Caldera | Book 12 | Kingdom Come

by Stallcup, Heath

  Carol turned and saw an older man climb over the short hill, his boots kicking small rocks as he approached. “I’m sorry.” Carol gave him her best, most charming smile then realized he probably couldn’t see it in the low light. “We’re traveling the area, looking for survivors.”

  The old man paused and leaned on a long stick, his eyes darting between the pair and the truck along the road. “You don’t say. You usually drive with your lights off?”

  Davis smirked and lowered his head. “She was looking for lights.” He shrugged. “It’s easier without the high beams.”

  The old man nodded slowly. “Well, you’ve found survivors.” He sighed and nodded towards the truck. “I reckon you can leave now.”

  Carol shook her head and took a tentative step toward him. “Wait, we just—”

  Davis’s arm shot out and caught her shoulder, slowly pulling her back. “Easy, Doc. We have other eyes on us right now.” He pointed to the red dot on her chest.

  “Oh my. We’re no threat.” She threw her hands into the air. “We just wanted to see if we could help.”

  The old man sucked at his teeth and stepped closer. “It’s appreciated, but we’re getting along just fine.”

  “Can I ask how many of you there are?” Carol asked.

  The old man shook his head. “Enough to get the job done.” He used the stick to point back towards the truck. “I think you’d better go now.”

  Carol pulled from Davis’s grip and stepped toward the old man. “I’m sorry we surprised you.” She lowered her voice and tried to study his face. “We really are just trying to find survivors and see if we can be of any assistance.” She glanced at the red dot on her chest and wasn’t surprised that there were now two. “We aren’t trying to steal from anybody or hurt anyone.”

  “You need to go,” his voice was soft and even, “before you get hurt.”

  She nodded but held her ground. “Will you tell me this? Are there any more survivors in this town?”

  The old man narrowed his gaze on her and slowly shook his head. “You really aren’t the sharpest tool, are you, missy?”

  She flustered and shook her head. “I’ve been accused of that more than once.” She inhaled deeply and stared at him. “But I’m just trying to get a feel for how many people survived before we found the cure.”

  He raised a brow at her then leaned closer. “You found the cure?” His tone was less than believing.

  She nodded then pointed to the truck. “Actually, I assisted. Dr. Broussard is the one who actually developed the cure.”

  “They don’t care,” Davis interrupted nervously. “We’re sorry to have bothered you.”

  She slid from his grip again and turned back to the old man. “Please. Do you know of others?”

  The old man studied her for a moment then slowly nodded. “Up the road a spell. I know of at least two families.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief and gave him a beaming smile. “Thank you.”

  “I doubt they’d talk to you either.”

  “I don’t care.” She felt the weight of the world lift from her shoulders. “I just needed to know there were some.”

  He stepped closer and leaned heavily on the walking stick. “Did you really find the cure?”

  She nodded. “Yes. It was the military that released it, but we created it.”

  The old man nodded slowly. “Well then, thank you.” He held his hand out to her and she carefully accepted it. “You brought our son back to us.”

  She felt a lump form in her throat and all she could do was nod. “You’re welcome,” she choked out.

  “You have a nice evening,” Davis stated firmly as he pulled her back towards the truck. “That wasn’t smart.”

  “Maybe not, but we were able to confirm survivors.”

  He opened her door for her and watched as the red dots fluttered like butterflies and vanished. He quickly slipped back behind the wheel and put the truck in reverse, turning on the lights as he backed away quickly.

  Carol spun in her seat and smiled to the researchers in the rear. “There are survivors here.”

  “They didn’t appear overly friendly,” Randy replied.

  “Friendly or not, we know that the cure spread.”

  Simon fought the urge to sleep and forced his eyes to stay open. He knew that his body needed rest to heal, but he also knew that the Cagers wouldn’t let him live much longer. Every time the woman doctor came in and checked his vitals or adjusted his IV, he half expected her to inject him with rat poison or something worse.

