Death and The Divide

by Lara Nance

  Linc crawled from the edge of the hill overlooking the greenhouse. Morning sunlight filtered golden pink through leaves above him, and somewhere, a bird chirped. They’d be highly visible now that the dark cover of night had given way to daylight.

  “Hell, yeah, I can jack it,” he said. “The problem is power. It’s electric. As long as it’s probably been sitting there, it’s not charged.”

  “There’s a recharge port about ten feet in front of it.” Ria still stretched on her stomach at the edge of the hilltop. “This is the best option we’ve found. If we had a connector cord…”

  “It might be inside the van,” Min suggested. “That would make sense.”

  “If we could plug it in and no one noticed, it could charge while we get some sleep. Then we could head out tonight,” Linc said. They’d have the whole night to travel before daylight made the rather obvious old-fashioned van clearly visible.

  The buzz of a drone made Ria scurry out of the open. She hissed at Min, “Hey, aren’t you keeping an eye on those little bastards?”

  His face fell. “Sorry, I was busy thinking about getting into the van to see if the cord is there.”

  She closed her eyes a moment. “Okay, but we can’t make mistakes. If we’re caught, I don’t know what they’ll do to us.”

  Linc knew what she really meant. They were still valuable for solving the parasite problem and would just be locked in the lab to continue working. Minlo, on the other hand, might be killed. “She’s right. We don’t know how to run your computer and monitor the drones, so that has to be your priority. I’ll attempt to break into the van and look for the connector.”

  Ria’s eyes widened for a second, and she seemed about to say something then pressed her lips together and nodded.

  “All right.” Min returned his gaze to the small screen. “There’s one about half a mile to the west headed in this direction. Once it’s past, we’ll be tight.”

  They hunkered down beside the large oak tree with its spreading limbs and dense leaf cover. It was one of the biggest trees he’d ever seen and a rare sight here in the North. The others they’d passed in the night had been short with twisted limbs and sparse leaves, struggling to thrive in the parched soil. This beauty was a proud survivor of at least a hundred years or more. The people here must water it and give it fertilizer to keep it so healthy. Who knew what stories it could tell if it talked. That it survived sent a thrill through him. He pressed a hand to the rough bark, hoping some charm of lucky longevity would rub off on him.

  An armored military vehicle slowly passed in front of the lettuce plant, followed closely by the buzz of an overhead drone. The tiny copter meandered its way across the blue sky like a huge bee seeking a promising blossom. Its hum faded in the distance as it continued to the east.

  “Now,” Min said. “No drones in sight.”

  “Be careful.” Ria took Linc’s arm and stopped him. “Don’t take any chances, okay?”

  He smiled and plucked a brown leaf from her hair. He liked it that she worried about him. Sometime soon, maybe he’d be able to explore that attraction he felt. “Don’t worry. I’m in no hurry to end up in the clutches of those RD soldiers. You guys keep your heads down.”

  She and Min slithered on their bellies to the edge of the hill as he scrambled down. When he made the bottom, he ran flat out to the side of the van and crouched beside it. No one had arrived for work yet, so he kept an eye on the road for passing vehicles. He glanced at Min who gave him a thumbs up, and moved to the side door. He flipped the handle cover and pulled. The door resisted a bit but finally creaked and slid a few inches. He pushed, and the opening widened enough that he could hop inside.

  Flat black plastic trays lay scattered over the floor and on shelves that lined the van’s interior. He pushed them aside and breathed a sigh of relief to find the refueling cord coiled neatly under the lowest shelf. Before he left, he wanted to check the controls to determine their condition.

  A thin panel slid back to allow passage from the body of the van into the cockpit. The two seats there had rips in their covers, and dust made everything gray. As happened with a lot of older vehicles, this one hadn’t been stripped for parts. Good. He pressed the button on the charge panel, but it provided no readout. If he could get it recharged, he might stand a chance at making it run.

