Plagued (Book 1): The Girl Who Chased The Shadows

by Scott, Garrison

  Skyler looked over at Jack. “I guess the upper roadway it is.”

  Jack nodded as he studied the bridge. The trusses looked charred in places, bent and twisted in others. From their position he could see that there were a fair amount of cars left on the upper level. He wondered if at least one would be in good enough shape to drive them out of the city.

  He looked behind them. “Sun will be up soon.” He leaned over the shopping cart and shook Alissa gently on the shoulder.

  “’Lissa.”

  The little girl awoke with a yawn and a stretch. She looked around to get her bearings as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. At the sight of the Queensboro Bridge her eyes widened.

  “Are we going over that bridge?”

  Jack nodded. “Yup. It’s time to cover up though.”

  “Not again,” she whined.

  “Yes, again.” He stretched his arms out to her to pick her up and out of the cart. He set her gently on the ground and grabbed his backpack to get her outfit together.

  Skyler grabbed her rucksack out of the cart and fished for her clothes as she continued her conversation with Jack.

  “It’s not the sun I’m worried about.” Skyler warned. “I don’t think Gregger and his friends are anomalies.”

  Alissa looked at Skyler confused and then turned back to Jack. “What’s a nomaly?”

  “Something that’s different.”

  Alissa pointed to herself and Skyler. “Are we nomalies?”

  Jack smiled and pulled her gator over her head. “I guess you could say that.”

  He looked back up at Skyler. “You think there’s going to be a problem?”

  Skyler sighed. “Yeah. I do. Welcome to the new normal.” She tightened her bandanna around her face and slid her sunglasses over her eyes. She picked up her rucksacks slinging one over her shoulder and grabbing the other by its hanging loop. “Everybody ready?”

  Without waiting for an answer she headed up the on-ramp and toward the bridge’s entrance.

  The bridge was a mess of debris and overturned cars. Although the trip across the span was just a tad bit over a half mile, there was no way for them to gauge how long the trip may actually take. Weaving between overturned and twisted cars was not their biggest problem. Avoiding the sun and sticking to the shadows with a 4 year old girl in tow was going to prove tough.

  Skyler stopped in front of a crudely home made poster that had been spray-glued to one of the support beams making up the nearest truss. Jack came up behind her to have a look.

  NYC 9:00PM CURFEW

  ALL VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT.

  ALL FREAKS WILL BE SHOT 24/7.

  Alissa was happily chatting at Buddy when she noticed the two had stopped. She walked up in between them and looked at the poster.

  “What’s it say, Jack?”

  “Umm, it says there’s a 9 PM curfew.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I guess they just want people in their houses at 9 o’clock, probably for safety, since there aren’t many lights on.”

  Alissa seemed satisfied with his answer. He didn’t like lying and he was pretty terrible at it, but he didn’t think there was any reason to scare the girl any further.

  The sound of gunshots on the bridge changed their focus from the poster. Alissa and Jack both turned toward Skyler for guidance.

  Skyler looked at Alissa and placed her index finger against her lips and mouthed “Shhhhh.” Alissa mirrored the gesture and nodded to show that she understood. Skyler got down low and directed them to follow her closely. As they settled behind a large SUV more gunshots rang out, followed by shouting. Whatever the situation was, it was moving closer to their location.

  From their vantage point, they could see that two armed goons were chasing a middle aged woman on the roadway. She was being very careful to avoid any and all rays of early morning sunlight that were crisscrossing the bridge.

  They watched on as the woman weaved in and out of the vehicles trying to lose her pursuers.

  She ran out of steam and doubled over in the roadway in right front of the group’s hiding spot. Her hands rested on the top of her thighs as she tried to catch her breath.

  She looked up and briefly locked eyes with Skyler before catching sight of little Alissa, dressed head to toe, hiding behind her. She quickly looked away and made no move to acknowledge the group.

  “There she is, by the SUV!” The armed men had made their way to less than a hundred yards away from the woman.

