After the second day, Jake had insisted on taking a turn driving. No one argued. Probably due to the fact that his insistence came directly after Kate nearly put us in the ditch. After driving for several hours, she needed a break.
Jake also put more of a limit on how long we’d travel each day. Even with our stops, we would reach our destination much faster than Rex and Zero. Unless they had been captured by the guards. Then we would be making about the same time. If they’d gotten away, the best we could hope for was that they still had the horse Rex had been riding. Otherwise, for all we knew, they could be trying to walk the whole way.
Siren nudged my hand and whined. She’d been pushier about getting attention since we separated from Zero. The dog had formed a connection with our leader. King watched jealously from his spot on the floor as I patted the other dog.
“Any sign of trouble?” Shanti asked, coming to sit next to me.
For the last hour or so it had been my job to watch out the windows for any sign of trouble. “No. Haven’t seen anything.”
Shanti sighed and absently stroked Siren’s head. “Never thought I’d miss her so much,” she muttered.
“Who? Zero?” I asked. “She’s your friend and leader, why wouldn’t you miss her?”
The girl shook her head, but didn’t answer. Instead, she shooed me off the seat. “My watch. Go take a break.”
One benefit of the RV was the working TV and DVD player. None of us had been able to watch movies for a long time, and the diversion helped make us feel more normal for awhile.
We stayed away from the horror genre. It kind of lost its appeal once your whole life turned into a horror movie. Instead we chose to watch superhero movies, and, at one point in our trip, Caleb chose to put in The Fellowship of the Ring. Even the drivers enjoyed listening to whatever movie was playing at the time. Although we cut off the movies once it was time for sleep. Didn’t want to stop everyone from getting a good night’s sleep as long as we were able.
I grabbed a snack and went to sit next to Shanti again. If she wanted to talk, she could. Otherwise, I could still see and hear the movie from back here.
Without prompting, Shanti started to talk. “She’s the little sister I never had. Now, anyway. For the first while, I didn’t really like her, ya know? My fault, not hers. I just couldn’t get past her age.”
She shook her head, then turned to me. “I know you haven’t known her long, but can you honestly say you aren’t worried about her and Rex? They’re alone out there somewhere.”
I shook my head. “Of course I’m worried. As much as we know they can take care of themselves, we still have no idea what happened to them. They could be anywhere. I don’t even know if either of them knows how to get where we’re going.”
“Rex should,” Kate called from her place by the table. “He scoured those maps almost as often as I did when we had them. I told him the best route, which we’re on, and two alternate routes in case something prevented us from staying on this one.”
Kate slapped her hand on the table. “If we had time, we could go along those routes and see if we could find them.”
After a few seconds, Shanti asked, “Why don’t we? I mean, in this thing, we can travel pretty quickly. We are almost to where we need to be.”
Kate shook her head regretfully. “We can’t guarantee we’d find them. And if they don’t make it in time, we have to rescue Scout and the others. They need our help more than Rex and Zero right now.”
Maybe. Hopefully. She couldn’t know for sure that Rex and Zero didn’t need help as much as or more than our other friends. If they got away from—Brad? Bryce? No… Brent, that was it—and the guards, then they might be okay. Despite their lack of supplies, the two had good survival skills. Given the opportunity, they would find what they needed, and still manage to get to the guards’ headquarters on time.
Unless they got caught out by a horde. Without Shanti, Lia, Alex, and me, Zero wouldn’t have the same control she usually did over the creatures. From what I’d learned about her, Zero had always been able to sense the creatures. Even without the rest of us, she’d had a unique connection to them. One that allowed her to read their intentions, and use the scream to scare them away.
Despite that knowledge, I worried Zero and Rex might run across something they couldn’t handle. I had no idea what weapons they still had, but I doubted it was enough to truly protect themselves.
Their chances of survival if they had escaped Brent and his goons was pretty good. Maybe not as good as if they were with the rest of us, but still better than even odds that they would make it.
If they hadn’t escaped, then the people behind the outbreak would have gotten exactly what they wanted: Zero back in their clutches.
Still… “We can’t look for them, Shanti,” I said. “Kate’s right. At least to a certain extent. If Rex and Zero aren’t able to get there in time, it is up to us to save the rest. If we aren’t there when we need to be, and they don’t make it, I doubt Zero would forgive us for going after her instead of trying to help the others.”
I sighed and said what no one else wanted to hear. “And if Zero and Rex were captured, they need us to get there to rescue them too.”
Shanti let out a huff, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder in irritation. “Fine,” she snapped.
After a few minutes of silence, Shanti sighed and said more calmly. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We might be the only chance everyone has of getting away from the guards.”
“Not to mention the crazy doctors,” Caleb said with a shudder. “They definitely want to get their hands on Zero.”
