by Jesse Wilson
“Alright, we get back to Tina, and we don’t trust anyone until can get out of here,” James said. The two of them made it back to their tent to see that Tina had woken up.
“Hey there. How are you feeling?” Logan asked her and she smiled weakly.
“I feel, well, good, considering the amount morphine they have pumping into me; it’s pretty hard to feel anything else,” she replied, still half-awake.
“Good, they said you’ll be fine, but you need to get to a hospital because you’re burned pretty badly,” Logan replied with a smile, and James once again rubbed his burning eyes in a vain effort to get them to stop when he noticed something strange.
“Uh, Phoenix, can I talk to you outside for just a quick second?” James said and Phoenix knew something was up. He rarely ever used his first name for any reason; James thought it was silly.
“Yeah, sure,” he replied and the two of them stepped back out.
“What’s the deal, man?” Logan asked, annoyed to have his time cut short.
“Her pants are burned, but the skin underneath is healed,” James said to him and Phoenix got mad for a second.
“What in the hell are you doing looking up my—oh,” Logan replied and stopped when it all clicked.
“How?” he asked him.
“I don’t know, but we need to tell someone, maybe that general guy, but it’s trying to play it cool. It doesn’t want to be noticed yet. You go back in there and play nice; I’ll find the general,” James said and Logan’s eyes went wide.
“Oh hell no, I don’t want to go in there,” he said in a hushed voice.
“It’s still your girlfriend; if it wants to stay hidden, it will for now. Act like everything is normal and just roll with it as long as you can. Don’t let on that you know,” James said to him, and Logan gritted his teeth looking towards the tent.
“Fine, just don’t be too long or it’ll know,” he said and took a semi-deep breath. “Good luck, man,” James said and turned to walk away from the tent. He had no idea where to find the general or anyone else. It wasn’t like there were signs in this quickly growing refugee camp in the desert. Logan took a deep breath and stepped back inside.
“Good news. A nurse came by and said they might have found James’s parents in a group of refugees, but they needed him to go and be sure,” Logan lied, as convincingly as he could. He noticed the thin blanket was pulled over her legs now but said nothing of it.
“He just didn’t want to say it in here; he figured in your delicate state you might have gotten over excited is all, but I know you’re tougher than that,” Logan continued to talk. It was easier to lie when he was as tired, burnt, and sore as he is now.
“Oh, well thanks for the consideration, I guess; I sure hope he doesn’t take too long,” Tina said with more strength in her voice this time.
“That makes two of us. So, did you have any crazy dreams while on the morphine drip? Remember that time I was in surgery for my ears? Yeah, I had some really crazy dreams then,” he said to her.
“Actually, I did. I’ll tell you all about them,” Tina said with a thin smile. Logan didn’t know how long he could keep this going before fear got the better of him.
Chapter Forty-Three
The few hours in the van didn’t seem so long. Cory was talking to an alien, and the two of them had more in common than they thought. The drive, despite the state of the world and where it was going, was a pleasant one.
“You really liked that planet, didn’t you?” Cory asked him and Xule sighed. “Yeah, I did. Too bad it had to be blown up by that maniac in the dark helmet,” Xule replied. Then he noticed their trip was coming to an end, and it was time to refocus on the present crisis at hand.
Cory saw the helicopter in the distance after taking the last corner and pulled to a squeaky stop some distance away from it. He didn’t see anyone out there waiting for them as Sippy’s blue line disappeared.
“Wake up, human, we’re here,” Xule turned and said to Bruce, who in turn groaned and opened his eyes.
“Let’s go say hello,” Cory said as he got out of the van. The others did the same “My guess is they are at that bunker entrance over there. Whoever this guy is, he did a crap job of hiding it,” Bruce said, shook his head, and stretched out the kinks in his back. They started to walk in that direction when suddenly Bruce moved in front of them. “Hold up, do you have something I can throw?” he asked Cory and the kid was at a loss.
“I don’t have anything,” he replied and Bruce looked at Xule.
“Xule, hand me your gun,” Bruce said, and Xule trusted him enough to do it. Bruce took the weapon and appeared to know how to work it. He took aim at a weird pile of dirt in the distance and fired. The red beam slammed into the pile and the whole thing exploded.
“Land mines. We’re not walking any up further,” Bruce said and handed the alien blaster back to Xule.
“What kind of crazy person puts land mines in their lawn?” Cory asked in disbelief.
“A doomsday prepper who doesn’t want visitors, like all the other ones like him, or you know, crazy people,” Bruce replied to him and narrowed his eyes. “If that knock on the front door wasn’t enough to get their attention, we just shoot another one,” Bruce said and leaned against the van. Cory looked around and wondered just how many land mines there were and wondered if the helicopter landed close to any.
He tried to look for any odd piles of dirt, but try as he might, he couldn’t separate the mines from the regular ground, and it was unsettling to him to think that he could have driven up to this place as far without getting them all killed on accident.
The door on the bunker slid open and Gordon stepped outside.
“What in the hell is going on out here?” he yelled, shotgun in his hands.
