“Christ,” Zander groaned as he leaned back against the door, and dropped his hands to his knees. His sweat soaked hair fell onto his face as his head shook back and forth.
Johnnie seemed to be shuffling around inside the small, unlit room, but he made no efforts to come at the door. Zander slowly rose to his feet, the tendons in his neck still tight with worry. Riley crossed her arms protectively over her chest, her eyes wide as she stared at the door to the tack room. Her mouth hung open, but she said nothing.
“That…was...amazing,” Jake shouted, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
“Calm down, Jake,” I said, prying myself from his grasp. “Let’s not make a big deal about this, okay?”
“Are you kidding me? Of course it’s a big deal. He just…he just completely submitted to you, Liv,” Jake shrieked. “This is freaking huge. I mean, holy shit! Did you see that, Riley?”
“Yeah, Jake, I saw,” Riley gasped, sinking onto a nearby bale of hay, “and I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants. What the hell was all that?”
“The force is strong with this one,” Jake said, patting me awkwardly on the shoulder.
“That doesn’t make any sense, though. The others, the other infected, I felt them,” Zander said, putting his hand on his chest as he pushed away from the door. “He was here this whole time and I didn’t sense anything. I still don’t and he is right on the other side of this stupid door!”
“Neither did I,” I said, plopping down next to Riley. “Well, not until I woke up this afternoon, anyway.”
“Why didn’t your spidey-sense pick him up until now?” Riley asked.
“More importantly, why didn’t mine pick him up at all?” Zander growled, running his fingers through his tangled hair.
“Hmm. So you felt nothing when we got here this morning?” Jake flipped over a bucket in front of us and sat down.
“Nothing,” I said, and Zander nodded his agreement.
“But you felt it right away when you woke up?” Jake asked, and I nodded. “So, what changed between then and now?”
“The lightning?” Riley’s shrugged.
“Duh, of course.” Jake slammed his palm against his forehead. “Riley, that’s brilliant. I bet the electrical interference from the lightening messed with your radar, like an airplane flying in a storm. As soon as the lightning stopped, you were back up and running, so you picked him up right away.”
“Right, but that still doesn’t explain why I didn’t,” Zander said, frustrated.
“You can still feel Liv right?” Jake asked.
“Yes,” he said, tentatively stepping away from the tack room door.
“So, even though your connection to Liv is constant, your external read seems to be more selective,” Jake jumped to his feet and started pacing as he thought aloud. “Okay, both Gunther and Micah’s mom were—let’s just say they were both dangerous in their own ways. You sensed both of them, right?”
“Yeah,” Zander said, stepping into the beam of light. “So?”
“So, maybe you didn’t sense Johnnie because he was not a threat,” Jake said. “Liv, Johnnie was not a danger to you because he had already connected with you as his alpha.”
“That’s just creepy,” Riley scowled.
“But what about Zander?” I put my hands on my hips.
“Liv, Zander is only a beta…your beta, to be specific.” Jake smiled over at us.
“Meaning?” Zander brushed lightly against my shoulder.
“Meaning, you are her right hand Z, no pun intended,” Jake looked down at Zander’s blackened hand. “Liv, in the hierarchy of all this, I believe Z is meant to be your protector. The yin to your yang. He’s the king to your queen; your mate. He’s—”
“Okay, we get it, Jake. We are a team.” Zander interrupted him, sensing my unease with the direction the conversation had taken. “So, are you saying I can only sense these damn things if they are a threat to Liv?”
“Not necessarily.” Jake sat back down, heavily.
“That’s helpful,” Zander huffed.
“Give me a break, okay? It’s not like I can just Google this crap, is it?” Jake shot back to his feet. He couldn’t seem to sit still and it was starting to make me dizzy.
“We know, Jake,” I said. “We are all just trying to understand this, okay?”
