Humanity's Edge- The Complete Trilogy

by Paul B. Kohler

  Connie laughed loudly, and music was bursting from the speaker system, fueling the frivolity. The drunken lieutenant grinned, flashing his eyes toward Clay. “So. I suppose I should divulge a bit more information about our exit strategy,” he said, his voice rather high, lifting over the many others in the room.

  Clay frowned, resting his drink back on the bar. “What do you mean? We’re going to drive out of here in a few days. I didn’t think there had to be any greater plan than that.”

  Daniels reached into his pocket and revealed a small communication-like device, more high-tech than their walkie-talkies. He jiggled it in his hand, like he was trying to prove something. “This little puppy here will get us out of the containment zone and through the energy field that’s around the town.”

  He was still speaking loudly, almost slurring his words. Alayna looked away from Megan and marched across the room toward them, her hands upon her belt. “I’m sorry, but what do you mean, through the energy field?”

  The sudden commotion caught everyone’s attention. Ralph stopped his diatribe, and Norah peered at them with narrowed eyes. Willis, from his place in an easy chair, leaned forward, interest momentarily taking over his bouts of pain.

  Daniels sensed he’d messed up. He stuck the device back in his pocket, eyeing the door. The song changed to one with a heightened beat. Clay felt his heart would bump from his chest.

  “I mean, it’s really no big deal,” Daniels said.

  “If it’s no big deal, then tell us about it,” Alayna said, her eyes wide with anticipation.

  “Yeah, sure. Okay. Before the colonel left yesterday, the energy field circling the town was modified to not only block the contagion from passing through but also to prevent humans from traversing it. Not without my device, that is.”

  Norah stabbed her finger through the air, livid. “What do you mean? We’re locked in here . . . like dogs?”

  “Hey, lady. You weren’t going to leave unless we dragged you out,” Daniels spouted.

  Megan walked slowly to Alayna and wrapped a drunken arm around her, quivering. “This is really happening, isn’t it?” she whispered. People began to speak over each other in a heat of panic.

  But Clay interrupted them with a loud, angry smash of his palm upon the bar. Everyone turned rapidly toward him: their savior, the man who would put the lieutenant in his place. Clay searched for the proper words for a long time, feeling livid.

  “We have to get out of here,” he said.

  “And we will,” Daniels sighed, tapping at the device once more. “This here is our golden ticket.”

  “But I should have been told,” Clay yelled. “I’m the sheriff of this town. These people are my responsibility.” He lifted his finger and jabbed Daniels’s chest. “You’ve done more than a disservice. You’ve endangered us, Adam. You’re working against us.”

  Daniels shook his head slightly. Alayna’s weight shifted, sensing Clay was blowing this out of proportion, that a combination of fear and alcohol was causing him to become volatile. No one spoke as Clay exhaled sharply, incredulous.

  “Everyone,” Alayna began again, her voice booming. “Go to your rooms. Get some sleep. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. We don’t want any stragglers. No one will be left behind.”

  Clay nodded and winked at Alayna before he took a final shot of bourbon. Then, he meandered toward the door, his hand grasping the frame, before he shot down the hallway and toward his bedroom, with its single, lonely bed. He collapsed onto the mattress, feeling as if he were diving into a pool, and closed his eyes easily.

  Panic and shock would follow him deep into his dreams. The feeling of being a wild animal locked in a cage, bucking at the constraints, gave him cold sweats, and he woke up to tug his shirt from his aching back. On his arms, the lesions oozed blood and pus. With the moonlight streaming in from the window across his blanketed legs, he felt like the loneliest person on the planet.

  Chapter 38

  Clay stumbled into the hallway at around five in the morning, bringing his palm across his thin head of hair. His stomach felt stretched and fizzing after too much alcohol, reminiscent of his college days, when his only cure had been fast food. He found himself in the kitchen, monitoring the gurgling coffee machine and sipping the dark liquid, waiting for something to change.

