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

by Scott, Garrison

  She had only been gone for little more than an hour, but because they were missing Skyler they jumped at every opportunity to contact her — each for their own reasons.

  “Ok, good idea.”

  He reached for his radio.

  Skyler carefully made her way across the northern edge of The Great Lawn, doing her best not to wander too far south into the area where she could see and hear that the majority of the zoo’s former occupants had decided to make their new home. Thank the gods for night vision goggles. Well, the gods and Grampa.

  Through her goggles she marveled at the wildlife around her. A giraffe, a yak and other loose Central Park Zoo animals were grazing together. Further into the Great Lawn she heard animals roaring, grunting and yelping. Further still she could hear the sound of trucks accelerating.

  Her radio was turned down low, she didn’t want to alarm anything big and create a stampede she couldn’t escape from. The static crackle and Jack’s voice were barely audible.

  “Sky?”

  She took the radio from her waistband and whispered, “I’m here. Shouldn’t you guys be resting?”

  “Yeah, but ‘Lissa wants to talk to you, again. Hold on.” Through the radio she heard Jack reminding Alissa how to press the talk button so Skyler could hear her.

  “Hi!” The little girl yelled into the radio.

  Skyler winced at her volume and took a quick look around to see if any of the newer four legged residents of the park took undue notice of her. They didn’t seem to care at all.

  “Hey ‘Lissa.” She kept her voice low.

  “We finished ‘skizing Buddy! He looks so different!”

  “Great job guys. You all have had a long day, maybe best to get some rest now?”

  Back in the apartment, Jack gently took the radio from Alissa.

  “Sky, we don’t mean to bother you so much, we’re sorry.”

  Through his radio’s speaker Skyler answered “It’s ok. I’m going to need to switch channels soon though, I need to know what they’re up to.”

  “Yeah —,” Jack started to agree when gun shots erupted outside the buildings windows. He ran to the window to peek outside.

  A convoy of pick up trucks rolled past their temporary hideout. Some were equipped with spotlights and gun turrets. They were clearly on a serious mission.

  The spotlight in the lead car swung back and forth from one side of the road to the other.

  Skyler’s voice came through his radio. “Curfew?”

  Before he could answer he saw one of the spotlights fixate on a pale figure hiding in a vestibule across the street. Without hesitation the patrol gunned them down and continued rolling up the Avenue.

  “Jack? Are you still there? What’s going on?” There was real concern in her voice.

  Jack had been shocked into silence by the act of brutality he just witnessed.

  “Uh, yeah. I’m here. Sorry.” He took a deep breath and tried to focus. “Yeah. Ok. A lot of trucks loaded with men with guns and spotlights are rolling past here. They just mowed down someone on the street.”

  Back in the park Skyler had scrambled up a nearby boulder when the sound of gunfire got the attention of the grazing herds, causing them to run scared and fast right toward her.

  From her new vantage point she did not have a good view of 5th Avenue. What was left of the Metropolitan Museum of Art along with some very tenacious and tall oak trees were both blocking her line of sight.

  “Which way are they headed Jack?”

  Back in the apartment Jack picked up the binoculars and focused on the convoy.

  “They are heading north on ... Oh shit. No, they’re turning left onto 84th. Sky, they are heading for the park. They’ll be at the entrance in less than a minute.”

  Skyler didn’t bother answering him. She switched off the radio and began running — FAST — trying to put distance between her and the curfew patrol. Skyler glanced over her shoulder to check their progress and saw the headlights and spotlights making their way into the park.

  As she watched the convoy came to a stop just inside the entrance. She ducked behind the remnants of a newspaper kiosk, now just a mangled mess of shelving and steel, to see what the convoy’s next step was. She could be lucky. Maybe they were just checking the entrance and would proceed up Fifth Avenue if everything was all clear.

