Three showers for me, thanks.
Dad waves me on, leading me through the stairwell as he talks. “They’ve got men from Floor 17 down just swarming the place. None of them know for sure where the infestation is concentrated, but so far everyone’s stretched thin. They’ve deployed I don’t know how many Security to the lower floors, and they’ve completely sealed off Floor 1.”
“Sealed off?”
Dad stops, turning to me. “Final Resort Protocol. In case of total Tower infestation, deploy the majority of Security to the lower floors to regain control. As a final measure, seal off all vents, elevator shafts, and doorways leading into Floor 1.”
“Wait. What?”
“Jackie, Floor 1’s got its own gardens and power source. It doesn’t need the rest of the Tower. They can survive indefinitely as long as they can clear the floor of Creep, which they have.”
I can feel a lava flow burning through my cheeks. “They’re abandoning the rest of the Tower?”
“No. They’re telling Security to try and retake the Tower. If they succeed, well, I’m sure Tower Authority will reopen Floor 1. If Security fails… then, okay, Floor 1 stays sealed, and Tower Authority endures. Just with a lot less people.”
“Dad, this isn’t a joke. This is like, us, you know? People, the human race… the whole shebang.”
“Well, we don’t know that,” he says with a huff. “But that’s a discussion for another time.”
“Dad?” He’s already sprinting down the stairs again. “Dad, we have to do something.”
“What can we do, Jackie?”
“Why is everyone acting like I’m the crazy one around here? We have to try and stop the source of the Creep!”
He waves me off as he continues racing downward. “It could be anywhere, Jackie.”
“Dad, stop.” He keeps going, and finally I have to scream, “Stop!”
He pauses with a heave, but just barely turns to look at me. “What, Jacko?”
“You’re not stupid. Mom told me you’re, like, the expert on this stuff. I know you know where the source of this is coming from.”
“Jackie, it’s the largest single invasion of Creep we have on record. I have ideas, but I’m not about to get you involved with them.”
“Fine,” I agree, shrugging my shoulders. “Then I’m not moving. I’m sitting right here until the Creep gets me. How you like them apples?”
He tries to grab for me, but I raise my bat. Of course I’m not going to hit him. Duh. I just have to, you know, show I’m serious. “Dad,” I tell him, “I’m not going anywhere. We have to fix this.”
For a minute he looks at me, then back down the stairs, then back at me. Even behind his mask, I can tell he’s giving up. “What’s happening right now is what we call an emotional resonance cascade. The Creep feeds on human emotions, like I told you. Exceptionally powerful human emotions, though, can ‘resonate’ through the Creep. That causes a cascade in which, as one part of the Creep gets agitated, another part gets agitated. Normally it wears itself out. This one isn’t.”
“Why? We solve that; we save the world. Or at least the Tower. But that’s basically the world, am I right?”
He just shakes his head. “The reason this cascade isn’t failing is because someone is keeping it going. Someone is causing it to continue. Someone in a lot of pain.”
“A person? Like, a human? One of us?”
“Well, sort of. They used to be.”
“Wait.” I look past him, down the stairs, then back up the hall. “Dad, where’s the source of the cascade coming from now?”
“Want to take a guess?”
“No.” I sigh. Naturally. Of course. Of course, this is my life. “Floor 16?”
“Right.”
“I thought… Dad, you told me Sally was just a bad story parents told their kids.”
“Would you have really been able to sleep well at night if I’d told you that living people could be infested under the right circumstances, and that for over a century, we’ve isolated the west wing specifically because she can consciously control the Creep?”
“Daaaamn it,” I cry as I drop my head. “She can do what?”
“Well, she’s awake now, so that means she can consciously interact with the Creep. Normally people absorbed into the Creep die—you know that. When they come into general contact with the Creep, it has psychological effects on them. In rare cases it grows on them, and they become a single being in a symbiotic relationship. Sally’s a little different. She’s still consciously aware of herself and her surroundings, sort of. As long as she doesn’t get emotionally agitated, she’s fine. Once she does, though, you have to get her under control.”
“And how do we do that exactly?”
“Last time it took a hundred men and a lot of firepower. This time I just need to get this into her,” he says, reaching into a pouch in his tactical vest and removing a needle. The fluid inside seems to glow slightly as he waves it around before putting it back in place. “We’ve been working on this a long time. When introduced into the Creep, it has a pretty significant effect. Unfortunately we don’t have the chemicals to make much of it, so we can only produce slight doses. This will be enough to put down Sally, though.”
“So when Sally goes down, so will the infestation?”
He nods. “She’s the only reason that it’s still going.”
I take in a deep breath, then tap the flame gun still hanging at my waist. “Guess I’ll need this, too.”
“As much as I’ll need this,” he replies, hefting his flamethrower. He pauses for a second when he does, then lowers it. “Actually, champ,” he continues as he pulls out the needle again, “you better take this.”
“Wait. Why?”
“Because I’m the one carrying the heavy-duty weapon. I can keep her down with this, but someone’s going to need to use that needle.”
“You… you want me to inject her?”
“Scared?”
Jerkface. That’s all he really needs to say. “No,” I scowl, scooping the needle from him and shoving it into the satchel at my side. “All right, well, c’mon, let’s hurry to the end of the world.”
See, now the plan is all set. We’re good. Really. We get down to Floor 16, everything’s fine, and then we open the door onto the hallway. What do you think we see?
Nothing but guns everywhere.
We just see nothing but Security, a whole row of them aiming at us. Then, in the middle, is a guy dressed in this blue skintight uniform. It’s kinda like the ones the people on Floor 1 wear, just a different color. Thing is, I recognize him.
My dad does, too. “Judas Abbott,” he says through his mask.
“Doctor Coleman,” he says with that smug look of his. His bone-white hair is really in fine form today, like he made sure to put extra conditioner in it. “We knew you’d be heading this way.”
Dad slips off his mask. “You knew we’d come this direction. How?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, we’re not equipped to deal with the Creep without you. You are, of course, the only researcher with your level of knowledge on the subject. Be that as it may, we’re not idiots. We analyzed your files and decoded your suspicions about where the emotional resonance cascade might be stemming from.”
“And you want my help.”
“But, of course, my friend.”
“What about my daughter?”
Abbott pushes his fingers to his face, squeezing at the bridge of his nose. “Authority is prepared to rehear her case.”
“I want her declared innocent, Abbott, or you can deal with Sally yourself.” For the first time in a long time, my dad’s acting really cool. Too bad it has to come during the Armageddon.