DAY 7 7:12 A.M.
“Okay,” I said to her. “Okay. I’ll get you the virus.”
She frowned. “You’ve got that look on your face again ...”
“No,” I said. “I’m done. I’ll take you.”
“Good. We’ll start with those vials in your pocket.”
“What, these here?” I said. I reached into my pocket for them as I went through the door. Outside, Ricky and Vince were waiting for me.
“Very fucking funny,” Ricky said. “You know you could have killed her. You could have killed your own wife.”
“How about that,” I said.
I was still fumbling1 in my pocket, as if the test tubes were stuck in the cloth. They didn’t know what I was doing, so they grabbed me again, Vince on one side and Ricky on the other.
“Guys,” I said, “I can’t do this if you—”
“Let him go,” Julia said, coming out of the room.
“Like hell,” Vince said. “He’ll pull something.”
I was still struggling, trying to bring the tubes out. Finally I had them in my hand. While we struggled, I threw one onto the ground. It smashed on the concrete floor, and brown sludge spattered up.
“Jesus!” They all jumped away, releasing me. They stared at the floor, and bent2 over to look at their feet, making sure none of it had touched them.
And in that moment, I ran.
* * *
I grabbed the jug3 from its hiding place, and kept going across the fabrication room. I had to get all the way across the room to the elevator, and ride it up to the ceiling level, where all the basic system equipment was located. Up there, where the air handlers were, and the electrical junction4 boxes—and the tank for the sprinkler system. If I could reach the elevator and ride it just seven or eight feet in the air, then they couldn’t touch me. If I could do that, then my plan would work.
The elevator was a hundred and fifty feet away.
I ran hard, vaulting5 over the lowest arms of the octopus6, ducking beneath the chest-high sections. I glanced back and couldn’t see them through the maze7 of arms and machinery8. But I heard the three of them shouting, and I heard running feet. I heard Julia say, “He’s going for the sprinklers!” Ahead, I saw the yellow open cage of the elevator. I was going to make it, after all.
At that moment, I stumbled over one of the arms and went sprawling9. The jug skidded10 across the floor, came to rest against a support beam. I scrambled11 quickly to my feet again, and retrieved12 the jug. I knew they were right behind me. I didn’t dare look back now. I ran for the elevator, ducking beneath one final pipe, but when I looked again, Vince was already there. He must have known a shortcut13 through the octopus arms; somehow he had beaten me. Now he stood in the open cage, grinning. I looked back and saw Ricky just a few yards behind me, closing fast.
Julia called, “Give it up, Jack14! It’s no good.”
She was right about that, it was no good at all. I couldn’t get past Vince. And I couldn’t outrun Ricky now, he was much too close. I jumped over a pipe, stepped around a standing15 electrical box, and ducked down. As Ricky jumped the pipe, I slammed my elbow upward between his legs. He howled and went down, rolling on the floor in agony. I stopped and kicked him in the head as hard as I could. That was for Charley.
I ran.
At the elevator, Vince stood in a half-crouch, fists bunched. He was relishing16 a fight. I ran straight toward him and he grinned broadly in anticipation17.
And at the last moment, I swerved18 left. I jumped.
And started climbing the ladder on the wall.
Julia screamed, “Stop him! Stop him!”
It was difficult climbing, because I had my thumb hooked through the jug; the bottle kept banging painfully against the back of my right hand as I went up. I focused on the pain. I panic at heights and I didn’t want to look down. And so I couldn’t see what was dragging at my legs, pulling me back toward the floor. I kicked, but whatever it was held on to me. Finally, I turned to look. I was ten feet above the ground, and two rungs beneath me, Ricky had his free arm locked around my legs, his hand clutching my ankle. He jerked at my feet, and yanked them off the rung. I slid for an instant and then felt a burst of searing pain in my hands. But I held on.
Ricky was smiling grimly. I kicked my legs backward, trying to hit his face, but to no avail, he had both legs locked tight against his chest. He was immensely strong. I kept trying until I realized that I could pull one leg up and free. I did, and stomped19 down on his hand that was holding on to the rung. He yelled, and released my legs to hold on to the ladder with his other hand. I stomped again—and kicked straight back, catching20 him right under the chin. He slid down five rungs, then caught himself. He hung there, near the bottom of the ladder. I climbed again.
