Hyper

Chapter 35 – I’m gonna survive!

[Location: Decontamination Depot t3rm1nu5 – A passage way inside the hydrogen fuel condenser facility]

Linda caught something out of the corner of her eye. She gasped as a fresh dose of fear tingled through her blood stream. About ten yards to her left, underneath a pile of rubble, she saw a man’s hand. The hand was connected to an arm and a body that was covered by large jagged pieces of metal ductwork. She screamed and ran toward it, her eyes wild with fear.

Crouching down, she inspected the hand but wasn’t sure if it was Charlie. She began to feverishly lift the heavy pieces of debris from the pile and toss them aside. Sobs spilled from her mouth and tears fell from her cheeks onto the pile of metal parts. Lifting a swatch of silver fiberglass insulation exposed a man’s upper torso, and the back of his bloody head. She flung the insulation away, closed her eyes and exhaled with relief, realizing that the dead man wasn’t her husband. Opening her eyes, she recognized Jack Ford.

Linda had only known Jack for hours, but sadness filled her heart. Of the five visitors, he seemed to be the most genuine, and he definitely deserved better than lying dead under a pile of rubble. She used the back of her sleeve to wipe the snot from her nose, backed away and continued toward the compressor.

Through her tears, she could see that pieces of the metal machine had launched themselves in every direction and a cavernous hole had erupted on the front of the device. Metal pipes and conduit had been pushed away from the gaping cavity by the force of the blast.

“Charlie! Honey! Where are you?”

As Linda stepped forward she kicked something with the end of her boot, and heard it slide across the metal grating. Glancing down, she saw a pulse firing handgun. She leaned forward to get a closer look at the firearm, then bent down and picked it up.

This is the same kind of weapon the guys from the Elysian Fields were carrying.

She held the gun in her hand and turned it from one side to the other. It had been adjusted to lethal and the safety was off. She lowered the gun to her side, looked around and sniffled.

“Charlie? Where are you?” She closed her eyes and sighed.

Thoughts of a mutiny returned to her mind, and her heart ached with fear. She knew from past experience, that prison riots always ended with at least one of the guards being killed. On D.D.315 Charlie was the authority figure, the closest thing to a prison guard.

Her shoulders slumped, her head fell forward and she began to sob. Sorrow gushed from the deepest part of her heart, as the hope that her husband was alive and well began to evaporate.

As her well of tears began to run dry, a switch flipped inside of her, and a thought popped into her mind. If Charlie was indeed dead, she was one-hundred percent sure, he would want her to protect herself and live through the ordeal.

She wiped the grime from her face and clenched her teeth. She stood tall, and squeezed the handle of the gun tightly. Her once gentle eyes turned dark and steely.

He told me to hole up, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.

She turned and began to march toward their quarters with the gun drawn.

I’m gonna survive!