More by luck than judgement, he found the trail leading downhill. He put his head down and sprinted, breath coming in terrified gasps. All around him, the squirming monstrosities cracked open the earth and pushed their way through the snow to the surface. They began to swarm up the trees until the boy was running through an oozing, pearly forest.
Dan was about to climb into the truck for his trip to Mount Peters when Colin burst into the clearing. The boy was screaming and slapping at his body. White blobs clung to his jeans and jacket, even to his face.
He collided with the vehicle and fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Oh Christ!” Dan knelt beside the hysterical boy, brushing off the remaining bugs. “Colin. Colin! I’m here! It’s OK!”
“Not ants!” the boy screeched. “THEY’RE NOT ANTS!”
“I know. I know!” Dan hauled Colin to his feet and tried to push him into the vehicle. “We have to get you out of here!”
There was a sharp retort and the glass of the jeep’s side window exploded.
Louise stood on the porch of her cabin, rifle in hand. A wisp of smoke rose from the barrel. She raised the gun, sighted and fired again.
Dan leapt to the side as a dent appeared in the vehicle’s door where he had been standing.
“Stay down, Colin!” He scurried on hands and knees behind the back of the Jeep. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing! She’ll kill you!”
Louise clicked another round into the breech, her face twisted into a manic sneer. Dan leapt to his feet and headed for the shed, zigzagging across the open ground. Louise fired again. The bullet nicked the shoulder of Dan’s leather jacket and he overbalanced and sprawled across the ground. He scrambled up again and glanced at the shed. It was too far to reach. Louise was a crack shot.
“Louise! It’s me. Dan.” He held his hands above his head. “You have to listen! Your daughter is pregnant, do you hear me? Emily and I are going to have a baby!”
Louise faltered.
“Your daughter. She’s going to have a child.” Dan slowly put his hands down. “We’re going to have your grandchild. Please don’t kill me.”
For a few seconds, fear, rage and compassion struggled for dominance on the woman’s face. Then Louise raised the gun to her shoulder. Dan opened his mouth for one last plea.
There was a sharp crack to his right.
Louise jerked backwards and collided with the wall of the cabin. Her legs buckled and she tumbled over the porch rail, landing face down in an undignified heap. Below her twisted body, a crimson stain spread across the snow.
Colin slumped against the truck. The pistol he had taken from the glove compartment dropped from his fingers as he sank unconscious to the ground.
Dan scooped up the gun and ran to Louise. He rolled the woman onto her back and felt for a pulse, but one look at her shattered chest told him she was dead.
“Aw, mom.” He rocked back on his heels. “I’m so sorry.”
He felt a stinging sensation on the back of his hand. Half a dozen ants were clinging to the hairs. Dan’s head snapped up.
“Fuck! The trailer park!”
He prised the rifle loose from the dead woman’s hand and staggered to his feet. There were more ants swarming over the stock of the weapon.
He turned and sprinted in the direction of Diamondback.
32
Port Henry, Ten Miles West of Diamondback Trailer Park
1995
Yolanda Butters was painting her nails when the doorbell rang. Tutting to herself, she went to answer, wafting the purple talons in front of her face and blowing on them.
Dan Walton stood in the doorway, his brother draped over one shoulder.
“Well hey! You boys been partying hard, by the look…” She stopped as she saw Louise’s vehicle parked in her driveway. One window was missing and the side of the truck was pockmarked with bullet holes.
“What’s going on Dan?” She stepped back as the young man knelt down and laid Colin flat in her hallway. “Is he OK?”
“He’s fine. Just out cold.” Dan shut the door behind him. “You’re Louise’s best friend, Yolanda. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“What you boys done, Danny Walton?” Yolanda let Dan carry Colin into the living room.
“You knew Louise better than anyone. I’m guessing she told you something about her past.”
“Like what?”
Dan arched an eyebrow.
“She spun me some crazy story once. She was drunk and I didn’t believe her.” The woman leaned forward and fingered the hole in Dan’s jacket. “This what I think it is?”
“Was the story about a place called Sheridan Base? In the Mohave Desert?”
“That was the one. But none of what she said made sense.”
“Did Louise tell you about her past and what she thought might happen some day?”
“Once. When she was drunk. I thought it was nonsense and I told her to sober up. She never mentioned it again.”
“Everything she said was true, Yolanda.” Dan hauled Colin onto the couch and laid him flat. “And it’s happened.”
“Dan.” The woman pulled at his sleeve. “Where’s Louise?”
“Louise is dead, Yolanda.” Dan checked the boy’s pulse. “Everyone at Diamondback is dead.”
The woman sat down heavily on her coffee table.
“How did she die?”
Dan hesitated.
“I shot her. I didn’t have any choice.”
“This is crazy, mad, you hear me?” Yolanda sounded more angry than afraid. “I’m gonna call the cops.”
“That’s your prerogative, but Colin didn’t do anything and he’s no threat any more. I swear to you, the army will be right behind the police and they’ll take him away. Nobody will ever see him again.”
Yolanda looked at the boy, unconscious on the couch. She had known him since he was a baby.
