“Alright,” I whispered. “Keep an eye out. I’m going to bring the horde here.”
As I pushed my mind toward the vicious, bloodthirsty horde, I was brought back by Shanti’s hand on my arm. I opened my eyes, and cocked my head toward her in confusion.
“Gotta keep track of you while watching the guards,” she whispered. “I figured keeping a hand on you would be the easiest.”
She nodded at me to continue what I was doing.
My muscles tensed as I made the connection once again. Anger and aggression flowed through me, just begging for an outlet. Silently apologizing to any guards who might be on our side, I gave the horde their orders.
I heard the yells before we could see the horde. The guards were warning each other about the creatures’ approach. Most simply pulled back to their normal safe distance and waited.
For their part, the horde seemed agitated. Unsure. As I told them to attack, they also heard a weaker order to stay away. “NO!” I yelled toward them mentally. They would not hesitate. They would not show mercy. They would ATTACK!
The creatures shuffled into sight. Dead skin and bones moving in the daylight. It was a jarring sight, even now. They almost screamed in their eagerness for fresh flesh. “They’re going to run… now!” I told Shanti.
On my cue, the normally slow moving group sprinted forward, breaking the normally safe barrier around the fortress. The guards panicked! Several broke rank and simply took off running. A few started firing into the horde, dropping the mostly dead creatures quickly. The guards were evidently well trained in shooting. It seemed at least most of what they fired at, fell to the ground and didn’t get back up.
As some of the horde broke through the front running guards, more exited the fortress, ready to protect their property. I got a sense of déjà vu. This was almost identical to how the attack on our prison had gone. My orders were starting to weaken. The order to withdraw was still pushing at the monsters.
I squeezed my sword, and closed my eyes, putting all my concentration onto the horde, and making sure they continued their assault on the fortress. They needed to give our friends time to get in and out. I vaguely heard the walkie talkie clicking, but couldn’t concentrate on what was being said.
Some part of me was aware of Shanti’s hand tightening over my arm, however, it was not enough to drag my focus from the hive. They had to keep fighting. They needed to give us time to…
A scream near me pulled me from my mind. When I opened my eyes, I saw Shanti struggling with a guard. “Not happening!” I snapped, swinging my sword up and slashing the man’s arm away from my friend.
“You!” he hissed, grabbing the bleeding limb. “This was all you?”
Shanti used the hilt of her dagger to slam against the man’s skull. He swayed, but didn’t drop. One of my horde approached. It didn’t react to either me or Shanti, but eyed the guard with interest. The man looked from me to the monster, eyes wide in terror. “You control them,” he said. “Please. Don’t let it…”
“Leave now, or you won’t have the chance,” I said coldly.
I held my sword at the ready, his blood already dripping from it. The creature swayed, waiting only because I forced it to bend to my will. It had been a young man, possibly good looking at one point. Not so much with his hair falling out, and sunken eyes.
The guard, a bulky man, took one more look at the creature—who eyed him like he would make a good meal—and ran.
“Good choice,” I muttered.
Shanti watched the monster with trepidation. It was acting as if it were trapped by an invisible wall. Pushing toward the guard, but stopped by my will to allow the man to escape. He’d been genuinely terrified. Once he realized what was happening, he was no longer a threat. I wouldn’t allow the creature to kill. Never again.
I faced the zombie. “I’m sorry. We’re at my home. This area… the outbreak. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. But I can’t let you continue.”
Shanti seemed confused, and she jumped when I suddenly swung my sword through the creature’s heart. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I could see gratitude in its eyes. No. I shook my head, unwilling to believe it. It couldn’t have human emotion. Not anymore.
“What is it?” Shanti asked.
“Nothing,” I snapped. “But our cover is blown. We need to go.”
“They’re still inside,” she warned me. “If we go…”
They would be captured. I shook my head again. “Not going to happen,” I promised. “We’ll keep up the distraction and give them time to get out.”
Guards had started looking in our direction, but they were still distracted by the fight. Several of the horde were now falling back, apparently following the directive from the siblings in the building. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. If the others were still trying to keep the horde away, did that mean our friends hadn’t gotten to them yet? Or that they had decided escape wasn’t worth it?
A heavy breath escaped, and I wished I could have gone in. I hated not knowing what was happening. The walkie talkie suddenly beeped, and Shanti started pulling me back toward the fence.
“They’re on their way out,” she informed me. “We need to leave! Before they are free to follow.”
Her worried gaze was on the guards, some of whom were no longer fighting the creatures. I slapped her arm in acknowledgment, and we slipped through the fence and took off running. The sound of gunfire followed us, and I was unwilling to slow down to see if they were shooting at us. I hoped Kate would be up to the challenge of covering our retreat.
Shanti kept up well, but grunted with effort as she dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding running into a creature.
“You… all right?” I panted, feeling the strain of our sprint.
She gave me a thumbs up and kept running. The horde was between us and the guards, so I zagged toward the building we’d hidden behind earlier. Now out of sight of the fortress, we slowed and adjusted course to head back to my old neighborhood.
