The Hunger (Book 4): Ruined

by Brant, Jason

  He watched Eifort as she slowly ate her bars, eyeing the horizon down the road. Her shoulders were rounded, some of her hair, which she always wore in a bun, had fallen, draping across her forehead and cheeks.

  “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I should have been there with them.”

  Eifort’s head snapped around. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except the dead men who took them.”

  “If I’d been there with them, maybe—”

  “Then they would have taken you and I would be here by myself.” She took another bite. “Actually, I wouldn’t even be here because I wouldn’t have had the patience to go with the boy this morning. I’d have wondered aimlessly into the city and never found you. We left them in what we thought was a safe place. That’s on both of us. But if we’d been with them, we’d all be kidnapped.”

  Lance sighed.

  He knew what she said to be true, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

  They’d arrived in the harbor on their sailboat two days ago. Everyone needed off the boat for a bit, and their supplies had vanished yet again. The problem with working the coast for food and water was that other survivors had picked most of it clean long ago.

  Everyone knew the Vladdies couldn’t swim, so thousands of people lived on boats just off the coast, scrounging for food and water during the day and anchoring off shore at night. That left little for the newbies working their way north to find.

  That didn’t even account for the pirates who wanted to steal your food and supplies. To sit off the coast and drop anchor invited trouble. Lance might have considered it if he hadn’t had so many people relying upon him.

  The cities were a different story.

  Most wouldn’t brave entering one even at midday for fear of the vampires hiding in the shadows of the tall buildings or bursting from the sewers ready to grab anything moving. Lance’s desperation had driven them into Chesapeake Bay.

  Into Baltimore.

  The kids were going hungry.

  Lance had cut his rations by three quarters, so the children and mothers could have more. His body had felt weak and drained by the end of two weeks, but it kept the others strong. But by the day before last, even the kids were starved.

  They’d slowly worked their way up the East Coast of the United States for the past two or three weeks, stopping here and there, searching for a new place to call home. They found a few encampments full of less-than-pleasant people. No one trusted strangers anymore.

  Some agreed to let them in if they could take turns with the women.

  Cass had offered them a few choice words instead.

  They’d run from a few pirate boats that had attempted to board them. Fortunately, their sailboat was small and relatively quick, even if Lance and the rest weren’t the best sailors. No one had managed to step foot on deck, but they’d filled their vessel with enough bullet holes to make the thing questionable as a means of transportation for much longer.

  They’d needed food and a place to stay. Cass and Paul had finally convinced the rest to head into Baltimore or Philadelphia to try their luck.

  Ten hours after entering the city, everyone but Lance and Eifort were gone.

  “Stop,” Megan said.

  “What?”

  “Stop blaming yourself.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “Not very hard.”

  “You sound like Cass.”

  “That’s because she’s a smart woman. Just like me.” Eifort gave him a weary smile. “Those men screwed up when they left us behind. We’re going to make them pay.”

  “Got that right.” Lance inspected his wiry, tan forearm. He’d lost so much weight that veins now ran up and down his arms. “We shouldn’t have left the island.”

  Eifort rolled her eyes, said, “Now I know you’re losing it. We were starving to death.”

  “We’re starving to death here, too.”

  “Oh?” Eifort eyed the wrappers she’d collected between her splayed legs. “Could have fooled me.”

  “We could have made it work.”

  “Lance, stop it. We scraped by for what, two years? We tried to make it, but it was over. We’ve talked this to death. And you know it.”

  He did know it, but that didn’t stop him from blaming himself for everything. He had a family to take care of, and he’d failed miserably so far. If they weren’t starving, they were bound on the back of a truck or fleeing pirates or hiding from monsters in the night.

  Dragon would never be a kid.

  Never be innocent.

  His life would only consist of running or killing, killing or running.

  There were no other options.

  The island had at least provided safety from the vampires if nothing else. The first six months had gone smoothly. They’d managed to desalinate water. There were chickens and a few cows for eggs, milk, and meat. Bananas grew abundantly.

  Greg had learned to fish decently, to the surprise of everyone.

  They were getting by.

  Maybe not flourishing but getting by.

  Anegada, the island they’d called home, was surrounded on all sides by a little reef, save for a small path that was only navigable during certain times of the day when the water was high enough. It provided enormous protection from interlopers who wanted to take what they had.

  The island didn’t have a single Vladdie on it.

  It was paradise for a while.

  But the highest point on the island couldn’t have reached much more than twenty or thirty feet by Lance’s estimation. That low of an elevation made it extremely dangerous during rough storms.

  They’d managed the first few heavy rainfalls with ease.

  But it was a massive hurricane during their first year that had sealed their fate. They’d lost all their livestock during that storm. They’d stayed there another eighteen months or so, but that had been the beginning of the end. A few other big squalls had hit throughout that time, but none as rough as the damned hurricane.

  Their second year was a nightmare. Three massive storms had wrecked their living quarters, destroyed their crops, and ruined their stockpiles of weapons and food. The last hurricane had pushed them to their breaking point.