  “We wore her out!” The second gunmen laughed. “Hey bitch, stand still so we can shoot you.”

  The woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She crossed her her chest in the sign of the cross and ran toward the south side of the bridge, away from Skyler and the group.

  Knowing what was coming next, Jack immediately put his hands over Alissa’s eyes.

  The woman did not slow down as she reached the south side of the Queensboro. Instead she leaped onto the truss and without pausing dived off of it. Before she was out of Skyler and Jack’s view she had caught fire and turned to dust in the morning sun.

  The armed goons ran to the side of the bridge and watched as the woman’s clothes drifted downward, three hundred and fifty feet below, scattering over the East River.

  “Wooooo!” Goon number One. “Did you see that shit?”

  Goon number Two nodded and smiled. “Ashed out before she even hit the water. Still a win for us though.”

  “Sure is.” Goon One took out a walkie talkie and spoke into it. “Base, the 59th Street Bridge is now clear.”

  With a crackle and a bit of static he got an answer from Base.

  “10-4 good work, boys. Get back to your posts.”

  The goons headed back toward the NYC side of the bridge.

  Skyler gave a sigh of relief once they were out of sight.

  “Wow.”

  Jack agreed. “Yeah, things are going to be rough.”

  They all stood up, careful to position themselves in a way that they couldn’t be seen by the goons. As they were gathering their packs and getting ready to resume their journey across the bridge Alissa tugged on Jack’s sleeve.

  “Jack?”

  “Yes ‘Lissa?”

  Alissa pointed at the SUV they had been using as cover. It was the Land Cruiser they had left the airport in. The one Gregger had taken from the CVS. Next to it was a Hummer with LOL MPG license plates.

  “Good eye, again, ‘Lissa!”

  The little girl beamed with pride. She was helping.

  Skyler walked to the front of the vehicle. “Looks like the Doms and Gregger found each other.”

  She walked to the driver’s side window of the Land Cruiser. The interior was covered in blood. “Did you have anything in here you needed?” she asked Jack.

  “No I always kept our pack with us.”

  Alissa whispered, “Señor Fluffy Pants.”

  “What?” Skyler whispered back, confused.

  Jack filled Skyler in. “When we got out of the Land Cruiser, Alissa was so excited to see Buddy, she left her stuffed animal behind.”

  Alissa whispered again. “Señor Fluffy Pants.”

  Skyler looked through the Land Cruiser’s windows to see if she spotted the little girl’s toy. Sure enough it was on the floor in front of the passengers’ seat. It was just about the only thing that didn’t have Gregger’s blood all over it. She carefully opened the passenger side door and extracted the target. She handed it over to Alissa who smiled and hugged it tightly.

  Skyler left the Land Cruiser and moved over to the Hummer. There were empty beer cans visible everywhere. “Let’s see if they left anything useful behind.” Skyler glanced around the area to make sure they hadn’t been spotted. Once satisfied that they were not being watched, she quietly opened the driver’s side door of Gregger’s SUV.

  She rummaged for anything useful in the vehicle. She found nothing in the center console and his glove box was locked. Next she stuck her hand
under the driver’s seat. Bingo! She came out with a small baggy of white pills. There was a handwritten label on the bag: Rohypnol.

  “Oh Gregger, why am I not surprised?” she wondered out loud. She held up the baggy for Jack to see.

  “What’s that?”

  “Rohypnol.”

  “What’s that for?”

  “Rape. These are roofies. Next level douchebag shit.”

  Skyler shoved the baggy into the small watch pocket of her jeans.

  “We need to be careful. There seem to be a lot more of them out there than us.”

  Skyler crouched down low and rummaged through one of her rucksacks. Out of it she pulled out one of the walkie-talkies — No! Combat radios! — her grandfather had acquired for them. She turned it on and started flipping through channels until she found the one the goons were using. After a few minor adjustments they could hear their conversation clearly.

  Whoever was manning the controls at base command was barking out a location to someone. “— in the vicinity of 57th and 11th. Proceed with caution.”

