By the time it was over, the people in the Denny’s were crying and hugging one another. Many of them said their goodbyes, whispering ominously about the end of the world. Others tried to be more positive. They encouraged everyone to gather at the Wildcat Den to look after one another and make sure everyone stayed safe.
Hours later, Moe finished his fourth cup of coffee as the restaurant closed down. He watched as Casey and the Denny’s crew swept and mopped as if it was just another closing shift. With a smile, Moe remembered how Casey’s mother and father took care of Moe and his family when times got tough. He and Casey went back a long way, and Moe thought of her as his little sister, just as much as his actual sister, Waki.
When she’d finished, Casey joined Moe at the counter with her own cup of coffee. “You want to help me take this last pot down?”
Moe offered the young woman a faint smile and a brotherly nod.
“Good, because I don’t want to go home yet, and I could use the company.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Just baby-daddy issues.” Casey shook her head. “Funny that it won’t matter in a few hours when that spore cloud hits us. We’re probably all going to die. I mean, the East Coast is dead, man.”
“Hard to tell,” Moe shrugged. “Maybe the spirits of the desert will protect us like they have for so many centuries.”
Casey made a scoffing sound as she stirred cream and sugar into her coffee. “I’ve never been the religious type.”
“I didn’t think I was either,” Moe replied, looking around. “Until I came back home. It feels different today.”
They sat in silence, the kind of silence only long-time friends can share.
“It’s good to have you back, Moe.”
“It’s good to be back.”
“And here’s to living through tomorrow.” Casey sighed and lifted her coffee cup high.
“Yes, ma’am.” Moe clinked his cup against hers. “Here’s to living through tomorrow.”
Chapter 49
Kim Shields, Washington, D.C.
Kim stepped off the elevator on Sub Level Three and looked around. She stood in a large, dim parking garage lit only by the overhead emergency lights and the blinking fire alarms. The ceiling was higher than she would have normally expected in such a subterranean space. It was big enough to drive a semi-trailer truck through.
Touching the wound on her ribs, Kim took a deep, wincing breath and released it in a lengthy sigh. She looked around, taking in the CDC vehicles that stretched out in all directions.
There were sedans, vans, and trucks of all shapes and sizes. Some of them had muted CDC emblems on the front door panels of the department-issued vehicles while the larger vans and trucks boasted large CDC emblems for specific uses, such as the CDC Diabetes Center bus.
Computer tablet in hand, Kim walked straight to where the larger vehicles were parked. She moved past each one, looking for the “gift” Tom had left her. He hadn’t told her which one it was, so she would have to guess.
Kim’s eyes scanned ahead, moving past a large, shiny, royal blue bus parked in the middle of the row. Her eyes returned to it and narrowed. Longer than all the rest, the bus was sleek and new, almost like it had never touched the road. The vehicle mirrored Burke’s shiny black one except for the color, and it was unmarked by any specific CDC logo.
Could this be the “gift” Tom had been referring to? Kim hadn’t known what to expect when she came to Sub Level Three, although a vehicle had crossed her mind. Tom knew Kim needed a set of wheels to get to Paul Henderson, unless she wanted to drive the soldiers’ Humvee.
She approached the big blue bus like an explorer who’d just found a marvelous relic. It was a beautiful sight. The bus door was near the rear, and she stood next to it, noticing the badge reader just to the side. She swiped her ID across the surface and watched the pad’s outer light turn green.
“Please engage retinal scan,” a female voice echoed in the hollow parking lot in a clipped tone.
Kim fell into a ready crouch but realized the voice was coming from the bus itself. Turning back to the door, she noticed a red dot just above the badge reader. She leaned forward and peered into the light with her right eye. A horizontal beam moved from the top of her eye to the center, briefly blinding her in a flash of red before it continued to the bottom.
The door clicked, popped out, and slid to the side, and Kim stepped back, peering up into the darkness.
Butterflies fluttering in her stomach, she placed her right foot on the first of three steps. Bright light flowed down and illuminated a compact room at the top.
Kim climbed the steps and found herself in a space that resembled a decontamination chamber. There was a monitor and intercom console set into the wall, and spray nozzles peppered the smooth walls.
A door lay straight ahead, almost within arm’s reach, and there was another one on her right. Kim assumed the latter one led to the front of the bus.
