The Azrael (Book 5): Prisoners

by Gagnon, Jesse

  “I’m trying.”

  Samantha aimed again at the lead Azrael’s skull. She waited for time to slow, settled the iron sight on its skull and pulled the trigger. The Azrael’s head flipped back and it collapsed. She squealed. The others slowed down. One of them in the back broke through the group, taking the lead. The others sniffed the air and followed after it growled.

  “Uh, there’s four more and they are close.” Giselle worried.

  “I got this.” Samantha argued.

  She brought in a deep breath and held it. She aimed for its skull, pulled the trigger, then the next one, and the next. All three dropped. She attempted to get the next shot, but it was too close. Toko removed its head from the neck with a swift horizontal swipe.

  Samantha exhaled and displayed a disturbing grin.

  “I killed four of ‘em.” She boasted.

  “Missed one.” François griped. “Let us not get overconfident.” He finished.

  “Not a bad shot Sam.” Giselle reached out for her weapon. Samantha handed it to her. “Now don’t let it get to your head. Those were fresh turners. It’s not so easy on the big ones.”

  “I figured as much.” Samantha nodded her head. “So, what else can I do?”

  “You need to crawl before you walk. There is still more training needed to hone your skills.” Toko explained.

  Samantha felt a sharp pain in her side. She clutched her side and took a knee in pain.

  “It hurts.” She groaned. “What’s going on?” She rubbed at her kidneys.

  “I’m not sure.” Giselle approached.

  “Stay away!” Samantha swatted the air towards Giselle. “I…I don’t need your help.” She continued.

  Giselle approached anyway. Toko grabbed her wrist. She gazed at Toko’s hand and gave him a death glare.

  “Let her work it out. There is nothing you can do. The virus will not let any infection or virus kill the girl. You know this.”

  “But…it could be from the treatment…or…”

  “She has introduced a significant amount of Azrael cells into her kidneys. It is debilitating the first time. Usually the body has more time to transition. Since she is female, this could be a side effect.” François speculated.

  “Like Gene?” Toko asked.

  “Oui, remember when Gene woke up. He got up in a panic and attempted to kill Cory.”

  “Cory?”

  “The fat nurse that smelled like cheese.”

  “Oh, Cory. I remember. I think I recall something like that happening with Gene. He said his kidneys hurt too.”

  “See. There is nothing to worry about Samantha.” François comforted.

  She rubbed at her kidneys.

  “How long will it last?” She asked.

  “Only a few minutes. The virus will protect its prize.” François smiled.

  Samantha scowled. She stood to her feet, closed her eyes, and brought in a few controlled breaths. The pain was fading away.

  “You’re right. It’s getting better. Thank you.” She forced a smile.

  “Do not thank me. Thank the virus.” François began to walk towards the car that was parked about a mile away.

  “I’m not thanking the virus.” Samantha mumbled.

  Giselle came over and rubbed her back.

  “You okay?” She asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I guess there’s a lot to learn about this virus.” She wore a worried smile.

  “It’s gonna be fine. Once we get to the Veil, we can have the doctors there take a look at you. They know what they’re looking at.” Giselle smiled and jogged towards the others who were already running towards the car.

  “Guess we’re running.” Samantha complained and hurried after. She was surprised at how much faster she was.

  The sound of a motor vehicle nearby alerted the group.

  “Expecting guests?” Samantha hollered to the others.

  An armored sports car appeared over a hill down the road they were running on. Samantha, behind the group, was the closest to it.

  “No, we’re not expecting anyone. Get away from the road.” Giselle yelled.

  Samantha turned and focused her eyes on the vehicle. The driver’s image was hidden by the glare of the sun. It blinded Samantha. She blinked and staggered. The vehicle approached quickly and skidded to the left and to a stop between Samantha and the group. Another man climbed out of the passenger side window and opened fire on the group with an automatic weapon. There was no cover. Toko instinctively leapt in front of Giselle. It struck them without precision but tore through them with force. They attempted to fire back, but the flurry of gunfire had them besieged. They were on the asphalt bleeding out before their shots were made. They squirmed in agony as the virus painfully mended their injuries. Giselle cried out for the young woman.