  She lowered the volume and hooked the radio to her waistband.

  Alissa pointed to the radio. “What’s that for?”

  Reaching into her rucksack again Skyler answered, “It’s to help us avoid the bad guys.” This time she pulled out a silencer. She affixed it to the barrel of her Ruger. She held up the gun for them both to see. “And if we can’t avoid them, we eliminate them. Now stay close.”

  Leading a group across the bridge while avoiding detection and the sun was a difficult task. Doing it while you had a toddler and a dog in your group was damn near impossible. Still, the mission was playing out successfully. They moved slowly and stopped often to listen in on the radio conversations.

  Ninety minutes and nearly a half a mile later, the entrance to NYC was within their sights. The two armed goons from earlier were the only thing standing between the group and the entrance to the city.

  From their current hiding place Skyler looked up and studied the bridge.

  With his eye on the goons Jack leaned in and whispered. “What’s the plan?”

  Skyler continued to study the structure of the bridge, taking notice of the beams that made up the trusses and the thick steel cable that hung parallel along side it. Two weeks ago that cable was attached to several cable cars, they were the best way to get to and from Roosevelt Island, which sat in the river between Queens and New York City. Her mind raced as she formulated a plan. An insane and dangerous plan, but a plan none the less.

  Finally she shifted her gaze from the bridge and looked at Jack. She answered him with a question of her own. “How well do you know the city?”

  “I was going to CUNY up in Harlem while living down in Tribeca. So, everything in between I know pretty well.”

  Skyler nodded. “Good.” She looked around to make sure they were still undetected. Satisfied that they were she reached for one of the rucksacks. She unzipped it quietly and looked into its cavernous opening. After a few seconds she found what she was looking for and took it out of the bag.

  “Here. Take this.” She handed Jack the matching combat radio that had belonged to her grandfather. “The only way we all get off of this bridge alive is if we split up —”

  “Wait wait wait.” Jack’s whisper had a touch of panic in it. “Why don’t you just shoot them? Aren’t you all getting hungry?”

  Skyler shook her head and jerked her head toward the end of the bridge. “Watch them closely.” She took her radio from her waistband and turned the volume up slightly.

  One of the two goons was speaking into his walkie talkie.

  “We’ve sure been busy this morning, Base Command. Heh heh.”

  A quick crackle and a short burst of static was followed by the voice of whoever was in charge back at the base. “You’re doing good work son. You all are ... The sooner we rid this city of those murderous cannibal mongrel freaks the better. Alrighty, let’s get a grid check — “

  One by one units across the city started checking in.

  “You hear that? They’re doing a grid check every few minutes. We don’t have time to dine and dash. Best way to do this is for me to distract them, while you guys make your getaway.”

  Jack hated the idea of splitting up. There was safety in numbers, right? Who are you kidding? If he was being completely honest with himself he wasn’t sure he could get to safety without her.

  He knew she was sacrificing so much by creating a distraction to save them. This wasn’t the time to whine, as much as he’d love to. “Ok. Where should we go?”

  “Head uptown. Stay in the shade and try to keep her from covering up too much. It gives her away and I’m not sure how many people are friendly to our condition here.”

  Alissa whispered to Skyler. “Where are you going?”

  “Don’t worry about me, I’ll lose them and catch up with you as soon as I can.”

  “How will you find us?” Jack asked.

  Skyler nodded toward the combat radio. “After you’re off the bridge and you know you haven’t been spotted turn the radio to channel 897.”

  “897? Is there any significance to that channel?

  “Absolutely none. It’s better that way.” She said, echoing her grandfather’s answer to that same question from her, not so long ago.

  “Can they hear us like we can hear them?”

  Skyler shook her head. “Not likely.” She nodded toward the combat radio Jack was holding. “These are government issue, way more channels than civilian or local law enforcement models. Longer range too.”

  Jack looked over the radio. “Ok then. Good to know.”

