The Infected: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (20 page)

"Keep lookin' through that book of yours, Miss Sam. If I start feelin' any different then I'll take of the problem myself."

She nodded and then watched Cole walk back up the ramp. He lay down on the opposite side of the plane from the kids and buried his head in the crook of his massive arm and wept. Sam pulled the kitchen knife from the waistline of the cargo pants and tightened and loosened her hand around the grip as she continued to watch him. It would be over before he knew what was happening. The thought made her heart ache even more. She turned and stepped out from the shadow of the plane.

The sun beat down on her as she walked the perimeter of the makeshift camp. Her face, arms and shoulders had tanned exponentially since the start of their journey and Sam feared that if the temperatures didn't stagnate soon that she'd develop skin cancer. Sam chuckled at the thought of dying of something like cancer after surviving the RIZ-4 virus.

She encircled the wreckage twice and decided that she would have to wait until it cooled off before looking for the water. She returned to the cargo bay, pulled the doctor's journal from the medical bag and took a seat against the wall. Cole had joined in the snoring and the three of them created a tiresome orchestra making Sam long to be back in her bed in New Hope. Back in the city with her love.

She tried to imagine Jordan's face and drew a blank. Terrified that her memories of him were fading into the blank slate of her mind, she shook her head and opened the journal. She flipped through several dog-eared pages until she reached one entitled:

Midnight Runner Project

For the next two hours, she read. There was no new information in the journal. She had read it cover to cover within the first few days of their trip. Every break, each time they set up camp, Sam had buried her nose in the book hoping for some new understanding of the metal device in Cole's skull.

The book was full of scientific jargon but she had gleaned a few things. First, was the procedure was irreversible and Cole Porter, her friend and savior, would mutate into a midnight runner. Second, the metal piece embedded into Cole's skull controlled the communication between neurons and could be operated using the remote control. But there was also an internal device manipulating serotonin,
somatotropin and
testosterone levels. And finally, after the incubation phase, his brain would produce a new hormone called terratrophin. The terratrophin would meld with the somatotropin and cause his bones to elongate and his muscles to grow at a rapid rate. It would cause his limbic system to completely take over the rational evolved part of his brain, leaving him in a ravenous, murderous state.

What Sam had yet to learn, was what the other two buttons on the remote did and why the General had tried to get her to push the top button instead of the middle. The doctor had listed the device's specifications in the book, but the technical notes concerning how it operated might have well been written in Chinese. However, Sam read it over and over, every night longing for some understanding. Today, just like all the others, there was none.

Frustrated, she put the book back in the bag and put her face in her hands. Beads of sweat ran from her forehead and down her cheeks. Her tongue felt like sandpaper as she licked her cracked and dry lips. She needed water. She needed rest.

"What do I need to do, Jordan?" Sam whispered. "How do I get us out of here?"

There was no answer. Jordan hadn't said a word since telling her to use the remote on Cole. He hadn't visited her dreams either. Maybe that's why she had stopped sleeping. She had lost Jordan in real life. Losing him in her dreams was too much to handle.

Sam concentrated on his face until despair turned into absolute hatred. Concordia was responsible for this. For everything. She was concentrating so hard she almost didn't hear the caw above. At first she thought it was a figment of her imagination, but then she heard it again. She turned her head toward the cargo door, and a moment later another caw filled the air. She scooted to the edge of the plane and looked up to the sky. Her heart lurched. Flying over them was a giant black bird.

She watched in amazement as the crow encircled the dusty highway and then let out a raspy squeal of joy as another one came into view. An overabundance of joy and happiness washed over her. If there were birds, if there was life, then there was some means to support it. Somewhere close to here, there was water.

"The birds," Sam said. Her voice was so dry and scratchy that the words were barely understandable. She tried again. "Cole, the birds."

Cole stirred and then his eyes fluttered open. An odd shade of yellow filled the whites of his eyes, but Sam dismissed it as dehydration. She pointed up to the birds as they flew east, toward the horizon. Cole joined her at the edge of the bay door and together they watched it in silence.

"First the dog and now the birds," Cole said.

"There's water," Sam said and smiled.

A blood-curdling scream ripped through the air and all the joy and elation that Sam felt dissipated in an instant. Sam's head spun toward Alex and her heart dropped. The young girl hunched over her brother and shook his shoulders, but Nick didn't stir.

"Nick, wake up!" Alex shouted as she shook the boy's shoulders.

