Apocalypse Weird: Genesis (The White Dragon Book 1) (4 page)

“Come on,” Carpenter said to Jack. “I’ll drive you down to the station. You’ll give your statement and you’re done.”

“I’d like to go… to the hospital… to see my mom. Her… body,” Kasey said in tears.

“You’re not going anywhere until I say so—”

“John!”
Carpenter cut him off.

For a moment, Officer Mills seemed to remember something. He hesitated. Then he pressed the button on his walkie-talkie.

“Officer John Mills. 48871. We need a CSI unit at 256 Sawyer Avenue, West Babylon. Suspected homicide.”

The words didn’t register at first. Kasey felt detached from their meaning. They were pieces of information flowing into a pool that was already overflowing.

“…don’t have any available units at the moment,”
the voice responded.

“You have what?” Mills replied
.

“Seal the crime scene and stay there until we can send another car
.
We have about a dozen scenes going and we don’t have a unit available right now. The next one has to come from Brooklyn.”

“How long is that gonna take?” Mills’ face was red.

“Three hours—”

“Three hours?!”
he screamed. “That’s
bullshit!
”

He ripped the walkie-talkie from the holster. He pulled it off his belt and threw it onto the ground. He took out his handgun and shot at it five times. When he turned, he pointed his gun at Officer Carpenter.

“This is all your fault, you bitch!”

He shot her in the chest. She flew backwards and landed on the floor close to the front door, gasping for air. Kasey and Jack moved backwards and under the table when Mills pointed his gun at them.

“Get up and don’t make me tell you twice!
Now!
”

Jack helped Kasey up. She had not yet had time to process anything that had happened in the last fifteen minutes.

“Get into the kitchen,
go!
”

He walked toward them, not giving Carpenter, his partner of four years, another look. “We’re gonna have a talk now. That bullshit story you told us is something you can tell the EMT guys but not me. Don’t believe for a second that you can fool me as easily as them. That woman didn’t commit suicide. You killed her. With your own hands. You’ve got her blood all over you.”

“But we didn’t—”

“
Don’t patronize me!”
he pushed his gun at Jack’s temple and grabbed his throat with the other hand.

When Kasey saw the pool of blood on the floor, she began to cry again.

“Stop with the whining! First you kill ’er and now you’re all remorseful and shit. That doesn’t fly with me, you got that?”

He pushed Jack into a chair and gestured for Kasey to take the other one.

“Why’d you kill ’er? Huh? Why’d you kill ’er?” Mills looked at Kasey. His voice was shrieking.

“I didn’t. I didn’t. I didn’t kill her…”

“You whore, of course you did!” John grabbed Kasey’s hair, pulled it back and held the gun to her cheek. “Don’t you lie to me.
Don’t you lie to me!
”

“Let her go.”

Kasey saw Officer Carpenter in her peripheral vision. She swayed, tried to stay standing, her gun pointed at Mills.

“I won’t tell you again.” She sounded as if she had to push out each word under tremendous strain. “Let her go.”

Still holding Kasey’s hair, Mills turned his gun toward Carpenter. Kasey heard the shot and Officer Mills fell past her and crashed to the floor. A few drops of blood trickled from a bullet hole in his forehead. Carpenter let go of her gun and frantically unbuttoned her uniform shirt. She moved her vest and touched her ribs. There was no blood.

“Thank God. Thank God,” she said. “Thank God!” She closed up her shirt.

She went past them and knelt next to Mills’ body, feeling for his pulse.

“You okay?” she asked Kasey.

Kasey nodded. Even though she was not okay. She was far from okay. She didn’t believe that she would ever be okay again.

“We should go,” Carpenter said. “We can’t stay here. You wanna grab a couple of things while I call it in?”

“Okay,” Kasey answered, even though she didn’t hear half the question. But the matter-of-factness in Carpenter’s voice was strangely comforting. Kasey got up. Jack held her hand while they went up the stairs. When she got to her room, she stood in the doorway, completely overwhelmed by what to take with her.

Where? Where would they go? This was her home, had been for the last four years. She hadn’t liked it here at first, had missed their house on the beach. But after a while, she began to feel better about it and over the last year or so, she enjoyed her room, loved how the light would come in during the afternoon and how warm and cozy it was during the winter.

“You have a backpack?” Jack asked. He didn’t know that Kasey, at this very moment, felt completely dependent on him.

