“It’s everywhere,” Dr. Sharma said quietly. “It is in India now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Snake told her.
The picture changed to show a shot of Chicago, taken from a helicopter. Traffic was gridlocked as people attempted to flee the area. The reporter stated that with the large number of refugees moving into the suburbs, the traffic congestion was almost as bad there as it was in the metro area. As the camera zoomed in, the dead could be seen roaming the highways and pulling people from their cars. The video changed to show clips of other cities, but the scenes were all remarkably similar.
The video disappeared as they lost the station they’d been watching. The way that sites had been dropping off the internet, Snake wasn’t shocked to see the same thing happening with the TV. It was almost more surprising that there were any stations still operating, but some members of the media apparently took their jobs very seriously, and Snake was glad for it. While the information that was being passed on was dire, he found it somewhat comforting to have the small bit of contact with the outside world and to know that others were still alive.
~*~
Yucca Compound, Southern California
“We found something,” Madec said, his eyes never leaving the laptop as Bob walked into the room. “One of the teams discovered an infected body hidden behind a wall. It was the only one in the area, and it had been dragged from the street, which struck them as odd.”
“Was it Rayburn or Hixson?” Bob asked.
“No,” Madec said, “but the team did a thorough search of the neighborhood, and they found signs of break-ins at a couple of houses. There were still a few people in their homes, and one woman saw both men. She saw Hixson break into a house then return that evening with Rayburn. She never saw them leave.”
“But they’re gone now, I assume?”
“Yes, they are, but they did make copies of the DVD on a computer and we have the files,” Madec said, nodding toward a small external hard drive that was connected to his laptop. “When we’re done watching it, it’ll go into the safe in my office. I’m the only one who has the combination.”
“Was it wise to make a copy?” Bob asked. “We don’t want anybody here seeing what’s on the DVD.”
“I realize that. They brought the computer here, and I had our IT specialist go over it. I was sitting beside him the whole time, so there’s no chance that he saw anything. When he was done, I watched him destroy the computer.”
“What about at the house? Could someone on the team have seen the video there?”
“They had no idea what we were looking for. We had them bring both computers from the house, just in case. We got lucky.”
“Excellent,” Bob said, looking relieved. “At least we’ll know exactly what’s on it. Let’s watch it.”
“You’re not going to like it,” Madec said, turning the computer screen so that Bob could see.
~*^*~
~33~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
“You going with us, Xena?” Snake asked Lindsey. The sky was just beginning to lighten as the group gathered by the door.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she told him. “You know how I love shopping.”
“Bah, shopping,” Helga muttered.
Lindsey said, “I don’t really like shopping. I just like to be outside.”
“You said you like shopping,” Helga frowned.
“I was kidding.”
Lindsey turned to Snake and said, “Autumn and Claire made up some flyers for us to put around town.”
She held up a thick pile of the papers, and Snake took one and looked it over. It wasn’t exactly professional quality, but it wasn’t bad.
“Better than I could have done,” he said, noticing that there was even a picture of St. Mary’s on it. The message said that shelter could be found at the hospital. “Let’s just hope it works.”
“We were thinking that Wombat, Hawk and I could put these up,” Lindsey said. “We’re all pretty fast, so we can jump off the bikes and get the posters up before things get too dangerous. Maybe we could just stop every time we come to a reasonably clear spot.”
“That should work,” Snake said. He knew it would slow them down, but bringing in survivors was an even bigger priority than procuring supplies. “Maybe you guys should double up with someone else, so you don’t have to park the bikes every time we stop. One of you can ride with me in the truck.”
He saw the glare on Helga’s face and quickly said, “Hawk, you ride with me. We haven’t talked in a while.”
Wombat had his back to Helga, so she couldn’t see it when he grinned at Lindsey. “Well, I wanted to ride with you, sweetcakes, but I guess we can’t do that today,” he said.
“Next time,” Lindsey said, slipping her arms around Wombat’s neck to hug him. “Sweetcakes? Seriously?” she whispered.
“I thought you’d like that one,” he whispered back before she pulled away.
“You two are having way too much fun with this,” Snake muttered to them. He noticed Helga moving toward the truck and realized she was planning to ride with him, too.
“Uh, Carmen, why don’t you ride with me and Hawk?” Snake asked quickly. “We need to talk about that gate.”
When Helga let out a growl, Carmen rolled her eyes.
“Hey, don’t worry, lady. I’m not into men,” she said.
Snake watched Helga stomp off to get her bike, but at least she no longer looked as though she wanted to kill someone.
“Why’d you have to tell her that?” Snake grumbled to Carmen.
“Because it’s true.”
“Yeah, I know that, but Helga didn’t need to know it.”
“Sorry, Snake, but I’ve seen what Lindsey’s been going through,” Carmen laughed as she climbed up into the truck.
Lindsey got on Wolf’s bike while Wombat hitched a ride with Fish. Keith, who was going with them in hopes of picking up new exercise equipment, rode in one of the rental trucks with Dumbo.
