by Kate Morris
“Heard from the young guy that he thinks they’re going to bring in the National Guard to keep things under control if this gets worse.”
“What?” she almost screeched but reigned it in. “For the flu? Does that sound right?”
“Nope, but it does if this is going to get a lot worse, which the doctor seemed to think it was. I’ve heard of more than one healthcare official, nurses and whatnot, getting killed by these things. Everyone’s calling them night crawlers. The more that name spreads, the more information gets leaked before the internet thugs can take it down, people are going to start panicking. Have you heard from your dad?”
Her mind floated away, thinking about the ramifications of living with a military presence in their country. Other countries had problems like this before or just had their military take over. But this was America. The government didn’t use its own military to keep the peace. It just wasn’t done. That was the job of the police. There were laws prohibiting it, actually.
“Avery?”
She snapped out of it, “What?”
“Your dad? Hear from him?”
“Yes. Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about the military being involved. He’s on a flight. Should be home sometime in the middle of the night,” she explained and cut him off before he could respond. “Tristan, if they call up the National Guard, does that mean you could also be used in the same capacity? Here in America?”
He shrugged. “Maybe some of the military would be. Probably not me.”
“Why?”
He twisted his head side to side, making the muscles and bones crack audibly. “Just not the kind of unit I’m in.”
“Because you’re an engineer?”
“Yep,” he answered decisively, although she suspected evasively.
Avery chewed the inside of her lower lip. “What do you do for the Army, Tristan?”
“Why do you want to know? You already look at me sometimes like you’re scared shitless of me or like I’m going to pounce on you. Why would you want to know anything that would make you even more afraid?”
“I’m not a delicate little rose petal, Tristan.”
He smirked.
“Hey, you said you wouldn’t be mean anymore,” she pointed at him with her index finger and tried to put on a stern face. He snatched her finger and yanked it to his mouth, which knocked her off balance and into him. Then he bit her finger. Gently, but it was still shocking. “Ouch!”
Of course, Mr. Gray had to imitate her, “Ouch. Big cat!”
Tristan laughed. Then he pushed her shoulders until she was sitting upright again.
“Not funny,” she corrected him.
“Don’t aim a loaded weapon at me then,” he warned with good humor. “I was only acting on instinct.”
“You are trying to change the subject.”
“Let’s talk about something nicer than my job. Like the flu.”
This time she laughed. He was funny when he wanted to be. And playful. And quite beautiful. He had really nice white teeth.
Her phone buzzed, causing her to jump before pulling it out of her jeans pocket.
“Hi, Renee,” she said. “Wait…slow down…Renee, I can’t understand you.”
She hit the speaker button. Her friend was crying hysterically and babbling.
“And…and…then…”
“Renee, It’s Tristan. Calm down. Take three deep breaths. Do it! Now,” he demanded with authority, which seemed to help. “Now tell me what is going on. Speak slowly. Stay calm.”
“It’s Spencer,” she said and sniffed. “I—we-we were supposed to be getting together. He was late, so I ca-called him. He said he’d be there as soon as he could. He didn’t sound so good. I was worried. He’s not here. That was three hours ago. It only takes about a half hour to get to my house. I’m scared to go out. My neighbor said she saw something last night in our neighborhood. Like one of those crazy people again.”
“Okay, calm down,” he said. “Which way would he go to get to your house?”
She explained it. Tristan looked at Avery, who said. “Yes, I know what she means.”
“Okay, Renee, just stay put. I’m going out to find him. He could just be having car troubles.”
“No, he’s not. He didn’t sound right, Tristan. Like he was drunk or something. He wasn’t making sense.”
“Fine, just stay where you are and call Avery if he shows up.”
They disconnected after getting her calmed down.
“Her parents aren’t home, either,” she said. “She doesn’t usually get so upset like that. I wish her parents were with her right now.”
“Just tell me how to get where I need to go.”
“I’ll take you,” she said. “It’ll be easier. I’ll tell Kaia we’re leaving and to keep the house locked and the alarm set.”
He paused, must’ve seen the determination in her expression, and finally nodded.
She fled to her sister’s room, woke her and explained the situation, and emphasized the warning of keeping the house locked down.
“Listen, Kai,” she said, “if anyone other than Mom, Dad, or Abraham comes to the door, do not open it. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, what’s the big deal? Chill,” she said grouchily.
“Dammit, Kaia,” she swore, which made her sister gape at her with wide, more alert eyes. “I need you to take this seriously. You know the person that followed me home last week?” Her sister nodded. “It wasn’t…it wasn’t really a person. Look, I’ll explain everything to you in the morning. It’s time you knew the truth about what was going on. For your own protection. For tonight, just stay in and keep the house locked. I’m only going toward Renee’s. If you have any problems, any whatsoever, even a bad feeling, call me immediately.”
“Avery, you’re scaring me.”
“Good. At least I’ve got your attention,” she said and helped her sister to her feet. “Lock the door when we go.”
“We?”
“Tristan and I,” she answered as they went toward the front door.
“I thought you were mad at him,” her sister remarked, knowing she asked him to leave because Kaia had questioned Avery about where he went.
