“What the fuck was that?!” Nix rasped in a hushed, urgent voice as if they could hear him.
“I think that was the drug.” She breathed, her chest heaving as she gripped the towel, she had around her with a tighter fist, her heart racing in her ear.
“Well it wasn't exactly as successful as they fucking thought, now was it? That was some zombie movie, horror shit! He ate her like she was a fucking steak and he was a starving carnivore!” Nix panicked. Rae tried to hide her fear, tried to act as if she was spiralling but seeing the effect of the drug that her husband and her mother had created, and what it was going to do to people first hand, had her grip on her sanity loosening with every blood stained image that was replaying in her mind. Her breaths became harsher, her chest became tighter and eventually the dark edges of her vision gave in to the panic attack and she fell into a familiar black hole called unconsciousness.
Chapter Five
“So now you have seen. Seen what I mean. It's not successful, Raelynn.”
It had come back to her, the figure in the black mask but at least this time, Rae had a name.
“Well you don’t fucking say. Drugs don’t turn people into zombie-like creatures, Maria. People don't just casually eat each other here in Iowa.” She screamed back at Maria in her head. Raelynn had concluded by this point, that people couldn't hear the conversations she had with her when Maria visited. And now that she had watched the video, she understood how Maria could even get inside her mind. The video had said that Maria had successfully obtained 65 percent of her brain function. The normal human brain could only obtain something around ten percent, so it made sense that the higher brain function could reach Rae’s when it was at its most vulnerable point.
“Ah, so you know my name. You must have figured out about Edgar and Louis too then. You’ll remember him-Louis.” She replied, a teasing tone in her voice.
“Louis?” Rae thought for a second. “Louis and Edgar were the people in the security video tapes, the ones who showed the same behaviour as the guy in the street. Louis and I bumped into each other at the lab” Rae remembered and started to hyperventilate. I need to wake up, I need to get out of Iowa, I need to stop this.
“Yes, that's him, funny man.” She smiled, getting side-tracked before continuing on about their bad-ass, zombie-causing drug “You best be on your way though, Katherine’s waiting on me. She's after you, you know. She knows you saw, knows you know. Files like ours don't just go missing unnoticed, Raelynn. Get some help, you can't do this alone.” And without letting Raelynn reply or ask questions, Maria was gone, and she was spinning back to consciousness. When she woke, there was a blurred figure above her. Her eyes adjusted slowly, and she squinted recognizing the mop of hair that was above her.
“Raelynn wake up, don't leave me” Nix begged in a hushed voice, gripping her shoulders and trying to shake her awake “I'm scared Rae, I can't face this without you.” His voice quivered, his hands shaking her shoulders gently again. His scared tone was the thing that called to her the most. She couldn't do it without him either.
“Nix-” Rae started, the white paleness of his skin and the green of his eyes no longer blurring together, “I’m here, Nix.”
She sat up slowly, laughing at the happy dance Nix did when he saw her come back.
The sunlight that lit the room hadn't changed, so it couldn't have been long since she passed out, but it had obviously terrified Nix. Nix stopped dancing and his attention focused back to her, helping her back to her feet as she clutched her damp towel to her shivering frame.
“Go get dressed, we need to go.” He dictated in a stern voice that completely contradicted his happy dance he had been doing, only seconds ago. Rae nodded and went to put some clothes on, her movements rushed and jagged as she fought the cold and the urgency of their situation. Thinking about what they had to do next gave her a headache. Together they only had one gun and that wouldn't be enough if the drug continued to infect people. They needed food and camping supplies for their trip to Colorado and they needed to get off this street, fast. They could find most of what they needed for the trip, at the mall around the corner as long as it wasn't overrun by monsters yet. Rae quickly pulled on some black leggings and a large burgundy hoodie, put her converse back on then pulled her damp hair into a ponytail. She picked up her clothes from the night before, shoved them into her duffel then zipped it up and went back into the lounge. She intended on going to pack up the files in the basement before Nix got to them and saw her tape, but the pale shade of his face stopped her. He sat on the couch, his elbows rested on his knees and his face was in his hands, the masculine facade he’d been maintaining to look after her, was gone.
“I can't do this Rae; I can't go out there. Did you not see those things? I can't fight off those.” His voice trembled as his eyes welled, staring straight at her. Letting go of the duffel, Rae sat beside him and held him.
“I'm scared too.” She confessed. On the outside Raelynn looked as though she had it all together, but it was all lies, mentally she was crumbling, and although she normally kept that part of herself completely hidden, Nix needed to know he wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed by everything. They sat in silence for a while. She looked around the room still holding Nix, knowing she was going to have to break up the moment soon, when her eyes fell on the picture of her dad and her as a little kid. One taken while they were hunting, by her father's friend. A friend who had guns.
John.
John was a ranger for the Colorado forest, only seasonally but he knew his guns, and he knew his way through Colorado. He was the one who helped Raelynn’s dad and herself through Rio Grande the first time they had ever hunted there.
