The Border: The Complete Series (55 page)

“You don't seem right,” her mother said finally. “You're worrying me.”

“I'll call,” Katie replied, with tears in her eyes as she kissed her mother's forehead and then climbed into the driver's seat. “Or email, or something like that. It might take a while before I know where I'm going but...” Pausing, she stared at the road ahead. “I'll find somewhere. Not every place can be like Bowley.” She took a deep breath. “Everything's gonna be fine, Mom. I promise.”

With that, she pulled the door shut and started the engine. Five minutes later she was speeding along the interstate, trying to work out where exactly she was going to go. As she watched the road ahead, she felt her fear starting to grow, except that it wasn't just fear. There was anger too, and rage and fury. And sorrow. And wonder. And curiosity. And regret. And joy. And something else that didn't even have a name.

Finally, figuring she could worry about her destination later, she floored the accelerator and screamed.

***

Kicking open the next door, Ben made his way down into the darkness, seeing only a few red lights on the wall ahead. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he looked across the main room of the Border's twentieth level and saw another shape moving in the shadows, twisting as if it was trying to get away. Raising his shotgun, Ben made his way across the room and made short work of the figure, not even looking it in the eye before blasting it. Once he'd checked that there was nothing else around, he headed to the door in the corner and kicked it open, and then he began to make his way down to the Border's twenty-first level.

High above, hidden in the darkest corner and completely unnoticed, a small camera watched his every move.

Epilogue

Twelve years later

“No,
you're
a dumbass,” Lucy replied, before taking a sip from her milkshake. Fixing her cousin with a frown, she slowly raised her middle finger in his direction.

“Oh, you're gonna be so popular when you get to college,” Stuart replied with a grin. “Everyone's gonna
love
you.”

Rolling her eyes, Lucy looked across the diner for a moment. A damp Saturday morning had turned into a rainy lunchtime, with a brief downpour having passed through town during the afternoon, and now finally darkness had fallen and brought a wet evening; the rain was gone, but there were puddles all across the parking lot, reflecting the bright lights of the nearby stores. Still, there was no place she'd rather be, especially since she'd be leaving Bowley the following morning, heading off for her first semester at college on the west coast. She was scared, sure, and she knew she'd miss life in Bowley; at the same time, she wanted a little excitement, a little adventure, and she knew she couldn't get what she wanted in her crumby little hometown.

Bowley was the kind of safe, boring place where nothing ever happened.

As her cousins Stuart and Oliver continued to talk, Lucy turned and looked over her shoulder. She'd knew she'd miss the regulars at the diner, especially the ones she never talked to but who nevertheless were a constant presence. There was the new owner, who'd really turned the place around and made it the center of Bowley's resurgence; there was Daniel, the editor of the local paper and a guy on whom Lucy had enjoyed a little crush, even though she knew he was too old for her; there was even Mrs. Cook, the town widow. After a moment, however, she spotted old Alex Gordon sitting in the far corner, staring with haunted eyes at his coffee. He'd never been the same since the stroke, and his wife's death a few years earlier had left him a somber, desperately lonely figure. There was something about Alex that always gave Lucy a chill, and she knew she wouldn't miss seeing
him
around.

She turned and looked out the window, and suddenly she spotted a familiar figure hurrying past, heading toward the dark office buildings.

“Hey,” she said, leaning over and tapping Stuart's shoulder. “Isn't that your Mom?”

Stuart glanced at the window. “So?”

“So where's she going so late?”

He shrugged.

“Mom's an asshole,” Oliver added, with his arm around his girlfriend's waist. “Ever since Alex retired and she took his job, she thinks she's all that.”

Ignoring her cousins, Lucy got to her feet and carried her milkshake to the door. She stepped out onto the steps and watched as the dark figure got further and further away, and then she thought for a moment about the date, and then finally she realized.

“She's going to see
him
,” she whispered.

