Outpost (47 page)

Jane
stepped into the corridor. She was faced by a dozen
Hyperion
passengers. They stood the
length of the passageway, lit by flickering strip-light.

Jane
backed away from the stink of piss and rotting flesh. A dozen ravaged faces. A
dozen pairs of jet-black eyes. She expected the foul creatures to attack. They
stood quite still, as if awaiting instructions.

They
shrank back into darkened doorways. A clear invitation for Jane to proceed.

Nikki
approached the situation board, a flickering, back-lit map of the western
hemisphere. A figure was fused to the glass by metal filaments.

'She's
here,' murmured Rye, slowly lifting her head. Metal tendrils from her eye
sockets. She was plugged in to the walls, plugged in to the collective
conscious, monitoring the inhabitants of the bunker with strange new senses.
'She's outside the door.'

Nikki
turned to face the entrance.

Jane
looked around the ops centre. Ghost, Punch and Nail lashed to chairs. Bodies
melded to the walls and ceiling. Jane looked up. An old woman spread-eagled on
the ceiling directly above her head. The woman gently squirmed, like she was
trying to work out how she came to be pinned to the roof.

Nikki
at the centre of it all, hands in her pockets, smiling a welcoming smile.

Jane
glanced at Ghost and Punch. Quick inspection for injury or infection.

'Good
to see you, Jane,' said Ghost.

'You
guys all right?'

'Punch
is all right. I'm fine. Don't think Nail will be coming home.'

Nail
sobbed. The big man snivelled and drooled snot.

'I'm
so glad you came,' said Nikki.

'That's
sweet.'

Jane
edged around the room. She held the flare like she was warding off a vampire.
Spitting, fizzing purple flame. Wax dripped over her gloved hand.

She
dug in her pocket with her left hand and took out her lock-knife. She flicked
open the blade with her thumb and handed it to Ghost. He cut his wrists free
then released his ankles. He quickly shook and stretched to restore
circulation.

'I
want to talk to you,' said Nikki. 'Just talk.'

'Sure,'
said Jane, super-calm, placating a lunatic. 'Fire away.'

'I
want you to stay with us. Europe is a radioactive cinder. There's nothing for
you back home. Just death and ruins. But there's a place for you here, a place
to belong. Call Sian. She can stay too.'

'Sure
she'll appreciate the sentiment.'

Ghost
cut Punch free and helped him to his feet. He dropped the knife in Nail's lap.

'Hey.
Nail. Do yourself a favour. Slit your throat while you have the chance.'

'Look
around you, Nikki,' said Jane. 'Take a moment and look. Why would anyone spend
a single second in this fucking abattoir? There are some diesel drums in the
plant room. Seriously. Torch the place.'

Nail
cut himself lose. He moved on Nikki, gripping the lock- knife like he was ready
to shiv her in the gut. She stepped back. Two rotting
Hyperion
officers shuffled forward to
block his path. Nail ran from the room.

Jane,
Ghost and Punch edged towards the door.

'Why
be scared?' asked Nikki. 'What do you have to lose? Your body will change, but
so what? It's not like any of us danced for the Royal Ballet. You've been fat
all your life. You got thin, but you still bear the marks of obesity. Wide
bones. Splayed feet. What's so great about being you? What are you holding out
for? I'm trying to help.
I'm trying to do the biggest favour of your life.'

Nikki
stepped forward, arms outstretched in a pleading gesture.

'Join
us. Join us, Jane.'

Jane
threw the hammer. A spinning blur. The hammer smacked Nikki's forehead. She was
knocked from her feet.

The
phalanx of
Hyperion
crewmen began to shuffle forward, antibodies preparing to repel an intruder.

Jane
took the jar of kerosene from her pocket and dashed it on the floor. She threw
the flare and shielded her face from the eruption of flame.

She
tossed Ghost her radio.

'Run,'
she said. 'I'll be right behind you.'

Ghost
grabbed an extinguisher from the wall, like he was ready to stand and fight.

'Don't
be a fucking idiot,' said Jane. 'Take Punch. Get a head start. Go on. Run.'

She
picked up an office chair and held it, ready to fend off attack.

Nikki
got to her feet, hand pressed to her bleeding forehead. Hammer imprint between
her eyes.

Nikki
examined the blood in her palm. Woozy smile. She faced Jane through a wall of
fire, watched her back towards the doorway.

'I
know you better than anyone, Jane. I can see through you like a fucking X-ray.
You hate yourself, every molecule. I know what that's like. You've been lonely
your whole life. Every waking moment screaming out for some kind of contact,
some kind of warmth. But you're not alone. That bleak, psychic terrain. I'm
right there with you. I'm your soulmate, Jane. Yin-yang. You and me. Not those
guys.'

'See
you in the next life, Nikki.'

'Wait.
Listen to me. There's no shame in wanting to belong. You and the rest of the
human race. Everyone desperate to escape the confines of their skull, cramming
themselves into cinemas, football stadiums, church pews, all yearning for some
kind of collective experience. It's a life sentence, Jane. A life in solitary.
But we don't have to be out in the cold any more. This is our chance. We can
come home. You think it's all back in Europe. Contentment. But you've been
living that way for years. Tell me I'm wrong. Dreaming happiness is somewhere
else, somewhere over the horizon. But you're home, Jane. It's right here.
Everything we ever wanted. We can finally belong.'

'You
know what?' said Jane. 'You're wrong. I like being me.'

She
turned and ran.

'You'll
be alone,' shouted Nikki. 'You'll be alone your whole damn life.'

Punch
climbed the ladder. He left the light and warmth of Level Zero and ascended to
the freezing dark of the main tunnels. He struggled to grip the rungs. His
wrists and ankles were bleeding.

