The Hole (16 page)

“Did things just get better, or worse?” Janet asked.

Bill didn’t reply. He led them back into the bar and closed the door.

* * *

Ellen Simmons stood slumped against the wall, hands up to fend off the people crowded around her, all throwing questions, none waiting for an answer. Her face was white, her eyes red and wet. She’d been crying, and looked ready to start in again at any moment.

“Give us space,” Janet shouted. “She needs my help.”

Still nobody moved, not until Bill waded in and started shouting. Seconds later the space was clear. She led the woman to a corner table in the bar and Bill kept the rest away. The head wound was the first priority. Janet carefully unwound the sodden bandages. The scalp wound underneath looked nasty, but it had already coagulated, and after she cleaned it up, looked to have little chance of further bleeding if Ellen could be kept still for long enough.

“What happened, Ellen?” she asked.

The other woman didn’t answer. Her hands shook, and her lip trembled. She tried to speak, but nothing came out except a strangled moan.

“Charlie,” Janet shouted. “We could do with some hard liquor over here.”

Charlie took her at her word and arrived a minute later with two large measures of whiskey.

“It’s a mite early in the morning,” he said. “But my mother always said, a little of what you fancy does you the power of good.”

Ellen Simmons looked up and almost managed a smile.

“I knew your mother,” she said. “She whipped my ass for sassing her when I was no more than a slip of a girl. We could do with more like her with us here today.”

She took the whiskey and knocked it back in one smooth gulp. Then she burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, Janet. I really am. I got those others killed. It was all my fault.”

That was the only coherent sentence she uttered in the next five minutes. She drank most of Janet’s whiskey too, and then lapsed into heaving sobs as Janet applied a fresh bandage to the head wound. She didn’t look up when Janet patted her on the shoulder and left her to her grief. Several people started to move towards the older woman, as if intent on asking further questions.

“Leave her be,” Janet said, possibly more sharply than she’d intended to. “She needs to rest.”

To her surprise every one of them went back to their tables, leaving Ellen Simmons sobbing in the corner. After pausing to make sure they stayed where they’d retreated to, Janet joined the sheriff by the window. He didn’t take his gaze off the activity outside.

“What are they doing?” she asked.

He didn’t turn.

“What they said they would. Setting up a field camp. They’ve got all kinds of scientific kit, and the big trailer looks like a field lab to me. Ain’t seen a single one without a HAZMAT suit on—or one without a weapon. Whatever they think is happening, they think it’s
still
happening.”

I’m pretty sure I agree with them on that one.

Once again she saw the anger in the sheriff, the need for action.

It’s eating him up, being locked in here.

“They know what they’re doing, Bill,” she said softly.

“Killing my town, that’s what they’re doing,” Bill replied. She moved to stand by his side, and finally saw why he hadn’t turned. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

She reached up to brush them away but he gently stopped her.

“Don’t,” he said, quietly so only she would hear. “Don’t let them know,”

She nodded, and put her hand down.

“I feel useless,” Bill said. “Stuck in here while the town goes to hell outside. What kind of sheriff does that make me?”

She moved closer to him, nose to nose, and spoke in a whisper, making sure he would read the anger in her eyes.

“Don’t you dare,” Janet said. “Self-pity doesn’t fit you. You kept all these people alive last night. And we’re all looking to you for more of the same. If you
dare
to turn pussy on us now, I’ll kick your ass from here to California.”

That got her a smile.

It’s a start.

“So, man up, and get with the program, big guy,” she said. “These folks here are scared. And you’re the sheriff. It’s your job to get them out of this. What’s the plan?”

As she’d known it would, her barbs were enough to sting him into action. The sheriff looked her in the eye, kissed her full on the mouth, and turned to face the room.

“You all know who’s out there,” he said, loud enough for all to hear. “And you all know we ain’t got much time for feds in this neck of the woods. But Doc here says that they know what they’re doing, so we’ll let them do their job. But I want you all to be ready to move fast if we need to. If another collapse starts, I want to be able to get out of its way. Are you with me on that?”

Everyone seemed to agree, and the arrival of the CDC had calmed some of those who seemed a little anxious. But there were many that only managed blank stares, and some had even gone back to sleep.

Janet was reminded of film of disaster victims; blank stares, bandages, and a siege mentality.

And that’s just what we are now. Victims. Maybe later we’ll be survivors. But I’ve got a feeling there’s a way to go yet before then.

* * *

“So what now?” Charlie asked. He poured himself another beer as he spoke, but Big Bill took it off him before he could start in on it and downed almost half of it in a single gulp.

“Now, you and I get some breakfast sorted out for these folks. It might be a long day, and a while before we get a square meal inside us. There’ll be plenty of time for drinking later.”

“Is that a promise?” Charlie said with a smile, but he gave the sheriff another salute, and followed as Janet and Bill went back through to the kitchen and checked out the contents of the store cupboards.

It was obvious they were not equipped for a long stay. The coffee at hand was enough for a couple of days, but by the time everyone had a breakfast the bread, milk and eggs would be mostly gone. The sheriff looked worried.

“I hope these CDC folks have a plan for feeding us, or moving us out, or both.”