  He meant it when he told Hatcher that he deserved whatever judgement they passed down, but he wanted to be awake for it when it came. He didn’t want to be put down like an old dog in its sleep.

  He wondered how they would do it. Hold a pillow over his face? Inject him with a huge air bubble and let his heart explode? A death cocktail? Perhaps antifreeze? He’d always heard that it was a painful, but effective way to kill somebody.

  He felt his eyelids droop and he pinched at his arm in a feeble attempt to remain awake. He stared at the window beside his bed and saw that the sun was dropping.

  A shadow cast along the glass and Simon dreaded the lookie-loos that might migrate to him. The faces that reminded him of small children at the monkey cage at the zoo. Except these faces came to stare into the eyes of evil.

  He saw a large sun hat appear in the window and the face that stared down at him had him instantly awake and trying to sit up despite the pain.

  The look in Lana’s eyes was unmistakable. She was as shocked as him when she realized who she stared at. She seemed to pale even more before her face disappeared and Simon was left fighting for breath.

  “Help,” his voice cracked as he called to Vee. “Help!”

  She instantly appeared in his doorway. “What’s wrong? Do you need more pain killers?”

  Simon pointed to the window. “Lana.” He sucked in air again. “She’s here.” He tried to pull the sheet and blanket from his body and push his feet off the bed. “I have to…warn…”

  “Stop!” Veronica grabbed his legs and pressed him back onto the mattress. “You can’t get out of bed yet!”

  “I have to…warn them…” His face went pale and his eyes rolled back in his head. “She’s here.”

  Veronica supported his head as it flopped to the side and Simon passed out from the pain.

  “What’s going on in here?” Vicky asked, obviously perturbed.

  Veronica wrestled with Simon’s body as she tried to tuck him back in. “He said that he saw Lana.” She tucked the blankets under his body and turned to look for a sedative. “She’s the crazy bitch that tried to kill him.”

  Vicky stared at her disbelievingly. “And he saw her. Here?” She gestured around the room.

  Veronica inserted the syringe and injected air into the bottle. “He saw her in the window.”

  Vicky rolled her eyes. “Sure he did.” She reached out and gently took Veronica’s hand. “How much has he already had?”

  Veronica gave her a sterile look. “This is his first injection of the day.” She pulled her hand away and stuck it into the IV drip. “He told me that he had an issue with pain killers and sedatives.” She injected the liquid and pulled the needle out. “He’s been trying to recover without pain meds.”

  Vicky’s eyes widened and she stared at Simon lying on the bed. “We did surgery on his kidney. That kind of pain would send most people—”

  “And Simon isn’t most people.” Veronica interrupted. She turned back to Vicky and lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “For?”

  She met her gaze and unblinkingly. “You saved his life. And you can never know how much I appreciate that.” She sniffed back a tear and tried to turn away. “But I heard what your brother and his friends want to do to him.” Her words caught in her throat and she had to swallow a sob. “It kills me that…”

  Vicky placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and pulled her towards her.
“Hey, look. Daniel is many things, but he’s not a murderer.” She glanced at Simon and shook her head. “The things he did before you met him? They were bad.” She stared into her reddening eyes. “Really bad.”

  “But he’s not like that.” She sniffled again. “Not anymore.”

  “And Daniel will take your people’s word on that.” She led her to the recliner in the corner of the room and directed her to sit. “I can’t guarantee you anything, but I know my brother.” She hunkered in front of Veronica and took her hands. “My guess would be that he’ll ban him. And any of you that want to go with him are more than welcome to.”

  Veronica wiped at her eyes. “You don’t think he’ll kill him?”

  “And ruin all my hard work?” Vicky snorted. “Look, I’m still his sister and I have a bit of sway with him.” She glanced back at Simon, sleeping with his mouth hanging open. “But do you think he was serious about this Lana woman being here?”

