Nocturnal (4 page)

The stench of L.A. disappeared as the convoy sped down Highway 101, finally turning onto a road called Highway 280. Piper rapped her finger on the dashboard of the passenger seat, every fiber of her being alive with anticipation. After decades of hope and longing, she was finally with her children, but she wondered for how long. One was barely clinging to life, the other was out of her mind.

The ragged crew of survivors shared a common thought that seemed to hang in the air—home. They all dreamed of reaching it, resting, regrouping, and rethinking their plan of attack against the growing feral abomination that was spreading toward them like a rash. The ocean came into view, and soon they saw a large body of water, the name of which was labeled on various faded metal signs.

“San Francisco Bay,” whispered Rathbone, now at the wheel of his Jeep. “Been ten long hours. We'll take shelter for the night just up the road.”

“Is there a new safehold in this area that I don't know about?” Piper asked.

“Under-bay storage,” said Rebecka, who was sitting in the back. “Across the bridge and up just a ways by a little town that used to be called Strawberry.”

The group crossed a bridge and skirted Richardson Bay, just above San Francisco Bay, and reached Strawberry soon after. A huge cargo warehouse, still fully intact, stretched along the water. The warehouse was an eyesore, rusted and covered with decades of dirt. Piper was surprised when Rathbone brought his convoy to a halt behind it.

“Honey, we're home,” Rathbone said with a chuckle.

“This place? You've got to be kidding.”

“Even ferals wouldn't swarm this old rust bucket. Besides, you're seeing the outside, not what's important.”

Rathbone took a small pen from his pocket and pointed it at a dark opaque circle attached to the side of the building and centered above a set of massive gates. He clicked the pen, and the rusted doors slid open with a high-pitched squeal. Rathbone drove inside the old building, whose nearly spotless interior had been modified into a military safehold.

“Brilliant,” Piper said, smiling at Rathbone.

“Told you so.”

The other vehicles entered the warehouse until more than six hundred men and women were safely inside. Rathbone exited his Jeep and nodded to Rebecka, who disappeared into the crowd to give orders. Soon a group of armed men was stationed at the opening, and other groups were patrolling the perimeter. Piper smiled as she watched Rebecka take command. She had come a long way since their younger days together, when Rebecka was an occasionally rebellious and always unpredictable teenager.

Rebecka rejoined Rathbone, and they made additional assignments, sending groups to perform various tasks, including checking the bunkers below the warehouse, preparing meals, and tending to the injured.

“Rathbone Hayes, it's nice to see you're still on top of things,” Rebecka said to him.

“Hush,” he whispered. “No one knows my last name except you, and maybe a few others. Let's keep it that way. The name Rathbone is legendary enough.”

“Your secret is safe with me, cousin
,
” she replied.

“The hyenas have arrived, sir,” a young woman said, interrupting their conversation.

“Let them in, but spread the word to keep an eye out,” Rathbone said. “I don't trust a one of them.”

The young woman went to the door to let in the hyena men and women, who had returned to their human forms.

Piper began to search for the flatbed that carried her daughters. She found it and entered through the back flap. “How are they?” she asked the hollowed-eyed doctor and the two teenage boys beside him. A hand touched her shoulder, and she flinched.

“It's just me,” Rebecka said from behind her. “Figured you'd be here.”

Abby was calmer, worn out from fighting against her restraints, but she growled under her breath at the sight of Piper. Pippa was still unconscious, but her breathing had stabilized.

“Can I touch her?” Piper whispered. Jack nodded. Piper knelt beside her daughter and took her hand. Pippa's palm was moist, but the top of her hand was smooth. As Piper rubbed her daughter's skin, she started to cry softly.

“Who are you?” Abby whispered.

Piper turned to meet her gaze. “I'm your mother,” she said before Jack could stop her.

“You're lying!” Abby screamed, and she began to struggle against her restraints.

“No,” Piper whispered, but Abby continued to rage. Her violent movements, even with the restraints in place, rocked the flatbed.

“Come on, Piper, let's go,” Rebecka said.

