He didn’t know if he really wanted to indulge the young woman, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“Mac does need to get out and do his business.” Connie spoke as if she knew he was thinking about stopping.
Buck motioned to the phone. “Try Garth one more time, please. If he doesn’t pick up, I might need to run around outside the truck to blow off some of this tension.”
“Oh, good. I’ll tie the leash to your belt, and you can exercise Big Mac.”
The Golden Retriever barked when he heard his name.
“See?” she went on. “He’s game.”
“I don’t know…”
Connie reached out to him, causing an electrical shock between her fingertips and his knee. “We’re making good time. We’ve been on the road for two hours, and we have an excuse to stop. The other drivers could use a break.”
That was all he needed to make his decision.
“Okay, folks,” he said over the CB, “we’re going to pull over and check this out. We’re not staying long, so get out and stretch. Eat a snack. I need you refreshed so we can keep piling on these miles. My son is counting on me to get to him, and our customers are still expecting their deliveries.”
“Roger that,” Sparky replied.
“Thanks, Dad,” Eve said with a giggle.
“Don’t make me come back there, young lady. I’ll turn this whole convoy around if I have to.”
Buck turned to Connie to find her smiling.
“What? Am I being too goofy?”
“No, not at all. I was terrified again when we first saw this thing.” She pointed to the ship looming above them about a hundred yards to the left of the highway. “Now I feel like we’re all in this together. It doesn’t scare me.”
“I’m not scared either,” he fibbed.
No matter what other problems he faced getting back to Garth, he now had to worry about ships dropping from the sky. Someday in the future, he’d look back and laugh, but today, the only thing he could do was revel in the absurdity of it all.
Louisville, KY
Garth knew things were going to be okay the instant he saw the sign for the shopping mall.
“It says the mall is open!” he remarked to Lydia. He pointed to the digital billboard next to the highway. “I was beginning to wonder if they had closed on account of all the problems.”
“That’s amazing,” she replied. “How does the sign know?”
He was taken aback. Garth wasn’t sure of the science behind it, but it was like anything else in the world of technology. It just worked.
“When the mall is open, the sign changes so it shows as open. When they close, the sign will say it’s closed.”
“Incredible,” she gushed.
He exited the highway onto a side road. A few minutes later, they pulled into a parking spot at the giant mall, and her amazement ran wild.
“I’ve never seen a place so big. This is all one store?”
“You won’t believe it. Come on!” He got out of the taxi and walked to the trunk. He briefly considered that he was unarmed and at the mercy of the people inside the mall to behave, but he still wasn’t prepared to carry a rifle. After the slight delay, he rushed around to help her out.
“Thank you, Garth. You are a gentleman.” She smiled happily.
Her words made him feel important.
Garth beamed as they walked hand in hand through the front doors of the mall. Lydia was less impressed with the auto-doors this time, but she was blown away when she saw the inside of the building.
“You put a whole town inside!” She let go of his hand, pulled off her bonnet, and looked down the rows of stores.
“That’s true,” he replied. Seen through her eyes, the shopping mall was another modern marvel, but his interest in the place was based on the disaster outside. He couldn’t help but notice that about half the stores still had their metal gates blocking the entrances.
“Come on,” he advised. “We have to keep moving.”
A few of the gates rose as they walked as if the mall had just opened, but many remained down. People milled about some of those gates, waiting for them to open. The closed gate for the video game store had the most people in front of it, although he didn’t understand why.
“We have to find a kiosk, Lydia. It isn’t a store, but more like a cart that hangs out in the middle of the mall. I’ve seen them at a couple of malls back in New York. I hope they have them here, too.”
“You don’t know for sure?” she asked.
Before he could reply, a man in gym shorts and a t-shirt ran between him and Lydia like he was doing the fifty-yard dash. The guy elbowed Garth in the hip as he flew by.
“Shit!” Garth spat.
A second man dressed the same way trailed the first by two seconds. He didn’t run between them, but Garth had jumped aside after the first guy, so the other man had to push him out of the way too.
“Damn!” he yelled.
He turned back to Lydia, then noticed another runner. An African-American in a blue Security uniform turned a corner and appeared to look for the escaping runners.
“Hey!” Garth shouted as he pointed where the two men had gone. “They went that way!”
The guard sprinted by. “Thanks!”
Other shoppers stood around watching the spectacle with expressions Garth recognized immediately. He’d seen it on the subway. On the streets of New York. At La Guardia airport.
He whispered. “C’mon. We have to hurry. They opened the mall, but maybe not for long.”
Far down the row of stores, opposite of where the guard had gone, another man jogged with a huge box in his arms.
Garth went to grab Lydia’s hand, but a woman ran into him.
“Oof,” he exhaled. “I feel like I’m in a fucking bumper car!”
The woman dropped a plastic shopping bag, and a few toys fell to the tiled floor.
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, miss!” he said as he bent over to help pick up.
