“NO!” he screamed and slammed his head against the door frame.
Bob jumped up and whined. Blood splashed out from the gash across Jessies forehead.
“No.” he said again and slumped to asphalt. “I did the right thing. I did what had to be done.”
Bob came over to him and licked at the bloody tears rolling down his cheeks. Jessie pushed him away and wiped savagely at his weakness but the Shepherd came back, forced himself onto his masters lap and whined softly. Jessie stared skyward and breathed heavily. Bob licked him again and he wrapped his arms around the dog. He laid his head against his only friends’ neck and held him for a long time.
“Say again, hand.” The voice on the CB crackled. “Is that you Jessie?”
He reached up and grabbed the mic, answered the call and let them know the cult was gone.
“Do you need reinforcements for mop up?” Wire Bender asked
“Negative.” Jessie said.
“What about survivors? Is there a chance they’ll regroup?”
“Negative.” Jessie said in a flat tone. “I killed them all.”
There was a long silence then his dad come on.
“Jester, are you all right? How’s Scarlet?”
Jessie closed his eyes and fought away the tears that threatened to come again.
“She’s gone.” He said.
“Son, you should come on home.” His dad said after a pause. “The wars are over and your mom would really like to see you. It’s been a while.”
“Soon.” Jessie said. “There’s one more thing I need to do.”
He flipped the radio off, he didn’t want to talk anymore, and placed his forehead against Bob’s for a moment before he stood.
“Come on, boy. We’ve got some unfinished business to take care of.”
2
Unfinished Business
Jessie kept his anger in check as he repacked everything but below the calm was a simmering rage. All the effort and energy he’d focused on getting back to her was now concentrated on the man who had taken her away from him. As he tossed everything back inside, a book tumbled out of a rucksack. It was one of Scarlets endless travel guides and fell open to an earmarked page. It was a write up about Split Rock lighthouse on Lake Superior a few hundred miles north. On the drive across the country when she had been getting sicker by the hour, when the poisonous black runners were racing across her skin, they spoke of what they would do after it was finished. She wanted to take a month off, to spend a night up in the lantern room during a storm and listen to the waves crash against the rocks below. They’d talked quietly as the tires sang on the pavement. They made plans and dreamed dreams about what they would do after they defeated the Anubis cult. After Doctor Stevens cured her.
He slid the book between the seats by the shifter. It would be a reminder that after this was over, he was going to take that vacation. He was going to relax and do nothing. Before he left town, he retrieved the computers and the few remaining vials of the super soldier serums he had stashed away in the hospital. He knew a better place to hide them now if he ever needed them again. They would be safe deep under the mountain.
Jessie touched the battered locket still hanging around his neck for luck, fired up the Mercury and revved the motor. It echoed through the buildings and undead shamblers turned towards the sound. He raced away from the smoldering ruins of the Anubis building and aimed for the graying things gnashing their teeth at him. He slammed them, sent bodies tumbling and black blood sprayed across the windshield. He drove in a quiet fury, arm resting on the window sill and aimed for them. The oversized tires crushed the mindless husks, sent splashes of intestines across the asphalt. When a group came stumbling out an alley after him, he slammed on the brakes and threw it in reverse. White smoke rolled from the squalling tires as he floored it, ran the tach up to the redline and aimed the back bumper for them. Body parts flew as corpses exploded and covered the car with gore. He didn’t care. He wanted to kill every single last stinking one of them.
Jessie drove angry.
He drove hard and he drove fast and he didn’t avoid the undead when he saw them. He cut them down. He only stopped to refuel and to make a bottle of trucker’s speed. He pushed the old car, didn’t slow and didn’t sleep. He sipped the bitter concoction to keep him awake and nursed the black hatred that coiled around his heart. Day turned into night and he chased his headlights across the plains. The sun came up behind him and illuminated the mountains as he twisted through Oregon.
The voice in his head, the one demanding vengeance, drove him onward. It gave him purpose, replacing what had consumed him for years. He was no longer spending every waking moment calculating jump points then launching himself across time to see if he got it right. It had been drudgery hunting for her but once he started, he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t rest. If he hadn’t had Maddy to repair him, nurse him back to health and give him strength, he would have died long ago. Anger at losing her drove him on, too. If he couldn’t be with Scarlet, then he knew he’d never be with anyone else. No other woman could compare, they all fell short and he had nothing to look forward to except a lifetime of emptiness. But for now, he had his rage. He had his need to destroy the man who had taken everything from him. It was enough.
His mind tortured him, made him second himself. Maybe he should have let her die. Maybe he should have jumped and tried again. Maybe he shouldn’t have spent so much time in Ohio, he should have dove in the water and fought the waterlogged dead instead of spending a week battling his way out of Cleveland.
