The Sixth Level (10 page)

"I don't think it works that way. Nothing ever stays the same."

"What else are you gonna do on a Saturday night?" he asked.

"I could play online scrabble?"

"We're friends okay?" Kenji reinforced. "No matter how big our throbbing biological urges get? Deal?"

I nodded my head. "Deal. Wait. Are you making some kind sick joke?"

"Nope. Not at all. Now can we never ever talk about this again? It’s just too damn awkward."

"Deal."

"OK, sweet."

"Yep. Sweet."

We climbed underneath his covers and he turned his bedside lamp off.

I could feel Kenji roll over, tucking his hands under his head. "Goodnight, Bec."

"Goodnight. Kenji."

I remembered I tried to get to sleep that night but I couldn’t. And I knew Kenji was wide awake as well. I could tell by his breathing. And I know it was a stupid little fight and it wasn’t even really that serious but it was exhausting and confusing.

And he’d said the ‘L word’. He said it in a roundabout way but he still said it.

A couple of weeks later he left without saying goodbye. I’ve always wondered if he already knew he was leaving. I wonder if that’s why he wanted me to sleep over. So we could spend what little time he had left at home together.

Daniel tapped me on the shoulder bringing me back to reality. "Hey, I almost forgot. I thought we would have to do this on the flight into Sydney but we’ve got time now."

"Time for what?"

"To introduce you to the Nuclear Biological Chemical suit. NBC suit for short. As the name suggests, it protects against nuclear, biological and chemical threats."

Daniel moved over to a foot locker. He removed a blackish grey one piece suit. It kind of resembled a full length wet suit with armor plates built into it.

He held it up. "It’s made from a combination of Kevlar and carbon fiber and some other things that I won’t go into right now."

"In English please."

"It’s bulletproof."

"Gotcha"

"Basically, it’s extremely strong, light as a feather and most importantly, it’s comfortable. But when it’s powered up, that’s when it gets interesting," he said with an excited smile on his face.

Boys and their toys, I thought.

He handed the suit to me. "Here, try it on."

"Um, do I need to strip down?"

"Nope, just put it on over your clothes."

I slid the suit on but it felt like it was maybe five sizes too big. I looked like the Michelin man. "Do you have a smaller size?"

"Press the button on the inside of the left wrist."

I pressed the button and the suit instantly shrunk and contoured to my body. It did wonders for my butt.

"It’s infused with a type of nano-technology which gives the wearer of the suit increased strength and power," Daniel said. "It’s got a battery life of about a week. Depending on what functions you use and how often you use them."

"So what functions does it have? What can it do?"

"Its weather proof, fire proof, blast proof. It’s got an inbuilt defibrillator so this baby can restart your heart if needed. It can even convert urine into water."

"Now that is just gross."

"Trust me, when you’re days away from water and you have a choice between drinking your own urine and dying, urine starts to taste pretty good."

"Does it?"

"No, it still tastes disgusting. But if you have a choice between dying, drinking urine, or drinking urine that has been converted into recycled and purified water, the recycled water is the just greatest thing in the world."

I could see his point.

"The suit also comes with a detachable smart helmet," he continued. "With built in comms and video. The helmet has a retractable face mask and breathing apparatus. We know the Oz virus is transmitted through blood and saliva but these will come in handy if the dust storm intensifies. Or if the weather patterns change and we need to protect ourselves against nuclear fallout."

"So there’s no fallout in Sydney at the moment?"

"Not according to our intelligence."

"And how do we know that’s accurate."

"Well, the truth is we don’t. So that’s why we’ve got the NBC suits."

I guess it was better to be prepared for the worst.

"So, what are the other features?" I asked.

"The coolest feature is the cloaking device."

"Cloaking device? You mean like, it can turn invisible?"

"Yeah. It’s the perfect camouflage. It has tiny, microscopic cameras built into the fabric of the suit. They take images of the surrounding area and display those images on even tinier screens that are also built into the suit. So it gives the overall impression of its surroundings. It gives the illusion of invisibility. The only down side is that it chews through the battery. So use it sparingly."

"Can we try it out now?"

"No. You need to save the battery. It’s almost go time."

"How do I know when it’s powered up?" I asked.

"It’s got a battery life reading there on your left wrist. That display panel is the main control center for the whole suit."

The display was about the size of a smart phone screen. In the top right hand corner was the battery reading. At the moment it said one hundred percent. In the middle of the screen were a number of pictures or symbols. I guess each one activated or controlled a different feature.

"What happens when the battery dies?" I asked.

"You lose power. You won't be able to use the cloaking device or the other life support systems."

"Is it still good to protect against radiation or biological threats?" I asked. "Is it still bullet proof?"

 
"Yeah it’s still bullet proof but all the other cool stuff needs power. But as long as there is oxygen reserves you can still use the smart helmet with the breathing apparatus."

I nodded as I checked myself out. I was starting to like the look and feel of it.

"One of the other cool functions of the NBC suit is the GPS."

"What’s that?" I asked as he took my left hand and pointed to the inside of my forearm.

"This is it here. It’s a Global Positioning System," he explained as he pointed to the display screen and pressed the little symbol that looked like a globe.

"Just in case something happens or you get lost or run off or whatever. You can find your way. And it’ll tell me where you are and you’ll know where we are at all times. So I’ll be able to keep tabs on you."