Hurrying down the steps, she made her way across the dark parking lot, taking care to avoid the puddles of rainwater. When she got to the far side, she could see Jane slipping through the shadows in front of the office building, and she thought for a moment to call out to her aunt before realizing that there'd be no point; she'd asked Jane so many times about what was really happening beneath the streets of Bowley, and every time she'd been fobbed off with a non-answer. Now, on her very last night in town before heading off to her new life, she figured she needed to be a little sneakier, so she finished the last of her milkshake, tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan, and then hurried after Jane, while making sure to keep far enough back that she wouldn't be spotted.

A few minutes later, she watched as Jane unlocked the door to the abandoned building and stepped inside. After a moment, seeing that her aunt hadn't switched on the lights, Lucy hurried over and slipped through the door herself, at which point she could see Jane at the far end of the corridor, stepping into a side-room.

With her heart in her mouth, Lucy knew what was about to happen.

She made her way carefully along the corridor, keeping deathly quiet until she stopped outside the door. Peering through, she saw Jane setting a backpack on the desk and starting to pull things out.

And then, slowly, the door in the far corner began to swing open.

Lucy held her breath.

Ben stepped into the room, gaunt and old now, looking more tired than Lucy had ever thought possible. His hair was gray and he was painfully thin, and the bags under his eyes had their own bags, reaching almost all the way down his cheeks to his mouth. Without saying anything, he set a shotgun on the desk and glanced at Jane, who hadn't even acknowledged him yet as she continued to set out various Tupperware pots from her backpack. There was something businesslike about the whole situation, as if they'd done it many, maybe times before.

Holding her breaths so as not to be heard, Lucy waited.

“So, then,” Ben said finally, his voice sounding harsh and little-used. “How's tricks?”

“I brought you some extra this time,” Jane replied, still not looking at him, still focused on the pots. “Lots of vitamin pills, lots of nutrient bars, lots of freeze-dried fruit and -”

“That's great,” he said, interrupting her. “What about the important stuff? What about ammunition?”

She took a case of bullets out of the backpack. “I've found a new supplier,” she explained. “He's cheaper and he doesn't ask questions. I'll be leaving two cases here every month, as usual.”

Opening the case, Ben looked down at the bullets. “I'm sure they'll be great.”

“There's really nothing much to report,” Jane continued. “Lucy's off to college tomorrow. Stuart's still working at the garage, although he's looking to start his own business, and Oliver's thinking of going to do some post-grad work but he hasn't really decided yet. Beth and Bob have switched marriage counselors again, apparently Bob thought the last one was making eyes at Beth and he insisted they get someone new. I don't know, maybe it'll work out this time and -”

Suddenly she looked toward the door, as if she'd heard something.

Lucy stepped back and waited.

“Please don't have seen me,” she thought to herself. “Please...”

“Your Mom's doing better,” Jane added after a moment. “They're gonna put off thinking about the hospice for a while. She's making a hell of a fuss about it, but I managed to talk her into making the right decision. Your father -”

“Don't care,” Ben said firmly.

“Ben, your father -”

“Don't care.”

“He died.”

Lucy listened to the silence. She wanted to peer around the side of the door and see Ben's face, but she knew she couldn't risk getting caught.

“Heart attack,” Jane continued. “I don't think you want to know how he was found. Let's just say that he died doing what he loved most.”

“Well,” Ben said finally, wiping his hand against his dry mouth, “I guess there was a funeral.”

“There was.”

“Did lots of people show up? Did the old man get a decent send-off?”

“Quite a few, actually. I was surprised.”

“That's good. That's... appropriate, I guess.”

“You know, he's buried nearby if you want to -”

“I don't have time.”

“You could
make
time,” she replied. “Ben, seriously, it's been twelve years now, you can't possibly still be finding new levels to that place.”

“Can't I?”

“How far down can it go? I mean, there have to be limits. How many levels can there be?”

“I'm starting to wonder that myself,” he continued. “It took me two months to make the trek back up to meet you today. There are even tunnels down there, I think they might lead to other towns. I'll check them out later, but for now I figure I'll keep heading down. Every time I think I've reached the Border's bottom level, I see another door in the corner. It just goes on and on.”

“And you go through the doors?”

“Of course.”

“And is it...” She paused. “Is it worse each time?”

“It's sure not better, let's put it that way. Mostly it's empty, but every so often I still find... Well, I don't know what they used to be when they first went down, but they're sure as hell not human anymore.”