  The large spotlights began to move slowly, lighting up the park, looking for people who may be disobeying the curfew. The spotlight stopped when its operator found a non-complier. Out of the dense shrubs a man scrambled into the roadway, his head turned to avoid the intensity of the spotlight’s glare, his arms and hands up, as if to surrender. The quick burst of machine gun fire announced to all who could see, the convoy didn’t take prisoners.

  The convoy began rolling again, leaving the dead man’s corpse for the park’s newer residents to fight over. The spotlight resumed its sweeping pan of the park, looking for the next victim.

  Skyler didn’t wait to see what direction they were heading in, or what they’re next move might be. She had seen enough to know exactly what the convoy’s mission was. And if she was going to make it out of this park — this city — she had to run. Hard. She did her best to put as much real estate between herself and the convoy as possible. She was very well acquainted with the layout of Central Park, that and her goggles were the only advantages she had. Another round of machine gun fire followed by the rumble of the convoy accelerating let her know they were gaining ground, despite her best efforts.

  Against her better judgment she turned to see how much ground they had gained. Her goggles were instantly filled with the blinding brightness of the spotlight as it swung in her direction.

  She was spotted, and immediately the convoy fired on her.

  Skyler dived into the dense shrubbery immediately to her right. The branches protested her entry, sharp thorns cut her face and hands as she scrambled through trying to make her escape. She had to fight to pull her rucksack through behind her, wasting precious time as the convoy closed in on her location. She ran to the other side of the volleyball courts and took shelter behind a tree while she tried to decide what to do next.

  Directly to her south was The Great Lawn and its refugees from the zoo. North of her was the roadway the convoy was using. Due west was a baseball field which was open ground and well in range of the spotlight’s beam.

  She scoured the area with her goggles. South and west was her only option. The southern border of the ball field was mostly lined with trees and bushes, if she could stay in the line of trees maybe she could avoid being seen by both man and beast. She hoped the sound of the machine guns and vehicles had driven the wild life on The Great Lawn to travel away from the commotion.

  She kept under cover of the bushes as she made her way out of the volleyball courts and into the basket ball courts just south of them. She could hear the shouts of the militiamen over the sound of their vehicle’s idling engines. That meant they were close. Too close.

  Because it was aimed at the volleyball court, Skyler managed to avoid the spotlight’s glare as she headed south, out of the basketball courts and into the trees that separated them from the roadway that encircled The Great Lawn.

  The shouting had died down and now she could hear the sound of the convoy moving out again. Well, maybe not moving out. More like moving around. She had wanted to believe they had given up on her, but she knew better. She stopped to see if she could catch a glance of what they were doing, but the brush was too thick. That was a good thing though. If she couldn’t see them, she hoped they couldn’t see her.

  She continued west, slowly, carefully watching the ground, avoiding twigs, gravel anything that may give the militia any hint as to her position. She stopped every few steps, assessed her situation, searched for wild animals and scouted ahead. She could hear that the militia had once again stopped moving.

  I guess they’re confident I’m near by. Scouting ahead she saw that there was a large break in the treeli
ne directly south of the baseball field. That was no good. Even worse, the spotlight’s beam was shining brightly out of the clearing.

  As she approached the break in the trees she got a glimpse of the convoy. They had turned off the roadway and were parked in formation on the baseball field. Their spotlight was lighting up the area just south of center field. They had anticipated her next move. The only way to avoid them would be to either double back and sneak behind them, or head further south into the park and risk becoming lion food.

  The loud crackle of a radio stopped her in her tracks.

  “This is Base Command to Curfew Patrol. How you doin’ out there?”

  For her to be able to hear someone else’s radio above the convoy’s idling vehicles meant that the owner was very close. Was she being tracked?

  Skyler turned her head in the direction of the radio’s sound. She adjusted the focus on her night vision goggles. Roughly 20 feet away she saw a pair of feet walk toward her position and stop. Skyler held her breath. Next came the sounds of a zipper being pulled down followed closely by that of a steady stream of urine hitting the ground.

