Dee and I marched without effort, but Shandra was my worry. The tall doctor was strong and in shape, but we would be moving fast and over a large distance. If she hadn’t been so insistent on joining us, I’d have left her behind with the others. But perhaps she could prove a good distraction to keep my thoughts from focusing on Dee too much.
The young woman walked ahead of Shandra and me, her tight camo pants hugging her hips and small ass. Even the dark camo and stiff material of her fatigues couldn’t hide the perfection of her figure, and my eyes kept straying back to the perfect half-moons as they swayed before me. It wasn’t only the shape of her that tantalized; stronger still was her scent that hinted at desires I felt as well. I couldn’t allow myself to get distracted, though. There was too much on the line, and Donatella’s emotional crisis wasn’t something I could help her with.
“You have the vials of blood somewhere safe?” I asked the doctor as we approached the dilapidated farmhouse, surrounded by rusted-out old cars and machinery.
“Safe as I could make them,” Dr. Gupta said, patting her backpack. “Keeping them at temp will be a bit of a struggle, but so long as it doesn’t take us more than thirty-six hours to get to the lab, they should be fine.”
“I’m going to search the house. You two search the barn,” Dee said, her silver eyes sweeping over Shandra and me with the barest tightening of the surrounding muscles. “And don’t get up to any hanky-panky in there, we need to get a move on.”
The comment only caused Shandra and me to frown at one another in confusion, but then the dark-skinned woman sighed and nodded me forward.
“Jealousy’s bite is strongest when you don’t realize it’s there,” she muttered under her breath, and I cocked an eyebrow, not sure she was right about that.
Donatella was annoyed with the detour, and I could scent the frustration growing in her every time she glanced at me. I wasn’t looking forward to walking on eggshells around the young woman but hadn’t been able to convince her of the need for this trip. Her arguments had made me doubt the need for it, but I’d been unable to ignore the voice inside whispering that I needed to know everything I could about the serum that had changed me and the world so much. The desire might have been irrational, but once it was in my head, I couldn’t get it out until the itch was scratched.
The barn was empty, save for a broke down tractor and an old thresher shoved into the back. Poking around a few of the stalls, I found an ancient shotgun. The butt-end was cracked, but the twin barrels were clean of rust and debris. When we headed back out, I found Dee with another shotgun, pistol gripped and pump action, and a small beretta.
“Found these in the bedroom, along with ammo. There was ammo for more pistols and a rifle, but I didn’t see any sign of them anywhere.”
“This will have to do for now,” I said with a frown at our woefully small supply of weapons and ammo. “You’re certain there’s more at this community?”
“I wouldn’t say certain,” Dee said with a pretty little frown, her cute nose scrunching up. “But it was used by Green Berets and Delta Force when they did land navigation training in these mountains. They leave weapons everywhere as a matter of principle, so it’s a good bet.”
“I’d still like to be certain,” I said, pulling out my phone. “Plan B is to head far east and hit up one of the small mining towns. It would add a day to the trip, but with the ATVs and enough fuel, we should be fine. What do you think?”
“I think this whole thing is a waste,” Dee said, her frown turning sour, “but if it comes down to it, you’d do better with a sword than a gun when you’re ascendant, and the doctor here will be useless either way. Sorry, Shandra, no offense.”
“None taken,” the Indian woman said with calm poise. “I think she’s right, CT. Let’s not waste the day, and if it comes down to it, I know you and Donatella will be able to protect me. Or I’ll just climb a tree.” She finished with a little laugh, clearly trying to mask the fear growing in her scent.
The bikes didn’t start up right away, but after pulling and brushing off the spark plugs, they started right up. Fuel would be an issue, but we found a couple fuel canisters in the barn we strapped to the backs of the quads. The sun was still near the eastern horizon when we lit out on a narrow country road in search of one of the fire roads that would carry us through the mountains.
Dee rode ahead, a plastic map taped down to her fuel tank so she could navigate as we rode. Shandra sat behind me, her slender arms clinging to my middle as the quad bounced beneath us on the old, pothole-strewn road. My teeth felt like they were going to rattle out of my skull and my joints would never make the long trek. But once we were on the dirt road, the ride smoothed out considerably.
Hours flew by, and we only stopped once to drink bottles of water and eat energy bars and jerky quickly while Dee double-checked our position against three visible landmarks.
“We’re on the right path,” she said after triangulating our location with her compass. “Should arrive at the depot in a couple hours.”
“Warn me when we get close,” I said, patting the shotgun strapped to the side of the quad. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
“We won’t make it to the compound before dark. Are we stopping somewhere for the night or rolling through?”
“We should be able to see in the dark, even if there’s cloud cover, so I say we roll through and get there as fast as possible. Shandra, you have any objections?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head, “I’ve been dozing on your back, so don’t stop to rest on my account.”
Two hours later, Dee held up a fist as she drew to a halt near the base of a short hill. The area was sparsely wooded, but a thicket on one side of the hill hid a gray shipping container. The container had a tumbler lock I managed to snap free with a grunt of effort.
