by Jason Brant
And that was assuming some government dickwad with an itchy trigger finger didn’t shoot them as they approached the quarantine line.
“He’ll be rebuffed when he attempts to exit the area.”
“Call it in,” I said. “Tell your men to let him through. He works for you, for Christ’s sake.”
“We can’t allow anyone to leave until we understand the situation, Lieutenant.” Nelson conversed with someone off-screen again. “We’re formulating your extraction plan now.”
23 – Rebuffed
The drone of the minigun had died several minutes before. Drew led them through the forest, moving at a brisk pace, his gaze almost always off to their left.
The battle had been waged somewhere through the trees in that direction.
Almost as quickly as it had begun, the gunfight had ended.
The minigun had remained silent ever since.
They’d heard an engine ignite a few minutes later, and then slowly fade out as it drove away.
Drew didn’t lead them toward the minigun, but moved parallel to it instead.
John kept asking them questions no one could answer, his mouth running as he struggled to contain his fear. He shot the occasional look at Sammy, his eyes always going to her chest before he fired off another series of questions.
Allison longed for her husband’s touch. Joe would have held her close, whispered reassurances in her ear. Allison had spent the better part of her twenties and early thirties fighting the idea that she lived in a man’s world. She’d strived to be better than her male co-workers were at all facets of her old job at the coalmine.
She wanted to prove that she could accomplish anything she set her mind to and didn’t need anyone’s help to do it. And that had been true.
But it wasn’t until Joe’s death that she realized how entwined they’d become. Together, they were a whole. He’d lifted her up, helped her be the best she could be. Joe never questioned her, never put her down.
He’d been a loving companion. Joe was the only person who had ever truly understood her. It all came tumbling down when he had died while buying her the most heartfelt of gifts.
She’d never truly known loneliness until that day.
And she’d scraped by in a desolate existence ever since.
Tears threatened to come as she pictured his quirky, crooked smile.
Allison fought them back, wished she had a drink. A stiff rum and Coke always numbed the sense of emptiness that overwhelmed her when she thought of her late husband.
Drew motioned for her to walk beside him. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, why?” Allison asked as she quickened her pace to catch up to him.
“Your lips are quivering.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Drew said. “Is there something I need to know?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“We’re all dealing with some serious shit right now. I need you to keep it together for just a little while longer, all right? We’ll be out of this soon.”
Allison nodded, wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands.
Drew said, “The same road we were on before is just ahead, right? The highway that runs around the town?”
“Yeah, but why would we go back there?”
“Because that gunfight we heard might mean that the good guys have arrived.”
Allison didn’t follow. “What? How do you know that?”
“Those men had set up the minigun to keep people out. I’m guessing they didn’t want the government intervening before the town had completely destroyed itself. The kind of battle we heard wasn’t just a couple of locals taking potshots at each other. There was some serious hardware being used in that fight. I have a feeling that we’re going to run into some help up there.”
The casual, calculated way that Drew talked about shootings and death amazed Allison. The violence that she’d seen that morning would be hard for her to get over, yet Drew seemed unfazed.
“You’ve seen a lot of bad stuff, haven’t you?” she asked.
“I’ve seen my fair share. Ashley and I have been in some tough spots before. This is up there with the worst of them.” Drew’s hands tightened into fists by his waist. “I’m so pissed at myself for leaving him.”
Sammy sighed. “Me too. I came here to help bring him back, and I let him walk away from me again. He deserves better than being on his own all the time.”
The way they talked of the smelly Asher still had Allison slightly confused. He appeared brave, sure, but they spoke of him with a deference, when they weren’t making fun of him, that didn’t seem fitting. She wondered what he had done to command such respect.
From what she’d seen, Asher Benson was anything but respectable.
The man came across as nothing short of a complete mess.
They walked through the tree line and entered the tall grass they’d found earlier. The car with the mutilated people sat a hundred yards to their right. They’d exited the woods far enough down the road that they wouldn’t have to see the horrors waiting inside the vehicle.
Allison didn’t think she could have handled seeing the severed heads again.
Drew cocked a thumb to the left. “This way, right?”
“Right.”
Sammy watched the road in the other direction. “How do we know they won’t come looking for us in that big truck again?”
“We don’t, but this is our best chance of getting out of here.” Drew kept going. “Besides, John has a rifle, so we aren’t completely defenseless.”
They’d only walked for another five minutes when they rounded a bend in the road. As they walked past a group of thick trees, a blockade of vehicles came into view.
“I knew they had to be here already.” Drew picked up his pace, moving even faster.
Allison wanted to cry at the sight. “Thank God. I don’t know how much more I could have handled today.”
Three black sedans straddled the road ahead, their bodies turned sideways so they extended the entire way across the pavement. Camouflaged Humvees flanked them, running to the edge of the woods, their grills almost touching the trees.
Dozens of men stood in front of the vehicles, aiming rifles at the exhausted survivors.