“Welcome, Kim Shields.” The female voice said in a smart, robotic tone. “My name is AMI, your Automated Management Interface. Welcome to the CDC mobile lab. My database holds a full range of tutorials. If you need help at any time, simply ask.”
“Thanks, AMI.” Kim grinned as she looked around, eager to see the rest of the lab. First, she needed to get Lieutenant Colonel Bryant out of the CDC facility before it burned to the ground.
“Hang tight, AMI,” Kim said, stepping out of the bus. “I’ll be right back.”
Chapter 50
Jessie Talby, Washington, D.C.
Four hours later, Jessie parked the SUV in front of the military Humvee and got out. She stared up at the CDC building and watched flames lick out from the windows and up the side. Past the security doors, she saw flames in the lobby, burning up through the elevator shaft to scorch the ceiling.
She sighed as the fire spread, roaring as thick clouds of smoke rolled upward into the sky. The Asphyxia fungus sizzled as the flames devoured it, and soon glass shattered from the heat with pieces of concrete falling away.
Jessie heard Fiona’s door open and shut, and the little girl came around the vehicle and took Jessie’s hand. Together, they stared up at the flames, Jessie’s heart sinking as she wondered what to do.
She’d had minimal contact with Kim Shields up until their helicopter had gone down. Was Kim trapped inside the burning building? If she’d gotten out, where would she have gone?
“Are we going to be okay, Jessie?” Fiona asked, looking up with innocent eyes that reflected the firelight.
“We’ll be fine,” Jessie nodded, though inside she wasn’t sure.
“Where are all the people? Didn’t you say we would see some doctors? Didn’t you say they might poke at me but not to be afraid?”
“I did say that, Fiona.” Jessie gestured at the flames. “But something happened here, and I don’t think there are any doctors left.”
“Where did they all go?”
Jessie shrugged, looking around at how the fungus clung to the walls of the surrounding buildings and crawled up it, glowing in the fire like something out of a madman’s painting.
The CDC field agent took a deep breath and focused on Fiona’s face—her beautiful, healthy face. She knelt in front of the girl and tried to smile.
“Okay, let’s see,” Jessie said. “We know the nearest FEMA camp is over at Ronald Reagan Airport. That’s where General Miller will be.” Her eyes slid to the military vehicle parked behind them. “I can try calling him from that Humvee and see if anyone’s there. Then, maybe, we can find out where Kim Shields went.”
“Is Kim the doctor who wants to see me?”
“That’s her,” Jessie confirmed.
“Is she nice?”
A smile crept across Jessie’s face at the simple, innocent question. With everything Fiona had been through—her family dying, a helicopter crash, and the world burning down around them—she was only concerned that Kim Shields was a nice lady.
“I�
�ve never met her before,” Jessie chuckled, “but she seemed nice to me when we spoke.”
“Good.” Fiona nodded.
“Okay, then. Let’s...” Jessie felt a tickle in her chest followed by the uncontrollable urge to cough. The itch dug deeper until she placed her hand against the visor of her air filtration mask, drew in a deep breath, and coughed in a sandpaper-sharp exhale.
When she pulled her hand away, she noticed a tiny speckle of black and pink mucus on the inside of her mask. Her body turned to lead, heart sinking like a ship’s anchor. Jessie closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks, and she couldn’t hide them from Fiona.
A tiny hand touched Jessie’s visor and then rested on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Jessie. You’re not going to die.”
“You don’t think so?” Jessie sniffed and nestled her head against the little girl’s hand.
“It’s just a cold,” Fiona said. “Not like what Mom and Sissy had.”
Jessie shook her head as more tears stung her cheeks. A hot flash of unbidden anger made her grind her teeth in hatred for the disease that was wiping them all out. She didn’t even know if her family was okay, and she was out in the middle of nowhere, dying in front of this little girl.
Jessie wanted to throw her mask off and rage at the world. She wanted to scream and cough until she ripped the fungus from her own lungs.
Yet, there was hope. It was standing right in front of her, the little girl who remained untouched by the Asphyxia fungus. And while it might be too late for Jessie, there was still hope for others.
She had to deliver Fiona to Kim Shields, even if it killed her.
Jessie glanced once at the burning CDC building, hoping Kim was still alive. Then she led Fiona to the Humvee, intent on making a call.
SPORE Book 2
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Spore Series (Book 1): Spore Page 28