  “SAMANTHA…RUN!” She shrieked.

  Two men from the back seat exited the left side and sprinted towards her. She ran. One of the men was really fast. In a few seconds he caught her, yanked her down by her hair. She elbowed him in his stomach and kneed him in the groin. It may have worked had the other man not cracked her skull with a small metal bat. She collapsed. The second man placed a canvas bag over her head and they dragged her into the car. It sped off over the hill and below the horizon. The engine slowly faded away as Giselle, Toko, François and Jason were sprawled out on the pavement. Giselle was the first to get up. François and Jason pulled themselves up on their knees. Toko was still face down.

  “Toko.” François groaned.

  There was no response.

  “Toko. Get up Toko.” Giselle urged. She cupped her left side with her right hand. Blood poured through her fingers, but she could feel it clotting beneath.

  Jason crawled over and turned him over. His face was oozing blood from a large cavity through his right eye and part of the nose bridge. He was dead.

  Chapter 39: Mario’s Interrogation

  Headlights illuminated the front of the safe house waking Savanna from a nap on the couch. Stephanie was awake, now tied to the recliner with rope and talking to John who was sitting on the carpeted floor between Savanna and Stephanie.

  “Is that them?” Savanna’s voice cracked as she squinted towards the lights outside.

  “Looks like it, Babe.” John answered while craning his neck up to get a better visual through the window.

  “What are you going to tell them about me?” Stephanie asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. We’ll see when they get in.” John answered.

  “The truth.” Savanna scowled at John. “We’re going to tell them the truth. We’re not keeping secrets like Simon has been doing for months.”

  “I’m sure he had his reasons.” John dismissed her comments.

  “I can’t wait to bring it up…see the look on his face.” Savanna wore a wicked grin.

  The lights outside extinguished, vehicle doors opened and footsteps approached the front door.

  John brought in a heavy sigh. “Here we go.”

  The doorknob rattled as they disengaged the locks with the keys. The door opened.

  “Welcome back.” John greeted.

  Mario limped inside, nodded in recognition of John’s greeting and headed towards the bathroom down the hall. Justin was after. He wore a half smile and spoke.

  “Hey.”

  Savanna sat up, waiting for Simon to walk in. She couldn’t wait to see his smug look when she asked him about his “secrets.”

  Justin waved at Savanna while biting his lip. He quietly studied Stephanie, entered the kitchen and sat down at the table.

  Jane walked in next. She shut the door behind her, attempted a smile and shook her head. Her lip quivered. She began to sob.

  “He’s gone. Simon’s gone.” She fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably.

  Savanna’s face tightened. The utter distaste for Simon immediately washed away in an instant. Thoughts of the good Simon had done in their lives replaced the anger she had built up only seconds ago. She w
as at war with her own emotions. She stared at John. He glanced at her, wore an uncomfortable smile and brought himself to his feet. He walked over to Jane and took a knee, rubbing her back and attempted to comfort her. She gave him a massive, heartwarming hug. The pain on her face was authentic. The tears in her eyes held guilt, sadness and regret. Her nails dug into his back as the waves of cries overwhelmed her senses.

  Stephanie worried for her life. She worried that these people, drenched in emotional instability would blame her. Her life held in the balance of information that she still had about Simon, information that these people don’t know. However, now she can’t pit them against their now dead leader. The hope of mutiny is now a pawn to be played at a later hour. She needed to play this smart. She needed to survive.

  *

  Mario stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. The door was closed and locked. He was away from eyes that needed to see him still in control. He imagined Simon’s smile, his bravery and his sacrifice. Here’s another person who died while on his watch.

