“We’re too late,” he said to Cory. “They got here first. They have her.” He flexed his right hand. It still ached fiercely. He’d had two days to recover on their way south, and the missing fingers throbbed so badly he wanted to cut his hand off completely.
“How?” Eve said as she caught up with them.
“How the hell should I know?” he replied. “She triggered the elevator, so they must have chased her. I…never would have thought...”
Eve put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be all right. We’ll find her.”
“We gotta go. Now,” he said, shrugging her off.
“Without any guns?” she asked.
She was being reasonable. He wasn’t. Damn.
“Guns,” Jesse whispered. “Need guns. I’ve gotta—” He cut himself off and rushed back to the elevator shaft and began pushing his way up and inside the elevator car. It was dark, but he could see the maintenance hatch above had been pried open, and he could see light filtering down from above. A tug on his shirt pulled him away from the light.
“You can’t do that,” Eve said. “You’ll screw up your hand for good if you try to climb that.”
Jesse knocked her away and, grunting, pulled himself up and inside the elevator car with his left arm. Teeth gritted against the pain, he finally made it all the way inside and stood on the tips of his toes. But that was as far as he could go. The maintenance hatch remained tantalizingly out of reach. Cory crawled in beside him.
“Boost me,” Jesse said.
Cory shook his head no, knelt, and leapt. He wrapped his fingers around the top lip of the hatch and pulled himself up and through.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“Microwave,” Jesse said, “behind the microwave.” He dumped everything out of his pack and tossed the empty bag to Cory. “Watch the rear wall of the shaft. Still may be traps that didn’t go off.”
Cory said nothing, but through the opening, Jesse could see him find the rope and begin climbing. Watching him ascend while doing nothing felt wrong, so very wrong. Cory made it to the top and disappeared over the edge.
The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness.
Cory reemerged and descended to the roof of the elevator car. He dropped the pack through the opening and followed it.
Jesse flipped open the pack. “This it?” he said. He pulled out a .357 Colt magnum and a single box of shells. “There were more. Why didn’t you grab them?”
“You want to give her a gun?”
He stopped to consider. “Yes, I think I do.”
Eve smiled.
“What about a rifle? Shotgun?” Jesse asked.
Cory shook his head no.
Jesse growled and scooted out of the elevator car.
“Find the ink at least?” he asked, brushing himself off.
Frowning, Cory shook his head no again.
Which meant Eve had told Noah exactly where to find it.
And he had taken Kate.
“Damn it. There isn’t time to go back,” he said. “This’ll have to do.”
“How are you going to shoot that?” Eve asked.
“I’m just as good with my left,” he said, not sure how true that was. He’d never actually shot left-handed before. There hadn’t ever been a need to do so.
Cory bumped into Jesse. He gave him a broken arrow shaft that had been sticking out of his back pocket. The fletchings were covered with drying blood. “Found this near the top landing.”
Jesse examined the arrow, pinching the feathers and feeling a slight dampness. The shaft had snapped, and there were finger marks along it, which were obviously not Kate’s. She must have stuck it in someone.
Good, he thought as he tossed the arrow aside and hefted the .357. In the dim light, he fumbled for the cylinder release, pulled on it, and swung it open. Doing so using mostly his left hand was awkward, but he managed. The gun was fully loaded. Six shots—six bald-headed toy soldiers ready for action. He wrapped his good hand around the gun and set his finger on the trigger. He would not be nearly as accurate as he had been right-handed, but he still figured he could hit whatever he aimed at, as long as his target was not too far away.
“How many do you think there were?” Cory asked.
Testing the weight of the gun, Jesse answered, “Leading out, I count five or six…plus Kate. Her steps were clipped and toe heavy, so she’s resisting them.”
“She’ll get away,” Eve said.
