Escaping Extinction - The Extinction Series Book 5: A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series

by Tara Ellis

  “The hot spring! The Libi Nati is erupting again! A geyser!”

  Davies ran out onto the lawn, shouting orders into the radio as he went. The man holding Peta hauled her along after him, and then stopped when they’d gone far enough to see the water through the trees in the distance. His quick intake of breath was enough to let her know he hadn’t seen it before, and it was the opening she needed.

  Suddenly dropping with all of her weight, Peta broke the man’s hold and fell to the ground. Rolling away as he dove for her, she got her hand on the Glock and drew it as she moved into a crouch. “Stop!” she screamed.

  The man froze, but Peta was barely in control and almost pulled the trigger. Nostrils flaring, she trained the gun to her left as she rose and saw that Eddy was still wrapped up by the other two Cured. “Let him go!” she shouted, her hands shaking as she slowly backed away.

  Davies turned around and appeared uninterested as he spoke again into the radio. “I don’t care what it takes. I want it collected.” He glanced then at Eddy, and over at the truck where Paul was still struggling to pull himself up with the open door. Finally, he focused on her gun and scoffed at Peta. “Go. I don’t have time for this. But he stays.” Casually, Davies withdrew his own small pistol and pointed it at Eddy. “Or else he dies.”

  Peta’s heart was beating so fast that it was almost impossible for her to think. She knew she should have never let Davies draw the weapon, but there was a disconnect between her hands and rational thought. To her, he was unarmed until she actually saw the gun and interpreted what it was, as were the three other men. Some vague words from when Jason gave her a brief lesson on being in a gunfight came to her…about not drawing the weapon unless you were prepared to use it.

  Peta took another step back as she struggled to control the physiological response that was surging through her body. Was she prepared to use it? Even if she fired, there was no guarantee she’d prevent Eddy from being harmed.

  Two women and another man were running toward them from the main building, further dividing her attention. She didn’t know what to do.

  “Leave,” Eddy said evenly. It was impossible to tell from his expression what he was thinking, or whether he’d meant what he said. “I want to stay, Peta. You should leave tomorrow as planned, and don’t come back.”

  It was the push she needed. Right or wrong, it was an out that avoided any more bloodshed and an end to what could have been a stand-off without any possible good outcomes. A small nod was all Peta gave as she continued to back slowly away.

  When she reached the sidewalk, she lowered the gun, and Davies did the same. But before turning away, she looked again at Eddy. Regardless of what he said, Peta knew she was leaving a friend behind.

  Hoping Eddy properly interpreted what was in her eyes, she ran for the truck.

  Chapter 17

  TYLER

  Amazon Jungle near Kumalu, Suriname

  The Libi Nati Preserve

  Tyler wasn’t sure if he’d feel better or worse if Maya tried fighting with them. Since he didn’t have any previous experience in tying people up and kidnapping them, he couldn’t make a comparison.

  “We’re here!” Jess called out as she ran ahead, with Jason close behind her.

  “Hold on!” Jason shouted, sticking an arm out as he jogged past her, toward where the jungle opened up to reveal the grassy lawn of the preserve. “I need to make sure it’s safe.

  Safe.

  Tyler glanced over at Devon, who had a tight grip on Maya’s other arm. Mavi was bringing up the rear and hadn’t spoken a word in the past hour, since leaving the erupting hot spring. “Now what?” Tyler asked.

  Devon shrugged and widened his eyes at Maya, indicating he didn’t want Tyler to say too much. “I suppose we’ll make sure everyone is okay and go from there.”

  Tyler’s stomach was back in the realm of nausea and intense cramping. It was a stress reflex he really needed to figure out how to get over, considering the kind of world he now lived in. If he didn’t get some good news soon, he’d be throwing up all over their hostage.

  Hostage.

  The word made his stomach cramp again, and he was unable to prevent a small moan from escaping his lips. Devon squinted at him, but Tyler just shook his head angrily in response. He wasn’t about to admit to his bowel issues in front of their—Maya. Her name was Maya, and it wasn’t her fault that she had brain damage, and then was brainwashed by the crazy Dr. Davies.

