Colonel Jenkins hovered in the air long enough for the infected below to fall. Once the tranquilizer set in, they had plenty of time to enter the complex without the threat of danger lurking or following them inside.
Inside the walls, Colt walked with purpose. He couldn’t wait to see his bride. He couldn’t wait to see her eyes opened again, opened into the reality of life and life to come with their two boys. Colt led the way. He knew exactly where he left Anna.
There were more people that filled the cavernous halls than Colt expected. Multiple people crossed their paths as they continued to walk, but Colt didn’t look any in the eye. He was too preoccupied with his current mission.
It wasn’t until a woman’s voice rose in the distance that caught Colt off guard.
“Colt? Colonel? Is that . . . you?” she said.
Colt heard but couldn’t decipher the sounds origination. The voice of the woman came from the end of the current hallway. He strained to see. When he saw her, she looked familiar, but . . . he couldn’t quite make her out.
But when she stepped toward him, she did. “No way.” Colt smiled wide. Grinning from ear to ear. Colt moved to meet her as well so she didn’t have to walk the entire way. They met with an embrace. “Cassandra. Cassandra Hunt.” Colt held her, then pushed out of the hug. “How?”
The last time Colt saw Cassandra was from inside the airplane. He and the others were bound for Virginia. And she’d drove in her SUV acting as bait, luring the infected away from their rising aircraft.
“Oh, you know, resourceful, right.” She shrugged.
Then she turned her attention on Dylan and Wesley.
“And how are you two? I see you didn’t sustain any further injuries.” She nodded to Dylan. “At least none that I can see.” She was quick to correct herself.
Dylan laughed nervously. His father looked to him and caught him staring at Cassandra, ogling her and blushing like a typical teenage boy with a crush.
Colt chuckled to himself and shook his head.
“So, why are you here? Did you find it? Did you find the cure?”
Colt looked at her again. “I still can’t believe you’re alive.”
“Believe it. I didn’t come into much more trouble to be honest. Not after the airport anyway.”
“Yeah, but how did you end up here?”
She chuckled to herself. “Luck actually. As I was evading the army of infected at the airstrip, I took a few random turns and drove south. Met up with a patrol squad, one that was out looking for you guys and the fallen helicopter.”
“Seriously?” Colt said.
“Yeah. Ironic, right?”
“Yeah, irony.” Colt looked to the ground, trying to grab a hold of the situation.
“It’s good to see you, Hunt,” Colonel Jenkins said.
“It’s good to be seen.” Then she looked around over everyone as if she was searching for someone. “Where’s Bald? He stay back in Virginia?”
Colonel Jenkins remained quiet, because truthfully, he didn’t know the full story. But Colt did.
Colt’s face turned sad, and he simply shook his head no. “He died in the field.”
“I’m so sorry, Colonel. I could tell how close you two were.” Cassandra hadn’t known them long, but during their brief history together, she’d been able to tell they were tight.
Colt loved catching up with her and thanked God she survived the entire ordeal with the infected, but still, he had Anna to tend to. “Cassandra, it’s good to see you, and I’m so glad you made it out alive, but if you’ll excuse us, we need to get to my wife. She needs this.” Colt showed her a small rectangular package.
“Is that the cure, then?” she nodded.
“It is,” Colt said.
She breathed a sigh, then bit her lower lip and smiled. “Well done, gentleman. Well done.”
Colt grinned, touched her shoulder and passed by on their way to the scientists’ lab.
When they arrived at the door, Colt didn’t even stop or bother to knock. He burst inside with a rush of exuberance. Not to his surprise, Dr. Bradley Jones was there. So was Gretchen. Both had tended to his wife before while Colt was there with her.
“Dr. Jones, I’m so glad to see you.”
A smile formed on his face as he put his clipboard and pen down and moved toward Colt. Gretchen came too.
“Is this it?” Dr. Jones said.
“Yes, sir.”
He grabbed the package from Colt’s hand. He immediately opened the package and stepped out of the room. That was when Colt walked toward the glass. Colt touched the glass, wishing he could grab Anna. Hold her, hug her. Feel the touch of her soft skin once more.
Colt felt the presence of more people join him.
Shocked. “Mom?” Dylan said softly.
Then Wesley added his own thoughts. “Mommy. Mommy.”
