Spore Series | Book 4 | Exist

by Soward, Kenny

  “Okay, you stay here and keep an eye out. I’ll get the radio equipment out and toss it in the back. Then, we’re gone.”

  “Fair enough,” Jessie said. “Hurry.”

  Bryant gave a brief nod and exited the van. He left the driver side door open and hobbled to the van’s rear. He threw open the doors and retrieved the satchel of tools before stepping to the Jeep. After a quick glance around, he dove inside and began work on removing the valuable gear.

  Jessie’s eyes never stopped. She scanned out her window and then across the road to Bryant’s side. She glimpsed over her shoulder and back to the field again.

  Rinse and repeat.

  The soldier clanked and grunted. He dropped screws onto the Jeep’s floorboard and picked them up. Five minutes later, he hauled a receiver free and placed it into the back of the van. Then he returned for the long antennae sticking out from the rear.

  Jessie’s heart thumped in her chest as she cycled through her routine, eyes scanning, head constantly swiveling until Bryant finished with his task. With a tumble of cable and tools, he threw the antennae in back and quickly jumped behind the wheel again.

  “Got it,” he grinned through his sweaty face. He put the van into drive and tore off.

  “Good job,” she said. “Think it will work?”

  “I don’t see why not. The engine broke down, but the radio should be fine.”

  They took River Road back to Clifton and drove through the small town with heightened wariness. Jessie half expected a barrage of gunfire from a storefront or home. She hunkered down to put some metal between herself and the outside world.

  Once through Clifton, they headed west on Highway 343 until they reached the outskirts of Yellow Springs three miles away. The soldier glanced expectantly at Jessie as he slowed down.

  “First stop, Blaine’s Pharmacy on the main strip.” She read Paul’s directions. “Take a left here, please. It should be Route 68.”

  Bryant did as she asked, and soon they cruised slowly through town. The soldier weaved the hulking van between two stalled cars, their tires making grinding sounds on the concrete as he manipulated the playful wheel.

  Jessie stared into the vehicles as they passed. Weeks-dead corpses sat behind the wheels. One fuzz-covered form lay back in the seat with a smaller form pressed against the passenger door on the other side, hand still gripping the half-rolled up window. She closed her eyes and looked away, opening them when she faced forward again.

  Yellow Springs was known for its quirky stores and hippie vibe. People came from all around to enjoy the coffee shops and eateries. They purchased homemade candles, antiques, and even cigars. Asphyxia had turned it into something out of a B horror film.

  At the town’s main intersection, Appleman’s Grill boasted a parking lot packed with fungal forms. Dark shapes sprawled on the pavement as if purposefully placed by the movie crew for the next shot. Jessie could barely tell they’d once been human. Decay had done its work, and the aggressive mycelium had eaten them through.

  Laughable Pizza sat off to her right with its yellow-storefront and off-beat mural painted on the side. On the mural, a jackrabbit sat in the middle of a field with a strange wolf creature standing next to it, holding a piece of pizza. It had a surreal feeling to it that was probably interesting when people were alive. Now it seemed like some horrible omen.

  They cruised past the US Post Office and the Sub Machine Sandwich Shop. They entered a comfortable street with even more quaint shops. A Lousy Rocket Record Store came up on her right, its front painted bright purple and green with spaceships blasting in all directions.

  Ye Olde Mountain Tavern was next with mold-stained yellow siding and crimson trim. There was Dinosaur’s Desserts, Nook’s Books, Super Villain Cafe, Kingdom Wines, and so much more.

  “It looks so perfect,” Jessie said.

  “Except for the fungus.”

  “And the dead people.” She blinked. “My mom and dad brought me here a few times as a kid. I can’t believe it’s gone.”

  They reached a tight spot where Bryant had to push his way through, scraping the sides of the van.

  The soldier winced. “Paul’s not going to be happy about that.”

  “I don’t think he’ll care,” she replied. A familiar landmark caught her eye, and she pointed at a market on their right. “We’ll hit that on our way back from the pharmacy.”

