Chasing The Cure: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 5)

by Daniel Willcocks

  Doug told Caitlin that they had encountered some other people on the east side of the city but had managed to veer around them. Groups of travelers, five to ten at a time, all armed with swords with curved blades and notches in their length.

  Mary-Anne explained that they were actually known as cutlasses, then shut up and let them speak.

  When it came time for making arrangements to travel the remaining way home, Wendy looked up at Caitlin with hopeful eyes. “I’m glad we met you. It’ll be nice having more people on our side for a change as we journey to the city.”

  Caitlin smiled. “You mistake me, Wendy. I’m not going to be accompanying you to the lake, nor will I be riding the rest of the journey on the boat with you.”

  “Then how will we find our way to your boat?” Doug asked.

  Caitlin turned to Miriam. “Because you’ve got a brand-new protector who’s going to chaperone you to your new home.”

  Miriam glanced behind her until she realized that Caitlin was pointing at her. “Me?”

  “You’re not ready for this journey,” she said affectionately. “You’ve clearly shown that to us all. Maybe one day you’ll make a fearsome warrior, but we don’t have time to train you right now. This path is already proving to be more dangerous than you can handle, and we need to push on fast.”

  “But what about the city? What about finding people?”

  “We found some, and it’s clear that this city is defunct and abandoned.” Caitlin chuckled. “And now you get to take these survivors to a better life. A place where they’ll be safe with my brother and the others looking after the Broken City.”

  “Wait, it’s called the ‘Broken City’?” Doug started.

  Wendy elbowed him. “Not now.”

  Miriam looked at the others for help, then realized there was truth in Caitlin’s words. She finally nodded her head. “I’m happy to complete this task in the name of such a worthy group. She drew her sword and made a small gash along the inside of her palm.

  Kain, Mary-Anne, and Izzy jumped back suddenly. “Woah! What are you doing?”

  “I’m swearing by my blood to honor your task and complete this mission,” Miriam said. “What? What’s wrong?”

  Kain rolled his eyes. “What is it with humans and blood promises?”

  “Doesn’t that hurt?” Caitlin asked.

  Miriam shrugged. “Not really. I got used to blood being taken from me by Felicia.”

  Doug’s eyes were wide. “Felicia? Another vampire?”

  “A mean one,” Mary-Anne smirked, hiding the fact she was salivating.

  “She’s dead now,” Caitlin told them nonchalantly. “Forget about her.”

  Kain, Caitlin, and Mary-Anne laughed, dissipating the tension in the room. They wrapped Miriam’s hand up in spare cloth and then sent the group on their way, following them as far as the edge of the city where it met the trees.

  “Good luck on your journey,” Miriam called as she walked into the trees.

  “Give my brother my best,” Caitlin replied, waving until they’d all but vanished.

  She turned back to the city, hands on her hips. “We’ve done a good thing today.”

  “Yeah, we have,” Izzy smiled. “Those folks deserve to live somewhere safe and secure, where they can remember what it’s like for life to be kind.”

  “Though that doesn’t really help us now,” Mary-Anne said. “We’ve got no leads. The city is empty, and we’ve got no further signs of finding our mysterious Helena.”

  “We’ve got a direction,” Caitlin replied. “Didn’t you hear them? The people they encountered were on the east side of town. Helena said in her book that she’s gone east. We’ve just got to keep going until we find something. It’s out there, I know it is.”

  “So, blindly stumble east until we encounter something that might be useful?” Kain asked, skepticism lacing his words.

  “Exactly.” Caitlin laughed. “How big can the world be, really?”

  She set off back into the city at a brisk pace, Izzy and Jaxon following closely behind her.

  Kain turned to Mary-Anne. “I don’t think she’s ever seen a map of the world.”

  “Nope,” Mary-Anne agreed. “She’s in for the shock of her life when she realizes how big Earth really is.”

  Chapter Four

  New Toronto, Ontario

  Night was falling when they first encountered other signs of life.

