The Quest For Perfection (Is A Damn Fine Thing)

Part III: The Flooding of Fredrick Street - Chapter 24

24

Issie watched as Tom was thrown to the side by the force of the water, his head smashing off one of the tanks and the water around him glowing red as he disappeared underneath the surface. She ran to the door of the observation deck.

"Where is he, can you see him? Where is he?"

"I can't...I can't see him. I can't see a fucking thing.

"Open the door."

"Issie, what about participants? They're waking up."

"I need to find Tom."

Ray stared at her. If he opened the door and she went down, she might never come back.

"We don't have long until this whole place is submerged," he said.

"I know."

Be quick," he said.

She nodded. "It'll be like I was never there."

With that, he opened the door and watched her disappear, wading down the stairs and into the water, knowing that he would probably never see her or Tom again. But he didn't have time to think about this as movement within the tanks caught his eye. Two of them had woken up and had swam to the surface of their tank, looking at the chaos around them. The other two hadn't woken. A quick glance at their vitals told Ray all he needed to know. They wouldn't be joining them.

Transcript of Interview with Sarah Barr. August 30, 2015. Conducted by J.P. McNair.

When you woke, what was that like?

"I remember opening my eyes and all hell had broken loose. It was like something out of a nightmare. There was an alarm going, and there was water pouring into the room. It was hard to see. I could see the other tanks – I could see Albert and Mark and knew they weren't waking up. Kim was waking though. I still don't know how, to this day, I had the prescence of mind, or the strength, to swim up and get out of the tank. Survival instinct? I don't know. I just remember ripping all the wires and tubes out of me and swam upward. The lid to the tank to the top of the tank was open. I remember sitting there, looking out and thinking Wait till the water's high enough? I didn't know what was going to happen or where I was going to go. That much we do owe Ray."

Transcript of Interview with Ray Samson. August 26, 2015. Conducted by J.P. McNair.

Did you feel pressure?

He looked at me strangely. "Are you joking? Of course I felt fucking pressure. Everything, literally, was caving in around me."

I meant, pressure to do the right thing?

"You mean, try to be the hero when you've been playing as one of the villains?"

I wouldn't say it was as black and white as that.

His jaw tensed. "No, neither would I."

I could see I hit a nerve. I just hoped I hadn't hit it too much that he'd walk away. But he relaxed.

"But you're right. I felt one last opportunity to try and balance out everything we'd done. Thank Christ I'd been there when they built the place."