A voice blasted from a megaphone. Halt!
Drew held his hands up. “I’m Agent Andrew Lloyd from the Department of Homeland—”
This area is under quarantine. Turn around and go back to town. Wait for further instructions.
Drew frowned, shook his head. “You aren’t hearing me. I work for Homeland Security. My badge number is—”
Halt or we’ll be forced to open fire.
“Hold on a second.” Drew stopped in midstride and held his arms out so the others couldn’t walk past him. He yelled, “Did you say we’re under quarantine?”
Turn around and go back to town. Assistance will be provided to you shortly. Wait for further instructions.
“We can’t go back,” Drew shouted. “They’re slaughtering people back there.”
If you don’t turn around now, we’ll be forced to open fire.
The tone in the man’s voice made Allison nervous. She put her hands up, showing that she was unarmed. Sammy followed suit.
John took another step forward. “Listen up, you assholes! We can’t—”
Drew grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “They’re not screwing around. Don’t go any closer.”
Drop your weapon.
“No way,” John yelled. “We’ll be defenseless if we—”
Drop the weapon or we’ll open fire.
“Put it down, John.” Drew kept his hands held away from his sides, fingers splayed. “And do it slowly. These guys are amped up.”
John hesitated a moment. “But we won’t have anything to fight back with if the doctor comes around.”
“If you don’t put it down now, we won’t even get off the road. He keeps repeating that they’ll open fire for a reason. First they
warn, then they shoot.”
Allison watched as John slowly lowered the rifle to the pavement. She turned her attention to the men aiming at them and saw a lot of young faces staring back at her. If they were already aware of what was happening back in the town, then Allison could understand why the soldiers would be wary of anyone getting to close to them.
But she couldn’t figure out why they were being fully quarantined. If the government wouldn’t allow anyone to leave, then a lot more people would die before the day ended.
Drew yelled, “I was sent here on a mission to—”
This is your last warning. Turn around now, or we’ll be forced to fire upon you.
The way the man kept repeating the same mantra made Allison think he was reading from a premade script. He’d probably been ordered to repel any and all survivors, giving them no reasons save what he was instructed to say.
“Son of a bitch,” Drew muttered. “Keep your hands up and slowly walk backward. Half of these guys have probably run checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re going to follow their orders, regardless of what we say.”
Allison kept her eyes on the barricade as she took a dozen steps backward.
Sammy’s hands shook wildly above her head, her chest hitching with each frightened breath. “I can’t believe they’re sending us back there.”
John spat toward the barricade. “And they disarmed us.”
“Just keep going.” Drew stayed in front of Allison and Sammy as they backpedaled.
Allison wondered if he was positioning himself as a human shield in case the men fired at them. It made her appreciate him even more.
When they’d walked another fifty feet, partially working their way around the bend in the road, Drew finally dropped his hands. “We need to find some shelter and keep our heads down until they figure out how to get us out of here.”
“Why won’t they let us out now?” Sammy asked. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“They might be worried that the madness everyone is suffering from is contagious. They’re probably operating out of some playbook for fighting Ebola outbreaks.”
John scoffed. “How will they know if we’re contagious if they don’t test us?”
Drew shrugged. “I don’t have any answers, just guesses. We need to get some cover while we figure out what to do next.”
They followed him into the trees and stopped at a fallen log, Drew kneeling in front of it. John sat on the thick trunk, hands on his knees, his face pinched in anger.
Sammy and Allison squatted on either side of Drew.
“Now what?” Sammy asked. “Should we go back and try to find Ash?”
“No.” Drew looked around at all of them. “We stay by the barricade and wait for them to make up their minds. It’s too dangerous to go back into town.” He patted Sammy on the hand. “Besides, I promised to get the two of you to safety. He’d throw a hissy fit if he saw us back in town.”
“So we’re just going to sit here?” John asked. “We never should have left my hunting spot.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” Allison’s hands worked in front of her. “Why would someone want to do all of this anyway? How could someone send out a signal that would make everyone nuts?”
Her anger at everything that had happened heated up. She’d seen good people die for reasons that no one would divulge. She gave Drew a hard look. “Time to start talking.”
Sammy and Drew exchanged a glance.
Drew said, “I don’t know how they’ve done this, but I think I know who is behind it and why they chose Arthur’s Creek.”
“They’re after Asher, aren’t they?” Allison asked. “Why is everyone so obsessed with him?”
Drew rubbed his head. “That’s classified. Just telling you could put your life in danger.”
Allison grabbed his forearm and dug her fingers in. She was shocked at how thick and defined his arm was. “All of my friends and neighbors are dead or dying. I don’t give a damn if something is classified.”
“Same.” John stared at Drew. “We deserve to know why—”
John’s chest hitched.
His eyes widened.
He coughed.
Blood bubbled between his lips.
He fell off the log, landing on his hands and knees in the middle of the group, an arrow jutting from his upper back.
Sammy screamed.
