Dominic joined them seconds later and nodded to Danielle, his face as serious as she’d ever recalled seeing it. “Now we really have to go,” he said. “That was loud, and there are going to be inquiries as to what that was.”
“Yeah. And there were way more than two of those things that got out,” Danielle reminded, “so probably another good reason not to hang around.”
And with that realization, Dominic and Danielle switched off the lights, and all three began to run toward the camp, no longer considerate of any soldiers who may have been standing watch.
Within minutes, they were only steps from the edge of the tall grass where the grounds of the base camp began. Danielle could see the dramatic line where the three-foot reeds had been mowed away and a new grass, trimmed to the height of a golf course fairway, became the property of the soldiers.
And beyond the manicured lawn, no more than fifty yards from where they huddled now, a long row of large military shelters had been constructed, perhaps eight in all, spaced about twenty feet apart and rising from the ground like giant, sage caterpillars.
And it was quiet.
“This is strange,” Dominic whispered.
“What is?”
“I don’t see anyone here.” He poked his head above the grass again, looking toward the base, verifying that what he’d seen was, in fact, true. “I don’t get it. There should be headlights blazing right now. Jeep engines running and commands being barked out.”
“Personnel is thinner than you thought, I guess,” Danielle offered.
Dominic shrugged, not convinced of the theory. “Maybe. Still though, we’re keeping to the plan. The two of you are going to stay here until either I return to get you, or I give you a signal.”
“And what might that look like? The signal, I mean.”
“I’ll give a whistle. Catcall style.”
“Classy.”
“Don’t come out until you hear it. Promise me that.”
“No, sir. ‘Fraid I can’t promise that.”
“Danielle—”
“We will stay here for what I believe to be a reasonable amount of time, but after that, we’re on the move. And full disclosure, it might not be that long. Certainly not a second more than ten minutes.”
“Danielle, you—”
“Listen, Dom, I have no intention of becoming one of those things, or of becoming a meal for one, and I’m definitely not going to let that happen in the middle of a field outside the cordon.” Danielle looked down at Michael. “We’ve come way too far to let that happen.”
Dominic sighed. “Fine. Just keep the rifle high and your eyes peeled. I’ll be as fast as I can.”
And with those words, Dominic was off, heading west, away from the camp.
Within a minute, Danielle could see him again, clear of the tall grass, approaching the camp from the direction he would have had he been arriving from his post for the day. He had the posture and demeanor of a man who was supposed to be there, and Danielle grinned, proud of him, suddenly flattered by his efforts to find her again, feeling something that resembled love, though not in any romantic sense of the word. Of course, that wasn’t out of the question either, but that was for another life, a future life, one she may never get the chance to live.
With her eyes, Danielle followed Dominic as he approached the line of jeeps parked outside the building, and there she could see a uniformed man approach him. He was flanked by two soldiers. The man pointed to the area from which Dominic had just walked, and Dominic turned and pointed there as well, shaking his head. She couldn’t hear them, but the hand movements and body language suggested these men needed an explanation as to why Dominic was there.
And then the man in the middle, no doubt the highest ranked of the three, turned his back to Dominic and walked toward the shelter while the two soldiers grabbed Dominic by his arms, restraining him.
“Get the hell off me!”
Danielle could hear Dominic only faintly as the men struggled with him, but it was only a matter of seconds until they had Dominic on the ground, face first, one of the soldiers placing a knee to Dominic’s back, pinning him there.
The man in charge then opened the door to the shelter and turned back to Dominic and the men restraining him. He made a gentle lifting motion with his hand, at which point the soldiers gripped Dominic at each arm and brought him to his feet again. This time Dominic did not resist.
Almost the second Dominic was up, another figure emerged from the entrance of the military building. This man was dressed in civilians’ clothes and he walked forward with his head down and shoulders slumped, his hands low in front of him, fingers interlocked.
Just above the door of the shelter was a large spotlight that shone to the spot on the ground just outside the building’s entrance, and though it was still some distance from where Danielle and Michael were hiding, she was almost positive she recognized this new character on the stage. And when he finally looked up to face Dominic, there was no doubt at all.
It was James.
He stared at Dominic for a few beats before finally lowering his head again, and Danielle could see easily it was a move made from shame, one that said he had betrayed a friend.
Danielle figured the army had finally found James in hiding—and likely Tom, as well—and through what was certainly a short interrogation, James had given up Dominic and his infiltration efforts. Danielle wanted to believe that he had been tortured, that he had listened to the clicks of a revolver against his temple, understanding that the next cylinder could have contained the lone round in the gun.
But in the depths of her heart, she knew it had never gotten that far. James was a good kid, and he had shown enough endurance to survive the snows when the catastrophe first struck, alone, before her group had found him on the road and brought him to the diner. And that, she conceded, was not an accomplishment to be discounted.
But in many ways, James was weak. It would have taken merely the suggestion of being put in a cage with one of the mutated humans to have broken him like a brittle twig.
