Surviving Extinction - The Extinction Series Book 6: A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series

by Tara Ellis

  Lowering his head to the fire for a moment, Davies clasped his hands behind his back and took an audible breath. “What happened out there tonight can never happen again.”

  Madeline scoffed. “What, you mean the way I spoke out of turn and saved you guys from painting the jungle floor with our bodies?”

  His head jerked up, eyes narrowed and nostrils flared. It was the closest to an emotion Madeline had seen.

  Good.

  Davies pointed an accusatory finger at her, his hand glowing orange in the firelight. “You’re different.” It wasn’t a question, but a declaration.

  Movement from somewhere behind the pitched tents at her back reminded Madeline of the cooling bodies that lay not far away, along the riverbank. Cocking her head slightly at him, she considered the possibility that losing one’s mind to a fit of rage may not be the only qualifier to being put down. It was a gentle reminder that while she’d managed to arrange a special association with Davies, it wasn’t without its limitations.

  “You’re right,” she said bluntly. An open and honest approach would still be best. He may be stark-raving mad but there was a method to it, and knowing that method gave Madeline the controlling power. As his back stiffened, she waved a hand dismissively. “Relax. While my reaction to your Kra Puru may have been somewhat different, as in how it’s impacted the various regions of my brain, I’m still very much a changed woman. Our goals are the same.”

  A small drop in his shoulders was the only indication her words had the desired effect, though his gaze never wavered. “There is no place here for such impudence. If your goals truly are the same then our actions must also align.”

  “Impudence?” Madeline repeated. “Dr. Davies, what you saw as perhaps insolence was instead an act that not only stopped the unnecessary loss of your followers, but the very people you wish to have support your ranks. Yes,” she continued when he didn’t react. “There are some differences, but apparently it allows me to see what you cannot. They were lying. Dr. Kelly at the least was hiding something, and I have every intention of finding out what.”

  Davies finally took a step back and his features smoothed as he assumed his normal level of triteness. “She’s here looking for a cure. A cure that’s locked away inside the DNA of the Lokono. It would take years of research to narrow it down.”

  “No.”

  Davies shot her another look, and Madeline felt a small amount of satisfaction in his confusion.

  “There’s something in that city,” Madeline pressed. “It’s why the Lokono came here, and it’s why Dr. Peta Kelly and her entourage are here. Regardless of where Eddy’s loyalties lie, he will tell them of our true numbers and help ensure their compliance. We’ll separate the strong from the weak, get the other scientists out of the way, and maintain the power of information for ourselves, as well as the only true source for the cause and potentially the cure.”

  “Dr. Kelly is here because you led her to the Libi Nati,” Davies said evenly, though the volume with which he spoke rose considerably. “And if they have found something, as you suspect, then they cannot be allowed to leave. No one can.”

  Madeline’s brows furrowed. Surely the man wasn’t so far gone that he failed to understand that knowledge was power? “The key to controlling this disease will give us the ability to wield it’s control over the remaining population of the Earth.”

  Laughter erupted from somewhere in the trees. A small, tinkling sound like a cascading waterfall. Spinning toward the source, Madeline eyes went wide. She recognized it.

  Lizzy.

  “Dr. Schaefer.” Davies voice grounded her, and pulled Madeline back toward the fire. Back to their reality.

  Blinking rapidly, she refocused on the man across from her.

  I’m in the Amazon. Lizzy is dead. My sister is dead.

  Bringing a hand to her temple, Madeline attempted to rub away the unwanted thoughts. They hadn’t resurfaced throughout the whole day and she thought she’d gotten it under control.

  “If what you say is true, then preventing that information from falling into the wrong hands is more important,” Davies was saying. “We already have what we need. That is the greatest difference between you and I.”

  “What’s that?” Madeline asked, troubled that she failed to see his point.

  “Faith.”