Sam knelt down on the opposite side of him. The boy's thin, cracked lips were pale shade of blue and his skin was cool to the touch. Sam placed her head to his chest and listened but all she heard was Alex's frantic sobs. "Quiet," Sam said, but Alex continued to bawl.

"Miss Sam?" Cole asked.

"He's not breathing," Sam said and placed her hands over his heart. She pressed down hard and Nick's brittle bones snapped. Alex screamed but Sam pressed down again and again. After five compressions, she tilted his head back and blew two quick breaths. She put her ear to his lips and listened.

Nothing.

She started the compressions again and looked to Alex. The girl's violet eyes were cloudy with tears. "Look at me," Sam said as she pumped her arms. The girl met her stare. "We're not going to lose him. I won't let that happen." Alex nodded, but the tears continued to fall.

"Miss Sam," Cole said again.

Sam filled her lungs and then blew two more quick breaths into Nick's mouth. The boy's chest rose, and she listened. Nothing. She started the compressions again. Her forearms burned and sweat poured from her brow.

"Miss Sam," Cole said gravely, "the boy's been bleeding."

Sam paused and looked up at Cole. He pointed to the boy's lap. Dark red blood covered the seat of Nick's pants. How long had it been that way? Since they fell asleep? Longer? An icy wave of anxiety washed over her. Sam didn't know. She pushed even harder on his chest and felt two more ribs crack.

"Oh god," Alex said. "Don't leave me, Nick. Please, please don't leave me."

The words made Sam think of Jordan and for the first time since they left Lost Angel she was able to see his face. He sat on one of the metal cases on the opposite side of the plane. His face was grave and a large stain of blood dotted his chest. Sam felt the first tear escape from the side of her face. She took another deep breath, the desert air hot in her lungs, and then blew it into Nick's mouth.

Cole wrapped an arm around Alex and the two wept together. Sam counted off the compressions not ready to give up. And then she looked back to Jordan who somberly shook his head.

"No, goddammit!" Sam screamed. "We're not going to lose him!" She lifted a balled fist into the air and struck Nick above the heart. Alex screamed and Cole wrapped his other hand around her face to block her view. Sam ignored it and swung again, striking him in the same spot. "Don't you leave me."

She struck him again and again.

"Don't you leave me, Jordan." Tears stung at her eyes and her voice shook with anger and a horrible sadness. "You promised that you wouldn't leave. You promised."

She lifted her fist again but Cole caught it on the downswing. "He's gone, Sam."

Sam burst into tears. She looked up and locked eyes with Jordan. He mouthed a silent apology and his blue-gray eyes burned hot inside of her soul. Sam put her head in her hands and sobbed away the little water left inside.

After a long time, Sam stopped crying. She felt numb as she looked upon Nick's sunken face. Alex, who had also stopped crying, rested her head on Nick's chest and whispered something inaudible to him. Sam didn't have to hear the words to know it was goodbye.

"Do you want me to bury him?" Cole asked after a long time.

Alex shook her head. "He looks peaceful here."

"We can put him in one of those crates," Cole said. "That way the animals don't get at him."

As if Cole's words were a cue, the rat terrier clambered in through the bay door. It sniffed wildly at the air, gave a low whine and then trotted over to Alex. He nuzzled up next to her and then plopped down on his haunches.

"Hi," she said. Her voice was weak and tired. The dog yipped and his tail pounded against the floor. Alex scratched its ear, and the tail wagged harder.

The dog panted and barked again. Alex smiled. It was the first time she had smiled in days. Sam knew the question forming in Alex's brain and prepared herself. The girl's brother had just died and now Sam would have to tell her they couldn't keep the dog. She sighed.

"Can we give it some water?" Alex asked.

"We don't have any water," Sam said in a measured tone. She expected pushback or even panic.

Instead, Alex said, "Okay." That was even worse.

Cole broke open the lock of one of the crates with the butt of the rifle. "Nothing," he said.

Sam continued to stare at Alex who had yet to lift her head from her brother's chest. The dog nuzzled its snout against the girl's neck. "We can't keep it, either," Sam said abruptly. "We have nothing to give it and we can't even feed ourselves at this point."

"Okay," Alex said. She looked glumly from the dog to her brother. She stopped petting the dog and put her hand in her lap. The dog, not ready for the petting to stop, stretched out and licked her hand. Alex smiled.