Jesse did not answer. He said nothing for a nearly a minute. He needed time to think. The footprints he’d seen outside had led off in a different direction than the ones he had seen entering the building. Where were they going? If they were headed back to where they had come from, they should be taking the same path, unless they had been tipped off that Jesse was coming for them. They could even now be circling around to lie in wait somewhere. Since Noah probably assumed he was being followed, he would be fully prepared. The guy probably also knew the basic layout of the city. But there was no way in hell he knew the city like Jesse knew it.
He retraced his steps and picked up the trail leading out of the building. The occasional red droplet in the dust led west. Though, once he got to the opposite sidewalk, he turned south, away from the blood trail.
“Shouldn’t we follow the blood?” Eve asked from behind.
“We are,” he said. “Just not taking the same route they did.”
He led Eve and Cory farther south before turning west again. No raptors seemed to be following, but he was certain they were there, hiding in the shadows as they always did. To the southwest, birds circled above. Looking up, he spotted more birds darting between the shaded areas and roosting on the edges of the nearby buildings. If Noah knew what to look for, he’d be able to tell exactly where Jesse was just as well as Jesse could tell where Noah was going.
Jesse was counting on that.
They came to a narrow alleyway filled with debris. Most of the path forward lay in shadow. Ninety-nine times out of hundred, Jesse would never consider taking such a chance, but it was the only way to remain unseen—and part of his plan.
“Get ready,” he whispered to Cory. “Take out the raptors as we go.”
“Raptors?” Eve said in surprise, backtracking away from Jesse.
He ignored her and skipped a rock down the alleyway. Nothing stirred. Still, he knew they were there and could guess where most were lurking.
There was an open doorway to the right and a series of overturned trash bins just past it. On the greasy pavement were the white organic shapes of various bones, covered in green moss, and even with his nose still packed with crusty snot and blood, the rotten onion odor of the raptors was easy to detect. What he didn’t know was just how many there were.
“Be ready,” he said, glancing back.
Cory nodded and drew his sword. It hissed as it came out. Eve shook her head, but raised the slender wooden spear Jesse had made for her from a closet rod and a kitchen knife, and liberal amounts of duct tape.
Crouched and ready, gun up, Jesse inched his way forward. He stopped briefly and stuck the gun in the waistband of his pants. He grabbed a discarded lid from a plastic garbage bin and jammed it over the bandage on his right arm and tested the fit. The lid made a nice shield. Clutching the gun, he closed the gap with the open doorway. A hissing sound like air deflating from a tire began to emanate from inside the building.
Rattling metal. Tinkling glass.
He took another step, crunching grit under his boots. The muscles in his legs tensed, and he stopped. He was ten feet from the doorway.
“What is it?” Eve whispered.
He glared over his shoulder at her. She moved closer to him and touched him on the elbow.
“Ahead,” he whispered.
Cory passed by him, walking lightly on his feet like a stalking cat.
A skittering noise came from inside the building.
Cory circled in front of the doorway until he was directly opposite it. He bobbed his h
ead back and forth then peeked inside quickly.
Jesse felt a tug on his leg. He heard a squeak. Eve pushed away from him, nearly knocking him off his feet. She shouted a quick staccato burst of nonsense words. He spun, feeling something slither up his leg, into his shirt, and across his bare skin. Tiny, sharp pains rippled along his spine. He arched his back and shook wildly.
Rat.
He spun again, trying to swat behind himself with the garbage can lid, but it wouldn’t reach. He backed against the wall, knowing in advance it was going to hurt, but he had to do it. The rat compressed and deformed against his backbone, squirming desperately to get away. It’s screeching and clawing grew more frantic. Jesse pulled away from the wall, shaking, twisting. His entire body shuddered in revulsion as he sought to knock the damn thing free.
“Get it,” he cried to Eve.
“I—can’t,” she said, rushing him.
Cory moved to help, raising his sword arm to knock the rat away with his elbow.
Then from the doorway came two raptors, taking Cory completely unprepared. They knocked him sideways and he rolled to the ground with them. His sword came free from his grip and it skidded away on the shiny pavement. Ignoring the rat, Jesse lunged at the raptors and kicked the closest one. Fortunately, the raptors were on the smaller side. His second kick punted the lead raptor against the wall, where it rolled over and righted itself.