  Returning to the side door, he peered out. Min again signaled no drones coming. Linc held up the coil, and Min pumped a fist. Now to find the charge port. He examined this side of the van then around the back. Finally, he located it under a flap on the front under one of its headlights. After prying it open, he plugged one end of the connector to it. Now he had a stretch of open area to traverse before reaching the recharge port.

  Still no sign of people at the plant. Maybe they stayed home due to the new RD threat. He uncoiled the cord and hurried to the port. It attached after a couple jiggles. A sharp whistle from the hill and Min pointed to the air. Damn. Incoming drone. He ran and dove, rolling under the van, pulse racing. That was unnervingly close. He lay on his back a moment as thoughts flashed through his head about being caught, or Ria being hurt. He couldn’t let that happen. So much rode on their ability to safely reach Manson.

  A few seconds later, the telltale buzzing approached then faded. He carefully poked his head from under the rear of the vehicle. Min’s head appeared above the hill’s crest, and his arm signaled all was clear. Linc scrambled out and ran.

  ***

  Ria clutched a hand at her throat until Linc topped the hill and rejoined them, her blood pumping fast as if she ran with him. She’d been sure they were done when that drone appeared suddenly. It flew faster than the others had. Something had changed. Maybe the RD discovered their disappearance and the drones now searched for them. That would make their remaining journey much more difficult.

  “Made it,” he said, breathing hard after his exertion. He shot her a grin.

  “What’s inside?” Min asked.

  “Not much, dust and some old trays. Looks like they parked it and left it. No missing parts.”

  “Now what?” She pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. Its warmth had been welcome in the coolness of night, but with the sun up, she began to sweat. “We can’t sit here all day.”

  “There was a collapsed shed about a mile back.” Linc rubbed the nape of his neck. “We should check it out and see if we can sleep there until tonight.”

  “What if it has rats?” Min asked, a slightly green cast sinking into his normally white skin. “I’m not tight with rats.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll kill them for you, Binky,” Linc said.

  “Binky?” Min raised a brow.

  “That’s what we call pacifiers and people who are afraid of rats.” He slapped the young man on the shoulder and headed along the trail to the shed.

  Ria stifled a chuckled and followed.

  The caved-in shed was little more than boards forming a triangle lean-to of wood with weeds growing out of it. New tree growth had sprouted around the edges and poked through crevices in the wood. The structure had to be fifty years old or more.

  Link hefted fallen boards from the side and peered in. “No rats.”

  She followed and used one of the pieces of wood to rake out the debris while Linc cleared the remaining rotted pieces of the sides that had collapsed. The musty smell of decayed vegetation rose as she pushed out a pile of damp leaves and twigs.

  Linc twisted off some hunks of tall dried grass from a nearby patch and spread it over the dirt. “There, just like home.”

  She had to laugh at Minlo’s gaping mouth and darting stare when he looked in the emptied space. He probably spent his whole life in the city, camped in front of a computer screen. No wonder he was so pasty white. “Come on, Min. It’ll be okay. We have to get some rest.”

  He picked his way in and sat cross-legged in a stiff pose, constantly scanning the ground as if expecting some creature to crawl out and attack him.

  She sat beside him a
nd took out some Nutri-bars and water packs. Maybe eating would distract him. “Here, have some breakfast.”

  Light filtered in through cracks in the boards. As Linc entered, the buzz of a drone approached.

  “Man, that one came in fast. It wasn’t even on the screen a second ago,” Min said, chewing a bite of his bar.

  “Did you notice they’ve started moving faster?” she asked. “Don’t you think the change in their activity is strange?”

  “The one that nearly caught Linc at the van moved fast, too. Before that, they wove around in a slow pattern.” Min squinted at his screen. “There’s another one.”

  Bzzzzzz.

  “Maybe they’ve met some resistance and need views from above to quell it,” Linc said. He accepted the food and water she handed him. “Thanks. I doubt they’re looking for us. I don’t think they’ll realize we left the city right away. They’ll assume we’re hiding somewhere inside the shield until that utility worker’s story of intruders catches their notice.”

