Half Lives Read Online Free PDF

signs that would last for hundreds of thousands of years. We’d need to make sure that everyone would know to stay away. These markers would have to say “keep out”
in a way that future generations might understand. There’s a ring of thorns and a—’
    ‘This is insane.’ I needed her to stop talking or take it all back. I had to get out of here and wake up from this nightmare. I tried to push past her, but she didn’t
budge.
    ‘Listen to me. I want you to know how to identify the mountain.’ She wasn’t shouting but her voice was forceful. I imagined that was the voice she used to talk to the president
and all the other bigwigs. ‘Your dad and I used to call it the infinity project so we marked the mountain and the tunnel entrance with an infinity symbol. You know what that is, don’t
you?’
    ‘Yeah, it’s a thin, horizontal figure of eight.’ I drew the symbol in the air.
    She folded the map in half and in half again and slipped it in my messenger bag. ‘If something happens to your dad and me—’
    ‘What’s going to happen to you and Dad?’ I interjected.
    ‘Nothing, but, if something does, do whatever you have to do to get to that spot. OK?’ She squared off with me, a hand on each shoulder. ‘Icie, promise me you’ll do
whatever you have to do to make it to the mountain.’
    There were two short, sharp knocks on the door. Mum froze.
    ‘Can you hurry it up in there?’ a female voice shouted through the door.
    ‘Just a second,’ Mum called back. Then she pulled me close and whispered, ‘Your dad and I have breached national security by running away. We weren’t supposed to tell
anyone what’s going on, but we had to at least try and protect you. You can’t tell anyone what I’ve just told you.’
    I thought I was going to vomit. I’d never felt terror like this before. It ripped through me like a, well, like an explosion.
    Mum checked her watch. ‘We need to get going, Icie, or we’ll miss our plane.’
    ‘Should we really be on a plane if . . .’
    ‘We need to get out of DC, and it’s the fastest way. I think we have twenty-four hours before the initial attack. If it happens, the virus will spread exponentially within a few
hours—’
    She was interrupted by a pounding on the door. ‘Hurry up!’ The voice was male this time.
    ‘H-how l-long?’ I stammered. ‘How long will we need to stay underground?’ I couldn’t believe I was saying it. It was admitting that all this might be for real.
    ‘A few months.’ Mum smoothed her hair. On my best day, I never looked as in control as my mum did right now with the world coming to an end. I wondered whether this would be the last
memory I’d have of ‘normal’ – a stinky airport toilet, the air heavy with what-ifs.
    I had so many questions. ‘How do you and Dad know all this?’ I knew she worked in the White House, but after that any job details got a little fuzzy. ‘If something was, you
know, it would be on the news. People should—’
    The pounding was non-stop now – both the fist on the bathroom door and the hammering of my heart.
    ‘Icie, we can discuss all this later. We are going to get through this. At least we have a chance,’ Mum said as if she could read my mind.
    I shouldered my backpack. I erased all the end-of-the-world scenarios that kept popping into my mind like annoying Internet ads. If only I could switch my brain off or download some firewall to
prevent these images from causing my brain to crash. I needed to be strong. I wanted to be strong.
    ‘Let’s go,’ Mum said, and opened the bathroom door. Eight pairs of hateful eyes glared at us. ‘Sorry,’ Mum said as she muscled a path through them.
    I diverted my eyes when I noticed that the old lady waiting had a cane. There was a red-faced mother holding her crying baby and a man resting his hand on a wheelchair in which there sat a young
boy who had casts on both legs. I wondered if all these people would be dead soon. What right