Altered

by Kimberly Montague

  I hung the phone back up, and turned to Sonya who looked as if she were going to break down at any minute. I shook her by the arms. "Sonya, stop. We're not those girls. We're not gonna stand here freaking out when the smart thing to do is run." She was nodding at me, and I was so relieved to see her start to pull herself together. "Besides, we have two guys with us, Sonya." I forced a smile. "We can feed them to the monster first."

  "Very funny," Dev said as he moved toward the kitchen window. "Now help me close the rest of the curtains and blinds. I don't want it to be so obvious we're here."

  "No," I said very firmly.

  The force behind my word must have caught him off guard. He looked at me as if I'd just hit him.

  "We're running," I stated more evenly. "Sonya, go pack some clothes, hurry!" I followed her down the hallway to my room, grabbing a small duffel bag from the closet and shoving clothes inside.

  "What are you doing?" He'd followed me into my room and was now staring at me like I was a hysterical woman.

  "We're running," I stated matter-of-factly. "I already said that, didn't I?"

  "We can't run. Where we gonna run to?"

  I was already back down the hall heading into the bathroom when he followed me along with Butcher.

  "Sonya, hurry up!" I yelled down the hall. "You've got one minute." I turned back to the frustrated man standing next to me. "Dev, they'll close off the roads, they'll quarantine the town as soon as they figure out what's happening. We'll be trapped here, left to wait until they kill us or neutralize the targets."

  "Neutralize the—what the—" He looked seriously pissed now, like I was teasing him or something.

  "Dev, I love you." I put my hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes, which in the darkness of the bathroom appeared to be much darker with more green than usual. "I know you're trying to be the protector here, but seriously, I'm much better equipped and more knowledgeable than you are in terms of strategy and the operations of the army. They'll call in the National Guard. They'll come in and wipe out anyone they perceive to be a possible threat. Jay's after me—he won't stop, Dev. We have to run, and we have to do it now!" Gary was standing in the doorway watching us with a bag in his hand. I turned to him. "Did you get all the bullets?"

  "Yeah, I got everything, and I managed to find the bullets in the storage shed, too. Do you need me to get anything else?"

  I was glad to see I wouldn't have to argue with Gary too, but it didn't really surprise me—Gary knew me better than almost anyone. I continued my conversation with Gary, ignoring Dev. "I've got everything useful from the medicine cabinet and clothes. We just need some food, and we can get out of here." He nodded and stepped back as I walked toward the kitchen.

  "Gary," Devlin said as he, Gary, and Butcher followed me to the kitchen. "I don't think this is a good idea."

  "Look, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but you don't know her as well as you think you do. Her brother's Special Forces, man. He spent most of our childhood drilling her on survival crap. When we played capture the flag, she was the captain—always, without question. Just, have a little faith, huh?"

  I tried not to let it bother me that Gary had to come to my defense against the man I loved, but I still found myself being a little too aggressive as I dumped everything out of my backpack. "Gary, go get me your backpack, we can fill it with water."

  "Water?" Dev barked at me. "I thought you said we were getting out of town?"

  I slammed several boxes of granola bars into my bag and let out an irritated sigh. "Gary!" I yelled into the other room. "Grab the Aim N' Flame from the bookshelf!" When I'd finished going through the pantry for what Harm would call "sustainable food sources," I grabbed a small pot and tried to force it into my stuffed backpack.

  "Here—" Sonya rushed to the kitchen table. "—Use mine." After she dumped out her notebooks on the floor in the kitchen, she crammed the pot into her backpack and looked over at Dev. "Why don't you just listen to her? She's the wonder alien after all."

  I turned to smile at her. Harm had always called me that when he was expecting me to do something brilliant. I usually didn't disappoint him, but he was usually there to help me through whatever challenge he'd laid out for me.

  "Oh!" Sonya jumped up. "Butcher, we need to grab some food for Butch."

  I turned to the pantry again at her reminder.

