Titanic 2020: Cannibal City t2-2 Page 21

  They slept as best they could in the hours leading up to the rendezvous time, curled awkwardly in the booths or stretched out on the cold marble floor. Jimmy tossed and turned; he kept imagining he was hearing a dull metal dragging sound, like a ghost dragging its chains. But when his eyes scanned the darkness there was nothing.

  Although a bright day had dawned outside, little dispelled the gloom so deep in the heart of Grand Central. They had expected a steady trickle of returnees, but as they shook themselves and began to gather in preparation for their journey, it was becoming clear that nobody else was coming.

  Jeffers formed the remaining passengers and actors into a column, two abreast with armed crewmen on either side. He checked his watch, gave one final look in the direction of the railway tunnels, then gave the signal for them to move out. Jimmy, Claire, Ty and Ronni were round about the middle of the column, excited but anxious. They all knew the chances of them making it back to Titanic were slim. Gunfire had largely died out during the night, which could only mean that the city was now in control of the President. Slipping through undetected was going to be very difficult. And there was no way to contact the ship to organise an alternative pick-up point. All Jeffers could do was take them to the harbour and hope that the ship's inflatables were waiting for them, as previously arranged.

  But it seemed as if their journey was over almost before it had even started.

  As Jeffers was directing scouts out of the front door to check for soldiers, they became aware of a clattering sound. It was somewhat masked by the height of the buildings surrounding them, but then the source of the noise suddenly burst into view: a huge military helicopter, descending on to the broad avenue before them, its massive rotor blades throwing up dust and debris, drowning out all other noises.

  Jeffers was desperately using hand signals to get the forward scouts back into the station and pushing the column back behind him as the helicopter landed and its doors burst open. He had his pistol out and was about to fire at the first soldier who jumped out . . . when a familiar face appeared and began frantically signalling towards him.

  Benson!

  And now that he looked closer — behind the controls of the helicopter, Jonas Jones! Giving him the thumbs-up!

  It was incredible.

  Impossible.

  But there they were!

  Jeffers reversed his signals to now urge everyone forward. Jimmy had last seen Jonas close to the airport in New jersey — that's where he must have found the helicopter and decided it would make for a much faster and safer return journey. And now he'd risked it all by coming to rescue the rest of them. As for Benson — he didn't know or particularly care how he came to be on board! He was there, he was safe, and he was going to take them home.

  'Get on, now!' Benson yelled, his hands cupped around his mouth. 'There's soldiers everywhere — come on!'

  They clambered on board, pulling each other up, rolling across the floor, crawling into any space they could find. Jimmy got one leg up, and Ty grabbed his hand and hauled him in. Jimmy turned to help Claire, but she wasn't there. There was only half a dozen of them left to board — she must have slipped past him in the scrum. Jimmy leaned forward to bellow in Jonas Jones' ear — 'Did you get it? Did you get the part?' He got a thumbs-up in response. Jimmy turned back, smiling, and tried to pick Claire out of the throng again, but he still couldn't spot her.

  'Ty!' he shouted above the roar of the blades, 'Where's Claire?'

  Ty had a protective arm around Ronni, even though she didn't need it. He nodded down the body of the helicopter. 'Didn't she . . .'

  They still couldn't see her.

  The last of the passengers was dragged up and deposited on the floor.

  'All aboard!'Jeffers shouted.

  'Ready for take-off!' yelled Benson, beginning to close the doors.

  It was then that Jimmy saw her — just a momentary glimpse as she was dragged backwards into Grand Central. He couldn't see who by, and he didn't care.

  'No!' Jimmy shouted, and threw himself forward through the almost shut door. He landed in a heap on the road.

  Benson's panicked face looked out after him. 'Jimmy!'

  'Claire!' Jimmy pointed towards the terminal. At that very moment a bullet pinged into the ground beside him. Jimmy looked to his left. Soldiers! Still a considerable distance away, but crouched down, shooting towards the helicopter. Another bullet cracked off one of the blades.

  'Jimmy!' Benson yelled. 'We have to go!'

  Jimmy just shook his head and darted towards the terminal.

  He charged through the entrance and there, not more than fifteen metres in front of him, was Claire — and the minister.

  A beaten, blood-encrusted, swollen version of Calvin Cleaver with a knife to her throat, forcing her back.

  'Stop!' Jimmy yelled.

  Cleaver looked towards him — and laughed.

  Jimmy had no weapon, he had no anything.

  But he kept coming.

  'Let her go, you monster!'

  Cleaver kept moving backwards. He stepped into the exact same gargantuan pile of crap that Jimmy had tramped into the night before.

  The gunfire from outside grew more intense.

  There was an immense cacophony as the helicopter began to lift off — but the sound did not diminish as it should. It was hovering, waiting, putting everyone at risk.

  'Let her go!'

  Jimmy was right up close now.

  'Jimmy! No!' Claire screamed. 'Go!'

  'Yes, go, little boy!' Cleaver laughed. 'She's mine . . . and the ship is mine . . . and there's nothing you can do!'