“Yes. In the closet. I gotta call my dad. I gotta tell my dad.” She began to cry again.

“I’ll call him if you want.” Jack pulled the backpack out of her closet. It was the one with the camouflage patterns she got from the Army store in Babylon. “What do you want me to pack?”

“I… I don’t know. I have no idea. Underpants?”

“Where are they?”

Kasey pointed at her dresser. Jack opened the first drawer and took out a couple of pairs of underwear together with a few bras, a couple of shirts from the next drawer and a bunch of shorts. A hooded sweatshirt hung on a hook next to the mirror. It said “StrongIsland” on it and had a map drawn on the back. She had bought it with her allowance a few years ago when Hurricane Sandy devastated many of the coastal towns on the island. Jack took that one also, together with a pair of long khaki pants that lay on the floor. The pair of Army boots she got when she bought the backpack were the last items.

“You have a toothbrush?”

“What?”

“A toothbrush? You have a toothbrush?”

“Yes.”

Kasey went into the bathroom. When she grabbed her toothbrush, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were swollen. Part of her face was smeared with blood. She must have touched it after she’d touched her mother’s wrists.

“We should get going,” Officer Carpenter called from below.

Kasey gave the toothbrush to Jack.

“You ready?” Jack asked.

There was no answer she could give him. They went downstairs, Jack carrying Kasey’s backpack.

“Do you have keys to the apartment?” Carpenter asked.

“Don’t you have to stay here?” Jack asked. “To make sure the scene isn’t being altered or whatever?”

“Yes,” Carpenter replied.

It was clear from the officer’s expression that she had made up her mind. They left the house. Kasey locked it.
Last time,
she thought to herself without knowing where the thought had come from.

“We’ll take my car,” Carpenter said.

When they approached the police cruiser, they saw that the two tires on the driver’s side were slashed.

“Shit. Shit.
Shit!
Where’s yours?” Carpenter asked.

“Over there,” Jack answered, pointing at the Jeep.

“You mind if I drive?” she asked.

“No,” Jack replied.

Carpenter opened the driver’s side door and slid onto the seat. Kasey and Jack got into the back seat.

“There are twenty-five hundred police officers in Suffolk County. It’s one of the largest police departments in the U.S. Do you know what it means if they tell me they can’t send somebody to watch a crime scene because there aren’t enough personnel?” She started the car and they pulled out of the parking spot.

“That’s a lot of cops,” Jack said.

“Yes.”

“Dispatch to all units. Please be advised that Sunrise Highway has been shut down in both directions at the Babylon Town Hall, due to a multiple vehicle accident and spill of liquid nitrogen. There was an accident on Southern State Parkway south bound between Belmont Avenue and Straight Path and several cars have been spotted driving against the traffic on the L.I.E.”

“Good lord,” Carpenter said under her breath. “What the hell is going on?”

Kasey watched Carpenter’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“I’ll call your dad,” Jack said.

“That’s all right. I’ll do it.”

She found her dad’s contact on her phone and dialed.

“All circuits are busy. Please try again later. Message 0414.”

“Can’t get through,” Kasey said.

“I’ll get your dad on the landline once we’re at the precinct,” Carpenter said while looking at Kasey in the mirror.

Kasey nodded. “We’re being followed,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Carpenter asked.

“Are you sure?” Jack added.

“Yes. It’s a black SUV. Two cars behind us. It came out of a parking spot on our street when we left the house. Since then, it’s been following us.”

“Are you serious?” Carpenter asked.

“Yes. I’m serious.”

“Hold on,” Carpenter said while turning the wheel, driving into a side street and accelerating. “We’re five minutes from the station.”

Kasey watched the road behind them through the rear window. The black SUV turned onto the street about a hundred feet behind them.

“Shit!” Carpenter slowed the Jeep down and turned left onto Frederick Avenue. The Jeep flew down the street until Carpenter hit the brakes hard, pulling into a driveway and stopping the car behind the house.

“Stay here,” she said while she jumped out and ran to the corner of the garage, looking toward the road. After a few seconds, she ran back and climbed back in.

“Whoever that was is gone. They drove past us.”

She put the car in reverse, pulled back and onto the nicely manicured lawn. From there she slowly drove onto the road. The SUV was not in sight.

“So far so good.”

