Twila covered her ears with a grimace. “Only a bunch of noisy trucks. I could tell you more if someone—” Twila glared at Justin. “Hadn’t broken my special crystal.” She sighed heavily. “But I’ll try again.”
Scarlett needed to talk to Twila about that. The crystal Merkaba was merely a tool to help activate one’s dormant abilities. Using it as a crutch only held her back. Once the child realized it, her abilities would be even more powerful.
Dean tapped the back of the van. “Time to skedaddle. I’m hearing all sorts of traffic several streets down. Better leave before they discover the van.”
One by one, they stepped out of the van. Justin wore a small backpack and had the baby in a tote bag around his neck. Ella was looking frailer by the minute. Luther, strong as he was, strapped on a large, green duffle stuffed with supplies.
“Guys, hide your weapons,” Justin warned. “If a drone IDs weapons, they’ll send in troops.”
“Scarlett, hand me your M4. We only got two of these.” Luther bundled them in a HAZMAT suit.
“Walk single-file. Except, you might want to hold Twila’s hand,” Dean said pointedly to Scarlett. “We could be spotted from the road. Absolute quiet.”
Scarlett held Twila’s hand, and they followed Dean. They darted from building to building with trucks rumbling in the distance. It sounded like Last State had called in the National Guard. An intense knowing warned the X-strain army could starve-out the citizens if they thought to do such a thing.
Humanity would soon be at the X-strains,’ mercy . . . but mercy wasn’t in their mindset.
Chapter 5
Estella Marie Vasquez-Chen lazily opened her eyes. Confusion overtook her. Where am I? A mix-match of Mexican and Native American blankets hung from the ceiling and gently swayed around her. She propped her body on her elbows, realizing she was on a mattress, which sat on the floor. All by herself.
Realization settled in. “Huh, mijo?” she cried out.
Justin brushed aside a blanket and hurried to her with Mateo in his arms. “Hon, everything’s okay.”
“Where are we?” Ella was so out of it. Then she remembered why. Scarlett had demanded she drink the special tea after they had snuck into the Forbidden Zone yesterday evening.
“This is the safehouse Zac told us about.” Justin gently rocked baby Mateo in his arms. “You slept nearly twelve hours straight.”
Ella rushed to her feet. Is he cuh-ray-zee? “Mijo can’t go that long without nursing!”
“Don’t worry. I laid with you two while he nursed. Does that make me a pervert?” He smiled sheepishly. Mijo whimpered at the sound of her voice. “I think he’s hungry again.”
Relief brought her out of her panic. “I’ll feed him in a sec. Uh, where’s the bathroom?” Weird that she didn’t remember.
Justin pulled back an earth-toned thunderbird blanket and pointed to the blue door. She made a beeline for the bathroom, trying to recall last night. The tea had made her woozy, but it had also relieved her childbirth pains, she realized, no longer wincing at every little movement.
Eek. She walked through a cleared pathway. The place is trashed. Then she remembered. The safehouse had been looted sometime after Justin and Dean had found it while they had waited in the van. Twila had said the bad men came looking for them. Deep down, Ella worried it had been the Ancient Ones. They had voted to stay the night there, thinking the intruders wouldn’t be back. A new safehouse was today’s first priority.
She eyed the filthy bathroom with disgust. She splashed her face with water and did a quick sponge bath with what looked to be a fresh washcloth and bar of soap on the counter. “Ugh, I look awful.” A blurred image appeared beyond the mysterious depths of the mirror.
“No!” Ella hissed. She shut her eyes, refusing to see. The mirror only showed her bad things. She whispered a string of Hail Marys, clinging onto her shattering Catholic faith. She didn’t trust the source of the mirror messages she had randomly received shortly before losing her first son, baby Miguel. Dutifully, she made the sign of the cross.
“You okay?” Justin asked when she strode back into her blanketed bedroom. Carefully, he handed Mateo to her.
The vibration of pure love seemed to wash over her, revitalizing her when she put a breast to Mateo’s mouth. Justin tried not to watch. He quickly looked away. “It’s okay, I’m not embarrassed,” she murmured.
