Genesis Plague by Sam Best

burst outward
with a loud bloorp , spraying molten rock in all directions. Globs of
glowing lava splatted to the ground. Mike grabbed Maria and shielded her with
his back. He let out a surprised yell when a splash of lava smacked between his
shoulder-blades. He brushed it off quickly, the material of his gloves smoking
on contact.
    A drop of it landed on
my shin, and I quickly swiped it away.
    I looked up and did a
quick head-count. Everyone was seemingly okay, but Xander had disappeared yet
again. I was about to ask if anyone saw him leave, when a long, steady slurping
sound emanates from deep within the lava pool.
    I watched as the thick
liquid quickly drains from the pool, leaving behind molten walls glowing with fiery
intensity. The lava drained through a wide crack at the bottom of the large
bowl, and soon only a few small puddles remained.
    “Ummm…” said Cass.
    “Yeah,” said Flint.
“That means we should definitely leave until I can get some readings back at
camp.”
    “Where’s Xander?” asked
Renfield.
    “Who cares?” said
Levino. “He has good insurance. Everybody out! Dan, you have the samples?”
    Grayson held up the
case as he walked quickly toward the exit, the rest of us falling in line right
behind him.



 
     

     
     
     
    W e were halfway back to base camp when the rain started. The
wind had been steadily picking up ever since we left the cave, whipping across
the barren mountainside and pushing a blinding, stinging rain. I was still
wearing the heat suit, but I had peeled off my mask the second I left the cave.
    The air was metallic
and cool from the oncoming storm, and the sky overhead was a steady current of gray
clouds.
    The ground rumbled and I
looked back in the direction of the cave, tracing the open fissure pulsing with
molten lava. For a moment, the mouth of the cave brightened, as if someone
inside the tunnel were running toward the exit with a powerful red torch.
    The light blinked out
as a cannon blast of rocks and dirt erupted from the mouth of the cave.
    “That wasn’t natural,”
said Flint.
    “Must be Xander.”
    “That son of a bitch!”
screamed Levino. “Where did he get explosives?! What the hell is he doing up
there?! He’s ruining a valuable scientific site!”
    He charged back toward
the cave, but Renfield snagged his arm and held him back.
    “It’s done, Roger,” he
said sadly. “The integrity of the cave will have to be reassessed before we can
go back. He may have destroyed everything.”
    “And set off the damn
volcano in the process!”
    “You can’t force an
eruption, even with a detonation like that,” Flint said.
    Another explosion
rocked the mountainside, stronger than the first. Levino and Renfield flinched
as if physically struck.
    “You sure about that?” said
Cass warily.
    “That son of a bitch,”
muttered Levino as he turned away from the explosion and stomped down the
trail, toward camp.
    “What do you think he’s
doing up there?” asked Flint as the rest of us, minus Xander, resumed our
descent.
    “Beats me. But he
perked right up when I mentioned a virus.”
    Flint nodded solemnly.
“Lot of cash in that game.”
    “Much more than in pure
research,” said Cass. “It seems the rapid ability to destroy is more profitable
than the long-term potential for life.”
    “I think Xander
believes both can occur simultaneously,” said Maria. “The yin and the yang,
together. I watched a presentation he gave at a sales conference a few months
ago. He was very passionate about what he called the mutual balance between
profit and discovery.”
    “The only thing he
believes in is money,” I said.
    “Money’s no good if
you’re dead,” said Cass. “I’d be surprised if he made it to safety before his
own bomb went off.”
     

 
     

     
     
     
    A nd so she was surprised, as were the rest of us, when Xander
strolled into base camp two hours later, his heat suit singed but intact, his
face grimy with dirt. The light rain caused the