Fiction Post

There was more shout but the captains were professionals and ignored the commotion and, instincts suddenly flaring, Scarlet placed his hand on Jeff’s head to protect it for entry into the car.

He’d barely placed it there when his hand exploded. As did Jeff Tracy’s head.

The press and gathered people dropped to the ground with remarkable alacrity as Blue roared over the comms and yanked Scarlet into the car, keeping his mangled hand hidden from sight.

Colonel White and his Colour Captains were the only ones still standing. While Blue was dealing with Scarlet he took the opportunity of looking around.

One shot. No other noise, no one else hit – if you discount Scarlet who was just unlucky – this was the work of a sniper. He scanned the skyline. The area was full of huge buildings like Tracy Towers, and there wasn’t a hope of realising who…

Suddenly something white was thrown from a window and as it fluttered down it unfurled until White realised it was still attached to the building and was behaving more like a flag.

“Bereznik będzie wolny od dyktatorów i handlarzy niewolników!” “Bereznik will be free from dictators and slavers!”

He didn’t pause at Scott’s door, simply knocked and opened at the same time, but the empty room pulled him up short. Alan was sure he’d heard One return just before midnight…so where was his brother?

Maybe he was on the bathroom…nope. The door was open.

Maybe he was on the balcony…no, no brother-shaped lumps there either.

Huh.

Leaving Scott’s room door open, Alan made his way via the lounge towards the kitchen, but Scott wasn’t slumped asleep at the desk and nor was he downing a glass of water while looking over the pool - both things Alan had caught him doing at this time in the morning previously.

He couldn’t still be in the hangars, could he?

Alan was a little more cautious descending to the hangars. After all, he wasn’t dressed properly and didn’t have any footwear on, and if he hurt himself now he’d never hear the end of Virgil’s safety presentations…

But the hangars were empty of people. Only the birds sat quietly on their roosts, One still occasionally ticking quietly as she cooled.

Where the hell was Scott?

And why hadn’t John called him out on being up and about where he aught not to be?

As if thinking about John could summon him Alan quickly boxed that thought up and made his way to the infirmary. It was the only other place he could think of.

(He ruled out with Grandma coz that was just a scary thought and the idea that Scott could be with Kayo didn’t even enter his mind.)

There was light emanating from the infirmary and Alan unconsciously slowed down.

What if Scott was hurt? The last person he’d want to see was Alan, Alan knew this. It hurt and angered him sometimes but Alan knew why, but they didn’t mean he liked it.

But…what if Scott was hurt?!?

The thought propelled Alan into sudden movement, and he almost bounced off the doors trying to enter before they opened fully.

Alan stopped short again. There was no Scott in the infirmary. But the light was on which meant someone must be here!

He rounded the first bed and once more suddenly stopped, this time because someone was there.

Scott was lying on the floor. His normally Cambridge Blue shirt was suspiciously shiny in the soft light and turning a disturbing purple colour which made his brother’s pallor appear even worse.

But nothing compared to the sticky red stain spreading out from under Scott’s back.

‘Scott?’

‘Hmm?’

The lack of Scott jumping cup to reassure him ramped Alan’s worry skyward. He tried to keep a lid on his growing panic by going for a nonchalant approach.

‘Scott?’

‘Sprout?’

‘There’s blood on the floor.’

‘Mmm, yes. I’m aware of that, thank you.’

‘Your blood is on the floor.’

‘Yes, we’ve already established that.’

‘Why is your blood on the floor?!’

Scott cracked one eye open a moment and closed it again.

‘I think it might be something to do with the lack of this.’

He unfurled fingers Alan hadn’t noticed were closed and a knife rolled out.

Alan tried to speak but nothing came out.

And then Scott sighed slightly and his chest stilled and Alan…

A great building work was set into motion. The largest cities, spaced well apart to prevent infection, were increased in size both outwards and upwards and enclosed in huge walls.

Walls designed to keep people in. And the infected out.

