Luke – Thursday: 7 Days to Plague Day
Alex pulled at the ropes and growled again. It was interesting, seeing a smart man like him reduced so quickly to someone so feral. Perhaps he still knew something he hadn’t owned up to, some secret that Luke needed to know.
The decision had been swift and simple. This stupid man had sold his discovery to the government and signed a secrecy order so he couldn’t tell anyone. Anyone except Luke of course. However, he’d still been unwilling to speak, so Luke had been forced to kidnap him, bring him to this empty warehouse and tie him up. It was purely for research purposes of course, solely in pursuit of the truth.
He’d kept it simple so far. He’d bought some cigarettes and applied them to some out-the-way places. Now he was trying water torture, pouring buckets of water over his head in quick succession. It would be far more effective with a hose pipe, but it was better than nothing.
Alex shook his head, scattering water across the floor.
‘I can’t tell you. They’ll kill me.’
‘They probably will. But they’ll do it humanely. I’ve been watching men kill one another for thousands of years, so trust me, I’ve got some great ideas of my own.’
He paced back and forth in front of Alex. ‘All I need to know is what you gave them and where they took it an—’
‘I don’t know. I don’t bloody know. My girlfriend will have called the police by now. I’m having a baby. You told me to have a baby, how can you do this?’
His growl became a sob and his head rocked forward onto his chest. Luke knelt before him, grabbed his hair and pulled his head up. ‘I didn’t tell you to have a child. I showed you the future and you ignored it.’
‘I didn’t ignore it. I’m having a child to stop it.’
‘Only you’ve just sold your future and that of every other person on this planet and your baby won’t be born for another seven months. Except it won’t be born at all, because your girlfriend’s going to be dead long before that ever happens.’
‘But you said he’d stop it.’
Luke shoved his head back and stormed away across the huge open space. He ground his teeth together. He couldn’t argue with that. He had said the child would stop it, because that’s what his list said. Only somehow the fates had changed. And he knew exactly who to blame for that.
The Father.
It wasn’t just a set up in the list and subjects. This wasn’t just a ruse to get him out of the Flights. It was about screwing him up as much as possible and killing the human race along with it. But why? What did the Father have to gain by killing his people?
Unless this part wasn’t the Father. Unless someone had been watching it all and found a way to tweak things just enough. Or maybe it was all a coincidence. Maybe someone was messing with Alex and had no idea Luke would be here at all. If that was the case, he might have an advantage. He stomped back to the scientist.
‘What about a cure? You don’t have to say anything, but how quickly could you make a cure?’
Alex looked up at him, eyes sharper now. ‘I don’t know. I could make one, but it could take a while. I need to get back to my lab.’
Luke hissed and turned away. He needed to get it back from the government. It didn’t matter how quickly he made a cure, they could kill thousands of people before they even realised what was happening.
Why did he care so much? He’d have cared before he came here, but everything had changed the moment he became human. He hadn’t felt this way for hundreds of years and it felt good. But there was something gnawing at him, chewing away inside. A cancer that made him want to make this work and want to save humanity. And he didn’t know what it was or where it came from.
If he could ignore it, he could stop worrying. But the world would be awfully boring without anyone in it. And he had no idea how it would affect him. Perhaps this whole thing was about making him human then putting him here to die. Was this the Father’s way of finally getting rid of him without being blamed? He stopped short in his pacing, goosebumps running up his arms.
Could he die? He was mortal now, in a way. What would happen if this body died? Would he return to the Flights or was this it? He hadn’t entertained the notion for even a second but why should he? The Father had sent him here, body and all. There was nothing of him left above, so why would he return?
The cure was a dead end. He could be dead a hundred times over before it was created or useful. He spun around and went for Alex. His arm slammed into his chest and knocked him over. The chair and man slammed into the concrete and the air rushed from his body.
Luke crouched beside him and put his thumb against Alex’s eye. He pushed just hard enough for him to feel the pressure. ‘Tell me or I put your eye out. Time’s up and my patience is gone.’
Alex squirmed and whimpered, shaking his head from side to side, but getting nowhere. Luke pushed harder. He had a second when he thought he was going to have to go through with his threat and shuddered at the thought of having eyeball all over his finger with nothing to wipe it on. Then Alex coughed up.
‘Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. God, who are you? It was the M.O.D. They came in these trucks, two big armoured trucks in brown and green with these soldiers with gas masks and guns. Real guns in bloody England. They took the formula and my test vial.’
‘So you don’t know how to make it now?’
‘They didn’t take my board. That has the new equation.’
Luke grunted. ‘What were you doing, leaving that sort of equation on a board?’
‘It wasn’t me. Well, it was, but not that one. That one just appeared. I think I did it in my sleep or something, or had some kind of blackout.’
Luke chuckled quietly and took his hand off Alex’s eye. ‘It wasn’t you. You aren’t that smart, not yet. Someone’s been screwing with me and using you to do it. Where did they take it?’
Alex looked at him with his chin jutting out as though he didn’t want to accept the truth about his amazing discovery. Luke brought his thumb back and Alex shook his head, whimpering. ‘I don’t know. They said something about Yorkshire, some place up there.’
Luke sat back on his haunches, groaning. Not only could he die but he had to go to the back of sodding beyond to deal with a bunch of hicks and peasants. Someone was laughing. And the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that it wasn’t the Father. He didn’t have the imagination for this. And as much of a bastard as he was, he wouldn’t kill the entire human race just to get rid of him.
But someone else would. The question was who. The answer wouldn’t matter though, if he didn’t get hold of the damned plague and hide it somewhere no one was ever going to find it. Perhaps he could combine the two things. He needed to speak to Az, which meant a summoning.
Plague first, then summoning. One thing at a time. Speaking of which…
‘You’re coming with me.’
The man groaned and closed his eyes and Luke patted his cheek. ‘You’ll be fine. It’ll be fun.’
Two hours later they left Alex’s room and headed for Paddington.
Next Installment Thursday 4th September