“It’s me, Coldblade. We’ve made it!” Cory yelled back with as much enthusiasm as he could muster given the situation they were in.
“Oh, good, I’ll get the freeloaders up here as soon as I can. You just wait there,” Gordon yelled back and disappeared through the door.
“Freeloaders? I guess things went mildly bad since we last talked,” Cory said to himself and Bruce looked at the helicopter.
“All I want is the pilot. Once I get that, the alien and I are out of here. We have to get to Xy before that thing does,” Bruce said to them.
“What about the rest of us? Where are we going to go?” Cory was shocked; as soon as he felt like he was part of something was the second he was being cut off.
“We could take you along, but you’d just get in the way. Tell you what. In the next zombie dinosaur infestation apocalypse, you can come along for the ride,” Xule added and tried to smile. Cory, despite being left on his own, didn’t feel so bad about it. Not dying or being infected was fine with him.
“Sure, the next one, it’s a deal,” Cory replied but tried his best to sound disappointed. Soon, enough people started to come out of the door.
“Remember, follow the path and you won’t get blown up. Follow it exactly,” Gordon’s voice screamed from the inside of the bunker.
“Yeah, I remember the way,” Heather yelled back in an annoyed voice as she came out first and started to walk in their direction.
“I’ll need the pilot, who is it?” Bruce asked as they walked down the twisting, invisible path in their direction.
“I’m the pilot,” Phil replied as he nervously followed Heather who was right in front of him.
“Good, we’ll meet you and only you at the chopper. The alien and the government have need of your services,” Bruce said, and without a second thought, started walking towards the helicopter. Xule’s eyes widened, but he figured the man knew it was safe so he followed him.
“It was good meeting you, Cory. Stay safe,” Xule said and waved as he walked away.
“You too, spaceman,” he said but didn’t know if he was heard or not. Xule caught up with Bruce and walked beside him.
“So, how did you know it was safe to go
this way?” Xule asked him.
“I don’t know about you but I didn’t see any craters or body parts along the way; I assumed it was safe,” he replied with a smile.
“You are the worst human I’ve ever met, “Xule said as they walked forward.
It wasn’t very long before all of them were standing next to the chopper. Bruce was annoyed when everyone showed up, despite saying only the pilot should meet them there.
“All you need to know is that the mind of the beast wants its body back, and this is the only chance the two of us to get there and stop it first,” Bruce said to them.
“Why didn’t you just call one of your own people for a ride? I am sure being a big-shot commander you could call for back up at any time?” Alex replied to him, almost becoming angry.
“Yep, I could have, but they need every man they can get in for the seek-and-destroy mission. Calling anyone away from that would be a mistake. Phil, you’re going to fly us to where we need to go. The rest of you, I don’t care where you end up,” Bruce said to Phil and the rest of them.
“This is my chopper, and I decide who comes with and who rides on it or we don’t go anywhere. I don’t care who you are and—” Bruce sighed, pulled out his gun, and pointed it at Phil’s head.
“Listen, I didn’t want to do it this way, but if you don’t, I’m going to splatter your brains all over the nice dirt lawn. I’m not the best flyer. I might even be able to make it where I need to go, but the whole world is at stake. If you want to be the one to make sure the human race is wiped from history, I’ll make sure you won’t live to see it,” Bruce said to him in a much deeper, angrier voice.
“You know what, the commander has a point. Sorry guys, but this is where we part ways.” Phil hadn’t ever had a gun pulled on him like this before and it scared him.
Bruce put the weapon away and opened the sliding door and got in. Xule got in after him.
“Phil, you can’t just go without us,” Rose started to complain and he just turned and looked at her.
“Yeah, I can. You guys need to find some place to lay low. If I never see any of you again, it was good meeting and working with you all. After all this is over, let’s meet at the Vegas Memorial Site,” Phil said with a smile.
The others were confused; they didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Come on, you know they’ll build a memorial for Vegas after all this is taken care of. Wherever it is, we’ll meet there. Good luck, guys,” Phil said with a smile. He then walked around and entered the aircraft. Xule looked at the others and smiled.
“Hey, don’t worry. Anywhere is better than where we are going. You’re the lucky ones,” Xule said and got in too. Bruce was the last one in without so much as a goodbye. As the blades began to spin, the crowd backed off as it lifted off the ground.
“So now what do we do?” Bob asked as they watched it fly away.
“I have no idea, but we shouldn’t stay here,” Rose said with a sigh, and all of them turned to look back at Cory.
“Well, we can always take a road trip to nowhere,” Jeff said and smiled.
“I’m always up for a road trip,” Heather said in agreement with a forced smile.
Chapter Forty-Four
Logan and Tina were with the burned guy behind him.
“So, tell me about these crazy dreams you had,” Logan said as calmly as he could. Tina smiled back.
“It’s hard to explain. I dreamed of the monster, you know, the giant thing that took the city. It looked at me. It talked to me, but I couldn’t hear what it was saying. All I could hear was the fires and all the screaming around me. It was a bad dream, I think,” she said and Logan tried his best to smile.
