14 Surv1v0rs

13

Silence.
"It's me."
Reeves stood looking blindly at him, as though he wasn't there. He was a wisp. A ghost. One could only wonder what was going through Reeve's head.
Jack was standing at the edge of the grave now; he bowed his head. "I—I was too afraid to admit it. I remembered being in the contaminated area ... I chose not to disclose that to everyone. I put you all at risk. I am sorry." Now, he knelt before the grave of Bob Marley and looked down at the one eye staring back at him. "I am sorry."
"He's the monster," said Dareel. "You see? It was him all along. And—and that monster—he—it killed Audrey! It killed her!" Tears were sliding down his face now.
Silence.
"It's you," said Dareel, looking at Jack, his lips trembling. "It's you!"
"It wasn't Jack," said Marcus.
"It is Jack!" averred Dareel. "A different face, maybe, but it's the same damn monster. Don't you see? Same. Damn. Monster!"
Silence.
"Kill it!"
"I'm sorry," Jack said. "I'm sorry." He looked up at Dareel. "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry that .... " He was at a loss for words.
"Kill it!" Dareel growled again. "Kill it!"
Suddenly, Reeves lurched forward. In one movement, he had reached into his pocket and pulled out the gun. Its chrome glinted in the waning sunlight like a flash of glass. .357 Magnum revolver. He pressed the gun to Jack's bowed head. He could feel the skull beneath the soft, thinning, damp, warm hair, and the gun rose and fell with each breath Jack took. "You sombitch. You lied!"
"Stop!"
Michael stepped forward, pulling off his helmet, and chucking it to the ground. "Don't—don't—don't!" he wailed. "Don't do this! Don't! We're not monsters! Is that what you're trying to prove?"
"Get out of my way, Michael," said Reeves.
"No! I'm not going to let you murder him," said Michael.
"It's all right, Michael," said Jack, looking up. Tears streamed from his eyes. "I betrayed you all. I deserve this."
"Jack was suffering from a severe concussion," Michael said quickly, as tears sprung lightly and quickly from his eyes. "He is prone to forgetfulness and blackouts. And you know damn well that after saying that the monster we're looking for doesn't even know it's a monster—he'll be the first to—to—" he couldn't finish. "He'll admit it, of course he will. Don't you see? Given time, everyone will begin confessing." He looked around the grave. "I mean, who couldn't have been exposed to the virus? Who? Tell me!"
"Out of the way. This has to be done," said Reeves. He had removed the gun from Jack's head now. He held it languidly in his grip and it was pointing at the ground, but the threat was still overtly visible. His voice was calm; his face taut with anger.
"Listen to him."
Jack looked up. It was Dareel speaking now. His eyes were red but dry.
"We aint gonna start executing people left and right. We can lock him up for now."
"No," said Reeves, and shoved Michael out of the way. "He has to die. This monster has to die."
Dareel stepped in front of Reeves. "Well, I aint gonna let you, you sombitch."
"You said 'kill him', didn't you?"
"I changed my mind," he said. "I was rash."
"Rash? Get out of my way, Dareel," snarled Reeves, raising the gun.
"Or what?" said Dareel. "You gonna shoot me?"
Reeves let his arms drop at his side; the gun pointed heavily at the ground. It seemed to have more power like this. "Don't make me ask you a second time, Dareel. I like you, but that doesn't mean I won't."
Dareel unfastened the oxygen tubes and pulled off his helmet. His red eyes looked strangely surreal in the sunlight as he stepped forward and looked straight into Reeve's eyes. "Blow my brains out, then, Reeves ... if you gotta. Right here. Right in front of everybody. In fact, I'll stand right next to the grave," he goaded, moving to the edge and knocking more dirt into the grave until it covered Bob Marely's face, "so you can kick my warm corpse into the grave after you've pulled the trigger. Then everyone else can line up—and you can have yourself a nice little mass grave. I bet that'll look nice and pretty on your resume for your next job." He grabbed the arm with the gun, and pressed the gun against his forehead. "Go on! Shoot me! Shoot me here! Shoot me now!"
"Put the gun down," said Hal.
Reeves pulled the gun out of Dareel's and pushed him away. "Don't mess with me, Dareel."