  Tyler trusted Jason. He really did, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of doing some stuff that Tyler couldn’t get on board with. Until they knew the others had gotten back from the resort, and that there wasn’t going to be any weird crap happening to Maya, his stomach would continue to be his internal morality and horror gauge.

  “The truck is there!” Jason barked, not slowing down.

  Tyler saw both Jason and Jess disappear as they sprinted from where the trail met the lawn, and while he was relieved to have made it without getting shot in the back, it didn’t do much to help his anxiety. Being in the jungle, as unsettling as it was, gave the illusion that there wasn’t anything beyond it. That the outside world fell away and didn’t matter while you were there. He totally got why Jess was so drawn to it, and if it weren’t for all of the various things trying to kill them, he wouldn’t mind staying and avoiding having to face whatever was coming next.

  Tyler wasn’t sure how he ended up being the one roped into dragging Maya around, and he had no clue what they were supposed to do with her. He squinted against the diffused sunlight when they broke free of the Amazon’s canopy, as he cautiously looked around.

  The truck was parked up beyond the barn, and there was a group of people midway between them and the house. Based on how Jason was greeting them, it wasn’t anyone from the Kra Puru cult.

  Marty came bounding toward them, and the sight of the dog was a source of greater relief than anything else. Tyler let go of Maya and knelt to pet the German Sheppard, allowing him to lick his face in spite of his breath. The mostly non-canine food he’d been eating had several negative effects, including how he smelled.

  “Come on,” Mavi said as he walked past them. “I guess we’ll take her in the house.”

  Happy to let someone else make the call, Tyler stood and took Maya’s arm again. He made the mistake of looking at her, and saw her eye’s flitting nervously around. She might not be struggling or yelling, but the woman was obviously scared. Kra Puru or not, Tyler could sense her fear.

  “We’re not going to hurt you,” he said, thinking he sounded pretty lame. Maybe it was the lack of conviction in his voice, or the fact that he didn’t really know what they were going to do.

  Maya turned her nose up at him and pulled against his hand as she started walking after Mavi on her own. Devon glanced at him behind her back and it was clear the other man was just as uncertain as Tyler was.

  “I would have come to find you, but I’ve been dealing with Paul,” Peta was saying as they approached. “He’s inside, Jason. He was shot. I don’t think it’s life-threatening but I can’t get the bleeding controlled.”

  Tyler fell in behind them without comment. He’d come to like the older man, and the news that there’d been gunfire wasn’t encouraging. He looked over his shoulder as they approached the house, expecting to see an army of Cured coming up the road. Although it was currently empty, that didn’t mean it would stay that way, and Tyler could feel the sudden pressure of time bearing down more heavily on them again.

  Amisha had come out with Peta, and based on the amount of blood on her hands, Tyler assumed she’d also been tending to Paul. As they filed in through the back slider, Tyler saw that Paul was spread out on the same dining room table as Akuba had been, only two nights before. It was also his leg that was injured, though it was his lower left leg, and not his right thigh.

  “I’ll stay out here,” Mavi said, lingering on the patio. He looked at Jason. “Toss me your radio. I’ll go down the road a ways
and give you a heads up if I spot anything.”

  Jason wordlessly unclipped the radio and pitched it through the open doorway. “What happened?”

  Tyler watched as Jason dropped his pack to the floor and handed the rifle off to Devon. He was already reaching for the open wound before Peta even began talking. His face was a blank slate and impossible to read, and it reminded Tyler of The Cured. The comparison was unsettling.

  “We were fine until they heard that gunshot,” she explained. “Then Davies ordered his men to grab us.”

  “They killed someone,” Jess said with a bluntness that made it hard for Tyler to tell how she felt about it. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet during the trek back. They all had.

  “That was me,” Devon declared.

  Tyler was stunned. He’d assumed it was Jason who shot the guy.

  “It couldn’t be avoided,” Jason said as he glanced up at Devon. “But I believe they managed to get you some samples before the geyser erupted. Did you know it erupted?” he added, staring across Paul at Peta.

