Chapter 55

With The Fishes

I am on a beach. A nice sunny beach, somewhere in Europe… the kind of Europe you see on travel shows with the clear azure water and rockpools and the snorkelling. I am, and I want to make it absolutely clear, I am not stuck in a filthy dark metal crawlspace, my lungs unable to inflate. No. No, I am snorkelling amongst the fishies, calm, calm little happy fishes. I just need to relax… relax and let the tide lap against my utterly relaxed, extremely thin, small body. Soft, suntanned, calm as Buddha.

"You hear somethin'?" A fish says, yes, a fish… a relaxing, adorable Disneyesque fish… not a gun toting killer beneath me in this impossibly tight… a fish. See? Happy fish. Relax.

"No."

"I swear… "

"Not saying you didn't soldier, I am saying I didn't. What did you hear."

"Came from up…"... above the gentle rockpool, the soft clouds. Yes, the soft, fuffy clouds and the sun shining down on me as I… relax… gotta relax. I gain an inch, and then another. Gonna keep… no… no need to panic. I am not drowning. I am not...

"Anders… Anything above our position? Like vents or a pathway." Silence. "Anders?".

My lungs are starting to scream at me. My head is growing light. I can hear a whistling sound in my ears.

"Sorry Sir" came a woman's voice across the static, she clears her throat "thought I heard something. Repeat the question."

I am going to die here. Trapped… trapped in a dark space, face twisted and blue.

"Any vents or anything above our position? Anyway the hostile can get through."

Gotta relax. Gotta force my ribs down tight. I can't I can't I can't Disney Fish… azure water… air… air… air… please god, not like this.

"Anders? Do you read me?"

"Yeah. Yes, I read you. You're coming through, five by five." My throat catches and I sputter in pain as my ribs expand, but I know that voice. I know that voice! "No. Nothin' above your position... sir."

She is here. Faith is here. Somehow, they have found us. I am not alone. And I feel like I am melting. And yeah, the whistle in my ears is a pitch above agonizing, and yeah, I am moments from greying out, but my eyes are slick with tears and I almost laugh out the air inside me. I push forward, the collar of my clothing gripping painfully at my throat as I slide forward, but I keep on, I push on. Faith is here, and I…

My fingers find the lip of the metal H beam and I seize hold, pulling myself forward, feeling something crack somewhere inside my ribs as I drag my trunk free, and oh… the breath that fills me is the sweetest, most glorious breath I have ever taken.

I slide out, dropping down to the floor and gasping as quietly as I can. My ribs complain as I do, but nothing they could say could stop me from taking in that sweet, sweet dusty, bat shit scented air... and... and... sweeter still is the knowledge that I am no longer alone. Faith is coming to save me, and I chuckle a painful chuckle silently to myself. Abigail Lehane's middle name should have been 'hope'.

That's when the roofing material beneath me collapses, of course.

I land hard, briefly registering a table at my back before it gives way and sends me rolling backwards in a cloud of plasterboard dust and guano. But to my surprise, in an almost instinctive move, I have roll to my feet, one palm down, the other quickly balled up ready to fight. Movement erupts to my left, and I turn to see a double doorway, all thick safety glass and thick metal reminiscent of an airlock in some science fiction feature. Through the glass, there must be a dozen Initiative soldiers, all scrambling to attention. Riley Finn is closest, a look of horror on his face that turns to rage as he looks at me. My heart hammers adrenaline through my veins and suddenly I am in that zone again… everything begins to slow, I see guns being raised and Finn reaching for a switch. A click-hiss as a mechanism starts to slide back and… I close the distance and catch the pistons as they pull the heavy bolts down.

Rileys surprised face mirrors my own reflection in the glass as the door creaks but does not open. The resistance from the bolts gives after a few seconds, hissing and clicking back into place. Riley tries again. And again. But somehow I have managed to bend the hydrologic to the point the door won't activate. I let go with my hands and give the soldier a smarmy little shrug. He is shouting something.

"I'm sorry dude, I can't hear you over how awesome I am." I say, tapping the shell of my ear. He begins barking order to his troops.

Stepping back, I take in the scene around me. The room is dark, some fifty feet wide, the walls clad with clear plastic drapes hemmed in white, through which I can see the blinking lights of racks and racks of computers. Above me a mass of cables and wires thread through a metal grid, the glossy black plastic catching the dim green light gives them all a snake like, seething feeling that sets my nerves on edge. The room was sectioned off with translucent plastic walls, which now hang unzipped, blowing in the breeze of the ceiling ducts. Beyond that? I can't tell, but I know I have to find out. I have to press on. I have to take The General.

Taking one glance back at the door, I am satisfied it will hold for a little while. I give Riley a little wave, but… yunno… not with all my fingers, and cautiously, ever so cautiously advance into room 314.