  She hoped he was right. “If they’re having problems, it might make it easier to travel. Why would they stop a lettuce delivery truck?”

  “Uh, because it’s old as hell and mondo suspicious?” Min asked sarcastically.

  She threw another bar at him. “Just trying to be optimistic.”

  He caught it in one hand and grinned. “Try another idea. That one made me worry.”

  Linc downed a water pack. “Let’s try to get some rest. When it starts to get dark, we’ll head to the van. If we’re lucky, no one will notice our attempt to recharge it and we can get out of here.”

  “If it runs,” Min muttered.

  She worried about that, too. If it didn’t, they wasted an entire day. But if it worked, they’d make much better time and likely reach Kansas City before dawn. It was worth the risk. After finishing her bar, she arranged her backpack as a pillow and curled on her side.

  Min glanced at her, hugging his pack to his chest. “Aren’t you concerned something might slither in here, like a snake or something?”

  “I’m so tired, I don’t care,” she said.

  “As long as you don’t attack them, they’ll leave you alone.” Linc followed her lead and positioned his bag under his head.

  “Where did you learn that?” Min asked, giving him a skeptical look.

  “I was in the army. Survival training is part of boot camp.” Linc yawned. “When we saw a snake, we killed it and ate it.”

  Min visibly shuddered. “That’s mondo gross.”

  She patted his knee. “Come on. Try to sleep. We’ll have a long night ahead of us.”

  Buzz Buzz

  Another one. Something was definitely up.

  ***

  Linc peered out the opening of their makeshift shelter. He rolled his head to loosen the crick in his neck from sleeping with a lumpy bag for a pillow. Dusk settled over a ragged stand of bushes and trees, casting an orange glow over the landscape. To the east, dark purple coated the sky, spreading to an orange pink glow in the west. In another couple of hours, night would sink them into darkness.

  “Time to go,” he said.

  Poor Minlo didn’t look like he’d slept much. Dark circles smudged the skin under his almond shaped eyes. Ria’s curly hair had gone wilder than normal, sticking out in all directions from her head with grass and leaves poking through the waves. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

  “Man, I’m stiff,” she said, grimacing as she rose and clambered outside, rubbing her back.

  “I think a bug crawled down my pants.” Minlo scratched his leg. “I hope where we’re going has better amenities than this piece of crap.”

  “If Manson’s there, it will,” Ria said. “He’s not one to rough it.”

  “I want to get there alive,” Linc said. “I’ll worry about how comfortable it is once we’re there.”

  “At least there are no lions around here,” Ria quipped.

  “Lions?” Min’s face fell.

  She waved a hand. “It’s a long story. Don’t worry. There aren’t any wild animals here big enough to attack you.”

  “I could still be bit by a snake,” he grumbled. Once away from the shed, he lugged his backpack to his shoulder and turned on his handheld. He frowned. “There are about twenty drones hovering a few miles to the south. That’s weird.”

  “That’s a little to the west of where we’re heading,” Linc said, relieved they wouldn’t have to deal with dodging that hazard.

  Min nodded.

  “Then let’s go.” Ria motioned them forward.

  When they reached the hill overlooking the greenhouse, Min reported the drones hadn’t moved.

  “What the hell is going on?” Linc mused.

  “I don’t know, but as long as they stay away from us, I don’t care,” Ria muttered. “Are we going to do this or not?”

  Linc held up a hand, not ready to rush into any situation too quickly. Reconnoitering was important. “Let me go to the van first. I’ll unhook the connector and see if I can get it running. You guys stay up here. That way if I’m caught, you can escape.”

  “But…” She shook her head.

  “Min, keep an eye on those drones for me, okay?” He didn’t wait. Ria always wanted to be in the thick of things, but she was more important than him to the project. She had to stay mobile and reach Manson.

  He trotted down the hill. Dusk had closed in and, fortunately, the rear of the greenhouse lacked the kind of lighting that lit the front area. He unplugged the cord and wound it as he returned to the van. The door opened easier this time and slid with only a few squeaks of protest.