  Peta nodded. “Yeah, and Davies was excited about it. Enough so that I don’t think it’s happened again since the initial event. It’s part of the reason why he let me go.”

  Jason’s head swiveled as he really took in their surroundings for the first time since putting his hands on Paul. Tyler wasn’t sure what all he’d done, but it was obvious the blood wasn’t flowing quite as fast. “Where’s Eddy?”

  Peta shifted from foot-to-foot and then set a hand on Paul’s shoulder before meeting Jason’s intense gaze again. “He’s still there.”

  Jason’s jaw clenched and he made an odd grunting sound. “Is he alive?”

  “Yes.” Peta continued to look uncomfortable and finally let out a loud breath. “I’ll explain more later, but he was being restrained and Davies and I were at a stalemate. Eddy agreed to stay in exchange for letting us go.”

  Jason took in the information, and his only reaction was a slight crinkling around his eyes. “Would you please go get the medical kit I left in the office?” he asked Akuba, who’d been watching silently from the kitchen. “I need some quick-stop out of it. The bullet went through,” he told Paul as he looked down at him. “But there’s some extensive vascular damage in there. I’ll do what I can, but it won’t be much without the right equipment. You probably need surgery or else you’ll lose a chunk of your calf muscle, at best.”

  “And the worst?” Paul asked, his voice shaky.

  Jason grunted again and then reached for the bag Akuba had come back with. Tyler noticed that while she was still limping, she was getting around a lot better already.

  “Let’s not speculate on that too much right now,” Jason answered. He dug through the bag and withdrew a small packet. Tearing it open, he held it over Paul’s leg. “This is going to hurt.”

  Paul give him a curt shake of his head. “I know. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot.”

  Pikin walked into the room then and ran over to Amisha, tugging at her arm. “What?” Amisha said, taking the small girl by the hand. “What is it?”

  Pikin pointed back toward the office at the same time that Kamal began shouting. “I’ve got Garrett on the radio!” Kamal shouted from the office. “What should I say?”

  Devon set the rifle down against the wall. “I’ll go.”

  “Let him know we’ve got the samples, and confirm the coordinates,” Jason instructed. He glanced over at Maya, who was standing obediently between Tyler and Jess, taking it all in. “Amisha, can you get Kamal and then take…our guest, back to one of the bedrooms? Make sure she’s comfortable, but don’t untie her. She isn’t free to go.”

  “Wait,” Peta interjected, stepping away from the table. She turned to look at Maya, and then Jess. “Who is this?”

  “Her name’s Maya,” Jess answered. She glanced over at Tyler, looking as uncomfortable as he felt. “I uh, knew her before the Kra Puru. She was guarding the Libi Nati, so we, uh…had to stop her. Jason had us bring her back with us.”

  “This is good.” Peta moved closer and studied the other woman’s face. “She’s one of the Cured?”

  Tyler nodded, confused. He had no idea why Peta would think it was a good thing.

  “We couldn’t risk her filling Davies in on our true numbers and firepower, or that we successfully got the samples we wanted,” Jason added. He was holding wads of gauze firmly over the entrance and exit wounds on Paul’s leg, after having poured the clotting powder on it. “I know it isn’t much, but even a few more hours of added confusion could end up being a huge benefit right now.”

  “Yeah,” Peta said absently as she moved away and started going through some medical supplies already laid out on the kitchen counter. She came back with an empty syringe and some tubes. “Hold her,” she instructed Tyler.

  When Maya flinched away, he put a hand up to stop Peta. “Why don’t you just tell her what you want?” Tyler suggested.

  Peta frowned, but then looked at Maya and shrugged. “I’m just going to draw some blood.” When Maya’s eyes flitted to the needle and then back to her face, Peta tilted her head and pressed her lips in a firm line. “It won’t hurt. Just a small prick. Look, it might be able to help the CDC—the scientists back in the states, figure out what’s happened to you. You realize this is a disease that’s made you this way? Dr. Davies is wrong about this being some grand evolutionary plan, and we’re trying to find a way to stop it. Maybe even help those of you infected by it.”

  “She’s scared,” Tyler tried to explain.