The woman was maybe in her twenties. She was plain, with short black hair and battleship-gray eyes. She wore jeans and a faded black t-shirt with a beer logo on the front.
The woman grabbed for the fallen toys. “I need my stuff, man. Help me pick it up.” Her accent was distinctly Southern.
Garth handed her a silver-colored cowboy pistol. He couldn’t see what else was in the bag, but he bet a kid’s silver sheriff star was in there to go with the gun.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to knock your, uh, stuff out of the bag.”
The woman looked up at him once she had the gun in the bag again, but she turned to the nearest wall. “Do you see them? They’re inside all the brickwork. They buzz. They listen. They’re just waiting for the signal to come out.”
Garth got back to his feet, unsure what to say.
“What are they?” Lydia asked, drawn into the discussion.
The dark-haired woman seemed to notice her for the first time. “You. You don’t belong.” She hopped onto her feet and stumbled back a few paces. “You aren’t from here, either. Just like them.” She pointed to the wall again.
Garth thought that was hilarious. Lydia was dressed like an 1850s pioneer girl. Anyone could see she wasn’t outfitted like a modern girl.
“You’re right,” he replied. “We came from New York and New Jersey.”
“No!” she almost screamed. “She doesn’t belong! Get away!”
Garth stepped backward because he wanted to get Lydia far from the crazy lady. She yelled loud enough to attract attention, and he knew from his time with Sam that usually led to trouble from the authorities.
“Come on, Lydia. We have to find that kiosk before this mall closes again. By the looks of it, that’s almost a certainty.” He pulled her away, but they had to listen to the woman scream about things in the wall and people who didn’t belong for the next couple of minutes. Her ramblings could barely be heard when they made it far down the mall, but the peace was shattere
d when another woman came out of a boutique in a hurry.
He was certain Lydia was about to get another earful as the soccer mom cupped her hands to shout, but it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. She belted out to the entire mall, “They nuked Las Vegas!”
Garth stopped in his tracks, as did everyone else. For a few moments they all watched the woman run for the exit, but the nervous energy built up as he waited. He shared worried glances with a dozen other shoppers.
Everyone seemed to consider what to do next.
He already knew.
Four
Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado
Bob leaned against Faith as they walked through the halls of SNAKE. After being struck in the face and having his nose broken, the soldiers had made them go back inside. Once they discovered Faith and Bob were part of the leadership of the facility, they separated them from the rest of the scientists.
She pleaded with the grim-looking soldiers. “This man needs medical attention.”
“Be quiet,” one of the guards said scornfully. “I need you both to shut up.”
“That’s not very polite.” Bob chuckled before stopping himself. It must have hurt his nose.
The young guard held up a shiny black rifle and pointed it at Bob’s face. “Shut up, mister. You will not say another word.”
Faith pulled him away from the guard and shushed him to make it clear what he was expected to do. She checked to ensure they weren’t going to move right away, then motioned for Bob to sit on the carpet at the edge of the hallway.
He sat without saying anything, although he grunted as if the act of sitting had hurt his nose too.
She whispered. “Are you trying to get us killed? That guard isn’t taking any shit from us.”
“I told you,” he said disappointedly. “These aren’t the same type of military people who were here with General Smith. I think they are from those black-hole prisons we hear about in Eastern Europe. If not there, maybe they did time in Hell. Especially the asshole who hit me.”
Faith tried not to laugh as she sat down next to him. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything to stop the bleeding. Maybe you could use your shirt.”
He turned to her with watery eyes. It looked like he was suffering. “Maybe I could use your shirt? Mine is expensive.”
She shook her head. “An asshole until the end. Well, you should know—”
Her attention was broken by numerous people walking far down the hallway. It appeared as if dozens of her teammates were being directed down the stairwell.
She wanted to ask a guard but didn’t want to get a rifle butt in the face.
Faith gestured to Bob. “It looks like they are putting them downstairs in the auditorium again.”
He nodded. “It’s the only space big enough to hold all of us. Do you think they’ll be all right?”
“How should I know?” she replied.
A small group of workers were separated from the line and marched up the hall toward Faith and Bob.
“Uh-oh,” she whispered. “It looks like they found all the department heads.”
She didn’t know what that meant, although she tried not to read too much into it. General Smith had gathered the senior staff when he came in, so this was probably a lot like that.
“On your feet,” the nearest guard commanded her and Bob.
Faith wanted to complain and ask again for medical attention, but she didn’t want to anger the lead guard. She helped Bob to his feet and steadied him as he tried to force blood to go back down his nose.
“Hello, Doctor Sinclair,” Sunetra said when she was close.
“Shut it!” a guard barked. “No talking.”
Sun frowned.
Somehow, the guards had gathered all of her senior staffers and department heads. Belatedly, she thought General Smith’s staff had left paperwork explaining the hierarchy in SNAKE.
“March that way,” the guard said, pointing in the opposite direction of the larger group going down the stairs.
