“Four of us,” Tank corrected.
“Better,” Chloe said.
James smiled, glancing at his brother and best friend, then back at Chloe. They’d been through so much in the last eight days, loss after loss, and it seemed like nothing could go right. It was like they were trapped on some carnival ride of horror, one bad thing right after another—losing their parents, finding a new group and losing most of them, then being captured by a lunatic, defeating the last of the Reclaimers, and now here they were, broken but stronger than ever, wounded but full of hope. Maybe, just maybe, they could all survive long enough to make it to Alaska and start a new life.
The interstate stretched before them and he could see for miles. On both sides, endless fields of green grass, hay, and other crops covered the landscape. The world was still full of life. The plants and animals had been affected very little. They just had a new predator to be wary of. The planet was still spinning, the sun still rising, everything still surviving as it always had been for centuries. They could move on, too. No matter what was thrown at them, they would face it. Even with all that had happened over the past few days, James had found his hope again.
27
First Occurrence
Post-outbreak day eight, early evening
Connor watched out the window as the last of Great Falls faded from view. If they could make this kind of progress all the way to Alaska, they might actually be able to make it in a few days, but that wouldn’t happen. Something was bound to go wrong soon. That’s how this worked now.
Just when you thought you were safe or making headway, Connor thought, boom! The universe knocks you down.
That was what was happening here. God was either punishing them for something or turning a blind eye to everything. If there even was a God. Funny, he’d never really questioned it before. As he thought about it, he realized he had briefly a few times, but mostly he went along with it, believing without proof. Then he was medically discharged from the corps, the one place he wanted to be and the job he’d wanted to do until he was either too old or dead. What more could life be about than giving all of yourself for your country to protect those you loved? He’d been ready for that. As an infantryman, he’d had to be. He’d truly been ready to take a bullet for the brother in line next to him.
Then it had all been taken away because of one injury. Now he was glad it’d happened the way it had because it allowed him to be here with James and Tank. This was where he was meant to be. So maybe God did have a plan for that, but what about all the rest? Their parents were dead and they were continually met with resistance, no matter what they did or where they went. It was like they weren’t supposed to go to Alaska. But what did that leave them with? Sitting down and curling up into a ball? Hell no. He’d keep fighting until there was no air left in his lungs. He was still ready to give his life in defense of his brothers. Only the battlefield had changed, not the truth in his heart. He was a warrior, and no injury would take that away.
The miles continued to pass by as Connor was absorbed in his thoughts. James had talked about God protecting them earlier. Did Connor still believe that? If he was honest with himself, he did. That didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed at God for all this. It did mean he knew God still had their backs. That hadn’t changed; it was just hard to see sometimes. How could it not be? They were living in a world where people’s corpses came back from the dead to slaughter the living. There were people running around killing others for no better reason than they wanted to. Where was God in all that?
Where He’s always been, a part of Connor’s mind said.
The world had changed countless times over the centuries—between wars, natural disasters, and mass genocide. Through that time God had stayed the same. He knew God couldn’t intercede in every conflict or else where would free will be? Was this any different than war or anything else the world had faced since its creation? God had destroyed the face of the earth once with a flood. Maybe this was like that. But if so, that meant it was going to get a lot worse before it got better. So be it. Connor would rise to face whatever challenges came his way. His brother was alive and mostly unharmed. He had his best friend and enough supplies to last them for weeks. Throw in a large arsenal and an almost indestructible vehicle, and they had a fighting chance.
The sun had set and the sky was beginning to darken. They wouldn’t make it to the border before nightfall. Fortunately, the rain had stopped.
“How were you so convincing last night?” Tank asked, glancing back at Chloe.
“I made myself think I really saw something,” Chloe said, moving up to the middle seat. James scooted over to give her room. “It wasn’t that hard. I was legit freaked being out there in the dark.”
“You’re good,” James said. “I was even freakin’ out.”
“Thanks,” Chloe said. “It didn’t hurt that I was taking theater classes in college.”
“Now, that makes sense,” Tank said.
“Speaking of last night, we forgot to read this!” James exclaimed and held up Bryce’s journal.
“What’re you waitin’ for?” Tank asked. “Get readin’!”
James opened the journal, turned to the end, and then flipped back a few pages.
“June 22nd. We’ve been called in. That isn’t supposed to happen. That’s why I signed up for this division, so I could spend more time with Elliot. The call went out this morning, something about an occurrence down in Texas. Other teams have already been down there for a few days, but we’re supposed to go up to Sheridan. They said they might have an occurrence up there too. We leave in an hour. I better pack.”
“Wait,” Tank said. “Wasn’t that like two days before they announced the outbreak?”
“Yeah,” Chloe said. “They announced it on the twenty-fourth.”
“And he said they already had teams down in Texas before that,” Connor said.
“Damn,” James said. “They did know.”
“I told you,” Tank said. “Our government has a lotta secrets.”
“Keep readin’,” Connor said.