  They had been walking in near-enough silence, treading over debris and sticking to the sides of the roads. The city was huge. Bigger than anywhere Caitlin had been before.

  She found herself marveling at road signs as she passed. Great metallic green things with words and numbers that made no sense to her, despite Mary-Anne and Kain trying to explain.

  She tried to imagine what it would be like to see the city lit up at night. For the stop signs to be aglow, and the streetlights to shed their light. To ride around in vehicles that propelled themselves at the touch of a button through the veins of the city.

  A world completely different from her own. Horses were the only true form of transportation in Caitlin’s world. Her mind cast back to the abandoned airship in Silver Creek forest, wondering what that would have been like. To have owned technology that could not only help her travel on the ground but fly among the birds in the sky.

  Mary-Anne told her stories as they wandered, tales filled with action and vampires she’d heard tell of through her own kind. The name Valerie was thrown around a few times—a vampire gifted the ability to walk in the sun by the Patriarch himself, and who later joined Bethany-Anne in the stars.

  Kain made some quip about how clearly Mary-Anne wasn’t as worthy as the others, having never been offered that gift by the gods, and Caitlin could see her trying to restrain herself from hitting the Were.

  They had traveled through a small inner-city park and rounded a corner when they heard the first signs of others. Mary-Anne cut herself short, falling silent as they listened to the voices ahead.

  They were singing a song. The words she couldn’t make out, but the tone was cheery and loud. She heard containers bashing against each other and turned to the others with a quizzical look.

  She waved them on, sneaking closer to the corner of the block where she could peek around a building.

  A group of figures silhouetted around a fire contained in a large steel drum. From this distance, they were difficult to make out, but they jumped and danced around, drinks in their hands. They clanked them against each other and spilled foaming brew on the street.

  “Aren’t they worried about the Mad?” Izzy whispered, turning over her shoulder to check the street behind them.

  “I guess not.” Caitlin pointed to the bodies of several Mad scattered around the street.

  The strangers were gathered in a circle around the fire, some sitting on the tops of cars, others sitting cross-legged on the ground. A few of them were part of the dancing throng and laughed heartily as their voices raised and lowered with each crescendo of the song.

  “Now that’s a tune I haven’t heard in years,” Kain said. “A drinking song from way back. It’s nice to see some people care about lost culture.”

  Under Caitlin’s orders, they decided to hold back, unsure who these people were or what kind of threat they posed. They heard the cry of Mad and ducked inside the nearest building, finding a set of stairs which led several stories up to a large glass window where they could oversee the street below.

  More Mad were already attacking by the time they made it to the window.

  They watched from above as the men drew their swords and expertly worked their magic, eradicating the threat in a few seconds. The Mad were sliced into pieces and neutralized while several men—who hadn’t even gotten to their feet—drained their cups and demanded more.

  “Who are they?” Caitlin mused.

  The others had no suitable reply. The group below was certainly well equipped with their swords. Whether they were friend or foe remain
ed to be seen.

  As the night wore on, Caitlin took a seat by the window and rested her head on the glass. Jaxon took a seat by her side, his eyes fixed on the street. The others found positions around the room and made themselves comfortable, falling into a restless sleep as the celebrations below failed to cease until the very early hours of the morning.

  Mary-Anne stared at the ceiling, her heart racing at double speed. She had pretended to be asleep, knowing that tonight would be a night of restlessness as her head turned in a thousand directions.

  Shit.

  It was inside her. Somewhere deep down in her blood, she was sure it was already spreading. Her mind flashed back to the events in the museum, replaying the memories again and again, just like she had been all day.

  The Mad had attacked Miriam.

  Izzy had shot the Mad.

  The Mad’s blood had sprayed toward Mary-Anne.

  Had landed on her. In her mouth. Thick globs had landed on her cheeks and clothes.

  She had shouted at Izzy, felt a rage bubble inside of her. Of all the years she had been careful—so meticulously scrupulous in avoiding the Madness—she had never come that close to contact with infected blood.