  "Evie," Devlin started again. "This is—"

  My blood pressure was heading through the roof at his arguing. I couldn't take care of us all and fight him too. I'd had enough. "Dev, look, I love you. I want you to come with us. I want you to be safe, and stay with me." My voice broke a little, and I had to swallow hard to put back the strength behind it. "But until you can give me a more logical option, we're doing this my way. You're either with us or not, make the call now."

  I didn't watch him or stand there waiting for his decision. Instead, I turned to help Gary fill his backpack with bottled water. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him walk out of the kitchen, and my stomach fell. The idea that he didn't trust me in this and wouldn't come with me hurt too much to think about. I let my chest burn, but I had to cut off my reaction there and lock it away to be dealt with later. Harm taught me better than to be reduced to tears at a time like this.

  The trust I saw in my best friends' eyes made me feel the pressure. "Okay." I tried to sound reassuring. "We need to take the truck—it has four-wheel drive. Let's grab all the sleeping bags from the closet and get out of here."

  Gary waved his hand in the air like a kid trying to get attention in class. "Are you sure you want to take the truck? That's Gabriel's pride and joy. He'd kill us for sure if it got so much as a teeny scratch."

  "No," Sonya corrected him impatiently. "Evie and I are his pride and joy. You'd better believe he'd rather spend the rest of his life making us feel guilty over hurting his precious truck than spend the rest of his life mourning us."

  As I turned around, Dev came back into the kitchen with his backpack in hand. "Which drawer are the knives in?" He winked at me.

  I couldn't help my smile or the fact that I was too stunned to move for a moment. But when Sonya slid past me with the block of knives that typically occupied the countertop, my brain finally kicked back in.

  "Oh, crap!" I said to myself as I pushed past Dev and Sonya and ran to my room. It took me a minute to tear through my papers on my little desk, but I eventually found what I was searching for. The others were standing in the living room with sleeping bags in their hands as I joined them. "Okay, we can go now."

  Sonya quickly read the top paper in my hand and asked, "Are we going to enlist local sex offenders to help us?"

  Under safer circumstances, I would have laughed. Instead, I just shook my head and flipped to the geographical map of the local terrain Harm had included in the reports he'd given me so many months before that moment. I'd added to the pile, having printed out copies of news articles I thought pertained to the boy whose image and story haunted me. Sort of stupid, I know, but I guess I thought I was creating some sort of Pelican Brief—a brilliant theory of the conspiracy behind the events. Now that I thought about it, it didn't seem as stupid anymore.

  On the Run

  With the truck loaded full of supplies and another case of bottled water that was stored in the garage, our last order of business was to move Dev's car from the driveway so we could get out. Something I thought would only take a few moments wound up being a blazing sign that we were in trouble. Someone had dented the hood of his car, and the battery was gone. We all had a pretty good idea of who that someone was, but no one said anything. Instead, Sonya, Gary, and Dev pushed the car out onto the street as I stood guard with the shotgun, and Butcher stood guard over me.

  We all breathed a gigantic sigh of relief when the truck started, although it wasn't too surprising since there's no way Jay could have gotten into the garage without Butcher hearing him. When we finally managed to pull out of there, it had been at least an hour since our encou
nter with Jay.

  Dev drove, giving Gary a high-five when he revved the engine. The truck was only a year or so old. Gabriel's pickup had finally called it quits after being driven to death for nearly twenty years. I could still remember the day he got the new truck. He was like a little kid showing off all the bells and whistles: the four-door extended crew cab, the matching camper shell, the talking navigation system, the Hemi engine he spent countless days trying to teach Sonya and me about, and the sparkly dark silver paint that he must have waxed three times that night alone. I felt a little guilty about taking the truck, but it was easy to push that guilt aside since, like Sonya, I knew without a doubt, that our safety meant more to him than any material possession.