“Cool, I love watching you two. You guys are—” He paused. “Perfect.”
“Baby Mateo is the sweetest gift ever.” As mijo suckled her breast, she tried not to brood over why God had brought a new soul into this ungodly world.
“He so is! But, it’s time for breakfast,” Justin said.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Ella wasn’t ready to face the day’s problems. She’d rather lie there and hold baby Mateo for hours. Just gazing at him made her heart burst with pure love.
“Ye-ah, okay. Try to hurry.”
He took off before she could give him the “caps-lock” staredown. She shouldn’t be so judgy. Justin tried his best. After all, he had fed mijo and let her sleep in. It was a comfort to know he was capable of taking care of their son. I’m such a slacker.
***
When Mateo was done, Ella joined her friends in the main room.
“Well, there’s Ella. How you feelin’?” Dean asked with concern.
“Much better.” She offered a quick smile.
Luther handed her a plate of pancakes. “You must be starving.”
“Thanks. How’d you know?”
“We heard your stomach growling from the bedroom,” Luther teased.
Twila motioned to her. “Sit by me, pretty please. I miss you.”
“Sure.” Everyone seemed in a cheery mood. Too cheery. They were up to something. She eyed Scarlett questionably when she handed her the bottle of syrup.
“We came up with a plan,” Scarlett hinted.
Ella flashed Justin the death stare. Why did she have the feeling she wasn’t going to like what was coming?
“It’s no big deal,” Justin defended too quickly, followed by one of his exaggerated cheesy grins.
“I don’t mind going by my bad-ass self,” Luther gloated.
“Dude,” Justin broke in. “You need backup. The Forbidden Zone reeks of roving hordes.”
Why does Justin always have to go? Of course, she was just being selfish.
“You know why, silly. He has the special memory gift,” Twila answered her silent question.
“Huh,” Ella grunted. Twila’s mindreading would get the girl in trouble one day. She quickly shrouded her thoughts.
“My quirky eidetic memory thing.” Justin smirked. “Once I see a location, it’s downloaded to the hard drive of my mind. Forever.”
“I’d have to say it does come in handy,” Dean said.
The pancakes didn’t taste so good when she thought about Justin snooping around the Forbidden Zone. During her citizenship orientation, Last State had warned how dangerous it was to leave the Zones.
Dean hobbled to the window. “I’d go with Luther, but that spill I took yesterday has come back to haunt me.”
Twila smothered her pancakes with more syrup. “I’ll send you more healing energy after I eat.”
“Amal-zing,” Justin awed. “The way you ducked ’n rolled outta the truck. Like The Rock.”
Ella sighed with reluctant acceptance. “Fine, when are you leaving?”
“After we eat,” Justin said before stuffing his face with a fork of syrup-drenched pancakes.
“I’ll keep an eye on the place while they’re gone,” Dean quickly added. “Ella, if you’re up to it, help Scarlett scavenge the joint for supplies. We should take all the freeze-dried goods we can carry.”
Ew, is that what I’m eating? No wonder the lumpy pancakes had the texture of Styrofoam. She shouldn’t complain. They were blessed to have escaped the lodge and the bunkhouse. It was another reason she couldn’t bear letting Justin out of her sight.
They were safe at this precise moment in time. Still, the mirror’s image taunted her. Not knowing—wasn’t it better than knowing one’s time of death?
Twila patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I just know Justin and Luther will find us a special hiding place.”
Ella offered a faint smile. Twila was adorable.
After Justin hugged her goodbye, Ella moped around and cleared the breakfast mess. She was surprised her pains hadn’t returned. After that, she searched the warehouse for the softest blanket she could find. The flannel blanket she had found was twice the size she needed, so she cut it in half.
Twila ran up to her. “What are you doing?”
“It’s called swaddling. It helps a newborn feel safe. Like in the womb.” Shari had stressed the importance of the age-old practice of swaddling a newborn and had demonstrated the technique on a baby doll. But mainly, Ella hoped it would keep mijo sleeping soundly during their hike to the new safehouse.