  Bryant nodded. “Gotcha.”

  Three blocks down, Jessie gestured at a two-story building with purple siding and a light blue awning. It read Town Drug across the front.

  “This is the place,” she said. “The pharmacy should be in the back.”

  Bryant pulled past the store and then backed up to the door. He had to park slightly off to the right because of another vehicle in the street. He cut the ignition and left his hands to linger on the wheel.

  Jessie’s brows arched as she skittishly searched their surroundings.

  “Quick in and out,” Bryant said. He reached behind him to the bench seats, grabbed a duffel laying there, and tossed it into her lap. “Take this, head for the pharmacy, and pick up the drugs. If you need to break anything, let me know and I’ll come do it. I don’t want you hurting your arm.”

  Jessie glanced down at her right arm in its sling, still pained from the bullet wound. She handed him his rifle. “Sounds good.”

  “I’ll grab the over-the-counter medical supplies,” he said. “Alcohol, gauze, and bandages. Anything else you can think of?”

  “Hydrogen Peroxide, ankle and wrist braces. You know, just in case we need them later. Heck, they might even have crutches and stuff, too.”

  “Thanks for the suggestions.” Bryant’s eyes darted around at the building corners and alleyways. “Ready?”

  “Yep.”

  They exited the van simultaneously, both doors slamming shut together. Jessie stayed near the storefront and waited for Bryant to grab his larger duffel out of the back. He put that on his shoulders and checked his rifle, pistol, and knife, head on a swivel the entire time. Then he joined her at the front of the store.

  Bryant led the way inside, putting his arm against the quarter-open door and pushing it across the fungus-covered floor. Puffs of dust rose and parted as they walked through them.

  A bulletin board hung from a pole five feet into the store, its surface pinned with local events happening around town. There were garage sales, acoustic concerts, and art shows. Judging by their dates, Asphyxia had permanently postponed them.

  Jessie tucked her duffel under her arm and retrieved a flashlight from her jacket. Flipping it on, she played the beam around. The store proper consisted of random shelves full of board games, chinaware, and candles.

  She followed Bryant past all those things to the rows of hygiene products. They turned left and found the aisle with the bandages and first aid items.

  The soldier jerked his head toward the back of the store. “Okay, go ahead. Holler if you need anything.”

  Jessie nodded and walked past him, letting her duffel hang from her hand. She moved to the pharmacy counter and peered over it at a rectangular room with rows of shelves stretching to the back. White pill bottles lined the shelves, and an old medicine dispensing machine rested against the far wall.

  It didn’t appear anyone had raided the place yet, at least not in any great capacity.

  With a grin, Jessie tossed the duffel over, turned, and raised on her toes. She put her backside on the counter, lifted her legs and used her good arm to pivot herself so her feet fell across to the other side.

  She slipped off, landed softly on the floor, and grabbed her bag. Moving down the first row of shelves, Jessie found basic pain killers, prep items, and hypertension drugs. She didn’t recognize all of them but remembered some from what her father took.

  Further along, she found the Tylenol 3 and other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs.

  “Bingo.” She held her duffel in her right hand, testing the weight so she didn’t hurt
herself. When no pain came, she began grabbing painkillers off the shelves and dropping them in.

  “I could fill ten bags with this stuff,” she murmured.

  After taking more than a dozen bottles, she hunted for the antibiotics. Holding her finger up, she trailed it along the row of shelves, eyes scanning, looking for the most valuable drugs.

  A scuffling noise reached her ears, and something hit the floor with a light thud. Jessie froze, head jerking toward the front of the store. She waited, staring, until she spotted Bryant’s big form past the counter. He was moving around, shifting, shoving things into his duffel.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. He’d probably just knocked an item off the shelf or dropped it. Nothing to see there. Jessie refocused on the drugs and hit the jackpot. She found white plastic bottles of amoxicillin, doxycycline, and other powerful antibiotics. She threw them into the duffel and turned toward the back wall.

  The old dispensary machine loomed over her. Its smooth white surface had faded, and the input screen was cracked and old looking. It must’ve been fifteen years old, at least.

