Free Earthfall by Mark Walden Page A

himself with taking the sample.
    ‘A few miles,’ Rachel replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. ‘It could have been worse – at least you don’t weigh that much.’
    ‘Thanks,’ Sam said with a smile. ‘I think.’
    ‘You’re welcome,’ Rachel said. ‘There’s not many of us left with minds of our own, so we kinda have to look out for each other, you know.’
    Will finished taking the blood sample and Sam sat up in his bed, holding a tiny square of gauze to the pinprick in his arm. He watched as Will took the sample tube over to Stirling who was seated at the long bench. He took a pipette and placed a single drop of Sam’s blood on to a glass slide, which he then put under a microscope.
    ‘So this is the rest of the gang,’ Sam said quietly to Rachel, nodding towards the others.
    ‘Some of them,’ Rachel said. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get to meet everyone soon. They’re all very keen to meet you. It’s been a while since we found a new recruit.’
    ‘Recruit?’ Sam asked. ‘You make it sound like I’ve joined the army.’
    ‘Actually,’ she replied with a half smile, ‘you kinda have.’
     

     
    An hour later Sam was sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on his battered boots as Dr Stirling walked back into the room.
    ‘Now, you must promise to take things slowly,’ the doctor said as Sam finished tying his laces and slowly stood up.
    ‘I told you. Honestly, I feel fine,’ Sam said. ‘In fact, I feel fantastic.’
    ‘Be that as it may,’ Stirling said, ‘you are still recovering from the effects of a toxin that has proven invariably fatal to all of its previous victims. Until we have a clearer understanding of why you have not suffered the same fate, I would like you not to exert yourself. You don’t want anything to interfere with your full recovery.’
    ‘I understand,’ Sam said with a nod, ‘but I’ve not spoken to another human being for a year and a half. I thought that I was the last person on earth that hadn’t been turned into a mindless zombie, so there’s no way I’m just going to lie here in bed. I want to go and meet the others.’
    ‘Of course,’ Stirling said, ‘that’s perfectly understandable, but if you begin to feel unwell again or even if you just start to get tired I want you to come back here immediately. Agreed?’
    ‘Agreed,’ Sam said with a nod. Behind him, the door opened and Jay walked into the room.
    ‘How you doing?’ Jay asked with a smile.
    ‘Not too bad,’ Sam said. ‘Considering what was supposed to happen to me.’
    ‘Yeah, you look pretty good for a dead guy,’ Jay said. ‘He good to go, Doc?’
    ‘Yes, Jacob, he appears to be well enough to meet everyone,’ Stirling replied, ‘and please don’t call me that.’
    ‘Sorry, Doc,’ Jay said, ‘force of habit. So, Sam, Rachel asked me to show you around. She’s on the range at the moment, but she told me to tell you that she’d see you later. You ready?’
    ‘I think so,’ Sam said. ‘Let’s go.’
    He followed Jay out into the corridor. It was as featureless as the room they’d just left, with the same grey, concrete walls and caged lights.
    ‘So, you ready for the tour of our luxurious accommodations?’ Jay asked as they walked.
    ‘Sure,’ Sam replied. ‘What is this place anyway?’
    ‘Closest thing we’ve got to home,’ Jay said. ‘The Doc brought us all here. Apparently we’re underneath the place where he used to work. Don’t know much about it, to be honest, just that it was some kind of government research laboratory. He doesn’t talk about what he used to do.’
    ‘How long have you been down here?’ Sam asked as they walked past a door leading into a dormitory lined with bunk beds.
    ‘Jackson found me about a year ago,’ Jay said as they reached a set of double doors at the end of the corridor.
    ‘Jackson?’
    ‘Yeah, he’s the Doc’s right-hand man. Taught us how to fight, proper bad ass. He used to be in the special forces –