Julia was running across the floor. “Stop him!”
I heard the elevator grind as Vince rode up past me, heading toward the top. He would wait for me there.
I climbed.
I was fifteen feet above the floor, then twenty. I looked down to see Ricky pursuing me but he was far behind, I didn’t think he could catch me, and then Julia came swirling21 up through the air toward me, spiraling like a corkscrew—and grabbed the ladder right alongside me. Except she wasn’t Julia, she was the swarm23, and for a moment the swarm was disorganized enough that I could see right through her in places; I could see the swirling particles that composed her. I looked down and saw the real Julia, deathly pale, standing and looking up at me, her face a skull24. By now the swarm alongside me became solid-appearing, as I had seen it become solid before. It looked like Julia. The mouth moved and I heard a strange voice say “Sorry, Jack.” And the swarm shrank, becoming denser25 still, collapsing26 into a small Julia, about four feet tall.
I turned to climb again.
The small Julia swung back, and slammed hard against my body. I felt like I was hit by a sack of cement, the wind knocked out of me. My grip loosened from the ladder, and I barely managed to hang on, as the Julia swarm smashed against me again. I ducked and dodged27, grunting28 in pain, and kept going despite the impacts. The swarm had enough mass to hurt me, but not enough to knock me off the ladder.
The swarm must have realized it, too, because now the small Julia swarm compressed itself into a sphere, and slid smoothly29 forward to envelop30 my head in a buzzing cloud. I was totally blind. I could see nothing at all. It was as if I was in a dust storm. I groped for the next rung on the ladder, and the next after that. Pinpricks stung my face and hands, the pain becoming more intense, sharper. Apparently31 the swarm was learning how to focus pain. But at least it hadn’t learned to suffocate32. The swarm did nothing to interfere33 with my breathing. I kept on.
I climbed in darkness.
And then I felt Ricky pulling at my legs again. And in that moment, finally, I didn’t see how I could go on.
I was twenty-five feet in the air, hanging on to a ladder for dear life, dragging a jug of brown sludge up with me, with Vince above waiting and Ricky below dragging, and a swarm buzzing around my head, blinding me and stinging me like hell. I was exhausted34 and defeated and I could feel my energy draining away. My fingers felt shaky on the rungs. I couldn’t hold my grip much longer. I knew that all I had to do was release my grip and fall, and it would be over in an instant. I was finished, anyway.
I felt for the next rung, gripped it, and hauled my body up. But my shoulders burned. Ricky was pulling down fiercely. I knew he would win. They would all win. They were always going to win. And then I thought of Julia, pale as a ghost and brittle35 thin, saying in a whisper “Save my babies.” I thought of the kids, waiting for me to come back. I saw them sitting around the table waiting for dinner. And I knew I had to go on no matter what. So I did.
It’s not clear to me now what happened to Ricky. Somehow he pulled my legs off the rungs, and I hung in the air from my arms, kicking wildly, and I must have kicked him in the face and broken his nose.
Because in an instant Ricky let go of me, and I heard a thump-thump-thumping as his body went down the ladder, and he desperately36 tried to grab the rungs as he fell. I heard, “Ricky, no!” and the cloud vanished from my head, I was completely free again. I looked down and saw the Julia swarm alongside Ricky, who had caught himself about twelve feet above the floor. He looked up angrily. His mouth and nose were gushing37 blood. He started toward me but the Julia swarm said, “No, Ricky. No, you can’t! Let Vince.”
And then Ricky half climbed, half fell the rest of the way down the ladder to the ground, and the swarm reinhabited Julia’s pale body, and the two of them stood there and watched me. I turned away from them and looked up the ladder.
Vince was standing there, five feet above me.
His feet were on the top rungs, and he was leaning over, blocking my way. There was no possible way I could get past him. I paused to take stock, shifted my weight on the ladder, got one leg up to the next rung, hooked my free arm around the rung nearest my face. But as I raised my leg, I felt the lump in my pocket. I paused.
I had one more vial of phage.
I reached into my pocket, and drew it out to show him. I pulled out the cork22 with my teeth. “Hey, Vince,” I said. “How about a shit shower?”
He didn’t move. But his eyes narrowed.
I moved up another rung.
