Fic - The Butterfly Effect 7/9
Title: The Butterfly Effect (7/9)
Rating: Hard R: violence, sex, harsh language, you probably know the drill by now.
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The Butterfly Effect 7/9
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Zach wasn’t sure if he was going to pass out. Beneath the blindfold, small sparks kept shooting across from the periphery of his vision, and he could barely hold his head up. At first he had blamed the voice on his condition, some bizarre trick played out by pain and shock and dehydration, but the voice that was his and yet wasn’t his had persisted, and he had slowly realized why.
He couldn’t do much, but he was damned if he was just going to sit and do nothing. He tried again, rocking from side to side in an effort to move the chair, to topple it over, to do anything to make a noise. Without warning, the foot on his broken leg jarred awkwardly against the floor. The snapped bones grated together with a pain so intense it made him retch. It seemed like forever until it settled to something bearable, but as soon as it did he gritted his teeth and kept trying.
~ ~ ~
There were only three doors along the second length of corridor. The first two were reasonably close together but the third was barely visible at the far end. The office behind the first was nicely appointed. Plush carpets muffled the sound of John and Cameron’s boots, and landscape paintings adorned the walls as if the occupant had been trying to compensate for the lack of windows.
Taking up much of the center space was a large, hardwood desk, and John quickly began to search through its drawers and cupboards. They were all completely empty, and he had to force himself to rein in his frustration and not slam them closed. He was about to stand up when the beam of his flashlight played across something that sparkled unexpectedly. He turned on his knees for a closer look. The dent in the wall caused by the ornament smashing against it was obvious despite the dim light and he was faintly amused to think that even the bad guys had shitty days. He could smell alcohol, something sweet and heady which indicated that a human had occupied the office, and a foul-tempered one at that. Cameron signaled that she had finished her half of the search, and he stood up, his boot crunching on the shards of crystal.
If the carpet hadn’t been so dark, he would probably never have seen the white of the paper buried beneath the shattered decanter. He pushed into the debris with the toe of his boot, shifting the pieces aside until he could safely pick up whatever had been overlooked. The paper was damp and sticky with liquor. He unfolded it gingerly to find a list of names, some of them rendered blurred and unreadable by the liquid, but the majority still legible. Zach and Michael’s were close to the top. He allowed himself a small smile, refolded the paper with utmost care, and tucked it into the pocket of his jacket.
~ ~ ~
Sarah trained the flashlight on the second door as Derek examined every inch of it. Once he was satisfied with his findings, he dipped the handle and cautiously pushed it open. Instead of office space, the door led to a flight of stairs, and the young man’s voice immediately became more audible. He was still shouting for help, his words hoarse and fractured as he pleaded not to be left alone. Trying to ignore the sounds, she studied the staircase - a flimsy, open construction of metal steps that met a small landing before turning and continuing for a further flight. She could just about see the bottom some thirty feet below. Beyond that point there was only darkness. At her nod, Derek closed the door, but the barrier wasn’t enough to block out the desperate entreaties completely, and they both knew that they would go down there as soon as John and Cameron had completed their search.
As if on cue, John appeared in the doorway, his face slightly more optimistic than it had been.
“You find something?” Sarah met him halfway.
“Yeah, I hope so.”
“Good.” Now all they had to do was get Zach and get the hell out. “We found the basement.”
~ ~ ~
Cameron’s footsteps echoed off the metal staircase despite her attempts to tread lightly. Waiting at the top, Sarah watched her slow but sure descent; with John following behind her, the machine was leaving nothing to chance. They were both nearing the first landing when Sarah heard the distant thud.
“What the hell? Derek?”
The noise had come from the one room they hadn’t yet checked. Derek, only two steps down, had heard it too. He turned back towards her, bringing the M-79 up to bear. As if sensing a shift in their focus, the shouts from below them became more forceful, more demanding, and instantly less convincing.
“Shit. John!”
“Mom?”
“Back up, now!”
He didn’t ask why. The tone of her voice told him everything he needed to know.
