by AJ Sinclair
Jack was already rummaging through his backpack. He found a clean bandage but kept looking. “We need some antiseptic.”
“I’ve got your germ killer right here.” Cody handed him a flask.
Jack scowled. “I thought you would.”
Austin didn’t ask what was in the burning liquid Jack poured on his wound. If he kept his arm, he wouldn’t care.
“Who shot the people climbing the fences?”
Dr. Jones’ trembling voice barely cut through Austin’s pain-filled haze. “Huh?”
“You said, ‘It wasn’t us.’” She clamped her lips tight and blinked fast. “Who was it?”
Is she crying? He snatched the flask from Jack’s hand and took a fast drink. Whoa. His head swam, and he snarled at Cody. “What is that shit?”
Cody snickered. “Grandpa’s pickled liver.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
The doctor tapped her foot.
“I don’t know.” Austin blurted out the truth. “Everyone had guns. People tried to escape. They might’ve been infected. Might not. Facts don’t matter when panic takes over.”
She nodded as if satisfied, and the foot tapping stopped.
“Tear gas and shock grenades don’t stop terrified people.” Jack wrapped the bandage tight and tied it off.
Austin frowned and closed his eyes as the alcohol buzzed his brain. Of all his men, Jack would be the least likely to pull the trigger against an unarmed civilian. But he probably knew who did. “Doesn’t matter now. They’re all dead.”
A gasp made it clear he’d said that out loud. His eyes flew open, and he pushed up on unsteady legs. “Move out.” He wobbled and caught himself on Dr. Jones’ shoulder.
She reacted quickly, slipped her hand under his arm to hold him steady. “I got you.”
Warmth washed over him, centering in his groin as he met her gaze. Good lord, it hadn’t been that long since he’d gotten laid. She smiled, and he melted, gripping her shoulder tighter to keep from pooling at her feet. Fucking hell, I’ve turned into a pussy. “Thanks.” He released her and picked up his weapon. His wound ached, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it, focusing on the mission—escort the doctor to the hospital. Easy enough.
Eli fell in step beside him. “Let’s avoid the interstate. Too open.”
“Right.” Austin nodded. He picked up the pace, away from the doctor, and Eli matched it. “Do you think she’s for real?”
Eli frowned. “I hope so. Right now, she’s our only hope of ending this.”
Austin dropped back and ordered Cody and Jack ahead with Eli with a tilt of his head. Dr. Jones seemed oblivious, petting her creepy rat while she walked. Her black hair sparkled in the sunlight, and her brown skin glowed. Damn, she’s beautiful. But she’d nearly gotten them all killed at the gas station, so he questioned her intelligence. “Why did you tell the shooter you have the cure?”
She looked up suddenly as if surprised to see him. “Well, he didn’t seem to like you.” Her brown eyes twinkled, and she seemed to be holding back a laugh. But then her merriment disappeared. “He was so afraid. I thought maybe I could help him. I never thought he might not believe me.”
Austin had to smile. Her brain worked just fine, but her heart worked better. “We can’t help everyone.” His brother had proved that.
The rat crawled up the doctor’s chest and nuzzled her neck. “But we have to, if we’re going to end this.”
Well, shit. Their mission just got a whole lot harder.
***
INDIE
Rizzo’s claws had begun to irritate her skin, so Indie plucked him from her shoulder and tucked him back into her pocket. The soldiers had stopped at an intersection, debating which way to go while the traffic lights clicked from red to green, going through their programmed pattern as if nothing unusual had happened. She’d seen all the chaos from her lab window, but somehow it had seemed remote. Now she stood in the middle of it, staring at a burned-out car on its side and an abandoned fire truck bedside it, the useless hose lying in the street. How had it come to this?
“Let’s go.” Austin’s deep voice rattled the stillness and her spine.
God, she could look at him for days. Any of them, really. The men she worked with, meh, geeks—and not in a good way. She’d never dated any of them. She’d focused on her experiments, but on weekends she went out with her sister, Dallas, dancing, drinking, and being an ordinary woman. No one would guess she hid a scientific brain behind the party girl smile. A pang of longing twisted her stomach. Would they ever be able to go out again?
