But the Children Survived (13 page)

At that moment, George remembered the curse Margaret DeMorte had talked about.  He thought about Alice, about his children, and about his lonely life and wondered if Margaret had found out what he was doing with her Mortevida plants.  Maybe she had a native fulfill her promise of a curse.  Maybe that's why George was so miserable and why he’d been such a terrible husband and father. 

George opened the latch on the freezer and saw the insulated lunch bag.  The bag was stuck to the ice.  George opened it and removed his babies.  They were frozen solid.  They had been in that bag for 22 years.  He shuffled to his kitchen table and placed them in the center.  He put the napkin holder on one side and the salt and pepper shakers on the other so that if they tilted they wouldn’t fall down.   

George felt dizzy and weak and tried to sit down.  He didn't make it to the chair.  He collapsed onto his knees and then fell over. 

Becky found him in that position when she came by that weekend.  George had had a massive stroke that killed him instantly.  As she was rolling him over, his body pushed the table, knocking the babies over, causing them to roll to the floor where they broke into a million pieces.  Becky fell like a stone as the poison entered her brain through her nose, killing her instantly.

*****

Within days the population of New Mexico was decimated, with other states going down fast.  One by one, state after state fell in the wake of George’s babies.  There was no panic because people died so suddenly. Relatives separated by miles didn't know anything had happened to their loved ones as they too succumbed to the aggressive poison.  No news anchors were left to report about it.  People would be out shopping and drop where they stood.  Bodies littered the streets and shopping areas. Office buildings were full of rotting corpses. 

Soon, there was no one left in the continental United States. Within days of removing them from their safe hold, George’s babies had ended all life in North America save for group people in a Florida biosphere, a bug-eyed terrier, and several very special children.

 
Chapter 16

The Wilmer Biosphere, Palm Harbor, Florida

Mindy ran through the “city” looking for Mark.  She hadn’t seen him at breakfast or in the library.  She had looked in the store and had even gone to the field.  Now she was headed for his house.  She stopped for Baby Girl to give the dog some exercise. 

As they approached Mark’s house, Mindy looked around to see if anybody was watching.  The girls didn’t know about her relationship with Mark and she didn’t want them to tease her.  When she was sure no one was around, she went to his door and knocked.  There was no answer.  She turned the knob.  The door opened, and she and Baby Girl went inside. 

Mark wasn’t there, but his bed was messed up.  Mindy looked in the bathroom and found towels all over the floor. 

"Slob,” said Mindy out loud.  Baby Girl wagged her tail in agreement.  But it did look like he’d taken a shower that morning. 

Mindy walked to the kitchen.  There were no dishes in the sink, just lots of snack wrappers in the trash bin.  Wherever Mark had gone, he was full and clean.

"Well, Baby Girl, I think I have to do this by myself.  I think we should go find a grown-up.” 

Mindy and Baby Girl left Mark’s house and walked toward the cafeteria.  She saw Andrew sitting on a chair in the cafeteria drinking coffee and reading a magazine he had picked up on one of his runs.  All items brought back had to go through the decontamination chamber, so the magazine was all wrinkled.  Mindy slowed down as she approached him. 

She had never talked to Andrew before, but Mindy knew he’d been one of the men who found her.  She knew she shouldn’t like him for that reason alone, but Andrew was always playing with the kids and he seemed really nice.  She just couldn’t bring herself to dislike him.

"Andrew,” said Mindy.  Andrew looked up from his magazine and smiled. 

“Hi,” he said. 

His smile seemed to light up his whole face. “You’re the little girl with the dog.  What can I do for ya?” 

"I was wondering.” Mindy held her hands behind her back and looked upward.  She bit her lower lip, rolled her eyes, and then looked at Andrew.  “I wanted to know, well, do you think you could show me the outside?” 

Andrew frowned.  He wasn’t sure what she was asking.

"The outside of what?  You mean the outside of this facility?”  Mindy nodded her head.  Her short waves bounced up and down.