James looked back down and continued reading. “June 23rd. The First Response Team went in and found the man. Looks like it was an occurrence. That’s not good. I heard them talking about there being more popping up all over. The whole country is infected. How did that happen? How am I going to protect Elliot if the world is going to hell? My worry may be for nothing. The higher-ups are saying they have it under control. I hope so. Otherwise, we’re all screwed.
“June 26th. Two days. Two days ago they announced it. The world is coming to an end. Two days and everyone is dead. I don’t even know how it happened or how they got past our defenses, but they did somehow. Got right into the bunk tent and started tearing them apart. I was able to hide Elliot. He survived. I don’t know what I would’ve done if he hadn’t survived. But he did. He did.
“June 27th. I don’t think any got in. I couldn’t find a body. If I had to guess, I’d say some of our own turned. Don’t ask me how, but they did. Maybe they were infected when they went into town, or… something else. I don’t understand how this works. I’m not a scientist!
“June 28th. One of the guys showed back up today. I swore I saw him get taken down the other night. But I can’t trust my eyes. I’ve been seeing some weird stuff lately, not sure if it’s something to be worried about. Elliot doesn’t think so. Anyway, Lateno walked right in and sat down on his bunk. He asked where his stuff was, said he needed it. So I went out and got it for him. When I came back, half of my teammates were sitting on their bunks. Spent the whole day getting their gear for them. Lazy pricks didn’t want to get it themselves. I am the newbie, though.
“June 29th. They’re all dead. I don’t know what I saw the other day but they’re all dead. I want to leave this place, but Elliot doesn’t want to. He says it’s not safe and he’s scared to leave. I could just tell him we need to go, but then he’d start screaming and I can’t stand it when he sc
reams. It feels like my head is going to explode. We’ll stay, for Elliot.”
“First off,” Tank said, “that dude was batshit. Secondly, screw our government! If they’d just given us a heads up, maybe things would be different.”
“Maybe,” Connor said.
“Why would they hide it?” Chloe asked.
“Because they’re involved,” Tank said.
“They did know about it long before anyone else did,” James said.
“Are we even sure it was our government?” Connor asked. “Could be private contractors working with a company. Those uniforms were bare of any rank and insignia, and all the nametags seemed like nicknames.”
“You know what?” Tank said. “That may be exactly it. I’ve been assuming it was our government, but they didn’t seem any more prepared than us. What if it’s a private company, like the Umbrella Corporation?”
“If it’s anything like that, we’re screwed,” James said.
“Video game,” Chloe guessed.
“And movies,” Tank said.
“And books,” Connor said.
“I get it,” Chloe said.
“Raccoon City, Hill City,” Tank said. “They do sound kinda similar.”
“I sure as hell hope it’s not the t-virus,” James said.
“That’d be just what we need,” Connor said.
“We’d all be dead in less than a week,” Tank said.
“I really don’t even wanna know,” Chloe said. “This is bad enough.”
“Yes, it is,” Connor said.
So someone knew about this beforehand. Of course they did. How else would it spread like this? It was either a horrible accident or a planned attack. But who would cause this kind of destruction? There’d be nothing left after the zombies killed everyone. Not a very good war tactic. It could be terrorists and they just wanted to wipe America off the face of the earth. Did it even matter in the end? It’d happened, one way or another. Now they just had to live through it. Who cared how it started. It only mattered how it would end, which would be them in Alaska—soon.
“This would make a great title for a book,” Tank said, turning up the volume.
Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch played through the sound system.
“Yeah, it would,” James said. “If I ever wrote a book, I’d call it Bad Company. It’d be about these three badass characters that went around kickin’ ass and takin’ names!”
“I’d read that book,” Tank said.
“I may even read it,” Chloe said. “Would there be any romance?”
“Of course,” James said. “Every good book needs a little romance in it.”
“There’d be a ton of guns,” Connor said.
“And all kinds of explosions,” Tank said.
“At least one on every page,” James said.
“Sound like you guys should make this an action movie instead of a book,” Chloe said.
“That’d come after the book became a bestseller,” James said.
“Maybe we should all three write it,” Tank said.
“I can see it now,” James said. “Bad Company written by The Wolf Pack.”
“That’d be a damn good book,” Tank said.
“Too bad none of you became writers,” Chloe said.
“It is sad,” James said. “But why write it when we can just live it?”
“We did just take on thirteen guys and blow up not one, but two, trucks,” Tank said.
“I know it had to look awesome when we were driving down the interstate, while I fired the SAW wildly from the top,” James said.
“That could be the cover of our book!” Tank said.
“Man, that sounds awesome,” Connor said, smiling.
The end of the world and here he was with his two best friends and brothers. It was almost perfect. If they could just find somewhere safe, they might have a chance at a normal life.
“What the hell!” Chloe screamed from the backseat.