They rustled up a rudimentary breakfast of eggs and the last of a chunk of baloney, with as much coffee and toast as they could muster, and fed everyone that felt like eating. To Janet’s dismay some of the folks didn’t leave their seats, just sat, staring listlessly into space.

They’re close to giving up. It’s just too much for them to handle.

After eating, some of the more mobile of the patients started to get agitated again.

“Come on, Bill. Do something,” one of them said.

And Ellen Simmons, despite her ordeal of the night before, seemed to be getting back her spunk.

“If you don’t get something moving, I will,” she said to the sheriff.

Bill didn’t answer, but Charlie laughed at her, which didn’t help matters any.

“Go right ahead, Ellen. You got three folks killed last night. Want to try for more this time?”

Janet was afraid that Ellen might indeed march out the door and start making demands of the CDC, but it was a scenario they didn’t have to worry about just yet, for before the woman could decide one way or the other, the CDC announced they were ready to begin.

* * *

It started with a knock on the door, so polite that Janet almost laughed out loud.

“Invite them in,” Charlie shouted. “We can make some lunch and have a nice chat.”

Bill answered the door. Two men, both of them carrying automatic rifles, stood outside.

“We’re ready for you in the main trailer,” one said. “One at a time, please.”

“And what if we’re not ready for
you?
” Bill asked. He got no reply, but both men tightened their grips on their weapons.

“We’re ready for you,” the other man said, his intent clear.

“And I don’t suppose you’re about to tell us what you’re ready
for?
” Bill asked.

“Just some simple tests. No one will come to any harm.”

Bill laughed in their faces.

“You ain’t been paying much attention, have you, boy?”

Janet saw the man’s grip tighten on his weapon.

This could get ugly.

She stepped forward to Bill’s side.

“I’ll go first,” she said.

Bill shook his head.

“You’re needed here,” Bill replied. “The wounded are looking to you…”

“Which is why I have to go first,” she said. “I need to show them there’s nothing to worry about.”

Bill wasn’t happy with her decision, but she knew he’d see the sense of it. And she had another reason for going first. She hoped she would be able to reason with the CDC scientific and medical staff, and get them to investigate the more outlandish of the previous night’s events.

As it turned out, she was only partially successful.

* * *

The two suited men escorted her the short distance across the parking area.

She saw three other suited figures inside the parked school bus, obviously taking samples and readings. She didn’t get a chance for a closer look as they led her into the largest trailer of the three that had come up the road. One of her guards motioned that she should get inside. She stepped up into what proved to a laboratory a modest town doctor could only dream of having access to. Even a cursory examination of the gleaming surfaces and the kit that sat on them told her that many millions of dollars had been spent just in this one trailer.

Another suited figure was inside waiting for her.

“Come and sit down, Doctor,” a soft female voice said. “This won’t take long.”

Janet couldn’t see much of the woman’s face through the visor, just blue eyes and a thin nose.

“And who might you be?”

“I’m Dr. Mullins. You’ve met the general, he’s in charge of the security side of things. I’ve been landed with making sense of the science.”

“I can help you there,” Janet started. “You need to check down in the mines and…”

Mullins put up a hand.

“We can’t act on anything you might tell us,” she said. “Your perceptions can’t be trusted in this kind of situation. As a doctor you know that?”

“But this is important…”

“And I’m sure you believe it. But last night we heard stories of Bigfoot, aliens, witches, ghosts, zombies, chupacabra and gremlins. All you’d be doing is adding another delusion to those we’ve already heard.”

The import of what had just been said hit Janet just as she was about to complain.

“Last night? You talked to other townspeople?”

“Some,” Mullins said. “We’ve managed to rescue a few people. They’ve all suffered some kind of breakdown, leaving them all with severe delusions. I suspect some kind of hallucinogen to be involved, given just how outlandish the stories seem.”

“Those
stories
have a hint of truth to them if you’d only…”

The doctor sighed.

“Please. Just let me do my job?”

Janet started to reply, then thought better of it, seeing the futility of even trying. She let the scientist get on with it. Over the next twenty minutes she gave blood, stool, skin, urine, and hair samples. Small patches of material were snipped off her clothes, soil was scraped from the soles of her shoes, and no notice whatsoever was taken of anything she had to say.

“Just promise me that you’ll keep an open mind,” she said to Mullins once all of the prodding, poking and jabbing was done.

“That’s also my job,” the scientist said. “Trust me, we’ll get to the bottom of this quickly. In the meantime, we’ll assess your wounded as they come in. We’ll quarantine any we think need more treatment than you can give them. Tell them not to worry. All of our equipment is state-of-the-art, and all of us have been trained specifically for situations like this.”

I doubt there have ever been any other situations like this one.

“And the collapses?” Janet asked. “How do they fit into these
situations
you’ve been trained for?”

Even through the protective visor, Janet saw the first flicker of worry in the scientist’s eyes.

“We have geologists looking into it,” she said. “They’re probably down there in one of the holes right now.”

Down there, and if I’m right, in mortal peril. But I’ll never get this woman to believe it. Not until she sees it for herself.

Janet decided to try a different tack.

“Would it be possible to see the quarantine area? If I see you’re looking after folks properly, it’ll make it easier for me to sell the idea on to those in the bar.”

Mullins nodded.

“I can see the sense in that,” she said. She turned her head inside her helmet and activated a comms device with her tongue.