{"id":2029,"date":"2024-04-29T15:04:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2029"},"modified":"2024-04-29T15:04:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T15:04:51","slug":"escape-clause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/escape-clause\/2029\/","title":{"rendered":"Escape Clause"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tobermory held his daughter\u2019s hand as they walked along the corridor, their footsteps echoing from the stone walls. He sensed her looking up and gave her a little squeeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, daddy,\u201d Eleanor said, \u201cI\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know, Pumpkin,\u201d he said, displaying a sad smile. \u201cWe\u2019ll all be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you bring Flibut?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tobermory pulled the stuffed, one-eared camel from his bag. \u201cYes, he\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause I couldn\u2019t go without Flibut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked down at her earnest features, a pixie face in a halo of red curls. Just five years old, he thought, how could there be a god?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could have scooped her up right there and bounded back down the corridor. But he knew the guards would pick him off before they got out. And a stranger would make the long walk with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Eleanor had Gasporkin\u2019s Automaton Disease. Uncurable and terminal, GAD manifested itself after the seventieth month, until when it remained dormant. Once activated, it became highly contagious, and Eleanor would turn into a superstrong, feral super-spreader. Even before, it afforded protection to its host. That meant she was invulnerable to all but the most extreme interventions. After a week, it would kill her by dissolving her tiny body over hours, during which she would feel every burning, melting moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He imagined the screams and knew he couldn\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government offered a way out and it lay at the end of this corridor leading deep into the bowels of the Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, he walked, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, as fear gripped him. They rounded a corner and there it was: a massive vault-like door in the rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His instructions were explicit: \u201cPress the red button, wait for the door to open, ensure the patient stands in the middle of the room, then wait thirty seconds for the door to close and lock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be painless, they assured him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pressed the button, and the door swung slowly open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to say goodbye now, Pumpkin,\u201d he said, his words choking him like lumps of bile-thickened carrion. \u201cStand in the middle and wait. Someone will be along soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBye-bye, Daddy,\u201d she said. She gave him a hug, and clutching Flibut, scuttled into the room. She turned and waved as the vault door closed silently. Tobermory watched through the narrowing gap as she flashed him a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He dived in after her as the door clanged shut and lifted her up, holding her close, waiting for the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A door on the far side slid open and a horned figure walked through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongratulations, Mister Tobermory,\u201d Lucifer said. \u201cYou have activated the Escape Clause. You\u2019re the first to do so. Self-sacrifice is such an underrated quality. You\u2019re free to go, Eleanor is cured.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucifer waved a hand towards the door, beyond which were green fields, blue skies, and a life Tobermory never expected to enjoy with his little girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleanor smiled. \u201cI told you it would be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBye-bye, Daddy,\u201d she said. She gave him a hug, and clutching Flibut, scuttled into the room. She turned and waved as the vault door closed silently. Tobermory watched through the narrowing gap as she flashed him a smile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1129,1266],"tags":[1267,236,1268,8,7,122,20,119,9,191,118,1269,74,1270,117],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1129","category-may-2024-escape","tag-corridor","tag-door","tag-eleanor","tag-he","tag-her","tag-him","tag-his","tag-ll","tag-said","tag-there","tag-they","tag-tobermory","tag-up","tag-walked","tag-would"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-wJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}