Lord Sunday

Seven

AFTER HER DECONTAMINATION, Leaf was given new clothes to put on. Scratchy underwear and a desert-patterned camouflage tracksuit weren’t what she would have chosen, but it didn’t really matter, since she was going to wear a protective suit over the top. Unlike the military or FBA suits, it was bright yellow and had EVACUEE printed on the front and back. Ellen showed her how to put the suit on, which was to step backwards into the connected over-boots and then pull up the front inner toothless zip and pull down the outer zip, before folding over the big Velcro tabs. The gas mask was next. It was a simpler version of the military ones, without a radio or other electronics, and it smelled rubbery and disgusting. Ellen demonstrated how to put it on and clear it, closing the intake valves and breathing out hard.

Leaf was trying it for herself for the third time when Ellen got a call from outside.

‘Roger,’ said Ellen. Then to Leaf, ‘Okay, you’re good to go. Major Penhaligon is waiting for you outside.’

Leaf turned to go back out the way she had come in, but Ellen tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to another air lock–style door.

‘One way in, one way out,’ she said. ‘I’ll probably see you later for your next decontamination.’

‘Ugh.’ Leaf grimaced at the thought of being scrubbed again.

‘At least your hair is cut now,’ said Ellen. ‘And you might have to wait next time, as I expect we’ll be busy getting refugees ready to ship out very soon. I bet you’ll be happy to get out of that suit by then. Even decontamination will be welcome.’

‘I guess,’ said Leaf. Her own voice sounded strange and dull, heard through the suit’s hood and the side panels of the mask. ‘Thanks, Ellen.’

‘Just doing my job,’ said the woman. ‘Good luck.’

Leaf waved and went into the air lock. She had to wait while it buzzed and hummed, before the outer door opened to let her into a pressurised tunnel of clear plastic that led to another portable air lock structure. This one took several minutes to cycle through, the progress of pressure equalisation and door opening being indicated by a row of tiny LEDs that slowly changed from red to green, a process that Leaf found weirdly mesmerising.

Major Penhaligon was waiting outside the final air lock. Chen was with him, and another soldier whose name tag read WILLIAMS, who was carrying a large medical backpack marked with a red cross.

‘Miss Leaf?’ asked Major Penhaligon.

‘Yes.’

‘We have a vehicle waiting. Follow me, please.’

Leaf followed the three soldiers down the road, to a waiting personnel carrier. The back ramp was down, and they trudged up and sat on the benches inside, the soldiers on the left and Leaf on the right. She felt a bit like it was an audition.

The ramp closed after them, and the personnel carrier rumbled off. Leaf couldn’t see the driver as the front compartment was separate and sealed.

‘Your supposed hospital is here, right?’ asked Major Penhaligon. He stretched out to show a folded map to Leaf. It was a detailed aerial and satellite composite map, and Leaf was easily able to pick out the large white building that was Friday’s hospital. It had been circled in red pencil with a question mark, and unlike nearly all the other buildings did not have its name or other information printed on the map.

Ominously, there was also a shaded circle drawn on the map. Centred on East Area Hospital, it was labelled INITIAL KILL ZONE and its outer circumference ran across the front of Friday’s building.

‘That’s it,’ confirmed Leaf, tapping the map.

Major Penhaligon nodded and sat back.

Leaf looked out through the small, very thick armour-glass window. It made everything look blurry and it was initially hard to work out exactly where they were, but she soon recognised a building and got her bearings. Only a few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Friday’s hospital.

There were no signs outside that indicated the building was a hospital of any kind. It looked just like the other low-rise oldish office buildings on the street, sharing with them the hallmarks of the micronuke attack, as all the windows facing East Area Hospital were shattered, and there were burn marks across the facade. There had been some trees out in front as well, but they were now only blackened stumps.

Leaf felt a momentary doubt as she climbed out the back of the personnel carrier. What if all the sleepers were gone, transported back to the House by yet another machination of a Trustee? Then Major Penhaligon would think she was a nutcase, or a real troublemaker-

She was thinking about that when Martine suddenly burst out through the front doors. Though she was wearing a scarf over her head and a surgical mask, it was easy to tell just from her staring eyes that she was absolutely terrified.