"Thanks," I said because I didn't know what else to say and I could feel myself blush as he touched my hand.

"Or you can turn it off, you know. If you want some alone time."

I laughed nervously. "No, that’s really OK. I don’t think I’d ever want to be alone here."

Daniel was about to say something but just then the laptops beeped and flashed to life.

Griffin and Smitty who had been keeping watch and walking the perimeter outside rushed back into the tent. "Something’s going on out there, man," Griffin said. "Lot of movement, lot of activity,"

"We can hear them howling," Smitty added. "Sounds like there’s more than last time."

Ethan moved over to the table and looked at the laptop monitors.

"What is it?" Ramirez asked.

Ethan swore under his breath. "They’re coming."

 

Chapter 9

 

Machine gun fire erupted outside. I looked around and did a head count. We were all here. Was someone else outside? Was someone shooting at us?

Ethan typed in a few commands on the small keypad. "Sentinels are running hot. Guns three and four tracking and firing on multiple targets."

"Jesus. How many are out there?" Griffin asked.

"Don’t know," Ethan replied

"Only guns three and four?" Ramirez asked.

"Yeah. They seem to be concentrating their attack."

The sentinels were firing on full automatic, unleashing their ammunition at anything and everything that moved. According to the readout on the computer monitors, each sentinel had a capacity of six hundred bullets. The counter display was rapidly approaching zero.

We were all standing around the laptops, mesmerized by the numbers and the grainy images of the surveillance cameras mounted on the guns.

It was hard to see anything clearly but every now and then an image of what looked like a large wolf became visible through the dust and smoke as the flash of the gunfire lit up the dark desert night.

"Targets twenty meters and closing. Guns three and four down fifty percent." Ethan said.

"They’re still coming!" Ramirez shouted.

The ammo counters continued to whirl downwards to zero. The howling of the wild dogs was clearly audible. I didn’t realize it at the time but I’d put my hands over my ears to block out the sound.

"God, would you listen to that? Griffin said. "How many are there?" he asked again.

"Too many," Ethan said. "Gun three is dry."

And according to the counter on the laptop, gun four was down to fifty rounds.

Thirty rounds.

Twenty.

Ten.

The gun was chewing threw ten rounds a second.

Griffin and Smitty grabbed their rifles. They were about to head out and provide covering fire. But then the firing from the remaining gun stopped abruptly. The grainy video image was a swirling wall of red dust and gun smoke. There were dark and twisted shapes, bones, and teeth and claws scattered throughout the image. But nothing was moving.

"Wait," Ramirez said. "They’ve stopped."

"Yeah, but look," Griffin said as he pointed to the laptop screen. "Gun four is down to ten rounds. Gun three is empty. If they attacked again in this spot, from this direction, they’ll break right through."

"They won’t attack the same place," Ethan said. "They’re testing the perimeter. They haven’t attacked the same place twice yet."

"How do you know that?"

"The last attack came from the south-west. This attack came from the north-west. They’re testing the perimeter. They’re trying to find a way in."

"They seem to be attacking in waves," Ramirez pointed out.

"How many do you think there are?" Smitty asked.

"Yeah this is goddamn ridiculous," Griffin said. "We only got so much ammo."

"We’ve still got the fence. It’s got plenty of juice running through it."

"Yeah but what happens when the generator runs out?"

"We’ll be long gone by then."

I swallowed hard as I remembered Daniel’s story about the target practice he used to do at the training facility. Shooting kangaroos and wild dogs and wild buffalo and wild boar. There must be millions of them out here. No one would know for sure. I tried to imagine what an infected buffalo would look like and whether or not a machine gun would be able to stop a whole herd if they charged at us. I wondered if the fence would be enough to stop something like that. Sure it was electrified but what if they could jump it? Or charge right through? What if the wild dogs could dig underneath it?

"We better get out there and reload the sentinels before we go." Daniel said

"Do you think it’s safe out there?" I asked. And as soon as I asked the question, as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how stupid it was.

Of course it wasn't safe.

But I think everyone just ignored me, chalked it up to me being a dumb civilian teenage girl, someone who had no real business being in this hostile place. I guess it was kind of funny that they needed me more than any piece of state of the art weapon or technology. Well, maybe not funny but definitely ironic.

Ethan pressed a button on the laptop which enlarged the image from the surveillance cameras on the sentinels. He looked at the dark pictures for a while. He pressed a few buttons that flicked between infra red and night vision.

When he switched to the night vision mode we could clearly see the aftermath. There were a frightening number of carcasses on the ground. Some of them disturbingly close.

We all held our breath as the camera slowly scanned back and forth. We were waiting, watching to see if there were any more coming. But there were none.

"Time to go," Ethan said after a few minutes.

He said it real quietly, almost whispered it. But his voice resonated throughout the tent.

 

Chapter 10

 

We finished suiting up. I think it was around 3am, the dead of night. The female NBC suit seemed to show off and accentuate what little curves I already had which was kind of off putting for me. But on the plus side I did feel maybe a little indestructible.

To demonstrate just how strong the suits were, Griffin had Smitty hit him in the chest plate with the butt of his rifle as hard as he could. He absorbed the impact with a huge smile on his face. He didn't grimace, he didn't even flinch.