Monster Nation(62)

Outside the Conex trailer the sun was very, very bright. Clark hurried around the side of the shipping container and pushed in the other end through a zippered wall, then through a decontamination station. An automatic shower pelted him with scalding hot water and he threw his arms up around his face, his eyes burning with antiseptic. Behind him he heard boots crunching gravel'too far away, he was the only one close enough to respond. He pushed through the inner air lock, heedless of the whooping alarms that told him he'd failed to close the outer door.

Inside in air that smelled of decay and horror he wiped soapy water out of his eyes and tried to get his bearings. He found himself standing next to the gurney, on the far side from Sanchez. The infected man had torn loose the restraints on his wrists'he sat upright on the table, both of his hands clutching at the squirming biowarfare expert. The exposed brain slouched forward across the decimated face, dangling on its spinal cord. My God, Clark thought, how is that possible? He grabbed for the instrument tray, looking for anything that might be a weapon. He came up with a gore-caked scalpel and tried to stab at the infected man's wrists but Sanchez kept writhing around, trying to break the iron grip. There was no way to guarantee that he wouldn't stab her instead.

'It's'it's alright,' she said to him, 'I'm sorry I scared you. He can't hurt me'he doesn't have a mouth, so how can he bite me? Really, Captain, I''

The infected man released her wrist and plunged his fingers into her throat, the thick, jagged nails sinking deep into her flesh. Clark jabbed at the specimen's wrist, trying to cut the tendons there but even as he connected hot, red blood sluiced down his forearm. Sanchez's blood. The infected man had found her jugular vein.

Clark dropped the scalpel and rushed around the side of the gurney, intent on getting his own hands around Sanchez' neck to stop the bleeding, knowing it was too late. He caught his hip on the metal edge of the table and felt pain blossom through his thigh. The infected man let go of Sanchez and she staggered backwards, blood pouring from her throat like wine from a bottle.

She didn't look so much frightened or pained as curious. Clark wondered'was she a good scientist right up until the end? Was she approaching her own death with a burning desire to know what it felt like, to see what happened next? She didn't so much fall to the metal floor of the Conex as collide with it.

Something in Clark's body contracted as if he were having a heart attack or a stroke. No'it wasn't him at all. The infected man had grabbed him in both hands and was trying to pull him close. He whirled to face Sanchez' killer and saw two MPs come rushing into the room. They raised their pistols to shoot at the specimen.'No, no!' Clark ordered.'There's bottled oxygen in this room!' The firearms dropped at once.

The infected man tightened his grasp, his fingers cold against Clark's arm and stomach. The determination in his arms was nothing short of extraordinary. Clark stared into the gray folds of his brain and wondered where he got that resolve. He reached out with his own hands and took hold of the man's frontal cortex. It was softer, much softer than he'd expected it to be and far less slimy. He shredded it like a head of lettuce.

The fingers weakened where they touched him and then they stopped moving altogether. The cut-down man fell backwards, what was left of his skull colliding noisily with the metal edge of the gurney.

The MPs came closer and Clark waved them away. They huddled over Sanchez, probably trying to determine if she was actually dead. Clark staggered toward the airlock, intent on getting some fresh air. He could barely believe what had just happened. Florence ADX was supposed to be a fortress, an impregnable stronghold in this new and horrible war. If death could come for them even inside of its barbed-wire fences and dog-patrolled perimeter, then where was safe? Did such a thing as safety exist any more?

Before he could switch off the automatic shower in the airlock'he was already drenched with soap, suds filling his mouth and nose'he heard one of the MPs grunt from just behind him and the other one took his arm. What was happening?

'Beg pardon, sir,' one said. His eyes were very, very blue. Clark blinked. Why were they holding him up? 'You looked like you were about to fall.'

Legs'Clark's legs'stretched out before him, connected to him only in the most metaphysical sense. His body reeled, his head was wrapped in felt. He had hit the wall. There was only so much fear and exhaustion a man in his sixties could handle. Fighting himself he regained control. He was more afraid of further humiliation than he was of exhaustive collapse.