Rachel nodded. “They can’t beat us,” she said. “They can’t win. At least not from where they are.”
Cody shook his head. “What does that mean?”
Rachel hesitated. “They’re coming here,” she said.
“The Exterminators?” Cody said. “Coming here?”
Rachel looked up at the ocean of darkness above their heads. Her eyes drifted off into the depths.
“Let’s get out of here,” Cody said. “Nick and Crazy Diamond are still back there. They might need us.”
“Dad,” Rachel said, putting a hand on Cody’s arm to steady him.
“What is it honey?”
“I can fight them,” she said. “When they come.”
Cody looked at her. “Fight them?” he said. “Rachel, you’re just a kid for God’s sake. I don’t care what powers you think you stole off them. I don’t care if you’re Supergirl. Now let’s go.”
“We have to fight them,” Rachel said. “They’re coming.”
“Let’s go Rachel.”
They walked back to the van in silence.
Cody opened the driver’s door and climbed behind the wheel.
There were two steering wheels in front of him.
“Damn it,” he said. “I think my vision is a little wonky.”
He concentrated and tried to slide the key into the ignition. After a short struggle, he couldn’t find the slot. He tried again with no luck and punched the steering wheel in frustration.
“This isn’t good,” he said.
“What’s wrong?” Rachel said.
Cody sat back in his seat. Both steering wheels looked back at him – challenging him to try again.
Everything else was a blur.
“Rachel,” he said. “We might have to wait a while before we go anywhere. Think I took a bump to the head back there.”
“Alright,” she said. “But…”
He looked at her. Her face was a blur like everything else. “But what?”
“I think I can drive the van.”
Cody managed to laugh, somehow. “You don’t know how to drive.”
“I sorta do,” she said.
Through his skewed vision, Cody saw Rachel screwing up her face in concentration. A long silence lingered in the cabin. Cody was about to break the silence when he heard the choking sound of the Sprinter’s engine.
It was trying to spurt into life.
Cody looked at his hand. The key was still there, locked in between his forefinger and thumb.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “How…?”
The engine coughed and spluttered but it wouldn’t start. Rachel’s eyes were still closed as she tried to tempt the van into starting. Cody wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but he caught a brief glimpse of what looked like colored sparks dancing at the tips of his daughter’s fingers.
After about a minute, Rachel fell back into her seat. She looked at her dad and smiled, like she’d almost mastered a new trick. She was breathing heavy.
“You gotta start somewhere,” she said, sounding more Texan than he’d ever heard her before. “But it’s going to take a while.”
“This isn’t happening,” Cody said. “Whatever it is, it’s not happening.”
“It is,” Rachel said.
Cody’s head fell back onto the seat. It felt good to stop for a moment. He closed his eyes and everything was peaceful.
“Let’s just sit here for a while,” he said. “I’ll drive us back when my eyes are good. Then we’ll go help Nick and Crazy Diamond. Okay?”
“Okay,” Rachel said.
Father and daughter sat in silence together.
Above Brackenridge Park, a gentle rain began to fall. It made a soft pitter-patter noise as it landed on the roof of the van. The black sky grumbled from afar; it sounded like a dark premonition of bad weather. It sounded angry.
In the distance, Cody heard the flapping of bird wings.
Black Earth - Coming July 2018
Note From The Author
Hi there,
Thank you for reading Black Fever. I hope you enjoyed the book and with any luck, you’re looking forward to the third and final book in the trilogy - Black Earth.
If you enjoyed Black Fever, it would mean a great deal to me if you stopped by Amazon and left a brief review. Reviews are the lifeblood of indie authors. A one sentence review is absolutely fine if you’re strapped for time.
Thank you for all your support.
Mark
P.S. If you’d like to join my Reader List and keep up to date with release news, here’s a link to my website. Click here.
Also by Mark Gillespie
The Future of London Series
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Mr Apocalypse
Ghosts of London
Sleeping Giants
Kojiro vs. The Vampire People
Black Fever: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (The Black Storm Trilogy Book 2) Page 17