The Morgan Strain Series (Book 2): Point of Proximity

by Max Lockwood

  Elaina knew what he meant. The second she saw that Natalia and Will were missing from their room, she’d had a terrible feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. She was a realist, but still tried to push the bad thoughts out of her head. Otherwise, why would they spend time looking for someone who was surely dead?

  They hadn’t been walking for long when Alec’s boot came down on something in the path, making a crunching sound that echoed through the trees. He froze, and Elaina nearly walked into the back of him.

  “Look,” he said, picking up the object from the ground. He held it in one hand and shone his flashlight at it with his other.

  “What is it?” she asked, lightly touching the shards of black plastic, coated in mud.

  “It’s a flashlight,” he said, tucking it into his pocket. “Well, at least it was at one point.”

  “From the package in Will and Natalia’s room,” Elaina breathed, mentally placing the broken mess back in its packaging.

  “I’m willing to bet that’s exactly what it is. That means, wherever they are, they’re without a source of light. I don’t think they would have walked much further.”

  Alec used the bright beam to scope out the area. In front of them, a large branch blocked the trail. It would take some effort to climb over it, something that would be nearly impossible to do without a source of light.

  They looked in a fifteen-foot radius, checking for any signs of life, but their search was inconclusive—rainwater was starting to seep through the canopy again, muddying any prints. The ground suggested someone could have been there in the past twenty-four hours, but there was no way to know where they went from there.

  “Do you think they got this far and turned around?” Alec asked, absolutely puzzled. “I mean, if I lost my light source, I probably would have turned around and followed my entry path. Is it possible that they’re still out here?”

  “I don’t know,” Elaina answered. Her gut reaction was that they were still out in the forest, but not on the trail. They also weren’t hiding anywhere close to the trail, either. That meant that they had either turned back and were now wandering the streets of the little town, or that they were still in the forest. They might have gotten lost or injured on their trek, but Elaina figured that the most likely scenario was that they were ambushed and would never leave the forest.

  “I don’t want to say it,” Alec groaned, “but I think we need to move on. We’re not going to find them out here at night. I don’t think it’s safe for us to be out here, either. I think we should return to town and try our luck finding them elsewhere.”

  Elaina nodded in agreement. She didn’t like the idea of giving up on the teens. In fact, she planned on keeping an eye out for them wherever she went. But she knew that if they wanted to make any progress, they needed to get moving.

  “Should we head back then?” Alec asked hesitantly.

  Elaina looked around. There was still no sign that the pair were around and in good health. As much as it pained her to leave Natalia behind, she knew that there wasn’t anything she could do.

  “Let’s go,” she sighed, pinching his shirt between her fingertips once again. Alec led her back to town, away from the spot where Natalia and Will met their fate with the strangers in the woods.

  Chapter Ten

  Opening her eyes for what she feared would be her last time, Natalia saw nothing but darkness. She feared it was the end for her. She couldn’t remember much, but she knew that she had been in the woods with Will when something happened to her.

  She figured she should be in some pain, as death meant that at least one vital part of the body was failing miserably. Given the world that they lived in, an infected person wouldn’t strike with clean blows. There would be mutilation involved.

  Instead, she could hardly feel anything. All things considered, she felt pretty good, physically. She moved an arm, just to see if she could. It hung limply at her side, but, with a little effort, she lifted it a few inches.

  Exhausted, she dropped her arm back down with a clunk. She closed her eyelids, letting the rocking motion she was experiencing lull her back to sleep. She imagined it was what being carried in her mother’s womb had felt like. Perhaps life was cyclical, and the end was just like the beginning.

  Suddenly, her vision returned. Hovering above her, a towel clutched in his hand was Will. The very little light that entered her eyes made her head hurt.

  “Natalia,” he gasped. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

  She took inventory of her physical faculties. She wasn’t sure how to answer that question when she felt so very little.

  “I feel fine,” she mumbled. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “Sorry,” a high pitched female voice said from somewhere behind her. “I may have overdone it on the morphine. I didn’t want you to be in too much pain.”

  “Where are we?” she whispered to Will.

  He bent his face down low, almost to the point where his mouth was touching Natalia’s ear. “We got lost in the woods. We were captured by military again. We’re safe from the infected, so at least we have that going for us.”

  She tried to sit up from her resting spot, but it took too much effort. She still felt like she was floating.

  “I wouldn’t say that too loudly,” another soft voice offered. “They don’t like it when you call them military.”

  Will looked annoyed. “Okay, fine. We’ve been picked up by someone, but they’re technically not military. However, we are in a military vehicle being taken to who knows where with a bunch of strangers. It’s some kind of paddy wagon or SWAT team vehicle.”

  Natalia grabbed onto Will, bracing herself. She slowly pulled herself into a seated position so she could see what was going on for herself. Nothing Will was saying made any sense to her.