  Many possibilities and outcomes played out in his mind that did not involve Simon sacrificing his life to save them. They could have tried their luck being recaptured. At least they all would still be alive, maybe. He thought about how his injury played into the outcome. If he hadn’t been shot, he wouldn’t have been a liability. They would have moved quicker and gotten out of there before the Azrael found them. He thought of his bleeding wound leading the Azrael to the group. He should have wrapped the injury better or walked less on it. But that is not how it happened. Simon is dead…or worse… an Azrael.

  He studied his image in the mirror. The gray hairs on his head and on his face revealed his age. Another man, much younger than Mario, is dead before him. He had been on death’s doorstep on several occasions but always managed to survive…to live. He gets to live. Why is it always him? He slammed his fists on the sink. It rattled the wall and the mirror creaked open. His image warped and slimmed as it swung open. Something surprising alarmed him. The medicine cabinet was chock-full of medicine; medicine that he knew wasn’t there before they left. He grabbed several bottles at random to check to see if they were full. Every single one was filled to the brim. He closed the mirror. Looked around and there were a few more bags full of medicine from some pharmacy.

  Mario opened the door and exited carrying a bottle of antibiotics.

  “Where’d you get these?” He asked John and Savanna while rattling the pills within the bottle.

  John was comforting Jane with a hug and Savanna was on the verge of tears herself on the couch. Jane looked up at him. Her eyes were pink and her nose was red. She sniffled. That is the moment he noticed someone else sitting on the recliner. Where did she come from? Who was she?

  “Who is this?” Mario asked while still holding up the bottle of medicine.

  John exited the embrace and turned.

  “This is Stephanie. She works for…”

  “The pharmacy, well, she used to work for the pharmacy in that local supercenter up the road.” Savanna interrupted John. She smiled at Stephanie and nodded. Stephanie turned to Mario and grinned.

  “Seems like I’m meeting you at a bad time. I’m sorry for your loss…eh…”

  “Mario, Mario Cortez.” He answered.

  She recognized that name. She had heard amazing things about this man. She noticed that the recognition may have been on her face and she quickly changed it.

  “Mario, pleased to meet you.” She said and reached out for a handshake. Her hands were still tied to the chair. He scowled and turned to Savanna for a reaction. She looked at him nervously. He did not press.

  “You guys doing kinky stuff in here?” He joked, hoping to change the mood and to see what lie they were going to use.

  “Uh, she’s frightened by needles. The only way we were able to give her some antibiotics was by tying her hands up.” Savanna told a believable lie.

  Unfortunately, Mario failed to locate a syringe or any liquid based antibiotics. He didn’t reveal that he was inspecting the area. His gaze remained on Savanna with the woman named “Stephanie” in his peripheral vision. Yet, it confirmed that there was something else going on with this woman that they did not want him, Jane and Justin to know. He changed the subject.

  “Is that where all of this medicine came from, the pharmacy?” He asked.

  “John managed to sneak in and get it. The store was full of Azrael.” Savanna admitted. She was not lying about that. He could tell.

  “What were you doing? Did you help?” He asked.

  “Well, uh, I was saving Stephanie in the back from a small group.” Savanna answered. She lied again. Stephanie, or whoever this was, nodded at Mario with agreeance.

  “Sounds awful. How did you get away with so much? There’s no way you could have still held a weapon and carried all of that. Or did you?” Mario asked.

  “Well, we encountered those naked Azrael again.” John explained.

  Mario walked into the kitchen, dragged a chair from it and sat next to Stephanie. She immediately seemed uncomfortable. Mario smiled at her. She smiled back…awkwardly.

  “Go on.” Mario gestured to John.

  “They attacked the normal ones in the store. They were eating them.” He continued. He was telling the truth. “I was surrounded by them things. The only thing I could think to do was cover my body in the blood of one of the dead naked ones, so I’d smell like ‘em. Ya know?” He finished.

  “So they just ignored you?” Mario asked with honest curiosity.

