by Maxey, Phil
Contents
Title page
Copyright
Disclaimer
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Thank you
3 DAYS TO DEFY
Extinction Gene Book 4
by
Phil Maxey
Copyright © 2021 by Philip Maxey
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Printing, 2021.
https://www.philmaxeyauthor.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.
CHAPTER ONE
3: 11 a.m, December 18th. Highway 63.
Day 4.
Three shadows staggered ahead of Meg. They had been walking for over an hour. Their last vehicle left in a ditch. Parts of her she never knew existed were either burning with pain or had gone completely numb. She wasn’t sure which was better, she just knew they had to keep going. They had followed a series of roughly northwesterly highways and side roads as instructed, with no particular destination other than to stay away from towns and cities…
As she looked across the largely flat landscape of occasional silhouettes of trees and farm buildings a memory pinged in her mind. Of being with Liam, driving across Wyoming not long after they were first married. The sky was big and blue, with only a sparse spattering of pure white cloud, and the fields of corn went on for as far as she could see. The wind blowing across her kept her cool despite the summer humidity and she never felt so free and full of—
The smallest of the shadows tripped and fell.
Meg pushed her legs into a jog while turning on the single flashlight they had. She kneeled next to Tye who was rubbing his elbow.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t see the hole.”
She pointed the light at his arm. “Let me see.” A scrap of pink blood glistened on the palm of the boy’s hand, while she held his forearm. “Can you move it?”
He nodded while stretching it out slightly.
She let out a breath. “Good. You’ll be okay.”
“I’m so tired…” said Josh.
“Maybe we should take another break,” said Sam.
Meg stood despite her joints arguing otherwise and turned the flashlight off, scouring the nearby farmland for anything suitable.
“I think there’s something over there…” continued Sam, pointing off to the right side of the two-lane highway.
Meg took a few steps forward, trying to see what the girl could without any success. “I… can’t see. Eyes not good enough. Is it buildings?”
“I think so.”
“Okay, we’ll head towards them, but everyone stay real close to me. If we see any movement, we join hands and run in the other direction. Everyone got that?” They said they had and the small, exhausted group started walking once more.
It wasn’t long before the oldest of them could see what Sam had. Angular shapes sat just above the nearby rise in the ground. One appeared to be a lot taller than the others.
“Looks like a farmstead,” said Meg as a gust blew across them all.
“Maybe they will have a car,” said Josh. The plan had always been to find a vehicle, but the few they did were always low on gas.
Keeping to the concrete of a side road, they moved right of the highway, each of the tired eyes straining to see any movement amongst the various subtle shades of darkness, then stepped onto a gravel track. The nearest shape was long and rectangular. To the right sat the arch of a roof, a similar building being some hundred feet behind and dotted between them were smaller buildings.
“I can’t see… what…”
“It’s a truck’s trailer,” said Sam, helping out Meg.
“Let’s check out the building next to it.”
They walked alongside what appeared to be the front of the single-story building, Meg pausing to try and see inside a tall window. She shook her head. “What’s in there…”
“I see tables and chairs,” said Sam, looking inside the second window. “I think it’s some kind of… diner.” She noticed Meg looking at her then looked away even if the older woman had no idea she saw her reaction.
“Does that mean they will have food?” said Josh.
Meg looked to the other nearby buildings. “It might. Stay close to me.”
They walked around the corner of the building, the entrance which was covered in a canopy now obvious, even in the dark. And alongside were more, smaller trailers carrying farming equipment and a pickup.
“They got a truck!” said Josh.
“Sshh,” replied Meg and Sam at the same time.
Meg walked to the side of the vehicle, holding her light to the window, but keeping it pointed down and switched it on. The interior was well worn, but clean. She nodded to herself. “If we find the keys, I think—”
Something moved a few hundreds yards away towards the second building, making them all crouch beside the pickup, and Meg fumble the light which fell to the ground, bouncing then rolling beneath the vehicle. She swore, immediately laying flat and stretching her arm out, trying to reach it.
The sound happened again.
Meg stopped moving completely, her arm frozen just a few inches from the light. Twisting her head, she looked at Sam who was peering around the back of the vehicle. “What can you see?”
“I…” She pulled back. “Something’s moving…” she whispered. A whimper came from Josh, while Tye just shivered.
Meg redoubled her effect, her muscles in her arm feeling as if they were about to snap. “I just… need… to… get…” Her fingers grabbed the light, instantly sliding the switch.