Tears formed in Colt’s eyes as he looked to Anna, then his boys. This was the first time they got to see her since she’d become . . . became the devil they last saw. What a change in events it would be when she came back to life. Not as the alien that controlled her, but their mother.
After Dr. Jones entered, he walked over to Anna, glanced momentarily at Colt, then nodded and stuck her with the needle.
There was a clock inside the room that Colt was currently looking at. He stared at the time, then thought to himself, Soon she’ll come back to me. He glanced again at his sons, who kept their eyes trained on their mother. Soon we’ll be a family again.
25
The constant stream of technology waved across the screen of the heart monitor that was attached to Anna’s chest. Colt watched her heartrate rise and fall as he sat by her side, waiting for her to open her eyes again.
He held her hand in his, and even felt her squeeze him gently once or twice. She moaned, and Colt looked to her face. Her head was moving and her eyes twitching beneath her closed eyelids. She was coming to. Colt could sense it.
“It’s okay, honey. It’s okay, Anna. Come back to me,” Colt said.
Tears waited on deck—expecting to fall.
Finally, her eyes opened. Colt rose in his seat and watched her blink. Once she got her bearing, she turned toward Colt. All he could do was smile and cry when he saw the beauty of the sea green eyes he’d fallen in love with.
“Colt?” she said.
He was so choked up he couldn’t speak, he could only nod.
“What . . . happened?”
“It’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay.” He didn’t know how much she remembered, nor did he want to tell her about what had happened the last time she was awake. In case somewhere deep down, she remembered attacking him and their boys.
Then Dylan and Wesley stepped into view. “Dylan.” She smiled. He was hesitant at first. But he leaned forward to bend down to give her a hug but didn’t linger.
Wesley stayed at arm’s reach. He wouldn’t come any closer.
Colt turned to him and said, “It’s okay, bud, it’s mom. She’s back.”
Now it was Anna that began to tear up. Colt recognized her concern. Colt reached for his hand and pulled him near, but he recoiled when she reached for him.
Wesley pulled against Colt and wouldn’t get near his mother.
Dr. Jones was also in the room. He stepped behind Colt and whispered into his ear. “It’s okay. It will come in time.”
Anna eyed the doctor and watched him move around to her side. “Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Dr. Jones. You’ve been under my care for the better part of the week.”
“Under your care? For what?”
“So, you don’t remember anything?” Dr. Jones asked Anna.
“Remember what?”
“Let’s just start here. What’s the last thing you do remember doing?”
Anna took her eyes off the doctor and stared into the open space of the room, as if to recall what she’d done. “I remember driving up our house. Seeing Dylan. He . . . he had the phone. It was Unc
le Jake looking for Colt.”
“Uh, huh, then what?” Dr. Jones continued.
She swallowed hard, as all looked to her for an explanation. “I went into our house, and I . . .” she stalled.
“You, what?” Dr. asked.
“I went to our bedroom, and then, I guess, I don’t remember what happened next.”
Colt fell back into his chair. I do. His mind filled in the blanks. His face told his wife the story.
“What happened? Did I pass out? Have a heart attack or something?” Anna said as her heartrate climbed.
“No. No. Nothing like that.” Colt stood near to calm her anxiety.
“You’ll be filled in, in time dear,” Dr. Jones said. “For now, I think it’s time you get some rest.” Dr. Jones touched Colt on the shoulder, as if he was forcing them to leave.
Colt could see the worry in Anna’s eyes. Get your damn hand off me, Colt thought. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here with my wife.”
Dr. Jones leaned into Colt’s ear and whispered again. “That’s fine. But she needs rest now. We need to give the meds a chance to work into her system.”
Colt nodded and stared. As Dr. Jones walked toward the exit, Colt looked to Dylan and Wesley and said, “Why don’t you two go with Dr. Jones? Let me talk to mom on my own for a minute.”
They did as they were told.
Once everybody left, Colt returned to his chair and sat next to Anna.
“Give it to me straight, babe. What the hell happened to me?” Anna looked him dead in the eye.
She’d always been tough. That was one thing Colt loved most about her. “How straight do you want it?”
“Like an arrow, baby.”
“Your body was taken over by some alien life form.”
Her pretty mouth turned into a wry smile. “Stop. You’re joking, right?’
