Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3

by Elizabeth McLaughlin

  “Don’t move, love.” Eliza’s eyes were wide. Behind her I could make out the shape of the shotgun. I didn’t even know we had any guns with us. “Lay back down.”

  “Whaaa?” No matter how hard I tried, my tongue and lips couldn’t seem to form the words.

  “You’re all right, you’re all right.” Her hands patted me, starting at my head and heading down to my feet. If I was so all right, why were her eyes so wide? Why did they shine with worry?

  “I’m…all right.” I rasped, and coughed. She glanced up at me from a through inspection of my calves. “What the hell…?” There were a number of people gathered behind her but they stayed well back.

  “I woke up when you left the tent. When you didn’t come back I figured you had gone for a walk so I stayed up. I’m not sure what happened but something told me to get up, so I hung out outside the tent for a while to get some fresh air. I might have been watching you at the fire.”

  “Perv.” She smiled at the humor.

  “Next thing I know, you’re being cornered by a fucking panther. What the hell, Fiona?!”

  I swallowed hard. “I guess it ran out of tuna fish?” Eliza barked a laugh and started to cry. She reached a hand down and helped me up. “The fuck did you get a gun, beloved?” The end of the firearm sat in the dirt, the end of it still radiating heat.

  “Your father and I had some printed up ahead of our leaving. We thought it best to keep their existence secret until absolutely necessary. Thanks to you, I guess that cat is out of the bag.” She smirked. “All right, bad choice of words.” The panther lay on the ground in a heap, its paws crossed over each other unnaturally. I tapped the beast with the end of my boot. Even with the hole in its chest, I wanted to be absolutely sure it was dead. Its claws were upturned, paws splayed wide, frozen in the final pounce. I tapped the end of one and hissed as it pricked through my skin. The cat’s face was fixed in a final rictus, its snarl preserved for all eternity. I swiped at the blood that coated its face and sniffed. “What the fuck are you-“ Eliza reached a hand to pull me back but I stopped her.

  “The blood smells weird.”

  “Honey, for fuck’s sake. You have no idea what could be in that blood.” She produced a handkerchief from somewhere and wiped my hands.

  “Fair enough. Look, let’s put the body somewhere secure. We can clean it in the morning and take what parts we need.” Eliza looked down at me as I spoke and I saw that my clothing was spattered with blood. “It’s not mine.”

  “I know.” She put an arm around me. “Come back to the tent with me before I keel over.” The brave face stayed put but I could feel body trembling as she ‘helped’ me back to the tent. Once we were inside, she pulled me to her, arms squeezing me so tightly I had trouble breathing. “What the hell were you thinking?!” She held me at arms length, eyes burning into mine. “You could have been killed.”

  “I-“

  “You know you can’t be out there alone, Fiona. Jesus Christ, we have no idea what’s out here and…and FUCK!” I don’t think I had ever seen her so angry.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in a small voice. I completely understood how she felt. Had our positions been reversed, I would have been just as angry. If not more.

  ‘You goddamn better well be,” Eliza snarled. “What the hell would you have done if I hadn’t been there?”

  “I’d be dead.” I kept my eyes downcast. What had transpired wasn’t my fault, but I felt guilty anyway. Eliza was right. I had been irresponsible going out alone, but even more so by not paying attention. I hadn’t only put my life in danger, but hers as well, and the lives of who knows how many people.

  “You’re right-“ Her voice cracked and tears rolled down her cheeks. “You’d be dead. And what the hell would I do without you?”

  I looked into her eyes. “I don’t know.” It was my turn to gather her into my arms. “I don’t know what I’d do without you either. I’m so, so sorry, love.” The shock of what had happened was fully hitting me now and I cried, sobs wracking my entire body. “I-I’m sorry.” My knees felt weak and I lowered myself to the floor.

  Eliza’s face softened and she bent down with me. “I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry I yelled at you. You just scared me so badly.”

  I snuffled and wiped snot from my nose. “I know.”

  “I almost lost you once before, I can’t risk that ever again. Love of my life.” We collapsed onto the sleeping bag together and cried a little longer. I was just about to fall asleep when we were jerked awake by a piercing scream.

  Chapter Nine

  “Fuck, what now?” Both of us leapt out of the tent, skidding to an unsteady halt on the grass.

  “Help! I need help over here!” A young man bellowed from the edge of the camp. Eliza reached back into the tent and grabbed the shotgun. By the time we made it to where the young man was standing more people had gathered. A breeze blew past and I caught a whiff of the strange smell that had been all over the panther’s face.

  Fuck.

  A young man’s body lay in the grass, mangled and torn. His throat was ripped out, vocal cords and esophagus torn to shreds. His arms and hands were covered in defensive lacerations. A tool belt hung from his waist and I moved to push it aside until I realized that it wasn’t a tool belt. It was his intestines. My gorge rose and I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep from vomiting. The flesh stank so badly I could taste it.

  “The panther.”

  Eliza’s voice was faint behind me. Just then, a woman about my age ran towards the body. “Paul!”

  Marcus had caught up to the group at this point and ran to hold her back. “Stay back, Mrs. Tolland. Stay back.” The woman screamed when she saw the body and fought Marcus with every ounce of her strength. “Let me go! Let me GO!”

