ‘em an escort, just in case.” He whistled to two of his men, and they rounded up the ones who clearly needed to go the worst, herding them off. One of the Humvees rolled up to take their place, the .50-caliber machine gun swiveling on its roof.

“Blake, this is Anderson,” squawked my radio. “Meet us in five at aft end of
Rescue One
.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, then began jogging over to the other plane. As I got closer, I noticed the rest of our ‘command group’ was already there, with a special guest, Chief Mahoney.
Here’s hoping he got the fuel tanks working, or we’re not going anywhere
.

I’d noticed a distinct awkwardness between Shaw and his wife Jennifer on the plane ride up from McMurdo, and I put it down to people getting to know each other after being separated for so long. But now they were still standing apart, Jennifer with a hand on the cane we’d found at McMurdo to help her get around, and I couldn’t help but wonder if being separated for six years would’ve done the same thing to me and Kim.
Hell, we’ve only been apart a couple months, and I’m already going crazy
.

“Mahoney was just telling us about the fuel tanks,” said Anderson.

“Yeah, turns out they’re fine—the tanks themselves, that is. Look to be nearly full, too. We just couldn’t get at the fuel itself. In simple terms, the valves, switches, and things that allowed us to actually pump the stuff out were all damaged. I had to strip everything off and repair what I could.”

“But we can use them now?” asked Shaw.

Mahoney grinned. “It’s not pretty, but it’ll do the job. I figure we can have both planes with full tanks in about a day.”

Anderson frowned. “A day? That long?”

“Like I said, Cap’n, it ain’t pretty. Frankly, I’m surprised we were able to get it working at all.”

“Fine,” Anderson sighed. “Take Williams and get the planes fueling. I want to be out of here ASAP.” He turned to Gaines. “Get those people cleared out of the way. You said the terminal is clear now?”

“Yes, sir. Tom and I double-checked the whole damn thing ourselves.” The look on Gaines’s face told me there was more to that story, but now wasn’t the time.

“Good. Get all these people inside and bedded down. Once they’ve finished moving the planes into place, get some of the supplies off and moved inside. We’ll hole up there until the planes are ready.”

“Yes, sir,” chorused the men. The pilot and the mechanic climbed back aboard, while Gaines took the second Humvee and corralled the milling scientists toward the terminal, the soldiers maintaining the perimeter working to get everyone inside.

“Excuse me, Captain,” said Jennifer, and all eyes turned to her. “I’d like to know where you’re planning to keep Warner and Duncan.”

Anderson couldn’t help his glance in my direction, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I just shrugged, knowing that she was going to find out in the end, anyway. When Anderson didn’t answer right away, Jennifer looked to Shaw, who shook his head and spread his hands, and then to me. “What? What aren’t you telling me?”

Since the decision was ultimately mine, at least in Warner’s case, I decided to step up, but I was glad to see Anderson start to speak just as I did. “Mrs. Shaw, Warner isn’t on the plane.”

“I know that, he was on the other one.”

“No, I’m sorry, I misspoke. He’s not on
either
plane.”

“What? Why not?” When I didn’t answer, her eyes widened in realization. “You… you
left
him there? Alone?”

I nodded, not even slightly remorseful.
Perhaps dealing with Gardner changed me more than I care to admit, to so callously dispose of another human being. Then again, he did murder and eat people
. “He had to be punished for his crimes. We chose the most humane way of doing that that we could, given what he’d done.”

“Sure, abandoning him to die of starvation or dehydration is humane, isn’t it?”

“Actually, we left him a pistol, too,” I said. “Frankly, I think giving him such a quick way out is doing a disservice to everyone that he murdered and ate, but I know my judgment on that may be a little bit harsher than everyone else’s. I’ll admit that. But what I don’t get is why you’re so surprised. I would’ve thought you’d be eager to see him dead, after being drugged and locked up for three years. And you yourself tried to kill him.”

She shook her head, turning away from me and looking up at Shaw. “Did you know about this?”

He looked down, clearly uncomfortable. “The captain said they would deal with it, and I had to let them. Although the story I heard was that he’d committed suicide,” he said, looking at me.

I just shrugged and met his gaze without shame. “To be fair, he probably did.”

“You
had
to let them?” Jennifer asked. “Is this some damn military thing I’m not privy to?”

Shaw looked up, meeting her eyes, and even Anderson flinched back from the look on his face. “I had to, because what they did would be nothing compared to what
I
would’ve done to him. He deserved what he got, and a lot more. He not only killed people, he
fed
them to others. He got off easy.”

Jennifer stepped back, the end of her cane making a soft
tick
on the concrete. She shook her head, and I could see tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her husband. “He was an awful, evil man, but he didn’t deserve to
die
.”