“I wanna learn,” Twila insisted.
“I don’t know—you have to do it just right. The arms need to be snug, but the feet need room to move around. Like this.” Ella laid Mateo on top of the folded blanket. She carefully wrapped him into a cute baby burrito.
Scarlett joined them with a bundle of clothes. “These tactical clothes will be a bit big. And will hide your figure.” She held up a pair of forest-green camo pants. “The cargo pockets come in handy too.” Scarlett set the clothes on the bed, including a grungy camouflage cap.
They had talked about disguising themselves as men yesterday. Ella scrunched her nose. At least they’d be comfy, and no one would notice her postpartum belly. She self-consciously tried rubbing away her pot belly. It would go away soon. It had last time.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m wearing them too.” Scarlett’s long black braids swung around her neck with her every move. She tied the braids in a pile and then accented the outfit with a matching cap. “How do I look?” Scarlett attempted a Charlie’s Angels pose with her gun.
“Like a drug lord fashionista.” Ella laughed. She wished she had the patience to let her hair grow. She kept her hair cropped in a practical pixie cut. No muss, no fuss. “Do you really think they’ll find a safehouse today?”
“Of course.” Scarlett smiled. “According to the map we found, urban housing is about four miles east of here.”
OMG, four miles! How could they hike that far with the baby? With roving hordes. She forced herself not to obsess over it. They had made it this far. But she had already lost one baby. And the mirror had been trying to show her—something dark.
“B-e-l-i-e-v-e . . .” a mystical voice sang as fiery-blue letters spun around her head.
Chapter 6
Justin Chen could not stop stressing over Mateo. What if he started balling during their hike to the new safehouse? He slipped the leather satchel’s straps around the back of Ella’s neck. It was sturdier than the knapsack they had been using.
“So much better.” Ella gently placed their son into the satchel on top of a pillow she had cut to size. She covered him with a swatch from the same blanket used to swaddle him. “Don’t worry, my sleeping angel,” she cooed.
“Everyone, all set?” Dean’s tone went somber. “Remember the hand signals we went over in the van.” He demonstrated the basic signals again: Stop, go back, hurry, and danger. “Son, we’ll follow your lead. Luther, why don’t you cover the rear.”
Luther nodded. It was like they were too tense to speak. They gathered at the warehouse’s side entrance. Justin hoped Twila wasn’t in one of her bratty moods. It startled him when she stuck out her tongue at him. On impulse, he asked, “Is it safe to leave?”
Twila looked at Scarlett questionably as if asking if she should answer.
“This is the time to be honest,” Scarlett said.
“I feel lots of sick ones out there. It makes me so sad.” Twila patted her heart. “They’ve been trapped here since the beginning of the evil sickness. Starving to death.”
“Alrighty folks, all the more reason to get this over with. Unless—” Dean turned to Scarlett. “You think we should leave at dawn during their inactive state?”
“No!” Scarlett massaged her forehead. “We can’t stay!”
Okay, that was freaky. Justin cracked open the warehouse’s emergency exit. He wasn’t ready for this. Sure, he could handle a few Zs. Even a regular horde. But walking around the Forbidden Zone, with his son and Ella to protect, terrorized him.
“Guys, don’t fire your weapons. Someone in the Y-zone might report it.” While Zhetto and Tent City did whatever the hell they wanted, Last State strictly prohibited guns in the Zones.
He was answered by a quick round of nods.
“Give me a sec to scope it out,” Justin said, calming his nerves. “I’ll signal if it’s safe.” He wasn’t worried about drones. From what he knew, Last State only monitored the Forbidden Zone’s border wall.
Justin made it to the street and waited for signs of activity while visions of the X-strain Army invaded his mind. The road remained clear. He motioned them on. They joined him in the street, his heart thudding against his chest. They had decided wide-open spaces were safer since they had a baby and child to protect. This way they could see what was coming.