  Lance had thought the entire island would be under water during that last one. The handful of boats they’d managed to bring back from the surrounding islands had all run ashore or hit the reef.

  When the storm had finally passed, Lance and Doc Brown rowed a small dinghy to the next island. It had taken most of the day, but they’d managed to procure a sailboat that hadn’t beached like all the others.

  They’d attempted to search Tortola, the big island, for supplies, but the Vladdies living there had eaten nearly everything in sight. The beasts had devoured most of the fruit and animal life, annihilated what little remained in the grocery stores and restaurants. The houses and hotels were destroyed by weather and time, leaving little for them to sift through.

  That had settled it. They had to get back to the States and search for a new place to call home. Several people had rejected the idea of sailing such a distance, with small children no less. A few pregnant women they’d saved from Ralph’s clutches had no intention of going stateside again.

  The group had split, with most heading back to Florida to start over, and several men, women, and children staying behind to attempt to rebuild the island. Lance thought about those who remained every day, wondering if he should have fought harder to bring them with him, or if he should have stayed behind and given it another go-round.

  So far, those who’d stayed seemed to have made the better decision.

  Lance noticed Megan inspecting him, reading the dark thoughts roiling in his mind. He offered a shrug and went back to staring at his tan. It would fade over time, erasing their little island adventure from his body and mind.

  “Just today we found a place we might call home.” Eifort shook her head slightly. “They have electricity and security. Finn and L
incoln might not have to grow up without ever seeing a cartoon if we can get them back there.”

  “Dragon.”

  “Cass calls him Lincoln, so that’s what I’m going with. If I have to fight with one of you over the name, I’d rather it be you.”

  Lance pushed off the car and got to his feet. “I’ll whittle her down. She can’t withstand my charm forever.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Eifort closed her bag, then secured it over her shoulders. “I’ll be sure to mention that to her later.”

  “Speaking of.” Lance gestured up the highway. “Emily’s directions are spot on so far. This lane is cleared as far as I can see. With any luck, it’ll lead us right to the camp.”

  “Just remember what I said—stay cool when we get there. We don’t want to go in guns blazing.”

  Lance clenched his jaw, muttered, “We’ll see about that.”

  12

  Cass thought she heard Finn’s small voice a few minutes ago. She listened desperately for Lincoln’s, but couldn’t detect anything. Hugging him again would be the greatest moment of her life.

  She’d seen the children briefly at the garage, but the men had ushered them into a back office and kept them there until the next morning. All she could hope for was they weren’t hurting the boys and were at least giving them some food and water.

  The back door slid up and open.

  Laughter filled the back of the truck.

  Cass heard Wayne’s irritating voice giggling amidst the others.

  She couldn’t wait to kick him in the throat.

  Boots clomped on the floor, sending vibrations through her body.

  A pair stopped beside her head.

  “Hey, girlie,” Wayne whispered after bending down. “Don’t think I forgot about you just because I broke off a little piece out there. You’re still my number-one girl.”

  Cass tried to scream eat shit, but it came out emph smrm.

  “I know you want it, but we have to wait a little longer until the boss ain’t around. Then you’ll get all you can handle.” Wayne stroked her back.

  Shivers of revulsion shook Cass’ entire body.

  “You’re shaking with desire! That’s so damn—”

  “Don’t make me hurt you again, Wayne,” the boss man said from the back of the truck.

  “I was just seein’ if she were all right, that’s all.”

  “And I’m just warning you. Back off.” The boss chuckled. “You just got laid twenty minutes ago for Christ’s sake.”

  Wayne stood with a grunt, a crude laugh following it. “I’ve gotta keep this python of mine well fed!”

  The other assholes roared at the joke.

  Cass tried not to puke in her hood.

  Lilith continued to sob against her gag.

  There were too many footfalls, too much laugher, for Cass to tell if Greg and Adam had come back with them. Judging from the conversations she’d suffered through all morning, she doubted it.

  What the men had planned for them and where they’d taken them, she didn’t know. But the moment she got free, she intended to find out.

  The truck rumbled to life.

  Down the road they went.

  13

  Lance’s wish came true for the most part. The cleared road extended off the highway and through the small city of Bel Air. Abandoned shops, bars, malls, and restaurants lined the streets.

  They stayed alert during the trek, constantly watching windows and intersections for movement, fearing a trap. So far, the coast had remained clear. They hadn’t seen any signs of human life, save for the single car-free lane running through town.

  After they exited the city, which hadn’t taken that long on the bikes, they reached a rural area quickly.

  That was where the guess work began.

  There weren’t as many cars for the bandits to clear out of the way, so the path became less identifiable the farther they went. Trees and grass encroached on the roads. Animals occasionally skittered across the pavement.

  The countryside would have impressed Lance with its beauty if he wasn’t there for such terrible reasons. He noticed odd paths cut through cornfields and overgrowth, which he questioned the origins of.