Alex and Lia exchanged a worried look. “They want all of us,” Alex warned. “It is possible that the outbreak was an unintended consequence of whatever experiments they were going for, but the ones Lia and I have met relish the power they now hold. Or, rather, the power they could hold if they bring us all under their control.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “With all of us there, they take full control of all the zombies, then blackmail the rest of the world for whatever it is they want before they’ll have us bring every infected person back to some unknown location? Thus removing the threat of the horde from the uninfected population?”
Alex nodded solemnly. “Yes. That’s pretty much what I gathered from some of the things we overheard while stuck at Ground Zero. They want to continue their genetic tests on all of us to see if they can re-adjust our DNA to cure the virus as well as cause it. Then they would be able to both infect and heal people at will.”
“That will never happen,” I said confidently.
Alex’s eyes widened and he leaned back. “How can you be so sure?”
“Zero,” I answered. “She’ll never bend to their will. There’s no way that girl will become their lab rat again. Not without a fight.”
Kate and Shanti nodded agreement. Kate glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Time to pull over and switch drivers,” she said. “But I have to say, I agree completely. I doubt any of you… with the exception of Brent, I guess, will allow them to use you that way.”
Alex huffed in frustration. “You don’t get it, do you?” he snapped. “These people are experts at genetic manipulation, and they have ways of making people do exactly what they want. Even if those people don’t realize it.”
I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean… do you really think Lia and I cared about saving those guards at Ground Zero? They used us, tormented us, and kept us prisoner. Both of us would have rather let them all die, even if we were at risk as well.”
“So… how did they make you protect everyone?” I asked hesitantly. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer.
In the same way that Alex and Lia were unsure they wanted to share it. That is, if Lia’s grab at her brother’s shirt and frantic head shaking were anything to go by.
Before he answered, Alex took his sister’s hand and nodded calmly. T
hen he turned to face me again. “It doesn’t matter how. What matters is they managed it. And they have more than one way to force the issue.”
Kate grumbled angrily as she stomped to the front of the RV to switch places with Jake.
I felt the RV pull to a stop and heard Jake say something to Kate. The rest of us sat in silence. A silence that allowed my thoughts to wander back to the possibility that my parents had been—or still were—part of the group that had started the outbreak.
Silence that was suddenly broken by gunshots from outside.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Zero
After seven days of travel, with only about four and a half days left before the deadline, Rex gave me the first hope I had that we might actually find our friends again.
He pointed to a small side road ahead of us. “If I remember the maps right, that road would meet up with the main route to the guards’ headquarters,” he said. “If the others are still going that way, we might be able to meet back up with them.”
I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but I shook my head. “I doubt we could at this point,” I said. “We’ve been traveling more slowly the last few days than we did with the others.”
Sad but true. While it seemed as though we should be able to move faster as a small group, the lack of sleep and constant travel wore us down. We definitely weren’t moving as quickly as when we’d begun. Even Frodo was less inclined to go any faster than a slow trot for any sustained amount of time. And he seemed to be limping.
A sigh escaped and I told him. “Even if they’re still on that route, we would probably come out well behind them. Even if they got tired, all of them would be moving at a similar pace. And that’s assuming they weren’t able to find a vehicle.”
Rex let out a disappointed sigh. “I get it. Either way, that is probably our best route. It will put us on the most direct path to the headquarters.”
Once we turned onto the new road, I breached the subject. “I think Frodo needs to be turned loose soon,” I told Rex. “He’s… well, he’s having a rough time, and I don’t want to hurt him.”
Rex swallowed and looked away from me for a few seconds. I understood his reaction. I patted the horse’s neck affectionately. This guy had gotten us out of a couple rough spots already, and it was still faster using him than walking.
“We don’t have to do it right away,” I said. “But we should keep an eye out for any other transportation we might be able to use.” Whether it would be another bike or more horses it hardly mattered. As long as whatever it was helped us to move more quickly. Walking was not an option.
We kept moving for hours before we came across another area where we might be able to find something useful. “There!”—Rex pointed—“That kind of fence is usually used for horse farms. Maybe we’ll find horses we can use.”
“Good call,” I said as Frodo nickered toward the field. Another horse answered, soon trotting over a hill toward us. Healthy. No limp. The new animal would definitely be able to handle the travel better than Frodo at this point.
I turned Frodo up the long, curving driveway and heard the tires from Rex’s bike tires crunching on the gravel behind me.
“There’s someone here, I think,” I warned.
At the house, one curtain moved slightly. In theory, it could be a breeze from an open window or something, but I didn’t feel overly inclined to trust the potential.
“We could try knocking on the door before we go in. If someone is still living here, they would have seen us coming,” Rex suggested.
They might not see a couple kids as much of a threat, so that could work for us. If someone was here, anyway. I dismounted and approached the door warily. A quick look back at Rex showed he had his gun in hand and was ready to react if necessary.
Against every instinct that warned me to hide or run, I reached out and knocked. We waited tensely for a few seconds, and I knocked again. I heard thumps from the other side of the door. Peering through the window, I didn’t see anyone. “Hello?” I called out, knocking again.
“They aren’t answering, but I hear something inside,” I said. “I’m going in. If there are people here, they may need the horses. We don’t want to take them away.”