  Alayna appeared in the doorway of the kitchen some ten minutes later, almost as if she’d sensed him. She yawned, showing her bright, white teeth. “Hey, Sheriff,” she said. She kept her distance, as though she still sensed his anger from the previous evening.

  “Don’t worry, Alayna,” he said, leaning heavily against the counter. “I’ve calmed down since last night. And I’m sorry for overreacting like that. Tensions are so high right now, you know. I feel a little frantic.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Alayna whispered. “We all have regrets.” Her voice was far away, lost.

  “Did something happen?”

  “Another fight,” Alayna said, shivering. She eyed her socked feet. “I was so happy to see her. But then I got angry, demanding, in drunken words, why she’d stayed behind when my orders had been to get out of town. She was pissed that I thought I could ‘order her around.’” She rolled her eyes slightly. “But I told her she obviously didn’t know what she was talking about.”

  “Which, I’m guessing, didn’t go over too well,” Clay said, giving her a sad grin.

  “You’ve been married a long time, I guess,” Alayna agreed. She paused, sipping her coffee. “How are you feeling, by the way? Doesn’t look like you’ve got the sweats any longer.”

  Clay had hardly noticed. “It does seem like I’m in some kind of remission,” he said, shrugging. “The only pain I have is now just related to all that bourbon. Damn it, Harvey,” he joked, hoping to mask his own fear of truly being infected.

  “It’s horrible. They never mentioned how much you want to get drunk when you think all is lost,” Alayna said. “But it’s really the first thing you want to do. To forget.”

  Clay nodded slightly but kept his thoughts to himself.

  Moments later, Ralph and Connie appeared, looking chipper, as if they drank like that all the time. They began bickering, with Ralph cutting in front of Connie and pouring his cup of coffee first. Connie balked back, insisting that he didn’t care about her feelings—that if those “monsters” out there ever attacked them, he would push her ahead and leave her for dead. Ralph didn’t disagree. Alayna and Clay ignored them, turning back to the heat of their own brimming coffee cups. As they sipped, the rest of the crew joined them, searching through the meat and cheese drawers, cracking eggs, and formulating a breakfast—enough for everyone to feel nourished for the long day ahead.

  It became obvious that the one person who hadn’t joined them thus far was Megan. Alayna leaned heavily against the wall, unable to eat, even as the smell of the eggs and cheese and meat steamed through the air. Clay, who had joined her, heard her stomach rumble, and he held a piece of ham out toward her.

  “Where is she?” he asked. “You spent the night together, right? Even though you were fighting?”

  Alayna shook her head. She tapped the coffee mug back on the countertop, noting that everyone had turned toward her, waiting for her answer.

  “Don’t look at me,” Alayna snapped, ensuring everyone could hear her. “She slept somewhere else last night.” She shifted her weight, allowing the silence to boom in the kitchen.

  But Daniels soon swamped over it, his voice heavy. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to fess up.” He rested his hands on either side of his waist, assessing Alayna, his eyes glassy and alien. “But she came to me of her own goddamn will.”

  “You think I don’t know where she went?” Alayna said, scoffing. “I saw her drift toward your drunken form early this morning, sometime after two. You looked like a complete mess, like a broken man cradling your whiskey bottle.”

  “Now isn’t the time for insults,” Daniels said, hunching his shoulders.

 
“Well then, where the hell is she, if you were the last person to see her?” Clay demanded. He had to regain control.

  “When I woke up this morning, she was gone,” Daniels shrugged, eyeing the doorframe, visibly wishing for Megan to arrive. “Just like that.”

  “I suppose you two slept together, then,” Alayna said, her eyes wet.

  The silence stretched on once more. In the corner, the green Doctor Miller began to cough. Spittle propelled from his mouth and dribbled down his shirt. Connie happened to notice and tended to him promptly. Clay looked on and felt utterly useless. He knew the sooner they combed through the town, the sooner they all could get the hell out. Irritated, he wondered if Megan was somewhere upstairs, holding up the process.

  “No. I mean, I don’t think so,” Daniels said then. “We just talked. We finished off some fucking whiskey. And then—I must have passed out.” He coughed, rubbing at his near-bald scalp. “It wasn’t anything like that.”

