The Seventh Seed

by Allison Maruska

  Gao offered a modest wave, apparently embarrassed by the attention.

  “Now,” Robert clasped his hands in front of him, “another man who’s been training his own resistance force will likely be joining us in the next few days. I hadn’t counted on extra forces but that will only work to our advantage. I’m afraid our investigation of the Third Seed yielded unfortunate news.” He frowned. “They’ve been eradicated.”

  “What does that mean?” Liz asked from her spot near the kitchen, behind Robert.

  He twisted around, acknowledging her, then faced forward again. “It means someone took out the whole community. It was deserted. The buildings were burned not long ago.” He cleared his throat.

  Murmuring moved through the room.

  “We believe LifeFarm discovered what they were doing, in creating Deinix,” Robert said loudly, quieting the crowd. “If we hadn’t mobilized when we did after the Seventh, the same would have likely happened there. They can’t have rogue communities creating the currency they use to control Congress.”

  “Can’t it still happen there?” Javier asked. Though he’d left with Trent and the others, a whole community of people still called Hayes their home.

  “Most of the town, those healthy enough to confront LifeFarm, have headed to their assigned locations. Those remaining have moved to other cities. So no, for now there is no risk to Hayes.”

  “Where are the assigned locations?” Liz asked.

  “We’ll get to that. But first, allow me to explain our plan.”

  As Robert spoke, Javier imagined what the Seed in North Carolina must have looked like—a war zone comparison was probably accurate and also apropos, considering what he and the others crowding the room were about to do. He pictured what Hayes would look like after LifeFarm destroyed it, and then it hit him—if he hadn’t gone to Hayes to develop the vaccine, Robert’s Seventh Seed would not have been discovered. Javier’s presence, and Charlie following him there, was the only reason Hayes’ lab was destroyed and its drug discovered. That triggered everything leading up to now, with all the Seeds gathered in this room and discussing how to take out a major world power.

  And if Javier hadn’t discovered the virus in the bees while doing seemingly innocuous research, and if he hadn’t stumbled across Liz’s shelter in Colorado, he never would have made it as far as he did.

  Robert was discussing two targets, one in New York and one in D.C., but Javier was only half listening. A crushing weight settled on his chest, and he stared at Liz, the selfless woman who’d saved him. Because of her, they were all here, and because of that, they could free their country from the grip of oppression. He would then create the vaccine without fear of someone killing him for doing the right thing. For saving people.

  An immense sense of gratitude filled him, and he cleared his throat to keep it from bubbling to the surface. He had to thank Liz somehow, but anything he offered would be inadequate. She would say she simply offered him a ride to Iowa. But it was so much more than that.

  Taking a long breath, he focused on Robert’s words. He had to do whatever he could to make sure they succeeded.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  On the bank of the river flowing a few dozen yards from the cabin, Liz held an itchy wool blanket tight around her body, watching the sun rise. Puffs of her breath appeared before her.

  She’d lost track of the days. It had to be close to Thanksgiving by now. When Travis was a kid, Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday. He’d wake early to watch the parade and eat cinnamon rolls. Kyle prided himself on roasting a perfect turkey, and Travis sat by the oven, watching it turn a golden brown. At the feast, the boy would eat his weight in food.

  She laughed to herself. The last Thanksgiving they’d had together was a distant memory, but she could still see the gravy dripping down Travis’s small chin. How much of Kyle’s feast would Travis have eaten as a teenager? Kyle had died—disappeared—before that happened, and Thanksgiving became a formality after that. More often than not, Liz bought ready-to-eat food from the grocery store, and she and her son ate it without discussing what used to be.

  “Hey.”

  She twisted around. Javier stood over her, wrapped in his own thick blanket. He’d shaved his beard, reminding her of how he looked the night she found him. “Good morning. I bet your face is colder now.”

  Smiling, he plopped next to her and shivered. “I figured it doesn’t matter if anyone recognizes me from the news now.” He pulled the blanket tighter around himself. “Why are you up so early? Couldn’t sleep?”

