Chapter 36
Randy, Ft. Wayne, Indiana
Randy sat propped up on the bed with three thick pillows behind him. It was a real hospital room in a real hospital, another facility commandeered by John.
They had trained staff on hand. He had two surgeons, several experienced nurses, and a group of specialists who’d been hunkered down on one of the bottom floors when John found them.
He had everything he needed. A comfortable bed, a side table, all he could eat or drink, and even a tablet he used to communicate with Jenny and Tricia in the living facilities. Almost everyone in the Major had one, and John planned on expanding their use after he’d acquired more of them.
Yes, Randy had everything he needed except a cure for what tore through his lungs. It had been a day and a half since they’d transferred him to his new room, and he felt weak and the faintest bit short of breath.
Someone knocked on his door with three loud raps.
“Come in,” Randy called, his voice sounding hoarse and crackly.
His nurse entered. Her name was Jean. She had a fair but firm disposition with a long blonde ponytail and wearing her normal wine-colored scrubs. He’d only ever seen her blue eyes, because she always wore her surgical mask around him.
“Mask please,” she chimed. “You have visitors.”
Randy picked up his own mask lying in his lap and put it on.
“Good boy,” Jean said, and she stepped inside and held up an air quality meter. She waited a moment to get a reading and flashed Randy a big smile. “No spores in the air. I think we’re good.”
She moved aside to allow Tricia and Jenny to enter the room.
Jenny wore her jeans rolled up to her knees and a Notre Dame football jersey. Tricia dressed in a pair of denim shorts and tennis shoes with a glaringly white T-shirt covering her athletic shoulders.
Before they could get a word out, Jean butted in. “Remember to stay back six feet and wear your masks at all times.”
They all nodded, and Jean left the room, satisfied they’d obey the hospital rules for someone infected with spores.
The three regarded each other with flat expressions, the space between them seemed wholly unnatural. He’d always been close to his twin sister, and they always greeted with hugs or a good razzing. Not standing six feet apart and staring at each other like strangers.
“Your eyebrows are almost red again,” Randy commented on her thin arches of red and white.
“My hair, too.” Jenny flipped her curls over her shoulder, but her expression fell short of its usual zest.
“Hi,” Tricia said. She leaned lightly on her crutch. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve felt better,” he admitted, for the first time smiling. His gaze lingered on Tricia before falling on his sister. The tension coming off her was palpable, and something stirred behind her bright brown eyes. “It’s so good to see you two. I wish I could give you a hug.”
Trisha shifted on her crutch. “Us too.”
Randy nodded, and a strange silence settled between them. He hated it with all his being, and he wanted to clear the air before it ate him up inside.
“Look, I’m just going to put it out there.” Randy said. “Last night, David and I left for patrol, and--”
“John told us,” Jenny cut him off, her words sharp. “He told us what happened with you and David before the Colony attacked.”
“I’m sorry,” Randy said after a pause. “I know it sucks. He seemed like a good guy.”
“So, it’s true? He turned on us? He turned on me?”
“I don’t know what John told you, but--”
“He said you went out on patrol with David, and that David signaled the Colony troops. He said you could have run, but you took off your mask and threw it at him when he tried to shoot you. He said you struggled with David and killed him. Then you got the radio and warned us.”
“That’s basically it,” Randy nodded. “It all happened so fast.”
His sister wilted, shoulders slumping and hands fidgeting. She sniffed and tried to wipe her nose but couldn’t because of her mask. She tore it off to reveal her bottom lip turned out in a quivering pout.
She looked like a little girl again, eight years old and upset about something she found important even though the rest of the world didn’t care. Tears streamed down her face, and she suddenly clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and stomped the floor.
“I just can’t believe he would do that,” she shook her head. “He said he wanted to be with me. He even said...” she turned her face away for a second, seemingly embarrassed. When she looked at him again, her expression burned twice as hot. “He said he loved me.”
Randy’s chin fell, heavy with his sister’s loss. “Well, John didn’t know the whole story, sis.”
She lifted her face, head tilting with an expectant look.
“David told me some things before we struggled. He said Odom had his little brother at the Colony and was holding the kid hostage. If David hadn’t done what Odom wanted, something bad would have happened.”
Randy squeezed his eyes shut, uncertain if he should go on with the next part. Would they even believe him? He decided to plow ahead, already committed to telling his sister the truth.