She could hear their footsteps clattering on the stairs, seeming louder still because the young man had suddenly fallen silent. Somewhere in the basement, a door opened and then slammed shut.
“Get him out of here.” Directing her order at Cameron, Sarah pushed John ahead of her, back towards the entrance, but Cameron caught hold of his jacket sleeve and held it fast. The front door had barely made a sound when it had just clicked shut, but it had been enough for Cameron to detect it.
“Not that way.”
There was no other obvious exit. John looked at Sarah, his eyes wide with fear. She took a deep breath, snatched the M-79 from Derek and tossed it to Cameron.
“Do your thing.” She nodded towards the stairwell, grabbed John by the arm and set off running for the last door.
~ ~ ~
They had just reached the end of the corridor when they heard the first blast. Throwing herself forward, Sarah barreled into John, taking them both to the ground and covering him with her body. Derek slid in beside them but turned himself slightly outwards, Cameron’s assault rifle heavy in his grip and aimed dead-center at the cloud of smoke that was billowing from the basement entrance. A second explosion made the walls shake, and chunks of plaster rained down to thud against Sarah’s back and arms. Ignoring the dull pain, she curled herself more tightly against John and waited for the cascade of debris to stop.
Footsteps approached at a run. Derek adjusted the angle of the M-4A1, his breath coming hard and fast as he waited to see what would emerge from the dust. He altered his aim again slightly when he saw Cameron, but continued to target the corridor, covering her for any sign of pursuit.
“At least one Triple-8.” Unfazed by the fact that shrapnel had ripped deep gouges into her face and hands, Cameron scanned the door as Sarah unfolded herself and quietly checked that John was unscathed. “The staircase is destroyed but it will find a way out.”
“What about the main entrance?” Derek still hadn’t relaxed his stance, but the smoke was clearing and the corridor remained empty.
“Something was there. It’ll wait for us to come to it,” Cameron said, reaching a hand out to the doorframe, “but it won’t wait for long.” Her brief analysis found the door capable of withstanding small-arms fire and revealed a single, human heat-signature behind it. She kicked it open without asking for permission; the human was small, injured, and lying awkwardly on the floor.
“Get it blocked.” Sarah covered Derek as he ran in last, and then slammed the door shut and stepped aside. Cameron and John immediately started to drag the leftover furniture across to form a barricade.
“Derek...” Sarah’s voice trailed off as she dropped to her knees beside the young man, who hadn’t moved since they had entered the room. “Zach?” When she laid a hand on his shoulder he shrank away from her touch, but at the sound of his name he nodded, and she felt him relax slightly. “Michael’s safe,” she said simply. “We’re gonna get you out of here, okay?” Although he couldn’t answer her, she knew he had understood because his shoulders began to shake as he sobbed silently.
“Help me set the chair straight, Sarah.”
Ducking low as Cameron passed a metal filing cabinet above his head to add to the growing barrier at the door, Derek waited until Sarah was also able to stand, and then they lifted Zach as carefully as they could. He moaned when he felt them working to unfasten the ropes and blindfold.
“Keep your eyes closed for now, Zach.” The cloth had fallen away to reveal deep red welts that told her how long he had been left like that. He did as she said and didn’t make a sound when she peeled the tape from his lips.
“Sarah.” Derek’s voice was low and tightly controlled, and she looked down to where he was pointing his flashlight.
“Fucking hell.” She had whispered the curse before she could stop herself.
Zach’s right leg had moved strangely when Derek had cut it free, and he had run his knife up along the pants seam to find out why. The fracture was mid-shaft, the skin around it already hot and swollen. Zach kicked away with his good leg when Derek touched the injury.
“They’ve fucked up his fingers as well.” Derek was throwing open his bag, digging out the first aid kit. “Dislocations, probably, or fractures.” Medically, he knew he was out of his depth. “We can’t move him like this.”
Now that he was untied, Sarah was struggling to keep Zach sitting on the chair. He wasn’t alert enough to hold his position, and she finally gave up and lowered him to the floor.