"I can’t take you outside, sweetie.  They’d never allow it.  And besides, you’d have to go through decontamination, and that sucks.”

"But I
really
want to go outside,” Mindy said, just short of whining.  She put her hand on Andrew’s arm to show how sincerely she wanted to go outside.

Andrew stifled a grin.  He made his most serious face.

"There’s no way we’re going outside.”

 Mindy lowered her forehead and squinted her eyes to show her disapproval.  She made her deepest frown. 

"But I really miss being out there.  Please, please take me outside.”  She was whining now and getting on Andrew’s nerves. 

"Look, what if I show you around the whole facility, all the places in the biosphere?  In the animal room there’s a screen that shows you what the pasture looks like.  It’s just like being outside.  What do you say I take you there?” 

Mindy thought for a minute.  If he took her to every room, she could imagine what it must look like from the outside.  She could ask a lot of questions and figure out the lay of the land that way. 

 "Okay,” she said, nodding her head. 

Andrew got up from the table and put his coffee cup in the trash.  He folded up his wrinkled magazine and put it in the long leg pocket in his jumpsuit.  Then they headed back toward the field with Baby Girl in tow.

*****

Mark had gotten up early that morning.  He was excited about the prospect of leaving this place and he wanted to get a jump on the research necessary to do it.  He showered and stuffed a couple of bags of chips in his mouth, downed a can of soda, and left his house.  He headed for the field but at the last minute changed his mind.  It was very early, no later than 6 a.m., so no one was around.  He turned instead towards the stairs leading up to the labs on the top floor. 

He climbed the stairs quietly.  He decided that if anyone found him going up the stairs he would just say he was trying to get some exercise.  He got to the top and walked toward the metal doors leading to the labs.  He quietly opened the doors and listened.  When he didn’t hear anything, he entered the hallway and gently closed the door behind him. 

He tiptoed down the hallway.  He noticed the labs were empty, so he kept walking until he got to the first chamber.  The double doors were sealed shut.  Mark knew the button on the right side wall would open those doors, but he didn’t know if it would sound some sort of alarm.  He couldn’t remember from when they’d brought him in here because he’d been too pissed off and fighting instead of looking around.  Now he wished he’d paid more attention. 

Finally, he decided to take a chance and hit the button.  The doors slid open.  No alarm sounded, so Mark entered the first chamber and hit the button on that side of the wall.  When that door closed tightly, he went to the next set of doors and repeated the process. 

Finally, at the last chamber, he was standing underneath the hatchway to the outside.  He knew that if he went outside, he would have to undergo decontamination, at least if he wanted to come back in for Mindy.  He would have to decide what he wanted to do once he got out. 

Mark climbed up the ladder until he could touch the hatchway cover.  There was a button to his left that opened the hatchway.  Mark pushed it.  The hatch lifted slowly until it was standing straight up. 

Mark stuck his head out the hatchway hole and looked around.  It was a beautiful summer day.  The sun was shining, and it must have rained because the grass glistened and the ground was moist.  Mark continued to climb out of the hatch. 

As he stood on the ground surrounded by nothing but air, Mark felt exhilarated.  He looked to his right and saw the trucks the crew used to bring supplies to the facility.  He turned around and saw that there was nothing in the back except a long empty field and woods.  The woods surrounded the property. 

There was only one road going in and out.  The road ran through the woods.  Mark headed for the road.  He wanted to see how long it was and where he would come out at the end of it.  He got to the road and walked away from the trucks toward the woods. 

Mark walked for about a mile before the end of the road.  He kept going for about another half mile.  When he emerged from woods he found himself standing on an access road leading to U.S. 19 North.  There was a sign reading “Palm Harbor 2.”  Mark had to make a decision.  Would he just start walking, or would he go back and get Mindy and Baby Girl? 