  As Dev drove, Gary called his parents to warn them about what was happening. His dad fought him for a few minutes about not coming home, but Gary finally convinced him that we would be bringing more trouble with us than if they just hid on their own. Their conversation ended with Gary instructing his parents to take his sister and hide at Dev's house in the secret storm cellar they had. When Gary's dad called back twenty minutes later to him know they were all safe along with Dev's parents, I saw both guys breathe sighs of relief.

  While all this was happening, I had the chance to think through our plan. We had to move quickly, but we had to be smart about it. I studied the map for the best way out of town—one that was travelled the least.

  "Just head for 168," I instructed as I ran my finger along the page. "Maybe we can get out of here and head south to the army base."

  As we drove through town, past houses and neighborhoods, everything seemed pretty quiet. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just as we were passing the high school though, everything began to change—fast. We were absorbed in seeing the damage Jay's crew had done, preventing us from noticing the houses across the street. Dev had slowed down just a bit to survey the school too.

  Out of nowhere, a guy in a black pickup truck swerved out in front of us nearly sideswiping us. I almost had a heart attack, but Dev's reaction time was unbelievable. Before any of us could even catch our breaths, we saw families hurrying out of their houses, throwing things in cars, up and down the street. If they were running, something had to have tipped them off—the quarantine.

  "Shit!" If ever there was a time for cursing, now was that time. I reached out and turned on the radio.

  "Attention citizens of Bishop, it is important that everyone remain calm. Stay inside your home, and lock your doors. The National Guard has imposed a quarantine for the entire town. No traffic will be allowed in, and no traffic will be allowed out. Anyone seen on the streets will be taken into custody. Attention citizens of Bishop, it is import—"

  I went through all the stations, but no one was broadcasting anything else. The emergency signal clearly took precedence.

  Sonya pulled on my shoulder her voice full of panic. "They're locking us in here? Why would they do that? Why wouldn't they let us out?"

  I scrutinized the map as closely as my brain and eyes would allow while I absent-mindedly answered her. "They don’t know who's infected. They have no way of controlling it if it gets out. They're trying to contain it. Crap, I wish I knew this town better. They're going to shut off the main arteries first—the freeways and major roads that lead to the freeway. We need a side road or a dirt road that isn't charted well that we can get out on."

  "I got that." Dev sounded incredibly confident and pleased as he whipped the truck around heading back in the opposite direction.

  Gary leaned forward, looking at me. "What do you mean 'they don't know who's infected?' What do you mean 'infected?' I thought this was about a gang of guys on drugs. What does–"

  "No." I shook my head sadly. Why did I have to be right? "They thought it was a drug that kids were experimenting with, but it's not. They've been trying to cover this up ever since."

  Gary's voice hitched higher, became more frantic. "But it was all over the news. How did they cover up the news?"

  I rubbed my forehead in frustration and anger. Gary was so naïve. It was almost cute how innocent he thought everything was. I didn't want to upset him, but Sonya started explaining it all to him. I was surprised she had even listened to Gabriel and me. She acted as if it was all stupid at the time.

  I leaned over closer to Dev trying to see the gauges. "How much gas do we have?"

  His voice was very low and grave. "A little over half a tank. If we're stuck on the back roads, we'll eat through the gas faster. This thing sucks it up, too. Maybe we can get to the freeway if we head south first?"

  "I don't think so. We'd have to pass the airport. I'm sure they got there first. If they bring out anywhere near the force they took to Independence, they'll have all roads sealed off in less than an hour."

  "That doesn't give us any options, Evie." He was frustrated and had every right to be, but we had to keep moving.

  "I know, I know." My eyes returned to scanning the map. "I'm thinking."

  As we were nearing the edge of town and leaving the suburbs, we sighted a military vehicle heading in the opposite direction. It had men and women in full military gear with their guns ready and pointing in our direction.

  "Are they—" I began, "is that for us?"

  "I don't think so," Dev answered. "Make sure your seatbelts are on—tight," he warned as we felt the acceleration pick up. I leaned forward scanning the side mirror. A tall red truck with huge wheels was speeding behind us, coming closer and closer.