~*~
Yucca Compound, Southern California
“No luck with the shoes, but they found a pair of Rayburn’s socks at the same house, and the bloodhounds were able to pick up a trail,” Madec said, hanging up the phone. “We have several helicopters in the air and over a hundred men on the ground around the area.”
“Are we sure they’re Rayburn’s socks?” Bob asked.
“We showed a picture to the janitor, and he was fairly certain that they were Rayburn’s.”
“The guy knows what Rayburn’s socks look like?” Bob asked, skeptically.
“Apparently it was always a topic of conversation around here,” Madec said. “Rayburn’s socks rarely matched, and they were usually either checkered, or had a bizarre pattern. That’s exactly what was found under the sofa. The bloodhounds are moving down the Pacific Highway as we speak.”
“I hope we find them before they start talking to someone else,” Bob said.
“My biggest concern is that they’ll put the video on the internet,” Madec said. “If that happens, we could be screwed. At least our names weren’t mentioned.”
“I never even thought about the internet,” Bob said, frowning.
“I’ve been keeping my eyes open and haven’t seen anything yet,” Madec said. “I’m hoping that they won’t have the opportunity to do it.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“I need to think about it,” Madec said. “This needs to be handled carefully. Also, I made it clear to all of our teams that Rayburn is to be taken alive. I sent the message out the moment I finished watching the DVD.”
“Do you think he may have any information on this in his office?”
“Based on what his office here looks like,” Madec said, “it would probably take months to find anything.”
“By the way, we lost two more choppers,” Bob said in disgust.
“They went down?”
“No, the pilots went AWOL. They took t
he choppers and a bunch of soldiers with them.”
“They’ve finally begun to realize what’s going on,” Madec said. “We knew this would happen eventually.”
“And it’s hard to gain cooperation now that many of them have already lost their families,” Bob said. “We don’t have much left to use as leverage if they don’t want to live in our communities.”
“I’ll send a team over to the airport to pick up a few commercial helicopters. We wanted more of them, anyway. They just won’t have all the equipment we have on the military aircraft,” Madec said.
“It’ll have to do.”
~*~
Near Oxnard, California
After spending the night in a barn near Oxnard, Hixson and Rayburn got up before dawn and continued their trek. They saw signs of life as they made their way down the road in the dark. Houses had been reinforced, and many of them were surrounded by fences that appeared to have been hastily erected. Hixson wasn’t surprised since he’d expected to see more survivors in the rural areas.
A loud click caught Dan’s attention, and he turned to see Rayburn easing a car door open in the pre-dawn light. Hixson had been so intent on watching for the dead that he hadn’t even noticed the vehicle on the side of the road.
“Any keys?” he asked.
“I’m looking,” George said, leaning inside.
“Did you check . . . ?”
“Hey!” Rayburn yelled, struggling with something in the dark. “It’s got my arm!”
Moving quickly, Hixson yanked the back door open. One glimpse told him that he wasn’t dealing with a living person, and that was all he needed to know. As the dead creature pulled Rayburn’s arm toward its snarling mouth, Dan stopped it with a knife to the brain.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he wiped his weapon off on the clothing of the deceased man.
“I think so. He didn’t bite me, but he did kind of have scratchy nails.”
Hixson checked George’s arm with a flashlight, but he saw nothing.
“It doesn’t look like it broke the skin, but I’m not sure exactly what it takes to infect a person, either. It’s possible you could have a tiny scratch we can’t even see.”
“I have so many scratches and scars on my arms, it’s kind of hard to tell,” Rayburn admitted before pointing to a large scar. “Did I ever show you this one?”
“No keys,” Dan said, not really paying attention.
“It’s from a weasel.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Dan said. He took two steps then stopped to look at Rayburn. “A weasel? Seriously?”
“Yes. It was a mean one, too.”
“Aren’t they all?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been attacked by one, so it’s hard to say.”
“Why would a weasel attack you?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“Okay, let’s save it for when we don’t need to be quiet.”
They walked in silence for a while then Rayburn looked down at his arm again. “I guess you’ll have to keep an eye on me. If I start doing anything strange . . .”
“Really? If you start doing anything strange?”
“Yeah, whatever, but if I do, you’ll have to shoot me. Well, wait ‘til I die then shoot me, so I don’t come back, okay?”
“Okay,” Hixson said, eyes darting around as they continued down the road.
“Okay? Just like that? You’re not going to argue, or tell me you could never shoot me?”
“No,” Hixson said. “Now we need to be quiet.”
~*~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
“Autumn, I’ve been thinking about what you said about Dr. Rayburn,” Doune told her.
“What did I say?” she asked, looking up from her computer.
“You were telling me that he talks a lot and asks questions.”
“All the time,” she said. “I’ve never seen anybody talk as much as he does.”
“Didn’t you also say that he was an older man?”
“He’s like a grandfather,” Autumn said. “Gray hair and everything.”
“I couldn’t see him over the phone, obviously, but this man sounded younger, and he wasn’t talkative. I want to call him back and see if you recognize his voice.”