Dareel came back to stand in his face. "Do it, Reeves! Always thought you were a coward!"
Reeve pointed the gun in his face, and Hal sprang forward.
"Stop it, both of you!" cried Michael. "Look what—Christ—look what we've become!"
"Oh cut the tripe," said Reeves, spinning around. "I'm saving your asses! Don't you realize this?"
"The monster would not admit to being a monster!" said Michael. "It wouldn't do that!"
"He's right," said Hal. "It wouldn't do that. It's more deceptive than that ... and insidious. No—the monster would want us to kill. Wouldn't it, Reeves?"
Reeves rounded on Hal. "What do you mean by that? You were the one who said—"
"I'm beginning to think," Hal cut in, "that Bob never mentioned the one who was truly infected, Reeves. What do you think about that? What if it was feeding us names just to ... I don't know ... turn us against each other? What if this is exactly what its plan was all along? You'd be doing its dirty work, wouldn't you, Reeves? Or maybe ... maybe ... maybe there's another reason .... "
"And what's that?" growled Reeves.
"Maybe it's you, Reeves," breathed Dareel.
"Yeah," said Karl. "Why are you so quick to kill?"
"Seems kinda psychotic if you ask me," said Connor.
"And who would be next?" asked Marcus.
"Why does he have the gun?" Dareel asked.
"I am the leading officer in command," said Reeves.
"If you were aboard the ship, you are one of us," said Connor. "Nobody should have a gun. Nobody who is under suspicion."
"Since when was I under suspicion?" Reeves growled.
"When were you not?" Dareel asked.
"We are all under suspicion," said Thomas.
"Didn't seem like that a moment ago," said Reeves.
"Things have changed," said Marcus.
"I don't like that you have a gun," said Dareel. "It aint fair."
"Life aint fair," said Reeves. "And I'm not giving it up."
"You have to. This is about trust now."
"Then you're gonna have to take it from my cold dead hands, asshole," said Reeves, folding his arms.
Just then, Michael cried, "Hey! Everyone!" He was looking at his Darpa8. "I just received a transmission. The rescue ship has just arrived through the Gateway!"
"That's great," said Reeves, putting his gun away. "That's—that's great!"
"We only have to last twelve hours," Michael said. "Twelve hours!"
"Right," said Hal. "This is how it's going to work. We stay in our locked quarters for the next twelve hours."
"That sounds like a swell idea," said Dareel. "That way we can all die one by one. No, we all stay in the atrium. Nobody sleeps. Nobody leaves to go to the bathroom for twelve hours."
"You're forgetting that there's a storm coming," said Connor, turning toward the horizon. "There isn't going to be a landing in the storm."
Reeves swore and put his helmet back on. "Goddamn this rock!" he said, over the mic. "We're gonna do what Hal said. "We all go back to our quarters and stay behind locked doors. We'll stay there until the storm subsides and Earth arrives."
"Nobody leaves for any reason whatsoever," said Hal.
"Do we all agree?" Reeves asked, and turned to look at everyone.
Jack had climbed shakily to his feet.
Reeves tossed him his helmet. "Put it on before you die of hypoxia. No hard feelings, eh?"
Jack didn't answer.
"Agreed," said Dareel. "But I say we bury the gun and the clip in different locations."
"Dareel," said Reeves, looking straight at him. "You can trust me."
"I trust nobody," said Dareel. "Certainly not you."
"It's settled," said Hal. "We will go into our quarters and lock ourselves in. Nobody comes out for anything. We have our own toilets ... we'll ration out the food and water."
"What about Rick?" said Michael.
"Might be safer where he is," said Dareel. "He aint here with us monsters. What do you think, Reeves?"
"I'll go back to get him," said Hal.
But Reeves put his hand on his shoulder. "No."
"Why?"
"Like Dareel said, he's safer there than here with the monsters." He let him go. "And I'm not sure I can trust you with the truck."
"You think I'll run off with it?"
"We're all under suspicion, aren't we?" he said. "So, the truck stays here with us. Rick will be just fine where he is." He turned to the others. "All right, let's all go and lock ourselves up. Seems like the only way we're gonna survive each other."