  “I’ll bet you have all the really good stuff,” Jessie told it. Then she paused to think of a way to break it open.

  Something shifted in the shadows beside the machine. A small figure separated itself from the darkness, a globule of black cut away from the whole.

  Jessie knew instantly who it was. Her short, powerful form. The efficient sway of her hips. The dark eyes glinting behind the visor.

  It was her. Burke’s mercenary.

  It was Lexi.

  Chapter 13

  Jessie, Yellow Springs, Ohio

  Jessie started to speak, but Lexi strode forward and struck her before she could blink.

  The first punch was to her wounded arm, a palm slap that didn’t knock her down but sent shock waves of pain through her body. A split second later, a hand grasped her by the throat. It gripped her like a vice, cutting off her air and voice, leaving her gasping softly, too softly for Bryant to hear.

  Another hand reached behind her head and seized her. The two pressed together, causing Jessie’s vision to shift. White noise crept in around the edges of her sight, and everything looked a million miles away.

  She swung her left fist and struck the woman in the shoulder, but it was weak. She kicked out but missed the shelves and bottles of pills.

  Then she was drifting to the floor, caught up in strong arms that lay her down as gently as a babe. The hand at the back of her head disappeared, but the pressure around her neck only increased.

  She gasped, swung harder, and kicked at the floor, but the rubber heals of her boots seemed incredibly soft, barely making a sound as she struggled.

  Lexi’s mask pressed closer, her dark eyes staring into Jessie’s horrified face. The mercenary’s body leaned painfully on Jessie’s shoulder. Her voice whispered in her ear in a seductive accent.

  “I’ll come back for you, Jessie. And believe me, I’m going to take my time with you. As soon as I’m done with your toy soldier.” The mercenary held a blade near her face, surface reflecting dully as she twisted it in front of her eyes.

  Panic twitched through Jessie’s brain. She tried to punch the black figure, but her arm hung limp. She opened her mouth to scream, holler, anything to capture Bryant’s attention. All that came out was a tiny gasp. Lexi smiled and squeezed harder until her vision closed to a pinprick of light.

  Lexi’s weight was suddenly gone, the pressure on Jessie’s neck released, and the black form rose.

  “Hey, Talby,” Bryant called. “You okay in there?”

  Jessie blinked as her vision began to return. It was too slow. Too late. Her eyes darted around, looking for Lexi. The woman had vanished into the darkness, completely undetectable.

  But the mercenary hunted her friend in the darkness.

  “Hello, Jessie,” Bryant’s deep voice sounded muffled and worried through his mask. “You okay back there?”

  He’d never see her coming. All it would take was one swipe of that knife. She imagined the soldier staggering around the store, grasping his neck as his blood shot between his fingers.

  Jessie gasped, drawing a huge gout of air. Her vision snapped back, forcing the white noise out.

  She had to warn Bryant. She had to do it now!

  She kicked with her legs and pushed off the floor with her left hand, raising onto her right shoulder. It put pressure on the socket. Bone ground on bone, damaged tendons stretched and pressed together in a grinder of pain. Jessie almost fell back to the floor, but she grabbed the pain and gripped it like a lifeline. She kicked her feet, worming her way over. She hovered there, waving her left hand to throw her weight forward and complete the roll.

  At first, she thought she wouldn’t make it. She cried out, gasped again, and finally cycled her legs so that she turned onto her stomach. As she fell, Jessie reached out and put her hand on the second to bottom shelf of pills. She dragged her hand across it with a cry, sending pill bottles flying off shelves and crashing on the surrounding floor.

  An explosion of noise answered her. Shelves toppled. Metal items spilled with a clatter. Bryant grunted.

  Jessie put her left arm under her and pushed herself to her knees. Then she staggered to her feet, stumbled to the pharmacy counter where she leaned against it. Her vision returned, but it was still too dark to see much.

  Her eyes followed the continuing clatter of falling shelves and broken product. Toward the middle of the store, Lexi’s form crept to the top of a shelf, so fast and smooth she could have been a spider.