And where was Tom? Danielle thought. If they had caught James, they had likely caught Tom too. But if that was true, why had he not been paraded out in front of Dominic? Had they threatened him as well, and, when he’d defied them, killed him for not cooperating? And how did they find them? If no one knew what they looked like, how were they able to catch them?
Danielle’s mind was racing with potential answers to these questions, while also trying to find the next step to take in the current mission. Dominic wasn’t coming back for them, that was for sure, so it would be up to her to improvise.
“What’s going on, Danielle?” Michael asked, his mocha cheek only inches from hers as he stared through the grass at the scene occurring outside the shelter. “Who are those people?”
Danielle tried to invent a lie, but it sounded puerile in her head, and she immediately decided there was no gain in being anything other than fiercely honest with Michael from this point forward. “They’re bad men,” she said. “Like the ones that took your father. They and others—who in a lot of ways are even worse—are the ones responsible for all this. But Dominic isn’t like that, okay. He was just pretending to be to save me. And now we’re going to save him. You and me. Got it?”
Michael licked his lips and nodded, slowly now, his eyes narrow and focused. Danielle recognized the look of resolve in the boy’s face and knew it well. It was the place one arrived when a fear has finally been conquered. She had arrived there months ago, and now she had a companion.
7.
Danielle and Michael stooped low behind a jeep that had been parked in the rear of the shelter where Dominic was currently detained. It took them five times as long to arrive there than it would have had they taken the direct route, but such an endeavor was far too risky, even if the grounds were as clear as they appeared to be.
Instead, Danielle led Michael in a wide loop around the end of the row of shelters and then north tow
ard the river, before finally doubling back and arriving directly behind Dominic’s building.
Along the way, Danielle had witnessed Dominic’s replacement in the tower, marching toward her post, and Danielle wondered how long it would take for her to notice the breach in the cordon.
She may not notice at all, she thought, not if she bypassed the gate check and went directly to the tower.
Unless that sea of grass began to swell again.
But that concern was far from a priority, and Danielle turned her attention from the shelter now and looked across the river where the relative stillness of the camp was offset by what appeared to be an ensuing state of alarm, a melee. Dozens of soldiers were off-ramping from the bridge, their rifles raised, waving and barking commands as they fanned out in every direction.
Danielle couldn’t see the source of their agitation, but she assumed it was to do with the ghosts that Dominic had inadvertently released a little more than an hour earlier. It was a fact now: the crabs—the corrupted—were not only free of the cordon, but they had now made it beyond the bridge and the natural barrier of the river. That was the reason that the forward base, the place where she and Michael were now, was virtually empty.
At the hub of the commotion across the river was a free-standing building that Danielle quickly determined was the aforementioned lab. It was a monstrous construction, especially considering it had been built in only a matter of months, and even in the relative darkness, Danielle could see the ivory whiteness of the thing, so unlike the khaki green of the shelters around her. She instantly thought of the D&W building that Davies had mentioned before his demise. It was the place where this nightmare had been hatched, a structure she had barely noticed in all her years of living in Warren County, despite its size and sprawling footprint.
But it rose in her mind now like the behemoth it had always been, and she could only imagine what had gone on in there, and what was going on now in its sister research lab, which was currently lit up like a Christmas tree.
Danielle turned to see that Michael was looking past the bridge as well, and she could see the concern and dread in his face.
“We’re going to get him, okay?” she assured.
“How?”
“I don’t know exactly, but Dominic and I will figure it out. I promise you. But the only way we can do that is with Dominic, so first things first, yeah?”
Michael nodded and turned back on his heels, his body tight against the front jeep’s tire as he and Danielle studied the camp system.
Other than the guards and the officer who had ordered Dominic taken—and James, of course; she couldn’t forget James—Danielle hadn’t seen anyone else come or go from any of the shelters. And it wasn’t for lack of visibility; from where they were situated currently, she could see the back ends of the shelters all the way down the row in each direction.
None of the other shelters mattered right now, however; Dominic was in the one that was less than fifty feet away, and she had to be swift with her efforts.
“I’m going in,” she said solemnly, a phrase that sounded corny to her ears the moment she said it, something she would have uttered to Tom just before she went in to clean the diner’s bathroom.
“I’ll cover you,” Michael answered.
Danielle smiled at Michael’s follow-up cliché, and then considered for a moment that perhaps people really did talk like that in these types of situations.
“You do that.”
Danielle stood quickly, looked left and then right, and then sprinted from the cover of the jeep. Within seconds, she was standing next to the shelter, the beam of light from the roof shining down on her as if she were doing stand-up in a comedy club.
But there was no one anywhere on the outside to spy her, so she held her spot and then turned and gave a thumbs up to Michael.
She moved a few steps toward the rear door of the shelter, making sure to keep on the hinged side of the portal, just in case someone opened it and stepped outside. She would have to make a move within a couple seconds, of course, were that to happen, but at least she would have the advantage of surprise. She placed her ear to the door.