  Cleaver was mad. There was no doubt about it. It was in his eyes and mouth. But he was also right. There was nothing Jimmy could do but follow; there was nothing Claire could do — not even struggle; blood was already dripping from where the point of the blade had pierced the skin on her neck. Cleaver was obviously convinced that if he possessed Claire, then the Titanic would never sail away and leave her.

  'Just let her go,' Jimmy begged. 'Please — take me instead . . .'

  Cleaver cackled. 'You? You're worthless . . .'

  Then Jimmy heard it, even above the noise of the battle outside.

  A sound he had first heard in the night, and dismissed as a nightmare.

  Claire heard it too and recognised it.

  The dry metallic drag.

  But Cleaver heard nothing. He was too busy screaming at Jimmy: 'Get out of here or I'll rip the throat out of you!'

  From out of the gloom behind him a huge, grey elephant stomped into view. It was almost upon them before it let out a deafening trumpet call, so close that Cleaver's head involuntarily twisted towards it. His surprise was so great that he momentarily relaxed the pressure of the blade against Claire's neck. Sensing it, she immediately elbowed him in his bony ribs. As he doubled over she tore herself from his grasp and dived to one side, just as the elephant's massive bulk ploughed into Cleaver, impaling him on one of its tusks. Cleaver screamed as the ivory spear erupted through his chest and blood sprayed out of him. The elephant roared again, throwing back its head and raising Cleaver off his feet, forcing the thickest part of the tusk into his torso. As Cleaver continued to scream, Jimmy dived to one side to avoid the advancing creature and Claire pushed herself back against the wall. The elephant rumbled past them and in a matter of moments it disappeared back into the gloom on the other side of the station, taking Cleaver with it.

  Jimmy and Claire ran towards each other.

  They stopped.

  'I planned that,' said Jimmy.

  Then he grabbed her hand and they ran for the doors.

  Epilogue:

  The Titanic Times

  Every newspaper needs an editor, someone to make the decisions. It is not something that is easily done by committee. A newspaper needs a voice. The Titanic Times had two voices, and for several hours now they'd been locked in the office, shouting at each other.

  The reporters and the rest of th
e team remained outside in the corridor, but they could hear it all. That's where Ronni found Ty, leaning against a wall, lazily chewing a sandwich. She was in awe of the Titanic. She had spent the twenty-four hours since they'd landed exploring as much of it as she possibly could, forgetting about sleep, just letting out little whoops of delight at every new, incredible thing she discovered. She bubbled excitedly to Ty about how fantastic the ship was.

  Ty shrugged. 'You should have seen it before the President of the United States blew holes in it.'

  'The holes aren't that big,' said Ronni.

  'That's what they said about the iceberg,' observed Ty.

  'We escaped, didn't we? And he was never really the President. He was just power-crazy, wasn't he?'

  'Aren't they all?' asked Ty.

  More shouting erupted from within.

  'What are they fighting about?' Ronni asked.

  Ty swallowed another mouthful. 'Well,' he said. 'On the surface, it's about who edits the paper. So much has happened in the past few days that there's isn't space to fit it all into just one edition, so we're going to do it over several days. They're arguing about what stories go into tomorrow's edition. But I think, deep down, they're fighting about something else.'

  'Like what?'

  Ty shrugged again.

  'I saw some of Claire's photos earlier,' said Ronni. 'They're really cool. The President's ships attacking the Titanic! It looks like a real war!'

  'It was a real war.'

  'And I saw her picture of that Mr Rodriguez being reunited with his wife after everyone thought she'd been eaten.'

  'Have you seen her?' Ty asked. 'Who would want to eat her? Anyway, the photos take up too much space. Espeically if they want to run Jimmy's story about Fort Hope, and the elephant, and Cleaver, and then there's all the stuff about what the passengers found when they went to look for their families, and the cannibals, and King Slash and . . .Well, you know what I mean. There's just too much stuff.'

  'Were you not looking for your family as well, Ty?'

  Ty nodded, and was silent for a bit. 'Yeah, but once I saw what the city was like, I changed my mind. My parents are dead. I'm not particularly interested in finding a second cousin twice removed I never knew in the first place. This is my home. This is my family. Besides, I've met a girl now.'

  'Have you?' Ronni asked. 'Who?'

  Ty shrugged. 'She'll find out. In due course.'

  Ronni decided to change the subject. 'It's gone very quiet in there. What do you think is . . . ?'

  Ty nodded at the door. 'Well, I think they're either kissing, or they've killed each other.'

  Ronni stood beside him. 'Which do you think it is?'

  'I don't know,' said Ty.

  Примечания

  1

  As recounted in Titanic 2020.

  (<< back)

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: ooofbtools-2011-10-26-18-31-47-465

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 26.10.2011

  Created using: ExportToFB21, FictionBook Editor Release 2.5 software

  Document authors :

  sonate10

  About

  This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.

  (This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)

  Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.

  (Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)

  http://www.fb2epub.net

  https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/