Stranger

Fifty-three

Wherever Phoenix was in the bunker he worked the camera control. On TV I saw the image expand to fill the screen. I heard Zak and Tony breathe in sharply, as if taken by surprise. I found myself staring hard, feeling an electric shiver run up my backbone as my eyes took in a figure behind Phoenix. A girl of around twenty sat with her back to the wall. Dark hair with odd apple-red tints poured down over one shoulder. Her skin had an amber glistening appearance, as if she’d poured olive oil all over herself. Her eyes were lightly closed. She seemed to be dozing with her back to the wall, her knees raised upward. One open hand rested lightly on her knee, palm upward, fingers slightly curled. She was entirely naked.

Phoenix’s voice came over the speakers in a breathy whisper. “The hive changed when you left. Its color deepened to crimson. It began pulsating as if it became agitated. Then a couple of days later I woke to find that the membrane had ruptured, releasing the fluid onto the floor.”

“You’re making it sound like a birth, Phoenix.”

“That’s exactly what it was… Later I found her wandering ’round the corridors.”

“You sure she came out of the hive? I mean, she isn’t someone from the outside?”

“Sure she’s from the hive. This place is locked down tight. Not even a bug could creep in here without me knowing.”

I looked at the close-up of the girl’s sleeping face. You could even see individual lashes resting on her cheeks, while her black eyebrows formed two slender arches above her eyes. A lock of dark hair hung down over her forehead.

“So you’ve got yourself company, Phoenix,” I said at last. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“You’ve got to help me, Valdiva. She won’t let me out of here.”

“Come on, Phoenix; she can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.”

“I-I can’t explain it, but she’s got into my head somehow. She makes me do things…”

Tony caught my eye and touched his temple. Nuts.

“Yeah, don’t forget I see you, too, guys. I’m not in-sane. This is for real. She can get inside my head. It’s like sleepwalking.” Phoenix sounded agitated. “I black out and find I’ve sealed all the doors to the command center. Then I find I’ve opened the outer door to let those crazy bastards in. I mean, what the goddam fuck’s going on? I can’t stop myself… I feel like my head’s gonna explode. And all she does is sit there for hours and hours. She doesn’t move. She doesn’t even look at me. Jesus Christ, I’m-”

“Phoenix! Has she said anything to you?”

“No…” He took a breath to steady himself. “No.

Not one word. Like I said, she can reach into my skull… Please, it’s freaking me out, man. I want out of here.”

“Phoenix-”

“She’s really scaring me. I know that makes me sound yellow, but she gets inside my head, and I see what she sees. Then I remember what it’s like to be in the hive. I see myself in all that pink shit… It feels like I’m drowning… and-and I’m hungry all the time. I’m so fucking hungry I feel as if my guts are going to explode. Jesus, guys, it’s a nightmare… a fucking nightmare.” Phoenix’s face suddenly ballooned onto the screen, the eyes huge and pleading. “You’ve got to do something! Please, Valdiva. I saved your neck twice. You owe me. A blood debt, you understand? You’ve got to stop her doing this to me.”

I watched the screen as he backed away, his face shrinking back into focus. Behind him the naked woman sat on the floor. During the man’s panicky rant she never moved a finger. The hand still remained there limply palm up, like someone waiting for the first drop of rain on a summer’s day.

Meanwhile Phoenix whispered over and over to him-self, “I gotta get out of here. I gotta. I can’t take it any more. Please, man, I can’t take any more… please, please…”

“Phoenix, just open the doors and walk out of there.”

“I can’t, I can’t, she won’t let me.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t you hear me right, Valdiva? She’s screwed’round with my head. I’ve tried… I get up to walk to the keypad. But then…” He clicked his fingers. “I’m sitting back here again. It’s like being trapped in a dream.”

Zak spoke in a cold voice. “Kill her.”

“You don’t think I haven’t tried? Jesus H. Christ, I must have tried a thousand times. But the moment I move toward her I black out and find myself back here in this fucking chair again. Listen to me, she’s inside my head. She works me like I work this damn computer.”

“Why do you think she’s allowing you to speak to us now?”

“I don’t know… I don’t think she- it! -is fully formed. It needs to stay here until it’s ready to leave.”

“So why did she allow you to save us from the hornets? Surely she knows we must be a threat.”

“Sure she knows all about you.” Phoenix gave a grim laugh. “I’d wager she’s hearing and seeing you right now. Either through my ears and eyes or in some way I know shit about… What do you say to that, guys?”

“So why save us from her bodyguard?”

“Valdiva, you still don’t get it, do you, man? Are you deliberately being stupid or what?” Phoenix lurched forward to fill the shot again. His eyes blazed out from the TV screen. “Valdiva, you and she are the same. You are both the product of the hive… Am I getting through? You… are… both… from… the… fucking… hive.”