  She’d even taken to vegetarianism for years, feeding only on animals, knowing the cost for a vampire who never fed on humans was to grow weaker and weaker as she took to her slumber in her parent’s mansion and slept the years away.

  Only to discover the joy of human blood decades later. To be united with a party of fighters who she had come to love and who she would give her life for. Only to discover that she was now walking on the razor’s edge.

  “It’s inside me, I know it is. Somewhere now.”

  Her words were softer than the beat of a butterfly’s wing. A sudden paranoid fear of what was to come. If it was to come at all.

  Had she imagined the droplet of blood which had warmed her tongue?

  Had she spat it out fast enough?

  The iron tang plagued her. It was all she could taste. As much as she tried to pretend to the others that all was normal, her mind was working in circles.

  A vision of blazing red eyes. Her best friend turned feral under the influence of the Madness inside of her. She had told Caitlin the stories of what would happen if a vampire had turned. The destruction that could be wreaked by a single vampire out of control.

  Would that be her?

  Could that be her soon?

  She wondered how long it would take to discover the truth of what had occurred. Whether her paranoid brain was telling her she was infected, when really it was nothing more than a close call. She had definitely felt her patience drop and her anger rise more often over the last few hours, but that happened sometimes, didn’t it?

  Mary-Anne rested a hand behind her head and placed the other on her chest. She took a few deep, calming breaths, which did little to calm her.

  What would happen if she suddenly turned feral? Could Kain and Caitlin take her down? Would she be glad for Izzy’s gun?

  No. Stop it, she scolded herself. You’ve seen it before. If you were infected, you’d know by now. The virus would have taken hold.

  Mary-Anne turned her head and sighed, her eyes fixed on Izzy.

  It wasn’t her fault. She was protecting her friend. That’s all any of us are doing. Protecting the people we love.

  Her brow furrowed as she made a promise to herself at that moment. Should I see any signs of Madness, I’m leaving. I’ll be gone long before I can do any real damage to those I love.

  Mary-Anne closed her eyes, tried her best to still her racing heart, and in the early hours of the morning, stole a few moments of peace from the clutches of the dark night.

  When Caitlin opened her eyes, she blinked away groggy confusion. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep. The last thing she remembered was watching two men below locked in a wrestling match, which saw them knocking into the jagged side of cars and rolling around on the floor while the others cheered them on.

  Several Mad had come, but they had been quickly dispatched by the men who were either braver than anyone she’d ever known or stupid beyond belief.

  I’ll hold my reservations for now.

  Kain began to shift from his cocoon on the floor. Sunlight streamed through the window in thick rays, blinding him as he opened his eyes. “Ow! Somebody draw the curtain, please?”

  At the sound of his voice, Jaxon leapt across Izzy and Mary-Anne and began lapping at his cheeks.

  “Hey! Oi! Jax…” Kain began laughing. “Get off me, you mangy mutt!”

  Caitlin grinned, basking in the sun’s warmth.

  “He responds better to compliments. Insults just make him love you more.”

  “Sounds like Kain’s flirting technique,” Mary-Anne said, catching the rays of sun around her and hugging even tighter to her shadows. She scrambled for her black garb. “Seriously, though, turn the lights off.”

  “It’s called ‘negging,’” Kain replied. “Throw a compliment and infuse it with an insult. It’ll boost their pride and hurt their ego, then the chicks’ll be flooding around you.”

  “Give me an example,” Izzy said.

  “Okay, how about ‘you’ve got great hips for a fat chick.’”

  “Kain!” Caitlin gasped. “That’s awful.”

  “I’m not saying it’s nice, I’m saying it works.”

  “It’s offensive,” Izzy scolded.

  Kain threw his hands in the air. “I’m not saying it’s— Oh, you know what? I liked it better when there were more men in this group. Psycho Joe would have loved that one. Tom would’ve given a few laughs. Hell, even your brother—”

  “Well, I’m glad they’re not here, then,” Caitlin interrupted. “Maybe that way, we can train you out of your bad habits.” She picked up a small pebble and threw it at Kain. “Bad dog. Think about what you did.”

