Marlin’s smile expanded as he had visions of what he was going to do to the unknown woman. He raced up the stairs and stopped.
Frank walked up the stairs slowly, skeptical of what they’d find.
Marlin looked down the hall and saw Tess’s legs and then a pile of pillows on the bloodstained mattress.
“I’m coming, sweetheart,” Marlin said as he headed towards her.
Frank stopped a few steps shy of the top but enough to look down the hallway; he had a good view underneath the bed. His eyes widened when he saw Devin’s knees and feet.
“Marlin, stop. It’s an ambush!” Frank screamed.
“Shoot ’em,” Tess cried out.
Devin pulled the trigger, and like the day before, it didn’t move. He hadn’t thought about asking Tess how the shotgun worked, and this neglect now risked everything.
Seeing Devin struggle, Tess sprang from the bed and into the open doorway. There in front of her was the same man who had shot her two days before.
“Hi, Marlin, remember me?” she asked as she raised her pistol, a Glock 17, and squeezed off a round.
Marlin didn’t have time to respond, and the grin he had been wearing was wiped away by the 9mm bullet as it ripped through his face and exited the back of his head. His head snapped back as he fell straight to the floor.
Frank looked right at Tess, but instead of engaging her, he ducked down on the stairs, his heart racing. He didn’t know how many people were upstairs, and the best plan, he thought, was to make a run for it.
Devin was in shock at what he saw; he had never seen someone act so deliberately and harshly like Tess had.
Not wasting a moment, Tess raced towards the stairs with the pistol out in front of her.
Frank knew he had to run, and run he did. He jumped and hit the bottom of the stairs with a loud thump. The force of his impact forced him into the wall, but he regained his footing and bolted for the door.
Tess was in hot pursuit with Brando right behind her.
Frank ran through the back door and jumped over the railing of the porch, headed back towards the road.
Tess was trying to keep up, but Frank was running too fast for her. She saw he now had a radio in his hand. She knew what that meant; soon more marauders would be upon them. With that knowledge and her inability to stop Frank, she went back inside.
Brando broke from her and began to pursue.
“Brando, no, heel.”
Obeying her command, he stopped, his hair raised, but his pursuit at an end.
“Come, boy, we have to leave!” she called out to Brando.
Back inside the house she found Devin at the bottom of the stairs, shotgun still in his hand.
“You really need to learn how to use that thing,” she snapped at him as she picked up her pack and put it on.
“You’re leaving?”
“You will too, if you’re smart. They’ll be coming back, and it won’t be just two guys but a small army.”
Devin was in a panic as he didn’t know what to do. He was sure she was right, but he wasn’t mentally prepared to flee. “Can I come with you?”
“Sure, but grab some stuff and quick!”
Devin remembered there was a pack in the barn and went for it. He returned in a couple minutes and began to stuff it with food and a few bottles of water.
“We gotta go now!” she screamed, looking at her watch.
Just then the rumble of vehicles could be heard on the road just down from the driveway entrance.
She yelled, “Now, come on!” With her pack on, rifle at the ready, she kicked the screen door open. Brando ran out first, and she followed.
Devin hadn’t fully put on the pack, but it didn’t stop him. With it slung over one arm and the shotgun in his other hand, he darted out behind her.
Tess maneuvered through the baling wire on the back steps and ran towards the cornfields behind the barn.
Devin heard the voices of men screaming and throttled motorcycles and trucks now at the front of the house. He knew they were close and what would happen if they were caught. With his heart racing, he sprinted for the cornfield. He looked up and saw Tess disappear into the thick dead stalks. He made a mental note not to lose track of her.
Just as he hit the field’s edge, he heard the sound of breaking glass and then a small explosion coming from the house. He never stopped to look back at the house and barn that had provided him shelter for those long six months. Now he was running for his life from an enemy who, as of twenty minutes ago, he never knew existed.
Denver International Airport
Lori only knew it was morning from the clock on her nightstand and the watch on her wrist; otherwise there was no sign of what time of day it was. Her quarters and the drafting room she’d toured the night before were two levels below ground.
Living close to Denver meant she had been through Denver International Airport countless times, but the airport she saw last night didn’t resemble the one she had known before. The first word that came to mind last night upon seeing it was ‘fortress’. The airport’s perimeter looked more like a prison, with several rows of twenty-foot chain-link fence and manned towers every few hundred feet. The entrance was fortified and manned heavily. Tanks and other armored vehicles sat positioned, their guns facing out, ready to stop anybody not cleared.
Seeing this shocked her at first, but after reflection it made sense to protect what vital interests the government had here.
Inside, the runways were now occupied with countless military aircraft and support equipment. People were buzzing around in a flurry of activity, loading and unloading, refueling, and maintaining aircraft. From the looks of it, the airport was now a major hub in the reconstruction and recovery efforts.
Once inside, she was escorted through the main terminal, which was familiar minus the frenzy of civilian travelers and the smell of Cinnabon. Then she came to the elevator that took her two levels down to what was now her temporary home and workplace.
