The Salvation Plague | Book 1 |The Turning

by Masters, A. L.

  “And Kate?” Jared said, trying to speed her up.

  “Last I saw she was being taken away by the soldiers, her and a few others. I saw them leave the arena a different way, and that was all. They had weapons. I believe she made it out. I just don’t know where! I had hoped she would be here with you. I hoped you would be here.” She sniffed back tears and Anna felt tears well up in her own eyes. It would be devastating to be parted from your children in something like this. It made her glad, for once, that she hadn't had kids yet.

  “Enid, can I get you something to eat or drink? Or maybe you want to rest?” Anna said.

  “No, thank you,” she said.

  “Mom, how did you get out? Where have you been all this time?”

  “I got out with a neighbor; you remember Charlsie, the widow down the street? We ran while those…those monsters were distracted by the others. We took her car, that old Monte Carlo that she refused to ever sell. Well, it came in handy that day, I’ll tell you that. Solid metal, that car…Anyway, we stayed in a house out by the university farm for a few days. You know there is hardly anyone over there. Charlsie wanted to go look for her son—”

  “I think I might know where Kate went,” Jared interrupted, glancing at Anna.

  They told her their story. Juan came in halfway through and contributed his version of events. He even remembered seeing the group of soldiers leaving. When they were through, Jared sat back, and his mom got up to get more coffee and a piece of toast. They were silent.

  “Well, the answer is obvious. You’ll have to go get her back,” Enid finally said.

  Anna took her antibiotic and stretched her arm carefully. It was already starting to heal well. She thanked God that the shooter was either not aiming for her or couldn’t shoot worth a damn. She was healed enough to go on a rescue mission, for sure.

  “When do we leave?” she asked Jared.

  He looked from her to his mom and back again. “Um, you aren’t going.”

  “Yes, I am,” she said.

  “No, I forbid it.”

  “That’s cute. I’m going and you can’t stop me,” she informed him pertly.

  “I had to try.”

  Enid was looking back and forth between them and seemed to sense that they had some sort of relationship.

  Was it going to be weird when she found out they slept together? Not slept together, slept together. She would let Jared be the one who told her. These were extenuating circumstances, anyway. And they were adults. Well…she was. Jared acted like a big kid sometimes.

  “Mom, get a shower and something to eat. Anna and I will talk about this and figure things out.” He guided her to his bedroom. “Do you want to borrow some of Anna’s things?” she heard him ask.

  “No, I have my own out in the car. I borrowed the first one we found with keys in it. We’ll need to take it back,” she worried. “Someone spent a lot of time on it.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mom. We’ll take it back as soon as we can.”

  After they left, she started breakfast, giving Maria a break for once. Hank helped. He was surprisingly good at making omelets, and so she let him. They smelled delicious.

  “You two know I’ll go along, right?” he said.

  “I figured you would. I just hope Juan and Maria will be okay here with the kids. Violet may be a good shot, but she’s not young anymore. I don’t know how much Enid can help, as far as shooting and protection and things go.”

  “My mom is a better shot than I am,” Jared said, having overheard her comment.

  “Really?” She wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or not.

  “Yep. Dad taught her years ago. They used to go out to the range together. On dates.”

  “Wow. Romantic.”

  “Hey, don’t discount a shooting date,” Hank said, plating more omelets.

  “I’d like it if you would stay here and help Juan keep an eye on things. I’d feel better knowing there was another man around.”

  Hank nodded. “I can do that. I’ll worry about you going off with just yourselves though.”

  “We’ll be fine. It’s only an hour away,” Anna said.

  “A lot can happen in an hour,” he said. She realized he was talking about his experience in the stadium.

  “When should we leave?” she asked Jared over breakfast.

  “Tomorrow probably. Also, the car my mother borrowed? A freaking electric blue, lowrider El Camino.” He raised his eyebrows incredulously.

  She snorted. “What part of town did she say she got it from?”

  “She didn’t,” he laughed.

  The rest of the group came in and dug into their food as they listened to her and Jared discuss their plans.

  “I think you should fly a helicopter. That way you can shoot all the bad guys with it,” Alejandro said, pretending his toast was a helicopter.

  “They can’t fly a helicopter, dummy,” Carlos said.

  “The soldiers could, stupid,” Alejandro retorted.

  “¡Basta!” Maria said and they quieted down.

  She noticed that Alejandro stuck his tongue out at Carlos before eating his helicopter toast.

  “I think we should take a helicopter. Alejandro, can you fly us there and back?” Jared asked him with a serious face.

  Alejandro giggled, “No, I’m too little!”

  “Oh! I thought you were thirty-seven, my bad,” Jared said, spearing another omelet.

  Maria grinned as her sons laughed at Jared’s teasing. It was nice to see that Alejandro was still able to laugh, even after what he had been through. Kids really are resilient.

  “I think we should siphon some gas and fill up the tank and as many cans as we have. I don’t want to have to stop on the way there or back.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  “I don’t know if it would be better to take the interstate or the state highways though. Interstate would be faster, but potentially more crowded.”