  “Look up, Bryant!” she shouted just before the mercenary leapt from her perch onto the man’s back.

  Jessie fell forward on her stomach and slid across the counter. She swung her legs around and dropped down on the other side. Her shoulder screamed at her, her throat raw where Lexi had strangled her.

  She reached back and pulled her pistol from its holster, hesitating a moment before she staggered into the fray. The aisles in her immediate vicinity were an array of destruction. Packages and boxes lay scattered everywhere in a sea of glass shards and toppled shelves. She kicked aside a package of diapers and stumbled into a baby stroller, banging her knee and almost pitching herself to the floor.

  Jessie swept the stroller aside and waded through the mess. Lexi and Bryant squared off near the front of the establishment where daylight filtered in between the flyers hanging from the store windows.

  The mercenary held her knife in her hand, circling the soldier where he kept his hands out in a defensive stance. He didn’t appear hurt, and he wasn’t staggering around with blood shooting from his neck like she’d imagined.

  Lexi held her blade in her right hand, stepped forward and swiped. Bryant jumped back. He tried to grab at her hand once but received a nasty cut for his trouble.

  The soldier winced and shook his hand out. Lexi smiled and pressed her advantage.

  Jessie didn’t hesitate. She raised her weapon and put her finger on the trigger, aiming at the mercenary’s form outlined in daylight. With a flick of the wrist, the knife left Lexi’s hand and flew fifteen yards to smack her visor with a loud crack.

  Jessie jerked back, her gun discharging at the ceiling. Bryant dove for something in the debris and came up with his rifle. He spun on his knee to fire on the mercenary, but she was already dancing away behind a shelf full of coolers and summer gear.

  Pieces of plastic flew into the air as bullets chewed the coolers to pieces. Jessie watched as Lexi knee-slid to the near side of the row, well ahead of the man’s firing. She produced a pistol and swung around the row to shoot at Bryant.

  “Bryant!” Jessie pointed at the mercenary.

  The soldier rose from his knee, sidestepped, and swung his weapon around. He barely missed being shot as he fired at the end of the row, turning it in to a blender of debris. Pieces peppered Jessie’s skin, and she kicked backwards to get away from it.

  Lexi spun and sprinted toward the front of the stor
e. Bryant swapped his spent magazine for a new one and yanked his barrel around. He fired a burst of rounds through the doorway, tearing off chunks of wood, but the mercenary was gone.

  He hustled to the door, peering out after her. With a shake of his head, he backed into the debris field, keeping his barrel trained on the entrance. He shot Jessie a glance. “You okay?”

  She raised to her elbow and nodded. “Just a little dazed.”

  He lifted the two-way radio from a clip on his belt and put it to his mouth. “Weissman, you there?”

  The medic responded after a moment. “I’m here. Is everything okay?”

  “We’re good. Just wanted to make you aware we ran into Lexi but fought her off. She might be on her way to you now, knowing you’re down a few troops.”

  “We’ll keep an eye out.”

  Jessie found the blade Lexi had thrown at her and scooped it off the ground. It was smooth and matte black, the surface sucking up the light.

  “Careful,” Bryant said, holding out his hand for the weapon. “That’s a carbon blade. Sharp as hell.”

  Jessie laid it in his palm.

  “I was ready for her.” He breathed heavy as he stared at the door. “But she still got the jump on me.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, head tilted to the side. It slowly dawned on her what he meant. “You sent me to the pharmacy section knowing she’d be there?”

  He shook his head with an incredulous grimace. “Hell, no. I mean, I thought she might be in here somewhere, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure she’d be back there.”

  Jessie stared at the front door. “How’d she know we’d be here in the pharmacy?”

  “There are only two places in town that matter.”

  “Market and pharmacy.”

  “That’s right.” Bryant shook his head and sighed. “That woman can disarm a man faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. One second I was holding my carbine, the next it was sailing across the room. She got my pistol, too.” He looked around for the weapon and spotted it laying by an aisle of all-natural chips. He went over and picked it up.