  “Strange place, you know? Plus, it’s really crowded in there.”

  “Yeah. I stirred every time someone flushed the toilet.”

  She laughed. “Hopefully we won’t be here much longer.”

  “Any idea when Kyle will get here?”

  “Jonah seemed to think he’d be a few days behind us, depending on how soon he could get out of the compound and gather his people.”

  “I think he must have had a mobilization plan in place.” Javier tossed a stick into the river. “So it might not take as long for him to get here.”

  She watched the stick bob with the current. “Have you decided which location you’ll go to? When it starts?”

  “Kinda. I want to strike at the heart.”

  “Where’s that?”

  Javier hugged his knees. “We have to think of LifeFarm like a human body. The heart would be what gives them life. That’s Congress. The news outlets are their voice, so we have to hit those too.”

  “Right. In New York.” Liz scowled. Robert had said that about the news agencies yesterday. Had Javier not been listening?

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I want to hit D.C. The Department of Agriculture, the FDA. Health Department. And of course the Congressmen who are bought and paid for.”

  “But what will you do?”

  “I have some ideas that I want to run by Robert and Damien. Why? Are you going to D.C. too?”

  “I’m not sure.” Though the blanket was already as tight around her body as she could make it, she pulled on it. “Honestly, I’d like to go wherever Kyle goes.”

  “Robert told me he wanted to steer Kyle’s people towards New York.”

  “Then I’ll go there.”

  “I guess that makes sense.” Javier rested his head on his knees, facing her. “You know, we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t helped me back in Colorado.”

  His playful posture reminded her of Travis again, bringing a niggling question to the front of her mind—would her son be in one of the places they planned to attack? Working for LifeFarm could put him in their headquarters in New York City. She played with the grass, wiping the dew onto her palm. “I don’t know about that. You’re smart. You would have figured out what to do on your own.”

  Javier shook his head. “I know how the world works. Anyone else would have stolen the case while I was passed out in the courtyard. You came for me.”

  Liz replayed the day she found him in her mind—maybe he was right. Others were working that night, but she was the only one who ran to help him. She couldn’t have been the only one who saw him.

  “Anyway.” He turned, facing her. “I wanted to say thanks. Not just for saving my life repeatedly, but for getting us here. If we beat LifeFarm, it’s because you set it up, whether you meant to or not.”

  The corners of his mouth lifted, showing his boyish charm. He was still so young. She was likely the closest he’d had to a mother in years, and he was a nearly constant reminder of her naïve son. They would go to different places to confront LifeFarm—but did he need her in D.C.? Not because she would make the difference between victory and defeat, but as an encourager. A support. Like a mother.

  Before she could ask, Javier stood and headed back to the cabin, leaving her to decide the weight of his words.

  She shook her head. Maybe she got the wheels moving, and those wheels brought them here, but it took all of them to get this far. And it w
ould take all of them, and then some, to win.

  ****

  “Uncle Chuck, can you help me?”

  Reclined on the couch, Charlie looked up from the tablet screen—no news about a compound in Missouri or about escaped fugitives. Kyle was doing a good job of working behind the scenes. “What’s up?”

  “I need to shower and I can’t get my shirt off.” He tilted his head towards the sling supporting his injured shoulder. Liz had fashioned it from a long-sleeved shirt when they stopped for gas just outside Missouri.

  “Sure.” Charlie set the tablet on the coffee table and followed Mattson to the bathroom.

  Mattson hadn’t complained much about the gunshot wound, and Charlie hadn’t asked about it. If his nephew had managed to push the pain from his mind, Charlie didn’t want to be the reason it came back. On the other hand, Mattson could have been avoiding the subject because he was scared—he was shot and they couldn’t get help for him. Doing so would mean going back to jail.

  Inside the bathroom, Mattson turned his back to Charlie. “Liz tied it back there. Just loosen the knot and I can pull it over my head.”