“That again, Phoenix? You are insane.”

“List the facts, Valdiva. You’ve been in close contact with hornets, so that means you were probably infected months ago. You’re the only person we know of that instinctively knows when a person is infected… your two pals there can back me up on that one, hey, guys?” He steamed on, speaking faster. “When you were on the run from the things you say you fell sick. Only you didn’t remember what happened exactly because you were unconscious for weeks. Now, how can anyone survive in a coma for weeks without expert medical care?”

“My mother and sister took care of me.”

“You bet they did.” Phoenix glared through the TV screen, so close one eye filled it. Red veins crazed the glistening white. “You were hive, Valdiva. And Mom and sis procured men and women and children for you to feed on, just like I did with this one.” He jerked his head back at the girl.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“Am I? Look at the hair, the color of her skin. They’re just the same as yours.” He gave a triumphant snort. “Now that’s what I call a family likeness.”

I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the voice. “Phoenix, it’s not true. I was sick, that’s all.” I glanced at Tony and Zak; they returned my gaze, but there was something uneasy about it.

Phoenix ranted on. “You were just like this thing in here, Valdiva. And when your Mom and sister outlived their usefulness you just wished them dead… and they died… That’s what these monsters can do, Valdiva.” He stopped, but his breathing continued loudly over the speaker. “But I don’t care about that now. I don’t care if you two become the new Adam and Eve and repopulate the world with a master race… because all I want is out.” His voice broke. “I’ve had enough of this stinking, rotten nightmare… I can’t take it anymore. Really, I can’t.”

There was a pause. No one spoke as his breathing echoed in the lounge. I gestured to Zak to pass me the backpack. Pulling back the zipper, I saw two sticks of dynamite taped together with a length of fuse. For a moment I planned blasting through the doors into Phoenix’s communications center. But the doors were too thick. This little bundle of explosive wouldn’t do it.

Phoenix’s voice rasped dryly, “So how you going to help me, Valdiva? Or are we going to sit here and watch each other until doomsday?”

I closed the backpack so he wouldn’t see the dynamite through his spy cameras.

“Phoenix, how are we going to get in there to help you?”

“I told you, I can’t open the doors. She won’t let me.”

“There’s got to be a way in. Ventilation ducts?”

“Too small. Unless you can shrink yourself to the size of a mouse.”

“Any hatches? Emergency exits?”

“None. If this burns I’d fry.”

He sounded weary now. On screen I saw him shoot anxious looks at the naked girl. “You have to hurry, Valdiva. I think she’s waking up.”

“You’ve got to give me some help here, Phoenix. Think, old buddy; is there any other access to that room?”

“None at all. No… wait… there’s one of those little elevators… what d’ya call them? Dumbwaiters; that’s it. There’s a dumbwaiter over there in the wall.”

“What’s it for?”

“What do you think? People working down here’d still have to eat even during a nuclear war. If they were too busy to leave, someone would send them down food to eat while they watched the US of A flame out on the screens.”

“Where does the dumbwaiter come down from?”

“The kitchen. Right next to the room you’re in… but wait.. . you don’t think you’re somehow gonna sneak down in that and come out guns blazing. The thing’s that big.” He held out his hands about a foot wide. “Like I said, it’s big enough for a plate of hot dogs, not for a platoon of marines…” He laughed. An edge of hysteria cranked it higher. “But while we’re talking about it, maybe you could send me down a steak and fries. I haven’t eaten in days.” He laughed again. “Fucking days. Man, I can feel my ribs through my shirt.”

Calmly, I said, “OK, Phoenix. Listen carefully. I’m going to send something down to you. Something nice.”

He shot me a look. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to help you.”

“Forget about sending a gun down in the elevator. She’ll know, guys. She’ll see it in my eyes. And you can bet your life she won’t let me use it on her.

“Phoenix, trust me. I’m sending something down that’s going to solve all your problems.”

I watched him on the screen. You could see the wheels turn inside his head as he thought about it. Suddenly he looked up at the camera, his face filling the screen. That was the moment when I realized he understood what I’d been driving at.

“OK, Valdiva. Send down that steak. I like them bloody, so make it a rare one. Plenty of fries. Potato salad. And don’t be niggardly with that mayonnaise- you hear?”

“I hear, Phoenix.”

“I’m waiting, Valdiva.”

“You just keep that mental image of a huge juicy steak. Think about golden fries. Onion rings. Do ya like apple pie?”

“Good God, yes. Send me a whole apple pie.”

“Keep that image in your mind, Phoenix.”

Picking up the backpack, I went quickly into the ad-joining kitchen. Phoenix hadn’t been house proud. Wrappers, cans, cartons covered the table, along with around a hundred spent syringes. Boy, the guy knew how to party.