‘Help!’ she screamed. She almost fell down the wheelchair ramp, towards Sergeant Chen, who rushed forward to catch her. ‘There’s a thing – it’s come from the-’

Martine didn’t have the breath to get out what she wanted to say, but Leaf at least was certain she knew.

A thing from the House.

‘What?’ asked Major Penhaligon. ‘A what?’

Martine just pointed back behind her, her arm shaking.

‘It ... it came out of the pool.’

‘I don’t believe this!’ snapped Major Penhaligon. ‘Williams! Take care of this woman.’

He brushed past Martine and stormed up to the front doors of the hospital. Leaf hurried after him, calling out, ‘Be careful! There’s ... uh ... weird stuff going on.’

Sergeant Chen, who was striding up the ramp next to Leaf, turned her masked head to the girl.

‘Weird, like winged guys?’

‘Weirder,’ said Leaf.

‘Uh-huh.’ Chen drew her pistol and racked the slide. ‘Wait up, Major! Could be real trouble.’

Major Penhaligon, who had been about to open the door, hesitated. Then he stepped back and readied his own pistol.

‘This seems ridiculous,’ he said. ‘But I suppose it could be the Greyspot virus or something, making someone go crazy. Chen, stay close. Miss Leaf, you wait here.’

He pushed open the door and went in slowly, turning his head so that he could scan the corridor, despite the limited field of vision imposed by his mask. Chen followed, and Leaf, despite being told not to, followed Chen.

The lobby and administrative offices were empty, but as Major Penhaligon and Sergeant Chen advanced down the central corridor, with Leaf tagging along some distance behind, they heard someone screaming ahead, near where the ramp went down to the lower level.

A sleeper staggered out of the top of the ramp, took several steps, and then was horrifyingly gripped by a long green tentacle. It wrapped around the old man and yanked him off his feet and dragged him back out of sight. There was another scream, and then silence.

‘You see that?’ asked Major Penhaligon unnecessarily.

‘Sure did,’ said Chen. ‘Twenty feet long at least, and as thick as my arm. I don’t want to see whatever it’s attached to-’

The tentacle reappeared as she spoke, questing around the corner. It was followed by another, and another, and then the main body of the creature rounded the corner. It was the size and shape of a small car, with dimpled, tough-looking hide that was bright green. It had hundreds of foot-long legs under this central torso, and three big tentacles in total, each of which was easily thirty feet long. On top and in the middle of its main body, there was another shorter limb, perhaps a neck, about three feet long, which supported a sensory organ that resembled a daisy, hundreds of pale yellow anemone-like tendrils swirling around a central, darker yellow orb. As Major Penhaligon took a step forward, these anemone tendrils all turned towards him, as if they could sense his movement. He stopped, but most of the tendrils continued to point stiffly at him, with only a few still fluttering on the sides, as if they were watching for other potential enemies.

‘Watch it, but hold your fire,’ said Major Penhaligon. He then muttered something into his radio, which Leaf couldn’t catch.

‘I don’t reckon shooting that with anything less than a fifty cal would be worthwhile,’ said Chen, but she kept her pistol trained on the creature.

‘It’s got a collar,’ said Leaf, pointing to a thin band that was wound around the neck-limb. There was a slim braided lead attached to the collar, and the lead stretched back around the corner.

‘You said weird and you were so right,’ said Chen.

‘I wonder who’s holding the lead,’ said Leaf.

She was answered a moment later when a humanoid figure stepped out from behind the creature. He was green-skinned, seven feet tall, and wore a tailed coat made of autumn leaves and breeches apparently of green turf. Because he wasn’t wearing any shoes, Leaf had a clear view of his long, yellow-brown toes, which closely resembled the taproots of a willow.

In his right hand, he held a scythe, the butt planted upon the ground. The staff of the scythe was at least nine feet long, and the curving blade stretched behind him, from shoulder to shoulder. It was made from some dark metal that did not reflect the light.

‘I have come for the girl called Leaf,’ said this figure, clearly a Denizen. He waved one negligent hand. Leaf noticed that his thumbnails were a darker green than his skin, so dark they were almost black. ‘You others may go.’