Based on the scuffling and banging he and Luther had heard during their pre-dawn recon excursion, Zs loitered inside the buildings. Twila was probably right. Zs had been trapped there since the early days of the pandemic.
Weird, how Last State had barricaded off the housing areas instead of decontaminating them for its citizens. Working for Last State, Justin knew the chilling truth. They had herded approximately one million sheeple into the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for optimal surveillance. Cits had unwittingly traded their freedoms for the delusion of safety. Peace of mind was now a far-fetched fantasy since the power-tripping dictatorship kept everyone on edge 24-7 with their 1984 antics.
Anticipation crept in as he approached the first intersection. He jerked at every teensy movement teasing his periphery. Just debris blowing in the wind. How he dreaded intersections. Too much territory to scope out at once. He peeked into an SUV before kneeling beside it. Empty. He checked under the vehicle for Zs. Nothing. He panned the streets, the sidewalks, and the businesses lining the streets. Nothing.
He waited there a few seconds, willing the holographic image of their new safehouse to materialize in his mind. Turn right on the next street. Justin motioned them to join him by the SUV.
Scarlett darted over with Twila in hand. Dean escorted Ella and Mateo along. Luther walked backward, pointing his Glock from side to side. If they ran into a horde, what would they do? As if reading his thoughts, Ella flashed him an I-don’t-like-this look. He merely smiled. Dude, stay focused.
Luther ducked beside the SUV next to him. “I can smell those stinking nimrods.”
Justin didn’t want to worry Ella more than she already was. He nodded in acknowledgment and panned the street. “Meet me behind that van after I check it out.” He slinked off.
He stopped next to the van parked diagonally across the street, blocking his line of sight. “Holy shit!” A freaking horde spasmed-out in the street, sniffing the air like a mangy pack of wild dogs. It was like the horde expected their return.
One of them gawked its buggy eyes in his direction. Is that what I think it is? He grabbed the binocs draped around his neck. They all wore faded blue vests. Really? A horde of Walmart Zs? Anyone’s worst nightmare.
The Z with the most flair pinned to its tattered vest ogled in his direction. It threw its head back and groaned to the sky. The others joined in. Justin gave the danger signal as he duck-walked back to the SUV with his finger to his lips.
Now what? Ella’s furrowed brows shouted.
He called up the map in his mind again. They would have to take the longer route, the one he and Luther had initially taken this morning.
“Should we head back to the warehouse?” Dean whispered.
> “This way,” was all Justin said. He should have known better. Never go the same way twice in a short amount of time. Regular Zs made lame predators but were keen on detecting the human scent. Patience and relentlessness made up for their shortcomings. And this collective consciousness thing Scarlett talked about had really upped their game. If it were true, scientists needed to tweak Darwin’s theory to the evolution of—devolution.
They reached a corner strip mall, when for no reason at all, Mateo started balling. Justin cringed from the inside out. Ella’s eyes widened in fanic, the same fanic he refused to accept. She desperately rocked the satchel, shushing him.
They needed a place to hide. Now! “I’ll check out the strip mall,” Justin said before running across the street. He peered through the windows first. No movement. The door to CiCi’s Deli stood wide open. He crept inside and checked behind the counter. Empty. He knocked over an empty rack to draw out any Zs. He waited five seconds. No groaning. That was all he needed to know.
Justin motioned them on. Shit. He forgot to check the rear entrance. Always have an alternate escape route. He wasn’t thinking clearly. After everyone made it into the deli, he asked Luther to cover him while he checked the rear exit.
Justin grudgingly opened the rear door a few inches. Thank you! “It’s clear in the back.” For how long?
“Folks, let’s take a breather ’til the baby stops fussing,” Dean announced calmly.
Luther tore into a bag of Lay’s chips he snagged from the floor. Three seconds later, he spat it out. “Nasty.” Luther grimaced and grabbed his canteen.
“Dude, they expired years ago.” Justin laughed. He had done the same thing back in his smuggling days with Mad Dog’s gang.
“How close are we?” Scarlett asked.
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