On the other side of the log, twenty feet away, stood a man in full camouflage. He held a bow in one hand, his other notching an arrow.
“Run!” Drew yelled at Allison. He exploded to his feet and leaped over the log, sprinting at the man.
Allison froze for a moment, watching Drew bear down on the archer. A gurgle from John broke through her shock. She reached for him, grabbed his shoulder. “You gotta get up!”
John didn’t move. Didn’t make another sound.
Sammy staggered to her feet, staring down at the arrow.
“Help me get him up,” Allison said. She grabbed Sammy’s hand and yanked.
Drew reached the killer just as the man pulled the string back. Drew slapped at the front of the bow and the arrow shot wide, the tip embedding itself into a tree.
The man threw a looping punch with his free hand. Drew ducked under it and answered with two solid strikes that sent the man sprawling into the underbrush.
An arm wrapped around Sammy’s throat and yanked her back. Her face flushed instantly as the arm squeezed tight. A man’s face appeared over her shoulder, week-old beard growth covering his cheeks and chin. He also wore camouflage.
Allison didn’t recognize either of the men.
A lot of people from out of town used the area for poaching during the summer months. The small police presence made it easy for them to get away with killing deer out of season. They mostly used bows so that gunshots didn’t attract any attention.
“Let her go!” Allison jumped up and reached for Sammy.
Pain sliced into her back.
She fell forward, her head cracking off the log.
Sammy loosed another shriek that cut off as the man tightened his grip even further.
Allison rolled over, crying out at the agony in her back.
Warmth soaked through her shirt and ran down her side.
Dr. Franklin stood behind her, a scalpel held in one hand, a gore-covered saw in the other. “Hello there, Allie. So glad to see you.”
The man choking Sammy reached down and grabbed her breast, squeezing it hard. “Goddamn, she’s smoking hot!”
Sammy squirmed in his grip, trying to get away from his filthy hand.
He fondled her other breast as her face grew beet red.
“Leave them alone!” Drew shouted from behind the log. Branches snapped as he charged toward them.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Dr. Franklin stepped toward Sammy and placed the scalpel under her left eye. “You better relax, young man. We have plans for all of you, and I’d rather not ruin them by taking her eyes just yet.”
Allison hissed as she pushed herself to a seated position.
Her head throbbed. Blood ran into her eyes. She wiped at her forehead, her hand coming away wet and sticky. Her underwear was drenched from the cut on her back.
Drew stopped just behind her. “Let them go.”
“No.”
“Take me instead, just let them go.”
“Why would I do that when I can take all of you?” Dr. Franklin looked down at Allison. “I’ve wanted a taste of Allie for so long now.”
He licked his lips.
Allison tasted bile in the back of her throat.
“I’ll kill you if you hurt them.” Drew’s fists shook in rage as he glared at the doctor. “You need to understand that. If you do anything to them, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“I think that’ll prove quite difficult.” Franklin pressed the scalpel against Sammy’s cheek even harder, dimpling her flesh. “On your knees.”
Sammy squealed. Her eyes crossed as she looked down at
the blade.
Drew stayed on his feet.
“Last chance.” Franklin grinned at Drew. “I’m getting quite skilled at extracting eyes this morning. It’s great fun.”
“Remember what I said.” Drew held his hands out as he slowly dropped to his knees.
Dr. Franklin removed the scalpel from Sammy’s face and bent down to Allison. “We’re going to have such fun.”
24 – Good Ol’ Butch
Talia Nelson. 323 Wayward Pines Street. Bring her to me.
Cassandra York. 7284 Hunger Lane. Bring her to me
“We haven’t figured out the catalyst of the infection,” Nelson said. “What have you learned?”
Nami held her cell phone in front of the camera on her laptop. “Every cell phone in town got a call from a private number at the same time this morning. Everyone who answered it lost their religion at the same time.”
Nelson’s frown, which at that point I assumed to be permanent, deepened. “They managed to send a signal that drove everyone to madness. Lieutenant, have you noticed any change in the behavior of the infected throughout the course of the morning?”
I was about to say that they were still carving people up in the streets like Thanksgiving turkeys, but that wasn’t quite true. “They’re organizing right now. When the signal first went out, everyone turned murderous and wild, but now they’re capturing and collecting people. They’re planning something big in the center of town.”
Even the orders from the mayor had changed. Just a few minutes before, he’d been calling for the heads of those who hadn’t received the signal. Now he was asking for them to be brought to him.
“That’s what I feared.” Nelson gazed off screen for a moment. “Is this connection secured, Ms. Williams?”
“Duh.” Nami rolled her eyes as if that was the dumbest question she’d ever heard. “It isn’t amateur hour over here.”
“You’re using a civilian satellite.”
“We’re encrypted.” Nami twirled her finger for him to get it on with. “What is it?”
Nelson glared at the screen for several seconds.
It was clear to me that he wasn’t used to his subordinates talking to him that way.