"Might not be a bad thing to keep him around," Cole whispered. "Bet he can hunt."

"How much are you willing to bet?" Sam asked. "Our lives?"

"Naw," Cole said. "Don't reckon so."

"What kind of dog is it?" Alex asked.

"Rat terrier," Cole said.

"And it's a boy dog?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Let's call him Artie."

"Why Artie?"

"He's a rat terrier. R.T. Artie."

Cole laughed. Sam didn't.

"Don't name him," Sam said. "You don't need to get attached to it. He can't stay."

The dog returned to Alex's side, and she stroked his head. "He can have Nick's share of the food and water. That way there's no difference."

"Alex—"

"If Nick were still alive then he'd be getting that share," Alex said. Tears fell from her cheeks. "So what's the difference?"

"The difference is," Sam said, "we didn't have enough water or food when Nick was alive. This way we can at least make it a little further before—"

"No," Alex interrupted. "Either he stays or you leave me here."

Sam hadn't expected this. It was the ultimatum of a child but Alex was just that…a child. Sam shook her head and sighed. There was no point in arguing. If she refused then it was only a matter of time before the girl threw Nick's death in her face.

"Fine," Sam said.

They stayed in the cargo bay for another as the earth cooled off. Cole placed Nick's body in the crate and they all said their goodbyes. Afterward, Sam sat down on the metal grating and looked up for any sign of the black bird. There was no trace of it.

It was still hot, but Sam gathered the doctor's bag and duffel bag and the four of them rejoined the road. Alex paused as they emerged from the shadow of the plane and said one last goodbye to her brother. Cole said another goodbye as well but Sam didn't speak. She couldn't speak. She had failed him. She had failed Alex. Rebecca and Jordan. And Cole. She had failed everyone. She added Nick's name to the list of retributions to be paid and marched onward.

3

They walked through late afternoon and into the night. The road's deteriorated condition slowed their pace to a crawl. They scaled mountains of rubble that was once superhighways, and slunk past abandoned rotted-out buildings, careful not to bring attention to themselves. They moved slow across the broken bitumen and rested often.

The majority of the road signs still standing were rusted and faded to the point of illegibility, but they reached a small brown sign that looked almost untouched by the weather. Sam's heart leapt into her chest as she read the words.

LAKE MEAD

NAT'L REC AREA

6 MILES

"Do you think it's still there?" Alex said.

Sam racked her brain for everything she could remember about Lake Mead. She remembered little, but what she did remember brought little hope. The data stream seemed to only work when it wanted to. "Hard to say. If the dam busted, there might only be a river. Or there might be nothing at all. I'm not sure."

"I hope it hasn't," Alex said.

They ambled through the night. When the moon reached the midpoint of the sky, they gathered at the side of the road and ate the rest of their honey mesquite pods. Alex offered Artie some of hers but the dog turned its nose up at the green seeds. Sam's stomach rumbled after she finished the last bite of hers and her spirits sank. They were out of food and water now. Lake Mead would have to be there or they would all be dead by the end of the week. They gathered their items and walked until the eastern sky lightened.

The sun broke over the horizon and spilled rays of yellow and gold that gleamed off of the water ahead of them. They all stopped as they reached the end of the road and stared at the giant lake.

"Am I dreaming, Cole?" Sam asked. The words barely escaped her dry throat. They came out raspy and it hurt her to talk.

"No," he said. "You're not dreaming, Miss Sam."

They stood in silent awe for a long time before Alex said, "Race you."

The four took off in a dead sprint, and when they reached the edge, Sam fell to her knees and placed her hands in the water. It was cool and crisp. She knew they should collect the water and sterilize it, but the thirst overcame her. She lifted a handful of water to her mouth and tasted it.

It was the best thing she had ever tasted. She gulped a couple more handfuls and then dropped her head to the water and drank straight from the lake. Beside her, Cole and Alex were doing the same. She drank until her stomach was full.

"What do we do now?" Alex asked.

Sam smiled and slipped the boots and socks from her feet. Blisters covered her feet, and the skin was cracked and raw from the hard miles. She tossed them aside and said, "Now we bathe." She stripped down to her underwear and ran into the lake.

The water was cold and refreshing and perfect. She stayed underneath for a long time, wishing for the moment to last forever. She had died and gone to heaven, or possibly the next best thing. She emerged in time to see Cole, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs, dart into the water. A moment later, Alex jumped in but Artie remained on the shore. The small dog lapped at the water and then trotted further down the shoreline.