“Well, you’re safe now, we all are. The bad things were all stopped. We lived, and that’s more than can be said for a lot of others,” Logan said and realized how it must have sounded. He was grateful no one else was around to hear it besides the crispy fellow behind him.
“Yes, we made it. I’m glad we made it like we did. I don’t know what we are going to do now. Everything we knew is gone, everyone we know is likely dead too. What are we going to do, Phoenix?” Logan cringed. She never called him by his first name unless they were fighting about something. The calmness set him on edge, but he did his best to ignore it.
“Oh, I’m sure not everyone we know is dead. Jim is okay, he made it out with us remember.” He thought about James and wondered just how long it was going to be before he found his way back; he couldn’t keep up this charade for much longer.
James was walking as fast as his burned body would let him go.
“Damn it, how am I supposed to know where to go?” he finally said out loud in frustration when a lady came out of a tent and shook her head.
“What are you looking for?” she asked him in a tired voice, wearing a bloodstained army medic uniform.
“Listen, I need to find General Benton, it’s really important,” James said in one quick breath.
“He’s at central command, but the general is really busy so—” James cut her off and moved closer to her so he wouldn’t be overheard.
“We have an infected a few tents over, and I think she’s trying to blend in. I left my friend in there with her to try and keep up the illusion, but it’s not going to last long, so I think this should move to the top of the to-do list the general has,” James said and found that he had grabbed her shoulders without realizing it.
“Oh my God, uh, okay, what tent are you in? I’ll call it in,” she asked him with a terrified look on her face.
“I don’t know; there wasn’t a number or anything, but it’s back that way a bit. I could get there, call it in, and follow me so we can be sure,” James replied to her and really didn’t want to wait around.
“This is Medic Baldwin from Sector One. I just got a report of an infected in a tent. I am going to verify and turning on my beacon. I am requesting backup as soon as possible to help deal with this situation,” she said into her radio and flicked a switch on her device as she followed James.
***
General Benton was hunched over his makeshift desk, looking through papers to try and make sense of the growing chaos he was now in charge of when someone burst into his tent without knocking. He crinkled his nose at the impolite intrusion but decided to let it go.
“What is it?” he asked the intruder without looking up.
“Sector One has a potential infected and a medic is on the way to investigate,” the young man said in an almost panic.
“Damn it, alright I’ll take care of this. I assume the beacon is on?” Benton said and looked at the soldier finally.
“Yes, sir, she turned it on,” he replied and Benton nodded.
“Dismissed. Oh, and soldier? Next time knock before you just barge in like that. Next time, I’ll have you shot in the leg for that much disrespect,” Benton said to him and the kid’s eye’s widened in fear.
“Yes, sir, and sorry for not knocking first,” he said, turned and left the tent. He turned to a dark corner.
“Can you trace the beacon and get there?” he said to apparently, nobody. A member of the Chemical Dragon Unit stepped out in full black uniform and nodded to him.
“Good. Take that weird ice ray of yours and get there. Do what needs to be done. Don’t let anyone stop you, no matter how much it might hurt the victim…or their loved ones,” Benton said, and the person in the uniform simply disappeared into the dark. Benton wasn’t exactly sure how they left, but he knew he was alone now.
“Damn it, I hope nothing else goes wrong besides this,” he said to himself, knowing better than to ask what else could happen. That was just inviting disaster.
***
James and the medic ran down a few paths when suddenly James stopped.
“It’s right there. My friend is still inside. I have to get him out,” James whispered and she shook her head.
“By now, everyone in that tent could be infected. We have to contain this as much as
we can. We can’t risk the whole rescue operation. Your friend, anyone in that tent, is now an enemy. In fact, you could be infected too and this could be a trap,” she said, and realizing the danger, took a step back.
“No, he’s clean,” a figure in black said and stepped out of the smoke-filled air beside the medic, shutting off an ultraviolet scanner attached to the arm of the uniform. “But there are at least two infected inside. I have a job to do, so stand aside,” the figure said in an electronically altered voice.
“Job? What are you going to do? Kill them both?” James said but tried to keep his voice down.
“Yes, that is what I am going to do,” the one in black said and walked forward, releasing an equally alien-looking weapon from the belt, switching it on.
“No, you can’t, please,” James tried to beg with the stranger, and rushed forward when the free hand grabbed him by the throat and brought him down to the ground. The grip was like iron, and James found his air cut off instantly. That combined with the shock of hitting the ground knocked him nearly senseless.
“Get in my way again, and you can be infected real fast too, do you understand?” the altered voice whispered to him and all James could do in return was blink.
“Good.” The grip was released and he grabbed his throat immediately, gasping for air. The medic rushed to his side to make sure he was alright. The figure walked towards the tent and pushed open the door flaps.
Logan looked at it in surprise, not expecting this to happen.
“Looks like the show is over,” a voice from behind Logan said, and the bandaged man sat up. In the same action, he lunged at the intruder. Tina smiled as her eyes turned yellow. Her teeth became coated with a black goo that formed into those fangs he was so familiar with.