Cory moved to his sword, but the other raptor had already sliced into his shirt and cut him across the chest. He had to bring his arms up to keep the raptor from gutting him with its hind claws. It shrieked and thrashed as it searched for an opening. Cory held onto it tightly and rolled over onto his side and then over onto his back.
Another raptor leapt at him.
Jesse spun and brought the plastic garbage lid up, meaning to knock the raptor away. But, before he could, Eve ran it through with her spear. She yanked back, withdrawing the spear. Cory held the raptor attacking him up and away. His arms were stretched as far as they would go, and he was snarling at it just as much as it was snarling at him.
“Hold still,” Eve said, waving the spear, preparing to skewer it.
“Trying,” he said through gritted teeth.
She slid closer, attempting to time her movements while Jesse raised his gun to shoot it if she missed. Before he could, she stepped into his line of fire and stabbed at the thing’s body cavity. The spear went in sideways, and the creature let out a wailing squeal. Cory released it, which yanked the spear from Eve’s grip. The raptor thrashed on the pavement, stuck through with her spear. The handle of the spear banged against the concrete until the knife twisted and pulled free of the duct tape. Kitchen knife stuck in its side, the creature fought to right itself, but Cory got up first. He raised a foot and stomped on the thing’s head with his heel repeatedly until the raptor stopped twitching.
Breathing heavily, Cory bent to retrieve his sword.
“You okay?” Jesse asked. “Like those new shoes?”
Cory did not answer. He sank to his knees instead, doubling over.
And then he threw up.
Eve rushed to him and placed a hand on his back while Jesse checked the doorway again. He saw nothing else inside, but he was certain there were more raptors lying in wait. They had to get out of the alley before more attacked.
“He’s burning up,” Eve said, pulling her hand away from Cory’s forehead. “He’s sick or something.”
“Or something,” Jesse repeated ominously.
-35-
FOLLOW THE BLOOD
JESSE DRAGGED THE bodies of the dead raptors along behind him as he emerged from the fractured shadows of the alleyway. He tossed their carcasses into the middle of the street and, almost instantly, they were descended upon by a flock of carrion birds.
“Think that will get their attention?” Cory asked, holding his stomach.
Jesse nodded. “There is a hospital a few blocks over. There’s not much left of it, but that’s where I’d go if I hadn’t been to the city in some time.”
“Is there a back way into it?”
“Yeah,” Jesse said, and then added, “You sure you gonna be okay?”
Cory rolled his arms and cracked his neck. “Yes,” he said.
But Jesse wasn’t so sure.
Twenty minutes later, they crossed through an overgrown and decaying stretch of park. Old, weed-filled tennis courts lay to their right. Jesse continued to scan the sky. Some birds had gathered above, but the numbers were low enough he figured their approach was masked well enough. When he got to the final set of hedges before the hospital parking lot, he brought everyone to a halt.
Peering through the bushes, he spotted two armed men standing guard outside the emergency entrance about two hundred feet away, neither of them were men he recognized, but he was certain they were with Noah.
He held up two fingers for Cory.
“I thought you said there was another entrance?” Cory whispered.
Jesse nodded and led them farther east, circling to the backside of the hospital building. It was a little used entrance, one he’d located a year ago. Inside was a barricade of furniture that had been torn down by scavengers. He squatted and checked the linoleum floor. Undisturbed dust. No one had been this way recently.
“Hmmph,” Jesse said.
“What?” Cory asked.
Jesse couldn’t recall the exact direction they would need to go inside the building, so he started by going left. They made their way down the darkened corridor slowly, Cory with his sword drawn, Jesse with the .357 held out front. Eve brought up the rear, keeping the hastily repaired spear up and off the floor. Raptors had been there, but had cleared out. Nothing smelled fresh.
Eventually, they reached the front entrance.