'Are
you all right?' called Ghost from the top of the shaft.

'Grinning
from ear to fucking ear.'

Ghost
hauled Punch from the shaft. He helped Punch to his feet.

'Can
you walk?'

'Yeah.'

'Can
you run?'

'I'll
try.'

Ghost
struck a flare.

'If
we don't make it to Rampart before it reaches open sea we are dead men.'

Punch
put his arm round Ghost's waist. They hurried down the tunnel. A steady slope
to the surface.

They
glimpsed a
Hyperion
passenger standing in an alcove. Fancy dress. A guy in a dinner suit and bull
mask. The emaciated creature watched them pass. It slowly turned its head like
a CCTV camera recording their progress.

'Is
it following us?' asked Punch as he limped along.

Ghost
looked over his shoulder. 'No. It's just standing there.'

'Christ,
I can't wait to be out of this place. I just want to breathe clean air.'

'Damn
right,' said Ghost.

They
kept jogging.

'You
know what?' said Punch.

Ghost
was about to reply when Nail lunged from the shadows and knocked them to the
ground. He sat on Ghost's chest and squeezed his throat.

Nail's
lips were bruised and swollen. He looked like he was wearing black lipstick. He
sank his teeth into Ghost's cheek and tore away a flap of flesh. Ghost yelled
in pain. He jammed the flare into Nail's eye socket. Nail screamed. He threw
himself clear and ran.

'Are
you all right?' asked Punch.

'He
got me,' said Ghost, trying to staunch the flow of blood. 'Fucker got me.'

'You'll
be all right.'

'He
got me. I'm fucked.'

'You
don't know that.'

'Don't
touch me. Don't get blood on you.'

'We'll
get you back to Rampart. We'll patch you up.'

Punch
hauled Ghost to his feet.

'Put
your arm round my shoulder.'

Punch
helped Ghost stumble towards the bunker exit.

'We
should wait for Jane,' said Ghost.

'She's
buying us time. Let's not waste it.'

They
reached the mouth of the bunker. Ghost slumped against the wall. Punch pulled
the tarpaulin from a snowmobile. He sat on the bike, turned the ignition and
gunned the engine.

'Jane?'
Ghost shouted into the tunnel. 'Jane? Are you coming?'

'She'll
take the other bike,' said Punch. 'Come on. Let's not add to her problems.'

Ghost
struggled to mount the bike. He rode pillion.

It
was dark outside. They couldn't see further than the head- beam of the Skidoo.
The bike bucked and swerved over jagged rock. They cruised the rocky shoreline
and looked for a route on to the ice.

'There.'
Ghost pointed. A path led down to the frozen sea. Punch swung the bike down the
steep ramp and drove on to the ice.

'Hold
on,' shouted Punch. He revved and headed south at full speed.

Ghost
let the wind freeze his face. The bite wound stopped bleeding and soon he could
feel no pain.

'I
can't see the rig,' shouted Punch over his shoulder.

Ghost
fumbled for his radio.

'Sian,'
he shouted, struggling to be heard over wind noise. 'Hit the floodlights.'

Sian
sat in the darkened cab. Night had fallen. She knew she should switch on the
refinery floodlights but delayed the moment. She didn't want to see the
approaching ocean. Some time in the next hour Rampart would break from the
ice-field and float into open sea. From that moment she would be irrevocably
alone. Adrift for weeks, possibly months. If she passed land she would have to
row ashore in a lifeboat and explore the ruins of Europe on her own.

Her
radio crackled. A voice. She couldn't make out words. Just a brief snatch of
wind noise. Jane, Ghost and Punch must be trying to make it back to the rig.

She
ran from the cab to a switch room on deck. She threw breakers. The Rampart
superstructure suddenly lit celestial white by halogen floodlights.

Sian
returned to the cab. The ice in front of the refinery was lit by arc lights.
She could see the Arctic Ocean up ahead.

A
snowmobile raced across the polar crust and pulled up in front of the refinery.
Sian wiped condensation to get a better view. Two figures climbed from the
bike, both wearing blue Rampart-issue survival coats. Two of her friends had
made it back to the rig.

A
sudden pang of guilt: if she could make a deal with Fate, she would happily
trade Jane or Ghost to get Punch back alive.

The
refinery ploughed through the Arctic crust with a roar like steady thunder.
Each of the massive buoyant legs bulldozed a mountain of ice rubble before it.

Punch
and Ghost faced the approaching avalanche and waited for Sian to lower the
hook.

'We'll
have to grab the chain at the same time,' said Punch, shouting to be heard over
the rumble of shattering ice.

'I'm
not coming with you,' said Ghost. He backed away. 'It's been a privilege. I
always liked you, Punch. Always thought you were one of the good guys.'

'What
are you doing?'

'Look
after Sian. Enjoy each other. Find a decent place and build a life.' Ghost
turned and ran.

Punch
called after him.

'Ghost.
Come on, Gee, we need you, man.'

Punch
wanted to run after Ghost, but the refinery was nearly upon him. The crane hook
descended out of blinding arc light.

'Ghost,'
he called, one last time, but he knew he couldn't be heard over the jet-roar of
ripping ice.

Punch
was so close to the shattering crust he had to shield his eyes from snow and
sea-spray. He saw the snowmobile smashed flat by a slab of ice. He stepped
aboard the massive hook and hugged the chain.

Punch
gave a signal-wave. He was slowly lifted upward and enveloped in light.

Ghost
watched Rampart pass by and float away. A steel city heading south.

He
thought about Punch and Sian safe aboard the rig.

He
realised all he was about to lose. He wouldn't laugh, sip coffee or feel rain
on his face ever again.