“Better get back, Vince,” I said. I was panting so hard I couldn’t manage the proper menace. “Get on back before you get wet ...”
One more rung. I was only three rungs below him.
“It’s your call, Vince.” I held the vial in my other hand. “I can’t hit your face from down here. But I’ll sure as hell hit your legs and shoes. Do you care?”
One more rung.
Vince stayed where he was.
“Maybe not,” I said. “You like to live dangerously?”
I paused. If I advanced another rung, he could kick me in the head. If I stayed where I was, he would have to come down to me, and I could get him. So I stayed. “What do you say, Vince? Going to stay, or go?”
He frowned. His eyes flicked38 back and forth39, from my face to the vial, and back again.
And then he stepped away from the ladder.
“Good boy, Vince.”
I came up one rung.
He had stepped back so far that now I couldn’t see where he was. I thought he was probably planning to rush me at the top. So I got ready to duck down, and swing laterally40. Last rung.
And now I saw him. He wasn’t planning anything. Vince was shaking with panic, a cornered animal, huddled41 back in the dark recess42 of the walkway. I couldn’t read his eyes, but I saw his body tremble.
“Okay, Vince,” I said. “I’m coming up.”
I stepped onto the mesh43 platform. I was right at the top of the stairs, surrounded by roaring machinery. Not twenty paces away, I saw the paired steel tanks for the sprinkler system. I glanced down and saw Ricky and Julia, staring up at me. I wondered if they realized how close I was to my goal.
I looked back at Vince, just in time to see him pull a translucent44 white plastic tarp off a corner box. He wrapped himself in the tarp like a shield, and then, with a guttural yell, he charged. I was right at the edge of the ladder. I had no time to get out of the way, I just turned sideways and braced45 myself against a big three-foot pipe against the coming impact. Vince slammed into me.
The vial went flying out of my hand, shattering on the mesh. The jug was knocked from my other hand and tumbled along the walkway, coming to rest at the lip of the mesh path. Another few inches and it would go over. I moved toward it.
Still hiding behind the tarp, Vince smashed into me again. I was slammed back against the pipe. My head clanged on steel. I slipped on the brown sludge that dripped through holes in the mesh, barely kept my balance. Vince slammed me again.
In his panic he never realized I had lost my weapons. Or perhaps he couldn’t see through the tarp. He just kept pounding me with his full body, and I finally slipped on the sludge and went down on my knees. I immediately scrambled toward the jug, which was about ten feet away. That odd behavior made Vince stop for a moment; he pulled down the tarp, saw the jug, and lunged for it, vaulting his whole body forward in the air.
But he was too late. I had my hand on the jug, and yanked it away, just as Vince landed, tarp and all, right where the jug had been. His head banged hard on the walkway lip. He was momentarily stunned46, shaking his head to clear it.
And I grabbed the edge of the tarp, and yanked upward.
Vince yelled, and went over the side.
I watched as he hit the floor. His body didn’t move. Then the swarm came off him, sliding into the air like his ghost. The ghost joined Ricky and Julia who were looking up at me. Then they turned away and hurried across the floor of the fabrication room, jumping over the octopus arms as they went. Their movements conveyed a clear sense of urgency. You might even think they were frightened.
Good, I thought.
I got to my feet and headed for the sprinkler tanks. The instructions were stenciled47 on the lower tank. It was easy to figure out the valves. I twisted the inflow, unscrewed the filler cap, waited for the pressurized nitrogen to hiss48 out, and then dumped in the jug of phage. I listened as it gurgled into the tank. Then I screwed the cap back on, twisted the valve, repressurized with nitrogen.
And I was done.
I took a deep breath.
I was going to win this thing, after all.
I rode the elevator down, feeling good for the first time all day.
收听单词发音 |
1
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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jug
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| n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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vaulting
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| n.（天花板或屋顶的）拱形结构 | |
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octopus
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| n.章鱼 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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10
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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shortcut
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| n.近路，捷径 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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relishing
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| v.欣赏( relish的现在分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stomped
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| v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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collapsing
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| 压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂 | |
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dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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grunting
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| 咕哝的，呼噜的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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envelop
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| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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suffocate
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| vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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38
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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laterally
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| ad.横向地；侧面地；旁边地 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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46
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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47
stenciled
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| v.用模板印（文字或图案）( stencil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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