  They could have come from deer.

  Or Vladdies.

  With human flesh such a rare commodity nowadays, the fuckers had moved on to animal meat for their primary source of food. However, deer were harder to catch than humans and their population numbers had exploded over the years.

  According to The Wildman of Monroeville, anyway.

  Until the last few storms, Paul had remained in contact via radio with several communities in the States. Several spoke of the growth of deer and dog populations without the controls mankind had put on them.

  That was great for the communities’ meat supplies, but it also meant the Vladdies hadn’t died off like some had expected. Several leaders in different safe zones had predicted the beasts would slowly go the way of the dodo—or man if one was feeling nihilistic—and starve over time.

  That hadn’t happened.

  They were as abundant as ever, more dangerous than before.

  And far more cunning.

  At least, that was what Lance had last heard.

  When the storms wiped out Paul’s communication equipment, it had cut them off from the outside world. The last reports they’d received were concerning.

  The Vladdies intelligence continued to evolve, to grow.

  They proved smarter by the week.

  Hives expanded and became more complex.

  Attacks on safe zones were more coordinated and effective.

  Lance could only hope their smarts had leveled off over the past few months, but knowing humanity’s luck, it had only gotten worse.

  Eifort crested a hill ahead of him and stopped pedaling, letting the bike coast down the other side. Cramps hadn’t attacked Lance again, but the long trek had him feeling like death warmed over. If they didn’t reach their destination soon, he would haven’t any energy left to fight if need be.

  His body had hardened over the years, rewarding him with a thin, taut physique that he barely recognized as his own. The entire group had changed during their time on the island, the constant manual labor rewarding them with bodies reminiscent of a different era in history. They no longer resembled the soft, flabby generation that spent most of its time in front of televisions and computer screens.

  But all that work didn’t entail cycling halfway across the state of Maryland at a rapid pace. He felt like he had when he’d almost drowned in Pittsburgh, only to be saved by a smartass with a mohawk.

  He estimated it to be early afternoon, which meant they’d cycled for at least three hours. If rage and fear weren’t fueling him, he would have fallen over dead by now. Exhaustion wasn’t the only thing bothering him, though—the bicycle seat was chapping his thighs and irritating his crotch. He had a feeling that walking over the next week would be less than pleasant.

  Eifort slowed at an intersection where the current road ended. She glanced left, then right. “Any ideas?”

  “Damn.” Lance stopped beside her.

  “Yeah.”

  To the left, he saw cornfields and a deserted country road.

  To the right, he saw cornfields and a deserted country road.

  “Double damn.”

  “Yeah.” Eifort pointed at the shoulder of the intersection to the right, beside a stop sign cocked at an angle from a vehicle impact. “That track looks fairly fresh.”

  Lance pedaled closer, then bent over the frame of his bike. Some gravel was disturbed beside the pavement, though no tire tracks were visible. Even still, he figured the marks couldn’t have been too old because rain would have likely erased them.

  Maybe.

  Neither knew a whole lot about tire tracks.

  He huffed. “You’re probably right. I guess.”

  “It’s an educated guess.”

  Emily’s directions grew vaguer the closer they got to the s
upposed encampment. She’d directed them through the main roads, but the back ones were a bit of a mystery to her. Even the exact city the camp sat outside of seemed like guess work. She’d mentioned a place named Street, which sounded more like a road than a town to Lance.

  The tracks would have to do.

  “Better than nothing.” Lance pushed off, hoping they’d picked the right direction. “We can’t be too far out by now, right?”

  “Let’s hope so. My legs feel like rubber.”

  As they pedaled in silence, eyes scanning the road and its immediate surroundings for clues, Lance wished he could pause and enjoy the countryside. The vegetation and animal life were entirely different than that on the islands.

  The smell reminded him of home, to a certain extent. He’d lived in a city, but often made trips to the mountains outside of Pittsburgh and had always loved those excursions. The rolling hills and rounded mountains comforted him.

  Birds chirped all around them.

  The occasional squirrel skittered across the road.

  Eifort jammed her brakes, skidding to a stop just in front of Lance. He swerved hard, narrowly avoiding her rear tire before sliding onto the shoulder, stopping at the edge of a ditch.

  He turned back to her. “What happened? I almost ate serious—”

  “Look.” Eifort pointed behind him.

  Lance followed her direction, scanning the tree line of a forest a hundred yards away. “I don’t see—”

  He cut himself off when he spotted a faint line of smoke stretching toward the sky. Judging from how hard it was to see, he guessed they still had a few miles to go before arriving at the source. On the bikes, it wouldn’t take them long.

  Excitement reenergized him. “Holy shit, we found it.”

  “How do we want to play this?” Eifort kicked off again, though she pedaled slower than before.

  Lance had mulled over that same question for the past few hours. The furious part of him wanted to go in guns blazing, but he knew that would likely get them killed. Any camp that had survived this long would no doubt have heavy fortifications and massive amounts of weaponry.