“They had to reorganize the shift. The men who were sick kept to themselves, but then things got really weird. At first it was just little things. Long-term supplies disappeared. First aid kits went missing. Then, it got worse. The sub-sea repeaters went down, so we had no cell phones.” He laughed again, that giddy, madman's laugh. “You mind telling me how they managed that? And then… then it appeared. It was just a couple of days after the fire.”
“What do you mean, 'it appeared?'” Nicholas asked. He was on his feet now. On his foot, Mason corrected. He was pale, still biting back pain, but he didn't look like the devil himself could keep him away.
“One of the storage tanks burst,” Gideon said. “The fungus had been growing inside the whole time. If I hadn't been so distracted, maybe I would have kept up with the pressure readings and caught it.” He looked to the ground then, his eyes red. “It was too late by then. It was growing out of the water, the tentacles were. They were encircling the supports. They were claiming us.”
They all looked around, feeling the weight of the tendrils somewhere down beneath them. Mason shivered as he pictured the bottom of The Aeschylus, again seeing that stuff crawl as it held together.
“We had a few days left on our rotation,” Gideon said, “but we were done, all of us who weren't sick. We wanted out. We knew, you see. But then the com tower went down.” He made an exploding sound with his mouth, something like a five-year-old kid would do at the dinner table. “Somebody… well, they blew it to pieces. You've seen the wreckage. I know you have. As to how they managed to get demolitions into security like they got here?” He answered his own question with another laugh. “But it went down just the same. I bet they told you it was an accident, didn't they?”
“This is pointless,” Mason said, but he was sweating. He could feel it. This guy was a madman, or he was lying, or both.
“Most of us thought we could wait it out. The next shift should have been coming, and they could have gotten us out. Right? But I guess VO had other plans. I don't know how deep it goes, but somebody knows something. They must have been calling the shots. They must have waited until the rotation was up before declaring an emergency. Am I right? That's when they contacted you, told you some story about a downed com tower and a massive accident, right?” He looked at all of them as if vindicated. “I bet they didn't expect any of us to be alive. They just wanted to send you in to make sure. Right?”
They all just stared at him.
“They were working against us by then. The Carrion was. The crew had turned, you see. It'll grow through you. It'll grow right out of your goddamned skull if you let it.”
“Say what?” Melvin said.
“We holed up in the barracks. They couldn't get to us at first. If you don't believe me, I've got the documentation. I brought everything I could into the kitchen before we walled ourselves up. I've got the field reports, the security assessments, the records of the visitors from Valley Oil. They were here right before Whitman died. Did you know that?”
The woman looked like she was about to speak, but AJ opened his mouth first. “What else did they say?”
Gideon acted like he hadn't heard. “We would have lasted, but someone… they took crude and spattered it over the walls and floors. You see, that's what it needs. It needs dead matter to feed on. With all that steel and concrete, it couldn't reach. But then, they brought it in. They brought it to us. They were all working together then, The Carrion and the men it had taken. We should have been safe, but we were scared. And they didn't know how to protect themselves.”
“You're mumbling,” Nick said.
“We were scared!” Gideon screamed. He was unhinged. “A few people got away. They took one of the boats and headed to the island.”
“What island?” Kate asked. She was looking at him intently. “The place out to the east? That island?”
Mason felt his teeth clench. He was suddenly sure that Reiner was at the island, that his chopper was at the island. They had flown over there and found something. Or something had found them. “What about the rest of you?”
“We got hungry. They went out for food, Adam and Jerry, and they never came back. The Argentinians had showed up by then. When they found me they… they locked me back in the kitchen. They didn't know what they were up against. It infected them just like it infected the others.”
Mason felt his jaw working. He forced it to move. “Enough.”
“I thought you said this wasn't a virus?” Melvin said.
“It's not. Viruses aren't multicellular, you see. The Carrion spores, they're more like a defense mechanism, something it releases when it's threatened. And that's what they did, at first: they threatened it. They tried to cut it down, and it sprayed them. The wounded ones turned first. It gets in easier if you're hurt or sick.” He looked at all of them in turn, his eyes dancing. “Are any of your hurt? Are any of you cut? Tell me!”
Nick smiled uneasily. “Well, I got shot,” he said, pointing to his foot. “You telling me I'm in trouble?”
Gideon looked at the boy as if seeing him for the first time. Hell, maybe he was; he was so bent, he probably didn't notice half of the things right in front of him. “Stay back. You stay the hell away from me! All of you!”
Melvin put a hand on his shoulder, but he was too slow — or too dim. Gideon lashed out, hitting him with a clumsy fist.
It broke the paralysis, and Mason lunged forward. “Goddammit! Get a hold of him.”
“You take a look at him!” the doctor was screaming. “You see if it's black! You see if he has a fever!”
Melvin, who had regained himself, grabbed the skinny man and tossed him to the ground. “Of course he's hot, you dumb motherfucker. Boy only got half a foot left.”
“Don't you—”
But that's as far as he got. Mason slammed his head into the deck. It didn't put him out, but it knocked him stupid, and that's all that mattered.
“What are you doing?” Kate yelled.
“Back off.” Mason looked at each of the others and saw the doubt in their eyes. It wasn't the doubt in the man's story, but doubt in him. Doubt in the mission. He wondered again how something that started so easy could turn into such a mess. “Calle, I want you to see to him.”
“And do what?”
“Sedate him, for Christ's sake.” Jesus, he had to hold everyone's hand today. “We're wrapping this up. I want the site secured. I want communications reestablished. And I want you to find my other goddamned chopper!”
“How are we going to do that?” Nicholas asked.
“You're not doing anything, son. You're quarantined.”
“What?”
“You heard the doctor, and I'm not taking any chances. Since you're broke-dick anyway, I don't expect an objection. Do you get me?”
When the kid held his tongue, Mason nodded, satisfied. He turned to Christian. “Vytalle, I want you to find a spot for the kid.”
“Where?”
“Well, considering how much of this place has been infiltrated, I'd say it's either the med lab or the helipad. And the med lab is burned.”
“I'll take the helipad,” Nick said. “I ain't breathing in burn fumes all day waiting for you guys.”
“Fair enough, but you're making the climb on your own.”'
“I don't like this,” AJ said.
“I don't care what you like.”
The man coughed and muttered something under his breath, but Mason pretended not to hear.
“You want to make yourself useful, AJ, you can tell me if that boat below deck is drivable.”
And now the test: would the man fall in, or would he be a problem? Either way, it wouldn't matter for long.