  Sure enough, there were around a dozen other people sitting on benches that lined the outside walls of the truck. A tinted window separated them from the front of the truck. She wondered if it would be safe to ask if the person on the other side was friendly or dangerous.

  There were too many people around to have a proper conversation with Will. She had about a million questions to ask him, but didn’t know if it was the right place or time to ask them.

  She looked around. Most of the people were sleeping or just generally uninterested in what was happening, but several people were looking at her, sitting up straight. It was too early to tell if they were actually interested in her wellbeing or just lurking, waiting to get more information out of them.

  “Come here,” she whispered at Will, giving him her best come-hither eyes. A look of delight appeared on his face, and he leaned over toward her, embracing her. His lips made a beeline toward hers. Natalia turned her face at the last second, letting his mouth press up against her cheek so that she could secretly whisper in his ear.

  “Can we trust them?” she breathed into his ear, still clutching the front of his shirt. His dry lips still lightly touched her cheek.

  “I’m not sure yet,” he answered, muttering into her hair, “so let’s be careful.” He pulled away, giving her a reassuring smile for the onlookers’ benefit. He wasn’t about to give any more information away than absolutely necessary.

  “Why was I given morphine?” she asked, feeling woozy.

  “You fell and hit your head in the woods,” the girl sitting in the corner said. “They had medical supplies back here so I went ahead and gave you something for the pain. I hope I didn’t make you feel sick.”

  “Oh, no, I appreciate the thought,” Natalia stuttered, wondering what expertise this woman had to administer powerful narcotics. “I’m not in much pain. I suppose that’s good.”

  The woman with the long, curly blonde hair looked relieved. “I’m Victoria, by the way.”

  “Natalia,” she responded.

  “Are you Will’s girlfriend?”

  She blushed a deep shade of scarlet. “No, we just met up in Seattle. We had two others with us, but the
y’re lost now.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” she frowned, “and pardon my assumptions. It seemed like you two knew each other well.”

  “It’s fine,” Natalia smiled, beginning to take a liking to this woman. She seemed calm, yet positive—Natalia could feel the optimism silently radiating from her.

  “We’re happy to have you here and we’re glad you’re okay. The guys up front were pretty worried about you when they brought you back here. Will and I promised to take good care of you while they drove.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked the empty faces.

  “I don’t know,” Will said.

  “Shit, we haven’t been told once where we’re going, yet we keep stopping every few hours to add more people,” a grumpy middle-aged man chimed in. “I’ve been here for days. This driving around has gotten very old, very quickly,” he said, swiping a hand over his shiny bald head.

  “It is starting to get a little cramped in here,” another woman added. “I was the sixth one brought in. I really thought we’d be somewhere safe by now. The guys are taking pretty good care of us, though. The one bathroom in the truck does get a bit overused with so many of us here, but we get plenty of food and water,” she said softly.

  “Oh, yeah,” Victoria said quickly, “don’t worry about being mistreated or anything. To be honest, I’d rather be in this truck than on the run at the moment. I’m hoping we get dropped off somewhere safe pretty soon, though. It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my legs.”

  “How did you get here?” Natalia asked Victoria. She seemed like the only passenger willing to speak.

  “I was collecting goods from a health food store. I had just dropped some money in the till when the truck pulled up. A couple of guys in masks got out and pointed their guns at me. I proved to them that I was healthy and they asked if I wanted to go with them to a safe place. They said that they left the military after they were given orders to protect the new border and were taking in as many strays as possible.”

  “Must be nice to have been taken so willingly,” the grumpy man interjected. “I didn’t want to go with anyone, but they forced me into the truck at gunpoint. Said that if I was healthy, I needed to go with them, or else I’d be made into a zombie.”

  Natalia looked at Will, then back at Victoria. “I don’t think we were brought here willingly.”

  Will gave the tiniest shake of his head. In fact, she wondered if the blow to her head that caused her unconsciousness had anything to do with these people. Natalia wasn’t particularly athletic, but she was no klutz, either. She found it hard to believe that she had been completely incapacitated by her own two feet.

  “There’s been some controversy about that,” Victoria said, lowering her voice. “I’d say that over half of us would describe ourselves as rescued. But, there’s a few people who believe they were captured. There’s a very thin and blurry line between the two.”

  “You said you were invited in here at gunpoint,” the man argued. “Seems like unnecessary force to me.”

  “I suppose it all depends on your viewpoint,” Will concluded. “Some people want to be here and some don’t.”

  Natalia was still confused, but it didn’t help that she had regained consciousness in a completely new place without any information about it collected from her own senses. She hated relying on stories from others to piece things together. She wanted the facts and nothing else.

  “How long have we been in here since Will and I were picked up?”

  Victoria checked her watch. “Maybe an hour? Do you need something to eat or drink? If you’re still feeling dizzy, I can help you use the bathroom.”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” Natalia said curtly. “I just want answers.”

  “Don’t we all, little girl,” the man in the corner laughed an exasperated chuckle.

