“What do you want?” I holler back.
“Ah, impatient as always I see. Being the gentleman that I am, I thought I’d give you a message before you die.”
“Gentleman? I don’t even know who the fuck you are.”
“Yes, yes, why should you know this one as me? Of course, you’re right. Perhaps I should introduce myself. Though you should be able to place me quickly, you kept me in the bowels of this…place for years.”
“Are you trying to tell me you’re 7B?” I say with a laugh. “You sound like you’re off your rocker like him, but unless you’ve had some vocal surgery recently, I’ll have to call bullshit as you sound nothing like him.”
“THAT’S NOT MY NAME!” The angry shout echoed through the yard as I froze. That was one of the last things 7B had said to me.
“Impossible…” I mutter in the silence as Mitch and I stare at each other. I can see the doubt turning to shock on his face, which I suspect is a mirror of my own expression. Maybe this is a nightmare.
“Now then, let me introduce myself. After all these years I’m sure you’re just dying to know my name. I had almost forgotten it myself, did you know that? Ah, probably not. You don’t strike me as the observant type.” He says, laughing coldly.
That laugh I know, it’s one I’ve heard repeatedly from 7B. I’m definitely in a nightmare. An impossible nightmare, but not waking up. Shit.
“You’re so quiet, my friend! Why so quiet? Ah, you realizing it’s me? Are you scared? Oh, my my, I hope you’re scared. If you aren’t yet you will be soon! Now then, where were we? Oh yes, my name. It’s Tom. Tom Williams.”
Mitch’s shocked gasp catches my attention and I see a look of horror spread across his face that quickly turns to rage.
“Liar! Tom’s dead!”
“Mitch!? Oh, I’m so glad you joined the party, but you’re wrong, brother. I’m very much alive.”
“There’s no way, I’ve been working here for years. I’d have recognized you if you were really Tom. No, Tom died overseas. We buried him.”
“You buried an empty box! And you’d have recognized me? Really? You only saw me a handful of times before I ‘died’.” He pauses, and I shift anxiously in the silence. “This is pointless and boring me.”
“Who is Tom, Mitch?” I ask quietly.
“Destiny’s dead husband.” Mitch’s reply is not what I expected, and things start clicking. His last name, his vague comment before about a ‘she’ telling me who he really is, and why he would take Destiny. Even though he hasn’t confirmed it yet, I know now without a doubt that he has her.
“Where is she, you sick fuck?”
“My wife? Why she’s here with me, of course. Where she belongs.”
“She’s not your wife.”
“Hmm…I don’t remember signing any divorce papers…nope, I’m positive I didn’t.”
“You didn’t have to, you ‘died’, remember? So, she’s NOT your wife.”
“She’s MINE! MY WIFE!” His enraged shout echoes around us and I feel a slight twinge of joy knowing I’ve pissed him off. “I’m done playing with you, I’ll finish what I came to say. Destiny would want you to know before you die that she’s safe and no harm will come to her. I’ll keep her safe.”
“You started the shit that will get her killed, you asshole! And how am I dying, huh? You’re out there and I’m in here.”
“Why, my ‘people’ will do it for me! With a little push, I’ll have them over the wall and slaughtering the whole lot of you. This place will be a silent tomb before noon today!”
“You’d kill your own son that easily?” Mitch cries out in horror, his voice shaky.
“What? What are you talking about?” I can hear his confusion and latch on to it. Somehow, he’s able to be here talking to us without physically being here, so I have to assume that maybe he can get them over the wall. If that happens, we’re all dead, and if this buys us time, I’ll use it.
“You didn’t know? You and Destiny had a son. His name is Chris, he’s here.”
“Chris? I remember…I remember…we had a son?”
“Yes, and if you slaughter the whole lot of us, as you put it, you’ll also slaughter your son.”
“A son…,” He pauses. “No, you’re lying. You’re just trying to save your worthless hides!”
“The kid is funny, smart, thoughtful, and kind. Takes after his mom. So, what do you think losing her son will do to Destiny? Do you think she’ll trust you after you kill her only child? You want to risk it?”