Piper nodded and stood up. She took a final glance at the daughters she'd lost more than fifteen years earlier—who were still lost to her—and left the vehicle with Rebecka.

That night Piper curled up in the backseat of an abandoned Jeep that was parked close to the flatbed. Her mind spun as she second-guessed every decision she had ever made regarding her daughters, but she finally fell into fitful slumber. She was awakened by the sound of someone exiting the flatbed, and she got out of the Jeep to see if there was any news about her girls. Jack Tanner, the doctor who had become a black-eyed nocturnal, was standing there sniffing the air.

“They're here,” Jack said, and then he turned and strode to the gates. “Open them,” he said to the soldiers standing guard.

The men refused. Rebecka appeared and approached Jack. “Are the nocturnals here?” she asked him.

“Yes,” Jack replied. “They want to see me.”

Rebecka told the guards to open the gates, and then she turned back to Jack. “You know our people are wary of them,” she whispered as the doors creaked open.

“I know, but there's no need to worry. They'll stay outside and guard the area until sunrise.”

The compound began to stir as people were awakened by the noise of the gates opening. Soon the area near the entrance was filled with people hoping to catch a glimpse of the nocturnals. Rathbone showed up and glanced at Jack. The two walked outside, followed by Rebecka and Piper.

“What's wrong?” Rathbone asked Jack. “I can see in your eyes that's something's wrong.”

“The nocturnals have seen more ferals on their way here,” Jack said. “Thousands of them among several different groups. They're tracking something.”

“How far off?”

“Hours. They won't reach us before we leave, but there's another problem. There's a stench of ferals in the air coming from east of us.”

“I don't smell anything,” Piper said.

“Your feline sense of smell, keen as it is, doesn't match the nocturnals' sense of smell. Or mine.”

“Or yours?” Rathbone asked. “Are you saying you're not a nocturnal?”

“I'm something more.”

“Yet you didn't pick up on the ferals' scent sooner,” Rathbone said.

“I was inside, focused on Pippa and Abby. I shut those senses down because the interior of the building is rank with the stench of blood and wounded flesh.”

“How close are they?” Piper asked.

Jack sniffed the air. “Maybe an hour away.”

“That's too close for us to begin evacuating,” Rathbone said. “We can either head into the bunker and hide under the bay and wait it out, or stand and fight.”

“I say we fight,” a voice called out. They turned and saw the hyena leader standing beside Salvatore. “If we hide, they'll wait us out. I've seen it happen before.”

“Salvatore, I told you and Aiden to stay with the girls,” Jack said.

“I had him come with me,” the leader barked. “I know your men don't trust us, so I figured the boy would be our buffer.”

“You don't need a buffer,” Rathbone said. “Salvatore, head back to the flatbed. Those girls need you with them.” Salvatore looked at his alpha leader, who nodded. Salvatore nodded back and departed.

“We'll fight to the death,” the hyena said. “My clan is brave. We're not like other hyena packs who turn and hide. We're skilled killers. We've fought hundreds of ferals.”

“Looks like you're going to get a chance to prove it,” Rathbone said. “Rebecka, wake the camp. Time for round two.”

The ferals struck within the hour. Though the beasts were outnumbered, the battle raged for hours. As the sun came up and the nocturnals disappeared, the battle finally wound down. In the end, every feral was killed, but at a cost of seventy humans and werecats. They had won, but Rathbone knew that they couldn't continue to sustain such losses. If it became a war of attrition, the humans and werecats would eventually lose.

“Good fighting,” the hyena leader said to Rathbone. “Though I apologize for our young one's cowardice. He should have been out here fighting alongside us.”

“Let me tell you something,” Rathbone replied. “That boy
did exactly what he was supposed to do—protect those two girls, who may hold the cure to this feral disease in their blood!”

Rathbone immediately regretted his words. The hyenas had fought well and had earned the respect and gratitude of his people, but he still didn't entirely trust them.

“I will apologize for my words, directly to the boy,” the hyena replied. He turned and walked toward the bunker.