  She finished chewing her eggs. “I don’t know. If we take the state highway, we’ll have to pass through a few towns and residential areas. We could run into trouble there. They might even have it blocked off or something.”

  “We need to look at the map when we’re finished eating. Are you sure you’re feeling up to it? You aren’t healed all the way yet.”

  “What happened to her?” Enid asked.

  “She was scratched pretty bad by some of those things. And she was shot a couple of days ago.”

  “Shot! My Lord! Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine. It was just a graze,” she assured.

  Enid didn’t look very convinced, but she didn’t say anything else about it. “When are you leaving?” she asked Jared.

  “Tomorrow morning, early. That will give us today to get ready and rest a bit more. I want Sweet Corn in tiptop shape.”

  “Hellcat,” she snapped.

  “Mmmm, don’t think so,” he said.

  “Then you can’t be Achilles. You’ll be Jester, instead. See how you like it,” she said, cocking her eyebrow.

  “Why Jester?” he asked. She couldn’t believe he had to ask.

  “Because you’re a clown, and you are always joking.”

  “That’s lame,” he complained.

  “So is Sweet Corn.”

  “Fine. Hellcat. But I reserve the right to change back at any time.”

  “’Kay.”

  After they had that all worked out and breakfast was over, he brought the map to the table. They studied the routes. To her, it seemed the interstate was the best option. Even if there were wrecks, they could probably still get around them.

  “I don’t like it. It’s too visible. It isn’t just us versus the crazies, there are bad people still out there too. And they won’t just want our stuff,” he warned, making eye contact.

  Oh.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I mean, there could still be bad people along the state highway too though,” she said.

  “True.
There are also more places to hide there. We won’t be fighting anyone if we don’t have to. We don’t have the numbers or experience for that. Our best chance is to take the back roads, hope that we don’t run into trouble, and hide or run if we do.”

  “That’s all we can do, I guess. Okay, let’s take the back roads,” she relented.

  “Good. Pack enough for a couple of days, but no more than one bag. I’ll get everything else loaded up in the truck so that we don’t have to do it in the morning.”

  “Sir, yes sir!” she said, giving him a sloppy salute.

  He grinned. “I could get used to that. I should have been a general.”

  “Yeah, like they would have taken you. You have no respect for authority,” she teased.

  “Probably because my dad was a Captain,” he revealed. “He was a real hardass mostly. It was too late before I realized he was just trying to prepare me for the world.”

  He walked off and left her there. She realized her mouth was hanging open and shut it. His dad was a Captain? In the military? That would explain some things.

  Why hadn’t he told her before?

  ◆◆◆

  She tossed and turned that night. Nightmares and the anticipation of leaving this relatively safe place kept waking her up. Visions of chameleon-like crazies descending on her or Jared, tearing them apart. Faceless bad people, kidnapping her. Never seeing Jared again. It was horrible.

  Around four, according to an old watch she had found, she got up for good. She made some coffee quietly and sat at the table in the dark. She worried.

  What if they couldn’t find Kate, or Bradley and Stewart? What if she had been involved in that mass casualty thing mentioned in the message? What if the men found their unit, and then died with their unit? She never considered how hard it must have been for information to travel before the invention of phones and internet.

  “Got any extra?” Hank said a moment later from the dark living room.

  “Yeah, sorry if I woke you. I tried not to.”

  “I was awake already. I never sleep well, and I’m usually up now anyway. Part of getting old I guess,” he said matter of factly.

  “I couldn’t sleep. Too amped up,” she confided.

  “That’s common in junkets like this,” he said, taking a seat. “You’ll have to learn to rest when you can. You never know when you’ll have to be alert and ready to go.”

  “Was that how it was for you?”

  “Yep. Me and everybody else. You learned that quickly, or you had a bad time.”

  “I think I’ll feel better once we get moving.” She realized she was jiggling her leg and stopped. If she didn’t cool it with the jitters, they were going to think she was a biter.

  “You probably will. Waiting for a thing is always worse than doing a thing.”

  They sat in companionable silence for a while. She fried some eggs for them both, but she couldn’t eat. Hank went out to do a patrol around the outside of the house, something he had taken to doing several times a day. Bradley had impressed on them the importance of it, and he had apparently done a few during his days in the jungle. She thought it was a good idea to keep doing it, and fully intended to do the same whenever they got back.

  She checked her watch again. Time to get ready. Jared was in the bathroom, so she quickly pulled on her hiking pants. They would be a little heavy for this heat, but they had a lot of pocket room and they were more durable and comfortable than any jeans she had. She chose the running shoes over her boots though. She wanted to be able to run faster and be more agile. She pulled on a t-shirt and braided her hair.

  In her bag she tossed some undies, a couple of high-impact sports bras, socks, and one change of clothing. She also took a toothbrush, toothpaste, her .38 and ammo, and her knife. She slung her bat on her back and left the bedroom.