  Scoffing again, Madeline momentarily forgot about her loosening grip on reality. “Belief that all of this is somehow an orchestration to fulfill the prophecy of a higher power doesn’t make you omnipresent. Are we pursuing our destiny?” she continued, acknowledging the need to somehow bridge the gap between them in a logical way. “I can agree with that. Clearly, you and I are and have been destined for this or how else can we explain the way we came to be here together tonight? I only ask that you see beyond the Tan Presi Rutu, and how we can expand that destiny to include the rest of the world.”

  “That is where your weaker mind is failing you,” Davies said, walking around the fire to stand before her. “Your self-doubt continues to drive you, to fuel this need for more information that only serves to confirm what is already known. That is where we are different. I don’t need any more confirmation, Madeline. I know what my role is and where it is taking me. What is yours?”

  The splash of water as a small body hit the surface.

  No!

  Davies and the fire faded, to be replaced by a grove of evergreens. It was hot…so hot that her younger sister had gone to the waterhole. Panic welled up inside of Madeline as she realized Lizzy was in danger.

  You’re not there!

  “We must purge them,” Davies was saying.

  He was holding her by the shoulders, and Madeline winced at the pain caused from the vice-like grip he had. She focused on the sensation, willing it to keep her in the present. Was she losing her mind?

  “We must rid ourselves of the Lokono,” Davies insisted. “If what you say is true, then it is the only way we can be sure to eliminate the only potential risk of our defeat. The need to study an enemy is a weakness we will not succumb to.”

  “Yes,” she muttered, absorbing his words and applying them to her own fractured state. He was right. Her whole life, Madeline had been searching for reassurance. It didn’t matter how many degrees, or awards, or recognition she received. There was always that part of her that didn’t believe in her own worth.

  You hesitated. You hesitated to jump in and save Lizzy.

  “Yes!” she said with more certainty, drowning out her own inner-voice. The one that was always there…condemning her.

  “Tonight,” Davies said, releasing her and turning to summon The Cured. “We’ll act tonight and cleanse them from the jungle the way they should have been thousands of years ago — with fire.”

  Madeline thought back to the night she left her home. The bloodstains on the floor and the pictures left under the bed from a life that was never fulfilled. The smell of gasoline, and the heat of the fire as she stood, watching it all burn.

  Laughter again. Lizzy’s laughter the same as it had been that day so many years ago, and Madeline closed her eyes as it filled her head. From close to her ear, her long-dead sister spoke to her.

  “You’re complicit, Maddy!”

  Madeline’s eyes flashed open. “Burn them!” she yelled, looking around wildly at The Cured as they picked up torches and began to light them, one-by-one.

  “Purge it all with fire!”

  Chapter 15

  TYLER

  Tan Presi Rutu

  Amazon Jungle, South America

  The fire crackled and popped loudly, sending up a shower of sparks into the gathering twilight as Tyler stared into it. He jumped at the sound, wincing when he realized it was a conditioned response from being shot at so many times over the past three weeks.

  They were gathered around the eating area outside Akuba’s dwelling, the old gang back together again to commiserate over a lean dinner and tea. Eddy sipped the Libi Prani and then pulled the cup away
to sniff at it. Since he’d left before Jess had thought of the drink’s potential, he wouldn’t suspect the tea was anything other than something traditionally served by the Lokono with their meals.

  Tyler wasn’t the only one trying to discreetly watch Eddy’s reaction, and there was a heavy sort of anticipation as the few minutes of false normalcy played out. Because as much as everyone would like to welcome Eddy back with open arms, there were too many unanswered questions, and they certainly didn’t believe that things were settled with Davies.

  With Akuba gone to a meeting with the elders, everyone else was sitting in a loose circle around the fire, eating absently and staring anxiously at each other. Eddy was positioned in between Devon and Jason, opposite himself and Jess, while Peta paced continuously behind them all.

  Less than an hour had passed since the confrontation with The Cured, and Tyler couldn’t stop thinking about the bags of leaves hidden and waiting. They should already be well on their way with it, and getting as far away from that place as possible. His foot tapped out an agitated rhythm against the ground until Jess reached out and pressed down on his knee to stop it. Leaning close, she whispered under her breath. “We have to be careful.”

