Deluge: The Conqueror Worms II

CHAPTER 70

Henry grabbed the edge of the desk as the floor bucked and trembled beneath his feet. A deep, sonorous groan echoed from outside, followed by the sound of screeching metal. The tower shook harder, dislodging gear and hardware from the shelves. Items crashed to the tiles and rolled toward him. Henry cried out, terrified, but Sarah’s reaction was quite different. Her screams abruptly turned into laughter.

She’s snapped, he thought, as the ranger station shook harder. The sound of breaking glass came from somewhere over his head, but Henry squeezed his eyes shut, too afraid to look. Sarah’s gone crazy. That must be it. But so fast! What the hell am I gonna do now?

Then, just as suddenly as they’d started, the tremors stopped. Henry didn’t loosen his grip on the desk. He feared it would start all over again if he did. The only sound, other than his breathing, was Sarah giggling. And the rain. Always the rain.

“Do it again, Henry,” she said. “Make it go again!”

“It wasn’t me, Sarah. I reckon it’s the mold. We’ve seen how it turns everything into water. Figure it’s doing the same thing to the station. We can’t stay here.”

“We’ll be okay,” she said. Her voice was clear and confident. Gone was any trace of insanity. “Kevin will be here soon.”

“Kevin? Sarah… Kevin’s dead. You know that. You told me that you shot him yourself, because he was turning into one of them.”

“He’ll be here,” she insisted. “He’s in the helicopter, with Salty. They’ll be along any minute.”

Henry took a deep breath. Letting go of the desk, he stepped toward her. “Sarah, we’re alone here. Well, except for Earl and them others. Don’t you remember?”

And then someone spoke behind Henry, making a liar out of him. Henry yelped in surprise. Spinning around, he saw that the station was empty, except for him and Sarah.

“Who’s there? Come on out, god damn you!”

“My name is Steven Kazmirski. I’m here with my wife, Nahed Shahabi, and our Himalayan cat, Burman.”

“The radio,” Henry yelled, feeling foolish. “It’s the radio.”

He wondered for a moment what had become of the previous broadcaster, Sylva. The man had been infected. Had he finally succumbed? Henry glanced back at Sarah. She seemed calm now, though her eyes had a glazed look. She too was listening. Henry turned his attention back to the speaker.

“…left the John Hancock Tower and rowed over here in the darkness. We didn’t want to use the boat’s motor or spotlight, because we didn’t want to attract predators. There were a lot of corpses in the water. They… bumped into…”

The signal faded. Henry cursed, tensing, until it came back again after a short burst of static.

“…have stayed in California. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, though. But we moved cross the country to Newton. We liked it there, especially with Nahed being pregnant. But then the rain… major pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, just across the Charles River. I solve protein structures with potential drug compounds… Nahed attended…”

There was a particularly long burst of static. Frantic, Henry ran over to the ham radio set, staring at the controls and wondering which one to use. Then the speaker returned. The signal seemed weaker.

“…the Prudential Building… Sylva’s last communication was twelve hours ago. We came… dead. I had to shoot him three times. His last… for his son, Alex, whom I believe he mentioned several times during his broadcasts. I only wish our boat had washed up on our tower sooner, so I could have helped Sylva and his friends before the disease… am sure… my biochemistry and drug development background. If I can learn more about how it spreads… if the white fuzz is fungal, alien, or bacterial, but it’s certainly alive, and therefore contains different proteins… obtain a pure sample of a protein that’s essential in the machinery that replicates the white fuzz’s DNA, then I could stop it with drugs. If the DNA can’t replicate… can’t grow, so I’ll collect fungus samples and extract the protein… using gravity… chromatography columns. Then… add the drug… either a small chemical molecule or a bio-molecule that’s been purified… once … the drug complex to crystallize, I could have a potential cure within a week.”

“You hear this, Sarah? It’s gonna be okay. This fella on the radio says he can stop the fungus!”

“I want to know,” Sarah sang, “who’ll stop the rain?”

“One thing at a time, I reckon,” Henry muttered.

“…need an X-ray generator… university, pharmaceutical company, or government lab that’s not underwater. I’ve heard that the Havenbrook facility in Pennsylvania is still functioning… try for that. I’ll also need power to run… for the math and structure viewing. If Havenbrook doesn’t have electricity, I can always rig up some gas generators… with a baby on the way… I’m doing everything possible to ensure my family’s protect… but I’m itchy and my skin feels funny… the cat has been hissing at me…”

“He’s got it,” Henry whispered, feeling his heart sink. “This poor guy has it, too.”

Sarah began to sing louder, punctuating the chorus with sobs and laughter. Henry felt like doing the same.