Inside we found two cots that were opened up and looked like they’d slept hundreds of men over the years. Past the beaten-up army cots were boxes of MREs, the military meal rations, as well as piles of broken and used gear. In the back, we found the fuel canisters Dee knew would be there, as well as several boxes of 5.56mm ammunition.
Dee and Shandra strapped the boxes of ammo to the back of the quads while I dug through the container. I managed to find a dozen knives of various shapes and sizes, including a brace of half a dozen throwing knives in a leather sheath. There was also an old, rusted luger that I left behind. I didn’t know where we’d find ammo for the thing, and it would require hours to break the rust free and clean it enough so it would fire.
After another quick meal, we were back on the quads and rolling down the hill's grassy slope to the fire road below. The roads in these hills were overgrown and treacherous, causing Dee and me to move slower the last ten miles than we had the previous thirty.
As the sun sank below the horizon, I pushed out other senses and let the fading light gather in my eyes. The night wasn’t as bright, to my over-dilated pupils, as it was in daylight, but I could make out details on the road clearly. Everything had a dark blue haze over it as the evening’s last low-angle rays struck the ionosphere and illuminated the world.
“We’ll have to walk from here on in,” Dee said an hour later as she pulled her four-wheeler to a stop beneath a thick stand of trees.
“Mark the location on your phones,” I said. “Just in case we get separated.”
Dee and Shandra followed suit, dropping red pins in the middle of the unmarked wilderness. I prayed they wouldn’t be needed, but it was better to be prepared just in case. After checking our weapons and gear one last time, we climbed around the washed-out road and headed down the mountain to the valley below.
Chapter 10
SCENE TWO
A broad green field stretched out, extending as far as the eye could see. There were white lines marked off, marching out toward the horizon, every five yards. A tall, powerfully built man with black hair and piercing pale blue eyes stood before the same group of young men. Time
had passed, as evidenced by the boys’ thickened frames and the scruff and peach fuzz growing on a few chins.
The boys joked and jostled one another, their comradery easy and good-natured as the man helped the small Asian boy grip a baseball properly.
“You want to make sure you’re feeling the beast within, Shen, when you access the strength,” Dean said, in a calm but firm tone. “The same with sight and hearing. Block the rest of the world out, harness your body’s power, and drive it up through your back and out the arm. You’ll feel a second of dislocation, and that’s how you know it’s working.”
“But what if I can’t feel the beast within?” Shen asked with an embarrassed frown.
“Don’t think about the doctor’s metabolization percentages and lipid responses. I wish Elenore hadn’t given you boys the test. Only makes it harder to keep you from sorting yourselves in unhelpful ways. Sasha! Fredrick! Cut that out this instant and pay attention.”
The pale-haired Russian lad from before had shot up like a reed and now towered over the rest of the boys. He and a sandy-haired boy with a soft and pudgy face were flicking each other’s ears, clearly a prank they’d played often as both had been guarding their ears with hands and shoulders while seeking to attack the other with painful flicks.
The other boys had expressions ranging from bored to annoyed as Shen listened to the silver-haired man’s instructions. Matthew, clear by his bright red hair, moved around the group, whispering in boys’ ears and earning eager, mischievous grins from each. It wasn’t clear what they were up to, but the boys huddled together, passing something back and forth before a beanpole-thin boy with sallow features and dirty blond hair slipped from the group and snuck up behind Dean.
The slender boy hadn’t gone two feet before the man swung his head around, obviously sensing someone approaching from his blind spot. The boy swept his hand behind his back, hiding the bit of paper from the man as he frowned in confusion.
“Master Williams, do you mean the power comes from inside? But what about the law that governs conservations of energy? Wouldn’t it contradict the theory…”
“Morty, shut the fuck up and get back in line.” The man’s annoyance at the slender boy’s questions was clear as he turned back to the Asian boy.
Morty took the opportunity, and the hand behind his back shot forward and with a touch lighter than a feather pressed the paper sign to Dean’s back. Turning quickly, Morty hurried back to the group, a grin stretching across his face as he struggled to hold in the laughter. The five other boys were all shaking with silent laughter as the man nodded for Shen to throw.
As the baseball launched from the short boy’s hand and shot out like a bullet, soaring a half mile before falling to the ground, the man seemed unaware of the sign taped to his back that read: MY BUTT SMELLS LIKE FARTS. Until he turned with a frown to see what had caused his young coterie to fall down in gales of laughter.
Plucking the paper from his back, he grinned, then barked an order, laughing as the boys scrambled to their feet and took off running in every direction in a futile attempt to escape their punishment.
The going was rough without a trail to follow, and even harder for Shandra in the dark, but Dee was excellent at woodcraft and led us through grassy areas for the most part, or beneath large stands of oak trees. The valley had a small river that we forded in the early hours of the morning, and I wanted to pause on the other side to let Shandra rest, but the woman was adamant that she wasn’t tired and could go on. Her heavy breathing and the tremble I could feel in her limbs gave lie to her words, but her toughness impressed me and I kept us moving but at a slower pace as we climbed the shoulder of the small mountain.
The sun was just tinging the sky in lightness when we crested the ridge and I got my first sight of the compound. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, but the neatly built and laid out lines of white houses surrounded by picket fences wasn’t it.