The alpha leader found Salvatore on the flatbed and told him they needed to talk. Salvatore got down, and they found a quiet area. “You've done well these months, leading us to a new home,” the alpha leader said. “And it's even better than we imagined. But tell me—is it true the girls are special?”

Salvatore nodded.

“Good. Tonight, after the humans have settled, we'll take the girls and escape. If they want them back, they'll relinquish control of this new safehold to us. So, prepare yourself for tonight, boy.”

Salvatore couldn't hide the resentment he felt.

“You know the consequences if you deny me, boy.” The alpha leader grabbed Salvatore's shirt and pulled him close. “You tell Rathbone that you're running with the pack when we pull out this morning. You need to remember where you came from.”

Rathbone Hayes and his cousin, Rebecka Hayes, organized their people for the next leg of their journey. Rathbone couldn't stop thinking about his home, his own personal safehold on Neah Bay, situated in the town once known as Port Angeles. His job mostly kept him far from home, and he missed it.

“Let's hit the road,” he yelled, and his captains echoed his words down the lines of purring vehicles. Rathbone was finally going home for good. “This is it,” he said, smiling at Rebecka. “I'm done, cousin. Once we're home, I'm retiring, and I'm handing over the reins of my command to you.”

Salvatore appeared, looking grim. His hyena leader was a few steps behind him. “What's wrong, Sal?” Rathbone asked.

Salvatore just shrugged as his leader walked up to stand beside him.

“Salvatore, you need to get on the flatbed with the doc and Aiden. The girls will need your protection.”

“He's running with us today,” the alpha leader announced. “It's been months. If he's going to stay with your clan, he must at least respect our ways by running with his pack one more time.”

Rathbone shot Salvatore a quick glance and then addressed the hyena leader. “If that's Salvatore's wish, we'll put someone in his place on the flatbed.”

“I'll do it,” Piper said. “They're my girls. I need to be with them.”

Rathbone nodded. “Fine. Everyone do what you have to do. Now let's get going.”

Salvatore left with his pack, all morphing into hyenas as they took to the overgrown brush along the roadside. Following their lead, the line of vehicles began to move away from the old warehouse as its doors closed shut.

As the convoy proceeded down the road, Rathbone watched running hyenas slip in and out of the woods, wiping out any ferals they encountered. Rathbone caught sight of Salvatore only once. He was worried about the boy, afraid he'd be drawn back into his pack. He turned to Rebecka, who was sitting beside him.

“We can't let the hyenas into the mountains,” he said.

“I know,” she replied. “We're going to have to shake them.”

Rathbone sighed. “I think we might have to kill them.”

Piper rode in silence, holding Pippa's hand. She had finally come around, slipping in and out of consciousness, but when she was awake, she smiled at Piper. Abby had made no improvement, and her rabid side was still dominant. She screamed and swore, and her wrists and ankles bled from constantly rubbing against her restraints.

Abby had begun screaming again, unnerving everyone. Jack stared at her and slowly stood up. He morphed, and his skin faded to a deathly pale. Wings grew from his body and his teeth grew, and his eyes went to perfect black.

The doctor walked toward Abby, who hissed at his approach. He reached down and grabbed her throat. Instantly, Piper and Aiden were on him, but Jack flung them to the back of the truck with a slap of his wings.

“You're killing her!” Piper screamed, and she began to morph.

Aiden felt a mental connection with Jack and grabbed Piper before she could pounce. “No, he's helping her,” he said.

Jack gazed into Abby's eyes and probed her mind. He told her how much they loved her and missed her, begged her to find her way back to them. He told her that Piper was really her mother, that it wasn't a lie. Her eyes fluttered as she hovered between sanity and insanity, trying to tell truths from lies. The pressure of Jack's mind upon her was almost too much to bear.

She cried out, and her mouth began to foam. She dropped to her knees and screamed Pippa's name. Her screams turned to sobs, until the monster that bound her in its grip finally let go.

“Pippa,” she cried, tears streaming down her face. A petite hand reached out to wipe them away.