“No, he was just worried about us because of everything that’s been happening,” she answered as they went through the kitchen to the door.
“I checked the rest of the house. It’s all locked down,” Tristan said as he met them by the door. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” she said and turned to her sister, grabbing her for a quick hug. “Love you.”
“Love you, too. Be careful.”
She followed Tristan up their long lane and opened the gate when they got to it, and he made sure to press the button to close it again. She still couldn’t believe he’d climbed over it. That seemed impossible. There weren’t places to get a grip with one’s feet. The metal was smooth. He was like a monkey, which surprised her for his size. Of course, she’d seen him jump quickly into motion faster than she would’ve given someone his size credit for being able to do.
As they pulled away, she took a last look out his rear window to see her sister standing in the dining room staring up at them. Maybe Tristan was right. Maybe living in a glass mansion wasn’t such a great idea right now. The idea of leaving her three siblings alone, even for a short time made her feel anxious.
Somewhere in their countryside neighborhood, which really only consisted of a few families, someone’s dog barked again. It just kept doing it, despite the fact that it was a moonless night, clouded over, and dark as pitch. Dogs liked barking at night when the moon was full. It was kind of annoying. Right now, though, she had no idea why one was barking, and it made her nervous to leave.
“Maybe I should stay,” she remarked with concern.
“Do you want to?”
She spied the glow from the lights of her home through the woods down the hill and settled on indecision.
“If I don’t go with you, I don’t think I could explain
the way that he would’ve taken. It’s pretty much all back roads. I don’t even know some of their names. I just know them.”
“They’ll be okay till we get back,” he said and gave her hand a warm squeeze. Then he released it.
Avery wished he wouldn’t have let her hand go. She felt better when she had even just one of her body parts in constant contact with Tristan. It wasn’t sexual, although it could’ve been under different circumstances. It wasn’t romantic, although it also could’ve been under different circumstances. It just somehow made her feel a little bit safer. And that was the most important feeling of all right now.
At least they had a fire. He was grateful for that much tonight as the snow fell and people huddled for warmth. It wouldn’t be long before the weather started killing people. The first rules of survival were: shelter, fire, water, food. For now, they had all of those things, but he knew it wouldn’t last.
As he walked a perimeter, he realized it wasn’t going to be long until they had deep snow on the ground, no fresh fruits or vegetables and no more firewood unless he cut more. Wet wood wasn’t going to stay lit, though.
It was dark out. It was their time, the crawlers. He didn’t particularly like being out at this time, but there wasn’t much choice. Nobody else in their group was able to do it. He was the only who could keep them alive. It was a burden, but one he wanted, one he’d asked for, and he wasn’t about to let them down.
Chapter Twenty-two
Tristan followed her directions as she led him on a backtrack path from Renee’s town, which was where Spencer would’ve had to drive through to get to her parents’ place out further in the country.
“What do you think happened?” she asked as the dark, vast void and long stretch of country road with no painted stripes stretched before them.
“Not sure,” he said. “Maybe just broke down outta’ cell range.” He hoped this was true.
“Renee was so upset. She’s usually so calm about things.”
“She really likes him, huh?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Yes, I think she does. Renee isn’t the kind of person to give her heart over easily, either. I think she might be falling for him.”
“What about you? Do you give your heart easily?” he asked because his mouth was moving faster than he could control it.
“Um, no. Actually, never,” she admitted as if she were embarrassed.
“Never? No boyfriends or hookups?” Tristan wanted to groan. That was not an appropriate thing to ask a girl, not one like Avery Andersson, Swedish bikini model status confirmed as he’d ogled her in one earlier. Damn. That image of her was going to stay burned into his brain for a long time to come, her coming out of that steamy hot tub in nothing but a string bikini with her hair piled on top of her head.
“Hookups? Geesh. No, I-I don’t…” she faded off, shaking her head and offering an uncomfortable little chuckle.
“Okay, not a one-night stand kind of girl. I kinda’ figured that anyway. What about long-term boyfriends?”
“No, well, just one. It didn’t really work out, though.”
He was about to ask her more personal questions about this guy he was now jealous of. “Where is he now?”
“Oh, college in Utah.”
“Is that what broke it up? His moving?”
“No,” she said and pointed up ahead. “Turn there.”
Tristan angled onto a road going to the right and accelerated again. “So how come no wedding bells?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug. “I guess when it came down to it, I just realized I didn’t have strong feelings for him. Not the kind that would make a relationship last. He was nice. On paper, he was great. Just not for me. He wasn’t my wolf.”
“What? Your what?” he asked, totally stumped and figuring he heard her wrong.
“My wolf. You know, wolves mate for life. I want that. I want to get married one time. Like my parents. For life.”
“Ah, I get it. Hm, I didn’t know that about wolves. Sounds weird. Wolves mating for life. Seems to me they’d mate with any other wolf, like most animals.”
“Actually, there are quite a few animals that choose a single partner for life. Some penguins, some monkeys, the bald eagle, the barn owl, the vulture…”
He laughed at that one.