The soldiers surrounded her, Austin and Eli in front, Jack and Cody behind, protecting her. Always carrying their guns, always watching, assessing everything. They took nothing for granted.
Austin stopped short, holding his hand back and indicating for her to stop. Jack and Cody stood beside her while Austin and Eli circled a car, apparently abandoned but undamaged, parked in the middle of the street for no reason. They held their guns to their shoulders, fingers on the triggers.
“Is this odd?” she asked Jack.
“Could be a trap.”
“Or it could be a treasure.” Cody winked.
“A treasure, how?” She liked him. Friendly and approachable, slightly crazy. If she’d met him at a club, she would’ve flirted hard, probably taken him home.
Jack, on the other hand, carried an air of danger. His elusive nature drew her in. She liked him too, what she knew of him, and she wanted to know more.
Jack smirked. “Couple of days ago we found an abandoned beer truck.”
“Coors Light!” Cody hooted. “Who would run away from that?”
“Of course,” Jack went on, “it looked too good to be true.”
“What happened?” A sense of dread sent chills down Indie’s spine. Someone must have died. She didn’t want to hear it.
“It was even better.” Cody’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “I searched the glove box and found a bag of weed.”
Indie exhaled. “Was it good?”
Cody shrugged. “Major Tucker confiscated it.” He leaned closer and patted his chest pocket. “But I found his stash.”
Austin waved for them to proceed. Jack walked ahead of Indie, pointing his rifle at the car, while Cody followed behind, mimicking Jack’s posture. They cleared the car, apparently not a trap or a treasure, and marched down an eerily quiet street.
Once again surrounded by her soldiers, Indie broke the silence. “How do you think the outbreak got started?”
Austin spoke up first. “International terrorists.”
“No one has claimed responsibility.” Eli shook his head. “Domestic terrorists.”
“Who would do this to their own people?” Jack scowled. “Aliens.”
Indie stared at him, waiting for a twinkle in his eye or a curl of his lips. But his face remained stoic as always. “You’re serious.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He still didn’t smile.
Appealing on so many levels. She grinned at Cody too. “I expected you to be the alien conspiracy theorist.”
“Aw, hell no.” He smiled. “Lab accident. Are all your samples accounted for, Doctor?”
Indie gasped and indignation heated her face. “Yes! We follow the strictest safety protocols. Nothing gets out–”
A large hand clapped on her shoulder. “He’s joking.” Eli fixed a glare on Cody. “Right, Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir.”
Indie collected herself and smiled at Eli. His intense brown eyes burned to her core. “Of course.” Then she turned her ire on Cody. “A lab accident is highly probable. But it didn’t happen in my lab.”
Cody gave her a deferent nod. “How do you think it started?”
“I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been too busy trying to kill it.” She shuddered to think that someone might’ve deliberately released this hell. What could they possibly gain?
“Besides,” Cody winked, “lab accidents create supervillains. And this
bug is definitely as evil as they come.”
“That’s true.” Indie smiled at the young man’s infectious charm. “Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin.”
“Sheldon Cooper.” Jack suppressed a smile.
“The Hulk,” Eli called over his shoulder.
“No.” Indie shook her head. “He was a superhero.”
Eli glanced back at her and smiled. “Right.”
“Geek test.” Cody laughed. “You failed.”
“No, she passed.” Jack scowled as he looked up from his scope.
“How do you figure that?”
“Because she knows the heroes from the villains.”
“Okay, passed.” Cody grinned. “Our supervillain needs a name. Has anyone named this bug?”
Indie had numbered her samples, keeping detailed records of each test. “Back in my lab, I called it VS67.”
“VS.” Cody scratched his head. “Victoria’s Secret?”
Jack laughed out loud.
Indie nearly giggled too. “No. Viral sample.”
