by Jill Cooper
They didn’t have long to find a place to hide. And luck wasn’t on their side.
Dirk pulled the door of a charred mini-van open and shoved Melissa inside. He crawled inside and slammed it shut as a wave of fire surged by. “It’s not going to take him long to realize what happened to us.”
“What do we do?” Melissa asked. Dirk couldn’t help but notice how dark the bags were under her eyes, he was impressed by how well she was holding it together with so little sleep, but eventually something had to give.
Dirk leaned forward and ignored her smell of sweat. These days, who wasn’t sweaty? He popped the door open leading to the other side.
“We run west for base and we don’t stop; not even when we’re inside.”
“And if we don’t make it? If the glistening follows us to base?”
His voice simmered, “not an option.”
Melissa’s mouth opened, but she shut it again. “For Jake.”
Dirk grinned a shit-eating grin that he couldn’t help. “Move it, Miss Chang.”
Out of the cabin and into the fire, they charged onto the crumbled pavement. They went from the quiet, dull rumble of the car into the deafening sound of fire breathing hell. Charging toward the hidden access pass, Melissa never looked back, just like Dirk had taught her.
But there wasn’t any time to congratulate her on a hard lesson won. There was just the pull, that systematic pull to keep going. had been on their tail, regrouping and coming for them hard, but the tunnel finally grew closer.
Dirk took up the rear. He turned and grabbed the last grenade he had left. Yanking the pull free, Dirk gave his best pitch and set it free.
He and Melissa dove like pigtail doves, into the tunnel hidden by a layer of overgrown grass, but their landing was less graceful. His shoulder crunched against the rubble and Melissa’s landing wasn’t much better, her head slamming against the concrete.
The tunnel was too small for them to stand, but Dirk squatted to get the metal trap door shut and spun the lock to close the dragons off. The ground vibrated and shook.
Melissa took a deep breath as her eyes trained on the entrance. “Was it close?”
“Nah,” Dirk smirked. “Let’s get back to the crew, see if the medicine made it. We could use some good news.”
“That’s something we can both agree upon,” Melissa said with a slight smile. Maybe he had finally started to make a good impression on her.
He hunkered down on all fours and started a slow army crawl. Melissa wasn’t far behind and every few steps she brushed up against his ankle in the darkness. It always made the impression that she was safer knowing she wasn’t lost, and he felt better knowing she was keeping up.
Up ahead not much further, Dirk’s elbow banged into a metal plate; they arrived at the manhole cover. Dirk swung his assault rifle across his shoulder and began the slow descent. Pitch-black; the darkness gave way to light.
They were home.
*****
A land locked submarine naval yard seemed unlikely, but so did shape shifting dragons roaming the Earth. An old submarine base in the middle of nowhere turned out to be a good place to hide on land, even if you didn’t have a working submarine. In addition, the entrance was far enough from caverns; that the glistenings had been unable to track them so far.
Eventually, they would find a way in if they wanted to risk getting us. There were rumors that their fire would need to recharge longer under such wet conditions and it was something Dirk wasn’t ready to test firsthand.
The halls of the submarine base welcomed them home with their amber lighting. Dirk gave a sigh of relief and their steps picked up. Harvey and Joe, all good people, greeted them. Dirk slapped the two on the back and was rewarded with a small, brown paper bag—a day’s welcome ration.
“Where’s Rebecca?”
“She’s in with Jake.” Harvey nodded his head toward the top platform, where the sleeping quarters were.
Great, it was a Rebecca and Jake discussion. Maybe Dirk would head back outside and try his luck. “Have you seen Chase?”
“Yes, sir! He brought the medicine. He still might be in with the kids if you need him.”
Dirk sighed with relief. “Thanks, guys.” Dirk turned from them and he started down the corridor with Melissa at his side. He handed his ration bag to her and she started in surprise, her blue eyes wide. “What about you?”
He shrugged and continued up the steps. The only sound between them, the metal clangs of his boots charging up the stairs. “Not hungry.”
