The Extinction Series | Book 3 | Brink of Extinction

by Ellis, Tara

  “The Kuru is spreading,” he continued. “That’s what the Centers for Disease Control is calling it, and its infection rate is beyond any other pathogen ever seen in human history.”

  “You mean the Kra Puru?” Jess asked, frowning. “It’s not just here?” The implication was staggering and she felt cold in spite of the heat.

  “It’s only a matter of time before the purge is complete.” He turned back to the laptop and typed rapidly for a moment before reaching out and clicking on a radio. A loud static noise filled the barn as he began searching for signals.

  Purge.

  Jess ran from the barn.

  Chapter 7

  PETA

  Lassen National Forest

  Northern California

  It didn’t take long for the rolling, arid hills to change into the forested mountains that made up the majority of northern California. Most people who hadn’t visited the state would envision only beaches and palm trees, but those who lived there or traveled through, knew the craggy, majestic mountain ranges were the real attraction.

  Peta had spent some time in Yosemite and the Lake Tahoe area while attending college at the University of California. She’d always been an avid backpacker and enjoyed getting away into the mountains. The Lassen National Forest reminded her of the other recreation areas further south, and she marveled at the towering Ponderosa Pines and Red Firs that lined the roadways.

  The sun continued to make an increasingly stronger appearance, which she found very reassuring. Though there was still a distinct haze that on any other day she might have suspected was pollution or smoke from a forest fire, it was a vast improvement over what was happening only a few hours to the east.

  “Are you sure this is the right one this time?” Devon asked, glancing nervously over at Hernandez.

  The ensign grunted in response and tramped down harder on the accelerator. “We’ll find out soon enough, I figure.”

  “At least you had enough foresight to buy that gas can to fill up last time we stopped,” Bill offered. “Or else we would already be stuck on the side of this mountain. I apologize for not having better map skills, but I’m afraid math is my strong point, not geography.”

  “Well, I don’t have that excuse,” Hernandez muttered. “I’m a freaking pilot. Give me any map worth a crap and I’ll get us where we need to go.”

  Bill nodded in agreement. “We’ll have to be sure and check the date on the maps next time. Hopefully we won’t be at a backwater ghost town, in a stolen vehicle, trying to outrun a corrupt, dark branch of our government and a historic eruption. We might have more options for our choices of navigation, then.”

  There was a pregnant pause before Devon chortled, and then Hernandez joined him. Peta was more impressed with Bill’s transformation over the past day than she was by Hernandez’s map-reading skills. He was right that the map they had was almost useless, yet he’d still managed to get them close to their destination with only stopping to ask for directions twice.

  Bill, on the other hand, had gone from a nervous wreck to a valuable and even positive presence in the group. Whatever the tense conversation was about between him and Tyler at the bathroom break, it had worked wonders. Tyler even managed to relax enough to fall asleep while they were lost for hours on the unmarked mountain roads.

  “We all better hope this is finally the right one,” Hernandez said in a sobering voice, his small reserve of laughter burned out. “Even with the extra gas we’re gonna run out in another hour of tooling around on these endless logging roads.”

  “I don’t get why they don’t have names on them,” Tyler said, joining the conversation. Rubbing at his eyes, he gave Peta a small smile before yawning.

  “Because logging roads don’t have names, and I don’t believe private roads are required to be marked well,” Bill suggested. “Though, I could be wrong. But it would seem to me that if someone wanted to live in an extreme location such as this for the sake of privacy, then it would make sense that they wouldn’t advertise it.”

  “There!” Devon shouted, pointing out his window, which was rolled down.

  Hernandez hit the brakes, causing them to slide a couple of feet in the loose dirt, and Peta grabbed at the center console in front of her to brace herself. Dust billowed up around them, and as it cleared, she finally spotted what Devon had gotten so excited about.

  A weathered, wooden sign with the numbers 11625 carved into it was nailed to the front of a giant Ponderosa. It was alongside a narrow road filled with a rather fresh-looking layer of gravel, making it nicer than the one it branched off of.