  “Sure,” Victoria said, ignoring the grumpy man. “I can’t promise you that I have the answers, but I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  “Do you know what these guys want? I mean, we’ve been picked up by military. They said they wanted to keep us safe, but that was clearly not the case. Is there some sort of alternative project they’re collecting and holding us for? How many more people are they going to stuff in here before we’re released? Will and I had friends and the four of us were doing just fine on our own.”

  Victoria shrugged. “I can’t help you there. I’ve tried to ask questions, but I’ve just been told to sit tight and leave it up to the New Army. That’s what those guys are calling themselves.”

  Natalia cringed. “They’re a rebel group. Does this sort of thing ever end well for the rebels?” she asked, thinking back to her high school history class.

  “I didn’t have many options,” Victoria sighed. “I know it seems bad and a little scary, but I really think it’s going to be okay. They told me that they want to fight against the government who had abandoned us. I could use an ally at a time like this.”

  “What do you think?” she asked Will.

  “I—I’m still undecided about this whole thing,” he said diplomatically. “But I’m willing to listen to others and give it a try. If we find ourselves in a bad place, we can always try to leave. We’ve done it before.”

  Natalia nodded. They probably wouldn’t have the majority if they tried to bail, but at least they would have some back up. Something told her that the middle-aged man would fight back if given the chance.

  “Can we all just agree that we’d be willing to look out for each other if things turned with our front seat overlords?” Will asked, looking around the truck.

  A chorus of affirmative answers and noncommittal grunts rang out. The dividing window slid open a small fraction and a deep voice shouted.

  “Hey, keep it down in there!”

  Natalia was startled and immediately shut her mouth. The others had similar reactions. Victoria frowned. The grumpy man flipped the window off. The others just appeared a little more sullen or subdued.

  Natalia was surrounded by people who said that they would stick together, but she only wanted three people in the whole world on her team. She had one sitting right next to her, but she needed Elaina and Alec for her to feel safe. She missed the people she had grown to claim as friends, and she worried about them. Natalia wondered if they worried about her, too.

  Having nothing else to ask out loud, she leaned her back against Will’s side, resting her aching head on his. She closed her eyes, took in the scent of his cologne, and drifted off to sleep, hoping that when she woke up, she’d be transported to another place and Elaina and Alec would be right by her side.

  The truck bounced up and down as it glided over broken concrete and rubble, lulling the passengers to sleep. Every once in a while, the driver would peek back and check that everyone was behaving properly. Pleased by their subdued manner, the window would quickly slide back shut until the next scheduled interval.

  Occasionally, Natalia would crack an eye open and look around the truck, hoping for a moment of privacy to talk to Will, but there was always at least one other person awake. They would have to wait until they got somewhere secure, though Natalia feared that time would never come.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gravel crunched underneath Elaina’s feet as she shuffled down the shoulder of the highway. She was in a terrible mood after losing Natalia and Will and felt guilty for letting them get away.

  “Do you have those bandages?” Alec asked, searching through the backpack he’d picked up from the sporting goods store they’d ransacked. “I’m starting to get blisters.”

  Elaina rummaged through a drawstring bag and pulled out a box of blister cushions, throwing the box at Alec with little care whether she hit her target or not.

  He snagged the box from midair, giving Elaina a careful sideways glance. He pulled his heel from his shoe and cared for his wounds, then hustled to catch up with Elaina, who hadn’t even paused and waited for him.

  She felt sick. In addition to worki
ng on her serum, Elaina vowed to protect Natalia. Protecting the girl should have been the easier of the two tasks. It didn’t help her confidence with her remaining duty to know that she had failed miserably at exactly half of her jobs.

  She had reached a new low—she had lost two kids and was without transportation or stable shelter. The government was actively working against her and other survivors like her. She was losing hope quickly.

  After losing many of their supplies from the truck, Elaina and Alec had to return to the main road to pick up some more goods before moving on. Elaina found the whole situation incredibly inefficient and inconvenient. Before the truck was broken into, they would have been able to go three more days without having to stop, if they’d wanted to.

  Now, having had to walk through the woods and re-gather the things they needed for basic survival, they were already several hours behind their original schedule, and were logging a sleep deficit of about five hours.

  After walking through the dark woods, they came to the agreement that they would give walking on the road a shot. A few wind- and solar-powered streetlights were still functional, giving them a better view of their surroundings in the dusky fog.

  If they did happen to encounter other people, infected or not, they decided that they would try to avoid any kind of confrontation. Instead, they would hide as well as they could. They would have to walk until they found a new vehicle, which were becoming scarcer as time went on.

  The problem with finding cars as the virus raged on was that the demand for personal transportation had never been higher. People who once relied on public transportation stopped traveling that way, either because it was unsafe to be so close to strangers, or because the systems had to be shut down due to the disease. People were buying and stealing cars at an incredible rate. Plus, the infected often took their rage out on cars, as they were often a prime target for attacking healthy people trying to flee.