“You promise what Louise told me was the truth?” Everyone knew Dan never broke his word.
“I promise.”
Yolanda took a deep breath. “What do you want me to do?”
Dan pulled a roll of banknotes from his pocket.
“I’m going back to Diamondback and dump the truck, before the police show up. That’s cutting it fine, but the trailer park is pretty isolated, so I might just make it. Then I’ll try and escape over the mountains.”
He dropped the money on the table.
“This kid’s innocent. Wrong place, wrong time.”
“What do you expect me to do with him?” Yolanda squirmed on the coffee table and knocked over her nail varnish. A purple puddle spread across the table and dripped onto the carpet. “Goddammit to hell! You killed Louise!”
“She was my mother, Yolanda. Nothing you can say will make me feel any worse.”
“She told me this might happen.” The woman’s lip trembled “I didn’t believe her.”
“There’s a young runaway turned up at Diamondback a few days ago.” Dan patted his pockets for a cigarette. I’m gonna put his body in Louise’s cabin.”
His shoulder’s sagged as he realised he didn’t have any smokes.
“You’ll most likely be called to identify the bodies, being her best friend.”
“And you want me to say the poor kid is Colin? That it?” Yolanda fetched a pack of Marlboro Lights from the mantelpiece and handed one to Dan.
“I can’t tell you what to do.” He lit the cigarette, hands shaking. “But this boy just saw his mother die. I reckon he deserves a chance to live his life rather than rot in some military facility.”
“I guess I could drive him to Westport when he wakes up. Put him on a bus.”
“I know I’m asking a lot.”
“I ain’t doing it for you. I’ll do it for Louise.” Yolanda lit a cigarette of her own, her hands shaking as much as Dan's. “I should have trusted her. She was a fine, fine woman.”
“She was,” Dan agreed. His raised a sceptical eyebrow. “You’re taking
this very calmly.”
“I grew up in the Denver projects,” Yolanda replied evenly. “I seen my share of violence. And I know you ain’t some punk with a chip on your shoulder. If you were, you wouldn’t admit to shootin Louise and you wouldn’t have saved your brother.”
“Thank you, Yolanda.”
“Now I gotta ask you to leave before anyone sees the truck. I don’t intend to go to jail for aiding and abetting a murderer.”
“I understand.” Dan pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. “You got a pen?”
Yolanda fetched a biro from the mantelpiece and gave it to him.
“Louise and I took a lot of precautions, in case we had to go on the run again. I have a Post Office Box in New York under a fake name.” He scribbled on the paper. “If Colin ever needs to reach me, all he had to do is write and tell me where he is.”
He handed back the pen.
“Make him memorize it. Don’t leave any evidence, just in case he’s caught.”
“I guess I can do that.”
“I appreciate your help, Yolanda.”
Dan turned to go but the woman laid a hand on his shoulder
“How you gonna live with what you done, Danny Walton?”
“Dan Walton didn’t do this.” Dan removed the woman’s hand.
“The notorious D.B. Salty did.”
Apathy finished her wine. She silently held out the glass and Dan refilled it. Colin leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. His knee had begun bouncing up and down again.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Colin.”
Colin didn’t reply.
Apathy grabbed Dan’s arm as he withdrew the bottle.
“I’m sorry for you too dad.”
Dan tensed. Then he gave a brief smile and returned to his chair.
“Cicada bugs,” Colin said. “That’s what the insects were. They live underground as larva and enormous swarms come out to breed every seventeen years. Brood X, they call them.”
His knee rattled faster.
“They weren’t supposed to come out. They weren’t due to come out.”
“The thing Colin and I had inside, it attracts ants.” Dan rubbed tired eyes. “We didn’t realise it could affect other bugs as well.”
“And it drives humans crazy.”
“Homicidal is the term I’d use.” Dan opened his cigarette packet and offered one to Colin. The man took it without looking at his companion.
“The rest of the trailer park?”
“Went nuts, of course. It was me or them. I couldn’t let them get anywhere near a populated area and spread what had gotten into them.”
Apathy stared into the fire. Colin and Dan drank silently. Outside an owl hooted.
“You think Louise survived Sheridan cause she was pregnant with Colin,” Apathy said. “That right?”
“Whatever came out of me went straight through her and into him,” Dan said. “Only explanation we ever came up with.”
“And my mum turned up at Diamondback when she was pregnant with me. In the middle of the outbreak.”
Dan nodded. Colin clasped his hands together as if he were praying. Apathy picked up her wine glass and twirled it in her fingers.
“So… now I’m the age you and Colin were when both disasters happened.”
“That’s right.”
“And you’ve kidnapped me and taken me to the middle of nowhere.” Apathy stared at the fire. “A place where there are no other people.”
“I have.”
The girl cupped the glass with both hands, still not looking at the men.
“I think I understand.”
33
Amblin cottage 2000
Apathy excused herself and went to the toilet. Closing the door she leaned on the sink taking deep breaths, staring at herself in the mirror.
“Well, you’re your father’s daughter, for sure,” she muttered to her reflection. “A danger to the bloody public.”