“Okay.”
“It’s critical that he doesn’t hear you or realize that you’re listening. I’m not comfortable with having anybody know about your immunity except for the handful of people here who are already aware.”
“I’ll be quiet,” she said.
Doune dialed the number that he’d been given for Dr. Rayburn’s cell phone. It was answered almost immediately by the same man he’d spoken to earlier.
“This is George.”
“Dr. Rayburn,” Doune said. “This is Nick Doune.”
“Dr. Doune, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” Doune said. “We’ve been discussing your offer, and some questions have arisen about security. Would you mind giving me more details on how you plan to keep this person safe during the trip to California?”
He tilted the phone so Autumn could put her ear against it as the man began to speak. Almost immediately, she frowned and shook her head, handing the phone back.
Doune listened for a while then finally told the person on the other end of the phone that they’d think about it. He ended the conversation as quickly as possible.
“So that wasn’t him?” he asked.
“No,” Autumn said. “That guy had a deep voice. He didn’t sound anything like Dr. Rayburn. You’re not really going to let me go there, are you?”
“Of course not,” he said. “Especially if that wasn’t even Dr. Rayburn.”
~*~
Near Oxnard, California
Dan and George stood at an edge of a vineyard that claimed to produce the best wine in the area. Dan had his doubts, since the vines looked like they hadn’t been pruned in a while and were growing wild. Fortunately, that meant that they were tall enough to hide the two men.
“We’re going to have to cross the field,” Dan said. “We should be okay unless a chopper goes directly overhead.”
They’d seen a couple of helicopters that day, but for the last hour only one had been in sight. Dan was keeping an eye on it, but the pilot seemed to be concentrating on an area to the west of them.
“This place is kind of creepy,” Rayburn said. “What if there are zombies in the field?”
“They’d have a hard time getting past the vines,” Hixson said, pointing. “Look how they’re planted with some kind of string or wire running down the rows.”
“Wire, I think. The vines wrap around it,” Rayburn said. “I took a tour of a vineyard once and . . .”
“Not now, George,” Dan said. “My point is, they’d have to break through the vines and wires, so I think we’ll be all right.”
“Okay, let’s do it,” George said.
Dan found a spot where they’d be hidden by trees as they crossed the road, and he took off at a jog. They made it to the other side of the road without a problem and were halfway across the field when Dan stopped suddenly, holding up a hand.
Rayburn froze in his tracks, listening.
Something was moving through the rows, snapping vines and wires in its path. A low moan reached the ears of the two men, leaving no question as to what pursued them. Other voices joined in the chorus as Hixson turned slowly, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the dead.
“I thought you said they couldn’t break through the vines easily,” Rayburn hissed.
“They shouldn’t be able to,” Dan said, “unless there are a lot of them.”
“We should run,” Rayburn said.
“I think they’re directly to the west,” Dan whispered. “We’ll keep going north. Maybe we can get out of the field before they intercept us.”
“I hope so,” Rayburn said, his eyes darting one way then the other as he searched for signs of the dead.
They began to run, an
xious to leave the field and find shelter on the other side, but moments later the sound of the helicopter grew louder as it began to move closer. The soil beneath their feet was muddy, and Rayburn’s shoes got stuck twice, costing more valuable time.
As the sound of the breaking vines grew closer, Hixson realized that they weren’t outrunning their pursuers as he had hoped. He envisioned an army of the dead just yards away, marching forward on a collision course with them. Both men put on a burst of speed and didn’t stop until they reached the end of the vineyard. Hixson paused to take in the scene beyond the field. There was nothing but more farmland as far as he could see, and the crops growing there would do nothing to hide them. As he scanned the area to the right, then the left, his eyes lit on a possibility. He jumped down into the ditch and hurried toward a culvert that ran under the road. It was going to be close, but it was their only hope. He pushed himself, sights on the round metal cylinder ahead, but when he looked back, he saw that Rayburn was falling behind. Turning back, Dan took the other man’s backpack and kept running. Without the heavy load, Rayburn was able to keep up with him. Moments later, they hit the culvert. Hixson threw one of the packs inside the metal drain pipe then motioned for Rayburn to go first. The seconds seemed to last forever as the doctor got on his hands and knees and crawled into the tunnel, pushing his pack in front of him. Hixson crawled in backward, dragging his pack in after he was in place. Just seconds later, the helicopter could be heard directly overhead.
Breathing hard, Hixson arranged his backpack to provide some cover then told Rayburn to do the same on the other side. If cameras were being used, Dan hoped they wouldn’t pick up a heat signal through the tunnel. When there was no response from Rayburn, Hixson remembered that George was facing the other way and probably couldn’t hear him over the sound of the helicopter. Reaching back, Hixson tapped Rayburn’s foot to get his attention and pointed toward his backpack. The light coming from Rayburn’s end of the tunnel faded moments later, and Hixson knew that Rayburn had gotten the message.
Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise Page 29