Pressing himself against the inner wall, Jesse peaked around the corner. The two men were still waiting outside. Both seemed relaxed as if they did not expect any trouble. Jesse indicted to Eve and Cory to remain silent then led them through the ground-floor lobby. He paused at the first flight of stairs going up. Barely visible was a small pool of blood near the bottom of the staircase. Someone had stopped here and made a decision. Jesse also noticed a handprint, man sized, spread fingers on the railing, then another a few feet up.
He followed the trail up the curved stairs, one tread at a time. They emerged on the second floor, and he led Cory and Eve down another wide corridor. The trail became haphazard, as if whoever had made it was searching for something. It followed the main hallway, which led to a second stairway leading up. Before he got to the top, Jesse motioned for Cory and Eve to stop. He’d heard movement ahead. Turning to them, he placed the barrel of the gun to his mouth and indicated to stay silent.
He pointed the gun at the tubular railing. “Stay here,” he whispered and stepped quietly one tread at a time until he could see down the corridor of the next floor.
Hearing a noise, a scraping of shoes, low muffled voices, he froze. He raised the .357 and scanned the way ahead, widening his eyes to see in the dim light.
Cory shifted to the right side of the staircase and unsheathed his katana. Jesse nodded to him and slid to the top of the stairs and peeked around the next corner, down the unlit hallway.
Three men—Noah, Matt, and Ryan—and Kate. She appeared unharmed, but he couldn’t tell for sure. Noah was holding Jesse’s shotgun drooped over his arm like a duck hunter.
Jesse raised the .357 and took aim at him. He could make the shot. Drop him with the first bullet. His hand trembled slightly, but he was certain he wasn’t going to miss.
Ryan and Matt emerged from a room on the right-hand wall. Ryan was shaking his head. Jesse backed away around the corner. When he peeked again, both Ryan and Matt had gone into another room another ten feet down the hallway. Jesse figured the shot would now be difficult to make with his right hand at this distance, nearly impossible with his left. And there was no way he could shoot all three and make sure Kate came away unscathed. He’d have to wait until
the little group rounded the next corner and he could get closer.
He squatted and waited.
Noah suddenly swung around, raising the shotgun. “You can come out now,” he said. He pulled Kate close to him and pointed the shotgun at her cheek. Matt and Ryan joined him, standing to either side.
How had he known? Then Jesse noticed why. There was a mirror near the ceiling at the far end of the corridor.
“Show yourself or she dies,” Noah said.
Jesse came out from around the corner, raising his hands slightly above his shoulders. Noah’s leg was bleeding and hastily bandaged, which must have been where Kate had shot him with the arrow.
“Let her go,” Jesse said. “No one needs to get hurt here.” He lowered the .357 and pointed it at Noah.
The man said nothing.
“Let her go,” Jesse repeated.
“I’d rather not to shoot her,” Noah said. “She’s quite pretty, don’t you think?” He shifted behind her, keeping the shotgun against her cheek. His free hand rested on her shoulder.
“I don't want anyone else to get hurt,” Jesse said. “I only want Kate back, and then we can all talk about what to do next, okay?”
“You have it then?” Noah asked, straightening. He pushed the barrel of the shotgun harder against Kate's jaw. She didn't flinch. She remained perfectly still, almost limp in his grip.
“Yes,” Jesse said. “Between us, we have everything we need now. Isn’t that what is necessary to end them? We have the same goal.”
“Except, we do not have a willing sacrifice. Not yet,” Noah said. “But, humor me, where is it? Show it me.” He jostled Kate and twisted the shotgun barrel.
“Eve’s got it.”
“Eve?” Noah replied. “She’s here?”
“Yes, she is close by,” Jesse said, keeping his hands raised. “I just need to call her.”
“Call her then,” Noah said.
But he did not need to call her. He heard her coming up from behind him. She was closer than he had thought. Again, she had just ignored everything he had said about staying put.
Righteous Apostate: Raptor Apocalypse Book 3 Page 25