  “Sure,” Alayna said, her eyebrows high. “As if you’ve given me any reason to believe you.”

  “Believe me,” Daniels said. “I was lying on the same spot on the floor in my bedroom when I woke up. The same spot on the floor I was when I last remember talking with her.”

  Alayna fumed with anger. She spun toward the door, visibly shaken. “I’m going to go look in your room myself, if you’re so sure about this. I have to make sure you didn’t do anything to her. You’re a stranger to us, here, Adam. You could be a monster, for all we know.”

  She flashed her eyes toward him a final time before pounding up the steps, her back stiff, as the rest of the team gazed after her.

  “Is this just how all lesbians act?” Ralph asked, coughing.

  “Don’t be so crude,” Norah said, prodding him with a single, bony finger. She filled her coffee cup and balked at Daniels, showing yellowed, coffee-stained teeth. “Aren’t you going to go after her? Show her everything’s all right? You’re a lieutenant, here, Adam. And it seems you’re the one who’s causing all the problems.”

  Daniels eyed the old woman briefly before drifting toward the doorway and out into the hotel. He bounded up the steps to follow Alayna, leaving Clay and the rest of the team below.

  Clay shoved his fists into his pockets, feeling each of Daniels’s steps on the rickety staircase, hoping they’d find Megan without delay—and that they could work quickly so they could join their loved ones far, far away.

  “Lesbian bullshit,” Ralph spat in the corner before chewing a slab of salty ham. “There’s a reason we don’t mess with them at the church. God didn’t want them to stay alive.”

  “Quiet,” Clay growled, his voice harsh. “I’ll take none of that bullshit here.”

  The team stood frozen, their ears straining to catch any sounds from upstairs. A single, harsh scream sounded out, causing Clay’s heart to burst against his ribcage. It was clear that the camaraderie of the previous evening had diminished, leaving only bumping headaches and wretched hangovers. He yearned for the end of the nightmare.

  Chapter 39

  Daniels appeared in the kitchen doorway moments later, his eyes wide. “Sheriff, we have a situation.”

  Clay brought his hand to his gun, sensing more of the crazed crawling through the streets, their teeth aching for blood. “What is it?”

  Alayna appeared beside Daniels then. She shuddered with panic. Together they looked like twins, joined with a common, terrible truth. “She’s gone,” she blurted, biting her lip.

  Daniels swallowed harshly, then, in a booming voice that echoed across the kitchen, said, “Megan is nowhere to be found. But that’s not the worst of it.”

  Alayna nearly collapsed beside him, her knees bucking forward. Norah gasped, rushing forward and wrapping her frail arms around her. “Darling, get ahold of yourself,” she whispered. “Jesus.”

  “I—I can’t believe she’d do this to me . . . again,” Alayna braced herself. “I thought she was past her issues . . .” she said, her voice trailing off.

  Beside her, Daniels wrapped his arms around both Norah and Alayna, ensuring they remained standing. “We checked all the rooms. Megan’s gone—along with the device.”

  “What?” Clay asked, stepping forward. “The device that was meant to—”

  “To free us from this containment zone. Yes,” Daniels said, finishing Clay’s observation.

  “You must have misplaced it,” Ralph said, eyeing him haughtily. “Maybe you left it up in the bar last night?”

  Daniels didn’t turn toward him. “The device is gone, Sheriff.”

  Clay felt the internal terror rally once more. “Where the hell could it have gone, then, Daniels?”

  “I suggest that Megan might have taken it, sir,” Daniels answered, standing at full attention now.

  “NO!” Alayna screeched beside him. “She may be deceitful at times, but she’d no more leave us in a perilous situation than I would.”

  Clay’s team had begun to panic, quaking with fear about their sudden entrapment. “How are we going to get out?” Connie rasped. Willis inhaled sharply and leaned heavily against the refrigerator door. Norah turned her sharp eyes toward the sheriff, searching for answers.

