The Quest For Perfection (Is A Damn Fine Thing)

Part III: The Flooding of Fredrick Street - Chapter 25 & 26

25

Ray tried to think. The water was rising fast. Pretty soon it would be completely underwater. He knew Tom had pumped adrenaline into their system. Would it be enough for them to travel throughout the entire Complex until they found an exit? Probably not. He looked up. The walls continued to cave in, part of the brick now falling into the tanks of Mark and Albert, pinning them down. One of the girls that were awake screamed and tried to get out. Ray was trying not to panic, but this wasn't going to work. He couldn't get the participants out, including himself, before the place was just a fish bowl.

Fishbowl.

Ray looked up. He wracked his brains. He was sure that they had implemented a safety measure into this room. They had designed it as a sealed goldfish bowl, but hadn't he been the one, ever the pessimist, who had suggested that there should be an emergency exit, a hatch at the top, in the case that the dam surrounding them should burst? With everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten it. He looked to the ceiling. Desperately seeking something that looked like a hatch. And then he found it. A small door in the high ceiling. Pressing the intercom, he tried to speak but the water had blown the system, sparks flying from the speakers. He opened the door that Issie had left through and shouted to Sarah and Kim. They couldn't hear him over the roar of the water. He pointed up. They followed his finger before going back to him. He mimed a door. They seemed to get the message as they both jumped out of the tank.

Running back into the room, Ray looked for the button that would open the hatch. No time for method, Ray pushed them all. At first, it worked, as he saw the wheel on the door start to spin before more sparks blew from the control panel and it stopped.

They'd have to do it manually.

The water in the room was now up to Ray's waist. Wading out he dived into the water and swam over to help Sarah and Kim As he approached, they were already above the tanks and the ceiling was a few feet above them but still out of reach.

Sarah shouted "Is the door open?"

Ray shook his head. "We need to open it manually, the water's turned all the electrics. What happened to the other two?"

Kim looked back. "They decided not to come."

The ceiling was approaching fast, Ray had no time for condolences. He only had a few moments to think about what they were going to do.

"OK, we're going to have—"

But Ray never finished his sentence, as part of the debris loosened by the water collapsed on him and pushed him underneath the surface.

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

When the debris hit you, did you think that was it?

He laughed. "Too fucking right I did. Well, there wasn't really a lot of thinking time. I got hit and started bleeding from the head, you can see the scar here, and some other bits caught me in the stomach, taking the wind out of me and pushing me underneath the surface, toward the bottom. I remembered trying to struggle free and swim back up but I just didn't have the strength. My vision was starting to blur, my head ached and the wind had gone out of me. I remember thinking Well, this is how it was always going to end. At least you did what you could and have paid back what you did in full.

You thought it was a worthy punishment?

He nodded. "I was raised Catholic, I'm always looking for the worthy punishment. This was my penance, you know?"

Until it wasn't.

"Until it wasn't, yeah, you're right."

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

Talk about your decision?

"My decision?"

To go back down? For Ray?

She thought it over. "Instinct, maybe? A little bit at least. But the more I think about it, the more I think it was because of where I'd come from.

Fredrick Street?

She shook her head. "No, not the false perfection. I'd just finally come face to face with my own past and the mistakes I had made. It was like Tom said to us all. It wasn't about being perfect. It was about facing the errors of our past and acknowledging who we were, which would help us to be who we could be. It sounds stupid and something you'd get in a fortune cookie but it's the only way I can think about it."

Why?

"The person I was before, was selfish and put lives at risk for want I wanted. I'd just witnessed that, on my way back into the real world. I didn't want to be that person again."

So you saved him?

"I did."

Then what?

She smiled. "Then, it was over."

26

Sarah dived under, but she couldn't see anything. He was gone. She resurfaced. Kim looked panicked. "What are we going to do?"

Looking up, Sarah reached for the wheel of the hatch but it was just out of reach. "Quick, go under and push me up. Quickly."

Kim submerged and lifted Sarah toward the hatch. She wrapped her hands around it and started to twist. It was stiff but slowly it started to budge. The water was rising fast, almost consuming the room. Kim let go and resurfaced. There was only a few inches of air left. They both grabbed the wheel and twisted, turning it as hard and as fast as they could.

At first, it seemed like the door wasn't going to open, until eventually the pressure released and the hatch swung open, revealing daylight beyond.

Sarah took one last look for Ray or for anyone down below but there was nobody. Just as she was about to give up though, she saw a figure. She dove, grabbing the figuring and kicked hard toward the surface.

Ray broke through, gasping for air, covered in blood, along with Sarah. Sarah and Kim grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him up and out of the Complex. Kim followed before Sarah, taking one last glance for any other survivors, brought herself to the surface. The harsh daylight and cold air hit her with a force. She breathed the air in as deep as it would go and lay on the grass, grasping it in her hands as the water started to spew up behind her. But she was just out of reach, the water couldn't get her.

The two survivors of the Fredrick Street experiments and Ray Samson lay on the grass above The Complex, which had held them for so long. Sarah and Kim breathed in real air for the first time in an age and let their bodies ache as the drugs started to wear off and the real world came back to them.