“We might not have a choice,” she said as Derek slipped a needle into Zach’s wrist. She could see Cameron pacing around the small room, gauging the composition of the outer walls, searching for any points of weakness. When the machine stopped dead in her tracks and traced a path upwards towards the ceiling, Sarah swallowed hard as a knot formed in the pit of her stomach.
“Cameron?”
Instead of answering her, Cameron dragged a table away from the door, upended it and climbed nimbly onto its edge. After loosening a ceiling tile, she peered into the crawl space.
“Twenty-two and a half minutes.” She dropped back down to the floor and returned the table to its position.
Strangely calm, Sarah nodded. She knew exactly what Cameron had found, and it explained exactly why nothing was attempting to break through the door to kill them all. Why waste the effort when they had been so effectively trapped in a building wired to explode?
~ ~ ~
“Zach, deep breath.”
Despite the morphine, despite the splint they had made out of the chair’s legs and the bandages Derek had wrapped around his hands, Zach still bit through his lip trying not to scream when they stood him up.
As soon as the machines heard the banging they would figure out what was going on. One way or another, everyone in the room was getting ready to run.
“Don’t look back, okay?” Sarah cupped John’s cheek in her hand. “Get to the Jeep.”
He nodded. Even though he hated the idea, he nodded. It had never been stated that Sarah and Derek would be the ones bringing up the rear with Zach; that was just the way it was going to be. She kissed her son’s forehead. He was warm and sweating, and, despite his best efforts, tears filled his eyes at her touch.
“Just keep going,” she whispered. “We’ll catch you up.” She looked over at Derek who hitched Zach a little straighter and then nodded. “Okay, Cameron, now!”
With nothing to protect them from a blast, grenades were out of the question, but the outer wall was a breeze block and stucco construction and the machine was confident she could punch a way through. The only problem with that methodology was time. There were only twenty minutes left on the clock and they had to get far enough away to avoid being caught in the explosion.
“Nothing’s ever fucking easy, is it?” Derek tried to smile. It came out all wrong, but Sarah appreciated the attempt and gripped his hand briefly.
The first draft of cool air reached her as Cameron shattered an outer section of the wall. She and John moved to help, kicking against the loose blocks as the hole grew wider and then finally became large enough for them to squeeze through.
There was no track at the rear of the building, so the boulders and scrub cover was closer. Sarah could dimly make out John’s outline as he sprinted across the short clearing that surrounded the facility and headed for the relative safety of the nearest rock cluster. Her hands beneath Zach’s arms, she pulled him free of the gap and waited until Derek pushed his bag through and then joined her. They were just about to lift Zach up when they heard the first crackle of gunfire.
“Shit.” She slammed herself back down to the ground as the figure strode around the corner of the building. It was still some distance away from them and was targeting the area that Cameron had just run towards. The fact that it wasn’t at all damaged and seemed completely unconcerned about its own safety strongly implied it was the T-888 that had been waiting for them at the front entrance.
“We can’t stay here, Sarah.”
“I know. Get him up.”
She checked her watch: thirteen minutes. A sharp crack and a burst of light from the rocks told her that Cameron was returning fire. With a muttered apology, Derek hauled Zach over his shoulder, and Sarah pumped the Remington as he struggled to his feet. Alerted by the activity, the T-888 sprayed an arc of bullets towards their position, sand and stones thrown upwards as they fell short. Cameron fired again, trying to run interference, but the T-888 was advancing rapidly. Sarah pushed Derek away from her.
“Move!”
There was no time to argue with her logic. He did as she ordered, trying not to stumble over the uneven terrain as the weight across his shoulders threw him off-balance. She was running with him; he could hear her breathing, steady and calm as if she were out for an evening jog, and then it became quieter and he realized she had stopped. The Remington fired once, twice, the noise thunderous at such close quarters. He heard her set off again and then the rattle of the T-888’s automatic as it spat another burst in her direction. Ahead of him, Cameron stepped into view, firing past him to try to give Sarah the break she needed. As he reached the rocks, he lowered Zach to the ground and swapped his M-79 for Cameron’s assault rifle. Sarah was too close to the machine for him to risk using the M-79.
“Get John to the Jeep.”