“You lie like a cockroach, and I appreciate your chivalry—.”
“Don’t appreciate.” Dirk gripped her shoulders for a moment. “Just eat. I’ll steal someone else’s later.”
“Well . . . in that case—.” Melissa smirked and peered into the bag.
Their voices quieted down as they approached the closed door of Jake’s quarters. New noises, the sounds of voices, drowned out their own. It was a familiar sound.
“Welcome home, eh?” Melissa said with a cocked eyebrow.
Dirk shook his head and held the struggling breath rising in his throat. His dirtied combat boots stepped inside and he tucked to avoid a low hanging brick. “Mom and Dad are always fighting when the kids are away.”
Jake and Rebecca started at the sound of his voice. Both of them wore their battle weariness in different ways. Jake hid his behind a neat appearance of jeans and a tucked in shirt. A splotchy beard covered his face and his eyes were puffy, drained. Rebecca, on the other hand, looked like a woman on a bender in wrinkled jeans. Her green, flannel shirt was left un-tucked and her hair was a frizzy mess. Her hands even shook when she spoke.
This wasn’t the type of life, she was expecting. Of course, Dirk didn’t think any of them did. He never thought Jenna would be torn so violently away from him. He didn’t think his child would be God knows where. Once the glistenings attacked again, nothing was secure.
Fool me twice . . .
That didn’t stop him from shaking Jake’s hand when it was offered to him. “Did you get the medicine?” Jake asked.
Dirk nodded. “We already handed it off. We got some non-perishable goods too, but they won’t last us long.”
Jake’s jaw was tense and behind him Rebecca paced, always waiting for her turn to speak. Well, she could wait a little longer as far as Dirk was concerned. “Thanks, Dirk,” Jake said, “The kids need this. This epidemic, whatever it is—.”
“It’s crippling us.” When he said the words Dirk’s heart panged with the truth of it all. “But we can’t risk getting more medicine again. Not here, they were waiting for us. We barely got out alive.”
“The children aren’t strong enough to move.” Jake side glanced at Rebecca and she put her hands on her hips. Dirk suspected it was what they were fighting about this time. It had been this way since the kids fell sick almost two weeks ago. It spread through the compound like wildfire.
“We’re pinned down. We’re going to die here if we stay,” Rebecca said. “You know it’s true, Dirk.”
It might have been true, but there was a different sort of truth behind her words. Dirk sighed. “Looking at you, I see a scared woman who would sacrifice a bunch of children to to save her own hide. You’re scared.”
She scoffed at him. “And you’re not? I hope to God you’re not planning on lying to me.”
Dirk’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like having to explain himself to the likes of a former US senator. “We got the medicine. Let’s give the kids a fighting chance. A few more days, then we move as planned. But if it’s a decision between saving ourselves and leaving some kids behind—.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting.” Rebecca’s eyes widened. “I don’t want to leave the children behind. What kind of person do you think I am?”
“A politician,” Dirk said dryly. “We stay here, lay low, and defend our position as necessary. And when the kids can move, we get them somewhere safe. We launch our attack against Victor and
get access to New Haven 57. If that’s where Jenna is—.”
“Then we’ll get to her,” Jake said, with determination in his eyes. “I’m going to make rounds. Melissa, would you care to join me?”
Melissa glanced between Dirk and Rebecca. “Um, sure. Catch-up with you later, Dirk. Get something to eat.”
Their boots clomped in the wet sewers, driving them further away and raising the tension between Dirk and Rebecca. When she couldn’t keep eye contact anymore, Dirk crossed his bulging forearms and glowered at her.
“If you’re hungry, there’s some oatmeal cooking in the mess. Kind of congealed now, but I’m sure it’ll be edible with some sugar.”
“I’ll catch some later. I’ve done everything you’ve asked; every side mission we needed to do, before going after Jenna. Now it’s time for you to put your mouth where all that political talk is and get me some results. You promised us a way in.”