When he pulled into the parking lot at the Tower there were a few dozen retriever cars lined up and a somber group of women were placing stones on the hill top that overlooked the river. The Friends of Scarlet. He shook his head; word had traveled fast. There was loud music, people dancing, a raucous party and sporadic fireworks being shot off from the plaza level. They, like all the rest of the towns in the territories, were celebrating the end of the wars. The undead that surrounded the building were in a frenzy but they’d never get past the steel shutters. Maybe they’d stomp themselves to death trying to climb over each other to get closer.
Not many of the zombies made their way to the parking lot side of the river. There were no roads, only the gravel one the retrievers and truckers used, and ten thousand acres of wooded mountainside. He scanned the wood line anyway. He remembered a whole town of the undead had made their way through the forest and had killed a lot of the women. Or they would someday. Or maybe it had already happened. Or maybe it wouldn’t happen at all. He shook his head to clear it.
The machine. He had to destroy the machine. He was bone tired, his eyes were bloodshot and scratchy and he was weary. He hadn’t eaten or slept and the fury that coiled inside him was dormant for the moment.
“Good evening Mr. Meadows.” Marylin said as he stepped off the ferry boat.
She handed him a cup of steaming coffee, fixed just the way he liked it and he nodded his appreciation as Macon ruffled Bob’s fur and have him a good scratching behind the ears.
“Would you mind stepping into Captain Macon’s office? We have something we’d like to discuss with you.
After they gathered inside, took their seats and closed the door, she offered her condolences for Scarlet then they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Jessie sipped his coffee and waited. He’d gotten good at being patient.
“The road has put a few miles on you.” Macon finally said. “I guess it’s rough out there.”
“You have no idea.” Jessie answered and looked between the two of them.
“Right.” Marylin said. “Let’s get started, shall we? A number of us have become concerned with some of the changes Mr. Horowitz is implementing. We disagree with the direction he is taking with the Tower. At one time it was his to do with as he pleased but obviously times have changed. We believe its resources could be utilized in a better manner.”
She was uncomfortable voicing her concerns aloud, especially with an o
utsider. It almost felt like treason. She’d dedicated her life to Mr. Horowitz and his vision of self-sustaining buildings. They would do much to alleviate poverty in third world countries, reduce the planets carbon footprint and give meaningful employment to millions. She’d worked eighty-hour weeks, many nights sleeping in her office. She’d foregone a social life, marriage and children. She’d been instrumental in researching the right politicians that had weaknesses that could be exploited to fast-track various permits, contracts and exemptions. Some rules had to be bent for the greater good and she believed in the Tower and the good it could do once its usefulness had been proven. She’d been loyal and worthy of her boss’ trust and now she was going behind his back, plotting against him.
“What Miss Marylin is trying to say is Horowitz has let the power go to his head. He’s becoming another Hitler.” Macon said, not mincing words. “He’s experimenting with those blood samples the doctors got from Scarlet and the results are a little unsettling.”
“Are they using them to go through the time machine?” Jessie asked, his voice urgent.
They both looked surprised, they had planned on slowly working their way up to it, slowly building the layers of the story so he would believe it and help them put a stop to it. Neither answered. Something was different. In this world, in this timeline, Horowitz was already out of control. Something had changed. He hadn’t made a deal with the CEO to go after the hard drives yet but Horowitz wasn’t waiting for them this time. They didn’t know he already knew about the machine and Marylin hadn’t given him the documents from Alienhunter471 yet.
“Look at me.” He said with heat and gestured to his face. “Do I really look like the sixteen-year-old kid that left here a few weeks ago? I’ve been through it. It has to be destroyed.”
“When?” Macon asked. “You just left.”
Marylin was the first to recover and wipe the stunned look off her face.
“So the machine really does work? You survived it? We thought you two had similar reanimate antigens in your blood except it affects you differently. You’re not slowly becoming more and more undead.”
“Yes, it works.” Jessie said urgently. “But have they figured it out, are they sending the injected people through?”
“Not yet.” Marilyn answered. “But they’ve been using it nonstop. Mr. Horowitz is having them make small jumps of a few days and they are getting better at it. They send coordinates back to themselves once they figure them out. It won’t take long before they try to send one of the smarter volunteers. One that can still think and obey orders. That’s one reason we needed to see you, we wanted to warn you not to let them get any samples of your blood. Some of the things they’ve created are barely alive, more undead than human and their minds are like five-year old’s. The microbiologist is getting better with every batch, though. They think the virus in them will keep them alive when they are sent through the machine. If it does, it’s more important than ever they don’t get any of your blood.”
“It needs to be destroyed.” Jessie said. “Do you have any C-4? Dynamite? Grenades?”
“No, Jessie.” Marylin interrupted. “We can use it for good. If you can survive it, why can’t you stop the outbreak? Why can’t you go back and fix everything?”
“It doesn’t work that way.” Jessie said and turned for the door, ready to leave. “I tried.”