  The radio popped and crackled again.

  “Base Command this is Collins, sir. We caught a few in the park earlier. Currently we have a runner trying to evade the patrol, but we’re confident we’ll be able to track her down.”

  The patrolman had finished relieving himself and zippered back up. He turned and began to walk back towards the convoy.

  Base Command’s voice saying “Her?” was the last thing Skyler was able to hear from his radio as he walked out of earshot.

  A loud and fierce yowl from seemingly right above her head changed everything. Skyler had been so fixated on not revealing her position to the curfew patrol she had focused on looking down, making sure to avoid stepping on or in anything that may give her away.

  Above her in the thick trees a mountain lion had apparently been watching everything.

  Lion food it is, then.

  Luckily for her, she was not its target. Spooked by his radio, or maybe the unintended act of marking his territory, the mountain lion leaped from the tree and landed squarely on the curfew patrolman. He screamed out and the rest of the patrol jumped into action. The spotlight was immediately swung toward his location as members of his team ran to his aid.

  Skyler wasted no time lingering as the scene unfolded. She launched herself forward, running west, hoping no one would notice her as she ran past the clearing.

  Three hundred feet was a long stretch though. 100 yards. An athlete could cover that distance in ten or so seconds. A girl burdened with carrying a rucksack filled with ammunition and other assorted survival goodies might be able to cover it in twenty.

  She almost made it without being spotted. Almost. Halfway through her trip across the clearing, roughly ten seconds in, she heard a gun shot. She rightly assumed they had killed the mountain lion. She knew that some of the men from the patrol would be tending to their comrade, but not all of them.

  Seven seconds after that, the bratatatat of machine gun fire at her feet was proof positive that they’d not only continued their search for her, but they had been successful. The three seconds it took for Skyler to make it to the other side of the treeline seemed like an eternity. But she made it, unscathed.

  She kept running, not taking a second to celebrate this tiny victory. She could hear that the convoy was once again on the move and she was not going to become their victim so easily after all she’d already endured.

  With the convoy closing in fast behind her she raced toward a thicket of pine trees. As she ran she noticed that there was no way the convoy could follow her in their trucks in this area of the park. The pines were planted close together and there were no usable roadways that she could see. They’d either have to drive around, or come after her on foot. Finally she’d caught a bit of a break. She quickly reached the western most edge of the pine trees. Passing right in front of her was the West Drive. A quick look north and she could see the convoy turning onto the roadway from the portion of 85th Street that ran through the park. They were heading her way, their spotlight focused on lighting up the trees, their headlights facing forward.

  She had no choice, she had to cross this road. She sprinted across the roadway. She was immediately spotted by the driver of the vehicle in the front. Gunfire followed as the vehicles sped up. She didn’t care, the rest of the park was thick with dense shrubs and if they followed her on foot they’d have a hard time catching up with her. Turning the large convoy around on that narrow road would also take time. And time was something that would work to her advantage.

  Within a few minutes Skyler had made her way to the edge of the park. Just north of her location and across the street was the entrance to the 86th street subway station. She didn’t hesitate, she ran out of the park, across Central Park West and toward the cement stairway that led down into the tunnels.

  As she reached the subway station machine gun fire rang out. Once again the curfew patrol had found her. She didn’t care, she had manufactured herself a fighting chance and she was going to see to it she survived this night.

  EIGHTEEN

  The murky water that flooded the pitch black subway station smelled horribly. Its putrid stench a combination of stagnant ocean water, garbage and death. She unholstered the Ruger and quickly shoved it into her pack, she didn’t want to risk losing it down here. She took a deep breath and dived into the murky underground river. She hoped the goggles worked as well under water, and she wasn’t disappointed. They took a few seconds to refocus, but when they did, she could see at least five or six feet in front of her. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

  As she came up for air she could hear the commotion of the curfew patrol entering the station behind her. Other than their splashing she also heard gagging and retching echoing throughout the subway tunnel, the militiamen hadn’t been prepared for its condition. Somewhere ahead of her something large bellowed in response to the ruckus at the entrance. It sent a chill through her, but she couldn’t turn back.