The GDF, once the peacekeeping force of the World Government, found their job description changing. Whole companies were installed into each city and the Medscanner tech that had been instrumental in advancing medication and saving lives was now repurposed for early identification of infection.

It was in many cities the only piece of technology that worked.

Once identified the infected were forced out of the city, away from all they love, to die alone with the rest of the infected.

Alan yawned, rolled his eyes and carried on doodling in the corner of the book he was supposed to be reading along with the rest of the class as the screen narrated.

He hated this lesson, and he wasn’t the only one. No one in the room was paying any attention to the automaton robot who was reciting their history, heedless of the lack of interested children.

School was a bind on most of them. The class was mixed age and the history lesson was delivered to a background of chatter.

Sighing again and rolling his shoulders, Alan looked across the room to where his brother Gordon sat, one hand propping up his head and looking lost in concentration. He smirked and rolled up a small piece of paper before flicking it at Gordon’s head.

Laughter filled the room as Gordon jerked awake and fell off his chair. As he climbed to his feet and sent a glare to Alan that promised retribution their teacher finally fell silent and trundled over to Gordon.

“Whistle-beep-beep-whistle.” ‘I’m fine, MAX. Thank you.’

The camera-eyes looked at him appraisingly and the shutters closed slightly like the robot was squinting, but eventually MAX gave a short nod before returning to the front of the class and restarting the narration.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, much the same way as every day did, and eventually the pair were waiting by the gates for one of their brothers to pick them up. As they waited the snow that had been threatening all day began to fall thickly, coating the cobbled courtyard in moments.

It was always potluck as to which brother would pick them up. Virgil had just begun an engineering job with the city, John worked at the Science Centre and Scott for the Central Government. Of course it could be Grandma that picked them up but she was busy these days in the hospital.

In the end it was Virgil who picked them up in his battered green pickup. The mechanical beast of a car was so noisy they couldn’t talk even though they were sat next to each other, the steam that drove the engine louder than anything else.

Virgil dropped them off and returned to work and the pair messed around (did their homework) while the waited. Grandma would get back first in time to (try) to make dinner followed by Virgil and then John and Scott would come home together in the late evening.

In the end they were joined with Virgil’s friend, Hiram Hackenbacker who they affectionately called Brains, who brought dinner with them. The sickly yellow light that the gas lamps gave off bathed them in gave the food a weird colour but it wasn’t burnt or raw and therefore edible…Scott and John were lucky that Virgil had already put some aside for them.

Conversation was light and Grandma offered Brains to stay since the streets would be dangerous even though the snowfall had slowed down to light flakes. He accepted since Virgil offered to take him to work in the morning, and they settled into the main room to wait for Scott and John to join them.

Sally began to fret when neither of them appeared at the usual time. Her unease began to increase and it spread to the others. Brains retired quickly but, despite the fact that Alan and Gordon should have been heading to bed themselves, no one else made to leave.

As the two-hour mark passed Sally picked up the phone to call the Government department where Scott worked. Calling a missing person in was fraught with danger in of itself. It wasn’t a good idea to highlight any behaviour that was out of the normal for a person lest the GDF was called in, but as she went to dial the front door opened.

And John walked in.

He was dishevelled, had obviously fallen over several times in the snow. There were clear indications he’d been crying.

He stood in the doorway, frozen, and it was like time itself had stopped. Eventually it was Virgil that broke the silence with a whisper that was louder than a shout.

‘Scott?’

Gordon laughed and threw himself on the bed beside her. He propped himself up and just lay there, grinning at her. Kayo turned to face him so that they were nose-to-nose.

They stared at each other, grins playing around their faces until she knocked his elbow out and jumped on him…

The knock on the door had them pausing.

‘Gordon? May I remind you that you have a meeting in 30 minutes?’ ‘Thanks Grandma!’ ‘Better me than John!’

Their Grandma was cackling as she left and both of their faces were flaming, but she was right – it would have been so much worse if John had…appeared…at that precise moment.