Rebecca glanced sideways and from the way she gripped her hands, she was nervous. “A way in? That was when comm. services were working. The Internet, Cell phones; you know systems have been crippled. We are lucky to get a thirty-second call out before we lose it. I can’t do anything under these circumstances.”
Dirk’s eyes blazed as he pushed his chest against hers. “That’s not what you said last week. Or the week before.”
“Things have changed.” Rebecca stumbled, touching his arm.
“If I were you,” his voice lowered to barely above a controlled whisper, “I wouldn’t do that.”
She removed her hand from him as if he had scalded her. “Get us to a central hub and everything will be different. If we can unseat Victor from the White House, that’s our best fighting chance to save everyone, including Jenna. Europe won’t be afraid to act if we can show we have the other glistenings on the run. We need a strong, frontal assault.”
Dirk studied her with a quiet determination. Would she lie? Did she have reason to? “For the good of these people, I’ll play ball awhile longer, but if we fail—.”
“Get with Jake.” Rebecca’s nose flared and she straightened up, growing taller. “It won’t fail. He knows what needs to happen. The sign must be given.”
“Keep trying communications. We can’t just give up.”
Rebecca nodded. “I agree. I want us all to come through this, Dirk. I know why you can’t see that. Just be patient awhile longer.”
Dirk’s eyes narrowed. He gave her a final glance and went on his way. Down the hall, Melissa waited with her back against the steel wall. “Keep an eye on her, but make sure she doesn’t see you coming. Just recon for now,” he said.
She nodded. “I smell something too and it’s not the stench of this place.”
Who knew that one-day Dirk’s confidant would be a journalist critical of New Haven’s policies? “I can’t rip this movement apart just on suspicion alone. There are hardly any of us left as it is.”
“I agree, but what can we do?”
“Keep our eyes and ears open.” Dirk slung his arm around her shoulders. “And do what you do best; collect evidence.”
Rounding the corner, they startled. In the darkened shadow, Chase appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. For a moment his eyes widened, looking surprised to see them. “You guys made it back, I thought I was going to be sending out a rescue mission.”
“We had trouble,” Melissa said.
“The type that have wings and breathe fire when irritable,” Dirk said.
“And they are always irritable.”
Chase glanced quickly between them, real horror spreading across his face. “What? How? The kids?”
Melissa shrugged. “A setup. A ruse, for what end, I’m not sure.”
“I’m sure,” Dirk said with a heavy sigh, his pecks rising and falling with the effort. “To snuff us out, but we got lucky.”
Chase nodded. “Damn lucky, if you ask me.”
“The rebellion will live to see another day.” Dirk said the words, but the hollowness of them haunted him. He knew even if no one else did, the resistance’s days were numbered if they didn’t act soon. If the sick kids couldn’t be moved, if they needed care greater than the resistance could give them, Dirk would be forced to act alone.
A suicide mission? Likely.
His only choice? Definitely.
****
The world was a far different place than when Jake first left New Haven 56. He learned to love its freedom and splendor. Its beauty was unlike anything he had ever imagined, even after seeing images on television and old photographs. There was nothing like an orange sunset and the sound of crickets in the thicket late at night. Nothing prepared him for the marvel of awakening dew clung to the grass, where the air was crisp, and birds chirped their morning greeting.
All of that destroyed by his people—the glistenings.
And he was public enemy number one. If he was seen as the greatest threat to Victor, then Jake thought there was no hope. He was no warrior, more of a thinker than a fighter. Jake didn’t think he was up to the task.
But what choice did he have?
For now, Jake leaned down to a cot where little Sarah Marshall laid quivering under a rough, thick blanket. She was a sweetheart of a girl with red, scarlet fevered cheeks. Lost in an unsettled dream, her brow furrowed, her nose frantically inhaled, unable to draw a clear breath.
Jake shushed her and placed a cool washcloth to her forehead. He hoped the medicine worked fast, if it worked at all. There was no sure thing in the world anymore, if there ever was one.
Her eyes blinked, struggling to open. “Jake?” Her voice was sweet and pure.