“I get it, but I am just working with what we have observed so far, and that isn’t much,” Jake said, kicking at the dirt. “We know Zander’s instincts are directly tied to yours. Even though that connection is strong, the pull he feels is not the same as yours. It seems to be primarily tuned to sense a potential threat or rival. That could be anything from an external dangers like fire or enemies, to the presence of an unaligned infected or one that has aligned with another alpha.”
“You can’t be serious,” Riley shot to her feet. “So, not only are there more of these giant, freaking scabs running around out there, but they might be under the control of someone else? Someone like Liv; another alpha? Like some kind of rogue, zombie wolf pack, or something?”
“It’s possible,” Jake said, dropping back down to his bucket.
“Shit,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.
“Wait,” Riley said, “aren’t pack animals like super territorial.”
“Generally, yes,” Jake said, looking exhausted. “Of course, that’s not to say that unaligned leeches would not be as well. Alignment does not eliminate aggression.”
“Great,” I said, dropping my head into my hands.
“And, even if another leech accepts Liv as their alpha that does not automatically exclude them as a threat to her. Or anyone else, for that matter,” Jake said. “Aligning themselves just means they have chosen to submit to her will, to become part of her hive. It also means that they will be connected to her.”
“Like good ole Johnnie, in there,” Zander spat.
“The second he aligned with Liv, he became your subordinate, Zander,” Jake said. “I think that’s why he didn’t trigger your radar. He was below you, so, in theory, he was not a threat.”
“So, there may be more like him.” Zander sounded defeated.
“I would be shocked if there wasn’t,” Jake said, his shoulders slumping. “There is no way to know for sure how many people were infected or to what extent they have each been affected, for that matter. Some could be like the two of you, with minimal symptoms, but I guessing those cases will be few and far between. Either way, if what happened with Johnnie is any indicator of what we are facing….”
“Then, we are in trouble,” Riley said.
“And we may not even see them coming,” I said.
Silence descended upon us as the reality of our precarious situation sank in. I stared down at the dirt-covered concrete and listened to the soft rustling of Johnnie’s feet beyond the door of the tack room. Apparently my new friend was just as restless in his cage, as I was in mine. I spoke up, hoping to silence the war in my mind.
“If one of those things chooses me as their alpha, queen—whatever,” I shook my head. “Are saying that they will not only follow, as in literally follow me, but they will also be able to track me?”
“I think so, yeah,” Jake said, avoiding my eyes.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shot to my feet, my heart beating wildly in my chest. “No, no, no. I can’t let this happen. What if they are dangerous? What if—.”
“Hey,” Zander cut me off, cradling my face in his hands, as I swam in a sea of frantic worry. “Liv, look at me. Stop.”
“No, Zander.” Tears stung at my eyes. “Don’t you understand what this means?”
I grabbed his wrists with my hands, torn between pulling away from him and never letting him go. He tugged me closer, resting his forehead against mine as he nestled me into the cocoon of his arms. Despite the comfort his touch brought me, my heart was breaking in my chest.
Micah was right. Being close to me was putting everyone I cared about at risk.
> “We are in this together,” Zander whispered against my lips. “We will figure it out.”
“Zander, I—” My voice caught in my throat.
“No, Liv. We will figure it out,” he said more forcefully, his copper eyes drilling into mine. “I promise.”
***
“You’re shitting me,” Falisha said, granola shooting from her mouth. “For real?”
“For really-real,” Jake squawked, talking over a massive bite of pop tart. “It was crazy. You should have seen her, she was all ‘back, back, I say! Yah, Yah!’ Then Johnnie was like ‘yes master’ and just bowed off. Okay, so he didn’t actually talk, but— oh my God, it was just nuts.”
“Wow.” Falisha punched me lightly on the shoulder. “I knew you were a bad-ass, Sarge, but damn.”
“He’s exaggerating,” I said, staring a little too intently at the peanut butter crackers in my lap.
“Not by much, Liv,” Riley said, taking a swig from her water bottle. “As messed up as all that was, I gotta admit it was pretty impressive.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled, wiping at the never-ending stream of sweat pouring down my face.