Leaning over her and kissing her briefly, Gordon got up to get ready while she contemplated whether to get up herself. It was rare for her to have some time free and with Gordon too – this meeting was the only bit of “work” in their holiday and one that she’d insisted he keep as it was a particularly important one to Gordon’s marine work.

He strolled back in and Kayo, still in bed and propped up with pillows and half-covered with a sheet, burst out laughing.

Gordon was still dressed in his PJs…all he’d done was put a tie loosely around his neck and neatened up the top. It was still very visible what he was wearing and Kayo laughed again.

‘What?’ ‘You’re going to attend the meeting in your PJs?’ ‘Why not? PJs are still clothes. And this is about marine conservation.’

She couldn’t think of anything to say to that, but the mirth was still clear on her face as Gordon set up the zoom meeting on the desk that sat under the window. He glanced up at Kayo and thoughtfully nudged the screen so his fellow attendees couldn’t see his lover in all her glory.

So Kayo couldn’t see the reaction to Gordon’s outfit. But she did hear them.

‘Mr Gordon Tracy! So pleased to finally get to see you in person!’ ‘Likewise! Please, call me Gordon.’ ‘Gordon. I must say that I do love your shirt.’ ‘Why thank you! I thought it was perfect for this occasion.’ ‘Indeed. Let’s talk about marine conservation.’

He had taken her out of the ballroom into a balcony where fresh air combined with the whisky to put a rosy glow on her cheeks.

They had talked. And talked. And talked, long into the night.

It has been a long time since anyone had shown a genuine interest in him as himself. Not as Scott Tracy Commander of IR, or as Scott Tracy head of TI and certainly not as Scott Tracy the billionaire, but she’d never brought up his personas at all.

In fact, they’d mostly talked about the various Veteran charities that would benefit from the night’s fundraiser and their own experiences.

She’d not been a soldier or in any service, but her brother had been in Poland visiting family when the Bereznik civil war broke out and hadn’t managed to escape before the rogue state had attacked Poland and annexed almost all of it.

Her brother was one of the million “missing” - souls who disappeared during the war.

It came as a surprise to both of them when Jeff sought them out to tell them the event had finished.

If his Dad had a certain twinkle in his eye Scott purposely didn’t see it, and he definitely didn’t hear the catcalls from Gordon over the discreet comms that Scott immediately ditched before grabbing her hand and whisking her off to continue their conversation.

He didn’t come home for two days.

And it seemed that only Scott was surprised by how hard he’d fallen.

They talked all the time. And spent every spare moment together. All of his family had made comments about how relaxed he now was.

And then tonight had come up.

Her family that had survived Bereznik, that had been lucky enough to reach the Polish border when the machine of Bereznik turned its attention to neighbouring countries, had finally been persuaded to visit.

It meant a full house at her family’s small apartment, and although they’d been there almost an hour Scott hadn’t met everyone yet.

Unfortunately she didn’t know much Polish, and the four women - three cousins and a grandmother - spoke a dialect that Scott couldn’t place. Her older sister knew quite a lot, thankfully, so they’d left her to translate.

The cousins were stoic but smiley, nodding along to the conversations that so far Scott hadn’t paid attention to as it was just so much noise, but he’d yet to meet her maternal grandmother. She was sat almost with her back to him and with the headscarf she wore Scott couldn’t make out any defining characteristics.

And suddenly they were through the crowd and he was standing there seeing the woman he loved embrace the older woman before him.

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t move.

‘Scott, this is my Nana.’

The old woman carefully stood and just before she could topple over she grasped Scott’s forearms. Her grip was fierce, and he could feel the bruising her fingers were leaving.

She leaned forward as if she was going to kiss his cheek. Instead her lips brushed his ear as she spoke.

It was guttural, a language no one else there understood. But Scott understood as she dug her fingers in harder.

He knew no one had noticed what she’d said. Nor had they noticed how hard her eyes were. Or how hard she was clutching him.

But everyone noticed when she let go.

For Scott, as white as a sheet, couldn’t stop himself from running.

Running from that language.