  Izzy and Mary-Anne laughed.

  Kain scowled. “Oh, I get it. Because I can turn into a wolf. Ha-ha. Shouldn’t we be keeping an eye out there on the guys who might be my only true drinking competition? I mean, seriously? What time did they get to sleep?”

  “It was late,” Caitlin told him. “Or early, depending on how you choose to view it.” She cast her attention back into the street and noticed something was amiss. “Oh. Er...guys?”

  “Let me guess,” Kain said. “They’ve all gone and left without a trace?”

  Caitlin nodded. “How did you know?”

  Kain’s face fell. “Are you serious?”

  But Caitlin was already on her feet heading down the stairs. She emerged onto the street and looked wildly in either direction.

  “What time did they get up?” Izzy asked, out of breath at her sudden dash to join Caitlin. “I couldn’t move on a hangover like that. I’d be down for hours.”

  “I think it’s time for wolf boy to prove his usefulness and make up for his foul mouth,” Caitlin smirked.

  Kain’s shoulders slumped. “Am I just a tool to you?”

  “Well, you’re definitely a tool,” Mary-Anne chuckled. “And what about my sense of smell? Does the vampire not get a look in?”

  “Hey, I don’t care which bloodhound catches their scent, let’s just follow them, okay? Where there’s a group of them, there’s bound to be more.”

  “Oh, you know how to make a girl feel special.” Mary-Anne sniffed the air. “This way.”

  “No,” Kain argued. “This way.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Mary-Anne took another big sniff. “It’s definitely this way.”

  Kain burst out laughing. He slapped Mary-Anne’s shoulder. She looked less than impressed. “I’m just kidding, sweet fangs. Man, you’re easy to wind up."

  Mary-Anne led the way, with Kain a short way behind. Caitlin was almost certain the vampire was deliberately using her speed to outrun the Were and wind him up as her own little revenge game.

  They made their way through the city, leaving the heart of the dead metropolis behind. Skyscrapers were
exchanged for smaller shops and three-story houses as they made their way into the suburbs. They passed by former rail tracks and, little known to them all, moved closer to the lake’s edge.

  It was after they hopped over a series of low wooden fences with gardens filled with wild creepers and vines that they paused again, hearing the clash of metal on metal.

  Caitlin crept up to the remains of a dark-paneled fence and reached up on her tiptoes to see over the edge. A short way away, she could see more of them now. Virtually dozens of men locked in combat with a horde of Mad.

  “Watch your six!” one of them yelled.

  “How’s that even possible?” another replied.

  “I meant I’m watching your six.”

  “Well, that’s great, but how about you focus less on my ass and more on keeping enemies off my back.”

  Laughter rang over the din of combat.

  “Take their heads.”

  “You don’t think I’ve been doing this long enough to know how to kill a fucking Mad? Dude, give me a break.”

  Caitlin gasped as blood arced through the air and the head rolled in her direction, stopping with a thump against the wood.

  Mary-Anne recoiled behind her, covering her mouth and eyes.

  “There. Eagle!”

  “Golf, really?”

  “Will you two shut up and kill some fucking Mad?”

  “Aye-aye captain!”

  Caitlin side-eyed Kain, Mary-Anne, and Izzy and shrugged. She still couldn’t get a read on them. They seemed like good people, tackling the city and reducing the population of the Mad. Their sense of humor also seemed to match Caitlin and her gang’s.

  “What do we do?” Kain mouthed.

  Caitlin thought and sighed. It was one of the burdens of being the leader of this mini band of Revolutionaries, she knew. But that didn’t make it any easier to come to a conclusion.

  The way she saw it, they could stay away from the strangers and continue on their way, stumbling blindly until they found something else or someone else to guide them. However, these had been the only people she had met—besides from Doug and his family—who looked as if they could handle their own and seemed to be in good spirits.