by Nadia Hutton
Lena watched his reaction curiously and asked, “Why him?”
“Because I can’t let him die too,” Kozol said quietly, “I don’t leave my men behind. Especially not him. I’ve already lost one love of my life. I can’t lose another.”
Lena followed him as they drew closer to the firelight. There was a hasty barbwire fence strung around a camp and they circled it until they found a gate. They saw the guards first and they both put up their hands and let the guards pat them down.
“They’re both armed,” a woman announced. She was tall, dirty blonde hair braided down her back. Piercing green eyes scanned them through the dark night. A large scar ran across the lower half of her face. She was a P.O.W. too.
The woman placed a sawed-off shotgun against Lena’s forehead. Lena started sweating. She looked over at Kozol who said quickly, “We’re not scavengers. We’re looking for a man named Calvin Potter. His mother, Joanne, lives here. We have supplies. We would be willing to share them with you if you would let us in.”
Their packs were taken and the guards looked through them, picking out choice pieces.
“Are you both clean?” the woman asked, gun still cocked at Lena.
They looked at each other in confusion and she asked louder, “Did any of the creatures touch you?”
They both shook their heads and the woman stepped forth, lowering the barrel of the gun directly between Lena’s eyes.
“God help me, if you bring disease into this camp, I will kill you both and leave your skulls for the bears. Do you understand me?”
Lena nodded, and the woman lowered the shotgun.
“Then follow me.”
The woman introduced herself. “My name is Charlotte. I’m sorry for the rude introduction, but it hasn’t been easy keeping this area secure.”
“It’s only been a few days,” Lena said, “You have set up well considering.”
“We had to move quickly,” Charlotte said. “Suddenly we had this influx of people coming from all over the Metro area. Then the grid went down, everything’s dark. There’s no electricity. Last reports we heard, the creatures were moving down the western seaboard. The rumor is they’re trying to secure the whole continent, but who the shit knows. What I know is that I can’t manage the peace much longer here. Tensions are building. People want to go east, get as far away from the coast as they can, but who knows if the Americans will even accept us as refugees. Who knows, what if they’ve been struck even harder? I’m telling you this because Calvin said you would be coming this way. I don’t trust many folks, but I have a soft spot for that man. He was good to my mother before she passed.”
“How did he know we were coming?” Lena asked.
“He didn’t tell me about you, he told me about him. His asshole boss who would come looking to win him back to the team. Daywalkers. You’ll come in handy here, though I imagine less so when the drugs wear out. How long since you’ve had an injection?”
“Five days,” Lena replied.
“Shit. You’re going to be going through withdrawal soon. It’s bullshit, but you’ll handle it alright.”
“How do you know all this?” Kozol asked.
“I worked for Milnes Company for a few years to pay off school. It was all right work, but I missed the mountains. It’s hard to get those out of your blood.”
“How bad was the withdrawal?” Lena asked fearfully.
Charlotte shuddered. “Pretty bad. You’re going to be useless for a few days. You’re going to want to find a safe space to hole up when that happens.”
“A little warning about that would have been nice,” Lena grumbled.
Kozol shrugged. “It’s survivable. We would deal with it when it came time. If we lived that long in the first place…”
Charlotte snorted, “I think you both have bigger problems to worry about. Now your friend is just past those posts. He’s sharing that brick house over there. The one with the black doors? Yeah. If he’s not there, one of the others should be able to tell you where he is. When you leave, I’ll give you your weapons back, but until then, hand them over.”
Lena went to protest, but Kozol grabbed her pistol from her, as well as his own, and gave them to Charlotte.
Kozol marched through the frosted mud and Lena followed behind him, wary of those who watched them hesitantly. Kozol paused in the street, his breathing slowing. Lena went to his side, looking up to see Calvin leaving the house, carrying a basket of rations.
“Calvin, I’m sorry,” Kozol said softly
Calvin put the basket on the doorstep as others circled nearby, watching the exchange. He walked down the steps to stand in front of Kozol and the two men watched each other for a tense moment.
Then in a rush, Calvin pulled Kozol into his arms. “About time,” he grumbled.
Kozol whispered something in response that Lena couldn’t hear and they kissed, a tear running through the ash and dirt on Kozol’s cheek. Calvin let go of him, Kozol took his hand. Calvin used his other hand to shake Lena’s.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for bringing him back to me.”
Lena smiled. “I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
“You too. Come on in. There are a few extra cots. Have you eaten yet? There’s some soup. It’s not very much, but it’ll warm you up at least.”
Kozol and Lena’s eyes met. They had not discussed what would happen after they found Calvin. They needed rest and food, yes. But Lena had much further east to travel to reach her father … if he still lived.
Kozol said to them both, “We’ll stay here tonight, but I think we should talk about what to do next.”
Lena nodded and followed them into the house.
The place smelled of unventilated fireplace. She saw refugees crammed into most corners of the rooms, bowls of soup in hand, which they drank hungrily.
“There’s a corner of the house outside where you can relieve yourself. Once it gets really cold, we’ll have to think of something else. Food is communal, based on the honor system. Hopefully that’s still true by the end of the week, or the night even.”
