Chapter 6
1401words
Jack stood before a massive metal door, Lily cradled in his arms.
The door bore a faded "Exl Terra" logo, its edges welded with twisted steel bars resembling broken teeth—the entrance to the Purification Station.
"Is this it?" Ella clutched the Energy Core, knuckles white. Several new phosphorescent spots had appeared on the back of her hand—her Phosphorescence Syndrome was worsening.
Jack had barely nodded when engine sounds rumbled in the distance.
Two modified armored vehicles emerged from behind the ruins, bearing the "Shelter 79" emblem. Heavy machine guns on their roofs slowly swiveled to target them.
"Hand over the Energy Core," a cold voice commanded through a speaker as Thorn descended from the first vehicle. He wore a black radiation suit with a golden badge pinned to his chest. "The Purification Station isn't for scavenger scum to meddle with."
Jack passed Lily to Ella, raised his steel pipe and stepped protectively forward: "The Polar Vortex Storm will spread in three months. Only activating the Purification Station gives everyone a chance to survive."
"Everyone?" Thorn sneered as shelter soldiers raised their weapons behind him. "Shelter people will survive just fine. As for you"—he glanced at Ella—"a traitor and the burdens you've brought along—you don't deserve our purification resources."
Just then, hurried footsteps pounded from the other direction—Raymond Frost charged in with over a dozen scavengers, their steel pipes and nail guns aimed at the shelter soldiers. "Thorn! Think you can monopolize the Purification Station? No chance! Our people are waiting for treatment!"
The three groups instantly formed a standoff: Thorn's armored vehicles in the middle, heavy machine guns trained on the scavengers.
Raymond's people pressed against the ruins' edges, nail gun safeties clicking in unison. Jack and Ella stood caught in the middle, unconscious Lily breathing faintly in their arms.
"Chief Ray, surely you understand," Thorn's fingers tapped the armored vehicle's door. "Without the shelter's Energy Core, this Station is just scrap metal.
I'm giving you a chance—take your people and leave. After we purify the shelter area, perhaps we'll leave you some purified soil."
"Leave us some soil?" Raymond laughed bitterly. "Last month you promised iodine tablets but delivered half a bottle of expired ones! Who believes your lies anymore? Today we all use the Station, or nobody does!"
As he spoke, Raymond raised his nail gun at Thorn. Shelter soldiers immediately chambered rounds in their heavy machine guns with ominous clicks. The atmosphere froze, iron rust in the wind mixing with the acrid scent of gunpowder.
Ella tugged at Jack's arm and whispered: "Lily's breathing is getting weaker—we can't wait any longer."
Jack bit his lip, stepped forward suddenly, and raised the Radiation Meter—its screen still displaying the Polar Vortex data from the Edge Station. "Look!" He turned the screen toward both parties. "Radiation dust from the Arctic is spreading at 20 kilometers per day! It'll cover the entire south in three months! By then, not just Scavengers—even your shelter ventilation systems won't stop it!"
Thorn's eyes flickered, but he remained stubborn: "The shelter has deep filtration systems, far superior to your open-air camps."
"Superior?" Jack sneered, pointing at Ella's hand. "She's been in the shelter ten years and still got Phosphorescence Syndrome! Your filtration won't last three months. Soon everyone in your precious shelter will be just like us outside—pus oozing from fingernails, bones rotting through!"
His words changed several shelter soldiers' expressions. They unconsciously touched the backs of their own hands.
Raymond seized the moment: "Thorn, I know you want to protect your shelter people. But half my tribe are elderly and children—they won't last three months. Let's compromise—activate the Station and prioritize based on radiation levels. Highest radiation areas get purified first. That's fair!"
Thorn stared at the Radiation Meter, then at his soldiers' uncertain expressions. After a few seconds of silence, he relented: "Fine. But the Energy Core stays with shelter personnel, and our technicians operate the activation procedure."
"No way!" Ella objected immediately. "You'll modify the program to only purify the shelter area! Marcus must operate it—he has the basic program for the Station!"