Dan fidgeted in his chair, waiting for Apathy to return. He puffed up his cheeks and exhaled noisily. He looked around and slapped his hands on his knees.
“Seen my newspaper around, Col?”
“Eh?” Colin arched an eyebrow. “You haven’t had the pleasure of your daughter’s company for fourteen years. And you want to read the sports section?”
“I thought we could do the crossword together.”
“Just talk to her D.B.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then try listening.”
“I guess.” The glow from the fire flickered across Dan’s face. “Are you ready?”
“Good to go.” Colin reached out a foot and gave his partner a kick. “It’ll be fine, D.B. You’ll manage. I’ll only have to stay away for a few days.”
He reached up and swept his hand across the mantelpiece. When he opened his fist there were three ants crushed in his hand.
“Maybe even less.”
“You sober enough to drive? What if the police stop you?”
“Don’t try to con a con man.” Colin held up his glass. “My wine bottle’s filled with grape juice.”
“Get going then. See you soon.”
“Keep it together D.B. You and your daughter will be fine.”
He winked at Dan and let himself out the front door. A few minutes later the van started up and moved off down the rutted track, away from the cottage.
Apathy returned to the room and smiled shyly at her father.
“So, how long do we have to stay here?”
“Not long, I hope.” Dan returned her smile. “It’ll be ok. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried. Well… not too worried. But why can’t my mum know where I am?”
“Because she’d come right here. Like Louise, she’d probably succumb to what you have inside, but she’d turn up anyway.”
“Did Uncle Colin leave?”
“Had to. He may not be immune either. As far as we can tell, only I am. Something to do with my… eh… unique personality.” Dan scratched his temple uncomfortably. “You really don’t want a short fat maniac running around waving the kitchen cleaver.”
Apathy laughed at the image, despite herself. Then she stopped suddenly.
“What will you do when it’s all over?”
“What do you mean?”
“I… eh…” Apathy struggled with the words. “I mean…”
“Will I come and live with you? Is that what you’re asking?”
“I suppose that would be up to mum.”
“I bet she’s pretty mad at me, honey.”
“We can explain to her.”
“I think I’ll let you do the explaining. She might shoot me on sight.”
“But you promise you’ll try.”
“I’ll try.”
“Dad.” Apathy said quietly. “You didn’t promise.”
Her father poured himself another glass of wine.
“Once you release what’s inside, I’m betting the army won’t be interested in you anymore.” He put the bottle down on the hearth and sipped from his glass, looking at his daughter over the rim of his glass. “But I’ll still be a wanted man.”
“You can explain! Tell them what you’ve told me.”
“Baby. The US military aren’t going to admit to any of this. If I’m ever caught, I’ll be deported and face the death penalty – not that the army will let me live long enough for that to happen.”
“It’s not fair!” Tears stung Apathy’s eyes.
“Don’t you worry. Dan patted his daughter’s arm. “Colin’s the best con man in the world. He’ll find a way out of this for us, no matter how unsavoury.”
Colin parked the van a mile from Amblin Cottage and climbed into the back of the van.
The rear was filled with equipment that the pair used in their ‘psychic’ investigations. He took a phone off its hook, attached to a shiny metal box and switched on a homemade scrambler. Then he dialled.
“I want to get in touch with Catherine Nais
h, U.S. Military intelligence.” He said. “No… I know she’s not listed. But I’m sure you can find her… I understand, yes. Yes. Yes.”
His tone switched to a coldness that cut through the static like a razor.
“Listen to me, lady. You relay this message to US military Intelligence. Say that Colin Walton called with information about Kirkfallen Island. Tell Naish I want her personal cell phone number. I’ll call back in one hour. And this line isn’t traceable, by the way.”
Colin hung up before the switchboard operator could say anything else. His face was slicked with sweat and the black fringe stuck to his head.
He took a deep breath and dialled another number.
“Apathy?” The voice on the other end was one Colin hadn’t heard for many years and it sounded close to panic. “Is that you? Please say it is.”
“I’m afraid not, Emily.” The man took a deep breath.
“It’s your brother, Colin.”
34
Fetterman Military Base, North Carolina
2000
Lieutenant Colonel Catherine Naish sat at her desk, hands flat on the highly polished surface, staring at her mobile. In the corner of the room two men were crouched over a tracking device - one wearing headphones and the other holding a digital recorder.
The mobile rang, the vibrations inching the device towards Naish’s left hand. The man in the headphones gave her a thumbs-up signal.
The woman snatched up the phone.
“Naish here.”
“This is Colin Walton.” The voice on the other end sounded calm and composed. “I intend to make this brief.”
“Good,” Naish snapped. “I don’t like time wasters.”
“That will be your last interruption.”
“How do I know you’re who you say you are?”
The person at the other end hung up. Naish looked at her companions in astonishment. Headphones grimaced.
“No chance of finding that.”
The mobile rang again. Naish pressed receive and held it tentatively to her ear.
“I can do this crap all day.” It was the same voice. “You’ll have a much better chance of locating where this call is coming from if you shut up and listen.”
The Kirkfallen Stopwatch Page 11