“Something’s coming this way!” half shouted, half whispered Sam.
Dragging herself up with the use of the pickup, Meg switched the light back on and threw it as far as her tired arm could manage, then grabbed the hands of both of the youngest. “Run!”
They had only made it a few steps when they were flooded by light.
“Hey! Wait!” said a man, tens of yards behind.
They stumbled to a stop, turning around, trying to see beyond the glare of the powerful beam. Meg gathered the others close to her, while holding her hand up to see better.
A figure walked towards them, light glinting off two dark barrels, another small, four legged shadow bounded along beside him.
“We weren’t trying to steal anything!” said Meg.
“Yeah, yeah it’s fine. That old thing ain’t got any gas anyway.” The dark, short hair of an elderly man could just be seen.
“Can you lower your
light?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” He did. “I’m Rufus.” He looked down to the brown-haired dog. “This is Sydney, but he really only knows, Syd.”
“Okay…”
“So… I’m not the only person left then… hmm… go figure.”
*****
4: 12 a.m. East of Denver. Highway 24.
Huge metallic blades sliced through the air.
Why are they bothering, thought Jess, seeing the towering wind turbines in the field to her left. Silence had been her friend for the past few hours. She had no conversation for her passenger anyway. Each time she wanted to speak, horror crept into her consciousness. Hideous faces and forms she wanted to forget. And then there was the voi—
“Where all the electricity go?” said Daryl.
Her eyes widened. An attempt to stave off tiredness. “What?”
“All these wind machines.” He looked out the side window. “Out there. They’re still turning… still making electricity, but… no one’s going to use it.”
“I don’t know. Stored somewhere I guess.”
He turned, reaching between the seats and pulled a bottle from his pack and took a gulp, then offered her some, which she refused. “If you want, I can drive?”
She wanted to accept. Crawl in the back and give her body what it needed, but that would allow her memories to settle. For the images to lay eggs, the stain of what she saw to grow inside her. Her dreams had the potential to drag her back into hell and she knew if she spent another moment there, she would go insane. She glanced at him, forcing a smile. “No, I’m fine. I just want to keep driving.”
“Yeah but, we can’t drive all the way without stopping, that’s like… ten hours or something. We need to take a break.” She remained silent. He looked back to the void. “It’s like the moon out here. There’s nothing for twenty miles in any direction. No monsters… We could visit a truck stop or something?”
He had a point. She also needed to have ‘the’ conversation with him. Sooner the better seeing he could change at any moment. Her arms were heavy, her head the same, wanting to droop. But any time spent not driving was another moment Meg and the kids were moving further away.
“What’s that, up ahead?”
She had seen the highway exits and the buildings to her left a few moments before. “Looks like a truck stop.” She steered across the lane, driving up a slope then took a right, back over the highway. Even in the dark it was possible to see the collection of buildings beyond the forecourt, pumps and store of the gas station. She eased onto the concrete and sat, looking for the slightest detail that something was wrong in the dark.
“Looks clear…” He turned with a smile. “Ain’t no monsters, here!” His expression quickly dissolved on seeing hers. “What?”
She grabbed her pack from the backseat, rummaged inside for the other bag, then pulled out one small bottle.
“Is that the vaccine?”
“Yup, and you need to take it.”
“Uh? I’m immune, why do I…” Her expression answered the growing question in his mind. “I’m not immune?”
“I’m sorry…”
“But… I didn’t change…”
“Some people take longer than—”
He grabbed the bottle, unscrewed the lid and swallowed the contents. Then waited. “I don’t feel any different…”
“No.” She put her pack in the back, then looked again at the gas station store.
“So I could have changed at any moment…”
“Yeah, but you didn’t. You got lucky.” She nodded towards the building. “If it’s clear, you wake me in one hour. Got that? If I wake and find out even a minute extra—”
He held his hands up. “You’ll shoot me. I get it.” He looked back to the station. “Park closer.”
She examined the shadows beyond the headlight beams. “No, I think we’re good here.” She turned the engine off. “Go and get what you need.”
He looked between the darkness and her. “Umm… Is there anything you want?”
She leaned back on the headrest. “No.”
“Right then.” He looked back outside, pushed the door open, waited a few seconds, then got out, closing the door and ran forward into the gloom. He briefly paused at the entrance to the store then pushed it open, going inside.
She immediately sat back up.
This is my chance. Just pull away and leave him…
Her fingers hovered over the key. Just a simple twist, foot on the gas, and Daryl would be a memory… like everyone else.