  Skyler nodded with a smile and began digging around in her rucksack once again. This time she pulled out a compact and the jagged piece of the broken mirror she grabbed from the CVS bathroom. She handed the mirror to Jack. “Hold that up for me please.” It was more of an order than a request but he was getting used to her way of doing things.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He answered with a grin.

  She scowled at him, but said nothing. She opened the compact and began to dab some foundation powder around her nose. She still had the makeup on her face from the night before, but was in need of a touch up. Alissa watched Skyler in silence, fascinated.

  As she perfected her makeup with a dab here and a dab there, Skyler continued to speak to Jack. “I’ll check in once I’m clear. Got it, Jack?”

  “Got it —,” he began, and then winced. “You know, you’ve never told me your name.”

  She shook her head slightly and briefly closed her eyes. Did I never introduce myself? Geez, I really am the worst. She opened her eyes and offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. I’m Skyler Campbell, and it’s been my pleasure to meet you.”

  She gave herself the once over in the mirror a final time. Satisfied she closed the compact and took the mirror from Jack. Both went back into the bowels of her rucksack. She reached back into her waistband and checked for the Ruger. Right where I left it.

  She handed both rucksacks to Jack.”You take these, I’m going to have my hands full for a bit.”

  “No problem.”

  “Now, you three stay low and stick to the trusses. As soon as I engage them, move quickly,” she looked at Alissa, “and quietly off of this bridge. Now let’s roll.”

  Without another word she left the group and headed toward the left most lane, putting as much distance between her and her travel companions as possible. She was careful to stay in the shadows, but equally careful not to make it look obvious she was doing so.

  After a few steps the goons still hadn’t noticed her. She needed their focus and attention squarely on her.

  “Hello boys!”

  The goons looked up. Immediately Goon #1 reached for his walkie talkie.

  Goon #2 whistled and called out to Skyler. “Well well well what do we have here?”

  Skyler put on her best beauty pageant smile. “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy,
asking him to let her into the city.”

  Goon #2 laughed. “Funny. Why don’t you come a little closer so we can get a better look at you.”

  “I’d rather just pay the toll,” she answered.

  Goon #1 had been watching the exchange with his finger hovering over the call button on his radio. People had been trickling into the city via the bridge over the last few days. Most of them were disheveled, none of them were smiling. He pressed the call button. “Base Command, we’ve got someone trying to come into the city at Queensboro.”

  His radio crackled and then the response. “One of them or a civilian?”

  He looked Skyler up and down. “From the looks of her, she seems to be civilian, but -”

  “But what, son?”

  “I don’t know. She’s smiling. Something’s off with her.”

  “Aww, what’s the matter. No one has ever been happy to see you before?” Skyler was thrilled this was taking so long. She dared not look to see how her friends were faring, but she hoped they were making good time off the bridge.

  Goon #1 didn’t appreciate her sense of humor nearly as much as Goon #2 did. “Shut up.”

  His radio crackled again. “Description?”

  Goon #2 couldn’t resist, “Hot.”

  Goon #1 ignored him. “Sir, she’s a blonde female, maybe 20? Looks like she has her dog with her.”

  What the hell? Skyler spun around on her heels. There was Buddy, sitting just a few feet behind her. His tail thumping happily on the road now that she noticed him. Skyler rolled her eyes and turned back toward the goons still smiling.

  “A dog? What kind of dog?” The voice back at base demanded.

  Goon #1 took a long look at Buddy.

  “Looks to be a white pit bull, sir.”

  Under her breath Skyler swore. “Shit.”

  The voice on the other side of the radio shouted urgently. “Apprehend this individual now! Use extreme caution. Back up is on the way.”

  Here we go, she said to herself and in a flash Skyler had ducked and rolled behind the nearest vehicle, avoiding the gunfire coming from the goons.

  From her location she was finally able to check on Jack and Alissa’s progress. They were making their way at a good pace and were unnoticed by the goons. Good. She turned to Buddy. “Get out of here Buddy. Go get ‘Lissa, go on now.” She popped her head over the side of the vehicle, giving the goons something to shoot at so they would ignore the dog. It worked.