They laughed as they swam and splashed each other. Sam dove underneath the water and ran her fingers through her dirty brown hair. She swam deeper into the lake and felt the dirt and sand and blood and tears disappearing in the cool water. Her eyes shot to the shoreline when she came up for air. Artie was barking.

She swam closer to the shore and let her feet fall to the sandy floor. She scanned the horizon and a wave of terror washed over her. Two large clouds of dust had formed to the north and in the distance a foreign rumble. She listened for a moment longer and stared in disbelief at the two dust clouds. The sound registered and Sam took off toward land.

"We have to go," Sam said and sloshed to the shore. She looked back at Cole and Alexandria. They stared back at her with blank expressions. Sam's eyes widened and her finger shot toward the two jeeps speeding toward them and screamed, "Now!"

Chaos ensued as they scrambled to the shore and pawed for their gear. Artie continued to bark as the two trucks sped down the shore road. They were a quarter mile away and coming up fast. Sam pulled on her dress and it clung to her body. She didn't have time for anything else. By the time she grabbed Cole's rifle, the two trucks skidded to a stop. Sam lifted the barrel of the rifle and aimed. The engines revved and cut out.

The truck doors opened in unison and six men climbed out with guns drawn. They wore in military fatigues, and each carried a service revolver on their hip. Sam wondered whose army they belonged to but figured she'd never find out. She would kill them before she found out.

"Drop it," one of the men ordered. He resembled Cole in both height and build; stocky and intimidating. His thick red beard hung to his chest and a giant spider web tattoo stretched over his bald head.

Sam kept the AR firmly in her grasp and the man in her sights. She steadied her breath and placed her finger over the trigger.

"I'd rather there not be any bloodshed if it's all the same," the man with the red beard said. His words oozed with a thick southern drawl.

"I will shoot you," Sam said. "We don't want any trouble. Let us go."

"If I lower my pistol, will you do the same?" the man asked.

"No."

The man smiled. "Well, I'm going to lower it anyway." He let the pistol fall to his side but kept his finger on the trigger. "My men are going to lower theirs too." He nodded and the five other men lowered their weapons. "If you shoot, you'll be doing it in cold blood. Can you live with that?"

"I'll manage," Sam said.

"I reckon that's true." The man with the beard chuckled and holstered his weapon. "Any of you infected?"

Sam shook her head.

"Well, I suppose you need to finish getting dressed and come with us." He spit a brown wad of chewing tobacco on the ground and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his filed jacket. "Our camp is a little ways up the shore. Got food and medical supplies. Got a couple of doctors that can patch you up."

"And if we don't?" Sam asked.

"If you don't what?" Red Beard asked.

"If we don't come with you?"

"Well," the man raised a hand to his chin and stroked the thick beard, "I reckon you can do as you please. But judging by the way you all look…" the man paused and spit on the ground again, "I don't think you'll last much longer out here. Isn't that right, Albright?"

Sam's heart skipped a beat. "How did you—"

"We can talk back at camp," the man said. "There's a lot to discuss. Ain't that right, Porter?"

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"Name's Sawyer. Jack Sawyer." He started toward vehicles, took a few steps and turned back, "Don't worry," he chuckled, "it's only going to get a million times weirder." He flashed a smile and then climbed into the jeep.

The men retreated to their vehicles and Sam lowered her weapon. She looked to Cole whose mouth was agape and then to Alex who half-naked and shivering. "Finish putting on your clothes."

"What're we gonna do?" Cole asked, still staring at the jeeps.

"We'll fill our water bottles up and go back the way we came," Sam said. She picked the cargo pants and awkwardly put them on while still holding onto the rifle.

"But they said they have food," Alexandria said.

Sam's stomach grumbled at the concept and she looked over to the jeeps. She could see the man called Sawyer staring back at her through the windshield. She shook her head. "There was food in Lost Angel, wasn't there?" She pulled on her socks. "Didn't mean you wanted to stick around for it."

"They got a doctor, too," Cole said as he shoved a leg into the frayed leg of the tuxedo pants.

"Yeah, I heard that part." She shoved a blistered foot into one of the boots and then the other. The pain made her eyes water.

"Miss Sam—"

"What are you waiting for, Cole? Fill up the water bottles. Alexandria put your shoes on. We need to go."