  Veronica nodded slowly. “He looked like he’d seen a ghost.”

  Vicky came to her feet. “Then I need to let Danny know. If she’s as dangerous as you say…”

  “Worse.” She sniffled again then glanced at the window. “She’s crazy and I’m not sure the cure completely took with her.” She swallowed hard. “Simon said he caught her eating a rabbit she caught. Raw.”

  “Eww.” Vicky’s face twisted. “Okay. Look, I’d better let Danny know.” She turned and walked toward the door. “Just…have faith.”

  Veronica nodded weakly as she disappeared through the door.

  “It can’t be him,” Lana muttered to herself as she made her way back to the bird shit house. “I killed him. I killed him dead.” She stopped and stared at the house with the lights on and fought the urge to go back and double check.

  “No. I KNOW it was him.” She marched towards the house and practically kicked the door open. “How’d he survive? I stuck him right in the kidneys. He should have bled out before anybody could have gotten to him.”

  She marched up the stairs and flung the sun hat like a Frisbee. “I know how much blood he lost when I did it. There’s no way he could have…” She paused and considered the doctor with the tits. “She couldn’t have.”

  She cursed under her breath and kicked the bedroom door open. “Of all the damned…” She stopped and forced herself to take a deep breath. It’s possible he didn’t see me. No. He definitely recognized me. Maybe they won’t believe him?

  She stifled a yell deep in her throat and launched herself at the bed, punching and kicking the mattress as she screamed into the pillow.

  “How the flying fuck shit did he survive?”

  She threw the pillow across the room then sat on the edge of the bed, fuming. “I’m just gonna have to kill him all over again.”

  She fell back onto the mattress and began hatching her plan. “How do I get past the idiots inside so I can finish the damned job?”

  Jedidiah swiped at his eyes disbelievingly and blinked rapidly. “This can’t be.”

  The soldier beside him grunted something and pointed. He turned and stared where the creature pointed and groaned inwardly. “More of them. Outside the walls.”

  The pair slid down the roof and Jedidiah slipped his flat brimmed hat back onto his head. “This isn’t good.” He pulled his knees up closer and wrapped his arms around his legs while he thought.

  “They have weapons.” He glanced at the soldier staring at him, a blank expression on his face. “You have teeth. And fingernails.”

  He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I know that you are part of God’s army, but something tells me we’re going to need more than just what the good Lord gave you to defeat so many.”

  The soldier grunted and pointed again. Jedidiah followed his outstretched hand and cocked his head to the side. “The bus? What am I supposed to do with that?”

  The soldier grunted then farted loudly. Jedidiah wasn’t sure what the message was supposed to be but he rubbed at his chin. “I suppose…” He slowly came to his feet. “I could load a goodly number of you into one of those machines and drive it through their front gates.”

  The soldier grunted again then stood beside him. “Then the others could follow behind. Wash over them like a wave.” He chuckled to himself as he walked to the edge of the roof and jumped to the gravel below. “A righteous wave to wash the unclean from the earth like the Lord wanted in the first place.”

  He turned to the soldier and smiled. “Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought.”

  With a low whistle he collected the other five soldiers and they started back to the theater.

  He had plans to make.

  17

  Hatcher stood on the short ladder and stared at the remains on the other side of the wall. His flashlight fell on the stripped bones and he fought the urge to lose his supper. “Do we know who it is?”

  The sentry slowly shook his head. “If it weren’t for the flies, I wouldn’t have thought to search the area. And to be honest, the smell…”

  Hatcher nodded. Whoever the victim was had defecated and the flesh was beginning to rot in the extreme temperature variations. “Has anybody been reported missing?”

  The sentry shook his head. “Not to my knowledge, but they’d probably tell you or Mr. Mulroney.”

  “Roger’s been busy.” Hatcher climbed down from the ladder and fought the shudder that threatened him. “Let’s get some people to scoop up the remains and get them to Vicky. Maybe she can do an ID. I’ll let her know that we’re—”

  “There you are,” Vicky interrupted. “We need to talk.”