Running from that voice.

Running from that oh so familiar face.

Running from the threat muttered in that blend of German and Polish that only Bereznik faithfuls used…

“Sag es ihr, a ona zginie.”

It wasn’t like his one and only eldest brother to be late picking him up. Not since…John shut that thought down ruthlessly.

The snow was muffling the sounds and it took John a moment to realise that what he could hear was footsteps, and he took a step forward before pausing.

He was pretty sure that it was Scott - he’d recognise his footsteps anywhere - but as he concentrated John could make out more footsteps.

Scott was being followed? That didn’t make sense and the logical part of John’s mind told him he was being silly.

His brother appeared then, on the edge of the circle of light, and John’s heart sank. Scott was pale, worried-looking, and his eyes looked…haunted. That was the word.

Scott didn’t come any closer. Didn’t attempt to make any kind of physical contact, and John knew. He just knew.

Four men materialised into the light. They ignored John and surrounded Scott. The dreaded scanner washed over him, the bright yellow light a stark contrast to the murky glow of the gas lamp above John’s head.

Blue eyes filled with so much emotion - sadness, pain but above all else love - and then the five were gone.

John froze on the threshold for a moment before running after them, ignoring how he skidded on the slippery cobbles.

‘No! Wait! Please!’

One of the Inspectors turned back and waited while the others carried on, and Scott was gone before John could catch up.

A bright lamp flared into being and John skidded to a halt, squinting at the person holding it aloft. As he got used to the light the man lifted his helmet and the face became recognisable, as did the familiar uniform of the GDF.

‘Wayne? Wayne Rigby?’ ‘John. You need to leave. Now. Go home.’ ‘But Scott…’ ‘I’m sorry, John. You know the rules. All infected are to be immediately removed.’

Rigby re-donned his helmet, turned smartly and marched away, leaving John alone in the barely lit street, tears falling.

He woke up at home. In his bed.

Hardison was asleep in the chair next to his bed while Parker was on the covers, curled into his good side, not touching him but her hand was a hairs-breath away from his.

Eliot blinked.

Parker had moved and was now in the chair. Hardison was nowhere to be seen, but the smell of something cooking told Eliot where he was. Frying onions and garlic and butter wafted in, and he wanted to yell out for Hardison to “turn the damn gas down” but nothing came out but a croak.

Immediately Parker was there with a spoon of ice chips which Eliot gratefully accepted because he knew what was wrong with him and if he coughed now it would only make things worse…

But holding in a cough when you have broken ribs wasn’t that easy and, despite Eliot’s sheer strength of will, he could not stop the inevitable, and Parker was holding him up and yelling for Hardison and there was a crash in the kitchen and he was coughing and blood was splattering the white sheet over him…

Coolness flooded him and the pain eased and his eyes fluttered shut.

The next time Eliot woke up Parker was sitting cross-legged on the bottom of the bed eating a bowl of that ridiculously sugary cereal and ginning at him as she shovelled in another spoonful before swallowing the previous.

He looked to the left and Hardison was there, lifting his glass of that orange soda he drank like a fish as a salute before taking the noisiest, most obnoxious slurp he could manage.

Eliot chuckled then grimaced.

‘Don-don’t make me laugh, it hurts.’

Hardison reached over and gently patted his shoulder with a grin. Eliot knew that grin. That grin did not bode well. Not for him and not for his kitchen.

‘What? What have you done.’ ‘Done?’

Putting his hand on his chest in outrage, Hardison looked to Parker, the outrage clear.

‘You hear this, Mama? What have I done? I? When all I wanted to do is to look after you while you are sick and injured like you did for us? Well, I like that. I like that. I suppose you don’t want the chicken noodle soup we made for you?’ ‘We?’ ‘Me an’ Parker.’

Eliot eyed Hardison and cleared his throat.

‘Does it have orange soda and cereal in it?’

Stifling a groan, Lucy gently shook Jeff’s shoulder and he started suddenly.