“You’re just trying to confuse me!”
“No, I was there when he was born, Tom. He turns 7 on October 16th.” Mitch’s voice is stronger this time, and his words give Tom pause. The silence hangs heavy in the air for several minutes before I decide to speak again.
“Hey, you still with us?” Silence is my only answer, and I look at Mitch. “Let's just assume he’s doing his due diligence. We need to move on getting everyone out ASAP. I know what I’d do if I found out I had a kid, I’d do whatever it took to see them. And I’m not bat-shit crazy, so I don’t want to be here when he decides to make a move.”
“Okay, but can we talk about this for a sec. Wasn’t he just TALKING to us through someone else and wasn’t even here himself? What shit is that? How was he even doing that? And to top it all off, what the fuck else can he do?”
“I don’t know but let's just assume he can somehow control anyone he’s infected and that’s how he was talking…look, I know this is some freaky shit and a rational person is going to want to try and understand it, work it all out. I get it, but I don’t think we have the luxury to take the time to analyze what’s going on. We need to move, because if he can just ‘tune’ into someone whenever he wants then he can be making his move any second now.”
“True, are we sure everyone here is clean though? I mean, we’re pretty confident he had at least some on the Recovery crew helping him.”
“Yeah, I have a plan for that. Let’s go back in and I’ll tell you it.”
Mitch stares at me with a puzzled expression for a minute before nodding and heading back towards the building. I know my plans probably shit since I’m just throwing it together on the fly, but if it works then Tom will be following me and hopefully leave everyone else alone. I’m positive he wants my blood more than anyone else here, and once he realizes he has a son and that Chris is with me he’ll be hell-bent to find us. It’s what I would do. Time to put my shitty plan into motion. Hopefully, Destiny will forgive me.
~~*~~
Location Unknown
Destiny Williams
The angry look on Tom’s face when he enters the room with a tray of food rattles my nerves again. I had spent most of the time he was gone trying to calm myself down, and the tiny bit of calm I built is ruined in seconds.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my voice squeaking slightly at the end. Tom stops and stares at me and the angry look slowly fades. Maybe he’s realized I’m terrified?
“We need to talk.” He says quietly, bringing the tray to the bed and setting it down. “But…you should eat first, it’s been a while, and you always forget to eat anyways, don’t you? It’s not healthy. So, you eat, then we’ll talk.”
Great, those words did little to settle my nerves. I have no idea what he wants to talk about, and waiting will drive me insane.
“How about I eat while we talk?” I ask before taking a small bite from the buttered toast on the tray. “You know me, so you know what waiting to talk will do.”
Tom stares at me quietly as I take a few more bites of toast before finally nodding in agreement. I can’t get over how cold his eyes are now. Like the life has been snuffed out of him. Maybe he did die and was resurrected somehow and that’s why his eyes are dead? Because his body is here but his soul is gone? Like a vampire or zombie from a movie. For a moment I push the thoughts away, thinking how crazy they are. But then I remember what’s been happening, the infected people who running around killing and m
aiming and those coming back from the dead after being attacked. The world has started to look like something out of a horror movie, so maybe it’s not too far-fetched that Tom died and came back too?
“Is there something you’re not telling me? Something important about you, about us.” Tom’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts and I stare dumbly at him.
“What do you mean?” My mind goes instantly to Alex. How could he know Alex and I slept together, or how I feel about him? For a moment guilt gnaws at me and I feel like a cheating spouse, but then Tom’s eyes fill with the heat of anger again and instead of cowering I feel a spark of anger ignite inside me as well. No, I buried my husband six years ago. I didn’t cheat and I’m not ashamed for moving on.
“Our SON, Destiny. We have a son!?” Tom’s words aren’t what I expected, and it takes a minute for me to fully realize he isn’t talking about Alex.
“Yes.” Is the only word I can get out, my brain is still trying to process why this news is making him angry.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why would you keep this from me? A son, my son!” His words snap something inside me, and my anger pours out.