“Maybe it's time for you to stop,” she continued. “That Paula woman phoned again and -”

“Don't tell me.”

“The Border's finished,” she told him. “You've cleared so many levels of the damn place, there's no way it could ever come back.”

“Oh, it could come back,” he replied, with grit in his voice. “I have to get to the bottom level, wherever the hell
that
is, and scrape it out clean. I've seen things down there, Jane, things that you wouldn't believe are possible.” He paused for a moment. “I'm real glad you stopped coming down there with me. I wouldn't want you to see what it's like.”

Lucy waited, but suddenly Ben seemed to have fallen silent. Swallowing hard, she figured she should probably just turn around and leave, but at the same time she wanted to hear more, to work out what, exactly, her uncle was doing. She knew that Jane brought regular supplies to the abandoned office building, and she'd figured out a while ago that she was meeting Ben, who blatantly
hadn't
skipped town again. Now she wanted to know what all the talk of the Border was really about, and what
levels
her uncle was going down to, and -

“Gotcha,” Ben said suddenly, stepping through the doorway and putting a hand on her shoulder.

She stepped back startled.

“Jesus Christ,” he continued, with an expression of shock. “Lucy, is that you?”

Before Lucy could say anything, Jane followed Ben out into the corridor. “Lucy? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Please don't be mad,” Lucy stammered, “I just... I followed you. I wanted to see what was happening here.”

“Oh God,” Jane said with a sigh, turning to Ben. “I swear, I had no idea she was here.”

“I believe you,” Ben replied, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on Lucy. “Wow. The last time I saw you, you were, what, six years old?”

“It's been a while,” Lucy admitted. “Aunt Jane told everyone that you'd left Bowley.”

“Well, I guess I did,” he said with a faint smile. “I just left vertically instead of horizontally.”

“You've been underground?” she asked. “No way, what are you doing down there? Is it, like, some kind of bunker?”

He paused, before shaking his head, and now the smile had left his face.

“You should go,” Jane told her. “Lucy, we'll talk about this later, but following me is definitely
not
cool.”

“I had to,” she replied. “I asked you so many times what was really going on here, and you never told me the truth!”

“And now you see why,” Jane muttered.

“Not really.” Frustrated, Lucy turned to Ben. “What's going on? Why do you need bullets?”

“I...” He paused for a moment. “Jane,” he said finally, “can you give me a moment with Lucy?”

“But -”

“Come on,” he added, turning to her. “It's been twelve years since I spoke to anyone up here apart from you. No offense, Jane, but as hilarious and entertaining as you are, a little variety is always good.”

“I'll be outside,” she replied, clearly not happy even if she wasn't going to force the issue. “Just... be careful what you talk about, okay?”

“Gotcha,” Ben said with a wink, before leading Lucy into the office as Jane headed along the corridor. “So how's she doing?” he asked.

“Jane?” Lucy paused. “She's okay.”

“Come on, seriously.” He took some bullets from the case and began to reload his shotgun. “She's most definitely
not
okay.”

“She took over Alex's job,” Lucy told him. “She takes it very seriously, she's a lot better than him.”

“By which you mean she doesn't blame everything on passing vagrants?”

Lucy smiled. “Bowley's a pretty boring town. It's not like when there were all those murders when I was a kid.”

“Good.” He slung the shotgun over his shoulder. “There's nothing wrong with a bit of boring now and again. You should remember
that
when you head off to college in some big city. There's no reason to...” He paused, and then he sighed. “Ah, who am I kidding? You're a teenager. You're gonna make all the usual mistakes that teenagers make, and maybe you'll even invent some new ones. At least you won't have a place like the Border bubbling away beneath your feet, ready to swallow you up.”

“What
is
the Border?” she asked.

“A dark place that isn't going to cause any more problems. I'm nearly at the lowest level, I have to be. If it goes much deeper, I'm gonna end up in...” He caught himself just in time. “It's huge,” he continued. “That place down there defies all belief. If I even began to describe it to you, you'd think I'm nuts.”

“But do you really need to keep going?” she asked. “Maybe if we just seal it shut so no-one can ever head down there again, you can get on with your life?”