“Where are you taking us?” she asked in a determined voice. “We have rights.”
“You have the right to shut up, miss. If you waive that right, then I have the right to shoot you in the face.” He waved his gun in a menacing fashion.
“I’m the director of this facility. You can’t talk—”
The guard aimed the scary-looking rifle at her nose. When she looked down the length of the barrel, she found empty blue eyes held no sympathy for her. Slowly, she raised her arms in surrender.
“That way,” the guard insisted again.
As they walked down the long corridor toward the front of SNAKE, three more guards joined the procession. Each of them wore the same gray-and-tan camo that reminded her of computer-generated boxes, and they all carried the same black rifles. All of them were young, like they hadn’t been in the service long, but none of them looked like they didn’t belong. To Faith, they had that same determination shown by General Smith.
“In here,” one of the guards said when they reached a seldom-used conference room.
The lights were off, so she couldn’t see what was in there. However, when she reached for the light switch, the guard brushed her aside.
“The lights stay off,” he cautioned.
It was pitch-black inside, but some light came in from the hallway, letting her make out chairs lined up in rows.
“Sit your asses down. We’ll take care of you in a few minutes.”
Faith guided Bob to one of the chairs in the middle of the rows.
“Sit,” she whispered.
“Is it as dark as it seems, or is my vision going to shit with all this swelling?”
“It isn’t your eyes. They have us in conference room number five.”
She had trouble figuring out who else filed into the room after her, but she got the sense it was her entire leadership team. No one was allowed to speak, and her focus was on Bob for the moment, so she lost track of numbers.
When the door closed, it left them all in absolute darkness.
“It was nice knowing you,” a man said dryly from behind Faith.
“This isn’t a murder scene,” a woman replied.
“Everyone, this is Faith. I’m sure there’s an explanation for all this. Please remain calm.” She closed her eyes, expecting a hidden guard to whack her for talking.
The man behind her continued, “Faith? Your boy Bob is probably out there now giving them the keys to the kingdom. Telling them what he did to fuck us all over with his side project. Now he’s going to get us all killed for messing it up.”
“I know for a fact that’s not true,” Faith replied.
“How can you possibly know that?” the man in the darkness replied. She recognized him as part of the computer team. That made him one of Bob’s employees.
“Because of this guy.” She tapped Bob on the shoulder.
Ten seconds went by, and Bob still hadn’t replied.
After another ten, she realized she might have been wrong after all.
Australia, 2am
Zandre’s truck skidded up to the front of Destiny’s flat.
“Come on! Get in!” he shouted.
She ran and hopped in the passenger-side door. “I’m so glad you made it, Z.”
He put the truck into gear and sped out of the parking lot. “You should have gone without me. I’ll never forgive myself if you gave up your chance to go to America to wait for me.”
Animals squealed in the back compartment of the large truck as they took turns at high speed.
“You brought them?” Her original plan was for Zandre and her to make the case that they needed the boat to sail some of the animal specimens to anxious zoos in North America, but that plan turned out to be overkill. The management of the Sydney Harbor Foundation had decided to go to America anyway, without the animals, once they learned about SNAKE.
“I know you said we wouldn’t need them, but I wanted to
have them as insurance. By the time we get to the boat, we might need some bargaining power to get aboard.”
She scoffed. “The boat was my idea. They’ll let me on.”
He was unimpressed. “Just like they left you in the forest fire? Dez, these are not the good people you thought they were. This is life and death now, and they’ll do anything—anything—to keep themselves alive. You should remember that and do the same. Your first act should have been leaving me behind, although I’m glad you didn’t.”
He steered the truck onto the roadway. Because it was two in the morning, there weren’t many cars out, which was part of how he had made it from Canberra to Sydney in record time.
“All we have to do is make it to the Majestic,” she said slowly, as if she were thinking about the gravity of each word. “If we don’t make it, then so be it. I couldn’t have spent the rest of my life knowing I left you behind when I could have waited and brought you with me.”
She had other friends she could have called. Lots of old boyfriends. A few close girlfriends.
However, despite his enthusiasm for culling the herd, Zandre was a fellow animal-lover. That earned him a special place in her heart.
She’d spent some time over the last few hours texting people she knew, trying to get them to go to America, but none of them believed her. Not one.
Zandre, however, had dropped everything and driven like hell to be with her. She told herself it was because he wanted to save the animals, too, but deep down, she wondered about his real motive.
She leaned to her left as Zandre took another corner. Some animals roared in the back.
“What did you bring?” She pointed to the enclosure on the back of the small box truck.
“Two Tasmanian Tigers and one Duck of Doom. I also brought the body of another animal—something I’ve never seen before. I figured the boat people would be impressed.”
“Let’s hope so,” she said dryly.
The road ahead would take them along the coast of the inner harbor, but the lighted highway ended abruptly half a kilometer ahead.
Begin Again: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure (End Days Book 4) Page 3