“What happened here?” Lena asked.
Calvin signaled them to follow him up the narrow staircase, leaning to avoid others coming downstairs. He led them into a small room, filled almost completely by a firm bed and a footlocker. He locked the door behind them and signaled them to sit where they could.
“The refugees got here first,” Calvin began, “The … things have been moving down the coast. They don’t seem to be moving further inland.”
“They were as north as Haida Gwaii, at least,” Lena said. “I recognized one of their hostages.”
“So they are taking hostages,” Calvin sighed. “I heard the rumor, but I thought they were just killing us off. I don’t know. I pick up what I can from an old radio, but stations are disappearing, even the American ones. The acting Prime Minister announced a state of national emergency, but from what I can tell, that’s occurring everywhere in North America.”
“Anywhere else?”
“It’s hard to tell. My instinct says yes, but I also believe it’s a rather small invasion force, seeing how long it’s taking them to spread. The main problem right now is panic. People think they carry a disease that spreads like wildfire. It starts in your lungs and slowly burns its way out. People are so afraid of it that they’ll shoot anyone who they think has come into contact. It seems to be flesh-borne, but it’s hard to guess without having a better sample of it. Were either of you touched?”
They shook their heads.
“And Stiar?”
“She didn’t make it,” Lena said softly, “We were caught in a fire and we didn’t have enough supplies. It was a strange wound, but it was caused by their weapons, not skin-to-skin contact.”
Calvin nodded. “Then we’re safe for now. If we had Sam, maybe she could come up wi
th a vaccine.”
“There may be a way to find her,” Kozol said quietly.
They both looked at him in confusion.
“I had a contingency plan. I should have told you, Lena, before we got out of the city, but I honestly didn’t think we’d get this far. Eight years ago, it looked like the Americans might invade,” Kozol explained, “If they did, I thought they might go after Daywalkers. They tend to fear us down there, think we’re vampires.”
“Aren’t we the opposite of those?” Lena laughed.
Kozol smirked. “I thought it was pretty stupid. But anyway, we have a base in the Rockies. There’s supplies, weapons, a functioning electrical unit that’s not dependent on the grid. Sam knew to get herself and anyone else from Manthras there in the event of disaster. We may be able to make it there ourselves.”
“So you had that planned, but no plan for dealing with withdrawal?” Lena asked.
“Drugs are finite supplies. If withdrawal was going to kill us, I would have planned for it.”
Calvin shook his head at Kozol, and then turned to Lena, “It’s not too bad. I have a few herbs that will help you out.”
“When did you turn into a medicine man?” Lena grinned.
Calvin rolled his eyes. “I did extensive work in botany before I came to work for Kozol’s ridiculous band of thieves.”
“Hey!” Kozol glared.
“Of all things, you like plants?” Lena asked incredulously.
Calvin waved them off. “Let’s get back on track. How far is this hideout?”
Kozol shrugged. “By transport, a day, maybe two. By foot? Over the mountains? It could be weeks.”
“We may not have weeks,” Lena reminded, “And I need to find my dad. You two can leave first, give me the coordinates and I’ll meet you there.”
“Kelowna is on the way,” Kozol said. “We’re not splitting up, not now.”
Calvin paused, his eyes going soft and sad. “Lena … you’re not going to be able to go to Kelowna.”
“Why not? It’s not far off the highway, it’ll still be easy enough to find.”
Calvin sat beside her. “The disease I mentioned … well, Kelowna had an outbreak, the whole Okanagan valley did. There was chaos. Someone set a fire, decided to kill the city off to save the rest of us.”
“No,” Lena whispered hoarsely, her arms giving out as she tried to raise herself up. “That’s not … how did it get that far east? That’s not…”
“It doesn’t matter how it happened,” Calvin said quietly, “The city is gone. If your father is alive, he’s certainly not there.”
Lena felt her body going into shock as Calvin put his arm around her.
“My mother was gone by the time I got here. She left for the American border. I don’t know if she made it. It’s not the same, but I understand. We’re here, you won’t be alone.”
She wanted to push him away, but she felt too weak to do so.
Kozol asked, “What do you have in the footlocker?”
Calvin kneeled down beside it, unlocking it, and lifting it open.
“A few weapons, some dried food. There’s some cash for bribes, but I don’t know how far that will carry us. We’ll scavenge more supplies as we go.”
“How many can the base support?” Lena asked.
“Eight,” Kozol said, “It was meant to be me, the six of you, and Sam.”
“Then we should take five more refugees,” Lena stated.
“What?” Kozol laughed harshly. “We can survive longer with just the three of us.”
“We have a chance to help five others. We can pick five who have skills we don’t, that might help all of us survive.”
“And how do you suggest we do that without the others knowing, without getting ourselves torn apart?”
“It was just an idea, okay?”
Calvin replied, “It’s not a bad idea. But if others are there already?”
“Stiar is gone,” Lena said quietly, “We have at least one spot.”