He’s going to attract the things… those that know your name… They know you Jess, because you are one of them…
She gripped the steering wheel. “No… no… no…”
He’ll slow you down… why risk it… or maybe you don’t—
An oddly shaped shadow was sat partially behind the edge of the store. At first she presumed it was a vending machine or maybe an ice dispenser, but she was sure there was now more of the dark mass visible than when she parked up. Definitely more.
She switched the lights off.
Without the glow from the main beams, the shape of the thing was clearly defined against the lighter sky. Its top was angular, other parts curved and she knew it was watching her.
The entrance to the store sprung open and Daryl walked from it and across the lot without a care in the world. He pulled open the passenger’s door, his arms carrying two large plastic bags filled to the brim and dumped the contents on the backseats, sitting in the front. “I know you didn’t want anything, but…” Her gaze was still fixed on the thing. He followed her line of sight. “Is there something out there?”
She could hear his heart rate increasing then reached down and turned the key, firing up the lights and engine, then started reversing while turning. “I don’t need any sleep. Let’s keep going.”
“Okay…”
As she steered them back onto the road which led to the highway, she started to close the window. The wind blew strong and with it came a sound, words being carried from the gas station forecourt.
“Jesssiiiccccaaa…”
CHAPTER TWO
4: 46 a.m,
Meg sipped on the coffee then smiled at seeing the old wooden, framed photo. From the clothes, taken somewhere within the 80s. A twenty-something Rufus was smiling alongside an equally aged woman. Happiness caught in a moment.
Footsteps came from the hallway outside the kitchen and she averted her eyes, but continued her smile.
The man she judged to be mid-sixties had a bundle of sheets in his arms. “Found these in the closet. Umm, my wife must have put them in there, but I hadn’t had much call to use them. I’m afraid it looks as if the moths have had a good time with them.” He looked at her with a brief smile. “But you’re welcome to take them and use the sofa in the living room, or the floor.”
She looked across the youngsters, also seated at the kitchen table. “Reckon these three need to get some sleep.”
Sam stood and cautiously walked to the old man, taking the blankets from him then turned to the two boys. “Come on.” They sheepishly got up, Josh yawning and followed her into the gloom of the hallway.
“Oh, I lit a candle in there, but blow it out if you don’t want it on.”
“Will do, thanks,” said Sam from the other room. The door promptly closed.
“How’s the coffee?”
Meg nodded. “Almost, but not quiet as good as my own.”
“Oh, it’s not mine. It’s some fancy European blend. Used it in the diner. The truckers loved it. I got stacks of the stuff.” He awkwardly sat in the chair at the table, patting the dog on its head. “So you really walked all the way from Collier?”
She nodded, her head feeling as if it would topple off. “Part of the way.”
“There were no vehicles?”
“Some. But they either had no keys or hardly any gas.”
He nodded. “Yeah, fuel is hard to come by…” He focused on her more direct
ly. “And there were… immune as you call them, people in Collier?”
“Yeah—”
“But not the original residents? You did not find any of them?”
“No. The town was deserted when we arrived.”
He briefly looked down, sighing. “That’s a shame. I knew the minister there. Pastor Miguel… Taught me a lot.”
The religious symbols around the kitchen suddenly became obvious to Meg. “Oh, you practice?”
He smiled again. “Served for thirty years… and then, well… then I stopped.”
Meg restrained her curiosity. “You have been living here alone, throughout everything that’s happened?”
“I have. I heard the news on the radio, and the truckers that came through here, told me what it was like in the cities, but I didn’t really believe it… until… I saw one of the demons.”
“Demons?”
“Yes. What else would you call them?”
“We just kinda call them… ‘things,’”
He smiled. “Well, from what I saw. Demon is a more accurate description.”
“It was a virus… it does something to people and some animals… Some people, like yourself are immune from it… nothing supernatural about it at all… It’s all science gone horribly wrong…”
He snorted then got to his feet. “Wait here.” He disappeared into the shadows of the hallway, the floorboards indicating he had moved into the single bedroom the home had, then reappeared with a book in his hand. She noticed the pieces of paper hanging from the pages.
She held up a hand. “I’m not really much for the bible…”
“This is not that book. This is a modern reprint of a work that was produced not long after Gutenburg started doing his thing…” He put the heavy book down and pulled open the cover.
She pulled her collar away from her neck. Despite the chill in the air of the kitchen, she was beginning to feel warm.