Tank pressed on the breaks, Scourge coming to a screeching halt. Connor drew his handgun, looking back at Chloe, and James had drawn his knife. Her eyes were glued to the floor where Squeezer was slithering up from the rear of the vehicle.
“What’s a snake doing in here?” Chloe asked, her feet pulled up to her chest.
James started laughing and soon the other two joined in.
“Dicks,” Chloe said, clearly not amused.
“That’s Squeezer,” Connor said, reaching back and picking him up.
“What?” Chloe asked, glaring at them.
“We found him a few days ago,” James said. “He was in my truck when the Reclaimers took it, and he was still there earlier.”
“I had him in a backpack,” Connor said. “He must’ve gotten out.”
“You’re kidding me!” Chloe said. “A pet snake at the end of the world?”
“Why not?” James asked.
“I take it you don’t like snakes?” Tank asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“Don’t you even dare!” Chloe said, staring daggers at him.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Tank said.
“You better not,” Chloe said, “or I’ll kill you.”
Connor turned forward, putting Squeezer around his neck. The snake liked the heat from his skin and was content to ride there as Tank started down the interstate again, chuckling to himself. Connor would need to find a cage or something to put him in at their next stop. If he thought Squeezer would stick around, he’d keep him loose in the rig, but being an animal he would probably just leave. Or someone would step on him. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was growing fond of the snake.
“Keep that thing up there,” Chloe said, putting her legs back down.
“I’ll empty out one of the totes of protein bars,” James said, climbing into the back.
“Good idea,” Connor said.
After a few minutes, James had a passable snake cage. The tote had small holes poked into the lid and a piece of a blanket covering the bottom. Inside was a small box for Squeezer to curl up in and a plastic water bottle cut in half. He had cover and water, and they’d get some kind of heat source for him next time they stopped. Luckily, a ball python could go months without food, so they were good on that for now. Connor passed Squeezer back to James, who set him in the bottom of the makeshift cage. Squeezer slowly slithered around, flicking his tongue out to test his new environment. James set the tote in the farthest backseat and buckled it in.
“There,” he said.
“Thanks, bro,” Connor said.
“That better, Chloe?” Tank asked, smiling.
“Actually, yes,” she said. “At least I don’t have to worry about him going up my leg or anything.”
“Here,” James said, handing out a couple protein bars to everyone.
“Thanks,” Chloe said.
They ate in silence. The border was only a few miles away and they all knew it. James checked to make sure he had a round in the chamber and a full magazine in. Then he examined his kit to confirm it was fully loaded and his handgun was secure on his hip.
“Eyes up,” Tank said.
“What’d the sign say?” Connor asked.
“We’re only a mile out,” Tank said.
“Time to see if they made it,” James said.
“If they didn’t?” Chloe asked.
“Then we continue on,” James said. “I just pray they did.”
“Stay frosty,” Connor said. “Could be anything up there.”
In the End by Black Veil Brides began to play through the speakers as they continued on. Headlights cut through the darkness and illuminated the interstate ahead. They were approaching an overpass. Sitting in front of it was a small wreck, with a perfectly sized gap in it. Tank slowed the rig to squeeze through. It almost looked like there were lights up past the border, but that couldn’t be right, could it?
“That was a little…” Jam
es started to say but stopped as he saw the headlights shining on a perfect path through walls of vehicles leading to the border crossing.
“Conveniently placed,” Connor said.
“Trap?” Tank said, slowing.
“Probably,” James said. “We should back out.”
“On it,” Tank said and threw the vehicle into reverse.
Scourge sped backward and Tank slammed on the brakes. At the end of the path, blocking the way back out, was a vehicle identical to theirs.
“Shit!” Tank said. “They found us!”
“Gun it!” Connor said. “Let’s take our chances at the crossing.”
Tank slammed it back into drive and stepped on the gas.
“Get ready,” James said, picking up the SAW.
They flew through the wall of vehicles, every once in a while scraping the sides, sending sparks flying. The other vehicle didn’t chase them, which was a bad sign.
“I knew something like this would happen,” Connor said.
They burst from the tunnel of vehicles and looked ahead at the customs gates. Only two were open and there were spike-strips laid across both. Tank slammed on the brakes, causing the vehicle to slide to a stop. Out of the building to their left poured two dozen fully outfitted men, wearing the same uniforms the Wolf Pack wore. The men spread out, effectively surrounding them.
“I think we’ll get some answers as to who these people are soon,” James said.
“That or they’ll kill us on sight,” Connor said.
“Well, hell,” Tank said. “They have rocket launchers.”
“And a sniper in that glass room over by the gates,” Connor said. “Probably anti-tank rounds if they’re prepared.”
“I’d guess they are,” James said.
“Get out of the vehicle, now!” shouted one of the men.
“Damn,” Chloe muttered.
“We don’t have much of a choice,” James said, laying down the SAW and putting his hands in the air. The rest of them followed suit.
28
In the End
Post-outbreak day eight, late evening
Wolf Pack Page 20