“Well, that’s no fun.” Cody shifted his gun to his left arm. “It needs a name that fully expresses the horror of this plague.”
“Bloody Hell.” Eli turned and smiled.
“We’re not British.” Jack snorted. “Keep it simple. The Plague.”
“Isn’t that a novel?” Cody frowned as if trying to recall.
“By Albert Camus, yes.” Indie moved closer to him. “I didn’t expect you to know that.”
Cody flopped his gun to his right arm and used his left hand to push Indie’s hair back over her shoulder. “Expect the unexpected, darlin’. That’s why I’m still alive.”
“The Masque of the Red Death,” Jack suggested.
“That’s Poe.” Cody’s cheeks flushed pink when Indie smiled at him. “I like The Red Death. Let’s go with that.”
“No, Scarlet Infection.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s creepy and original.”
Austin stopped in his tracks and spun around with his gun clutched across his chest and a deep snarl on his lips. “Is anyone paying attention to our surroundings?”
Chapter 4
JACK
Jack peered through his scope. An older, planned neighborhood, judging by the size of the trees and the fact that trees didn’t grow in Denver unless they were planted and watered. Quiet. Still, expect for a curtain being pushed aside in the front window of the house in his sights. Garbage cans lined the street, most emptied, but a few had been blown open and trash scattered across the browning lawns. No one left to care for them. No one dared to step outside.
“There should be more people around.” Eli squinted through his scope.
“There are.” Jack spotted another face in a window. “We’re being watched.”
Austin narrowed his gaze at Jack. “Are they a threat?”
Civilians, probably armed, but Jack could take out a shooter before they thought about firing. “Not unless they’re infected.”
A flash of movement, a door opening as a woman ran outside toward them. Cody stepped in front of the doctor while Austin, Eli, and Jack aimed their weapons. A man followed her, carrying a rifle.
“Stop right there!” Austin’s voice carried down the empty street, and more curtains moved.
The man stopped and raised the rifle to his shoulder, aiming it between Austin and Eli. At this distance, he’d most likely miss, but Jack kept his weapon trained on the man.
“Don’t shoot!” The woman raised her hands and slowed her approach.
“Go back to your home, ma’am.” Austin moved an inch closer.
“Please.” She dropped to her knees. “Is it over?”
Dr. Jones opened her mouth but quickly closed it when all four men shot her a glare.
“No.” Austin’s tone softened. “Go back inside.”
“But she’s a doctor,” the woman pleaded. “I’m a nurse. I know what a lab coat looks like.”
Dr. Jones stepped forward, and Austin attempted to stop her, but she held up a hand and silenced him. “I’m a scientist. I…there’s hope.”
The woman brightened, and the man with the gun relaxed slightly. Jack, however, did not.
“We need to get the doctor to the hospital so she can test a human.” The group stared at Austin as he blurted out their objective. “Can we borrow your car?”
“Yes.” The man lowered his gun and sprinted up his driveway.
Jack followed him through his scope, easing his finger off the trigger as a garage door lifted. White backup lights glowed in the dark interior, and an SUV emerged.
Someone coughed behind him, and Jack spun, coming face to face with a young man, pale, eyes glassy, and sweating. Shit! He’d been so focused on the man with the gun, he hadn’t noticed any other dangers, hadn’t anticipated an infected hostile. Who could?
“Help us.” The kid reached out, and blood dripped from his palm.
The doctor gasped, and Jack stepped back, shielding her with his body. She pushed past him, grabbing the young man’s wrist to check his pulse.
“Doctor, step away from him!” Austin raised his weapon, and the soldiers followed suit.
“I’m fine.” She pressed her palm to his forehead. “But he doesn’t have much time.”
Another cough from farther down the street. More people had left their homes, sick and bleeding from their eyes and noses. Coughing blood into the air, onto people standing nearby, spreading the disease.
Austin pulled Dr. Jones away from the sick kid, and the soldiers surrounded her. “Can you help him?”
“Yes.” She nodded but wrung her hands as she spotted a dozen or so sick people approaching them. “But I don’t have enough for everyone.”