After the incident in the barn, we had all retreated to the comfort and relative coolness of the basement to regroup. Micah had found a few items of use in his search of the upper floors; mostly toiletries, over-the-counter pain meds, and a few items of clothing. There were also a few non-perishable food items he had pilfered from the kitchen.
Without a word, he dropped his pillaged contraband into a careless pile at our feet and retreated back into the shadows near the stairs. Judging by Riley’s clenched jaw, Micah’s overall indifference was not going unnoticed. His plan to distance himself was working far better than either of us could have anticipated.
“Dick,” Riley muttered under her breath, hanging her head so her short dark hair obscured her face.
“Riley, maybe you should—,” I said.
Micah cleared his throat and held his finger to his lips. He stood just past the edge of the shadows, watching cautiously as he slumped against the wall. His bloodshot eyes had retreated farther against his sallow skin and his hands were shaking. Eventually, his legs grew too weak to hold him, and slowly lowered himself onto the stairs. He stretched his legs out across the step and let his head fall back against the wall.
A few minutes later, Jake plopped back into the pile of dusty pillows, finally exhausted by his dramatic one-man rendition of “Liv Versus the Leech.” Bella nudged me with her cold nose and simpered pathetically until I finally slipped her the last of my peanut butter crackers. Despite my gloom, I couldn’t help but smile as she happily wrestled the sticky goo from the roof of her mouth.
“So what’s the plan?” Falisha asked. “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to hang out here for the rest of my life. As much as I enjoy peeing in a bucket and sleeping in a hoarder’s basement, the whole extra-crispy-zombie in the barn thing, is not exactly a huge selling feature for long-term residency, you know?”
“With all the chaos, I almost forgot what we were doing in the barn in the first place,” Zander laughed softly. “You want to tell them, Riley?”
“Definitely,” Riley’s eyes lit up as she grabbed my arm, her excitement filling the empty spaces around us. “Guys, you are not going to believe this, but we found a ride!”
Chapter 34
Antiques and Engines
Johnnie shuffled about aimlessly his new quarters, grumbling softly behind the old wooden door to the tack room. The commotion had everyone on edge but his movements were more anxious than aggressive. Every few minutes, his gnarly black fingers would curl under the door, like a pet begging to be let in for the night. Falisha stayed as far away from the door as possible. Jake was fascinated and couldn’t seem to stay away, but Riley and Zander seemed to have settled on pretending he didn’t exist.
It had been quite an audacious undertaking to unearth the treasure in the barn. Zander climbed to the very top of the heap kicking over the few bales of rotted hay that rested there. Then, we all set to work, peeling back the layers of grime that had formed a thick shell around the body of the machine. The first layer was a mismatched collection of musty drop cloths, torn plastic tarps, and mold-soaked bed sheets. Below it, was a rank patchwork of cardboard and tattered plastic bags. Over time, they had melted into a malleable skin that had to be cut away in order to be removed.
The hulking mass of metal must have been buried years ago, long forgotten beneath the piles of junk and bales of rotted hay. As we peeled away the last layers of filth and fabric, I caught a glimpse of the shiny green that lingered below the mucky brown garbage.
“Here she is, guys,” Zander smiled.
With a magician like flourish, he ripped away the final tarp and tossed it to the ground. I cloud of dust swirled in the air around us, temporarily clouding my vision. When it finally cleared and I saw the look on everyone’s faces, I couldn’t stop the smile that split my face.
“That, is our ride?” Falisha crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re kidding.”
“No way,” Jake’s eyes shot wide. “No freaking way.”
“What’s the big deal?” Riley asked confusion etched on her face. “It’s just a—.”
“Oh my God,” Jake exclaimed, rushing over. “This is unbelievable, Z. Is that a Waterloo?”
“Nope, Model D.” Zander was smiling, as he swiped his hair back behind his ear. “Sweet, right?”
“It’s a tractor,” Falisha scoffed.
“It’s perfect,” Jake beamed, moving in for a closer look. He ran his fingers across the engine block, then climbed onto the deck, and peered at the dials and gauges on the dash. “You guys, it’s absolutely perfect!”