“I’ve got their license plate number,” Kasey said.

“That’s very clever of you,” Carpenter said. It was the first time she smiled. She pushed the button on her walkie-talkie.

“Dispatch, this is 87219, can you get me the owner of a plate?”

“234TWD,” Kasey said.

Carpenter repeated it into the walkie-talkie. There was silence on the other end for a few moments.

“Plate belongs to a corporation. Dovah Enterprises.”

“Where are they located?”

“An industrial complex on Corbin Avenue in Bay Shore.”

“Copy that,” Carpenter said. She turned her head toward Jack and Kasey for a moment. “I’ll check that out once we’re at the station but I have the feeling that it was a coincidence. Looks like we’re in the clear!”

Kasey couldn’t tell for a moment where the blood came from. It was all over her arms and hands. She also felt it on her face. Jack had some on his as well. He looked at her in disbelief as the Jeep turned toward the sidewalk, jumping over the curb and into someone’s front yard. There, it mowed down a few small fences and came to a stop half inside a hedge.

Officer Carpenter’s chin rested on her chest. Now Kasey saw that half of the back of her head was missing. The windshield had a hole in it. She didn’t have time to scream. The passenger door was pulled open. Two men appeared. One of them pulled the back of the seat forward and reached for Jack. He tried to resist and moved toward Kasey but the man grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the car.

Kasey watched as the other man punched Jack in the face hard several times, then ripped open his shirt. Part of her registered that he was still wearing the amulet. She had completely forgotten all about it until now. Both men pulled Jack around the Jeep and toward the SUV. The door opened from the inside and the men lifted Jack onto the back seat. They walked around the SUV and disappeared behind it. Moments later, it accelerated down the street. Within two seconds it was gone.

There are moments when time slows down. When sight is clearer than usual. When hearing brings out the most subdued sounds. When the air seems to vibrate in a frequency so high, it’s almost palpable. Something in Kasey took over for a moment. Like a bodyguard stepping in front of the protectee and shielding her from a blow. Whatever it was that took hold of her in that instant absorbed the first wave of shock.

She felt the pain, the loss, the confusion, but it wasn’t head on. As if it was diverted somehow. She saw the open door, was aware of the blood splatters on the seat around Jack’s shape, where he had been sitting just a minute ago. She saw the blood dripping from her own face onto her bare legs. When she met her eyes in the reflection of the mirror, she saw the white sclera in stark contrast to the blood that covered the rest of her face. The car was still running. It was still in “D,” pushing forward against the resistance of the hedge.

Kasey said something into the silence that she couldn’t understand at first. Only when she said it again, did she actually hear herself say it.

“Take control.”

She had no clue where this came from but it calmed her enough to move to the center of the back seat. From here, Officer Carpenter’s head looked much worse.

“Take control.”

She climbed up front and onto the passenger seat. There was an engagement ring on Carpenter’s hand. Kasey moved Carpenter’s foot to the side and put her own foot on the brake. She put the car in reverse and slowly let go of the pedal. The car moved backwards and cleared the hedge. She pushed the brake again and this time put the Jeep in park. She got out, walked around the car to the driver’s door. When she opened it, Officer Carpenter’s body fell into her arms.

She let out a startled scream but caught her and gently laid her on the grass. She could only handle taking a brief look at her face. It was too deformed. She straightened out the officer’s legs so that she wouldn’t back up over them. Then she took the walkie-talkie and pushed the button.

“This… is Kasey Byrne. I’m calling you from Officer Carpenter’s walkie-talkie. She has been shot. In the head. We were driving down… we were driving… when suddenly… Two men kidnapped my boyfriend. Jack. His name is Jack. There was a third man. They pulled Jack into a black SUV. The same SUV officer Carpenter called you on only a few minutes ago. My name is Kasey Byrne. I’m here. Awaiting instructions.”

She let go of the button. No sound came out of the walkie-talkie. She pushed the button again.

“Hello?” she said. “Ma’am? Are you there? Is anybody there? Hello?”

The silence was loud as thunder.

“Hello?”

The darkness came over her in an instant. The only warning was a second of blurred vision and officer Carpenter’s white shirt changing to dark gray. Then there was blackness. Kasey’s eyes were open. She blinked several times, wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands.

I’ve gone blind,
she thought.
I’ve gone blind.