“But we can help.” Macon said. “Maybe you didn’t do it right.”
Jessie ignored them and jerked the door open.
“He has a small army of super soldiers down there.” Marylin said in a rush. “Most of them are insane, I don’t think you’ll be able to fight your way through them.”
He paused in the doorway. He would tear the machine apart with his bare hands if he had to but it needed to happen fast. Horowitz knew he’d be looking for blood, knew he’d want to kill him and Samed for what they did to Scarlet. If he saw him coming, he could push a few of the men into the chamber and send them back a week. They could be waiting to gun him down as soon as he pulled into the parking lot. If they couldn’t be trusted to do the job, he could just as easily send a message. A warning to himself. Kill the Road Angel as soon as he arrives.
Jessie took a deep breath and let it out. He had to make them understand or they would be against him too. They would try to stop him from destroying the machine. He closed the door and spoke softly to his reflection in the glass.
“I went back many times.” He said. “One time the Anubis cult won the war and had taken over the tower. This was the last place of refuge, the last known humans on earth, but the building was dying. It was over crowded and surrounded by a hundred thousand dead. I met with you, Marilyn. You helped me even though it cost you your life. One time the world went to war and was in the grip of a nuclear winter. Everyone was dead and everything was frozen, a new ice age. One time we thwarted their plans to release the virus but it happened anyway. It was worse, the slow dying. It took months for the contagion to spread instead of days. The survivors starved to death, there were no warehouses full of food. It had all been eaten. They would kill each other over a can of beans. One time the nuclear power plants weren’t decommissioned by the radicals. They melted down and most of the world was a radioactive wasteland. One time they released a fungus instead of a virus. All vegetation was shriveling up and dying, the planet was becoming a desert with dust storms and dead forests. One time I came back and all the zombies were gone but the people hadn’t been able to preserve any technology. They were living in the stone age again after just a few generations. Knowledge had been lost. I’ve tried to fix things in the past and it was a disaster. I’ve been to the future trying to get to the past and sometimes it seemed okay and sometimes it wasn’t. Things were never like they were before, though. One calamity or another left the planet in ruins. This world we are in right now is the best possible scenario we can hope for. If you consider everything that had to happen, every little incident that brought us to where we are now, it’s a miracle. Look around, the future is bright.”
Jessie turned to face them with his weary, scarred face and sad, bloodshot eyes.
“What we’ve gone through was bad but it could have been worse. I’ve seen worse.” He said. “We are lucky, so damned lucky, to have the world we live in now. In the end, I stopped trying to change things. I only wanted to get back to last month. From where I was, it was impossible. I finally stopped trying and accepted things the way they are. If you attempt to fix it one more time, you could destroy what we have and you might not get a chance to try again. I believe the future I saw where gleaming towers grew up out of the woods, where there weren’t ruined cities and mutated creatures, came from this reality. From the world we live in now. The new cities I saw were clean and bright and I think they were built using this Tower as a model.”
They tried to wrap their heads around what he said, what it meant. They had been hoping and praying everything could be fixed. Ever since they learned about the machine, they thought all the wrongs could be righted. Like Jessie, they thought they could fix the world.
They had questions, they wanted answers, they were sure if they did things right and with a careful plan they could undo the past year. They started to argue but quieted when they felt the low thrum of the machine as it fired up again.
“We may blink out of existence as soon as he hits the button.” Jessie said. “If whatever he is sending back changes anything, it will change everything.”
They let out a collective sigh when the faint humming wound down and they were still there. Still alive and debating about the best way to use the machine.
“It has to be destroyed.” Jessie said again. “The next time we might not be lucky.”
3
Destruction
“Jessie.” Marylin said and placed a hand on his arm before he could barge out of the door. “We have a little time. They’ll study the results of their test, they’ve been doing this for weeks now. It’ll be at least an hour before
they try again. If you rush down there without a plan, I don’t think you’ll succeed.”
He knew she was right, especially if Horowitz had been experimenting with a serum derived from Scarlets blood and a bunch of super goons were guarding the machine. This timeline was subtly different, Horowitz was using disposable human hybrids to try to figure out how the machine worked. He wondered what else had changed.
“How many people do you have?” Jessie asked. “Have you raised your own group of fighters?”
“I have three men I trust.” Macon said. “They know as much as we do.”
“Not enough.” Jessie said and drummed his fingers on the door frame. “We need more. I’ll get some of the retrievers.”
“They’re intoxicated.” Marylin replied. “I don’t think they’ll be much good if you’re thinking about doing this now. We should wait until tomorrow…”
“There’s no time.” Jessie interrupted. “The next time Horowitz fires it up it could be the last. Besides, they fight better half crocked anyway. Gather your men, I’ll get the ones I know from the Cowboy bar and meet you back down here to gather weapons. It has to happen now.”
Zombie Road | Book 8 | Crossroads of Chaos Page 2