Chapter 72 - Riot

Gary is the GOAT.

T he room outside was silent, as were the thoughts in my head. I'd locked myself in the bathroom in an attempt to silence everything. They'd been telling me to do vile things, stuff I'd never consider on my own. If this was how I'd be spending the rest of my life, maybe it was better to just end things now. I'd just pulled the gun out when the silence came.

It caused me to pause, and I put the gun in my holster. Instead, I unlocked the door and opened it to peer out.

"Gary?" I opened the door wider and went out.

Gary, the rather ordinary looking man with the extraordinary powers, lifted his head and nodded.

"Atlas Adam, those voices are loud," he grimaced. I remembered he could read minds. He saw what was inside mine. He lifted a suitcase and nodded. "Let's take care of you, then Callahan. I think you two are high priority." He winked, and strode over to the table, joining him.

Callahan was holding Myrtle still, his arms wrapped around her as she fought. Eleanor was sitting on the floor, her legs splayed out and her hands covering her face, crying.

You need her. Not the serum.

My cock throbbed, pleading for me to go to her and fuck her right in front of everyone. I gripped the table and held on, refusing to give in.

Gary looked in Myrtle's suitcase and clicked his tongue.

"She has no idea what she's doing." He picked up a vial and dropped it in disgust. "Or maybe she did and she's that deranged. This is from the hucow bunker."

He opened his case, revealing a similar set up to Myrtle's tons of vials and needles.

He found one quickly and loaded it into the syringe.

"Give it to me, Doc. I can't wait," I grit. I didn't care anymore if it killed me or turned me into a lizard, I just needed to not be a walking stud.

"Sure thing, pal. I'm sorry you've had to deal with this. Just listening to your mind for this short time has been horrible. I can't imagine living with it." He tapped the syringe and I offered him my arm. With expertise, he stuck me, pushing the cure into my blood system.

Relief came instantly, and I dropped to my knees in pure exhaustion. My erection died, my blood chilled, and for the first time in days, I was in control.

"Better?" he asked, perkily.

I looked up, and breathed a sigh of relief. I stood. "Better. Get Callahan."

"And Eleanor. She's lucky Myrtle only gave her part one of the hucow injections. The second round would have changed her anatomy to— well, it doesn't feel appropriate to talk about that in current company." He laughed lightly.

I shook my head.

This was just an ordinary day to him, I realized. From what he'd told us about his past, his bunker was horrible. He'd grown used to these things.

He filled another syringe and hurried to Callahan, injecting him with the cure. Callahan's face calmed, and then filled with joy as the cure took hold. He dropped Myrtle in the process, and then hurried to pick her back up and set her in a chair. Together, we tied her to it with the bondage items from the sex toy wall. Callahan then hurried to find clothes.

Eleanor's cure came next, while we were restraining Myrtle. She thanked Gary profusely once she returned to normal. He waved her off with a laugh.

"You were my last stop, actually. I found the plant first. Soda Pop? I had to get his cure and then he was able to explain what happened to the others."

"Where are they?" I stepped forward protectively. "Are they alive?"

"Oh yes. Let's see, Soda was reversed first, then the rage machine, Bonnie. She was difficult to corner but she's since calmed down and apologized for her behavior. She took me to the other two, her partner and the girl with the hair."

"Boone and Cherry," Callahan explained.

"Yes. Boone was given a similar serum to yours, but more intense. He's better now, but I think him and Bonnie will have things to work through. And Cherry, as you call her, is working on shaving her hair down. It stopped growing, so that's good."

Gary stepped to Myrtle and clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "You, Young Lady, have caused quite an annoyance in the TEST center. I don't tolerate disruptions like this."

Myrtle rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do, punish me? Good luck, I've been hurt enough. Nothing is going to break me."