  "Faster Dev, they're getting closer." The panic edged into my voice prompting Gary and Sonya to look out the back window.

  "What is that on the front—Oh my God! Oh my God!" Sonya shrieked. "Step on it!" She screamed. "Step on it!"

  Butcher started barking low and viciously with his paws perched over the back seat. I turned around to see what had them all so completely freaked and disgusted. Tied to the hood of the car like some sick sort of figurehead on the front of a ship was the body of a woman. I tried not to see her face. I tried not to recognize her or see the pain she had been in when they killed her, but I couldn't prevent it. Crystal's image would be forever burned in my mind. I felt sick. I would have cried for her if they hadn't chosen that moment to smash into the back of our truck. Devlin's quick reflexes didn't help us to avoid the impact, and as he swerved to the right, they rammed into us again, sending our truck up into the front yard of a small baby blue colored home. Dev slammed on the brakes, and I turned back to throw my arms around Butcher, afraid he would go through the front window.

  Gary had the handgun out as I was recovering enough to let go of my boy. Part of me wanted to bury my face in his fur and hide. This was just a horrific nightmare. I hadn't physically seen them—hadn't actually seen what they had done to Nina's mom, but now, I couldn't stay distant from it. Still facing the back, I saw several guys jumping out of the back of the truck. I'm using the term "guys" loosely because they didn't even look human anymore with their eyes bloodshot, blood on their clothes, and this leering face that petrified me to my bones. Their eyes were so dark, so without emotion.

  "They're coming after us!" I screamed. "We have to get out of here, Dev!"

  But before we could do anything, the shooting began. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene. When the soldiers showed up, I felt a moment of relief, but it was like the guys in the truck saw red. They went straight for them causing the soldiers to open fire. Shot after shot was fired, and still, they kept attacking.

  I reached out placing my hand on Dev's shoulder and shaking him. "How—how can they—I don't underst—"

  "Turn around, Evie," he said forcefully, "and hold on tight. Everyone hold on!"

  Sonya put her arms out to Butcher. "I got him, Evie." Letting go, I turned back around and grabbed the seat.

  Dev floored it sending us flying into the bushes right at the front window of the little blue house.

  Sonya screamed, "They're killing them! They're killing them!"

  Despite the guns, the fr
eaky guys quickly overpowered the small group of soldiers. We didn't stick around to watch, though. Devlin threw the truck in reverse taking out the entire front hedge before slamming it into first gear and taking off in the direction we had just come from.

  When we'd put some distance between us and the—the—I didn't even know what to call them anymore—monsters, I guess—we started seeing more military vehicles and fewer cars of panicked people. The only noise my ears could distinguish was that of bullets being fired in the distance. It was eerie and creepy on a level I had only experienced in movies.

  Sonya must have been feeling the same thing I was. "Turn on the radio, Evie," she asked sounding incredibly tired.

  The local stations were still repeating the same emergency message we had heard earlier requesting us to stay inside. When confronted with the demands of the National Guard, it was hard not to doubt my decision to run. It felt as if we were now a bunch of goldfish trapped in a bowl with several sharks looking for a tasty meal. Perhaps if we had stayed at Sonya's house, we would have been safe. A news station from Fresno fuzzily spoke to us through the radio. The male voice was serious, but his steady rhythm made it easier to listen calmly.

  "Some sort of infection has come from the use of a new drug, but it has yet to be released what this infection is or exactly what symptoms are being caused by exposure to it. They're referring to it as the 'Setenid Blight.' Nancy, you've been covering this developing story for the past several months, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think we could see this spread west to Fresno?"

  "It's certainly a possibility," admitted the younger sounding, but equally calm voice of Nancy. "We're not being given a lot of information. Even at this morning's press conference, they refused to answer any questions from the media. At this point though, we can obviously draw parallels between this quarantine and that of Independence."

  "What parallels do you see between the two?"