  “CALM DOWN!” Clay yelled. He brought hands to his temple, feeling sweat beads begin to form, just as they had when he’d been ill the previous day. “Megan probably just went back to her house, where she feels safe.” He swallowed, his mind spinning. He didn’t want to blame Alayna for this unforeseen development, and he didn’t have the right to blame Daniels. “We can’t get bogged down with all this drama and nonsense. It’ll literally kill us. And I can promise you that.”

  No one spoke. Alayna seemed to regain a sense of urgency and self. She blinked madly at Clay, waiting for the remainder of his instructions.

  Clay used the silence to check his wristwatch, noting the time. “Megan can’t have walked far, anyway. And we still have plenty of time to clear this town before the fumigation begins. I say we continue working as we have been, and we allow Megan to get her head back on her shoulders and rejoin us here. If any of us comes across her on our search, then try and reel her in. What do you say?”

  Ralph smacked his palms together, seemingly activated by Clay’s words. The others calmed, nodding primly. Only Alayna seemed unchanged. She took a step from the doorway, eyeing Clay with manic eyes.

  “I don’t think you know what you’re asking me to do here, Clay. I can’t let her remain out there like this, on her own.”

  “Alayna,” Clay said, incredulous. “You’re my deputy. I need you out there, more than ever.”

  Alayna rested her hand on her gun. “And you know I have your back—outside of this. But I have to go after her. I can’t have her out there dying, just because of me.” Before Clay could respond, Alayna fled from the kitchen.

  “Shit,” Clay whispered, chewing at a bit of dried skin on his right thumb, watching Alayna’s black hair flit from her tight bun and fly through the air as she ran.

  “Let her go!” Ralph cried, filling another cup of coffee. “She’s a tough one. I can tell. She can handle herself.”

  But Clay’s stomach clenched with instant fear as he remembered the rapid pace of the crazed monsters who were clearly intent on murder.

  He couldn’t afford to lose his deputy.

  Chapter 40

  Awkward silence fell in the kitchen in the moments after Alayna’s outburst. The remaining clan eyed each other with apprehension. Lieutenant Daniels began to pace back and forth, his shoulders hunched and his eyes on the floor, muttering to himself. As his murmurs grew more insistent, he began to scare the other survivors.

  “If we don’t have the device,” Willis said, his voice quivering, “that means we don’t have a way to get out?”

  “We won’t survive,” Connie rasped, as if she was taking a stand for the truth—confident that no one else would. “We don’t have a godforsaken chance.”

  Daniels pounded his fist against the kitchen’s cinder
block wall. The noise boomed through Clay’s ears. Blood spit out from Daniels’s knuckles, spattering across the white paint.

  “Lieutenant. Get ahold of yourself!” Clay said, rushing toward him and gripping his shoulders firmly. “It’s you and me here, man,” he whispered into his ear. “I can’t have you going AWOL on me. These people are looking to us. We’re meant to lead.”

  Daniels’s breath came jaggedly. His muscles were tense, his eyes darting toward the door every few seconds. “We have to go after her,” he whispered. “She isn’t safe.”

  Clay flung Daniels’s massive body against the wall, forcing him to look in his eyes. “Lieutenant, I need you to listen. We’ll find them. Both Alayna and Megan. But we need to continue searching for other stragglers as well. If Alayna’s looking for Megan, and if we’re all looking for Alayna, then we won’t have time to find everyone. Not before. Besides, Alayna’s a strong woman. If anyone can find Megan, it’s her. She’ll bring her back, and hopefully with the device.” He swallowed hard. “I was put in charge of this town years ago, and that means I have a commitment to ensure that the people of Carterville find safety, even if they’re too obtuse to follow orders.”

  His words hung in the air for a moment before Ralph spat on the ground, anger rattling through him. “What the hell are you talking about, Sheriff? You think me and Connie are too stupid to follow orders? Is that how you really feel?”

  Clay released his hold on Daniels and turned slowly toward the people in the kitchen. Norah and Willis had joined forces near the large walk-in freezer, while Ralph and Connie looked frazzled, holding each other’s aging hands and glaring at him.