  “Marcus, get her out of here.” Eliza directed them away from the boy’s body. “Everyone back to their tents! We are breaking camp! Go! NOW. Fiona, get me a clean sheet.” I trotted to the supply sleds and found a reasonably clean piece of cloth. I returned to find Eliza and Marcus cleaning up the body as delicately as they could; they closed the young man’s eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. There was no repairing the wounds to make them look any better, but they had arranged the man’s clothes to cover the bloody gashes as best they could. I handed the sheet to them and watched from a distance as they rolled the body into the cloth and wrapped it wordlessly. When it was finished, they carried the body to the sleds. “Marcus, you can go get the mother now. We’ll figure out what to do with the body according to her wishes.” I put my arms around her.

  “I love you.” I leaned my head against her shoulder. “I love you so much, sweetheart.”

  “He didn’t need to die.” She stared at the body where the blood had started to congeal against the cloth. “He’s just Marcus’s age, honey. That could be our son laying there.”

  “Well, it isn’t. Our son is the very embodiment of Samson, beloved. He is the distant ancestor of Ragnar Lothbrok, destined to be invulnerable. He is a modern day Bjorn Ironside.” It felt wrong to joke when a young life had been cut down in its prime in front of us, but I didn’t care. There was nothing I could do to help the young man. The only thing I could do was be there to comfort my wife. My life. Feeling this helpless was frustrating; I felt her anguish and pain and could only…exist, while she was being ripped apart. It was worse than feeling the pain myself. I would give anything to take it from her.

  The young man’s mother returned. Her eyes were bloodshot and her voice cracked as she spoke.

  “It was one of those…things that got him, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I knew that it was possible for those creatures to follow us out here but I…I never…” She reached out and touched her son’s chest.

  “Ma’am, do you have any rites or rituals you’d like us to perform?” Eliza and I stood back from the grieving mother and her son, giving them space.

  “No, no, our family wasn’t very religious.”
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  “We’ll bury him with dignity, then.”

  The burial was simple. Eliza, Dad, and I took turns digging the grave as deeply as we could. It was essential to keep the boy’s remains away from the surface. Though we might never return to this place, it would give his mother peace to know that her son would remain at rest forever. Others brought rocks of any size they could find. One by one, they placed the stones in the grave carefully, offering a murmured word to Mrs. Tolland before returning to their duties. I was shocked at how quickly she had gathered herself. She and I had convalesced in the field hospital together but we didn’t have a lot of contact. To have survived that illness and recovered enough to go on this journey meant that the woman had some serious fortitude.

  We marched in silence that day. There wasn’t a single person who set out on this journey who didn’t understand the risks but the reality of a young life cut down its prime rippled through the group. Dad made a special point of checking in multiple times, sometimes pulling his sled near ours, sometimes striking up meaningless conversations, seemingly just to hear my voice. The light in the sky stood as a constant beacon. It might have been my imagination, but it looked like the light was getting bigger as we moved.

  When the group broke for their midday meal, I made an executive decision. Someone needed to address the events of the night before, if only to publicly acknowledge the loss. I stacked a couple of crates together and climbed them. My whistle cut through the air and suddenly a hundred pairs of eyes were on me. I cleared my throat.

  “Last night we had a life stolen from us. A life cut short by an horrific accident that should never happen to any of us. We all knew the risks of coming out here but I think it’s important that we…” We what, Fiona? Almost every person in the group had participated in that boy’s burial. They already knew the loss. But they couldn’t lose the promise of what was to come. “I think it’s important that we understand the sacrifice Paul Tolland made. Not just for us, but for the nine hundred people back at that shelter, awaiting our return. The nine hundred who will forever remember Paul as a hero, not as a tragedy. We will continue on, and our efforts will ensure that Paul will not have died in vain.”

  There were a few nods, and a smile from Dad. That was enough. Words said, job done. Time to keep moving. I handed my sled off to the next person for their shift and jogged to catch up with Alan, one of the expedition team that elected to come with us. He turned a piece of gleaming stone over and over in his palm. “I’m trying flint knapping.” He handed the stone to me. The edges had been sharpened, pitted marks that ringed the entire outline. “Seeing as we don’t have any 3D printing out here, I thought it might be a good idea to learn how to fashion a weapon or two.” I pulled the stone close to my eyes and rubbed the pad of my thumb across one of the chipped edges.

  “Ouch!” The edges were sharp enough to cut. I could only imagine what they would do against a deer…or another human. It was a good point; we would start running low on food in the next couple of days and we could start to hunt if everyone produced even just a single arrowhead.

  “I made a point of studying the survival handbooks before we started out.” He grinned with pride.

  “You sir, are a very smart man. How are you doing?”

  “I’m all right, I suppose. I was right there with your father when we set the mice out into the real world. I certainly wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in his mission. And your wife’s, of course. It’s a shame about the boy.”

  “Yes, absolutely.” An image of Paul’s mangled corpse flashed through my mind and I waved it away.