  Violet, Maria, and all the others were out in the living room waiting. They looked anxious. Hank was waiting near the door. He had a rifle slung on his back.

  “Decided to join us?” she asked, grinning.

  “Nah, I’m too old for any more adventures. Juan, Violet, and I are going to rotate taking patrols. We can’t do a full watch and cover twenty-four hours, but we’ll do what we can.”

  “Sounds smart. You guys stay safe, okay? We’ll come back as soon as we can. Where’s Enid?”

  “She’s out back on the patio. Enjoying the sunrise, I think.”

  Jared came out. His hair was slicked back, and he was dressed similarly to her, except he carried a lot of extra ammo and other mysterious gear.

  “Ready?” he asked. He came to her and cupped the back of her neck. He didn’t lean in for a kiss, which kind of disappointed her, but she wasn’t big on public displays of affection either. He caressed her skin and she nodded.

  “More than ready,” she said.

  He scanned the room. “Where’s mom?”

  “I’m here,” she called from the kitchen. She put her cup down on the table and came to them. “I love you, son. Come back as soon as you can. Stay safe. You too Anna,” she said. She hugged Jared hard. Surprisingly, she hugged her as well. It was nice.

  “I love you too. We will. Remember what I said,” he told Hank. Hank nodded.

  “See you later.”

  Then they left.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Oak Grove

  They turned left onto the highway, following the same route as Bradley and Stewart had taken several days before. She didn’t know if they had decided to take the interstate or the state highway. She felt sure they would’ve chosen the interstate for its direct route. They didn’t speak until they reached the turnoff for the state highway. She was oddly reluctant to take the old roads, but it was too late now.

  The first inhabited area was a little place known to the locals as Oak Grove. It was nothing more than a cluster of homes around a small store and an old-time gas station. The old-fashioned pumps still worked; well, they did when there was electricity. The people were poor, but hard-working, and often kept to themselves. If any place would still have a good-sized population of original inhabitants, it would be there. It was ten miles away.

  “Do you think Bradley and Stewart are still at the armory up in Thompsonville?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so. I’m kind of counting on them to help me find Kate, or at least the men who might have seen her.”

  Jared seemed reluctant to talk and she realized it was because he was nervous. She didn’t know what he was nervous about. All of it, she supposed. She faced out the window instead, watching the thick vegetation pass by. She saw birds, and even a deer. This area was part of a state nature preserve. People often visited to see the river, but they couldn’t live here, or hunt here.

  She wondered how long it would be until the city crazies migrated out to the more rural areas. The thought of hundreds of thousands of insane monsters scampering toward the rural towns chilled her. People wouldn’t have much of a chance against those numbers. Not without significant defenses, and even then, it was unlikely. She wondered if all their days were numbered.

  “Oak Grove coming up,” she said, and Jared nodded.

  They slowed a little as they approached the outskirts to the little community. At the last curve, they realized that the road was blocked. An old dump truck was parked across both lanes. Jared stopped.

  “I don’t like this,” she said, resting her hand on the pistol at her side.

  “Me either.”

  A moment later, they saw shifting shapes to each side and realized people were appearing out of the woods. They walked. It was scary how close they were able to get before she saw them.

  “Uh, Jared?” she whispered nervously.

  “I see them.”

  “Maybe we should back up.”

  “Too late,” he said and flicked his eyes toward a large, bearded man approaching.

  The man had long hair and was at least as tall as Jared. Maybe taller. He was dressed in earth-toned colors. His face was str
eaked with charcoal or dirt, intentionally it looked like. He wasn’t smiling.

  The shotgun in his hands wasn’t exactly welcoming either.

  “Put your hands up a little so he can see them,” Jared advised, leaving his hands on the wheel.

  She raised her hands and looked at the man. He wasn’t as old as she had first thought, maybe forty. She had mistaken the white-blonde streaks in his hair for greys. He nodded; a movement so small that if she had been capable of blinking, she would have missed it. He motioned for her to lower the window.

  “You folks been sick?” he asked gruffly.

  “No. We’re on our way up to Thompsonville. Looking for my sister. We heard she might have made it up there with some of the guard unit from town.”

  The man stared at them hard. “Road’s closed.”

  “Is there another way around?” she asked. She knew there were some smaller back roads in the area, but she wasn’t quite sure if they went around the little community or out further into the woods.

  “I can escort you through, but I don’t think you folks want to go on down that way,” he said, jerking his head toward the direction they needed to travel.

  “We thought it would be safer than the interstate, and less crowded.”

  “May be less cars, but it ain’t going to be any safer or less crowded,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Jared said.

  She swallowed nervously as she looked past the man. His friends had moved closer, and she could see them more clearly now. Most of the men had longer hair and beards. They were rough men, obviously savvy in the woods. There were some women too, just as well armed as the men. Some older teens were further back in the trees. This community was larger than she had initially thought.

  He caught her looking. “They’re my kin, some of them. Others are friends,” he said leaning toward a little. She caught a flash of silver at his neck.

  Mjölnir.

  He noticed her looking. “We all have them.”