“He said he was the one who attacked me in the storeroom. He knew about my distrust of Kirk and tried to feed into it. He couldn’t get rid of me in the storeroom, so he pulled some strings and got me on the patrol unit--”
“Where he could do it out away from camp,” Jenny whispered, her eyes tracing the floor. “Did he say anything about me?”
“Yeah, that’s the weird part,” Randy shook his head. “He said he’d made some deal with Odom. That if he gave up information on us and helped coordinate the attack, you’d be offered protection. He wanted to take you back and live with you there, with his brother, too.”
“And he’d blame your death on the Colony troops,” she finished.
“Caught in the crossfire,” he nodded.
Jenny stood there seething. Her vibrations shook him from six feet away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Really, I am. I hate seeing you in pain, sis.”
“It hurts,” Jenny admitted though clenched teeth. “But I’m glad you did what you did. The bastard tried to kill my one and only brother. And he planned on lying about it. And he would have kept me locked up at the Colony for the rest of my life, all to himself like some... weirdo.”
“Sounds like it.” Randy went quiet.
Jenny sniffed again, straightened, and put her mask back on. “Well, I’ll give you two some time.” She brushed aside her emotions like wiping rain off a windshield, and fixed her brother with a caring, but disturbed, look. “Get better. If you need anything, message me.”
“I will.”
With that, Jenny turned and went to the door. She grabbed the handle and threw it open with significant force, nearly slamming it back into the wall if not for the hydraulic door closer.
“You think she’ll be okay?” Tricia asked.
“She lost our parents and her best friend, Ally.” Randy scratched his head. “And now David. I’m not sure how much more she can take.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her.”
He gave her a wistful smile, appreciating her hazel eyes and the way her loose brown hair fell over her shoulders. “You’re beautiful.”
Tricia scoffed, cheeks turning red. “Well, that was out the blue.”
“I’m serious,” Randy shook his head. “I don’t have the words. And I want to kiss you so bad right now.”
Her eyes misted over. “Why’d you have to go and get sick?”
“That was totally unplanned,” he arched an eyebrow at her and made his tone professional. “Although I’d penciled a fight with David in between dinner and my evening stroll.”
They both laughed, and Randy’s spirits lifted. His stomach fluttered being around Tricia again, and he could tell she felt the same.
She smiled at him
for a moment before her expression turned grave. “This is serious, Randy.”
“I know.”
“What are we going to do?”
Randy shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know, babe. We’ll have to figure something out.” He paused as the gravity of his situation sunk in. “I really have no clue.”
Chapter 37
Jessie, Yellow Springs, Ohio
The day was bright, the sky full of white cirrostratus clouds stretched like sheets of taffy to the horizon. The sun played cat and mouse games, hiding behind the white veil to cast an ever-changing gradation of shadows across the yard.
Jessie stood on the porch holding Fiona’s hand as she admired Burke’s black RV. It sat in front of Paul’s house, like Kim’s bus but with a sleeker, more livable look to it.
The vehicle held a month’s worth of food, a decontamination room, sleeping quarters, and a medical facility. It boasted a powerful communications system, and they’d used it to tell Miller where they were going. Jessie figured they might as well travel in style.
Bryant finished stowing the last of their equipment in the RV’s storage compartments and stood back with his hands on his hips. The most crucial piece was the case of serum Paul had placed in the upstairs refrigerator. The soldier had put it in a secure location inside the RV where it didn’t look too conspicuous.
Jessie turned as Garcia marched the former CEO through the front door. They’d bound him in chains, and he walked with his shoulders slumped, hair tousled, and blood running down his mouth and shirt. They’d made it abundantly clear to the man that his life hung from the thinnest of threads, and any hint of mischief would bring his swift demise.
The soldier walked Burke down the stairs with a pistol buried in his back and stopped at the bottom. His eyes flashed to the bus’s former crew where they stood thirty yards out in the grass. It was Lexi, Pauline, and the driver Charlie, all kicked off the RV at Jessie’s behest.
Dex and Weissman appeared next, looking better after their doses of serum.
“You don’t have to do this,” Pauline called from the yard. Her tone was nasally and desperate. “You’ve got Burke. No one’s going to hurt you. At least not me and Charlie.”