It would be so much easier to just go.  The responsibility of a girl and dog seemed overwhelming to the 10-year-old boy.  But he did like the idea of company, and Mindy was different from any other girl he’d ever known.  But then again, Mark hadn’t known any other girls.  He hesitated for several minutes before deciding to turn around and head back to the facility.

Before heading into the biosphere, Mark walked toward the end of the facility.  He walked quite a ways before he found the other hatchway door. 

To his right was a large fenced-in pasture where the skeletal remains of animals lay roasting in the Florida sun.  Mark wondered how they got there.  There were big ones and small ones.  There was a huge panel built into the ground that must have opened up to let them out.  It was sealed tightly, but there were cameras mounted next to the panel, so whoever was inside could keep an eye on the pasture. 

Mark also wandered toward the woods.  He broke off branches of bushes and trees as he entered the woods so he could find his way back out.  He was not more than a quarter mile in when he saw a clearing ahead. 

In the clearing he saw several wind towers, their blades mounted high above the top of the woods.  There were also solar panels mounted on tall towers.

"So this is how they get their power,” Mark said out loud.  He turned to the right and saw another clearing not far into the woods.  Mark walked towards it.  When he reached the edge of that clearing, he saw mounted in the middle, the biggest satellite dish he’d ever seen.

"So that’s how they found us.” 

Mark couldn’t wait to tell Mindy what he’d found.

*****

Mindy and Andrew entered the door leading to the field. 

"The door to the animal room is this way.”  Andrew turned to the right and Mindy followed.  When they went through the door, the smell almost knocked Mindy over. 

"Ugh, what is that?” she said, holding her nose.

"We still have chickens here, and we never finished the filtering system so we can’t open the vents just yet.  But since the chickens are the only ones in here, it’s not too bad.”

 Andrew went down the stairs that led into the animal room.  Mindy reluctantly followed.  She wanted to see as much of it as she could, especially the screen that showed the outside.  They came to the bottom of the stairs and Mindy noticed a row of empty pens. 

"There used to be cows and sheep in there,” Andrew was saying.

"What happened to them?” Mindy asked.

"Gerald left them outside and they all died.  Dumbass.”

Mindy’s eyebrows shot up.  Andrew looked at her face.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget about kids’ delicate ears.”

 He walked over to the chicken coops and said hi to the chickens.  The chickens were clucking happily and scratching the ground.  Their pens were wide open affairs built with plenty of room for each hen.  They had access to grass in the front and a trough of water to the right.  There were 20 hens and three roosters.  Andrew was leaning over the fence and poking a rooster.

"Lucky dogs.”  He said with a smile.  “I wish I had those odds.”

"Odds for what?”  Mindy was looking up at Andrew. 

"The odds of having a date with 6 different women every week.”  Andrew smiled. He pointed to the roosters.  “That’s Sakima, Buster, and Jackson.”

They walked over to the wall, where a panel had been built leading outside.  There was about a half mile between the chicken coops and the outside wall.  That would have allowed plenty of room for the cows and sheep to wander.

When they got to the wall Andrew pointed out the screen.  Mindy had already seen it.  She looked at the trees blowing in the soft breeze and could also see the corpses of the animals. 

"Why didn’t anybody bury them?”  Mindy looked sad.

"Because we couldn’t see any point in it.  The sun is doing a good job of returning them to the earth.  Besides, we were so messed up that first week, we never thought of it.  Then Gerry found Maria Elena and that gave us something else to do.” 

Mindy didn’t like to look at the animals.  She and Baby Girl headed back towards the chickens. 

"What’s out there?”  Mindy pointed to the back of the animal room.

"That’s where Calvin lives.”

"Where else can we go?”  She was looking up again at Andrew. 

"You know, there is a place we can go.  And there is something there that you’ll really like.  Do you want to invite some friends to come too?” 

Mindy thought for a minute. 

"Yeah, I’ll have to go find them.” 

They walked up the stairs and out of the farm area back into the city to find Maria Elena, Katie, and Alyssa.  If they saw Mark along the way, they would bring him too.

*****