The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (30 page)

"That's reassuring," Xander said.

"When I say nowhere near here I mean that I don't think it was in Yellowstone or even Hawaii, but further away. I don't think we took the brunt force of it."

A chill ran up Xander's spine as he turned in his seat to face the man. "What you're really saying is that you believe a good portion of this world is gone."

Mary Ellen's head jerked up so that her eyes could focus on the rearview mirror. Peter swallowed and then nodded. "I believe so, but I can't
know
, I can only guess."

"And what of us?" Bobby asked. "Is it going to be like a nuclear disaster and those closest to it go quickly, while the ones that survive gradually wither and parish beneath some weird ass sun and funky rain?"

"It's a possibility," Peter admitted.

"You were never the life of the party, were you?"

"Bobby…" Xander started.

He held up his hand and shook his head. "We've heard the super volcano theory once already, I got it, it sucks."

"It doesn't have to be the end, it could simply trigger another ice age or perhaps some other forms of climate change…"

"Do I
look
like Wooly Mammoth to you?" Josh demanded.

Peter gave him one of the looks that Xander had often received from teachers in high school. He couldn't help but smile as Josh blushed, ducked his head, and sat back. "The eruption may not have been as immense as ones that have happened in the past. I could also be wrong about it being a volcano, but it's the one thing that seems to fit the most. Unless aliens really did invade the earth and bring a wave of death and misery with them."

"I think I might prefer it if they had. At least we would be able to take a stand and fight them, or perhaps our germs would kill them all off," Bobby said.

"If this is a super volcano, what is making everyone sick?" Xander asked, hoping the teacher had some kind of hypothesis that didn't involve the sickness being spread by a bite.

"I don't know," Peter admitted. "I know there are theories about super viruses, and viruses that have been trapped within the earth's mantle for thousands, if not
millions
of years, but I don't know much about that. The sickness almost seems to be some form of supercharged rabies."

Xander felt the blood drain from his head so fast that he swayed and had to brace his hand against the dash. "Rabies?" he croaked. The one disease he knew for a fact could be transmitted through a bite.

Peter seemed to realize what the implications of his words were as he shook his head quickly. "It's not entirely like rabies. For one thing it is far too fast moving…"

"But if it's supercharged," Josh inserted.

Xander could feel Mary Ellen's eyes boring into the side of his head. Peter shot Josh another one of those looks before shrugging and holding his hands up before him. "I'm a high school English teacher. I teach media in the summer to help supplement my income. I know just as much as you about all of this. I'm simply stating some theories. I think if it was airborne we would all be sick already, we were around Molly."

Xander couldn't meet Mary Ellen's gaze as he turned rigidly around in the seat. "That doesn't mean it's not airborne," Peter continued. "There could simply be something different with us that is keeping us from catching it. Everyone is different, and not just DNA different, but life experiences also. There are things I've been exposed to that none of you have, or perhaps all of you have. There is something about this though, something that I can't quite put my finger on…"

His voice trailed off as he began to rub at the stubble lining his jaw and cheeks. Xander reached a hand up to his own scruffy chin. Due to his fairer coloring it hadn't grown in as thick as Peter's, but it was far more scruff than he sported on a regular basis. It would be nice to find a razor.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it of his inane thoughts as he focused on the road again. They seemed to have entered a relatively quiet area of whatever town they were in.

"I'll drive now," he offered.

Mary Ellen hesitated before nodding. She pulled the car to the side of the road and put it into park before turning to him. "Molly wasn't bitten. She was sick but she wasn't bitten. We were also able to get a lot of antibiotics and steroids into you
really
fast."

"I know, and I'm still not feeling sick. I'll be fine, I'm certain of it," he assured her.

He wasn't certain of it, but he also wasn't going to dwell on what could be happening within his body. What could he possibly do about it anyway? It was already too late for him if the sickness was spread through a bite. If he started to feel sick he would have to get away from them as soon as possible. The last thing he wanted was to start treating his friends like they were an all he could eat buffet.

"I'll be fine," he said again when she continued to stare at him as if she were trying to drill her words into his head.

She nodded and finally turned to open the door. "I'll drive," Bobby volunteered.

Xander was tempted to take him up on the offer, he may not feel sick but his leg was throbbing like a son of a bitch. He was looking for something to take his mind off of things though, a challenge, and driving had most certainly become a challenge. "I want to," he said. "Plus I've gotten more sleep than you recently."

Xander pushed his door open and stepped into the strange rain. He tilted his head back to allow the ashes or alien cast off to cascade over his face as he took a minute to briefly savor in the fact that he was still alive. No matter what was going on, no matter what was to come, or who he was tempted to eat, for now he was simply going to enjoy the fact that he was
alive
.

The rain was thick and gritty like soot as it washed over his face, but it was also cooling. No matter how strange it felt against his skin, it also felt wonderful. "Alive," he whispered as he lowered his head to meet Mary Ellen's gaze across the roof of the car.

Even though rain streaked down her face, he saw the tears that also fell from her eyes. He didn't know if those tears were for him and he wasn't going to ask. He limped around the front of the car and smiled at her as she stepped aside.

"It's a strange world," she muttered.

"It's a small world."

She snorted a bubble of laughter. "And if Peter is right it just got a whole lot smaller." Xander wasn't going to think about the people that had never had a chance, not right now. Not when he still had one. "Do you think he is?"

"I've heard the volcano theory twice now, and both times it's the one that seemed the most plausible, but I know even less about it than Peter does," Xander answered.

"It's better than aliens."

"It is."

She released the door to him and stuck her head into the car. "Would one of you like to ride up front?"

"No, we're fine, I've grown used to the smell," Bobby told her.

"Bite me," Josh muttered but he didn't go for the door.

"You might want to be careful who you say that to now," Xander told him as he slid into the driver's seat.