  “Do you really think this beacon is going to lead us to other humans?” Alan kept up the smile, but I didn’t miss the worry that touched his eyes. After last night I realized that it was no longer solely Eliza’s responsibility to lead. The charge of leadership attended to me, too.

  “I don’t know.” It was better to be honest, wasn’t it? “What I do know is that we were stuck in an untenable situation and this is a way forward. No matter what we find at the source of that beam, I think it is going to be something that can help us. If nothing else, there has to be some kind of power source for it, right? I don’t know about you but I’d gift my left thumb to have a hot shower again.” Alan laughed. “Listen, I better get back to Eliza and the others, but I’ll be consulting you on hunting techniques in the near future, all right?”

  “Sure.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. Something told me that my father had talked about me more than I thought. I used the remaining time until I would cycle through my next shift with the sleds to make the rounds. Though I had anticipated an interrogation, most of what I ended up doing was listening. The mood within the group ranged from anticipation, to fear, to skepticism. Not everyone was as thrilled with my father’s actions as he thought. If we discovered other humans on the other side of that hill, they were hoping to escape to better pastures as soon as possible.

  The time came for me to take up the sled again. Eliza had disappeared somewhere. We hadn’t spoken much all day, and I was missed her. There would be time to catch up when we arrived at our destination. We passed through the plains with their sporadic foliage and larger and larger trees surrounded us. As the day wore on I could swear that I saw some kind of animals flitting through the branches but every time I turned to look the shadows were gone. After the panther kill, the idea that there were more creatures watching us from afar made me edgy. Eliza gave the limited number of guns to a few trusted individuals, who now jogged at the edges of the group, firearms in hand. There was limited ammunition so there would be no training; their instructions were to fire only in an emergency.

  The signal grew ever closer with each step. When it was time to make camp for the night, we were so close to it that I could see pulses of light as whatever powered the beacon pushed fresh energy into it. The unnatural blue color reminded me of the welding torches we used in the shelter. If you stared at it long enough your eyes would sting and spots would linger in front of your pupils for a few minutes. The horizon itself looked warped; if I squinted I could see the outlines of some really strange looking trees. They towered above the ground, their leaves jutting out from angular structures that looked like...holy hell.

  Buildings.

  “Buildings!” The word leapt from my mouth without a second thought. “Buildings on the horizon!” Eliza found me and dug out a set of binoculars from her bag. She peered through them, a huge grin spreading across her face. She handed the binoculars to me and took the sled from my shoulders. I adjusted the lenses and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Skyscrapers. Concrete and steel buildings stretched high into the sky. They had been firebombed; the windows were blown out and the buildings not protected by an entanglement of plants were crumbling at the roofs. I searched desperately for signs of life. The outlines of people, fires, anything.

  There was nothing. I kept telling myself that it was the middle of the day and that any people alive in those towering edifices would probably lay low during peak daylight hours. When I lowered the binoculars I saw dozens of faces turned toward my wife. The ideological differences dividing us disappeared and were replaced with the barely concealable excitement of people who saw a brighter future, just in front of them.

  Chapter Ten

  It was a struggle to make camp that night. Hell, it was a struggle to keep the hundred of us from sprinting to the light once word got around about the buildings. There was no chance that I was going to sleep tonight. Buildings! The presence of a city held the promise of a miracle. If those buildings held even a few thousand people it meant untold access to resources, shelter, and social interaction. It might even mean opportunities for breeding and creating a new society. I thought of the possibility of reconstructing the house Eliza and I had raised Marcus in. We couldn’t return to the shores of Iceland, but we could settle into a calm life in our golden years. Maybe we could set up a farm and plant some vegetables. It was the glittering brass ring, and all w
e had to do was reach out and grab it.

  I joined Eliza as she conferred with her guards and volunteers to cover the overnight shift. “We’ll have the camp set as closely together as we can. Between the loss of Paul Tolland and the fact that there are almost certainly some humans over that next ridge, we cannot afford to have a single colonist go missing. It’s possible that the people living in those buildings will not be happy to see us. Should that be the case, we need every body we have.”

  Encouraging words from my practical wife. Never one to sugarcoat things, she had a point. We weren’t equipped to handle a fight. My hopes had blinded me to the possibility. I whipped around to feel a hand on my shoulder. It was Dad.

  “Cheerful stuff she’s talking about, isn’t it.” His grip tightened. “It would be a damn shame to have come out here to get our heads blown off.”

  Something was wrong. He had a point, of course. I certainly wanted to return to the colony with my limbs intact, but I could feel the hidden weight behind his words. After triumphing over Gabriel—twice—Dad had proven himself to be a more than capable fighter, so why was he shying away from the possibility of a conflict? Then I remembered that in his own way, my father had spent almost the same amount of his life in the shelter as I had. The man had grown up with the same people, day in and day out. Maybe he was feeling skittish over encountering other humans because he forgot what it was like. If that was the case, he had a point. Any other people we encountered out here might as well be creatures from another planet.

  “What’s the plan?” Eliza turned as if surprised to see me there. She gave a brief nod to Dad.

  “At the moment? We’re going to try and gather as much information as possible before moving any further. If things look like they’re not safe, we’re turning tail and going back home.”