Kate would cover the others, the horde wasn’t leaving, and they would all meet us back near my house. Everything would be fine.
So why could I not shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong?
Chapter Fifty-Six
“Settle down, they’ll be here soon,” Shanti assured me.
I paced back and forth across my back yard. The wheelbarrow and wagon full of supplies were packed and waiting for the others to get here. We would waste no time escaping this city once we were together again. Nothing would keep us here longer than necessary.
The villains of our story would escape to live another day, but we would not give up the search. Who knew? Maybe the siblings would have some idea as to where they might be. “Where are they, Shanti?” I asked.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me close, acting like an older sister assuring me. “They’ll be here.”
The walkie talkie clicked again. “What’s with that?” I asked. “No words?”
“Just a quick tap to let us know they’re still there,” she answered. “We decided on it while you were stuck in your own head figuring out the plan. It seemed like a logical way for us to keep track of where the boys were in their rescue.”
I tensed, and held up a hand for silence. “Someone’s coming,” I breathed out softly. “Hold here, I’ll make sure it’s them.”
She crouched by the wheelbarrow, allowing me to move toward the fence and peer through a small crack toward the front of the house. Nothing. Moving to the side, I heard a branch crack. I froze for a second before peering through the fence toward my neighbor’s yard.
“Jake!” I exclaimed. “You’re okay!”
“Some of us,” he muttered. He climbed the fence, Rex and Kate followed. Two other people hesitated, waiting in the next yard. Both older and taller than me, but they seemed wary and unsure.
“Wait… where’s Scout?”
Kate’s eyes filled with tears. “He… he covered our escape. By the t
ime they got out, I’d been seen by the guards. They were concentrating their fire toward my perch.” Her voice cracked, and she put a hand to her mouth, apparently holding back a sob.
Jake took up the story. “Scout saw she was in trouble, but knew we couldn’t risk the kids getting recaptured.” He shook his head harshly. “He made us keep going.”
“Why didn’t you call us?” I asked. “We could have come back!”
Kate, Jake, and Rex all shook their heads. “Not an option. You’d gotten away. If we couldn’t risk them,”—she pointed toward the siblings, who had finally made their way into the yard—“then we definitely couldn’t risk them catching you,” Kate stated. “We saw how you were able to direct the horde. If the real enemy got hold of you… The creatures would be a weapon no one could withstand.”
“So, he was captured?” I asked.
The new boy nodded. “Injured, then captured. They’ll take him to a different facility though. After this breach, the doctors won’t risk leaving him there. They’ll use him to find you.”
“The doctors?” I asked. “You mean the crazy people who created this outbreak?”
The siblings glanced at each other, then looked back toward me. “Yes and no. There are some who wanted this outbreak. Some of those we worked with seemed to genuinely want an end to it.”
I sighed, rubbing my face wearily. “We can’t stay here. We’ll go back to the others, then work out a plan to find the doctors and Scout.”
Kate looked at me, her wet eyes wide with surprise.
“You didn’t think we’d leave him in the hands of the enemy, did you?” I asked. “He’s a friend. And even if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t leave anyone in the hands of the people who turned a bunch of kids into the carriers of a deadly outbreak.”
Rex broke in. “Also, if we find Scout, we find the people who might be able to cure the disease.”
“We find them, and we can end this for good,” I finished. “But there is one other test subject unaccounted for. Something tells me we need to get all of us together. I feel like we’re connected.”
I took a deep breath. “We can get you out of here,” I said to the two new members. “If you come with us, you’ll have a home and a family. We can help to protect you. I’m Zero. This is Shanti, Rex, Jake, and Kate,” I pointed at each of them in turn.
“I’m Alex, this is Ali,” the teenage boy answered pronouncing his sister’s name ‘Ah-lee’. “We’ll come with you, for now. But we can’t wait around while you solve our problems. We’ve been captive long enough. Both of us would like to come with you to find the doctors, and find a cure.”
“You… you actually want to put yourselves at risk?” Shanti asked in surprise.
“Not as much of a risk with so many of us ‘test subjects’ together. You said there’s only one more?” Alex asked. At my nod, he said, “Then—assuming you actually know there are six of us—that means you know the fifth subject.”
I nodded warily. It wasn’t a complete certainty, but I was at least fairly sure. “I think so. What I know for sure is Shanti and I are. I’m making a bit of an assumption based on how my connection with the horde changed while in the presence of another. We’ll find out for sure when we get back.”
“Speaking of,” Jake urged, pointing toward our supplies.
“Yeah. Let’s go,” I agreed.
As we escaped my home city, I glanced back. We’d rescued two kids, but I still felt like I wished we hadn’t ever come here. Losing Scout had been like a punch in the gut. My depression receded, leaving only determination. We wouldn’t leave our friend in enemy hands. We would rescue him.
It wouldn’t happen overnight. Maybe not even soon. But eventually, we would end this outbreak. Then I would no longer be Patient Zero.