Set in the wall was a small steel door. Beside it were two illuminated buttons. One was marked UP, the other DOWN. I pressed the UP button. Far away, I heard a click, then a faint humming.

I pulled a plastic tray from the crud on the table, then set a plate on it. A buzzer sounded behind me. I gripped the handle on the door and pulled it down. It slid open to reveal a small steel box little bigger than the interior of a microwave oven.

Phoenix’s voice came over the speaker. “How ya doing, Greg? Don’t burn that steak.”

“I won’t. I’m cooking the fries now.”

Zak came to the doorway and looked in. He gave an expressive gesture as if to ask what the hell I was doing. I put my fingers to my lips for him to stay quiet. Quickly I pulled the last two sticks of dynamite from the bag. Then he understood. He helped me unravel the fuse.

“I’m just frying those onion rings,” I called. “Do you need mustard?”

“Send down a whole jar. I’ll go nuts.”

“Steak’s nearly ready.”

“Nice and juicy, is it, Greg?”

“It’s beautiful. You’re going to love what’s on this tray. Steak, fries, the trimmings. A whole pie. A jug of cold sweet cream. Keep that image in your mind, Phoenix.”

The voice came back calm and genuinely grateful. “I knew I could rely on you to help me, Greg. Thanks, buddy. You’re a good man.”

“Here it comes.” I nodded to Zak, who placed the tray containing the dynamite into the midget elevator. Loosely, I coiled the fuse inside.

“I think you ought to speed things up. My roommate’s waking up. I think she’s gnnn…”

Tony shouted from the other room. “Hey, come and look at this-quickly, guys.”

“The food’s coming down, Phoenix,” I shouted and lit the fuse. As the sparks flew I slammed the door shut and hit the DOWN button. With a click it began to hum its way down to the sealed room below.

“Greg!” Tony’s voice rose. “Hurry!”

I ran into the adjoining room. On screen Phoenix rose from his chair. One look told me that thing had him in its grip. His eyes glazed. He moved like a sleep-walker. Behind him, the girl still sat as she had before, not moving so much as a finger, as if asleep.

Tony grunted. “Looks like sleeping beauty woke.”

I focused on the screen. Her eyes had opened. There was something cool and distant about them. They looked up at the camera that filmed her… It seemed as if she gazed through the TV screen directly at us.

Over the speaker I heard the buzz as the dumbwaiter descended into the Communications Center. In a dreamlike way Phoenix went to it, opened the elevator door. For a second he stood there without reacting, even though he must have seen the two sticks of dynamite and the burning fuse.

In one fluid movement he scooped the dynamite from the dumbwaiter, then as if he was shielding a newborn baby from the rain, he hugged it to his chest before moving away from the girl. He walked to the farthest corner of the room; there he pressed himself to where the two walls joined.

In an unearthly way things seemed to stay like that for whole moments, Phoenix pushing himself face first to the wall, the fuse burning toward the explosive he clutched to his stomach.

The girl gazed at the camera. Her eyes were languid, even sleepy. I knew she understood what was happening. Only she didn’t seem afraid. She tilted her head to one side, as if studying the expression on my face. Her dark hair spilled down over one naked breast. Her lips parted like she was just about to speak.

Then the flame reached the detonator. With a cracking thump a blossom of flame erupted in the corner of the room where Phoenix stood. A second later something wet and red struck the lens, smearing it so thickly we could no longer see the interior of the room.

For a moment no one spoke. The thick concrete floor that separated the lounge from the room beneath our feet shielded us. Even so, it knocked enough dust out of the carpet to mist the air. Electric lights flickered, then steadied again. The computer faithfully compensated for any damage; the backup systems kicked in, the air conditioner hummed steadily as before. Even with its human controller dead, the bunker’s electronic brain would automatically maintain everything as before. Probably for months, if not years.

Zak looked ’round the room. “I guess all this is ours now.”

Tony grimaced. “We still have to evict the bad guys, remember?”

I knocked the dust off my arms. “They can’t spoil anything now. Besides, Phoenix will have made sure all the storerooms were locked up tight. First we need to get hold of those antibiotics for Michaela. And we need to fix Tony’s leg.” I smiled. “Then we can all come back here, clean the house and maybe enjoy a vacation.”

“First, how do we find a way out of here?”

“We’ll find a way.”

Zak put his hand on my forearm. “There was something else, too, Greg.”

“Oh?”

“What Phoenix said about you being from a hive. That you were the same as the girl.”

I shook my head. “You saw the state that guy was in. It was all a delusion.”

“Was it?”

“Keep believing it was.” I gave a grim smile. “Because that’s what I intend to do. OK, Tony, old buddy? If you can manage it, it’s time to take a little walk.”