The Atlantis Gene (The Origin Mystery 1)

CHAPTER 61

David felt them lift him up and carry him like a rag doll. Around him, he saw a war zone: sirens blared, white dust floated through the air like snow, fires belched black smoke, and voices shouted in Chinese. He watched it all through half closed eyes as if it were a dream.

Over the loud speaker, a recording repeated “Reactor core breach. Evacuate. Evacuer. Evakuieren…” The voice faded, and David felt sunlight on his face. The men tossed him about as they carried him over the rough ground.

“Stop! Let me take a look.” A man was in his face. Someone with a white coat. Blonde. 40s-ish. British. He grabbed David’s face and pulled at his eyelids, then looked him up and down, inspecting the wounds. “No, he won’t make it.” The man pointed to the ground and drew a hand across his throat. “Put him down. Get someone else.” He motioned to the building. The Chinese workers dropped him like a sack of rotten potatoes and ran back toward the building.

From the ground, David watched the man run over to another group holding a body pulled from the rubble. He perused her briefly. “Yes, she’ll make it.” He gestured toward the train, and the men carried the woman the remaining twenty feet, tossing her into a car where other workers dragged her in.

The white coat turned to another group. “Supplies? On the train. Hurry.”

The train. Twenty feet to freedom. But David couldn’t move.

CHAPTER 62

Kate arrived just as the passenger train pulled away. She ran after it, her legs burning as she pushed herself until she was lightheaded and the train was half a football field away.

She stood there, bent over, her hands on her knees, panting as the rhythmic chug-chug-chug of the train faded into the vast green forest.

The children were on that train. She knew it, somewhere, somehow, in a place she couldn’t identify. They were out of reach. And she was in over her head. The device, this place; in that moment, she felt utterly defeated.

She looked around. There wasn’t another train. The train ride in was almost an hour through nothing but dense forest. She couldn’t walk out, and she had another problem: it was getting colder. She needed shelter, but how long could she hide here before some Immari security officer found her?

Another thought broke into her mind: David. Would he be looking for her? His blasts had done a number on the buildings. He was probably on that train, assuming she was too. Was he searching every car, expecting to find her sitting with the children? What would he do when he couldn’t find her? She knew what the Immari would do if they captured her.

She glanced back at the burning Immari complex. It was her only option.

Another train horn. Kate spun around, searching. Where had it come from? She twisted again, desperately trying to find the direction. It had to be on the other side of the campus. She set off running, her lungs now burning from the cold and the impact in the Bell room.

She reached the medical building just as the train horn sounded again. She put her head down and charged through the chaos inside. The rear door of the facility opened onto a small courtyard that led to the power plant, which had clearly taken most of the damage. It was a smoking, crumbling ruin. Two of the huge vase-like smoke stacks had toppled completely. The train whistle called again — it was coming from the other side of the building. Kate ran with all the strength she could muster. Another explosion in the power plant filled the air, almost knocking her over. She steadied herself and plowed on.

As she cleared the side of the power building, she saw it — a cargo train. Workers were tossing supplies and bodies through the wide sliding doors as the train rolled slowly by, allowing them to spread the load among the cars.

Seeing the carnage outside the power plant forced another thought into Kate’s mind: what if David didn’t make it out? He could still be inside. Or on the train. She could see people inside the empty cargo cars, hovering over bodies. David could be one of them. She would search the train, before it got away, then the power plant. She wouldn’t leave without him.

Behind her, Kate heard a voice she knew. The British doctor. Barnaby Prendergast?

She ran to him. “Barnaby, have you seen—” But he was focused on a body. He ignored Kate and yelled at a group of Chinese security guards standing nearby. Kate grabbed him by the lapels of his sodden white coat and turned him around. “Barnaby, I’m looking for a man, a security guard, blonde, 30s—”

“You!” Barnaby tried to pull away, but Kate held him tight. When he took in Kate’s appearance, her blood soaked clothes and seeming lack of any wounds, he staggered backward and tried to break her hold. “You did this!” He waved to one of the security guards. “Help! This woman is an impostor, a terrorist, she did this, someone help me!”

People stopped what they were doing and looked over. Several security people began walking toward Kate.

Kate released Barnaby and looked around. “He’s lying! I didn’t—” But the guards kept coming. She had to get out of here. She scanned the platform for an exit, a—

Then she saw David, lying there, not moving, his eyes closed, his body resting awkwardly on the debris-ridden concrete platform. Alone. Dying. Or dead?

Kate sprinted over to him and inspected his wounds. Gunshots. His chest, his shoulder, his leg. What had happened to him? The wounds were bad, but something bothered Kate even more: they were hardly bleeding. A chill ran through her and the pit of her stomach seemed to drop.

She had to keep going. She scanned the rest of him. His clothes were in tatters, a litany of burn marks and shrapnel holes dotted his legs and torso, but nothing as major as the gunshots. She needed—

She felt a hand on her shoulder — a security guard, then another one, three of them were on her. She had blocked everything out when she saw David. They grabbed her by the arms and stood her up. Barnaby was behind them, pointing and cheering the mob on, “I tried to stop her!”

Kate struggled at the security guard’s grip, but he pulled her in tight. Her hand was at his side, on his gun. She ripped at it, but it wouldn’t come free. She twisted it again with all her might and she heard a pop; she had it. But they still held her so tight, all three were on her, dragging her to the ground. She pointed toward the air and squeezed the trigger. The gun almost flew out of her hand, but the men scattered and Barnaby scampered away in full retreat, looking back nervously before putting his head down and charging on.

Kate held the gun out from her, waving it left and right as the men held up their hands and backed away. Her hand shook badly, and she braced it with her other hand. She glanced behind her. The train — it was almost gone now, the last people on the platform had fled into the three remaining cars, which would soon be gone.