“Why are you laughing? Don’t believe me?”
“No, I was just thinking I’ve had some one-nigh…well, girlfriends that were more like vultures than humans,” he joked, tripping up on the fact that he almost said one-night stands. She didn’t need to know everything about him. Avery laughed heartily, though, so it made him feel a little better about the slip-up.
“That’s terrible,” she said.
“Definitely not my wolf,” he teased.
She laughed again, “No, not wolf material. What about you? Any serious girlfriends? You’re six years older than me. You’ve got a little more experience under your belt in the relationship department.”
He laughed this time. “No, ma’am. Nothing serious.”
“Why not?”
“No time. I’m gone usually. This is the longest I’ve been in one place for a while.”
“That’s lonely. It’s hard to form any kind of relationships, let alone a love life, when you’re gone all the time.”
“Nah, I’ve got my team,” he said and tried not to flinch at the memory of his two dead friends.
“Are you in Special Forces, Tristan?” she asked.
“Yeah, sort of,” he answered honestly.
“Rangers?”
That surprised him. “You know about Army Rangers?”
“Yes, I was homeschooled, Tristan. I didn’t live under a rock.”
He chuckled. “Apparently not.”
“Turn there,” she said, indicating to the left. “We’re about at the halfway mark now. So, not a Ranger. What do you do then? I know your rank is Sergeant.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Hey!” she said loudly, or as loudly as Avery Andersson probably ever got, and sat on the edge of her seat. “There! Is that his truck?”
“Yes,” he said tightly, noting it was tipped onto its side in a ditch with the lights still on and the driver’s door open. He pulled up and left it running. “Avery, stay here.”
He pulled the gun out of the console and worked the slide, causing her eyes to widen at the sight and her body to jerk at the noise of the bullet being loaded into the chamber.
“Did you hear me? Stay here.”
She nodded. “’Kay.”
He opened his door and said. “Call the cops and tell them to send an ambulance, too. Lock it.”
Avery nodded again, and he waited after he shut the door to hear the locks engage. Then he went down into the drainage ditch, which wasn’t very deep, to check out the scene. There wasn’t any obvious damage to the front of the truck like Spencer hit something, a deer or a dog, another car. The side of the vehicle was damaged but not the grill. It was even still running, so Tristan reached in and shut it off. The headlights were on, and he used the lighting out in front of it to his advantage.
He walked to the other side and pulled out his phone to use the flashlight, too. Then he climbed up out of the ditch and looked around. Nothing. He kept going forward and heard something. It sounded like moaning.
“Spencer!” he called quietly. The reply he got was not his friend, though. It was a scream in the distance somewhere like the one he’d heard in the woods Saturday. Damn, that seemed like weeks ago, not yesterday.
Tristan heard the moaning again. He spun and used the light to see his way. “Spence!”
Again moaning. It was Spencer. He could tell by his voice. Then Tristan spotted his friend. He was lying face down under a tree in the open field. Beyond and all around the small field, probably under an acre, were dense woods.
Tristan rushed over and knelt. He rolled his friend tenderly onto his back and got more moans of pain.
“Hey, man,” he sa
id. “Hey, it’s Tristan. What the hell happened?”
“Tristan?” he asked, barely opening his eyes.
Suddenly the woods, so close by, rustled as if something were moving through them. Whatever it was, it was coming fast. Tristan shined the light that way and held his pistol out in front of him. It was something small as it cleared the underbrush and barreled fast. Fortunately, it was just a dog. However, the mutt didn’t pause for help from Tristan. It just kept running past him as if it were running for its life. Then Tristan heard it again. Something screamed in an unnatural, inhuman but still human way.
“Come on, buddy,” he said, slipping an arm under his friend’s back and shoulders and managing to get him to a seated position. “Help me out here, Spence.”
“Burning up,” his friend said.
“Come on,” Tristan encouraged and managed to heft his friend to his feet. He wasn’t much help.
Then a loud crash hit the underbrush where the dog had just exited. Three more dogs ran toward them and past them with lightning speed that he wished he had right about now. One even let out a soft mewling cry of fear.
“Fuck this. Let’s get the hell outta’ here, buddy,” Tristan said and stashed his phone in his pocket and the pistol in his pants before heaving Spencer over one shoulder. He was heavy but not so bad. Adrenaline was a good energy boost. He didn’t bother with the phone light again but took out the pistol as he jogged to the truck.
“Tristan!” Avery screamed out the window from the driver’s seat.
“We’re going in the bed,” he shouted. “You drive!”
She jumped out and put the tailgate down. It made him mad that she got out but had to admit that she was helping him immensely. He could hear it behind him. The thing, the thing that was once human was making eerie noises behind him as it pursued him. Snorting, snarling, spitting sounds that curdled the blood. Not his. He wanted to get a shot off at it but also didn’t want to stumble and further injure Spencer. More importantly, he wanted Avery to get safely in the truck again.
The ditch proved slightly more difficult, but he managed with only stumbling once.
“Get back in! Get in now!” he screamed at her, to which she ran for the driver’s door.