And then she heard the screams.
It was Dominic, and his cries of distress were quickly followed by the voice of a man, surely the commanding officer who had ordered him arrested.
“Again, soldier, I only want to know two things: why you’re here impersonating another soldier, and who else is with you.”
“I’m...I’m not impersonating anybody, sir,” Dominic replied. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Something banged against the shelter door and Danielle recoiled, and as she did, her mind flashed back to the roof of the Maripo Mazda and the crab that had pounded relentlessly against the steel door.
But no one exited the shelter, and Danielle slowly tipped her ear back against the door and listened. There was a scuffling sound inside now, the scramble of feet, like an anxious dog scurrying on linoleum. It was followed by the rattle of what sounded like chairs being knocked to the floor.
And then Dominic screamed again, and this time it was blood-curdling.
“Just a scratch and you’ll be one of them, you know,” the commander yelled, making sure Dominic could hear him over his own wailing. “We’ve done it before; rest assured that’s true.”
There was a pause, during which time Dominic’s screams crescendoed for a beat and then subsided. Danielle closed her eyes in distress.
When Dominic was finally quiet, the CO continued. “But not to James here, because James was smart. You told us everything we wanted to know, isn’t that right, son?
There was no reply, and Danielle could almost see the dishonor in James’ eyes.
“Yessir, James here answered our questions right quick. Same as that helicopter pilot. Still can’t believe y’all allowed that boy to live. Had to know he was gonna spill eventually, no matter what he told you. Especially when one of these freaks is standing in front of you. Look in the eyes of one of these things from a few feet away and just about anyone’d be persuaded, I figure.”
The scuttling again from inside the shelter, and this time Danielle took the opportunity to slam a fresh magazine into the bottom of her rifle, the noise from inside drowning the sound of the gun action.
“So, once again, soldier, tell me why you’ve infiltrated my unit, and who else is with you. If you do that, I’ll make sure Officer Stanwick tucks that thing back into its cage.”
“I’m Richard Gerard.”
Dominic’s voice wavered with fear; even through the muffle of the door, Danielle could hear it.
“It’s right there on my badge. I’m here because this is where I was told to be, sir.”
“Look at this picture, son.” The CO’s instruction contained just a trace of irritation now, but he quickly regained his composure. “We already know that picture ain’t you. James already told us that. Have you been listening? That picture might have fooled us before because we wasn’t paying attention, but James here already gave us your name. Your first name, anyway. Ain’t that right, James? Dominique, ain’t that it?”
“Dominic,” a voice chirped. It was James.
“I don’t know who this person is,” Dominic replied, continuing to play what Danielle considered an impossible game of chicken.
The officer laughed. “I can see this ain’t you, boy. Even if James hadn’t told me as much. You really think you can pass for being born in 1992?” He laughed again, more heartily. “No offense.”
Dominic’s ruse was up, and Danielle couldn’t help but picture the scene unfolding inside the shelter. The crab was chained or leashed and likely raging in its constraints, and no doubt it was standing in front of Dominic, being edged ever closer as the interrogation drew on. Whether Dominic was tied to a chair or to the ground, she couldn’t know, but she could imagine his fear as he looked into the black eyes of the crab, which were likely locked on him like a circling shark.
“It’s an old picture,” Dominic continued, and Danielle couldn’t help but roll her eyes and shake her head.
“That ain’t you!” The irritation from the man in charge was now full-blown anger.
“Sir?” Another voice, one of the inferior officers.
“What is it?”
“Richard Gerard. Stationed at D&W. It’s not known for sure what happened to him, but it’s assumed he was there when...when it happened.”
A pause, then the CO asked, “So, then, Dominic something-or-other, can we stop this now?”
There was a pause, Dominic considering the offer, perhaps, and Danielle held her breath, anticipating.
And then, through the door, she heard his voice again.
“Fuck you.”
There was a pause and then, “That, Dominic, was the wrong goddamn answer.”
As if triggered by the CO’s words, Danielle took a deep breath and nodded her head in a quick, quivering burst, as if physically agreeing to the idea that had just swelled in her mind.
And then, without any more hesitation, she made the move, gripping the knob of the door and pulling it open.
In the second it took for Danielle to clear the door and enter the shelter, she formed a picture in her mind of what she expected to see inside. The location of the CO and the soldiers; the weaponized crab; Dominic.
But it was James who Danielle saw first, sitting near the front of the shelter, behind Dominic, leaning forward in his chair as if listening to a solemn newscast on the radio. He looked up at Danielle and met her eyes, and in a flash, his face transformed into a smile. It was as genuine a smile as Danielle had ever seen. The smile a toddler gives when he wakes from his nap to see his mother standing over his crib.
To her left, by the door, sitting at a computer with his back to Danielle, was one of the inferior soldiers, and as he moved his hand to pull his sidearm from his waist, she squeezed of a shot.
The bullet streamed past his face and tore through the canvas that formed the far wall of the shelter.
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