  Bill held the notebook up to show the address to anyone who wanted confirmation. “That has to be it!”

  A small stirring of excitement reminded Peta not to lose focus. Finding Mads was only the first obstacle. They had no idea what they could be walking into. While the backgrounds during all of their video chats gave the impression that she was broadcasting alone, from her private home, there was no guarantee. For all they knew, it could be an ICONS base of operations or some other secret location swarming with armed soldiers who wanted nothing more than to silence them.

  Now who’s being paranoid?

  Peta tried to shrug the thought off. It wasn’t paranoia. Not after what they’d been through.

  “Are we sure we want to just drive in?” Devon asked, when Hernandez accelerated and turned onto the road.

  “What else would you suggest?” Hernandez said, looking amused. “Some stealth recon and a sneak attack? Let me get my night vision goggles out while you change into your James Bond outfit.”

  Peta rolled her eyes and put a hand on Devon’s shoulder to stop him from answering and making it any worse. “It’s a valid point, Hernandez. We clearly have no idea what’s up there.”

  The soldier nodded and glanced at Peta in the review mirror. “Exactly. I figure this is going to go one of two ways: this crazy professor is by herself, or else we’re walking straight into the hornet’s nest. This road could be two-hundred feet long, or ten miles. Getting out now to walk it could be a mistake and end up leaving us more vulnerable than we already are. So, we’ll proceed with caution. As soon as we can see a building, we’ll pull this off the road and get it turned around, ready to leave. One of us will stay with it. Hopefully, she’s alone, and it’ll be easy enough to overpower her. Otherwise…” Hernandez shrugged. “Game over.”

  Peta frowned at the back of his head. “You could have led with that.”

  “It’s a good plan,” Bill said, surprising Peta again. “Tyler should stay with the jeep.”

  Tyler huffed and glared at his dad, leaving Peta to once again feel stuck in the middle of yet another heated exchange. “Except that I have absolutely no clue how to drive a clutch,” he stated. “And I have much better vision than you do, even with your glasses on. I could climb a tree or something and then whistle if I see anything. I’m a really good whistler,” he added, facing forward.

  “Kid’s got a point,” Hernandez agreed. “It’s a good idea. I like it.”

  Bill frowned, and Peta could tell he was trying to come up with a valid argument. “Oh!” he exclaimed, twisting in his seat to reach for his backpack stowed behind it. “I almost forgot we have these.” Reaching inside, he pulled out two hand-held radios.

  “Sweet!” Devon cheered, reaching for one.

  “Of course, you have radios in your bag,” Hernandez teased.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Bill countered. “Any decent bug-out bag has radios. Theresa made sure we—” His voice faded as he looked down at his hands and fidgeted with the radio he was still holding.

  “She took good care of you,” Peta offered. “We’re all grateful for the resources you’ve provided.”

  “The radios are actually a huge help,” Hernandez said, clearing his throat. “We’ll leave one with you, Bill, and I can take the other.” When he looked over his shoulder to get the other man’s approval, Bill seemed surprised but nodded.

 
Tyler leaned behind Peta and spoke quietly to his father. “I can stay with you in the car if you want, Dad.”

  Bill glanced at Peta, knowing she was listening. He twisted the power button on the radio on and off to make sure the batteries worked, giving him a moment before answering. “Nah, you were right. You’ll make a good lookout and I think you’d be safer up in a tree than here in the jeep, if anything goes wrong.”

  “I see a house up there,” Devon announced, cutting off any further debate.

  Peta squinted through the windshield, the sun’s glare making it hard to distinguish much. The trees were thinning out as they climbed higher, leaving open areas of a mix of tall brown grass and low, green shrubs of different varieties. The road followed a natural ravine in between two impressive crests, and at the base of it perched a rather unimpressive house. At least, in comparison to what Peta had imagined. It was more of a stylized, quaint mountain chateau than a fortified bunker.