"No, I'm not trying to hurt you." Gary pulled a needle from his pocket and uncapped it. "I took a cue from your book, and while I was in Bunker 753, finding the reversal serum, I took another one. This one is used for when a hucow is no longer breedable. Goodbye Myrtle, forever."

Myrtle's eyes grew wide and she fought but Gary was faster. He stuck the needle in her neck, euthanizing her. Her head dropped instantly and her body went limp.

The room fell silent.

"Is she really dead?" Eleanor asked.

Gary looked up, blinking. "Oh yes. This medicine is strong. I'm going to take her to the incinerator now. Would you two mind helping?"

Callahan and I hurried to help him untie Myrtle and lift her body.

"I'll take her out. Just show me the way." Callahan hauled her body over his shoulder. Looking at her like this, she seemed so small, so innocent, so… sad.

I had no idea she'd had those feelings for me. She'd seemed so normal when we met the first time. I had no indication that there was something not right.

As the four of us trekked to the elevator and went down to the basement of the center, I thought about everything. Did I regret anything? Was I angry for being manipulated? Did I feel guilty about what we'd put Eleanor through?

No.

I wasn't angry at any of it because if I hadn't been convinced to help Myrtle, I would have never met Eleanor or Callahan, and now I didn't want to imagine my life without them. I'd never thought of myself as someone who could be tied down to anyone, or even two people, but now I didn't want to go back to Heathen Heights solo. We were all part of each other's lives now.

I held Eleanor's hand as we went down the elevator. I hugged her tightly as Callahan and Gary positioned Myrtle's body on the metal slab and pushed her into the large fire.

Gary took us back to the top floor after he locked the incinerator.

"Well, it's been nice seeing different faces, but respectfully, I think it's time your visit comes to an end." Gary was polite, but firm. He liked his privacy, and I understood. We'd invaded that. I nodded.

Boone, Bonnie, Cherry, and Soda came from another door and ran to us. They were alive!

Boone threw himself against me, hugging me tight. "You made it man! Gary said he wasn't sure if he could get to you guys in time."

In time for what?

The memory of locking myself in the bathroom with my pistol, and what I'd just been about to do before he came, flashed in my mind. Thank Atlas Adam he made it.

"I have packs ready for you. They have rations, upgraded medical kits, and more ammunition. It should get you home. And then, please forget about this place," Gary said.

"Understood." Callahan saluted him, but then frowned. "Actually, Gary, we came for a reason. I don't know how I feel leaving without accomplishing that."

"And what was that?" Gary raised his eyebrows.

"Opening all the bunkers."

Gary took in his words, nodding, but saying nothing. Finally, he spoke.

"You realize how much chaos that will bring to the wastelands?"

"I do, but they deserve freedom."

Gary looked from Cal to all of behind him.

"I see. Well, let's do it then." He turned and we followed him to his quarters. He took us to a secret room hidden behind a mirror. Inside were thousands of television screens and a control panel.

"You just have to press that large red button, and type in the code."

"That's it?"

"It will launch the TRANSFORM part of TEST. The doors to the above will open, along with secret medical stores that hold the serums they will need to take to survive up above."

Callahan looked to us and I pushed him forward. This was his mission. Slowly, he crept toward the button. He stared at it for a long time before inhaling deeply and swinging his hand down.

The room lit up in flashing red lights and all the screens went black. Sirens blared and we all winced at the harsh volume.

"Type in the code!" Gary screamed.

"What is it?" Callahan screamed back.

Eleanor ran forward and typed in the numbers on the panel.

112018.

The sirens stopped. The flashing lights stopped and the screens returned to normal.

"Did it work?" Callahan asked, looking up at the TVs.

Gary walked over to them. "Oh yes. I'm sure by the time you get back to your home, you'll see the effects of what you've just done. Good and bad."

We were escorted out, back down into Mercury Mile, and with a curt wave, Gary swung the door closed and we were shrouded in darkness again. There was silence, and then Boone, of all people, broke it with a booming laugh.

"We did it. We fucking did it."