  He had to hope the ignition would start without a key device, but when he hit the ignition button, nothing happened. Slashed hope cut him like a knife. Had the charge not worked? Maybe there was another reason. His despair faded a bit when he found a slot beside it for a pass-card. That could very well be the problem. It was a glitch, but not insurmountable. Oh, well. He’d learned how to jimmy an ignition as a teenager. Granted he’d learned on a gas-powered car, but an electric system didn’t have much difference in the starter.

  After pushing the front seat to the rear as far as it would go, he twisted on his back and pointed his light up under the dash of the control panel. He tugged on some wires and circuit packs until he found the one for the ignition. A couple swaps on the wires would enable him to bypass the need for a card.

  A scream made him rise and bump his head. “Damnation!”

  He wiggled from under the dash and scrambled out the side door. His heart nearly burst from his chest. Through the gathering darkness, Ria and Min ran down the hill. Tattered, bloody figures gave chase, their arms outstretched and red mouths gaping. A gush of fear and revulsion set his pulse afire with adrenaline.

  Cannibals!

  Chapter Twenty

  Ria screamed, running as fast as she could. Her thighs burned, and her heart pounded as gruesome, once human creatures chased them. They moved fast, too. She and Min would be dead by now if one hadn’t snapped a twig some distance away.

  Min screamed with her, his face whiter than paper and his long, lanky legs pumping. She bet he’d rather see a snake than these horrifying creatures. At least she’d seen them before, this was his first experience. That had to make it more terrifying for him.

  They scampered down the hill, and Linc came out of the van. He paused a second with his jaw dropped. He picked up a piece of wood and ran forward, brandishing it.

  “Get in the van,” he yelled. “Get in!”

  The lead cannibal closed on her and grabbed her ankle before she reached Linc. She went down, rolling and kicking with the snarling woman on top of her. She held the creature by the shoulders as it struggled to bite her throat. Its foul breath stank of rotten flesh and blood. “Linc, help!”

  He swung the wood, hitting the woman on the side of her head and knocking her off. “Come on. Hurry!”

  She grabbed his hand, and he half-dragged, half-lifted her to the side doorw
ay with Min already leaping in.

  A man lunged toward Linc’s back, and she cried, “Behind you!”

  He spun and lifted the wood with both hands, blocking the creature in the throat as it clawed to get him. He lifted his knee and kicked the guy in the gut, sending him backward, arms flailing.

  “Get in, get in!” Ria leaned out the edge of the door.

  “Come on,” Min called from beside her. “The others are right behind you.”

  He hit the guy in the head and rushed for the side door.

  She and Min slid it shut once he’d made it inside, and he hit the lock. Linc clambered through the opening to the cockpit. Hands pounded on the side of the van and picked at the handle. She thought her heart would jump out of her chest. She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

  A buzz continued then stopped as Linc tried to start the engine. Zzz, zzz, zzz.

  “Oh, God, please, please let it start.” She put her arms around Min, and he hugged her tightly.

  The pounding grew louder, and she feared they would break through the truck’s shell.

  Zzz, zzz.

  The door rattled.

  Zzz, whizz. The engine started. Linc took off, the van fishtailing with the sudden acceleration like a thoroughbred out of the gate.

  She fell to the floor with Min, both of them shaking and panting, clinging to each other. She grabbed onto one of the shelves as the shaking vehicle bumped over uneven yard.

  “Are you guys okay?” Linc called back to them.

  “Yes, yes, just go.” She detached from Minlo and made her way through the mess of plastic trays to the back window. At least twenty cannibals raced after them in the growing gloom. “They’re still coming. Go!”

  He reached the paved street and turned left, nearly spinning out. The old van jerked and coughed a few times, making her fear it would stop. Then it gained power and sped down the street. The running forms behind them grew smaller and smaller. She pressed her hands to her cheeks and hurried to the front.

  “Linc, did they hurt you?” She maneuvered into the passenger seat, scanning him for signs of injury.