‘What ... Who are you?’ replied Major Penhaligon.

‘I am commonly called the Reaper, and that will suffice,’ replied the Denizen. ‘Leaf-girl, your presence is required by my Master. Come to me.’

‘Your Master?’ asked Leaf. Major Penhaligon was whispering on his radio again, and Chen had moved her aim to the green Denizen. ‘Would that be Saturday or Sunday?’

‘It is not needful that I tell you. Walk to me, child, ere I set the beastwort upon your companions.’

‘Get ready to run,’ whispered Chen, so low Leaf almost couldn’t hear her.

‘Run!’ shouted Major Penhaligon. As he shouted, he and Chen started shooting at the beastwort. Leaf turned and sprinted as fast as she could for the doors, the booming shots echoing around her, followed by the clomp of boots as Penhaligon and Chen caught up with her. Chen picked her up under one huge arm as they crashed through the doors, Major Penhaligon turning around to fire several times into the leading tentacle as it almost grasped his leg. While the bullets hit, they appeared to do little, if any, damage.

‘To the carrier!’ shouted Major Penhaligon. The vehicle had turned so that its turret machine gun was facing the door of the hospital, and its back ramp was open. Chen took Leaf out one side, with Major Penhaligon close behind, and as they ran for the ramp, the machine gun started to fire deafeningly over their heads.

Williams and Martine were already inside. They scurried back as Chen, Leaf, and Major Penhaligon hurtled in, and then Chen pulled the lever to close the rear ramp. It whined and slowly began to rise, even as one of the beastwort’s tentacles slithered around the corner and gripped the edge.

Outside, the heavy chatter of the turret machine gun stopped, and over the internal speaker, the driver’s panicked voice shouted, ‘It’s not stopping. I can’t-’

The vehicle shook with a sudden impact, knocking Leaf to the floor. As she scrambled up, another tentacle came in the other side of the ramp. Chen hacked at it with her combat knife, but its flesh was like a rubbery sponge. The knife simply rebounded off, no matter how much force Chen applied.

Then the tentacles fastened themselves completely around the ramp and ripped it off, the heavy armour plate torn in half as easily as a stick of licorice. The door went flying through the air to crash into a burned-out car across the street, and the beastwort slithered into view.

Chen and Major Penhaligon tried to push Leaf back behind them, as if they could somehow shield her from the monster, but Leaf resisted.

‘No!’ she said. It took all her courage to get out the next few words, but she managed. ‘It’s no good. I’ll go ... I’ll go with them. If I do, they’ll probably leave everyone else alone.’

‘That is so,’ said the Reaper, who stood suddenly in the doorway. ‘Come. There is little time.’

‘No!’ said Major Penhaligon. He grabbed Leaf’s arm as she scrambled towards the rear of the carrier. ‘There must be something we can-’

‘There isn’t,’ said Leaf quietly. She shook off Major Penhaligon’s light grip and stepped out of the carrier. She stopped to look back and added, ‘There’s nothing any of us can do. I just ... I just hope Arthur can save me ... save us all ...’

‘Arthur?’ asked Major Penhaligon. Even distorted by the mask, the surprise and shock in his voice were evident. ‘My little brother?’

‘Yes,’ said Leaf.

‘Enough!’ said the Denizen. He reached out and gripped Leaf’s shoulder. She flinched under his touch, and felt a wave of fear so intense that she almost fell. But she fought against it and remained upright. She didn’t want the Denizen – or Chen and Penhaligon – to see how scared she was. It was lucky the mask covered her face, or they’d know, since she couldn’t stop the tears that were welling up uncontrollably, or even wipe them away.

‘Come!’

‘Look after the sleepers!’ Leaf shouted before she was pushed away, back towards the doors of Friday’s hospital.

Only, through the rainbow prism of her tears, she saw they were not the doors of the hospital. They had become one tall arched door, decorated with a thousand swirling patterns and shapes, pictures of things that had happened and things that might yet come to pass, a confusing kaleidoscope of colours and movement that Leaf knew she must not keep looking at, lest she be so drawn in she lost her senses.

In other words, it was the Front Door of the House.