A wave of terror swept over her. Complete darkness was never her thing. She always had to have a light on at night, even if only a small one. The darkness she now experienced was utterly and terrifyingly complete. From behind her, she heard the screeching sound of metal against metal when a car came to a stop not far away. The motor was still running when a door opened. A woman’s scream reached her, then a crashing sound when she must have stumbled over one of the garbage cans.

“I can’t see, I can’t see!” the woman screamed. “I can’t see!”

Take control.

Maybe it wasn’t her who thought it. She wasn’t sure. When she relaxed her eyes while they were open, she could see a glimmer. Lighter green shapes on a dark background. It reminded her of the night vision goggles she had tried out in the Army store where she got her backpack. This one was more focused though. The edges were blurry, a washed out green. But in the center, she could see the vague outline of her hands when she looked down and concentrated on relaxing her eyes.

She saw the silhouette of the woman about fifteen feet away as she knelt on the ground holding her head.

“Ma’am,” Kasey said.

“Hello?” the woman responded. “Is there anybody there?”

“Yes. My name is Kasey. I’m coming to you.”

“I’m blind!” the woman cried out. “I can’t see anything.”

“I know. Me too,” Kasey replied. “Keep talking so I know where you are.”

Kasey had lost the green images again. They were substituted by complete blackness once more.
I’m straining my eyes too much
. She reached the woman.

“I’m here,” she said. “Stretch out your hand.”

Kasey could see the faint outline of the woman’s hand. She took it gently.

“Come on, I’ll help you up,” she said. The woman stumbled to her feet and had to hold on to Kasey’s arm.

“I can’t see anything!” the woman muttered in utter panic.

“Shhh, it’ll be okay.” Kasey held her. She could smell the woman’s perfume and the abundance of hair products she used.

“I just pulled out of my driveway back there and suddenly everything went black.”

“Do you want me to help you walk back to your house?” Kasey asked. She couldn’t think of anything else to do. She didn’t really want to help the woman. She felt sorry for her for, sure, but what she really wanted to do was try to find the people who had taken Jack. The more time went by, the less chance she had to possibly catch up with them.

“Would you do that?” the woman asked.

“Sure. How do we know which one is yours?”

“Pardon?” The woman’s voice was shaky and filled with fear.

“How will we know which one is your house?”

“I’ve got… I’ve got an iron fence in front.”

“Okay. Do you have your house keys?”

“Yes. No. They’re in my car.”

“Okay. Let’s go get those first.”

Kasey, holding the woman’s arm, navigated past the fallen garbage cans and toward the woman’s car. There were panicked screams coming from the nearby houses. Another car crashed into something further up the road. Kasey couldn’t see a thing until she stopped for a moment. There. The roof. Not more than a glimmer of green in the blackness. She opened the door and reached inside and grabbed the key chain from the ignition switch.

“I got it.”

“I was watching TV.” The woman held on to Kasey’s arm. From the way she walked, Kasey assumed that she was older. “There were all those outbreaks everywhere. People were fighting. And then the governor came on. He said we’d get help but to stay inside and lock the doors.”

“Watch out for the curb,” Kasey said. She could sense it more than anything.

“I should’ve stayed inside but I thought I’d get some groceries. Since Paul died, I don’t need that much anymore. But there’s that really good Italian meat sauce from Rino’s.”

“I know that one.”

“You do?” the woman was almost in tears now even though Kasey could hear the brief smile in her voice. “Are you from around here?”

“Yes. I live just a few blocks from here.”

“You’re a very nice girl to help an old lady like this.”

“I think we’re here,” Kasey said. Her hands touched the wrought iron fence as they walked along it. “Are there any steps to your house?”

“Yes. Three.”

“Okay. Let’s be careful.”

“I usually go in through the garage.”

They went up the steps to the front door and Kasey opened the lock. It took a few moments for her to find the right key but eventually the door opened.

“I can stay with you if you want,” Kasey said.

“No, no. I’m fine. You’ve got to take care of yourself. You have a boyfriend?”

“I… don’t know.”

“A girl as pretty as you gotta have someone.”

“How do you know if I’m pretty?”

“I know if someone’s pretty, dear. I can hear it in their voice and in what they say and how they say it.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.”

Kasey could hear the lie in the woman’s voice. The underlying fear gave her away.

“I can stay with you. It’s no trouble,” Kasey said, suddenly feeling guilty for wanting to leave her all by herself in the house.