The one named Lexi stood quietly, her dark eyes studying them behind her visor. Charlie stared at Jessie as expressionless as the assassin. All three of them had fired on Paul’s house as part of the distraction, and there was no way she’d trust a single one of them to hold her water.
“Here’s the deal,” she called out to them. “I figure Burke’s got something on all of you. Maybe he owes you something. Or maybe he’s holding someone you love. Making you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” She couldn’t be sure, but she thought the mercenary tensed at her guess. “Because none of you could actually love an asshole like him. I bet you hate him more than we do.”
The soldiers kept quiet and professional, but Bryant stared down at the three in the yard with an especially dark grimace.
“We just need access to his facility and the means to make a cure. You can have him after that.”
That part was a lie. As soon as they finished with Burke in Arkansas, they’d be turning him over to General Miller.
“We’ll have a gun on Burke at all times. If you so much as breathe down the backs of our necks, we’ll put a bullet in him and move on. Your dependency on him will end in an instant, as well as your valued interests. Keep that in mind when planning your next attack.”
“You should at least let Charlie drive,” Burke said, glumly. “The man can stay up for hours. He’ll get us there faster than--”
“I’m not putting my life in the hands of your people,” Jessie stated. “I don’t even like the idea of using your bus, but it’s convenient.”
She led Fiona down the stairs and held out a paper with three words written on it. “These are all the passwords?”
Burke nodded. “The primary activation key, the computer systems, and the override.”
Fiona held up a piece of duct tape. Jessie took it and slapped it over his bloody mouth, smoothing it down hard. She smiled at his angry expression. “In case you have an override for the override.”
She nodded to Garcia, and the soldier walked Burke toward the bus, making him struggle up the stairs in his heavy chains. The rest of the men followed, leaving Jessie and Fiona standing alone by the RV door.
She glanced over her shoulder to the yard where they’d buried Paul. She grinned sadly and breathed a shaky sigh. Then she helped the girl up, climbed aboard the sleek black RV, and shut the door behind her.
*
Lexi watched the bullet-shaped vehicle pull down the driveway and into the close tunnel of trees.
They’d been ordered by Burke to park the vehicle in front of the home, exit the bus, and walk a respectable distance into the yard without being searched. Not that she would have allowed them to touch her. She had her limits. She figured Bryant must have guessed that.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with this,” Pauline frowned as she looked on. “I’m still recovering from my chest wound.”
Lexi glanced at the woman where she hung between her crutches looking frail. The portly driver stood there sweating in the sun. Neither had been helpful in the attack on the house. They couldn’t shoot or move very well. Their contribution had been to remain in the trees and make noise with a pair of pistols while Lexi attempted to snipe one of the soldiers.
But Bryant was a clever man and hadn’t given her a single good opportunity. And then Burke had got himself caught.
“What are we going to do now?” Pauline shifted on her crutches.
“I say we find a vehicle and follow them,” Charlie replied with a dark look. “I think we all agree that we can’t afford to let Burke die. We’ve all got things at stake here. We can help each other.”
“That’s right.” The blonde nodded vigorously, her eyes moving back and forth between Charlie and Lexi.
“That Jessie woman hit the nail on the head,” Lexi agreed. “She knows we need Burke alive.”
The other two nodded, probably glad they were going to be a team.
“So, I guess we find some transportation.” Charlie looked toward the house.
“We could get a van with some seats or something,” Pauline added, helpfully. She picked at her mask. “Oh, we need to figure out a way to decontaminate ourselves, too. And these stupid masks are going to stink. I hate wearing them.”
Lexi grinned and squared up to them. “No, what I meant to say is that I need Burke alive, and I can’t do it with you two slowing me down or getting in my way.”
She reached back and whipped a pistol from its holster. Then she stuck the barrel against Pauline’s forehead.
“No,” the woman squeaked before the bullet ripped through her brain pan. Her body fell into the grass with a sigh.
Charlie was already sprinting away, legs pumping like mad. He was faster than she expected, though she supposed running for one’s life infused gusto into the act.
Lexi took aim with both hands on the grip and fired two quick shots to his spine and the back of his neck. The driver tumbled forward and pitched face-first in the grass.
Lexi holstered her weapon and walked toward the house to see if the old man’s van was worth driving.
SPORE Book 5
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Spore Series | Book 4 | Exist Page 34