Rex sighed, but got off the bike and followed me. “We’re going in,” he told me. “I’ve got your back, Z.”
I tested the handle, and turned it without a problem. “Not locked. I imagine if there were people here, they would lock the doors.”
“If they had any kind of survival instinct, they would,” Rex agreed. He tightened his grip on the gun, and we made our way into the house.
Another thump sounded deeper in the house. I motioned to Rex to stay close. “Hello? We’re not here to hurt you. We just need help.”
A small black blur raced across the floor. I jumped, then laughed. “A cat. It must have been looking out the window. It heard someone coming. Was probably hoping for a familiar person.”
Rex chuckled, but kept his weapon handy in case someone was hiding somewhere in the house. “I don’t see anyone. Or any sign that anybody has been here recently,” he said after we walked around for a few minutes. “We should take what we need and go.”
I looked around again, then nodded. “We’ll leave a door or window open when we leave. The cat will only survive so long on the bugs or mice that get into the house.”
Rex smiled. “Zero, savior of all four-legged creatures.”
“Has a certain ring, doesn’t it?” I said with an answering grin. I frowned when I looked out at Frodo. He stood with his head down, grazing on the long grass and dandelions in the yard. How long would an injured horse last?
“He’ll be okay,” Rex assured me. “He’ll be smart enough to rest his leg while he can, and only run if he has to.”
“I hope so,” I answered. “Anyway, we should find what we need quickly, and get the other horses ready to ride.”
A search of the bedrooms came up with two backpacks and a duffel bag that we stuffed full of new bedding and clothes, since the stash we had were pretty filthy.
“Go see if you can saddle up two horses,” I said. “Use Frodo’s saddle and bridle on one of them if you can’t find others. This place has an awesome yard, so he should be able to graze to his heart’s content.”
I eyed the bags and looked toward the pantry. “While you get started with that, I’m going to get our supplies repacked and grab a bit more food, if there is any.”
Rex nodded and left the house. I grabbed the bags and filled them with whatever canned food and bottled drinks I found in the pantry. Some was water, but there were also a couple different flavors of juice that were still within their use by date.
After grabbing what I could from inside, I went back outside. I repacked everything so it could be tied up to the back of the horses’ saddles.
By the time I was done, Rex had led one of the new horses over to me, and went back for a second. The first one was black and white spotted, and was a bit bigger than Frodo. He wasn’t the one who’d run up to greet us on our approach. Instead of issuing a friendly greeting like the other horse, the big animal snorted and pawed at the ground when he saw the new horse in his yard.
Before long, Rex had led the second horse over. This one was the one that had run up to us when we’d arrived. She was smaller than the other two, and nearly black.
“Okay, let’s get the bags of supplies attached, then we can get moving,” I said.
Rex opened his mouth, then closed it. He seemed a bit torn.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I know we’re in a rush,” he answered. “But I think we need to take a bit of a break. Even if only to eat a little something or just sit down for a little while. We’ve been going almost nonstop for days.”
That fact made it much easier for me to nod. “Okay. We’ll rest here for a little bit,” I agreed. “But we can’t stay too long. We really don’t have the time to linger.”
Rex frowned. “I kno
w. But, like you said about the horses, we can’t push ourselves to the breaking point either.”
He wasn’t wrong. My whole body ached from the constant motion, and I imagined his legs were probably on fire from all the peddling he’d had to do to keep up with a horse for so long. He’d gone without complaint this whole time. I guessed he was due a little rest.
“I’m sorry, Rex. I know you know the stakes. But we are definitely running against the clock on this one. Running ourselves ragged is about the only way we’ll be able to make it in time to save everyone.”
This whole time I’d tried to avoid thinking about what our friends were going through. Taken prisoner, would they be experimented on the way I had been? Tortured for information on the rest of us? Thrown in a dark cell with only enough food and water to keep them alive?
The only way I could function was to think strictly in terms of rescuing them. Not the ins and outs of what we were rescuing them from. Rex plopped himself on the ground next to me.
His next words seemed to follow my train of thought. “Do you think they’re okay?” he asked. “Scout and the others, I mean.”
Scout. Scout was a whole different story from the others. Our friends didn’t have a personal connection to the guards. Scout used to be one of them, before he deserted. Then, when he joined us, he actively began to work against his former employers. What would they do to a traitor?
“I hope so,” I answered. The lack of true hope in my tone made me cringe. I wouldn’t instill much confidence this way. Thankfully, I doubted Rex would hold it against me.
I settled on the soft grass next to him, our legs touching lightly. “I don’t know,” I said softly. “I have to believe they are, or all of this is for nothing.”
He reached over and took my hand. “Then they are,” he said with a conviction I couldn’t feel. “Every one of them is a survivor. They’ll do what it takes in order to live to fight another day.”
“We can’t know for sure,” I argued. “But we can push ourselves through a little pain to get there in time to save them.”
Countdown to Zero (Patient Zero Book 2) Page 16