“I'm here,” Pippa whispered as she crawled to her sister. The two girls embraced. A moment later Piper was there, an arm around each of her daughters.

Salvatore sensed Abby's return to sanity. Her spirit beckoned to him, and the call was intoxicating. He broke from the pack and worked inland from the woods, racing for the flatbed. He felt a hand on his wrist. It was the alpha leader, matching him stride for stride.

“You're back with us now,” the leader shouted. “Stay away from our prey until tonight!”

Salvatore ignored him, but the leader sank his claws into Salvatore's wrists. Salvatore cried out in pain and twisted away.

“Fool,” the alpha leader shouted as the younger hyena picked up speed. “Love doesn't exist for you. Not with that hybrid.”

Salvatore sprinted away from the alpha leader. The old hyena gave up the chase and waited for his pack to come to him. He watched Salvatore disappear through the woods and resolved to kill him. He cackled into the afternoon wind, and his pack joined him. Then they returned to the run.

Even with the convoy traveling at full speed, Salvatore easily reached it. He found the flatbed transporting Abby and dived into the back. The three guards brought their guns to bear but Jack and Aiden told them to stand down.

Salvatore looked at Abby, who was clinging to her sister and mother. He went to her, and they embraced. “I love you, Abby.”

“I love you, too,” Abby said.

Rebecka saw Salvatore leap onto the flatbed. She yelled to Rathbone, who had been deep in thought, and he dropped back and fell in line just behind the truck. Rathbone held the Jeep steady, and Rebecka leapt from it onto the back of the flatbed. She made a quick assessment and saw that Pippa and Abby were unharmed. They were engaged in conversation with their mother. Rebecka looked out the back and flashed Rathbone the okay sign. When she turned back, she saw Jack fall to the floor. Aiden and Salvatore rushed to him. Rebecka joined them and lifted the doctor's head into her arms. The doctor tried to say something, but she couldn't make out his words. She leaned down and brought her ear to his lips.

“Rebecka,” he whispered softly.

She kissed his cheek. He smiled and closed his eyes, but his skin had turned blood red.

“Oh, no,” Rebecka murmured.

“He'll be all right,” Aiden said. “He's going through a change, sort of like Pippa and Abby did.”

“You mean he's rabid?”

“Not quite, but similar. I knew this was coming. I was told it would happen. I'm afraid we're going to have to shackle him for the next few hours.”

“And he'll be okay afterwards?”

“That's what the bat creatures told me,” Aiden said. “We better shackle him immediately. He'll be dangerous.”

Rathbone called a halt for a meal and a break, and the convoy pulled onto the shoulder of Highway 5 in a town called Portland. Rathbone got out of his Jeep and climbed onto the flatbed, where he had a double surprise—Abby was back to normal, but the doctor was unconscious and bound with chains. Rebecka related the events of the past few hours, explaining how Jack had helped Abby, how Piper was finally reunited with her daughters, and how the doctor had slipped into a coma.

“Do you think the doc probing Abby's mind might've brought this on?” Rathbone asked.

“I don't think so,” Aiden said. “This has been building since they changed him. I could tell by his increasingly agitated state that he was close to breaking.”

The doctor heaved forward, screaming and straining against his chains. He emitted a high-pitched sound that pierced their ears. The episode lasted no more than two seconds before he returned to unconsciousness.

“That was weird,” Rathbone said.

“He's calling for reinforcements,” Abby said.

“You mean he's calling for the nocturnals?”

Abby shook her head. “I don't think so, since they won't travel by day. He might've called out to the ferals.”

“Why would the ferals listen to a nocturnal?”

Abby just shrugged. “They followed me for days.”

Rathbone looked at Rebecka and sighed. “We better get ready for another attack, just in case.”

While everyone else ate, Rathbone and Rebecka stood outside the flatbed and considered their next steps. Rathbone wanted to get rid of the hyenas and avoid a fight with the ferals. Rebecka begged him not to fight the hyenas, claiming it would turn into a bloodbath.

