Shudder (Stitch Trilogy, Book 2) (19 page)

Of course, she loved Isaac, deeply.
And what she’d told him – that she would choose him as a partner
over Joe – was true. But that was also her head speaking. Her
heart… at the moment, that was a different story.

Joe really
had
somehow cockroached
himself deep inside her, more so, she was realizing now, than she’d
ever thought before. The absolute last thing she wanted was to hurt
Isaac, but she couldn’t lie to him, either. Isaac and Alessa would
be together forever – she certainly wasn’t questioning that – but
if Joe were still alive… who knew? She couldn’t deny that things
likely would have played out much differently if he’d never been
taken by Paragon. It might have been Alessa and Joe.

She knew Isaac loved his brother
intensely, that he had always looked up to him and wanted to be
more like him, that Joe was practically his hero. Alessa had never
fully understood the intensity of that feeling, or why Joe’s memory
always seemed to overshadow everything Isaac accomplished. But now
– after experiencing Isaac’s hallucinations during his sickness –
she got it.

She had watched Joe
extract the promise from him, the promise to take care of her. And
Isaac took his word seriously, especially when it came to his
brother. With that kind of responsibility ever looming over his
shoulder, it was no wonder Isaac second guessed himself at every
juncture. With everything he did, he must be questioning if it were
what
Joe
would
have wanted.

And Alessa realized she hadn’t been
making it any easier on Isaac by second guessing his decisions as
well. Regardless of her tangled feelings for Joe, Alessa would have
to be more conscious to be supportive of Isaac. After all, he was
the one who’d gotten her this far. Considering that she owed him
her life many times over, the least she could do was be careful not
to feed his insecurities.

After all, if there was
one thing that the past week had made clear for Alessa, it was that
she simply couldn’t face the possibility of losing Isaac. She’d
spent so much time worrying about external factors – Paragon, the
virus, now those creatures – that she’d never considered she might
drive him away on her own. He’d just always been such a
solid
presence in her
life.

Selfishly, she realized, it’d never
occurred to Alessa that the things she said or did might actually
affect how Isaac felt about himself – that he was actually
listening to her offhand comments and reading into them. She would
have to be more conscious of how she treated him, more careful not
to take him for granted. She’d never forgive herself if she pushed
him away.

They’d wandered aimlessly for a while,
until they’d found themselves on a western path out of the city,
chasing the sun as it dallied over the horizon. They’d come out of
the city opposite of where they’d gone in, ending up down a long
stretch of highway – the same one they’d entered on – with
corporate parks lining either side.

Sprawling open lawns rolled up and
down the gentle hills surrounding the highway, the overgrown grass
rippling like the sea in the brisk winter wind. Jutting
steel-and-glass offices punctuated the hillsides like islands,
small groves of trees – slowly reclaiming their feral heritage –
bobbing like buoys in the wide lonely spaces between the many
campuses.

Eventually Alessa and Isaac hopped the
guardrail in favor of strolling through the high flowing grass. By
now the sun had set, but something had propelled them to keep
walking, the brittle fringe of the grasses brushing against their
thighs with a comforting swish, swish, swish in the
dark.

Large dark shadows lurked in the
distance, but it wasn’t the creatures this time. No, these shadows
stood still as stone, and far larger than she imagined even the
beasts to be.

They followed an overgrown gravel path
approaching one of these shadow giants, peering curiously up to its
apex 15 feet above their heads. Art, Alessa realized – sterilized
abstract shapes wrought of iron and steel. It’d been dropped, like
the others, unceremoniously in the middle of an open stretch, as if
this monstrosity would somehow lessen the coldness of the
ultra-modern edifice and its once well-manicured lawns.

Strolling through the expanse, Alessa
was just beginning to wonder if it was almost time to make camp
when the ground in front of her suddenly exploded, dirt spewing in
every direction as a series of rapid shots trailed up the lawn
heading for her feet. She jumped back into Isaac and both went
tumbling below the grass. They shimmied on their stomachs to the
shield of the massive sculpture, unburdening themselves of their
gear once safely behind cover.

“
What the hell was that?”
Isaac gasped.

“
It sounds like someone’s
shooting at us!” Alessa’s mouth dropped at the realization of what
she’d just said. “Isaac – do you think they’re
survivors
?”

Isaac shook his head. “If they are,
they don’t seem friendly…”

“
Maybe they think we’re
those creatures.”

“
In that case, I’d be
shooting at us, too,” Isaac shrugged.

Alessa punched his shoulder. “Come on,
we need to convince them we’re not a threat.”

“
What are you gonna
do?”

“
Talk to them,” Alessa
replied.

Isaac raised an eyebrow with concern.
“Just try not to get shot, okay?”

Alessa stood up, her back to the
statue, and slowly inched toward the direction the shooting had
come. When she reached the edge, she poked her head around to
survey the scene. There were bright searchlights crisscrossing the
expanse of the yard, and she couldn’t see anyone near the large
dark building up ahead. But when she stepped out and waved her arms
in a signal of submission, she was only greeted with the ping of
more shots bouncing off the sculpture. She quickly ducked back
behind.

“
They don’t seem willing
to negotiate,” she reported.

“
No kidding.” Isaac
thought for a moment. “I don’t think we can retreat…” He shook his
head. “Even if we go back the way we came, we’re probably still in
range of their weapons. And there’s no cover that
direction.”

“
We just need to get them
to stop shooting long enough to listen to us,” Alessa
insisted.

Isaac peeked around the statue,
staying low among the cover of the tall grass as he peered up
toward the building. “Okay, I think I have a plan.”