Acknowledgments
Yet another book comes to a close, but another series has just begun. As usual, I was not alone in the publication of this novel. Thanks to Brittany King for another awesome job editing. She is great to work with, and helped quite a bit with some of the research I had to do for certain parts of the book.
Another huge thank you to Christian Bentulan for the amazing cover. He is so easy to work with, and always comes up with the perfect design for each story.
And finally, to you, the reader: thank you for choosing to read Ground Zero. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads to tell others what you think. You can also follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/earthshakerfans Twitter: @AdrianneLemke Instagram: adri_lemke and on Goodreads
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Tracker
Earthshaker Series Book One
Jason is unlike any other eighteen year old. A street kid with special abilities, his only contact with authority is Detective Alice Farrow.
Whenever Alice needs help with difficult cases, she enlists Jason as an informant while attempting to keep his abilities secret.
When Trevor Mason—one of the city's most notorious criminals—does the unthinkable, Alice and her partner must prevent Jason from becoming a tool of destruction.
Can they rescue Jason before his full power is unleashed?
ONE
Jason
I am a Tracker. Although there may be more, I’m the only one I'm aware of. When I touch earth—and to a slightly lesser degree cement—I am able to feel where any one person’s footprints lead. This ability makes it easier to avoid certain people as well. I try to always have a part of me touching the ground so I can feel people approaching, even when I’m asleep.
My ability to differentiate between different people led me to the knowledge that the men who’d attacked me were unfamiliar. I hadn’t recognized the steps, and their intent was not clear until they had surrounded me. I had rushed to send out an SOS to Alice Farrow. The precinct where she works, Crandal County Station 117, is only a couple blocks from the alley where I’d been grabbed, and I’d been able to feel her steps moving toward the building. Her partner was with her as well, but I had no time to worry about that as I was hit hard enough that the garbage-strewn alley faded to black.
I woke slowly. My eyelids felt heavy, as if they were glued together. Prying them open led to a spike of pain that shot through my head and I slammed my eyes shut again. My attempt to stretch led to the realization that I couldn’t move my arms, and there was an uncomfortable pinching around my wrists. As I became more aware, I recognized the feel of metal digging into my back, and my head was resting at an odd angle, increasing my discomfort. A groan escaped as I once again attempted to stretch into a more comfortable position.
I peeled my eyes open gradually, knowing I needed to see where I was and how bad the situation was. The light still hurt, but it wasn’t quite as bad as the first time. I looked around carefully, hoping to see anything that would expedite my freedom, and my heart sank. I was in a storage cage of some kind. There was cement to my right and behind me and chain link fence to my left and in front of me. My hands were cuffed to a steel pipe attached to the wall. The light came from a single light bulb hanging from the middle of the cage. The door was part of the chain link fence and was locked with a padlock. It seemed a little excessive considering I was handcuffed to the wall, but whatever.
Outside of the cage was dark. Either there were no windows or they were covered with something to keep the light out. I didn’t think I’d been out long enough for it to get dark. There was a sliver of light across the room from the space at the bottom of the door. The building was silent, but I could hear traffic moving outside. People going about their lives, unaware there was someone trapped in this warehouse, just drove by without a care in the world.
I glanced once more at the concrete walls and ceiling and accepted the idea that I was stuck. Any attempt I made to free myself would likely end up with me being crushed under a ton of concrete. My ability to move the ground through the concrete was dangerous, and one I had not practiced.
I would have to bide my time and hope an opportunity for escape presented itself. I rattled the cuffs on the pole, and wished I knew how to pick the locks so I could escape. It was something I might want to learn in the future.
My memory of being grabbed was slightly fuzzy, so I had to search it to figure out if I’d been able to get a message out to Alice. It wasn’t easy to do through the massive headache, but I needed to figure it out before I could do anything to help myself. I also needed to figure out exactly who’d grabbed me, and why.
It couldn’t be for a ransom; as a runaway, I have no family to pay it. The other options weren’t as appealing. I work as an informant to the police, so anyone I’d ratted on could hold a grudge. If that were the case, they’d have to know that I had spoken to Alice. Detective Alice Farrow is the one authority figure I trust with most of my biggest secrets. She is the only police officer who knows about my abilities, and trusts me when I tell her something I found out because of them. It was usually up to her to figure out how to explain the tips I gave without implicating me in any crimes.
Most of the cases I’d helped her with involved finding missing people. That is my specialty. It's made simpler if I’ve been in contact with them at some point; previous contact makes following their footsteps much easier. I have a mental catalog of the people I’ve come into contact with and the pattern of their footsteps. Once I feel those steps, I’m able to follow them with little to no difficulty. Most of the time, I instinctively know about how tall and how heavy the people are based on the way they walk.
Another option was the possibility that my father had located me finally—I’d run away five years earlier. Before my sudden exodus, he’d threatened to kill me if I tried to get away again. I’d made certain to run fast and far; he was about four counties over. I’d also been going by a different name for the last five years, and no one in my new life knew it wasn’t my real name.
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