  “Yup, and I made it back to the front of the building where I, uh, found Savanna and Stephanie waiting for me.” John fumbled with those last words, which were lies. Mario knew that they were captured by Tricon’s people. Maybe they were covering for this woman, since she works for Tricon.

  “Is that so? That’s pretty lucky, especially since I heard that you guys were captured by Tricon.” Mario turned to Stephanie and watched her reaction. Her eye twitched and she wore a cold look.

  “Yes. I worked for Tricon. I WORKED…” She emphasized. “…for Tricon. I saved these people. I didn’t have to do it. I saved them.” She explained. She appeared to be telling the truth.

  “Is this true?” Mario asked.

  “Yes.” Savanna and John admitted. Their heads hung low. They felt ashamed lying to them after they just came back from a mission that got Simon killed. Moreover, his death was most definitely caused by something that Tricon did.

  “Thank you, Stephanie, for saving my friends. You don’t get much of that out here these days.” Mario spoke. It surprised Stephanie. She turned her head and tilted it.

  “You’re welcome?” She answered with a question.

  “You see, we’re reasonable people. We’ve all been through hard times and sometimes we end up on the wrong team. And it seems at this moment you’ve chosen our team. Is this correct?” Mario asked.

  “What are you asking?” She turned her head.

  “Where do your loyalties lie? We need to be 100% clear on this.”

  “I saved your friends. What team do you think I chose?” She appeared offended. Mario was not buying it.

  “Say it to my face. Look into my eyes. I want to know your intentions.” He pushed.

  “My loyalties are with you in Chicago.” She spat out.

  “Do you swear on your life that this is the truth? I won’t be upset if you say that your loyalties are with Tricon. I just want to hear the truth. Neither response will end in your death.” He explained with a cold tone.

  “It is the truth. Dr. Kolovski is a monster. He had me do awful experiments on the Azrael. He wants to evolve the virus. I wanted to get as far away as possible once I found this out.” She spoke the truth.

  “He is a monster. I believe you. He’s also the reason that my friend is dead.” Mario scowled.

  “I’m sure of it.” Stephanie appeared sympathetic.

  “If you are, in fact, committing treason against that organization, then wha
t’s stopping you from turning on us once something doesn’t go your way?” Mario asked. He noticed half a bottle of water on the kitchen table. “Hey, toss me that water.” He asked Justin. He complied and tossed it to him. Mario caught it, popped a few pills into his mouth and washed it down with the water. It was room temperature and had a plastic taste.

  “I won’t.”

  “But you might.”

  “I promise that I won’t turn on you guys. I have information.”

  “Bingo.”

  Stephanie turned to Savanna and to John. Her eyes danced back and forth.

  “What’s bingo?”

  “It’s a game where you place a dot on the letters B, I, N…”

  “No, I know what the game bingo is. What’s your point?” Stephanie asked with annoyance.

  “You see; this is what I specialize in…information. Information can topple a civilization faster than any virus. It can crumble a solid foundation as if it were made of sand. It can wash away the enemy before they even know it.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Stephanie worried about his next words.

  “As a matter of fact, I also have information about things as well. I know some hidden secrets that your people…”

  “Not my people.” Stephanie interjected.

  “Your people…” Mario asserted. “…know about my people. Not your people. My people.” He clarified.

  She glowered.

  “So you see how this works now, huh?”

  “I see. Go on.” She admitted.

  “Tell me this information that we need to know about your people. What is it? I’ll know if you’re lying, because it’s on your face… and I know some information myself.” He finished.

  By this time, Jane was sitting with Justin at the table. They quietly engaged in conversation. John sat next to Savanna. They were curious what Mario knew. What secrets did he know that Simon kept from them all? On the other hand, was this information only kept from John and herself? Or maybe, this woman was trying to turn them against their own people. Savanna was definitely fully engaged in whatever Mario was doing.

  “What if my information doesn’t match your own?” Stephanie asked a logical question.