  Charlie tugged at the knot, then froze. “This will hurt like hell, having your arm unsupported.”

  “Probably. But I can’t get cleaned up with it on and I feel nasty.”

  “All right.” As gently as possible, Charlie pulled the fabric, and when it was loose enough, he lifted it. “Look down.”

  Mattson did, and together they pulled the sling off. When the shirt stopped cradling Mattson’s arm, he gasped.

  “That was the easy part.” Charlie analyzed Mattson’s T-shirt. It had been a pain to get onto him in the first place. “Let’s do this backwards from how we got it on you.”

  Keeping his eyes closed, Mattson held his good arm out to the side, allowing Charlie to hold the sleeve in place. Mattson pulled his arm inside, and Charlie pulled the collar over Mattson’s head.

  All that was left was getting it away from Mattson’s injured shoulder, and he obviously didn’t want to move his arm.

  Stepping around to Mattson’s front, Charlie slid the shirt over his nephew’s arm without Mattson having to move it more than a centimeter, but even that slight movement resulted in a groan.

  “What about the bandage?” Mattson asked.

  Charlie examined the square of gauze and tape they’d used to dress the wound – no blood had seeped through. “It’s been more than twenty-four hours. We should clean it.”

  “We?”

  “You can’t do this by yourself. Trust me.” Charlie pulled the tape and removed the bandage, expecting to see a scabbing wound on the other side. Instead, puffy, hot skin surrounded the hole covered by a thin, yellow membrane. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “It’s infected. Hurry out of your clothes. We need to get this taken care of.”

  Charlie got the shower going. When Mattson stepped into the tub and water hit the wound, he yelled.

  With a soapy washcloth in hand, Charlie held his breath as he cleaned the area. Mattson sucked air through his teeth.

  Annie would have treated it correctly and avoided the infection, if she were here. Then it hit Charlie—Annie didn’t know Mattson was hurt or even where they were. He hadn’t talked to his sister since before Javier took him hostage back in the lab in Iowa days ago. All she knew was that Charlie had found him.

  Charlie laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “If LifeFarm doesn’t kill me, your mother will.”

  Mattson found the humor, hopefully distracting him from the pain.

  As Charlie finished, the wound bled again, but he figured that would help antibiotic ointment to get to it easier, so he didn’t worry about it. He handed off the cloth and instructed Mattson to finish cleaning himself while he gathered what he needed to dress the wound and hopefully kill the infection, or at least delay it worsening before they could get help.

  The motorcycle wasn’t outside. Unwilling to wait for Robert to return, Charlie resigned himself to a long hike and headed to the car, where they kept the first aid kit. Whatever battles loomed before them, he had to keep Mattson where there wasn’t risk of further injury. It wouldn’t be too difficult to persuade Robert and the others—Mattson was only seventeen, after all.

  The roar of a motorcycle engine reached him and he paused on the porch.

  Robert drove over the grass towards the cabin with a new passenger—Kyle.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  An hour into her walk, Liz stretched her arms and took a long breath. This air was almost as crisp as Colorado’s. The river and occasional wildlife had provided the perfect respite from all the planning talk going on at the cabin—what was the point of doing all that now? They’d have to rehash everything when Kyle arrived, and most of what they discussed was likely speculation.

  Kyle. She took another long breath. Her anticipation rivaled what she remembered from when they were a new couple. He occupied her every thought, and while pangs of anger still struck, she knew he would have come back for her—for them—if he could.

  For now, she let herself imagine his face, his smile, and she let his voice echo in her memory. He’d worried she’d found someone else, and the thought made her smile. He’d kept her in his mind and heart all that time, planning to come home.

  Her happy family had been closer than she’d thought.

  After taking in the landscape one last time, she started back to the cabin. Hopefully, Kyle would arrive soon so they wouldn’t have to live in such cramped quarters for long. Of course, his arrival meant the fight was closer. Facing—confronting—LifeFarm had felt like a distant dream, something they talked about but would never happen. But every day it was less of a dream and more of a certainty.