  “Huh,” Hernandez scoffed. “This might be easier than we’ve anticipated.”

  “I’d say we’re about due for some sort of break,” Devon beamed, clapping his hands together. “You think maybe she’s got some steaks up there? ‘Cause I haven’t had a real meal in over a week, now.”

  “Hamburgers,” Tyler countered. “Cooked on a barbecue with some potato salad. And I’d give anything for a Pepsi right now.”

  Hernandez pulled the jeep over and backed carefully in between two Red Firs before shutting it off. Twisting in the seat, he gave both Devon and Tyler a harsh look. “Can we try and concentrate on simply finding this woman before we start fantasizing about dinner?”

  While Peta agreed, she had to admit that her stomach grumbled as she climbed out of the jeep behind Tyler. The two bags of chips, pepperoni sticks, and cheese crackers from the gas station that morning hadn’t offered much nutrition. She’d been on enough field assignments to understand how important good meals were for morale. She decided then that they were absolutely going to raid her kitchen later that night.

  Falling in behind Devon, she tried not to be distracted by the natural beauty they were surrounded by, as they worked their way through the woods toward Mads’ house. The sun was beginning to set, and already Peta could tell that the view of it would be phenomenal. Feeling an unexpected appreciation for the woman who chose to build her home there, she had to remind herself that regardless of who Mads might have been at some point in the past, she certainly wasn’t noble anymore.

  Hernandez stopped and pointed out a maple tree with some low branches for Tyler to climb. He happily scrambled off and started pulling himself up into position as the rest of them continued on. The house was only a couple-hundred more feet away, and Peta had a clear view of an empty driveway in front of the closed garage doors.

  Aside from a random hawk crying forlornly overhead, the silence was complete. A whisper of wind rustled sporadically through the trees, emphasizing how isolated they were. There was no sound of a car, lawn mower, radio, or dog barking. Nothing.

  Hernandez turned around and stepped up next to Devon. “I think it’s safe to assume this isn’t a secret ICONS base,” he whispered with a crooked grin. Peta was relieved to see that he had visibly scaled back his intensity by several degrees. “I say we go right in through the front door and do this quickly.”

  Devon gave a thumbs up but Peta frowned when Hernandez drew his military-issued gun and gestured for them to follow him. “Where’s the one you took off the guard back at the base?” she asked, staring at him expectantly.

  After a brief hesitation, Hernandez reached into an inside pocket of his uniform, and pulled out the other Glock. Turning to Devon, he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  “Why are you looking at him?” Peta scowled.

  Devon held his hands up. “I don’t like guns, man. Peta, on the other hand, is not a pacifist.”

  “You know how to handle it?” Hernandez asked as she took it from him.

  Pulling the slide back, she checked to make sure there was a round in the chamber before letting it snap back into place. Holding the weapon with a two-handed stance, Peta clenched her jaw and bit back her initial response. “Yes,” she said instead. “I’ve done competition shooting for years.”

  Clearly impressed, Hernandez smiled but didn’t offer any apology before turning and starting again for the house. In less than five minutes they were on the patio, in plain view and feeling vulnerable.

  Devon tried the doorknob and it turned easily under his hand. They all took a moment to wait and see if anyone called out once they allowed the door to swing all the way open. When nothing happened, they entered the building single file.

  The entrance wasn’t grand, and Peta was impressed with the choice of raw stone and wood combinations. To the left was a small sitting room, to the right a huge gourmet kitchen. Straight ahead, the open floorplan revealed a family room and office space at the back of the house.

  Hernandez gestured for them all to go straight, and Peta soon found herself standing in Mads’ office, staring at the same wall she’d seen on the video chat.

  Devon whistled low under his breath. “Wow,” he whispered, staring at the sheets of paper that fanned out from the buried corkboard. “She’s been busy.”

  “You stay here,” Hernandez ordered Devon. “I’ll take the basement,” he continued, pointing back toward the open stairwell between them and the kitchen.