“Hey, pumpkin girl.” He clasped his hand around hers. “Be still and rest. You’ll feel better soon.”
“I miss Mommy and Daddy.” She struggled with a yawn and drifted back to sleep.
“They miss you too.” It was too bad they were dead. Too bad, so many were dead.
Jake headed to the makeshift kitchen and knew he shouldn’t be here. He needed to be out there. He wanted to fight the glistenings and force them to unite. Force them to allow the humans to live, but emotions ran hot. Suppressed for so long, it made reasoning with them difficult. He had to hope that Liz would be successful.
Liz, the girl on a Saskatchewan farm, who stole his heart without trying. He lost Wendy a long time ago, but at least his son was safe. Only it turned out, he wasn’t. Both baby Travis and Jane Morgan, were missing, along with all of her crew.
When they needed a volunteer to infiltrate Victor’s camp, well, it shouldn’t have been Liz, but it did make a twisted bit of sense. Victor and Liz had history. Jake hated having to send another person he loved into the lion’s den. Now with the kids falling sick, Liz was on her own awhile longer. It was enough to make him sick with worry and regret. Jake’s heart was always heavy and his stomach, churned.
They needed to move, Jake knew that, but how did they do anything that would damn a group of small kids to death.
Dirk entered the mess and nodded his head in a greeting. “Jake.” He stood by, while Jake took two bowls and filled them with oatmeal. The mundane comfort food was better than no food at all.
Soon, Jake would need animal’s blood. He could go longer than most without it, but time passed since he needed to hunt. A kill. His fingers were already shaking.
“It’s almost time to make our move.” Dirk scooped oatmeal with his wooden spoon and his eyes spied Jake’s quivering hands, but he didn’t say anything.
Jake was grateful for small favors. “I know, but we need just a little more time.”
“We’ll wait as long as we can. I don’t want to see harm comes to these kids,” Dirk sighed. “But the world out there won’t wait forever.”
“And you think I don’t know that because I’ve been locked away down here?” Jake slammed his bowl on the counter and oatmeal splattered up.
Dirk stared at it. “That’s not what I’m saying and you know it. Don’t pick a fight.”
Was that what h
e was doing? Jake wasn’t sure, but maybe. Could be the hunger. Being surrounded by humans and their beating hearts and flowing blood, could drive any glistening to madness.
“You’re antsy. I’m antsy. Let’s just get through the next forty-eight hours and see where it takes us. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah.” Jake licked his lips. “Sorry, Dirk. I don’t know what came over me.”
Dirk slapped him on the shoulder, with a worried crinkle around the eyes.
****
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep him here,” Rebecca whispered into the satellite phone she kept stashed in her sleeping bag.
No longer in her sleeping quarters, Rebecca had gone through the halls of the twisted bunker, away from the rebels and sleeping children. It was dark and Rebecca used one hand on the wall to navigate where lighting was dim.
“We need a little bit longer to perfect the serum,” Dr. Gerard Miller said. He wasn’t just Rebecca’s lover, but also ran the largest genetics company, in what was left of the free world, surviving only because he was inside the newest and strongest New Haven compound. The NH practically worked for him now, and readily gave him glistenings to experiment on.
Rebecca sighed. “How much longer? How’s the process going anyway?”
“Just a bit longer. You’re doing a great job, Rebecca. We’re almost there. We’ve turned Wendy into a glistening and have just about stripped her need for blood—except, well, for a few side effects.”
“Side effects? What side effects?” Rebecca whispered. She remembered Wendy and the days when the teen girl had trusted Rebecca. Now she had been a prisoner of Gerard and the NH for over a year. What had happened to the girl she once knew? Would Wendy ever forgive what Rebecca had done?
Would Rebecca?
She didn’t think so, but being eternally youthful would certainly help. Once people realized they could cure the glistenings of their dragon state, the world could be saved, Rebecca was sure of it. And the rich, they’d pay handsomely for the fountain of youth. They just had to get through this. Rebecca was tired of living in the trenches.