  Jason turned away from Paul to stare at Tyler. “She’s one of The Cured, Tyler.”

  “Yeah, but he’s right,” Jess added. “I don’t know why, but she seems to have more emotions than the rest of them. Probably more than Eddy. She said she’s been taking care of the Libi Nati, so I’ll bet she’s been going in the water if it isn’t too hot. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

  Peta looked even more interested, and after turning to look down the hallway where they could hear some indistinguishable radio chatter, she focused back on Tyler and smiled. “You might have found us the best sample for the CDC. Untie her.”

  Happy to comply when Jason didn’t object, Tyler struggled for a moment with the knots that had become cinched down. Once loose, Maya pulled her wrists free and immediately began rubbing at the deep, red marks left behind. “What do you want from me?” she asked Peta. Tyler didn’t think she sounded defiant, but wary.

  Peta scrutinized her for a moment. “All I want is some blood, and that you answer some questions,” she said. “Then, how would you like a trip to the States?”

  Chapter 18

  JASON

  Amazon Jungle near Kumalu, Suriname

  The Libi Nati Preserve

  “He did it to buy us some time, and it obviously worked,” Paul said with a grunt as he propped his leg up. Tyler had carried a chair into the office from the kitchen and placed it in front of him as instructed.

  Jason looked to where the older man was seated in one of the two plush seats in front of the large window. The sun was still up, but was starting its descent. It would be dark in a few hours.

  Paul had insisted he was okay once Jason finished patching him up, and he didn’t want to lay down. Jason understood why it was important for him to be involved in the on-going conversation, so didn’t bother arguing with him. Paul had been around long enough to know what his limits were.

  “You’re probably right,” Jason agreed. “Except while Davies might have brain damage, he’s still a smart guy. I’m sure he suspects the same thing and has his own motivations for keeping Eddy there.”

  “He told me to leave tomorrow like we’d planned,” Peta said. When Jason blinked at her, not getting her point, she raised her eyebrows at him. “It was his way of letting me know that he’s still with us and will try to stall Davies, since we were never planning on leaving.”

  Jason shook his head, feeling stupid. “Right,” he muttered
. There was too much going on, and it was getting hard to keep everything straight. He knew it was only going to get worse as things came to a head, and they’d need to start making some quick decisions. Devon was still on the radio with Garrett, getting the last of the details, but it sounded like they’d have a boat ready and waiting for them by the end of the day.

  Peta was already busy unloading whatever Devon and Mavi had managed to scoop up from the Libi Nati. While it didn’t look like much, she seemed at least somewhat satisfied. Maya’s tubes of blood were piled up next to Akuba’s, and Jason wondered about the woman that was securely tucked away in the back bedroom. Sending her to the CDC wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “We’ve got it!” Devon announced, stepping away from the desk. Jason turned to see Jess take his spot, and Tyler hovered nearby, petting Marty. The teen hadn’t said much since they’d gotten back and Jason had the distinct feeling the whole experience had created more of a wedge between them. With everything Tyler had been through, it didn’t surprise him. Jason knew he was in combat mode and that it might be hard for Tyler to see and understand, but he didn’t know how else to function at the moment. It was either that or give up, and giving up wasn’t an option Jason would ever accept.

  Surprisingly, Jess appeared to be taking it all in stride. Where Tyler was putting up walls, Jess was becoming more involved. She’d been the one to talk Maya into complying with the blood-draw, and had even offered to make her dinner if she’d go willingly to the back room. Jason recognized his daughter’s ability to compartmentalize, and figured she’d been doing it successfully for the past two weeks. It was a necessary characteristic to thrive in a hostile environment.

  “We’ve got coordinates?” Peta asked while holding up a jar to Devon. “And did you happen to mark these jars? I’d like to know whereabouts you collected it in relation to the edge of the pool.”

  “Yes, on the coordinates,” Devon answered, setting a piece of paper with writing on the table. “They’ll have a boat there later tonight and they have orders to wait until someone shows up. It’ll be a couple days trip from there before the samples reach him at the CDC. As far as the jars go, the one with the tape on top was from the edge, and the other one was a few feet out where it’s a couple of feet deep.”