She hadn’t had a chance to meet her new colleagues, but she was ready and anxious to start. Lori did a final check in the mirror, grabbed her handbag, and exited her quarters. As she walked the wide concrete passageways, she felt empty-handed. If this was an appointment with a new client, she would have come equipped with her briefcase, iPad and leather-bound legal notepad. All of her business accessories were left behind after she and her family abandoned their house for Camp 13.
In no time she reached the double steel doors that would be her new place of work.
“Here it is, room C-23,” she said to herself as she reached for the door handle.
The door suddenly opened, startling her.
“Oh, hi, you must be Lori Roberts?” the man standing in front of her said, holding out his hand.
Lori looked at him, then his outstretched hand; it had become second nature not to shake hands, much less make contact with people, since The Death.
The man noticed her hesitance and laughed. “I can assure you. I’m not contagious, and we all know you’re immune.”
“Of course.” Lori chuckled nervously as she took his hand and shook it. “Hi, Lori Roberts, and you’re?”
“I’m Chance Montgomery, the project leader and your supervisor,” he answered. Chance was in his early forties, lean and average height. His dark brown hair had a dusting of gray throughout.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Come on in. Find a place to put your stuff, and I’ll meet you in the conference room. There are two others in there. I’ll be right back.”
Lori walked in and went directly into the conference room. There she found two people, a young man and an older woman.
“Hi, I’m Lori Roberts,” she said, giving a little wave.
“Hi, Lori, I’m Maggie,” the woman responded. She was in her early fifties, with perfect skin and blonde hair cut short.
“Lori, I’m Brad,” the man said, standing and offering his hand. He was in his thirties, short and chubby.
After exchanging greetings, Lori took a seat.
“So, this is all very interesting,” Brad said.
“Yes, it is,” Lori answered.
“I’m from California; what about you?” Maggie said.
“California, wow, all the way for this?” Lori asked, surprised.
“They brought me in from Texas,” Brad offered.
“I guess I had it easy, I’m from here,” Lori mentioned.
“Denver?” Maggie asked.
“Just outside of it, a small town—”
The door to the conference room opened up, and in walked Chance. “Okay, people, sounds like you got an opportunity to meet. How about we plan a city!”
Decatur, Illinois
Devin didn’t know how long he ran; the fields seemed endless or time slowed down, either way he ran and ran. The only thing that stopped him was seeing the open expanse in front of him. Standing on the edge of the massive field, he looked at the empty highway. Looking both ways, he saw nothing. Months before this was a busy interstate highway; now it was a lonely road. The cracks in the pavement were showing the lack of use as tiny blades of grass grew in between them. It didn’t take long for Mother Nature to reclaim what was hers.
Hiding a few feet from the edge of the dead cornfield, he plotted his next step. He had lost contact with Tess and Brando right from the start. He thought, should he wait or keep going, and if he kept going, where would he go? Decisions, he hated having to make them. He wanted desperately to find Tess; she was capable and smart, or at least that was his impression. Being alone now without a place to lay his head stressed him and created uncertainty; he hated uncertainty.
He looked at his watch, and then muttered, “Wait thirty minutes, then make for the other side and keep going.”
His doubts took over as he asked himself, Keep going where?
“Tess, where are you?” he asked under his breath.
As the minutes ticked down closer to his self-imposed deadline, he readied himself to make a run for it across the highway and into another huge dead cornfield.
He stood, looked for a clear and easy path towards his goal, and positioned himself right on the edge.
“Psst! Hey, get back!” Tess whispered loudly from behind him.
He spun around but didn’t see her.
“Back away from the edge and get down, now!” she demanded.
He did as she said and just in time; not twenty seconds later a small convoy of trucks and cars came down the road. He carefully watched them go by and saw a familiar face: the man who had gotten away. Seeing this man made his stomach turn. Once again Tess had saved him.
When the convoy passed and was out of sight, Tess crawled out of her hiding place and came up to him. “You seriously didn’t hear them?”
“No, I didn’t, I swear.”
“I heard the loud exhaust on their trucks a mile back,” Tess said.
“I guess I have to thank you again for saving my life.”
“You owe me again, it looks like. By the way, I do keep tabs,” she joked.
“Where’s Brando?” Devin asked.
Tess whistled twice.
Brando burst out of the corn next to him and ran up to Tess’s side.
“Was he just sitting back there?”
“Yes, like I said, he’s like a human but one that listens . That just might make him better than human,” Tess said as she greeted Brando by rubbing his fur.
“Your side, it’s bleeding,” Devin said, motioning towards the fresh bloodstain at the bottom of her shirt.
“Yeah, I know, the damn wound opened up again; the full-out sprinting wasn’t any help,” Tess said, acknowledging the fresh blood.
“Let’s get it bandaged up.”
“No time, let’s cross over and keep moving. We need to get as far away from these guys as possible.”
“Where are we going?”
“To start, across the highway; from there, southeast, with our final destination being North Carolina.”