“Are you serious? When was I supposed to tell you this? When you had me tied to a bed and injected me with god knows what? Or how about when I was unconscious and being taken wherever this is? Oh, or better yet, how about when I thought you were DEAD for six years? Please, tell me when in all of that was I supposed to tell you about Chris?”
“That wasn’t my choice, they did this!” Tom stands up and quickly begins pacing around, gesturing wildly as he speaks. “They took me from you, from our son. No choice! No choice!”
“Tom, please, calm down. What are you talking about?” As Tom’s voice raises and his gesturing becomes wilder my anger burns out and is replaced by terror.
“Calm down? HA! They STOLE my life, made me this thing, stole my son from me! Calm? No, this doesn’t warrant calm.” Tom stops pacing and turns towards me, an evil grin spreading across his face. “This warrants blood. I’ve waited long enough, I’ll destroy everyone who took something from me, from us!”
“What are you going to do?” I ask, terrified I may already know the answer.
“Peyton Industries will BURN. And Site 1 will be where it all starts.” Tom says as he turns towards the door to leave.
“No, you can’t! What about Chris? He’s there!”
“Chris? Oh no, you don’t care about our son, do you? You left him there in that hell hole, didn’t you? Came here keeping your secrets from me, your husband, and abandoned our son!” Tom’s insane glare when he turns back has me cowering back against the pillows.
“You brought me here, against my will. I didn’t choose to come here!”
“Liar! You asked to come, you wanted to come. ‘I wish we could just escape into the snowy mountains somewhere and escape from all the crap in the world.’ That’s what you wanted, that’s what you asked! I gave it to you, I did everything for you, gave you all you ever asked for and wanted, and you give me nothing but secrets and lies.”
“What are you talking about?” Slowly realization hits me, and I remember a conversation we had a year into our marriage before he was deployed again. I had said almost exactly that after the news played a story about a shooting at an elementary school. They had reported 48 dead, 31 of which had been children between the ages of 5 and 9. The story had made me sick, and it was one of the last times I watched the news in my house. I remember what else I said too, in the heat of that moment. If he remembered what I said about escaping, did he remember the rest? “Tom…what have you done?”
“Don’t you see? Everything you wanted! The world will be ours. There will be no more needless death, no more rioting in the streets, no more global warming or wasting resources. We’ll be like Adam and Eve, it’ll be perfect.”
“Jesus, Tom, you started this…this…SHIT going on in the world right now?”
“Yes.” Tom looks so proud, but his answer fills me with disgust.
“I never wanted anything like this! You have to stop it, Tom. Stop doing this, the people out there dying don’t deserve it!”
“No, no, you want this! I know you do!” Tom shouts as he storms back to the bed and looms over me. “Why are you lying? Why are you fighting me?... It’s him, isn’t it? Isn’t it!?” Tom bellows as he flings the tray off the bed and it slams into the wall next to the bathroom door. “Don’t think I forgot you called out for him the last time I came to you in your sleep. Were you with him? Did he…did he touch you?” Tom’s hand hovers near my cheek. “Did he kiss you?” His hand moves over my mouth and I have to swallow the bile that comes up at the thought of his touching or kissing me. Tom’s hand slowly drops to his side as he stares at me. “He’s tricked you, hasn’t he? Yes, that explains it. That’s the only reason why. Some mind game, or some drug. Of course! You’ll be free when he’s gone, just like I’ll be free when they are all gone. Yes, I think it’s time.”
Though the calm that’s now settled over Tom is more terrifying than the outburst from before, it doesn’t even come close the fear building in me at his comment about my dream and the realization that somehow, he was there, in my mind.
“Don’t cry baby, it’ll be okay. I’m going to make everything right.” Tom slowly brushes his thumb across my cheek, wiping a tear away that I had not realized was there, before standing straight and heading out the door.
