Fire and ice

10:45 a.m

Matt drove the forklift as fast as it would go. He’d covered about half the distance to Waterbase when the battery died. The lift rolled to a stop, and Matt got off and started limping toward the tanks. Every step shot blue spears of electric pain up his leg and into his spine. When he got close enough, he saw Shelly forty feet in the air, dangling from one of the water pipes near the ceiling. She was making her way, arm-over-arm, to one of the ventilation fans.

There was enough light shining through the opening for Matt to see her face, which looked like something exhumed from a graveyard.

Matt hobbled to one of the forklifts plugged in by the wall, unplugged the charging cable, put the lift in reverse, swung around, and knocked four empty drums off an oak pallet with the forks. He picked up the pallet, positioned the lift under where Shelly was hanging, and raised the platform. He wanted to knock her off the pipe and onto the pallet. Then he would lower the fork and deal with her on the ground. He had to stop her from leaving the plant. If she made it outside, there was no telling what she might do.

Except that people would die.

Shelly looked down and saw the pallet rising toward her. She was only a few feet from the fan now, and she sped up her actions.

“You’re too late,” she said.

The pallet was about two feet from her when she made it to the fan. She held on to the pipe with one hand and yanked the grate off with the other. The grate fell to the floor, and Shelly climbed into the opening. Matt rammed the wooden platform toward the fan, but Shelly was inside the cylindrical housing now and the pallet was too fat to reach her.

“Shelly, I want you to-”

“You want to fuck me as long as it’s convenient for you-then you want me to smile and wave good-bye when you’re tired of me,” Shelly said. “Too bad I don’t give a shit what you want. I’m going to do what I want for once.”

“And what’s that?”

“Your ax is in my car,” she said. “Maybe I’ll try chopping wood. Chopping something, anyway.”

She started laughing, an insane cackle Matt hadn’t heard before, and then she was gone.

But then he saw Mr. Dark sitting on one of the pipes, his feet dangling over the side, sipping his martini.

“Oh, yes, this is much more fun,” Mr. Dark said.