"Marcus?" Thorn frowned. "That defecting engineer? If he dares show his face, I'll shoot him myself."
"He'll come," Jack said firmly. "He wants to activate this Station more than any of us—his daughter's still waiting in the southern camp."
Thorn stared at Jack for a long moment before finally nodding: "Fine. You have half a day to wait for Marcus. But if he doesn't show, or if there's any problem with the program…"
He pointed at Raymond's men. "Your scavengers hand over the parts to our technicians."
As Raymond started to object, Jack held him back with a subtle headshake. Now wasn't the time to argue—activating the Station was the priority.
"Deal," Jack said.
Thorn waved his hand. The shelter soldiers lowered their weapons, but the armored vehicles remained blocking the entrance, clearly not moving aside.
Raymond signaled his scavengers to lower their weapons and retreat to the ruins' edge, but his eyes remained fixed on Thorn's men, wary of treachery.
Jack carried Lily to the Purification Station's metal door, placing his hand on its cold surface. Behind this door lay hope—Lily's survival, and a chance for everyone struggling in the wasteland.
Ella walked up beside him and placed the Energy Core in his hand: "Marcus will come, right?"
"He will." Jack nodded, though inwardly uncertain. Since separating at Los Alamos, they'd had no contact. Whether Marcus had escaped Ben's pursuit remained unknown.
The wind picked up, sending loose pebbles against the metal door with tiny ting-ting sounds.
Thorn leaned against his vehicle, idly playing with his handgun. Raymond crouched on the ground, loading nails into his weapon. Ella stayed by Lily, gently wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
Jack glanced at the sky where gray clouds hung oppressively low. He touched the iodine tablets in his pocket, then looked at the Energy Core in his hand, thinking: Marcus, you have to come.
Time crawled by, the sun gradually setting behind clouds, stretching the ruins' shadows across the ground.
Just as Thorn was losing patience, his hand moving to his holster, footsteps sounded in the distance—a figure in a tattered white coat ran toward them, clutching a laptop.
"It's Marcus!" Ella shouted.
Jack felt a wave of relief as he hurried to meet him. Marcus was running with sweat pouring down his face, one lens of his glasses shattered, blood staining his white lab coat. "Thank god… I made it."
Gasping for breath, he handed the laptop to Jack. "Complete startup program. Just connect the Energy Core and Helium-3 power cell to activate main power."
Thorn walked over, glaring at Marcus: "You'd better not be playing any tricks."
Marcus ignored him and crouched before the Station's control panel, opening his laptop: "Jack, Energy Core in the left port, Helium-3 cell in the right—quick!"
Jack immediately complied, inserting both components into their respective ports. Marcus typed several commands, and suddenly indicator lights on the control panel illuminated with a deep humming sound.
"Did it work?" Raymond moved closer, eyes gleaming with hope.
Marcus frowned: "Not yet. Main power's on, but the purification chamber is on the third basement level. Entrance is completely covered by Decay Vines—we need to clear them first."
"Clear them? With what?" Thorn's expression darkened. "My people didn't bring vine-cutting tools."
Raymond smiled slightly and pulled out a modified machete from behind his back—the blade fashioned from a car shock absorber, polished to a mirror shine: "We have tools. But during clearing, your shelter people work alongside us."
Thorn stared at Raymond's machete, glanced at the lit indicators on the control panel, and finally nodded: "Fine."
The three factions finally reached temporary cooperation, picked up their weapons, and prepared to enter the Purification Station.
Jack looked at Marcus and Ella beside him, then at Raymond and Thorn in the distance. He knew clearly—this cooperation was temporary. Once inside, new conflicts would inevitably erupt.
But now, he only wanted to clear those Decay Vines quickly, activate the Station, and help Lily recover. He lifted Lily and followed Marcus into the Station's entrance.
The metal door slowly closed behind them, blocking the outside wind, leaving only the humming of the control panel echoing through the empty corridor.