Devin thought for a moment. Going to North Carolina seemed daunting, but he had no place to call home, and Tess was the only person he had met in months.
Tess and Brando walked to the edge and paused to listen. She looked both ways, and after taking a few deep breaths, she took off in a sprint across the four-lane highway.
Devin watched her and Brando race across the open space and knew that any chance at surviving this new world was with her and the almost-human dog Brando. With this acceptance firmly planted in his head, he burst out of the field and tore after them.
Denver International Airport
If Chance Montgomery was anything, it was boring. He droned on for almost an hour about the responsibilities the team had been given.
“Great, so does anyone have any questions?” Chance said, finishing his diatribe.
Lori shook herself and sat straight in her chair. She glanced at the others and noticed they too were fighting back sleep.
“Lori, any questions?” Chance asked.
“Um, yeah, I do; this sounds more like we’re urban planning an entire city. What I didn’t hear was this being the expansion of Camp Sierra.”
“Who called it Camp Sierra? We’re working on Arcadia.”
The three at the table looked at each other, confused.
“What’s Arcadia?” Brad asked.
“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s get down to brass tacks. We have a long job ahead of us if we’re to break ground in a month, and we need a plan that can be approved. That’s what we need to focus on,” Chance said in an upbeat tone.
When he mentioned two months, Lori’s heart sank. She didn’t want to be away from her family that long, but if it meant they had a chance of getting out of Camp 13, she was willing to make that sacrifice.
“So based upon everyone’s specialty, I’ll let you work on your projects independently, but we’ll also work together to make sure it all comes together. Maggie, you will handle the design work to ensure we incorporate all modern sustainable developments into the plan. Focus on roads and transportation; remember, our new city will be car free. Focus on walking paths, trails, creeks and mag train depots. Brad, you’re my civil engineer, my main concern for you to tackle will be the water and sanitation infrastructure. Lori, you will work on designs of all the new governmental buildings as well as the mid-rise residential and commercial market center downtown. Make sure beauty meets function in all the buildings you design. My contribution will be the overall layout of our all new master-planned development. We will give birth to our new home, Arcadia.”
All were blown away by the grand idea, and Lori specifically felt overwhelmed.
“How many buildings, what type? I need more guidance. Where do I start?”
“Glad you asked. You’ll start with the new capital building,” Chance responded and stood up. He walked over to a side table and grabbed a tube and pulled out a rolled-up map and unrolled it on the table in front of them. “This is my first draft of the city. The capital will sit directly in the middle, and everything will emanate from there. Lori, to answer your question, make that your first priority, make it grand and impressive, something that will stand for a millennium.”
“Okay, I’ll get working on that. Do you have a specific size in mind?” Lori asked.
“Ever been to Washington, DC?”
“Yes, long ago.”
“Make it half the size of the Capitol Building there.”
“Got it,” Lori said, taking notes.
“Do we have topographical maps so I can see how the land lays?” Brad asked.
Chance sat for a second and thought about his question, then answered, “I do, but I have something better for you. How about we take a trip?” He pushed his chair out and stood.
Again the other three looked at each other, surprised.
“Grab your stuff. I’ll meet you topside, say in fifteen minutes. We’ll catch a helicopter to the site.”
“Exciti
ng,” Maggie blurted out.
“I’ll see you up there,” Chance said and exited the room.
Lori didn’t know what to think about all of this. What had been pitched to her as an expansion of the mythical Camp Sierra was really the design of an entirely new city. Something like this wouldn’t be considered a big job, not even huge—this was epic. She felt excitement at this opportunity but also felt sad. She knew this would take longer than two months; this could take years. She would not allow that amount of time to go by without seeing her family. But now wasn’t the time to complain, now was the time to work and earn her family a place in this new city. She looked down at the map and bent over to get a closer look; at the bottom corner was the name ‘Arcadia’. Questions began to pop in her head. Why build a new city? Why go through this trouble?
Thoughts then came to her of what she had seen yesterday on the screen. Her fears had been proven to be wrong. Here she was working for the government as they embarked on plans to start something new. Nowhere along her travels yesterday did she encounter anyone out of sorts, and everyone at the DIA was nice and helpful. She filed the thought yesterday as nothing more than letting her imagination run wild. Laughing to herself, she thought she must have been getting camp fever. With a sense of purpose and feeling the most hopeful she had felt in months, she left the room and made her way topside. Today was a new day for her and the beginning of something grand.
Lovington, Illinois
Devin’s clothes were soaked with sweat, and his face, arms and hands now bled from the multitude of tiny cuts and abrasions from the dried dead cornstalks. He had remembered hearing how the Midwest was corn country; now he knew why.
Each road they came upon provided a much-needed break to catch their breath. Now they were on the outskirts of a small town, and they’d need a more detailed plan than the simple one they had perfected crossing small roads or highways.
Taking a seat in the moist dirt, he lowered his head and let the sweat drip off his face and onto the ground. He was amazed he had made it as far as he had. He supposed adrenaline had carried him the distance given the fact he hadn’t worked out in months.
The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 6