Josh grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "Please don't bite me."

Xander shifted into drive as Mary Ellen settled into the seat. "We should have paid more attention to Molly's symptoms before she lost it," Peter said.

"I didn't think she had any," Mary Ellen replied.

"When we were trying to sleep in the car last night she kept complaining of a headache," Josh said.

"Who doesn't have a headache?" Bobby retorted.

"Good point," Josh conceded. "She said her neck hurt but we were put in some pretty awful and cramped situations yesterday. I think she might have had a fever but who knows, it's so damn hot out we probably all feel like we have a fever."

Xander had been sporting all three of those symptoms since this whole mess had started. He maneuvered around a tree and turned the windshield wipers on as the rain began to fall more steadily. "It's been about four hours since you took some antibiotics, why don't you take some more?" Bobby suggested.

Xander nodded and stuck his hand out to accept the pills Mary Ellen shook out of the bottle when a sign caught his attention. Mary Ellen was jerked forward as he hit the brakes. The car hydroplaned a few feet before coming to a stop before the small sign that read,
Sturbridge Town Line
.

He could only sit and stare at it as the windshield wipers beat a rhythmic pulse against the glass. Hope and apprehension collided within him. Sturbridge, they had made it. Questions bounced rapidly through his brain as he stared at the sign. Was his grandmother still here? Was she alive? Were Riley and Lee here already? Would he see them again soon?

But the most important question, the one he couldn't shake and that caused the hair on his neck to stand up, would he be able to trust himself around them? Or would he eventually try to kill them?

Would he turn on Riley? He couldn't think of anything worse but as he stared at the sign he couldn't deny the fact that it was a possibility.

CHAPTER 24

Al

Somewhere in Mass.

Al climbed out of the truck and stretched his aching back and cramped legs. Tilting his head back he took in the substantial structure of the large garage that had been built to resemble a barn. The house that had shared the property had crumbled into the uneven fissure that now marred the earth.

He didn't know what had been housed inside the structure but he suspected that it had been built for a trucker or someone with a really large boat. Either way, he prayed it was empty now as the shadows lengthened and the sun crept closer to the horizon.

He didn't think they were far from Sturbridge but he wasn't in the mood to risk driving at night, especially not after the events of this day. His glance slid to Riley as she rested one arm on the roof of the car and surveyed the structure with a look that was neither indifferent nor overly impressed with the place.

Though he could imagine what was going through her mind there was nothing he could say to make it better. Carl said something to her over top of the roof; she continued to stare at the barn before turning to him and nodding. She bent back into the car, grabbed the gun from the dashboard and followed Carl to the barn.

Rochelle climbed out beside him and did some twisting motion with her arms that he was pretty sure only cartoon characters should be able to do. She offered him a small smile but the circles under her eyes gave her the appearance of someone far older than her twelve years.

"Why don't you stay with the truck," he suggested.

She shrugged but leaned against the hood as she dropped her chin into her hands. Al nodded to John and followed behind as Carl reached the large door and wrapped his fingers around it. "Get out of the way when I get this open, just in case," he said to Riley.

Her jaw locked and her fingers clenched around the gun as she gave a brief nod. Al wasn't sure if she was going to get out of the way or start firing at anything that moved within the barn. He was beginning to think it might be better if they took the gun away from her, at least for a little bit.

Carl's muscles flexed and he released a small grunt as he shoved the door to the side and jumped out of the way. Riley quickly followed suit. They stood against the side of the barn, protected by the siding and woodwork from any stray bullets or hungry people searching for dinner.

When nothing stirred, Carl held up his hand and poked his head cautiously around the corner. "I think we're good," he muttered.

"What
is
this?" Riley asked as she stepped inside.

The tone of her voice caused the hair on Al's arms to stand on end. "I don't know," Carl answered.

Al's step faltered as he took in the vast chains and hooks hanging from the ceiling. "Who was this guy, Jack The Ripper?" John asked as he eyed a particularly wicked looking two pronged hook.

"Was this a slaughter house?" Riley wondered.

"I don't know, but it looks like they at least hung meat up in here," Carl answered as he kicked at a bloodstain on the concrete floor.

"Let's just hope it was a cow," John said as he turned away.

Al had liked this place a whole lot better when he'd thought it was a garage for a truck or a boat. He stepped around the bloodstains as he made his way to the back half of the building. "Maybe we shouldn't stay here, if there's another quake…" Riley's voice trailed off as her attention turned back to the deadly looking instruments hanging from the ceiling.

It didn't look as if the rest of the building was about to cave in, but he was fearful that another aftershock might bring those
things
down on top of them. He inspected the structure as he continued along the back wall. The roof over his head appeared pretty solid and Carl was already climbing the wooden ladder into the loft with Riley on his heels.

His neck ached from craning it back as he stepped forward to watch the two of them move across the loft. It appeared to be empty up there but he could only see the first three feet of the open space. He'd expected some hay or something, but though it resembled a barn from the outside that was where all similarities ended.

"We could sleep up here!" Carl called down. "It seems pretty sturdy and the hooks and impaling things won't be over our heads."

"Impaling things?" John retorted.

Carl poked his head over the side. "What would you call them?"

"Leather Face's play toys?"

Al had no idea who Leather Face was, but if these were the type of things that he was fond of playing with, Al didn't want to know who he was either. "Nice," Carl muttered and disappeared again.

"If there's another quake and we're up there we're going to fall to the ground!" John's words echoed through the cavernous structure.

"The roof will crush us if we're down there anyway!"

"Oh happy thoughts," Rochelle said from the doorway. Al hadn't realized she'd entered the structure until she spoke. Her eyes were the size of an owl's as she stared around the building and then up at the gleaming metal chains and hooks. "Well at least there's nothing hanging from them."