“Fine, they can go peacefully unless they want to be blown to bits and pieces,” Rathbone said. “But maybe we can just lose them. Get away from here and sneak into the Olympic Mountains. And we need to do this all while the doc is out, because I don't want those nocturnals following us either.”

“But they'll be able to follow Jack's scent.”

“Not if we cover his body in an un-scenting salve and begin masking our path with teargas and some un-scenting bombs.”

“I don't think the nocturnals are as much a threat as you say, but it's your decision.”

“Then we'll initiate the plan now. Rebecka, tranquilize the doc, just in case, then cover his body in salve. We need to get out of here before the hyenas find us. We got Salvatore back, so there's no sense waiting around for them to show.”

At that moment Salvatore jumped out of the back of the flatbed, startling Rathbone and Rebecka. “It won't be so easy to lose them,” he said.

Rathbone eyed him. “Look, son, I'm sorry you heard what you heard, but we can't trust your people. I'm going to have to tell them to hit the road.”

“You have every right not to trust them,” Salvatore said, his voice unsteady.

“You got something to tell me, boy?”

“It's my fault,” Salvatore said. “My pack has been following me since the day we found Pippa near New York. We knew who she was, we had spies in their library and knew about the plans to send her west. We've been following her since she left. My pack wanted to migrate, to find a better home, so they've been tracking my scent all this time, knowing I could slip into Pippa's group. But they didn't count on me finding real friends. Now they know about Pippa and Abby, and they're planning to kidnap them tonight to demand control of the safehold.”

Rathbone glanced at Rebecka, and she went to alert the troops.

“I'm sorry, I never meant for this to happen,” Salvatore said. “I don't want anything to happen to my friends. I never—”

At that moment, the hyenas began to emerge from the woods. Rathbone's soldiers raised their weapons and faced them.

“You got one choice,” Rathbone said to the alpha leader. “You can turn back south or east and live, or all those little red dots that are shining on your people will turn into bullet holes.”

The hyenas glanced at their chests and saw the laser dots on their chests. The alpha leader turned to his pack and released a sinister laugh. Then he turned south and led his pack away from the convoy.

“Thank you,” Salvatore said to Rathbone, but the big man shot him a withering glance.

“You have to leave,” Rathbone said.

“But why? I told you the truth. I did it to protect you and your people, and my friends.”

“Damn good thing you did, but you're still a traitor.”

“I tried to do the right thing.”

“I don't trust you. You have to leave, and you have to leave now. I suggest you head east, since your pack is going south. Now get going before I blow your brains out myself.”

Without another word, Salvatore turned east and disappeared into the woods.

When Abby learned from Rathbone what had happened, the news nearly sent her back to a rabid state. She didn't know who she hated most, Rathbone for forcing Salvatore to leave or Salvatore for his betrayal.

The convoy was soon back on the road. Rathbone and Rebecka rode together behind the flatbed, while the others stayed with the doctor. Rebecka wanted to be with Jack, but as the future leader, she knew her place was with the troops. Her duty was to protect her people.

The convoy left Highway 5 and worked its way into the mountains on back roads. They covered their trail with teargas and smoke bombs that could mask any scent.

Jack was unconscious, his skin as red as fire, his body covered in sweat. One curious guard bent down to check on him, and Jack morphed and bit the guard's neck. The man screamed as blood poured from his jugular. Aiden, Piper, Pippa, and Abby fought to rescue the guard, but it was useless. Jack didn't let go until he was finished.

The guard lay on the bed of the truck, convulsing until he went limp. Seconds later, he opened eyes that were pure black. He began hissing and screaming. Aiden silenced him with a tranquilizer gun.

Jack was shrieking and struggling against his restraints. When he snapped one, Aiden morphed and pinned his hand with his reptilian claw. He remembered the words of the three beings who had saved Jack's life. Aiden's mission was to protect the doctor.

Jack stared at him and finally relaxed. “I understand now,” he whispered.

Aiden knew the doctor's transformation was over. He released his grip from the doctor's wrist and unlocked the remaining restraints.