  Skyler took a deep breath and dived back in. She headed deeper this time where the water was less murky. Progress was slow. The water was filled with debris, bloated body parts and some escapees from the Zoo’s aquarium. A walrus and a few exotic fish swam idly by as she made her way down the tracks. Other than the animals, she was seeing other unusual things that had no business being in a subway tunnel.

  An old cigarette vending machine sat upright under the water. I didn’t even think those existed anymore, she thought. An overturned golf cart was turned over on its side and leaning against one of the center pillars. She also spotted an old sign for the grand opening of the Aquarium’s Reptile House at the Central Park Zoo. “Crocodiles, Snakes and Lizards! Oh My!” the sign exclaimed.

  After nearly a minute Skyler needed another breath of air and headed for the surface. A few seals swimming fast overhead slowed her ascent. They looked to be in a hurry to get to the entrance and she did not want to get in their way. Probably checking out the commotion, she reasoned. Her lungs were aching by the time the last of them had passed over her. She breached the surface with a loud gasp and filled her lungs with the stagnant stale air of the tunnel. She glanced toward the entrance, checking on the militia’s progress. She had put at least 100 feet in between herself and the curfew patrol. Good.

  She dived back into the water to continue her journey, giving the goggles the few seconds they needed to refocus. This time when they did Skyler found herself face to face with a half dozen large crocodiles swimming directly for her. She was frozen in fear. The seals weren’t swimming toward the commotion, they were swimming away from the crocodiles. There was nothing she was going to be able to do to survive a crocodile attack. She shut her eyes tight and waited for the inevitable.

  Except the inevitable never happened. After a few seconds she opened her eyes only to see that the crocs had swum right past her. The splashing and yelling at th
e front of the station had piqued their interest.

  At the station’s entrance Collins watched on as his men prepared to jumped in the water in pursuit of Skyler.

  “Leave your rifles and radios here with me, they aren’t going to do you much good in that muck.” Nearly half of the team had set down their equipment and dived into the water. When the crocodiles arrived on the scene they were completely defenseless.

  The crocs broke the water’s surface and immediately a feeding frenzy began. The men who had yet to drop their weapons began firing on the ravenous reptiles. Some of the machine guns’ fire found their intended targets, some, however, ricocheted off of the cement walls of the tunnel and took out members of the team.

  “Hold your fire! Hold your fire! Everyone pull back!” Collins shouted and waved his arms wildly, trying desperately to get his men to fall back.

  The patrol team attempted to make their way out of the water, but the crocodiles had other ideas. Splashing and screaming replaced the sounds of gunfire as only a handful of men managed to get out alive.

  Skyler turned her head away from the gruesome scene unfolding at the entrance and focused on the most recent obstacle the subway tunnel gods had thrown her way. In front of her was a pile of subway cars, accordioned and twisted, blocking her way to freedom.

  She knew those crocs were going to run out of food sooner than later and that her second encounter with them would most likely end differently than the first.

  Shit shit shit.

  One of the cars was on its end, nearly perpendicular to the tracks. If she could find a way into it, she could climb up and break through to the other side of the tunnel. Skyler dived back into the water and looked for any openings she thought she may be able to squeeze through. There weren’t many options.

  She spotted a broken window and swam towards it. She quickly went to work kicking out any remaining glass in the frame and then removed the remaining debris that blocked her way from the interior. Her lungs were in agony when she finally had been able to clear a space wide enough for her to swim through. She breached the water’s surface within the train car and gasped for some much needed oxygen, her breathing was so loud she could no longer hear the events happening at the other end of the tunnel. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sweet relief the oxygen filling her lungs provided.