Live bait.

Of all of the plans ever invented by mankind - live bait has got to be one of the worst. It’s right up there with, ‘hey, let’s split up’, and, ‘hey, let’s use a virus as a biological weapon’.

So that’s why Ben finally agreed to my demands of getting the guys first, I thought.

He wanted them for bait.

The more meat running through the streets the better.

Great.

“Are you sure we can’t hide down here until it leaves?” Maria asked.

“It will find us,” Ben said. “And if it finds us here, in this vault, we will have nowhere to go. Nowhere. We’re dead.”

“So if it comes in here right now, we’re dead?” I asked.

“Yes. The longer we stay down here, the more danger we’re in, the greater risk we run. That’s why we need to do this now.”

Jack was still half asleep. We had to slap him in the face to get him to wake up. Once we knew he was fully paying attention, we quickly explained the plan to Jack.

He did not like it one bit. “So basically, what you’re saying is, we’re gonna go up there and run around and draw it to us?”

“Yes,” I said.

“So we’re live bait.”

“Correct.”

“Look, buddy,” Ben said. “We don’t have a choice. If we don’t corner it, if we don’t act now, it’ll find us down here. And if that happens, we’re as good as dead.”

Jack nodded his head slowly. I think he slowly realized what we were up against, realized there was no other choice. “OK. So, what do you need us to do?”

“I need you to lure it to me. If we can get the majority of the swarm within the EMP field, that’ll give us the best chance to get away. Once the swarm goes into a state of hibernation, it takes time for each nano bot to reboot. Giving us time to get out of here, without it following us.”

“How do you know all this?” Kenji asked.

“Rumors. From the Special Forces soldiers stationed at the Fortress.”

“Let’s do this,” Daniel said. “But Maria stays out of harm’s way. She either stays down here in the vault, or up in the bell tower.”

“Why?” Ben asked. “We need everyone.”

“She’s too valuable.”

“Valuable? What the hell does that mean?”

Daniel hesitated, but then finally confessed. If we were going to work together with Ben to get out of here, if he was going to come with us, then he needed to know the truth about Maria.

“It means she’s immune to the Oz virus,” Daniel said.

Ben looked at Maria suspiciously. “No. No way.”

“Yes way.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“You don’t have to believe it,” Daniel said. “We’re just telling you. And we’re telling you that Maria stays out of harm’s way. Got it?”

Maria pulled up the leg of her jeans and showed Ben where she had been bitten. “I was careless,” she said. “I got bitten. But I didn’t turn.”

“That’s why we’re walking through the desert,” I explained. “To get Maria out. We’re on our way to Daniel’s camp. There’s a jet waiting. Daniel can fly us out of here.”

“Where’s the camp?” Ben asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” Daniel said.

“Why not?”

“It’s classified information.”

“Classified? Your camp’s location is classified?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re not regular army, are you?” Ben asked. “You’re not U.S. military.”

“No.”

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m a mercenary. I’m here for Maria.”

“How old are you? Who do you work for?”

“What the hell has my age got to do with anything?”

“Just tell me.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Bullshit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Who do you work for? You’re a private contractor, right? A gun for hire? Who hired you?”

Daniel stuttered. Paused. Tripped over his own words. Why was he flustered?

“I… I can’t tell you that. I don’t know who hired us. We were contacted by an asset. The asset had a codename. We never know their real name.”

“So why did you take the job?”

“Because it was too important not to take. Because we got paid a boat load of money. Because we were the best. The U.S. military had failed. They had their hands full, they were stretched too thin. We were the only ones who could pull this kind of mission off without any outside assistance.”

“You lying bastard,” Ben said. “Tell me what you know.”

“What?”

“What else do you know?”

Silence.

“Answer me.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked

“He knows something,” Ben said. “He’s hiding something. I want to know what.”

“Daniel, what is he talking about?”

“I don’t know.”

“You already knew about the mutations, didn’t you?” Ben said. “You already knew about the nano-swarms. What else do you know?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Before we got into Sydney, I had no idea how bad it was. I didn’t know about any of this!”

“We saw something in Sydney,” I said, trying to get everyone to calm down.

“What did you see?” Ben asked.

“Something big. Strong. We couldn’t see it clearly because of the dust storm, but it pushed an eighteen wheeler truck out of its way like it was nothing. It ripped a fire escape off the wall of a skyscraper like it was nothing.”

Ben nodded. “What else?”

No one said anything. So again, I answered, even though I didn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth.

“Wires,” I said.

“Wires?”

“Yes. I’m not sure if they were power lines or telephone lines. They moved like they were alive.”

“Support wires too,” Daniel added. “On the Sydney Tower. They moved.”

“Keep going,” Ben said.

He said it like he had already seen what we’d seen, like he already knew. Like a sorcerer who had been watching our journey through a crystal ball or magic mirror.

“There was something else,” I continued. “I don’t really know how to put this. But there was this thing, this monster. It… it looked like a spider made from metal.”

“Metal?”

“Like scrap metal and spare car parts. It ambushed us in a junk yard.”

Ben furrowed his brow like he didn’t understand. “And you lived?”

“Yeah, we got lucky.”

“How did you stop it? How did you kill it?”

“We didn’t. The garage it was hiding in collapsed on top of it.”

“Do you know what it was?” Maria asked Ben. “Have you seen one?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “From a distance. Nano-bots have the ability to manipulate metal. I watched these nightmares stalk, and ambush, and kill a lot of highly trained soldiers. Word from the military guys is that it’s a side effect of the nano-swarms. Apparently, they have the ability to manipulate metal and elements at the atomic level.”

“What are you saying?” Kenji asked. “That a nano-swarm can bend and move metal? Shape it?

“Yes.”

“But what has this got to do with that thing up there?” I asked. “The black smoke or whatever the hell it is?”

“It’s the same thing,” Ben said. “Different form.”

“Same thing? How?”

“No one knows for sure. Like I said, I’ve only heard the rumors. Ghost stories. But you,” he said pointing at Daniel. “You know everything. Do not lie to me.”

Daniel remained silent for a long time. Jaw clenched. “What exactly are you accusing me of?”

“I’m accusing you of lying. Lying to your friends here. Hiding. Where are you from? What are you doing here? You came in after the quarantine, didn’t you? After the shit hit the fan. What are you doing here?”

“I told you. I’m here for Maria. She’s the only person on record who has shown immunity to the Oz virus. That’s my objective. That’s my mission.”

“And everyone else is expendable, right?”

“You gotta be kidding me? I don’t have to put up with this. I don’t have to listen to these accusations. I’m not crazy. These are my friends. We’ve been through too much.”

“But they’re your orders, right? Friends, family. Lovers. All expendable.”

Maria pulled Daniel away from Ben. “Guys, we need to work together. Or none of us are getting out of here alive.”

Daniel didn’t respond. Ben continued to stare him down.

“Guys! Come on,” Maria repeated. “None of this matters right now. We need to work together. We need to take care of that thing up there.”

“Like, right now.” Kenji said.

Kenji wanted to take care of this thing immediately. So did Jack. I can’t blame them. I wanted to do the exact same thing. And if that meant running through the streets as live bait, fine. This argument could wait.

“All right,” Ben finally said. “We get up to the bell tower first. We locate the nano-swarm and then make our move. We’ll use the walkie-talkies the men left behind to communicate. I doubt they’ll need them anymore.”

“And Maria stays up in the bell tower,” Daniel added. “She stays out of harm’s way.”

“Fine,” Ben agreed. “Let’s just get this over with.”