“We need to see John, he will help.” She sprung up, letting go of Nix who smiled at the reminder of the sarcastic, grumpy old man who didn’t care what people called him as long as there was a bottle in his hand. He got up quickly.
“Is he still in town?” She questioned Nix who nodded.
She shoved her own gun into the front pocket of her jumper then raced downstairs to pack up their files while Nix collected all the usable items that looked like they could do some damage if they were attacked. Rae helped him shove the knives and hammer into a bag, then grabbed her duffel, the briefcase of files, firmly in her grasp as they got ready to leave.
Opening the door, they peeked out to look for any signs of movement. Seeing nothing, they made a quick beeline to the car and jumped into their seats, Nix claiming the driver’s side. Despite the fact that John's house was only a ten-minute walk down from Rae’s fathers, a five-minute drive was not only quicker, but safer.
They drove to John’s, checking all the cars mirrors twice over before bolting from the car and into John's house. They had no issues getting in as John never locked his doors, he had nothing worth stealing and people in the community knew how much of a loose cannon he was and that he spent any money he got at the liquor store or the pub.
Raelynn closed the door behind them and looked around the entrance room. No sounds met them, which either meant he wasn’t home, or he was passed out. Not wanting to make a sound in case something other than John was in the house, she had Phoenix run up the stairs to check for John as she stayed listening and standing in the entrance hall with her gun in her hand. In less than a minute, he was walking back down the stairs, shaking his head. Rae cursed under her breath then went through to the living area that was a part of the open plan ransacked mess that John lived in. The living room had empty bottles of liquor everywhere, overturned cushions from every seat and sofa, smashed glass and an upturned ashtray on the wooden flooring. Though the cluttered look seemed to be John’s go-to in decor, this was pushing the limits, even for him. She walked carefully over to the kitchen, where John’s round wooden table held what used to resemble a piggy bank but was now a shattered heap of porcelain. Rae caught Nix’s gaze and rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh.
“He’s at the mall.” She assumed picking u
p one of the empty liquor bottles from the ground and holding it up “He’s empty.”
With no reason to hang around, they got back in the car and Nix drove them to the mall. The street they knew to be so peaceful as children was chaotic with sirens and honking, mixing with screams of more victims. The people that had become infected from the drug took down neighbours they had known since they were babies and there was nothing Rae could do but stop the drug infecting any more people than it already had.
The drive was only five minutes but everyone else was in a rush, and obviously had the same idea to go to the mall for supplies because the roads there were almost impossible to navigate without damage. It took almost twenty minutes to get through to the mall and find a park amid all the panic. People frantically wheeled trolleys filled with large water containers and tinned foods in and out of the store to their cars. She could only hope most of those people made it, and that they didn’t run into anyone who had consumed the drug before they were able to hole up and wait out the craziness. However, some people she saw were frowning, staring after the fanatic’s like they were on something, but they hadn’t seen what the drugged people could do yet. It wouldn’t be long before they reached the mall though, so her and Nix had to get going. They only had a few things they needed, including John but Raelynn had a feeling that there wasn’t going to be a whole lot left. Getting out of the car, it didn’t look like anyone was yet rabid, like the people they had seen back on the street. It wasn't far from where they were though, so Raelynn stayed on edge, the hairs on her arms standing as little goose bumps covered her body.
Walking into the store, they dodged people flying past with trolleys and annoyingly hyper kids, others just wandered along as they got pointless things like jewellery, even lines for the hairdressers. That was never a concern to Rae even before everything started turning upside down. They made a beeline for the liquor store but that’s when she heard it. The one sound she hadn’t heard since everything had happened, the one sound that pulled her head from every other problem around them. She grabbed Nix’s hand and pulled him close, holding onto him as her legs grew weak. Her brain shut out every other sound in her mind, intent on drilling the shrill sound of a babies cry into her mind with heart breaking awareness. Her chest rose and fell quickly against harsh breaths as her body hyperventilated at the sound.
Rae shoved feeling back into her legs, a desperate clammy sweat over her. She had a new agenda; to find the baby who was piercing her heart with every wail. She ignored Nix’s questioning and his frowning expression as her eyes darted everywhere, looking for the source of the cry and the baby who owned it. With Nix’s hand still in her own, she dragged him behind her. On a mission, she weaved between people and carts before stopping at the door of a pharmacy. It looked empty inside except a single male cashier who looked completely dazed as he leant on the counter, slowly chewing gum with his chin in his hand.
“What in the world was that?” Nix shook her, pulling her harshly from her haze and forcing her to face him and explain herself. Something she really didn’t want to do.
“I don't know, I just heard a baby crying and thought it might need help. I think it came from in the pharmacy and I need to help it, help it so it doesn't cry anymore.” She confessed emphasizing the need she had to find and stop the crying. She could still hear it but more realistically now from inside the store, rather than piercing inside her mind.
“Since when did you know what cries babies have and what they mean? Since when did you care about babies?” Nix demanded. She avoided the question and the stare, turning away from him and entering the store. She was saved from answering, when a small, young girl with waist length blonde hair in a pink dress rounded one of the shelves, dragging a baby capsule with her. She huffed at the effort it was taking then turned to Rae and Nix with a disappointing glare, her arms crossing over her small frame that Rae would guess made her only about seven years old.