  Tyler knew she was right, but it didn’t change how he felt. He was tired of being careful and of being scared. They had what they needed…what his dad needed, and waiting for the sun to set, or for Eddy to show his hand, or for Davies to attack in spite of their deal, wasn’t helping anyone. If Jason and Peta planned on staying there until the Lokono were successfully moved before they snuck the leaves out, it could be days. Tyler wasn’t waiting that long.

  “You know that Dr. Davies won’t be satisfied for long with the current arrangement,” Eddy said, taking another long swallow of the tea. “While he believes he can successfully turn some of the Lokono, he will eventually wipe out the rest.”

  “Will he try to use the new strain from the latest eruption?” Peta asked, stopping to stare intensely at him.

  Nodding, Eddy sat his cup and bowl down and clasped his hands together. “Yes, except in those already infected it appears to progress the disease in an alarming way.” He turned his head to speak directly to Jason for the first time. “It will drive some people insane, and I believe this is what has happened in the past with the previous outbreaks. Dr. Davies is simply speeding up a process that will eventually evolve naturally on its own.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” Devon said, as Jason continued to stare silently back at his friend. “If The Kuru and this Kra Puru thing wasn’t bad enough, now we’ve got a new evolution of Super Cured? So long as it doesn’t involve eating each other.”

  “The old stories talked about cannibalism,” Jess pointed out.

  Devon dropped his head into his hands and muttered something Tyler couldn’t make out. His own feelings of being trapped ratcheted up a notch and his knee started bouncing again, in spite of the pressure Jess was still applying.

  Jason cleared his throat, leaning away from the fire to cross his arms over his chest while holding Eddy’s gaze. “How are we supposed to trust anything you say?”

  Eddy raised an eyebrow and spread his hands apart in a placating gesture. “I don’t suppose you can, except that I have no reason to mislead you.” He looked up at Peta, his eyes narrowing. “You explained what happened? Why I went with them?”

  “Of course, I did.” Peta moved behind Devon and shooed him over so she could sit next to Eddy. “But you just said yourself that the disease is progressing and I can already tell you’re … that it’s progressed somehow. You can’t blame us for being cautious. A lot has happened while you’ve been gone.”

  Eddy didn’t try to deny it. “My beliefs haven’t changed, nor my desire to help, so it’s in your best interest to believe me when I say that Dr. Schaefer is never going to let you go, Peta.” When she didn’t respond, he shifted so that he was facing Jason. “I suspect she doesn’t care what Dr. Davies is doing, but she does have her own agenda.”

  Tyler stretched out his leg toward the fire, disrupting Marty where he was curled up by Jess’s feet. He rubbed the dog’s ears to settle him, noticing how he’d chosen the farthest spot away from Eddy. When he’d first walked into the camp, the dog had wagged his tail and ran at him in a normal sort of Marty greeting, but had then immediately shied away. Even after Eddy knelt down to talk to him, he’d sniffed cautiously at his face and whimpered, the same way he had with Jason. Since Marty had been fine around Eddy before, Tyler saw it as further evidence that they all needed to be careful around him. The guy was definitely acting more like Davies, and it was creeping Tyler out. He was glad to have Eddy back, but it added a whole other layer to an already complicated situation.

  “There are at least fifty followers out there right now,” Eddy was saying, gesturing to the darkening jungle. “With more arriving at the resort on a daily basis.”

  “Dr. Chase,” Sahil called out as he approached the group slowly, with Akuba at his side. The elder was hunched over and clearly exhausted, but he’d demanded that all of the Lokono leaders meet as soon as The Cured had left. “We wish to speak with you, and I would like to know what has been done to my grandson. Kavish is not himself,” he explained, looking at Jason and then Peta.

  Eddy rose and nodded grimly at the elder. “Dr. Davies was experimenting on him. He exposed him continuously to the Libi Nati water in various ways over the past two day. He plans to eventually do the same to all of you.”