He scrambled back beside Alessa. “When
I say, you make a run for it –” he motioned at another solid
sculpture 50 yards to the right, “– and while they’re distracted
looking for you, I’ll sneak around the side through the grass and
disarm the shooter. Hopefully once he’s without a weapon, he’ll be
a little more eager to talk.”

Alessa was about to ask him if he
really thought he could safely sneak past the shooter – or shooters
– but then she decided against it. Isaac wouldn’t have suggested
this strategy if he wasn’t sure he could make it. The last thing
she needed to do now was shake his confidence.

“
Ready?” Isaac
asked.

Alessa nodded.

“
All right, then. Let’s do
this.” He scooted up into a crouch. “You go first to draw the
spotlight, then I’ll sneak out the other way. Oh, and Less – once
you’re safe, try to draw their fire every now and then so I can get
an idea of where the shooter’s positioned before I go
in.”

Alessa nodded her understanding. Her
heart was pumping – she was ready. She took a deep breath and one
final peek around the edge of the sculpture… and then she
flew.

22. JACKPOT

Isaac held his breath as Alessa
streaked through the tall grass, drawing the spotlights one by one
until not a single lamp lingered on the statue Isaac was using for
cover.

As the final spotlight spun to circle
the second sculpture where Alessa was hiding, she gave him a
tentative thumbs up from across the way. Now it was his
turn.

As far as Isaac could tell, it seemed
like the shots were coming from the roof of the building, which was
maybe 200 yards away. Between here and there, besides the abundant
grass, cover was scarce – just the occasional picnic table or
cluster of trees. But it was dark, and the grass was thick, so if
he just stayed low, he should be able to creep up to the building
unseen.

He tucked a sturdy knife into his
pocket with the intention of sneaking up on the shooter. He
wouldn’t hurt anyone if he could avoid it, but even a big man would
surrender with the prick of a sharp blade at his throat. Then once
the shooter was disarmed, Isaac could explain what they wanted and
hopefully convince these potential allies to shut down the
alarms.

He crept low on his belly through the
tall grass, grateful for the light breeze that would disguise his
movement from above. The going was slow, but eventually he reached
a small stand of trees at the edge of the pavement. He stood and
scanned back towards Alessa’s sculpture. The searchlights still
circled it, and when Alessa tentatively poked her head out as he’d
instructed – drawing more shots – he was able to confirm both that
she was okay and that the shooter was on the roof, as he’d
suspected.

Now came the difficult part – how was
he going to get up there unscathed? The building was a sprawling
two-story complex, more concrete than glass he noticed, which was a
different style than most of the campuses they’d passed earlier. A
wide swath of blacktop ran around the building, the curb on either
side lined with empty parking spaces. There was no cover between
here and the tall, smooth walls, which – Isaac noted with chagrin –
he had no hope of scaling.

He wasn’t far from the
southwest corner of the building, where a wide metal emergency door
was accessible from ground level. But Isaac wasn’t hopeful about
the door’s odds of being unlocked. Further down the side of the
building he spied a fire escape ladder hanging from the roof. The
bottom was tucked up securely – too high for Isaac to jump – but
nature had forged another path. What was likely once a small
decorative tree in the sparse gardens adorning the building had
grown tall and wild over time, and it looked
just
close enough that Isaac could
leap from its sturdy lower branches to the bottom rung of the
ladder.

So that was his destination. The only
question now was how to sneak over there unseen.

Isaac surveyed the property a little
longer, but there really was no way around crossing the blacktop.
It wrapped the building like a dark, dangerous moat; he’d have no
choice but to take his chances in a mad dash across it, hoping that
the shadow of the building itself and the meager shrubbery
scattered around it would offer some refuge once he reached the
other side.

He waited for Alessa to draw the
shooter’s fire once more, and then it was time. Isaac sucked in a
final breath of air and raced out of the trees, his feet pounding
against the driveway.

His heart dropped as a motion-sensing
light kicked on the instant he stepped from the trees, tracking his
path as the distinctive whirring of an automatic weapon preparing
to strike filled his ears.

Adrenaline ringing through him, Isaac
pumped his legs, pushing hard for the shelter of the building ahead
before the second gun could fire. Any moment now, bullets would
begin to rain down on him. A vision of Alessa trapped behind that
sculpture with no escape flashed before his eyes, and he knew he
needed to get to safety, for her sake if not his own.

Isaac’s limbs burned with the effort
of his sprint as the gun finally discharged – click click click
click click click click – expelling shots faster than should be
possible. He just ran – it was all he could do. He reached the
corner of the building with a tingle coursing through his body; if
he’d been hit, he couldn’t feel it.

Click click click click. The barrage
continued, and still Isaac sprinted. It wasn’t until he reached the
tree that he realized after the sound of another empty click why he
hadn’t felt the sting of wounds tearing through his skin – the clip
was empty. The gun wasn’t firing any bullets!

He laughed at his good luck, but knew
better than to waste time celebrating. Someone was bound to
replenish the ammo any minute now – he needed to get up there
before they could.

The gun continued its endless hollow
clacking as Isaac pulled himself into the lower boughs of the tree
and launched himself at the ladder hanging down from the lip of the
roof. He caught the bottom rung with the fingers of one hand and
braced himself as his body jerked against the pull of gravity.
Swinging his other arm up with all his might, Isaac was able to get
two hands on the ladder and his feet on the wall ahead of him,
scrambling up the side of the building as fast as his tired limbs
would take him. Once his feet struck the ladder with a clang, he
moved more quickly, climbing the rungs until he was high enough to
poke his head over the edge and survey the roof.

Not far down the ledge, Isaac spotted
a large automatic weapon hanging limply from its stand – the gun
that had targeted him on his dash across the parking lot. Its owner
must have run off to collect more ammo.