“Yes.”
He turned away from her, back towards the building, to see the T-888 bearing down fast on where Sarah crouched partially concealed but completely unprotected by a tattered patch of scrub oak and two half-grown cacti. He watched as she took careful aim, allowed the machine to come as close as she dared, and then blew its right arm off at the elbow. She was already running when it fired reflexively with the gun in its left hand. She staggered slightly but stayed on her feet. Ignoring the sweat that stung his eyes, Derek sighted the T-888 in the M-4A1’s scope, took a breath to ease the trembling in his hands, and ripped a hole in the machine’s torso. The shots slammed it backwards and it sent up a plume of dust as it landed heavily and somersaulted twice.
“Thanks.” Bent double at his side, Sarah rested her hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath.
“You okay?”
“I’m good. John?”
“With Cameron.”
“Zach?”
A low groan sounded at her feet and Derek stooped to sit him up. “Still with us?”
“Yeah.” Zach managed a thumbs-up with the one thumb that still worked.
“Six minutes, Derek.”
“That fucker moving?” Derek clambered up with his burden.
She had taken hold of the assault rifle, her tongue flicking over her bottom lip as she concentrated. The T-888 jerked slowly into a sitting position and she smiled grimly. The Remington had already opened a gaping hole in the machine’s temple, and she aimed for the weakened area. When she fired, the far side of its head exploded outwards in a shower of blue sparks.
“Not anymore,” she said.
There was a pause before Derek gave a short bark of laughter. “Fucking badass,” he muttered, and then led the way deeper into the desert.
~ ~ ~
Sarah knew they wouldn’t make the Jeep in time. Although they were heading in roughly the right direction, the landscape had too many obstacles for them to cover any real distance, and when she spotted a small, sheltered dip in the ground she called for Derek to stop.
“We’re still too close, Sarah.” He was panting, his legs threatening to give way.
“We keep going, we’re gonna be caught in the open.”
They only had two minutes left, and she panned her flashlight around to show him how Spartan the next section of land was.
“Shit.”
She moved away from him, knelt in the dip and began digging into the rough sand with her bare hands. He shook his head at the futility, but settled Zach against a rock and followed her lead. It gained them a few inches. With a minute still to go, she helped him pull Zach into the shelter.
“Keep your head down and stay under these.”
Zach nodded, his eyes never leaving hers as he fought to process what she was telling him. She had already stripped her jacket off, and she arranged it over him before doing the same with Derek’s.
“Forty seconds.”
Derek’s throat was too dry to answer. When he lay down beside her, he felt her move to close the small gap between them, and he tucked his arm around her.
“I don’t think this is exactly what Cameron had in mind,” he said, his breath warm on her cheek. “Y’know, with the spooning.”
She didn’t say anything, but after a couple of seconds she started to shake. He couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying and suspected it was probably a little of both. Pulling her tightly against him, he closed his eyes as fire split the sky open.
~ ~ ~
As the roar of the explosion intensified, Sarah brought her arms up to cover her head, screwed her eyes shut and held her breath. Although the blast remained confined to the building, the shockwave was spreading outwards, uprooting trees and sending rocks and dust flying. The debris smashed and splintered around them, the small hollow providing some but not total protection as the wind blew hotly and fire began to take hold of the dry vegetation. Hours seemed to pass before the onslaught of noise and heat faded, to leave a dull ringing in her ears and a landscape that flickered with red and orange. She uncurled herself and gingerly sat up. Her arms stung with fresh scrapes and bruises. She watched Derek put a hand to the back of his head and then wince when he found the laceration that was trickling blood down his neck. With their jackets wrapped over and around him, Zach had fared better, and he managed a weak smile as she uncovered him.
All of her muscles complained when she pushed herself to her feet and looked back towards the facility. What little remained of it was burning ferociously, the flames licking out towards the grasses and trees.
“Derek?” Her voice sounded muffled and tinny, and she had to repeat herself before he looked up at her. “You okay?”
He nodded, still slightly dazed, and then gestured to the radio on her belt. The light on it was flashing, but she hadn’t heard the tone announcing an incoming comm.