“This was housing for the workers and scientists,” Dee said, pointing to the far side of the narrow valley where three massive mansions stood. “That was my mother’s home for a time, when grandfather and his wives lived here. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the place… Amazing how little has changed.”
“I don’t see signs of movement,” I said, “but stay wary. We can’t be certain this place is empty.”
“It’s empty,” Dee said with certainty. “Matthew and the rest of them always hated what this place symbolized. It’s always been a reminder that what makes them special came from scientists and a syringe.”
“Let’s keep our guard up just in case,” I said, pulling Shandra before me and making sure her shotgun was held in a ready position.
Dee didn’t respond, but I saw she loosened her sword in its sheath, the silvery blade peeking out for just a second before she moved out, her steps light and fast as we skirted the idyllic little community. I spotted a post office and a small grocery store, both with dusty windows and no lights on inside.
The entire valley looked abandoned, but there was an odd scent that rose the hairs on the back of my arms and neck. It was a musky odor, like that of a wild animal, but it came and went, and I saw no sign of bears or other wild animals having nosed about the area.
We walked around the sculpted mountain and saw a large concrete structure tucked into the side of it. It was clear they had built the building in a bygone era. Set in the middle of a pastoral scene of sweeping green slopes and spreading oak trees was a massive gothic building of slate gray concrete.
There were stains on the building’s walls, from years of rain and weather, and there was a hazy film of dust over the windows on the upper floors. There was no sign that anyone had been into the place in months, if not years.
“When was this place abandoned?” I asked Dee.
“I’m not sure,” she said with a shake of her head. “It’s been little used for years, but there still should have been a few dozen staff members and test subjects here right up until the bombs dropped.”
“Stay sharp in there,” I said. Dr. Gupta’s skin had a green cast to it, and I could smell the terror rolling off her, but she gave me a firm nod saying she was ready. “And remember if we get separated to meet back at the pinned location.”
Dee nodded, indicating that she was ready, and I pulled open one of the heavy glass doors. The door was locked, but the steel bent easily when I yanked it open. The musky aroma of a wild animal struck me full in the face when the door swung open and I caught something rancid and off, mingled with the smell.
“Is that bear?” Dee asked, pinching her nose and glaring up at me as if I’d caused the scent that so offended her. “Smells like it’s sick or something else is rotting.”
“What?” Shandra asked, glancing between us.
“Do you smell that?” I asked the doctor, but she shook her head.
“I don’t smell a bear, or anything like that. Just dust and my own sweat,” she said with a frown as she scented one armpit with a frown. “Gross.”
“Best to get this over with. I’ll hunt down the bear and put it out of its misery. You two find what you want in the labs. They’ll be underground.”
“Wait, Dee, don’t just take off—”
The silver-haired woman darted off with a fixed expression on her face. I didn’t want to shout after her and was forced to growl a quiet curse as I heard her light feet running down the hall and fading quickly.
“She’s not used to taking orders,” Shandra said with a commiserating frown.
“This is the wrong time and place to start flexing your independence,” I growled. “Forget her for now. She can handle herself. Let’s find a map of the facility.”
We found one on the wall behind the reception desk. Three levels of it at least were outlined in simple drawings with the major sections blocked off. Accounting was upstairs, along with human resources and legal, while the bulk of the scientists, engineers, and researchers were spread throughout the first floor. The basement level h
ad two long laboratories and a half-dozen exam rooms. There was even a small apartment in the basement; either for subjects or the scientists, I couldn’t be sure.
“I need to get down here,” Shandra said, pointing at the labs. “All I need is one of the Agilent chromatography machines to work, and I’ll be able to check what I need to in a couple hours. Do you think we can get power going in here?”
“They might have generators somewhere,” I said, scanning the map and pointed to an electrical closet near a utility cabinet on the first floor. “Let’s see what’s here.”
Shandra nodded, her eyes scanning every doorway as if she expected mutants to spring out of one any second. Past the receptionist desk, I found a suite of small offices and cubicles and a few locked doors that held larger offices when I peered into the windows. All seemed quiet and still, but that musky scent filled the place and I saw evidence of some great beast’s passage down the halls, dark hair and dirt smeared halfway up on either side.
The small cubicle-filled space looked like a tornado had destroyed it, the short walls tossed everywhere, and desks broken with cables and computers strewn throughout. The destruction continued through most of the first floor, but I found that the utility closets with their heavy steel doors were unaffected.
The first one held servers in tall stacks with hundreds of cables reaching out of them and up into the rafters or down into the floorboards. The next place I checked had a massive array of fuses in two large banks, and tucked into the corner was what I’d been hoping to find. Popping the metal cap, I gave a sniff and grinned when I smelled the heady aroma of diesel fuel.
It took a couple minutes to figure out how to turn on the diesel generator, and it gave a horrible whine as it started up, but the exhaust kicked out a tube that sent it up and out of the building to my relief. A few seconds after the powerful generator began humming, the overhead lights flickered and then burst alight.
New World Alpha: Book Three (A Harem Fantasy) Page 5