Chapter 4

We landed a few miles away from the Plant. It was a topic of great debate, where to land. I was concerned that the gas could have spread out even this far. Zoltan said we'd chance it already because he was, "not going to hike more than three miles in an itchy hazmat suit, thank you very NO!"

And once we all got out and changed, I had to agree with him. Pan had done a fine job with the suits; they weren't too hot or too baggy and they were practically impenetrable by even the pointiest of objects, but they were burdensome and hard to walk in. Nevertheless, we gathered up our backpacks and headed into the woods.

The woods used to be a natural protected park outside the city, blocking the Plant from the city's edge. It had overgrown, however, into a dense forest. A jungle would have been easier to walk through for my friends and me. After thirty minutes of tripping over roots, stumbling over rocks, and getting our suits caught in all a manner of bristle and thorn, Zoltan was on his last straw.

"That is it!" He exclaimed after falling flat on his face, an offending bramble dangling innocently from where it was stuck to his suit.

"Come on, Zolt, it isn't far now," Xyli said, pulling Zoltan up by one hand.

"Absolutely not, I'm not taking another step in this infernal suit!" Zoltan hollered, reaching one hand up to the zipper under his neck.

"Zoltan, stop."

"No way, I'm done with- "

"Zoltan."

My voice was low and laced with fear. Zoltan stopped at my tone.

"What is it?" Xyli whispered, clutching Zoltan's gloved hand.

I nodded my head for them to come over. They did, slowly, their eyes on the forest floor to make sure they didn't trip. It was only when they were beside me, their eyes looking where my eyes stared, that they understood.

"Around those roots. You see?" I pointed, and they saw.

"That yellow cloud?"

"Gas."

"I thought mustard gas was colorless," Xyli whimpered.

"It is. That's phosgene," Zoltan put his arm protectively around his sister.

"Come on," I mumbled, "let's keep going. With our suits on."

Our boots cut through the yellow cloud as we continued with a new respect for the danger we were in.

@ @ @

In another hour, we were there. Standing in front of the mangled bars of metal that had once been the gates to the Plant. The long-paved driveway was surprisingly smooth, with only the occasional pothole. Flowers that used to be traditional landscaping had taken over the sides of the road, creating a hauntingly beautiful setting for the abandoned Plant. As I stopped at the top of the driveway to wait for Xyli and Zoltan, I reached down and fingered one flower, a violet. It was so delicate, and yet it stronger than the humans who had fled the area, leaving it for the creatures to take over.

"They adapt," I whispered to myself. I wondered if humans had adapted in the past few years. I wondered if humans ever could.

"Woah," Xyli's frightened voice interrupted my ponderings.

"It's huge!" Zoltan remarked, gaping up at the building which seemed to us to touch the sky.

"Let's go already," I ordered, not wanting to show that the sheer magnitude of the place had awed me as well. We had business to do.

Zoltan went first, offering his hand to Xyli and I as we picked our way through piles of rubble and ruined glass.

"This must have been the main building," I observed, looking around the dark, dusty space, "Customer relations and stuff. We're looking for..."

"A map!" Xyli pointed to an old sign in the center of the room.

It was cracked and faded and held an old bird's nest in a hole near the corner, but it showed the most important part, the storage facilities.

"Here," Zoltan saw it a second before me and pointed it out.

"Yeah, that's where we're heading." I reviewed the plan in my head as I said it aloud, "Ok, we have to go through the labs and the manager's office. Keep your masks and suit on tight, guys, and stay within earshot. The lab is bound to have chemical leaks, and we have no idea if parts of the building are unstable, so keep an eye out."

Xyli nodded seriously, her bright eyes wide with nervousness.

"We should have ropes or something to tie us all together," Zoltan remarked, but I shook my head.

"They'd be too burdensome. They'd get caught on things and hold us back, no. We're better off like this. But stay together!"

With those words, I took a good long look at the map.

"Does everyone have flashlights?"

Xyli didn't, so I reached into my backpack and handed her a spare.

"Alright, lights on everybody."

I took a deep breath in my gas mask and turned to face a dark tunnel.

"Let's go."

@ @ @

It was pitch black inside the tunnel that led to the storage room. Worse, a thick cloud blocked our view. My flashlight illuminated the yellow cloud until I couldn't see much else. I knew the cloud was a mixture of mustard gas, phosgene, and who knew what other deadly gases, but I kept going, checking now and then to make sure the others were still around me. They were, closer together, as Zoltan helped Xyli through the cloud.

I wondered if Zoltan had been right after all, if we should have tied ourselves together. But it was too late now.

Hissssssssssss

I jumped, pointing my flashlight at the new cloud that seemed to burst out of nowhere like a ferocious dragon. Upon further inspection, I discovered that it was coming from a thick metal tube close to the ground. A deep crack was running along the tube, and every few minutes a burst of gas would flow from it and into the air.

"Hey, you ok?"

Zoltan was suddenly behind me, one of his hands holding Xyli tightly. Her face was pale and strained with nervousness.

"Kora!"

Zoltan reached out and put his free hand on my shoulder.

"What?"

"Are you ok?"

I could see he was worried too. Probably about Xyli.

"Oh, yeah. Just watching this tube."

I sounded so dumb saying it aloud I winced at myself. Zoltan gave me a slightly confused look and shrugged.

"Alright. Well, the lab is this way."

I let him lead for a while.

It was so dark and eerie in the Plant, with our flashlights barely breaking the darkness at all. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, and my breathing echoed in my gas mask louder than it ever had before.

I tried to keep my focus on putting one foot in front of the other, my eyes locked on Zoltan's back, and I succeeded.

We reached the lab without further trouble.

I rather liked it. Tables were everywhere, covered with papers and containers, and huge shelves covered every spare bit of it, full of bottles and chemicals. The ever-present smog from the other room was lessened somewhat, giving us a chance to take in our surroundings. There were no windows, and we didn't risk trying out the electrical work by turning on a light, but our flashlights were sufficient.

I was drawn to a pinboard holding the chemical equations for the gases that killed so many people in my city. I wondered if the scientists felt guilty, making something that undoubtedly killed people overseas.

"Ugh," Zoltan was behind me, fiddling with a dead computer, "These computers are no good!"

"I could have told you that," I teased.

"Well, what're you going to tell that Pan when we get back? You promised him the plans from the hard drives!"
I was impressed that Zoltan had remembered; I had forgotten.

"I'm sure there is a computer in the Manager's office. It's through here, isn't it?" I asked, starting to walk through a doorway.

Zoltan nodded but asked me to wait a moment for Xyli. I did, he led her away from a wall of colorful chemicals.

"One more room, then we're there. Are you still doing ok?" I asked Xyli. She nodded.

"I'm making sure I remember the way back, so I won't have to think about it when my arms are full."

"Good thinking," I grinned.

One more room, then we'd see what we'd risked all this for.

"After you," Zoltan held the battered door open, and Xyli giggled.

"Let's go," I whispered and walked into the room.