“I’m fine. I’ve lived here for thirty-five years. I can cook a whole dinner in the dark.”

“Okay.”

Kasey realized that part of her didn’t want to leave the woman for her own sake. This seemed a safe enough place and the thought of searching the city for Jack in complete darkness was something she dreaded. But she couldn’t imagine doing nothing either.

“What are you going to do?” the woman asked.

“Look for my… boyfriend.”

“That’s good. I’m sure he’s all right.”

“Can I use your bathroom?” Kasey asked.

“Of course.”

The woman led Kasey to a door a bit further down the hallway. Inside, Kasey opened the faucet and let the cold water run over her hands. Then she washed her face as best as she could. The cold water felt good on her hot skin. Now alone, the images from before pushed themselves back into her mind.

Take control.

Kasey opened the door.

“Thank you,” she said. The green hue in her sight let her see the woman’s silhouette. Kasey wondered for a moment how her vision would work at night.

“Go,” the woman said. “And tell your boyfriend he’s got a keeper.”

The woman’s hands found Kasey’s face. She held it for a moment, then she kissed both her cheeks several times.

“God bless you, my child.”

Kasey began to cry. She couldn’t help it.

“Listen to me,” the woman said, still holding Kasey’s face in her hands. “You’re young and you might not know it yet, but you have something in you. A quality I haven’t seen in a lot of people lately. You’re a light in the dark. Don’t forget that.”

“Thanks.” Kasey couldn’t think of anything else to say.

The woman led her to the door and opened it.

“Bye. And come back to visit anytime. I’ll cook for you and your boyfriend.”

“Jack. His name is Jack.”

“That’s a strong name.”

“Bye,” Kasey said.

She turned and walked toward the road. She heard the sound of the door closing behind her. There was a finality to the sound, as if it was closing for the last time. Kasey pushed the thought aside. She could see the dark outline of the fence ahead. There was shouting coming from the right, up the road. A baby’s cry reached her from a house across the street. Otherwise it was eerily quiet.
If everyone is affected by the blindness, maybe the driver of the SUV can’t see either.

It wasn’t much, but at the moment, she could use every bit of hope she could gather. She stumbled toward the street and fell over one of the garbage cans but found the Jeep a few minutes later. She knelt next to Officer Carpenter’s body and took off her walkie-talkie together with the battery pack. She also took the holster with the handgun. It was much heavier than she expected and she wondered for a moment if she should take the belt as well. She decided that it might be useful and pulled it out of the officer’s pants. Another part of her found the whole scene utterly disturbing. When she was done, she put the officer’s hands on top of one another on her stomach. She wanted to say a prayer but couldn’t think of one. She was raised Catholic but had never practiced.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

She got up and climbed into the Jeep.

Relax your eyes.

The only lead she had was the industrial complex in Bay Shore. On a regular day, she could make it there in twenty minutes, maybe less, depending on traffic. Today, she’d be lucky if she could make it in three to four hours. She started the car and slowly backed up. She hit one of the garbage cans but was out on the road quicker than she’d expected.

She could see shapes that looked like cars parked on both sides of the road, but she couldn’t see any road signs nor anything in the background. She remembered Corbin Avenue from when she was a kid. She and her friends used to ride their bikes there. Even though she hadn’t made the trip for at least five years, she knew how to get there. In daylight. Under normal circumstances. She put the car in drive and rolled down the street.

She didn’t know it yet but it would take her sixteen hours to get to the complex. Time stretches out when you’re afraid and it shrinks during times of happiness. Those sixteen hours would become the longest hours in Kasey’s young life.

While concentrating on the road and trying to make out the different shapes in the dark, the memory of her mother and the feeling of utter loneliness and loss would wash over her periodically — like the waves in the surf, relentlessly pushing against her, only to subside for brief moments of respite and return stronger than before. Once in a while, she’d have to stop the car completely. The pain during those moments would make her hunch over the steering wheel, sobbing, and unable to continue.

But then she’d think about Jack and what he might have to endure and she’d straighten herself in her seat and drive a bit further down the road. “I’m coming to you,” she’d say to herself often. “I’ll get you out of there somehow.” That was her mantra during those darkest of moments — to get him out, to somehow save him. She was in merciful denial over what this meant and what it would cost her to keep her promise.