“Mom?” By pressing it to her ear, she could just about make out John’s voice. “Mom, you okay?”
“Yeah.” She coughed and tried again. “We’re okay. You?”
“Fine. We’re at the Jeep. It’s missing a few windows but it’ll drive. Head to a bearing of 45.13.22 east.”
“45.13.22 east,” she repeated, hurriedly feeding the numbers into her handheld GPS.
“Yeah, we’re gonna try and come to you. Cameron can’t see anything moving out there.”
“Okay.” Relief was sapping all of her energy and she sat down heavily as her legs began to shake.
“See you in a few, mom.”
When he ended the call, she dropped the radio into her lap, closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. She felt Derek press a bottle of water into her hand.
“Thanks.” The water was warm and stale but wonderfully soothing against her parched throat.
“Ready?” The heat from the fire was beginning to feel uncomfortably close. Derek held his hand out to her and pulled her up. He looked utterly exhausted. When he knelt down to lift Zach, she took one of Zach’s arms and they supported him between them.
“That way.” She pointed in the rough direction of John’s coordinates, straightened her back and forced herself to start walking.
~ ~ ~
They heard the Jeep before they saw it. Even now, even knowing John was trying to find them, Derek dropped low with Zach, and Sarah crouched with her shotgun aimed towards the sound of the engine. Her radio buzzed twice and she pressed the button to accept the comm.
“Ease up, mom, that’s us you can hear.”
The rumble of tires and engine was closer but she still couldn’t see them.
“How the hell?”
He laughed at her incredulous tone.
“Cameron did the math, figured you’d have gotten about this far.”
Sarah stepped out into the open as the Jeep rounded a boulder the size of a small house. She guessed it was John who flashed the high-beams at her, and as they came fully into view she smiled at the same time he did.
“Clear, Derek.”
There was a rustle and a stifled gasp as Derek brought Zach to his feet. They were already staggering towards her as she turned, intending to help. The Jeep’s door slammed and John ran past her, taking hold of Zach’s arm and most of his weight and then helping Derek to settle him into the back seat. She watched her son, too weary to do anything other than stay on her feet and stare at him. She still hadn’t moved when he came back to her and wrapped his arms around her.
“You’re really okay?” Her voice sounded muffled against his t-shirt.
“Really, mom.” She felt his low laughter. “I scuffed my knee when I tripped over a rock. I put a Band-Aid on it.” She laughed too, but it sounded suspiciously like a sob, and he tightened his hold. “C’mon, let’s go home.”
~ ~ ~
It had been a squeeze to fit them all in, but John had settled down on a mass of jackets and blankets in the Jeep’s rear footwell and Derek sat with Zach’s head resting on his knees. A large dose of morphine had knocked Zach out, and from the front seat Sarah could hear the steady, deep breaths that told her John was also asleep.
There were no easy choices for their route home, but they had decided to stick to the relative safety of the desert rather than trying to regain the track that led away from the facility. They were making slow progress as Cameron weaved the Jeep back in the direction she had travelled from in order to pick up their original trail to the Needle.
“Jesus.” Sarah adjusted her grip on the Remington as they broke out onto an exposed area the size of a football field.
“It takes forty-five seconds to cross,” Cameron said in a tone that she might have intended to be reassuring.
“Yeah, quick as you can.” Sarah gave the warning unnecessarily. Cameron had already accelerated hard to cover the distance, and the Jeep was bouncing and rocking on the rough ground, dust flying up to obscure the windshield. There was no glass in Sarah’s side window but she still stared out of it, trying to keep watch as the grit stung her eyes and made her cough.
“Approximately fifty yards.”
She nodded, her fingers cramping around the stock of the shotgun. A gap in the oncoming rocks loomed large and inviting and she began to relax slightly. They were only thirty yards away when the back of the Jeep seemed to explode in a rush of splintering glass and tearing metal. As they were thrown forward, Cameron lost control of the steering for a split-second and everything turned upside down before Sarah was slammed into blackness.
~ ~ ~
TBC…
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