  “Yes, we do.” Hatcher hooked his thumb towards the wall. “There are human remains on the other side. I was about to have them collected and brought to you.”

  Her face scrunched up. “For what? I’m not a medical examiner.”

  “You’re as close as we have.” Hatcher lowered his voice. “I’m hoping maybe you can identify them.”

  She nodded slowly then pulled him aside. “Simon came to and freaked out. He said that he saw his attacker in the window. A crazy woman named Lana.”

  Hatcher rolled his eyes. “Sure he did.”

  “Veronica seems to believe him.”

  Hatcher gave her that look. “Of course she would. They’re lovers. She’s pregnant with his…spawn.”

  Vicky squared her shoulders and set her jaw. “They both believe that she’s here and that she’s dangerous. I think we should give them a bit of credit.”

  “Why?” He turned to walk away and she grabbed his arm.

  “Because they have no reason to lie.” She stood in front of him and met his gaze with one just as fierce. “They said that she…” Her voice trailed off and she turned to stare at the wall. “Tell me something. Had something been eating on the body?”

  He gave her a confused look. “Talk about switching topics midsentence.”

  She shook her head. “They said that they’re not sure the cure ‘took’ with her. They caught her eating a rabbit that she’d just killed.”

  “Lots of people eat wild game. Heck, the pork we have is—”

  “Raw, Danny. She caught it, wrung its neck and just started eating it. Fur and all.” She gave him a look that he couldn’t miss. “That ain’t right.”

  Hatcher rubbed at his jaw and slowly nodded. “Yeah. There’s pieces missing from the body.” He slowly shook his head. “Surely you don’t think—”

  “I don’t know what to think, but I’m not going to dismiss the possibility either.” She sighed heavily and turned for the ladder. “I’ll check the body out there. I don’t think I want it brought into my home.”

  Hatcher handed her his flashlight. “I haven’t got any missing person’s reports. Whoever it is, if they’re one of ours, nobody’s been looking for them yet.”

  She nodded as she reached for the ladder. “I’ll look for scars or identifying marks. Maybe I can bounce what I see off of the medical records and narrow it down for you.”

>   Hatcher nodded to the sentry. “Go with her. I don’t want anybody alone. Not until we figure out what the hell is going on here.”

  “We’re approaching Santa Fe,” Davis said. He looked to the rear of the SUV then to Carol. “Want me to find a hotel or something?”

  “I bet they’re all booked this time of year.” She smirked at her own joke. “That would be nice, thank you.”

  He noted that Andre leaned against the window, his eyes closed. He lowered his voice as he spoke. “You two gonna bury the hatchet?”

  She shrugged slightly. “Time will tell.” She sat up and pointed to a roadside inn. “That will work.”

  “I doubt they’ll have water,” Davis said as he pulled the SUV to the front entrance. “Do you see any lights?”

  She shook her head. “It’s too dark to see anything.” She opened the door and stepped out, her eyes scanning the area. “What do you think?”

  “I think one bed is as good as another.” He shut off the engine and glanced to the sky. “The overhang should block any aerial views. For all the good that will do us.”

  A side door opened and Randy stepped out, stretching. “Is this home for the night?”

  “With any luck,” Davis replied. “Grab your rucks while I clear the building.” He turned and pushed his way through the front doors.

  “Shall I find my own accommodations tonight?” Andre asked quietly as the others piled out and dug through the rear of the SUV.

  Carol gave him a slight shrug. “That’s entirely your choice.” She turned to face him in the darkness and couldn’t read his face. “As I recall, it was you that had the issue with my wanting to carry a weapon.”

  He sighed animatedly and slowly shook his head. “I wish you could see things from my point of view.”

  “As do I,” she replied coldly. “I will say this, if you want to continue to rehash this all night, then it might be best if you did find your own room.”