Kozol said, “The others were on a mission in North Vancouver. Unless they got back to the office, Sam would have left without them. I don’t think they had a chance, and if they did, they may not be safe to travel with anymore. But Sam … if I believe in anything on this planet, I believe in her. She’s never once let me down. We’ll take five. Most won’t survive, maybe one of us won’t survive. But we have a chance.”
“I want to take Charlotte,” Lena said. “We need a vanguard now that Stiar is gone. I think we can trust her.”
Calvin nodded, “Charlotte is a good woman. I would take her, too. I know a few others. You both eat and rest. I’ll come back to you when I have them assembled. I know you like being in control Kozol, but you’re going to have to sit tight and trust me on this.”
Kozol reached out, his fingers tracing against Calvin’s arm. They looked at each other, sad smiles on both their faces, before Calvin left the room.
“Never pictured you to be a romantic,” Lena chuckled.
Kozol sighed. “Better late than never. Funny thing, the end of the world. It puts your priorities in order pretty quickly.”
Kozol hesitated before he asked, “Are you going to be okay?”
Lena thought about her answer before replying, “I have to be. When we’re safe … well, then there will be time to not be okay.”
Chapter Ten
Lena woke to a dark day, icy rain pouring from the clouds. Kozol gently snored beside her and she woke him up with an elbow to his gut. He stirred, looking at the light coming into the room.
“Calvin isn’t back yet?” Kozol asked sleepily.
Lena shook her head. “It’s only been a few hours. I meant to sleep for much less than that, but…”
“We’re both exhausted,” Kozol said, “We should get rest when we can. We’re lucky with the weather today. We won’t have to wear the suits the entire time. I think they’re starting to rust a bit.”
“We should get some plainclothes. We need to blend in with the rest, just in case.”
“And because our superpowers start running out at midnight?”
“That too, like a drug-addled Cinderella. Will it be just as before?”
“Not quite,” Kozol admitted, “A lot of the drugs have changed your chemical makeup. We were born to run in the day, even if we haven’t for decades. Your body will adjust; the drugs just helped with the side effects.”
“Stiar gave me ginger candies for the first few weeks,” Lena said with a sad smile, “I wish I had some of those again.”
“You miss her.”
“She would be better at this than me.”
“She believed in you,” Kozol said quietly. “She picked you. I didn’t think you could … but when I saw you that first day, I could see what she saw. You are strong enough, Lena. If any of the three of us survive, it will be you.”
“It should have been her,” Lena admitted, “She was stronger than me, tougher than me. I should have saved her, Daniel. She just died… I didn’t even know. Maybe she asked for help, maybe…”
Lena met his glance just as the ground beneath them began to shake. They looked at each other with fear. Lena jumped to the window, struggling to see through the grey and she realized she was staring through smoke. She turned, seeing Kozol load his pack with the contents of the footlocker.
“We need to go,” he said, “Grab what you can and meet me by where we came in.”
“You’re going after him?”
“I have to,” Kozol said, “But you can get away. Get out of here, head east.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she swore.
As the ground shook again, she shoved the last supplies into her pack. Kozol kicked open the door and preceded her down the stairs, pushing their way through those who tried to flee upward. Lena smelled the smoke first, raisin
g her shirt around her mouth. Kozol faltered and she grabbed his hand to lead him out of the house. Others fled past them and she looked up, seeing the town of Hope ablaze.
She tossed Kozol a weapon, putting a pistol for herself in her belt. They shuffled through the frosted mud, the icy rain pouring down on them, hissing in competition with the spreading fire, yet the flames roared on.
Lena sniffed, smelling the odd sweetness in the air, “Propellant. This fire’s manmade.”
“Another plague purge?” Kozol asked, his voice faltering slightly.
“Let’s just get Calvin and get out of here,” Lena replied.
They ran for the edge of camp. In the chaos, there was a crack of rifle fire and Lena heard a thud behind her. She turned her head, seeing Kozol lying in the frosted mud, grabbing his side as he howled. Lena kneeled beside him, pressing a hand against the blood seeping from his gunshot wound. She looked up, seeing one of the camp guards looming over them, rifle in hand.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lena shouted.
“This village must be cleansed,” he replied, his voice sturdy and practiced. “No one must leave to infect the others.” On his back Lena could see the round curve of a flamepack. He’d been part of the group lighting the town on fire.
Lena nodded, as if accepting her fate. As the guard levered the bolt action of his hunting rifle, Lena reached into her holster. She whipped out her pistol and shot him straight through the chest. His body crumpled to the ground.
She didn’t waste time, she gathered Kozol up and carried him over her shoulder as she made her way to the barbwire fence.
She slowed as she approached, hearing the repeated pops of gunfire. She glanced around the corner of the last house and swallowed as she watched snipers pick off those who were willing to attempt the fence and rip their hands to shreds to climb over. She paused, trying to think. She looked over, seeing a disheveled Charlotte shooting back at the snipers in the tree line from the cover of a nearby shed.
Lena called out to her and the woman turned, shaking her head at the sight of the two of them.
“Got a plan, Daywalker?” Charlotte shouted back.