  “Guess I’ll see what’s beyond the kitchen,” Peta offered, assuming the visible hallway led to a bedroom or two.

  Walking between the granite countertops, she took in the half-full coffee pot, a shattered mug on the floor, and an empty bottle of whiskey lying on its side on top of the stove. It looked like she’d had a long night.

  Peta didn’t see any sign of a pet. No food or water dish, or scattered toys, and she wondered about how lonely it must have been. She was a bit of a recluse herself, but if she was going to totally cut herself off that way, she’d at least have a cat or a dog.

  The darkened hallway beyond the kitchen wasn’t very long and there were only two doors leading off it. One was to a guest bath and the second, at the end, was to a large bedroom. It was probably the biggest Peta had ever seen and it once again made her wonder about what went on in the mind of the woman who likely designed it.

  Staring at the massive bed that dominated the main space, she realized she would never have a chance to find out.

  Chapter 8

  TYLER

  Lassen National Forest

  Northern California

  Tyler was notoriously bad at sticking to a plan, even when it was his own. When a torturous five-minutes of silence passed after the three adults entered the house, he dropped to the ground and froze in a low crouch. He heard nothing new, no yelling or cries for help. Certainly not any gunfire.

  Tyler glanced back over his shoulder toward where his dad was waiting in the jeep, hidden in the trees just below the next rise. He was going to be pissed. Tyler shrugged and then pivoted back toward the house. “I’m not missing out on this,” he said aloud, bolstering his courage. “No one’s even here.”

  As he scurried through the dry pine needles, the adrenaline coursing through his body increased his heart rate and sharpened his vision. It made Tyler feel so alive. By the time he crossed the porch, he didn’t care anymore about the lecture he was going to get.

  The shadowy interior of the house took a moment to adjust to. Tyler squinted while taking in the layout, and decided to head for the hallway off the kitchen. He could see a faint light spilling through an open door at the end.

  The sound of a drawer opening and closing in another room followed him down the corridor, but there weren’t any audible voices. A brief, irrational fear that Peta and the rest of them had somehow simply vanished quickened his pace.

  The fear was replaced by relief when he saw Peta standing next to a large bed. Except before he could call out, she took a staggering step back while flailing her hands, fumbling frant
ically with the dust mask.

  She turned, pulling the mask to her face. When she saw Tyler standing there her eyes widened. “Get out!” she hissed, snapping the rubber bands over her head.

  Shocked, Tyler looked beyond her to the unmoving form on the bed. His mouth suddenly went dry and he put his hands out to either side to brace himself against the walls of the narrow hallway. He’d left his mask in the jeep. He was supposed to stay up in the tree.

  Tyler spun around and ran for the kitchen, not needing any further prompting. Hernandez was just reaching the top of the stairs when he got there, and he didn’t look surprised when Tyler side-stepped and bolted around him. Rolling his eyes at Tyler, he called out instead to Peta, who was coming down the hall. “There’s some very sci-fi-looking contraptions down there I think you need to have a look—” Hernandez froze when he saw the mask on Peta’s face. His head snapped back to Tyler and his expression changed when he properly interpreted his look of terror. He immediately went into a ready stance with his weapon, arms straight and shoulders tensed. “What’s happened?”

  Peta stopped at the entrance to the hall, still a good ten-feet away from them. “I found Mads,” she said, her voice muffled. “She’s alone, and we aren’t going to need the guns. Put your mask on and get him out of here.” Peta gestured to Tyler, and it didn’t take a mind reader to figure out how upset she was.

  Tyler swallowed hard and took a couple of more steps toward the open door. Fresh air was good, right?

  Hernandez pointed at her mask before pulling his own up from around his neck. “I take it she’s not feeling too hot?”

  “What’s going on?” Devon asked as he walked into the kitchen with several sheets of paper in his hands. “Uh-oh.” He took it all in and yanked up his own mask before making a beeline for the front door. Grabbing at Tyler, he pulled him along with him as he walked by.