  The dry grass crunched under her shoes, and as she neared the cabin, the increasing volume of a rumbling motor reached her ears.

  The motorcycle.

  She jogged the rest of the way, checking faces as she approached. A stranger rode with Robert—one of Kyle’s soldiers? Only one way to find out.

  “Liz!”

  Her breath caught, and looked towards the porch, where his voice had come from.

  Kyle was already down the steps and heading her direction. She met him halfway, and he wrapped her in his arms.

  She inhaled his scent, his warmth. His embrace brought back an old comfort. Seeing him at the complex must have been too much of a shock for her to allow herself to be happy. And now here he was, where he didn’t have to pretend he was imprisoning them.

  As he pulled back, he framed her face in his hands and brought her close, pressing his lips against hers. Warmth filled her. For the first time in a decade, she was kissing her husband, an experience she’d thought would remain a memory.

  His kiss hadn’t changed one bit.

  When he pulled away, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I was dying to do that back at the complex.”

  Before Liz could stop herself, she laughed. “I guess guards don’t typically make out with the prisoners.”

  “Only the hot ones.” He gave her another quick kiss.

  She laughed again, allowing the levity to flow through her. There’s the sarcasm I remember.

  “Join us inside when you two are finished.” Robert passed behind Kyle, heading to the cabin.

  Heat rushed to her face—she hadn’t been busted making out since she was a teenager.

  Instead of acknowledging Robert, Kyle ran his fingers through Liz’s hair, keeping his eyes on hers. “When did you cut your hair short?”

  Liz pursed her lips. “It was after . . . well, after Travis and I moved. A few months after the funeral.”

  Kyle offered a subtle nod, and for a few seconds, sadness filled his eyes.

  Time to bring him back to the present. “How did you get out of the complex so quickly?”

  “I told them I was pissed that Javier had taken me hostage and I insisted on finding him. I fired a shot as you guys were
leaving so it would be believable.”

  “Oh. It was you.” She stepped back.

  “I fired off center so it would miss you guys. Sorry if it scared you.”

  “It didn’t miss. You hit Mattson in the shoulder.”

  “What? Is he okay?” He glanced at the cabin. “Where is he?”

  “He’s alive, if that’s what you’re wondering. We’ll need to get him some real treatment after all this.”

  “All right.” Kyle bit his thumbnail. “Damn. I feel terrible.”

  Liz took his hand. “Let’s go inside. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can start over.”

  Instead of the crowd that filled the cabin yesterday, only a handful occupied the family room, including Trent, Jonah, and Javier. The rest were the leaders of the other Seeds, Liz assumed. With drinks in hand, they sat on the couch and in chairs surrounding the coffee table that held sandwiches and fruit. The scene could have passed for a friendly lunch gathering instead of a planning session for an attack.

  Gao pulled the desk chair over and offered it to Liz. After taking a sandwich, Kyle leaned on the edge of the desk behind her.

  Robert had propped himself on the arm of the couch next to Cassandra, the leader of the Fifth Seed. When Liz spoke with her yesterday, she’d learned Cassandra was a little older than she and Kyle, though she looked mid-thirties. Maybe after all this was over, Liz should get her hands on that magic powder.

  “I know your people have been discussing plans amongst themselves,” Robert said. “I was happy to hear many have volunteered to go to one of the targets. That will save us from having to assign positions, and as long as the numbers are adequate in each place, I see no reason to move anyone. However,” Robert’s gaze went above Liz’s head, “I would like you, Kyle, to be in the New York group, along with your people.”

  “Why? What’s happening there?” Liz asked.

  Robert set his drink on the table. “The plan is to hit the major media outlets there. Take them over, and once we do that, we can hijack the broadcasts. Kyle should appear and tell his story, the truth about what LifeFarm is and what they’ve done around the world. How they made you believe he was dead, forcing him to abandon your family.”