“But, it’s a tractor,” Falisha pressed, sounding more annoyed.
“This is not just a tractor,” Jake said, shaking his head in dismay. “It’s exactly what we need. Look at her, she’s beautiful.”
“The thing is ancient,” Falisha said, gesturing wildly towards the machine.
“Exactly,” Jake said, clapping his hands together.
“I’m lost,” Riley said, putting her hands on her hips. “Does anyone else understand what is happening?”
“This little beauty was built in like, 1930,” Jake said, shifting into his professor voice. “That means no computerized parts. These pegged wheels here, mean we won’t have to worry about flats or exploding tires. Best of all, no gasoline!”
“How exactly does that work?” I asked.
“Probably runs on wishes and rainbows,” Falisha snorted, dropping onto a bale of hay in a huff. “I mean, you can shine up a turd, Jake, but it’s still just crap.”
“Lovely visual, Falisha, but once again you are wrong,” Jake said, glaring over at Falisha before continuing. “Actually, the model D runs on kerosene, which yeah, is super old-school. But, as it turns out, old-school is exactly what we need.”
“Let’s say you do get the stupid thing running,” Falisha stood and walked forward. “How exactly do you propose we fit six people and a three-legged dog onto a one hundred-year-old tractor with one tiny seat?”
“Well…” Jake said, rubbing his neck.
“And that hunk of junk probably gets, what, like one mile to the gallon?” She crossed her arms and jutted her hip. “It’s easily another ten miles to the edge of town. Where are we going to find enough kerosene to get us all the way to Morrison?”
“There are trailers out back,” Micah muttered, having finally spoken for the first time in hours.
“Right,” Jake agreed. “Like Micah said, there are trailers. We just have to find one big enough to carry us. How much fuel would we need, Z?”
“A full tank would be about 18 gallons or so,” Zander said.
“I figure, in the red, she’ll get us to Morrison in about two hours which less than half the time and way less energy than it would take to walk that far,” Jake said, lifting his chin defiantly. “So, Miss Daisy, would y
ou still rather walk or are you going to shut up and help us get this baby running?”
“Whatever,” Falisha’s nostrils flared, and then she looked over at the tack room and slumped in defeat. “Okay, fine, but let’s get our asses in gear. I am over this bed and breakfast.”
Within a few minutes, the group had mobilized and each of us was on a mission. Riley and Falisha headed back to the house in search of old kerosene lanterns, while Micah searched the back lot for a lightweight trailer— one large enough to seat our group but small enough that it would not slow us down. Zander and Jake tinkered away at the engine of the rig, chattering excitedly back and forth about liquid cooled two-cylinder engines and unsynchronized gears.
Having nothing to contribute to the conversation, I zoned out, staring over at the door to Johnnie’s makeshift cage. I leaned against the spokes of the tractor’s giant yellow wheel, took out my hair tie and rearranged my hair get it off my neck. I could hear Johnnie shuffling around in the dark, grunting quietly as he paced back and forth in the shadows. I cocked my head to the side and listened, wondering if he understood what was happening to him.
Did he remember the man he used to be, or were all traces of that man just gone? My chest ached at the thought of keeping him locked up like that, but after what Micah’s mom had done, it would be irresponsible to take any chances. Even if he was loyal to me, as Jake believed, I couldn’t risk it. Johnnie was like an animal now, and that meant there was always a chance he might attack someone.
Or worse—infect them.
As if reading my thoughts, Johnnie curled his blackened fingers from beneath the gap under the door. They flexed and stretched as if beckoning me forward. I peeked over my shoulder, but Zander and Jake had seen nothing. The two of them were bent over the antique engine, lost in conversation. I didn’t want Zander to sense my unease, so I took a deep breath to calm my nerves then stepped closer to the door. Johnnie’s claws dug shallow trenches into the soft wood, as he scraped and pawed at it from the other side. With his strength and agility, he could have easily broken free, had he chosen to. Yet he stayed.
Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) Page 31