“What, what?” She didn't need Dracht to point it out; in the distance loomed a roiling, enormous cloud blacker than the pewter day around it. She might have thought it was a dark storm system if it didn't move like it swallowed everything in its path. Spilling over and around itself, spreading as far as the eye could see in either direction along the horizon.
“Oh crap.” She spun around, slammed the door, and dropped to her knees to stuff a towel along the crack.
“Hurry,” he said behind her, voice tight.
“I'm hurryin'!” Standing up, she checked the rest of the door frame, finding the fittings flush and relatively sealed. After that she went to every window and pressed the locks into place. Along the back wall there was a tiny bathroom and she checked it, too. The small, oval window was open to the elements and a vent in the ceiling could cause problems.
After closing and locking the window, she climbed onto the commode lid and jammed the shawl up into the vent. She hoped the little bastards couldn't eat through the material too quick. Maybe the perfume would deter them.
Climbing down, she exited into the main room to see Dracht writing coordinates and other numbers on a scrap of yellow notebook paper.
The cloud of black had closed the distance by half already. For a weird, scary moment, Alexandra had the thought that the swarm might hit the boat and simply tip it over. A bug tidal wave that got its strength in sheer numbers.
Ridiculous. Her imagination was running away with itself.
“What are you doing?” she asked Dracht, just to break the silence.
“Writing down this exact heading. There aren't anymore islands on the map that I can see, so if we don't veer off this course, we should arrive at the docks without running aground.”
He glanced out the windows to the right.
Alexandra palmed her cheeks, eyes widening at the sheer hoard heading their way. So thick, so dense, that it cast a shadow down over the water. There wasn't any sunlight, only the gray veil, but it cast a shadow nevertheless.
“Alex.”
She snapped a look at Dracht.
“The bags.” He glanced around the floor at their feet.
She did too and realized what he meant; the bags containing the water were on the lower deck. Rushing to the door, she yanked the towels out and pulled it open.
“You're not going to make it.”
“Yes I am.” She ran out, leaping the entire staircase. Landing hard on her feet, she caught her balance with a hand and shot forward through the small living area. Straight-arming the glass door, she knocked it out of her way.
A loud, collective buzz hit her ears. It resonated over the water, sinister and promising. Darting to the bags, she grabbed them up by the straps. Turning, she got a straight on view of the swarm.
Alexandra froze in shock. It obliterated everything. The sky, the water. Anything in its path. She couldn't quite make out the individual shape of the insects, and she wasn't sticking around to find out.
Tearing inside, she ran like her feet were on fire, a chill sliding down her spine when Dracht started shouting for her.
He was just coming through the door like he meant to go find her when she hit the landing.
“Inside!” he demanded. After she ran in, he slammed the door closed.
Dropping the bags to gather the towels once more, she stuffed them into the crack. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stood up.
Back at the wheel, elbows locked and fists tight on the wheel, Dracht braced his feet apart like he too thought the swarm was going to rock the boat.
She thought she heard a whisper of a prayer leave his lips as the cloud of black broke over the bow, pushing the boat with enough force to sway the balance.
Alexandra hung onto whatever she could, bracing her hips and her hands.
The insects swallowed the boat into their midst, some hitting the windshield, others clinging to the railings—anything they could lock their sticky legs around.
Unimaginably huge, as long as her palm and shaped half like a wasp, half like a mantis, they were solid black with wicked hooks on their legs. She wouldn't have ever thought a bug could look so menacing. They emitted a strange hum, probably unheard if just one or two were buzzing around, but loud enough to almost overtake the growl of the engine as a whole.
They crack-smack-crashed over the deck, the seats, the fixtures.
Alex couldn't look away from the windows. The bugs slip-slid on and off, some sticking simply due to the weight of others holding them down. Whenever the boat lifted up and came down on a low swell, a few fell off. Others always replaced them. She heard their mandibles chewing-ticking-clicking and she clapped her hands over her ears to block it out.
There were not many things that had the capacity to freak her out, but she was edging toward panic at the suffocating feeling of being entombed by bugs.
***
Minna spent the earliest hours of the morning sitting with her back against the cave wall, just around the corner from the main entrance. To her right was the hole where the seals were kept, the book open to the page of the Sixth. At what she judged to be sunrise, when the red moon had gone down and the gray sky replaced it, she picked up the pestilence seal and snapped it.
How strange that it was the only sound in the cave. She couldn't hear the lap of water from the Dead Sea from here, only the shallow rise and fall of her breathing. The utter isolation seemed at odds to her with what must be going on elsewhere, almost like it wasn't happening at all. If she hadn't seen the black sun herself, if the day outside looked normal instead of a bubble of dismal silver, she might not believe the seals were working.
Down to the last bottle of water she'd brought, she unscrewed the cap and had a drink. Her thoughts wandered often to her sisters. Alex and Evelyn. How were they doing? Had they made it to Eden? Curious, she wished she could be in contact with them to know they were okay.
Three hours later, a bizarre hum that hadn't been there before woke her. She sat up, spine straight, listening.
Louder, closer.