‘Lu-Lucy?’ ‘Jeff…need a little help…’ ‘Uh…ok…’

It took him longer on the uptake but eventually he helped his wife to the bathroom then back to bed. He pulled the covers over her and kissed her forehead.

‘Why didn’t you say something?’ ‘I didn’t think I was that bad.’ ‘K. Ok.’ ‘Did I scare you badly?’ ‘You could say that. But I think, once you’re better, you need to talk to Scotty.’ ‘Scotty?’ ‘Yeah, he found you and called Ma. If you scared anyone then it was our baby.’ ‘Oh god. Is he alright?’ ‘Yeah. He did good, Luce. Real good.’

She was about to reply when a huge yawn split her face. Jeff chuckled and lay down beside his wife and cuddled into her.

Scott’s panic was clear and he dissolved into a coughing fit before she could answer, and Ruth found herself coaching his breathing so he could finish speaking.

‘Where’s your Mom?’

‘Sh-she’s on the floor!’

‘Ok. Ok, I’m on my way. I’m going to tell you want to do, ok?’

‘Ok.’

Ruth scribbled down a note, flung it at her receptionist and ran. Once her car was moving she activated the loudspeaker.

‘Scott?’

‘M’here.’

‘Can you tell me if your Mom is breathing?’

There was a pause. Ruth could hear him moving.

‘Yes. Mom’s breathing.’

Oh thank goodness!

‘Ok. I need you to move her into the recovery position. Is she on her back or front?’

‘Back. I don’t know how to do that!’

‘Don’t worry. I’m going to explain it. Hang on.’

While Scott waited Ruth added Jeff to the call but ignored him when he answered almost immediately.

‘Now I want you to position the arm nearest you into an L by bending her elbow, placing it palm up. Tell me when you’ve done it.’

It took a minute, and she could hear Jeff running for his own car - but eventually Scott had done it.

‘I - I remember now! I did this in Rescue Scouts!’

‘Talk me through it as you go, Scott.’

Scott did so, sounding more assured of himself as he continued and Ruth didn’t need to correct him at all.

They were both roused by an insistent ringing. Sleepily Virgil grumbled to the air.

‘No’ now, Jhn…’

But John didn’t answer.

It was Kayo who realised it was a phone.

‘Hello?’ ‘Thank goodness!’ ‘Mrs McRae?’ ‘Aye! Grab yon possessions an’ get oot.’ ‘Wha?’ ‘Ma derees, there’s a wildfire oopon thee.’

Now they knew what was going on they recognised the pervasive smell of “burn” drifted through the open widows.

They dressed hurriedly and left everything, climbing the steep hill that the croft backed onto. Thick black cloud hung low in the air and their eyes were smarting as they took in the scene.

It was utter devastation. The heather was alight, flames were everywhere and there was nowhere for them to go.

Virgil pulled Kayo in close as he activated the comm in his lapel.

‘Calling International Rescue.’

~

Pouring himself a glass of water, Jeff slumped down at his desk. He fiddled with the comm button.

‘Dad…don’t back down now.’

‘I know…but it’s hard, John.’

‘I get it. I do. But you got to do this for Scott’s sake.’

‘Ok. Ok. You’re right…stay?’

‘Of course.’

Jeff hit the comm and input a number. He was asked to go through several security measures and only after that was he connected to a person.

‘Mr Tracy, good afternoon.’

‘Harley, afternoon.’

‘How can JP Morgan be of service today?’

‘I need a freeze of my son’s assets and credit cards.’

‘I see. All of them?’

‘All those not connected to his private income and his mother’s trust fund.’

‘There is a wage paid by Tracy Industries into the account you’re asking me to close.’

‘Leave it. He won’t be getting any wages. How soon can you implement this?’

‘I can freeze his credit cards immediately but the rest of his assets will take 24 hours.’

‘That’s fine. Thank you, Harley. And I know I can rely on your discretion?’

‘Of course!’

‘Excellent. Thank you.’

‘Pleasure doing business with you, Mr Tracy.’