“You’re not who I thought you were.” She sighed then began to try moving the capsule back behind the shelving, the baby still crying within it, the legs kicking with the babies unsettled mood. Rae moved forward, on autopilot, unable to stop herself from looking at the baby. He must’ve been at least six months old with a round chubby face and distraught. Rae looked around for any sign of the parents but there was no one else in the store other than the cashier who seemed to be completely oblivious to the screaming baby, the lone child or even the fact that people had raided a lot of the shelves in a rush, their displays completely destroyed. The little girl was clearly looking for something though, something or someone specific and Raelynn grew more disappointed at the man behind the cashier who hadn't yet come to ask if she needed any help. Rae knelt down on one knee next to her.
“What are you looking for sweetie?” Rae asked softly. The girl looked at her.
“I'm not really sure. My brother keeps crying and I know I should feed him but I don't know how to make a bottle or what the stuff looks like and every time I try to get something, people keep coming in and taking all the stuff before I can get anything for him.” She sighed and Rae looked over the shelving and the girl was right, the store had been raided clean, not just the displays at the front. The only things left were in the locked cabinets behind the useless cashier and the odd dropped packets.
“Why haven't you gone to a shop where there is baby food, like the supermarket down the end?” She continued questioning her and the girl shook her head quickly.
“Because I’m waiting on the man to come back.” She answered quickly then went back to picking up the few strays and left behind boxes, trying her hardest to read them.
“Where is this man? Is he your father? Can we take you to him? Or the food store to feed the baby?” She asked, trying to get her to leave the store so they could feed the baby and try to get her back to her parents.
“Nope, I can't leave. He’s not my dad. My dad left us here coz he got sick. He drove away and I don’t know if he’s gonna come back, coz he said goodbye. But there was a nice man who found us and said he was going to go get baby food and adult drinks and not to leave or he won't be able to find us.” She explained with an exasperated attitude as if she had already explained all of it before. Rae frowned at the idea of the girl’s dad leaving her alone with a baby and that a strange man had approached her.
“Well, who is the man you’re waiting for?” Raelynn pressured. The girl shrugged then looked behind Raelynn and smiled. Before Raelynn could turn around to see what had caught the young girl’s attention, Rae heard heavy footsteps behind her, and the room filled with the familiar scent of whisky.
“Me” A gruff, masculine voice rumbled from behind her, a voice she knew so well it was like music to her painfully ringing ears, she smiled and turned around.
John.
Chapter Six
Raelynn turned around with her eyes wide, she knew exactly who stood before her, though the pharmacy wasn't where she thought she would find him. However, the bags of alcohol he carried was definitely what she expected.
“John-” She knew his voice and his smell, and it overwhelmed her mind with memories. She got up and with the bags still in his hand, he wrapped his bulky, tattooed arms around her.
“What are you doing here?” She asked him softly as his engulfing warmth filled her with a comfort she hadn’t known in a long time, adding that to the scent of whiskey and she could almost pretend it was her dad hugging her. John was one of the few people in her life and from her old one, who actually knew what her father had done and more importantly, why. His deep chuckle filled the room.
“Just stocking up.” He admitted as he released his arms from the hold, he had around her and lifting up the bags of bottles he held to display his point. He looked behind Raelynn, down at the little girl who seemed to trust him with her and her brother. John scratched the back of his head that was covered in rugged, brown hair-a longer style of un-kept than she was used to seeing but it had been years so she guessed
he hadn’t found anyone to keep it maintained the way she used to. His hand moved around to smooth his greying beard, that matched the silvers in his hair before turning to Rae,
“Better question, what are you doing here, poppet? It's been years since I've seen you, is this your wee mini you?” He questioned with his Irish accent only just coming through in his words, it had weakened even more in the time since she had seen him last, but his endearment towards her hadn’t and it had her just as annoyed as the first time he had called her it. She was no one’s poppet. Not now, not ever. His smirk told her he knew that too. Raelynn rolled her eyes then shook her head. Not even John was privy to the information on the child she had actually had, and it would stay that way. The little girl and her brother were another matter entirely though, and one she wasn’t sure what to do about because there was no way they could leave them behind with ravenous zombie-creatures running around. “Uh, no. They’re not mine. I just heard the baby crying and came to see if the girl needed help. How do you know her? She said she was waiting for you.” She questioned him back, avoiding any more personal questions.
“Truth be told, I don't know her. She was just without a parent, so I thought to help. She told me her parents had left and she had to look after the baby on her own, but she didn't know what to do. I told her to wait here while I got some stuff for the baby and then we’d go find her parents when I got back. I’d be happy to hand them over to you to help so I can get home and start on my whiskey though.” He chuckled, and although Rae knew he was only joking she still couldn't muster a laugh because she also knew she couldn’t let John do that, not when the world was literally about to go to shit, as Phoenix would say.
Survival Instincts (Book 1): Sacrifice Page 6