The pestilence had arrived.
Chapter Fourteen
You're in love with me. The words bounced off the walls of the room and the windows of the steering room.
Evelyn stared up at Rhett with shocked, round eyes.
“How did you come to that conclusion?” It was all she thought to say.
“The tone of your voice when you gave me your 'list'. The things on your list. And you have this reverent look in your eyes I'm not sure I really deserve.” He glanced out at the water quick, checking, before looking back down at her face.
Evelyn tried to suss out her feelings for Rhett. Every time she thought she had a moment to breathe, to examine things, something else happened. She knew she wanted to give them a go, that she wanted to spend time with him. To the extent she was willing to risk the Guardian's wrath to take him to Eden.
Could it be love this soon? She'd been so careful with her heart. In all these years, she'd never fully given it away to anyone. If she felt herself getting close to someone she'd dated, she left. When she'd shot him in the alley in Egypt, it had devastated her. More than willingly wounding him, his betrayal had cut deep. She wanted to believe in him—and she did. Now that they were past the awkward stages of their meeting, she trusted and believed him.
Before she said anything to confirm or deny it, he bent his head and brushed his mouth over hers. Light, tender. Knowing.
A beep interfered, coming from the console. Rhett broke his mouth away, glanced down at it, then looked up. There ahead, was land.
“We're here.”
Evelyn let her hands fall away from him and found a pair of binoculars hanging on the wall. Putting them to her eyes, she adjusted the focus to bring the coastline into better view. The strange state of the sky made the landscape look distant, faded. She realized they were actually much closer to land than she first thought they were.
The Port of Ashdod in sight, she began to guide him in.
“Stay to the right. One of the boats looks like it's come loose from it's mooring. Other than that, I can't tell much of anything else. Many of the boats are gone.” She didn't notice any mayhem on the docks themselves, but that didn't mean there wasn't any.
“As long as there's a spot to berth her,” Rhett said.
They went straight into the main marina—why not—and Rhett motored the yacht into a vacant slip. Cutting the motor, he led her out of the steering room, down the lower deck, and helped her onto the dock.
“Where do we need to go?” he asked, taking possession of her hand while they jogged away from the boat. There were only two others in slips along the way. The rest were eerily empty.
“We need a car. We're going to the Dead Sea.” Evelyn pointed out a parking lot reserved for boat owners. Five or six vehicles ranging from a Volkswagon Bug to a Jeep were parked as if the drivers had disembarked in a hurry.
Rhett didn't question her or interrogate about their destination. Cutting over a triangle of manicured grass, he towed her toward the cars.
Deeper into the city, beyond the marina and into the streets, people existed in a state of panic and mayhem. The two ends of the spectrum in which humans divided themselves were extreme; some, arms loaded with goods and supplies, seemed to have a definite plan. Others wandered and cried, expecting someone else to come along and fix the problem for them. Then there were those that had left civility and honor behind, pillaging stores and even passersby for anything they could get their hands on. As in Greece, the situation had deteriorated rapidly.
Evelyn caught glimpses of it while Rhett looked for a suitable car. Two had broken back passenger windows and he chose one of those. A late model BMW with the stereo system and other accessories ripped out.
“This one.” The doors were already unlocked due to the theft. He climbed into the driver's side and went to work on the wires.
Evelyn claimed the passenger seat and started pointing even as he turned the engine over. “I'll tell you exactly what roads to take. It doesn't look like they've cordoned any off yet.”
“They're probably too busy with everything else to worry about that.” The roads in Ashdod were less clogged with bodies than in Greece, at least here by the water, which made for a quick transition from coastline to the middle of the city.
Violence or fear or desperation painted itself on the faces of those rushing from one place to another, pleading with their God for answers or cursing him in the same breath. Others ran aimlessly, hands on their heads, crying or shouting or praying. Everyone seemed to have somewhere to go, even if it was just in circles.
The police were not out in force, at least not on this particular street, nor did Evelyn see any military vehicles present down intersections they passed.
Two blocks further, after many stops and starts, three black helicopters cut through the gray sky on their way somewhere else.
Rhett peered up out the windshield after a moment of palpable tension. “...I'll bet they're taking the officials somewhere safe. Underground bunkers or something.”
“You're probably right. For a second there, I thought it was them coming after us again.” She tracked the black helicopters warily until they were out of sight.
“They have an immediate problem to deal with before they think about picking up where they left off. Too much chaos. It works in our favor for now.” He made a right turn when she directed him to and with an open stretch of road, he gunned the engine.
Still in the city, they were moving out of the high rise areas and into a more modest yet affluent district.
A father, three children clinging to his pants leg, desperately trying to load luggage into a van, suddenly glanced at the sky. It was one of those stark, unexpected moments that Evelyn caught like a snapshot. His concern turned to horror.
Frowning, she wrenched her neck, pressed her cheek to the window, and looked back in the same direction. An obliterating cloud of black hit the coastline, pouring over the marina and the docks.
“...RHETT!”
She must have surprised him because he hit the brakes hard enough to throw her forward in the seat. The belt caught with a snap, preventing her from taking a header into the dashboard.