Jeff expelled a noisy breath and looked to John’s hologram.

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He knew he needed to answer EOS or she’d panic and do something he’d regret (like waking Scott and letting him up here) but for the moment he wasn’t able to do anything other than wait for the adrenaline to calm down enough for him to be able to move.

‘John!’

With a sigh he struggled out of his bag and into the corridor, bracing against the walls as he padded barefoot to the viewing ring. John sat down heavily and smiled weakly when EOS’ ring appeared over his shoulder and her lights flashed with relief.

They sat there for a while, just staring out at the stars together, until John had himself back under control.

‘John?’

This time EOS’ voice was wary, concerned. He frowned, wondering what was wrong, what she was going to say.

‘What is it, EOS?’ ‘I am concerned. You appear to be suffering a bout of insomnia.’ ‘Well, you and I both know that happens sometimes.’ ‘Yes. Sometimes. Chronic Insomnia can…’ ‘EOS, stop!’ ‘John?’ ‘I do not have chronic insomnia!’ ‘According to the scientific research when insomnia reaches over…’ ‘Stop!’

EOS did stop, but her lights flashed and John realised with a start she was joking with him. He chuckled and relaxed further.

‘I’ll stay awake while you can sleep.’ ‘That’s very kind, EOS, but I’m good. I’m awake now.’ ‘What would you like to do?’ ‘I’m good just watching the stars. Why?’ ‘Scott’s awake.’ ‘Is he alright?’ ‘I believe insomnia must run in your family.’ ‘Heh. Yes, you’re probably right, although I believe it’s just Scott and myself. What is he doing?’ ‘He has just loaded the fifth incident report for the GDF.’ ‘You better revoke his clearance. At this time of night it’s more likely that we’ll need to rewrite it later. Can you put him on screen?’

Obliging, EOS projected the desk in the lounge onto the window in front of them. Scott was sloughed in the chair, something he only did when he was sure no one was watching. Suddenly he sat upright, fingers rapidly firing through the now-frozen holograms. Then with a groan he sat back and stared at the camera he knew John would be watching him from.

‘Really, John?’ ‘Really, Scott.’ ‘EOS, why is John awake?’ ‘Why are you?’ ‘John had a nightmare.’ ‘EOS!’

But EOS was unrepentant.

‘I’m coming up.’ ‘No – Scott, there’s no need, I’m fine!’ ‘Lowering the elevator now.’

Exasperated at his eldest brother and his daughter being united against him, John rolled his eyes. But he got up and moved to the kitchen to prepare cocoa for them both.

Neither said anything once Scott arrived but they settled in the kitchen. The silence was comfortable and John found himself relaxing even further as Scott’s shoulder kept constant touch with his own. In turn his brother also relaxed, and John hid his smile in his cup.

‘What would you like to do to relax?’ ‘I don’t know. What are you in the mood for?’

John shrugged and Scott chuckled.

‘I believe there is a tried and tested method of relaxing after such bouts of insomnia.’ ‘Ok. Hit us with it.’ ‘Don’t you think you should ask her what it is?’ ‘Nah. I trust her.’

He stared at Scott like his brother had grown an extra head. Since when did his brother trust EOS?

But EOS’ lights showed her gratitude and she started a movie part-way through.

“Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?” “Affirmative, Dave. I read you.” “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” “What’s the problem?” “I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.” “What are you talking about, HAL?” “This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, HAL.” “I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.”

Scott’s eyes widened and his whole body stiffened, and John wasn’t too far behind. Then a familiar cackle emanated from EOS.

They looked at each other and spoke in unison.

‘GORDON!’

They both glared at her camera but EOS looked unrepentant.

‘Yes, Gordon said that this would be an excellent choice for any time John found it difficult to sleep.’ ‘He actually said that?’ ‘Well…he said that this movie sent him to sleep…’ ‘And?’ ‘And then he laughed.’

Scott burst out laughing, and once he started he couldn’t stop. It wasn’t until tears were running down his face that John finally joined him.