"Miss Sam," Cole started again, "I think—"

"You think what exactly?" Sam cut him off. "That these men are a bunch of nice guys out for a stroll. That the assault rifles and service pistols they're carrying around are for protection?" Her words were angry and bitter. "Come on, Cole. Use your goddamn head. With food being as scarce as it is and they just up and offer us some? And medical attention? You really think that's what they're trying to do? They know our names. They found us in the middle of nowhere. Why would we go anywhere with them?"

"Sam," Alex whispered, "I'm really hungry."

Sam turned to Alex and lowered her voice. "We're all hungry. All of us. But I'm not going to let your brother have died in vain so the first person we meet up with ends up killing us. Or worse."

Alexandria looked away and tears filled her eyes, but when she spoke again her voice was cold and bitter, "But you'll do him the injustice of letting me starve to death? You'll let me starve like he did because these men might interfere with you getting to Concordia?"

The words hit her like a shotgun blast. Tears stung her eyes, and she looked away from the girl. "What if he's a bad guy?" she whispered. "A bad guy like the President?"

There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Alex said, "I think if he was a bad guy like that then we'd already be in the back of their trucks. They know your name, maybe they're good guys. They didn't shoot and they're not forcing us to go anywhere."

Sam made eye contact with the man named Sawyer. Deep inside his face struck a nerve of familiarity. As familiar as the man in the monitor had in Lost Angel. He nodded to her, and she looked to Cole hoping he would err on the side of caution. But she knew she had the lost battle the moment their eyes met.

"We can't do this alone, Miss Sam." His words were somber but true. "If you want to make it to Concordia then we need to take their help."

Sam winced at the words.

"When we left Lost Angel," Cole continued, "we didn't have nothin'. We pieced together what we could from the scrapyard and we got lucky with findin' water, but we ain't gonna last much longer without food and some medicine. If Nick dying don't prove it then I don't know what else will." He wrapped an arm around Alex's shoulder and squeezed the girl tightly. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed.

"We can't go with them," Sam pleaded. "This is all wrong. Don't you understand? We're in the middle of the desert and these men come out of nowhere and they know our names. We can't go."

"You're free to do what you like, Miss Sam." Cole took a deep breath as if the words hurt to say. "But me and Alex are gonna go to that camp regardless."

A wave of terror washed over her. "You can't leave me."

Cole frowned. "I ain't leavin' you. If you don't go to the camp, you'll be leaving us."

She looked to the road leading back to Las Vegas, back to Lost Angel and to New Hope, and then she looked to the men in the trucks. She could make it alone but at what cost? If she turned her back on them and the men turned out to be evil then whatever happened would be on her.

When she turned back to Cole and Alex, she saw Jordan's ghostly frame lingering behind them. He nodded, as if to confirm Cole's words, and then gave a sorrowful smile. Sam blinked, and he was gone.

"Okay," she whispered. "We go with them."

The threesome gathered their gear and walked to the fleet of vehicles. Alex picked Artie up from the desert floor and he vigorously licked her face. Sam crawled into the empty passenger seat next to Sawyer and Cole, Alex and Artie climbed into the back. Sawyer looked at them and then smiled.

"Glad you decided to join us," he said.

"Didn't have much of a choice," Sam said.

"Well, I'm glad none the same."

Sawyer shifted the tranny into drive and turned the jeep around. "The camp's on the north side of the lake," he said over the roar of the engine. "It'll take us about an hour to get there. Used to be a town called Overton. It got walled up during the infection. After the first couple of us were awakened, we cleared it out. Started rebuilding."

"Awakened?" Sam asked.

"I'll explain that part once we get to camp. I find it's better to hear things on a full stomach."

As the jeep rolled north, a question emerged at the forefront of Sam's thoughts. How did they know where to find us if their camp is an hour away? They had only been at the lake for 15 minutes when the soldiers had shown up. Panic clutched at her heart and she gripped the handle of the knife and slowly pulled it from its sheath. "What were you doing an hour away from your camp?"

The jeep sped up as they reached the remnants of an old service road.

"Had to come pick you up, Albright. Why else would we be burning all this fuel?"

"How do you know our names?" Sam asked and shifted the knife to her other hand. A millisecond later and she poked the tip into Sawyer's abdomen; not hard enough to break skin, but enough to get his attention. The man looked down at the blade and then back to the road. "How'd you know where to find us?"