“What is it?”
“It's coming. Either drive a lot faster or we have to get out and take cover! Right now!”
“How long do we have?”
“I don't know. Thirty seconds? Go, go!”
“Thirty seconds?”
“It's swarming the marina, all the boats--”
The car shot forward with a bark of tires, veering around screaming, terrified people who had also just caught a glimpse of the pestilence overtaking the city.
“Faster, Rhett, we have to--”
“I'm going as fast as I can!” He swerved to miss a van that backed out of a driveway. Horns blared, no one wanting to give way. Rhett tromped the gas and took the next corner too fast, back end swinging around almost out of control.
The front of the swarm caught up to them. Against the windows, she heard the first telltale clink-clank of hard carapaces make contact.
“They're almost on us. Wait! Go right!--You're going the wrong way!” Distracted, she realized she'd failed to give Rhett the rest of the directions.
Her warning fell on deaf ears. Millions of milling, buzzing insects enveloped the car like a tidal wave.
People who didn't get out of the way in time were blanketed in seconds, arms beating uselessly at the air, their screams cut off when the bugs invaded their mouths.
Evelyn gagged at the sight; a moment later, she saw nothing as the insects piled up on her window.
“The back window, the back window!” Rhett shouted.
She turned around with a gasp—and flew into a spastic fit when one of the hideous creatures landed on her cheek. Prickly, sticky legs scratched her skin. The wings buzzed and a strange hiss emanated from somewhere.
“Get it OFFgetitoff!”
More bugs dove in the broken back window. Evelyn did battle while he shouted at her to cover it with something. She slapped and swung and thrashed to get them off her.
Most of the swarm simply spilled over and beyond, blanketing buildings, parked cars, people—anything and everything. Nothing was safe, not even plants or animals.
Pitching herself over the seat, she landed with a thump, squishing a bug beneath her. It felt harder than it should have, like its skin was armor, and she screamed when another tickled her cheek with its prickly legs.
“Evelyn!” Rhett sounded impatient and pissed off.
Did he not see she was busy?
Climbing onto her knees after defeating the bug on her face, she swept her hands along the floorboards, looking for something, anything to cover the window. Making contact with an accordion folded window protector, she yanked it open and smashed it over the grapefruit sized hole in the back window.
Several other bugs were inside, heckling Rhett, who cursed and smashed them where they landed. He'd turned the wipers on, which kept brushing the bugs off the windshield.
Countless thousands got crushed under the tires. It sounded to her like they were driving over a minefield of shattered glass. The deluge of insects were so thick Evelyn couldn't see a foot past the car in any direction. She held the cover over the hole while the car swerved in the street.
Rhett spat several more curses under his breath.
Evelyn wasn't sure she wanted to ask what the problem was. A body smothered in bugs loomed out of the black cloud and banged against the window. Screaming—a man's scream she recognized—he bounced off the vehicle and flew backwards out of sight once more.
“Which way? Which way?” Rhett shouted from the front.
She tried to see buildings or street signs—anything that might tell her where they were. Disoriented by the rippling tide, she couldn't tell if he needed to go left at the intersection or not.
“I can't tell. There's too—wait, go left here!” She got a glimpse
of the shape of a structure she recognized. Finally.
Rhett stomped the gas and turned, narrowly avoiding another car swooping and swerving on the road.
“Take this about four blocks and go right.”
Speeding up, he shot down the street. Bugs peeled away from the car; others clung tenaciously with their legs until the wind or the wipers battered them off. Navigating around debris, he made the last turn and pegged the speedometer past fifty.
The landscape behind them wore a glistening coat of black, as if the inanimate objects had come alive but had no shape or definition, just a skin that continually shifted and slithered.
Buildings, light poles, people. The swarm did not discriminate what it covered.
A woman's monotone voice giving directions to Jerusalem came over the speakers. It startled a gasp out of Evelyn.
“Here, I got it,” Rhett said from the front, turning down the volume. “GPS. Didn't see it before now.”
“That's exactly the best way to go from here, now that we're out of the city.” One bug managed to squeeze past the perimeter of the blockade and she used her knee to nail it to the door. “Though I think you should avoid downtown Jerusalem and take a southern route around. If we get in the middle of all those buildings, we'll just get stuck and covered again.”
“Got it.”
Evelyn could hear him fiddling with the GPS buttons over the crack of hard carapaces under the tires. Out of breath like she'd run a marathon, she determinedly plugged the hole, meeting Rhett's eyes in the rear view mirror.
“Gonna be all right. We'll get there soon,” he said.
“I know. What are we going to do about getting out of the car?” There were still hundreds of thousands of bugs in the air. Not all had landed on the ground. Exposing themselves even for five minutes could be dangerous, possibly deadly.
“Figure it out when we get there.”
***
“I don't want to call Father Valanzano in case someone has his phone tapped. Even though we have scramblers on the lines, they've probably got the technology to track us down if they really want to.” Dragar thrust a hand through his hair, pacing in the kitchen.
Daughters of Eve Collection (Books 1, 2 & 3) Page 39