“But you tried to—”

“I wasn’t thinking clearly, then. I’d just found out what he was up to, and I was still coming to grips with you being gone, and everything that happened with Graves, and…” Shaw looked up as she said this, but she steamrolled right past it. “He didn’t have to die. We could’ve—”

“Yes, he did. He doesn’t deserve to come back with us. He killed nearly two hundred people and fed them to the rest of you. The fact that he did it for good reasons, or what he
thought
were good reasons, is immaterial.” His voice took on a stronger tone as he continued. “We could’ve taken him back, put him in whatever jail the bunker has, but he would’ve just been using up resources without returning anything of value. And we’d have had to post a guard with him to keep him alive, once word got out about what he’d done. No. He’s not entitled to
any
of that,” he said emphatically, shaking his head. “Better that he die by his own hand or that of fate itself. I won’t bring a monster like him back and inflict him on the rest of our world.”

Jennifer had remained silent through his tirade, and stayed that way for a moment or two after he finished. “What about Duncan?” she asked, to no one in particular.

I glanced at Anderson, but he shook his head, and we looked at Shaw, who shrugged, too. “We know he wasn’t on the planes; we had our guys go over them twice before takeoff,” said Anderson. “He never showed up, and we didn’t do anything to him. There’s no telling what happened.”

Shaw reached for his wife, but she flinched back, looking up at him. “I don’t know who you are anymore. Maybe I never did. I… I need to not see you for a while.” She walked off, her cane clacking on the concrete.

Shaw started to go after her, but Reynolds laid a restraining hand on his arm. When Shaw turned on him, he didn’t flinch. “Let her go, man. She needs to work this out.”

I could see him resisting, but finally he gave in and leaned against the side of the plane, hands on his knees and head down. “I lost her for six years,” he said. “I finally get her back, and now I’m going to lose her again?”

I said nothing, just laid a hand on his shoulder. I had my own wife to worry about. I could see Anderson was thinking the same thing.

Hopefully, we’re worrying for nothing
.

I banged a coffee cup on one of the tables in the passenger lounge to get everyone’s attention. The area wasn’t particularly small, but there were a lot of folks inside. We’d asked that only the leaders of the various contingents from each country be present, to keep the size manageable, but it was still quite a few people. And they were
loud
.

“The plan so far has been to get you all back to what remains of civilization, rather than freezing your asses off. So we’ve done that. Now the hurdle is actually
getting
there. I’m going to turn it over now to Colonel Williams, who’ll explain more.”

The pilot stood and addressed the crowd. “Here’s the deal, folks: we’re going to be cutting it down to the wire with our fuel getting back. There is
zero
margin for error, here. We need to lighten our loads as much as possible, so that means anything that isn’t absolutely one hundred percent necessary goes out the doors of those planes before they ever start rolling. You’ll notice we didn’t bring much of anything from McMurdo. This is why.”

“But we
will
make it?” asked a voice from the back.

“We have every intention of landing you folks safe and sound at LAX in just over twelve hours from takeoff. But, if something does happen, there is a plan in place to divert to Hawai’i.” There were more than a few hoots and hollers and some good-natured cheering, and Williams grinned. “Sounds good, doesn’t it? Lots of sun, lots of waves?”

“Damn right it does!” Another anonymous contributor.

Williams’s grin faded fast. “Well, forget it. The only place we could possibly land these planes is Honolulu. That’s a city about ten miles long by two wide with over a million people in it. Or at least, there
used
to be that many people. Which means there could easily be that many walkers. And with space and weight at a premium, we’re not going to have the niceties of our Humvees or anything else to clear them out. Assuming, of course, that there’s not a wreck on the runway—”

Anderson coughed, and Williams settled down. “The point is, it’s not going to be all beaches and boogie-boarding. If we have to divert, there’s no way of knowing when we’ll make it back, or even
if
. So get rid of anything you’re carrying that is not vital to your continued survival.”

Williams sat down, and I started to stand, when one of the bearded, grizzly older men stood up, instead. “Jake Wattersly, New Zealand contingent, sir,” he said, and I nodded and waved for him to go ahead. “Thank you, sir. I just wanted to say that you’re going to be a bit lighter than you thought, sir.”

“Oh? Why is that, Mr. Wattersly?”

“Doctor, sir.”

I laughed. “Of course, my apologies. I should just call you all ‘doctor’ by default.”

He smiled. “Probably so. You’re going to be a bit lighter because we New Zealanders aren’t going with you.”

It was so quiet, I don’t think anyone was even breathing in that moment. I stammered when I broke the silence. “You… you’re not going with us?”

“No, sir.”

“Why the hell not?” asked Anderson, before I could respond.

“Well, we’d like to find out what happened to our people, see what’s left, if anything. Maybe take back some land.” He stood tall, pride evident in his demeanor. “It’s our home, sir.”