  Sahil grunted in dissatisfaction as Akuba helped steer him back the way they’d come. “We will be done soon,” she said over her shoulder. “We are finalizing who will stay, and how to progress with the preparations to leave.”

  Eddy paused at the edge of where the light from the fire spilled across the ground and looked pointedly at Jason. “He’s having weapons brought to the resort. A lot of them. He’s amassing an army that you aren’t prepared to go up against. It’s for a war we aren’t going to win unless you have a way to stop the prions.”

  As Tyler watched Eddy leave with Akuba and Sahil, he found himself hoping that Eddy was wrong. That he was exaggerating everything in an attempt to persuade them to not fight and give in. Except, that would be too easy, and the one thing Tyler had learned was to be suspicious of anything that didn’t require a lot of work, and maybe some blood or sleepless nights.

  “I believe him,” Jess said as soon as Eddy was out of sight. “I don’t know him like the rest of you, but I don’t think he’s lying.”

  “It doesn’t matter, either way.” Jason threw the last of his food into the fire, causing another shower of sparks to ignite. “It doesn’t change what we have to do.”

  “Which is?” Devon asked, looking up from his hands and at each of them in turn. “I overheard one of the scouts saying The Cured have taken up camp this side of the log bridge.”

  “We protect the Libi Prani,” Peta answered, standing. “We hope Davies is focused on his twisted plans to turn the Lokono, while Dr. Schaefer is distracted with me. Getting that first shipment out is our top priority. We’ll worry about the rest later.”

  Jason stood with her and gestured to Tyler and Devon. “You guys come with me. Jess, keep Marty here. I’ll be right back.”

  As Tyler stepped away, he glanced back at Jess and Peta. Jess was pulling absently at one of her red braids in a nervous habit he’d come to recognize, while Peta immediately started to busy herself with putting more wood on the fire. Marty went to jump up and follow them, but Jess wrapped an arm around his neck while speaking gently to him.

  The gap of darkness spread between them until he could barely make out Jess’s features, and it felt…wrong. It didn’t matter how much sense splitting up made, they were all stronger together. The only reason any of them had made it so far and managed to stay alive, was because they had each other.

  Jason stopped on the backside of the building that Akuba’s mother lived in. Picking up the backpacks already stowed there, he handed the bags to Tyler and
Devon. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Eddy, but the elders have already decided that anyone not staying behind will leave before dawn.”

  Tyler shrugged into his pack and then rushed to catch up to Jason, who began to move away at a brisk pace toward the outer wall. Excitement and apprehension blossomed in his chest, making it hard to take a full breath, but he managed to whisper as he jogged. “We’re leaving now? Do you think the Cured are watching?”

  Jason slowed and waited for the two of them to come alongside him before answering. “Slaider and a couple of scouts are going to leave with you to the south once it’s dark enough. They haven’t spotted anyone in the area for a while. There’s a spot about four miles south of here where you can cross the river and loop back up around. The rest of us leaving later will be a good distraction, and since Davies has never seen either one of you…so long as Eddy doesn’t give us away, you should have a good chance of getting out of here without him ever suspecting it.”

  Tyler’s mind raced as he tried to think of what their other options were. “If we get caught—”

  “You can’t get caught,” Jason interrupted. “Our one and only advantage here is that Davies or Dr. Schaefer don’t know about the Libi Prani. We have to get it out—tonight. We can’t risk that, and since we don’t know what they might really do over the next day or so…”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Devon finished for him. “We’ll get it to Garrett, and then we’ll come back. For all of you.”

  Gone was any hint of sarcasm or flippancy and Tyler saw a rare glimpse of Devon’s true character. He’d always suspected Devon was the bravest of any of them, and Tyler was reassured that he was committed to the decision.

  Slaider and the two Lokono scouts were waiting for them at the break in the wall, the ten extra bags of leaves and plants scattered at their feet. It was going to be a long couple of days, but the thought of bringing the cure to his dad would be enough to keep Tyler going for as long as he had to.