Terminus by Adam Baker Read Free Book Online

Lupe. ‘Let the grown-ups talk.’
    The guard reluctantly stubbed his smoke, crossed the ticket hall and crouched by a distant wall. He sipped bottled water.
    ‘Maybe we better take it easy on the guy,’ said Lupe. ‘A correctional officer with nobody to correct. He’s got nothing and no one.’
    She picked Galloway’s crushed cigarette from the floor. She examined the stub to see if it could be relit and smoked.
    ‘Where’s Ekks?’ asked Nariko.
    ‘Guess he took a walk.’
    Nariko retuned her Motorola, checked for signal and held it up. The radio emitted a faint tocking sound, regular and metallic.
    ‘Hear that? That’s a live transmission. It’s coming from somewhere nearby, right now. Their comms equipment isn’t broadcasting a voice any more, but it’s still emitting a weak VHF signal on maritime one-two-one. It’s like someone is sat at the microphone with their finger on Transmit. The radio is down here, somewhere. It’s still active, still powered up, still singing in the dark.’
    ‘Who gives a shit?’ said Lupe. ‘Complete waste of time. Listen: Ekks might have been some big-shot brain surgeon, back in the day. He might have had his own parking space, set of golf clubs in the trunk, but I know a stone-cold psychopath when I see one. The look in his eye. I was down here for weeks. Me and three cons from Bellevue. We were guinea pigs. A tissue farm. Don’t let anyone tell you different. He dissected one guy. Kept his brain in a jar. I was next on the list. I’d be dead by now if I hadn’t escaped. Ekks was a sadist. He wasn’t engaged in research. He was torturing the shit out of people because there was no one left alive to stop him, because actions no longer had consequences. End of the world, see. A serial killer’s paradise. Cure? The guy was bullshitting you. Trying to stay alive, trying to get rescued. There is no antidote. This expedition is a bad joke.’
    ‘I’m here to do a job. I’m going to see it through.’
    ‘This place is killing us,’ said Lupe. ‘We’re dying by degrees. Every minute we sit here shooting the shit a little more radiation seeps into our bones. Admit it. The mission is a bust. Send for the chopper and get the hell out of here.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You guys volunteered for this kamikaze deal. Jumped at the chance to pull on your boots and run into the flames. But I wasn’t given a choice. I was dragged here in chains. What gives you the right to throw my life away? Answer me that.’
    ‘Do you understand what’s at stake?’ asked Nariko. ‘Humanity reduced to a few pockets of survivors. Little outposts. Humans are an endangered species. We’re on the edge of extinction, about to join the fossil record, our time on earth reduced to a geologic layer, a vein of compacted garbage. We’re ready to bequeath the world to rats, roaches and scorpions. Get the picture? Maybe Ekks was full of shit. But research teams around the world studied this virus for months, with no sign of a vaccine or cure. If Ekks made progress, if he came close to understanding this fucking disease, then we have to roll the dice. We have to find his documents, his research, whatever the cost. It’s our last chance.’
    ‘And why should I give a shit?’
    ‘Flesh and blood, aren’t you?’ said Nariko. ‘Not exactly immune. You might be a hard-ass in the prison yard, but right now you are nothing on your own.’
    ‘And when we are done here?’
    ‘We’ll take you back to Ridgeway. That was the deal.’
    ‘And then what? Think your Chief will shake my hand and send me on my way? His guys will keep me as some kind of pet. A slave. Someone to mop the floors, empty out the latrine bucket. Tie me to a bed and set up some kind of fuck rota.’
    ‘Not everyone is as sick as you. Some people try to do the right thing.’
    ‘Unchain me. Let me go. I’ll take my chances outside.’
    ‘There’s no way off this island. No bridges, no tunnels, no boats.’
    ‘I’ll swim, if that’s