Colt’s eyebrows went up. “I’m not.”
“The phone call from Uncle Jake was a warning.”
“A warning? From what?”
“Humanity.”
The look of shock moved over her face.
“What does that mean?”
“It means people were turned into monsters.”
“People? Why?”
“The aliens attacked us. Everyone who wasn’t taking Beritrix turned into a zombie-like creature and attacked anyone who wasn’t the same as they were.”
“Beritrix? What? How?” She was trying to make sense of it all in her head.
“The medicine acted as a shield against them. Like a vaccine. You know the boys and I don’t have an immune system? And anyone else like us, who has WD17, is the same? Well, Beritrix restores our immunity—it acts as boost. Apparently that boost protected us from being taken over by the alien life forms. I’m sure they didn’t see it coming, but it’s the only way we were able to survive everything.”
“Shield? Vaccine? Against aliens?” Anna still questioned.
“That’s right.”
“But there’s only like one percent of the population that takes Beritrix. And you, Dylan, and Wesley . . .” She paused to take in the gravity of it all. “So, did I . . . attack you? And the boys?”
Colt gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to tell his wife what she already knew, especially if it would cause deeper concern for her. His silence made it known.
Anna fell into a sadness. Colt reached for her as she lay and pulled her close. Once her crying subsided, Colt looked through glassy eyes and said, “Everything will be okay now. The aliens are gone. We’ve defeated them.”
“How?” Anna still had her wits.
Colt gulped. Then smiled and shrugged. He didn’t have the words, because deep down, he didn’t know if they truly had been defeated. He couldn’t know if something so simple would cause them to run, or maybe just cause them to regroup and attack with more precision next time.
Whatever happened though, none of it mattered, because Anna was back, and that was all he’d ever wanted since the beginning of the apocalypse.
To feel her alive again. To feel the love he lost when her eyes went black. To feel the love of his family together once more.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, we want to thank you, the reader. We love what we do, and no matter how many people help us along the way, none of it would be possible if you weren’t turning the pages.
To our family and friends. Every creative person is neurotic as hell about their creations, and we just want to thank you for always helping to keep our heads on straight. And for indulging all of our ridiculous ideas.
To our editor, Josiah Davis. Thank you for your hard work in making our story sound better, and for helping our writing become sharper.
To our advanced reader team. You are our megaphone in helping spread the word about each new novel we release. You all have become friends, and we thank you for catching those last few sneaky typos, and always letting us know when something isn’t good enough. Jake and Colt appreciate you, and so do we.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
B.T. Wright and Jonathan Dudycha are the authors of the Uncivil War series. They found common ground in 2016 because they discovered they are adults still playing make-believe, and they had a similar background playing college baseball. Because they have penned novels in similar genres, it made sense to collaborate on a project just for the sheer fun of it. B.T. lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife and son. Jonathan hangs his hat in Ponte Vedra, Florida with his wife, son, and daughter. Though they are “blue steel” in the photo, in reality, serious is a rare occurrence.
Join the online family:
www.wrightanddudycha.com
[email protected]
Also by Wright & Dudycha
Both B.T. and Jonathan write thrillers under different names.
If you enjoy espionage and crime thrillers B.T. writes under the name Bradley Wright. Here are his other novels:
Bradley Wright
Xander King Series:
Whiskey & Roses
Vanquish
King’s Ransom
King’s Reign
Scourge
Vendetta (prequel novella)
Lawson Raines Series:
When the Man Comes Around
Shooting Star
If you enjoy espionage and sea adventure thrillers Jonathan writes under the name J.D. Dudycha. Here are his other novels:
J.D. Dudycha
Gage Finley Adventures
Scavengers
Dark Descent
Buried Secrets
Deep Blue
Hurricane
Niki Finley Thrillers
First Shot
Second Best
Third Degree
Baseball Stories
Paint the Black
Sitting Dead Red
Chasing the Dream
Inside the Dugout: A collection of Baseball Stories
For information on upcoming releases, contests, freebies, and deals on future novels, head over to-
www.wrightanddudycha.com
-and join the reader team. We don’t write often, and we will never spam you or share your information. Thanks for being a part of the team. Talk to you soon!
Uncivil War (Book 6): Awakening Page 12