As the door clicked softly shut behind him, I feel the tears start to fall down my cheeks again in earnest. Somewhere in the fear and turmoil of my mind had been a tiny spark of hope and joy that we had Tom back, that Chris would actually get to know his father instead of only know of him. I hadn’t thought about us being together again, not as man as wife, but maybe as friends. But now, that spark was dead and turned to ash. It drifted away on the force of his insanity.
No, that wasn’t my husband Tom. That Tom was dead. The Tom here now was nothing but hatred and darkness. And I knew only one thing with certainty now, that to protect everyone I loved Tom would have to die. Was I strong enough to do it?
Chapter Twelve
Peyton Industries, Site 1: Ortega Mountains
Alex Peyton
“Okay buddy, you keep your head down until I say so and keep the goggles on, got it?” I look down at Chris where he’s crouching in front of the passenger seat of the SUV. It was Mitch’s idea to use the VR goggles, and one of our techs did a quick and dirty setup with the VR goggles and the Blu-ray system so Chris could be watching a movie and be totally oblivious to everything outside the SUV. I know Destiny wouldn’t forgive me if Chris saw me running down people with my truck. Hell, I wouldn’t forgive me for exposing a kid to that shit.
“Yea. We’re going to find my mom after, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Good.”
“You know who took her, right?”
“Yea. Uncle Mitch said my dad took her, and that he’s sick and not like he was before.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think…I think he needs to go to the hospital and let my mom go, so she doesn’t get sick too.”
“That’s very smart thinking, buddy.”
Chris beams up at me proudly as my phone chirps, letting me know everyone is in place and ready to go.
“Alright, it’s go time, buddy. You ready?”
“Yea!”
Chris pulled the goggles down and I turned on the movie before messaging Mitch back that we’re ready. The plan was simple, we let it ‘leak’ to everyone in Recovery that I was taking Chris by myself in this SUV. I’d even made sure to pick the only white SUV here, so we’d stand out like a sore thumb. That way anyone in 7B’s pocket would keep their eyes on me and would see me turn right on the way out instead of left like everyone else. What we didn’t share was the part Mitch was in charge of, which was organizing everyone else down into the tunnel addition I had added to the plans. The tunnels would take them into a cave system on the souther
n edge of Lake Elsinore. The cave opened up onto a little farm my company secretly owned. About 100 feet into the cave I had walled up and put a hidden door in.
I remember everyone ragging on me for my paranoia back when it was being built, but hell, that paranoia was definitely working in our favor now.
The road was still open with one guy standing in it, which was causing some tension. Mitch figured it was a trap, but I figured since the running idea was that 7B could control the infected that they hadn’t received any new orders from the top and were too mindless now to do anything on their own. In fact, I was banking it all on this not being a trap and that only the Recovery team had people working for 7B, but just in case it was a trap out there I wasn’t the first one pulling out. There were four Recovery trucks in front of me, one behind, a line of vehicles, and another four Recovery trucks taking up the rear. The vehicles in between were decoys, filled with volunteers from the rest of my staff. They were playing the part of ‘guests’ and Recovery was told that everyone else was staying, too afraid to leave.
My phone chimed again, another message from Mitch.
Gates opening now. You’ll have 5 minutes to clear it before it closes again. Good luck!
Smiling, I put my car in gear and wait for the vehicles in front of me to move. It’s only a few moments before the brake lights in front of my go off and the vehicle launches forward. I quickly slam on the gas and shoot out after them, as I pass through the gate, I see the rows of infected that are surrounding the site and I force myself to look away before the horror of them overwhelms me. They look just like zombies from the movies. Missing limbs, grayish skin, and blood-soaked clothes and all.
The vehicle in front of me darts left, and I crank my wheel right, heading down Highway 74 towards Lake Elsinore. I feel a small bit of relief as I check the road behind me and see no cars following. The row is still turning left, heading towards Orange County. I bring my eyes back forward and focus on the twisting road before me. I’ll keep Chris safe from that psycho 7B and find Destiny while I’m at it. Now I have more time to work out a plan I’m confident I’ll come up with something.
The Beginning Page 9