“If we can’t help them all, we won’t help one.” Austin turned and addressed the crowd. “Go back to your homes.”
“You can’t leave us here!” someone cried.
“Help is coming.”
Jack cringed at Austin’s lie, but he would’ve done the same.
“Help us now!” A man in a blood-soaked shirt staggered toward Dr. Jones, his eyes bleeding profusely.
Jack pointed his weapon directly in the man’s face. Everyone froze. He’d killed at this range before, a far lesser threat, but he’d been following orders. He could shoot this man and end the poor bastard’s misery. But he waited for the command.
“Kill him.”
But the order hadn’t come from the major. Without turning his head, Jack cast a glance sideways and spotted Dr. Jones staring at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Kill him. I watched my rats suffer.” She reached into her pocket and petted the white rodent she claimed to have cured. “This is so much worse.”
“She’s right,” the bloody man rasped. “There is no help.”
Jack pressed his lips together, and the barrel of the gun shook in his hand. He turned his gaze to the doctor. “Can you cure him?”
She shook her head and mouthed the words ‘not enough.’ “It’s too late for him.”
“Do it, soldier.” The man’s voice trembled, and his entire body shuddered.
A bleak memory of putting down an injured horse flashed into Jack’s mind. He’d had no choice then. He had no choice now. “Yes, sir.” He pulled the trigger and blew the man’s pain away.
***
INDIE
“You did the right thing.” Indie squeezed Jack’s listless hand in hers.
He didn’t squeeze back, didn’t speak, just nodded once, the light that once flirted in his eyes gone dark.
They’d left the infected neighborhood quietly. Austin had ordered them to move out on foot, leaving the SUV behind. No one protested. The residents had watched them go, hope having been destroyed with that bullet.
She worried about Jack. Normally a quiet guy, but this incident seemed to have sunk him into a deep melancholy.
They’d found an abandoned restaurant and scrounged for food. Chocolate chip cookies in the pantry, cheese and bottled
water in the refrigerator, and hard rolls in the freezer.
“I need a beer.” Cody polished off his cheese and stretched his legs under the table.
Eli sat back in his chair. “Agreed.”
“Not while we’re on duty.” Austin scowled at them and bit off a chunk of cold bread.
“When are we ever off duty?” Cody banged his roll on the table, splitting it in two.
Austin’s mouth formed a flat line. “Not until our mission is over.” He angled his head toward Indie.
“I’d like a glass of wine.” Indie smiled, hating being a burden to them.
Cody’s eyes lit up. “There’s a liquor store around the corner. Wouldn’t be my first time robbing one.”
“I’ve killed men before.” Jack suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention and catching the major in mid-chew. “But no one has ever asked me to do it.”
Ah. A piece of the puzzle. Indie squeezed his hand again. This time he squeezed back and wouldn’t let go.
Austin swallowed. “I suspect it won’t be the last time.”
Indie’s heart sank, and a somber stillness enveloped their table, binding them in a morbid reality.
Eli scooted his chair back and stood. “We need to move on.”
“Right.” Austin stood beside him. “Bring the cookies and bread.”
“And wine for the good doctor.” Cody hefted his backpack.
“No,” Austin growled as he led them outside.
Cody caught up with him. “Let’s at least get some whiskey…for medicinal purposes.”
“It’d be better than that rotgut in his flask.” Jack guided Indie out the door.
“All right,” Austin sighed. “Lead the way, Sergeant.”
A gust of wind howled along the deserted strip mall as Cody offered Indie his arm and escorted her to the liquor store. Where was everyone? The government had ordered people to stay where they were, but obviously some had ignored that. Only a few cars remained in the parking lot. Empty grocery carts rolled by themselves, pushed by an unseen hand. A postal service mailbox had been broken open, the contents scattered across the sidewalk.
Glass crunched under their feet as they walked by broken windows and looted stores. The liquor store had been boarded up, but the gated door hung from its hinges, the glass door behind it shattered.